Green For Saint Patrick's Day, Green For Soccer

The torrential rain stopped long enough. Mostly.

There were still bursts of hard rain for different periods during the day, but our Saint Patrick's Day excursion to AT & T Park for a soccer doubleheader continued, with plenty of hot chocolate, of course.

It was always going to be festive. We figured that out on the train up from San Jose, as more and more fans crowded on the train, a majority of them wearing Mexico jerseys, which had the added benefit of being green, thus protecting the wearer against pinches. (Interesting train ride: people were openly carrying cases of beer, which is apparently not a problem for Cal Train, as the conductors didn't seem to care.)

I was not sure how well a soccer field would fit inside AT & T Park, with the configuration for baseball, but it actually proved to be quite successful, and our seats were amazingly close to the pitch. First game was San Jose versus the Houston Dynamo.




The Earthquakes had moments of opportunity, but never quite finished, while the Dynamo made the most of the penalty kick they earned to take all the points from the game. Still, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

And then things got even MORE festive for the second game, which is a little odd when you consider the first game was a professional match and the second game was a bunch of players 23 and younger. It wasn't even an actual Olympic qualifying match, simply a friendly between Mexico and Senegal. But the fans increased in number and frenzy, flocking to the bottom of the stands just to take pictures of the Mexican players warming up with small games of keep-away. And the procession on to the field was complete with fanfare (apologies for the shaky quality of the video from my iPhone):







Mexico soccer fans are great. I have rarely seen the wave done without any irony. Unfortunately, they also like vuvuzuelas.

The game was brilliant. Despite the youth of the players, there was an added dimension of speed and elegance that seemed to be missing from the MLS game, as fast and as skilled as the Earthquakes and Dynamo were. Senegal was big and strong, but Mexico started the game clearly the superior in terms of creativity and tactics, and their momentum paid off with two penalty kicks earned and converted in the first twenty-five minutes. Senegal looked much improved in the second half and converted a penalty of their own, but Mexico never really looked in danger of losing the match.

It was a great day, capped by a great meal at Tres with our friends Vaughn and Emily, where we had margaritas and shrimp tacos. A perfect flavor for the end of a soccer-flavored Saint Patrick's Day.