LA Galaxy Down Under

Where   : Telstra Stadium, Homebush Olympic Park, Sydney
When    : 10-00 pm, Tuesday, 27th November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Last night, I went with my son and a few of his larrikin pals, to watch Sydney FC play LA Galaxy, the USA football {soccer} team. It was held at the biggest stadium in Sydney, which holds 80,000 people - in fact this was the 2000 Olympics Stadium, which has now been downsized by rearranging seating from >100,000 down to ~80,000. So, great seating, lots of space and view.

The star attraction was David Beckham {"Becks"}, ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and Captain of England - who as most will know, is married to Victoria, "Posh" Spice of "The Spice Girls" fame. "Becks" earns US$1million a week, owns seven cars and wears clothes designed by close friend Giorgio Armani. Don't get me wrong, "Becks" is a nice guy, with a fruity London accent and squeaky voice, a simple but immensely talented lad who has had fame thrust upon him.

He was to be marked in this game by local Sydney player, 17 year old Nikolas Tsattalios, who earns less than $600 a week, and just collected his P-plates and last Thursday hired a suit for his Year 12 formal. Wow - what an experience !

I would say that maybe 20% of the crowd last night were young girls in the teens, some with their mothers, both generations turning up to perv on "Becks" in the hope that he might take his shirt off. Tarts.

Nevertheless, it was not a bad game for a "friendly", we even got a bit of "biff", with several yellow cards and one "sent off".  As you can see above from the scoreboard, the result was Sydney 5 - LA Galaxy 3.  "YES !"

The best part was that "Becks" took one of his famous free-kicks and banana'd the ball right into the top left hand corner of the net.  In this picture, here he is taking a corner. Unbelieveable. He also played the whole 90 minutes and was a classic to watch, as much as I am brain-washed to hate anything to do with Man Utd (being born in Liverpool myself).

For the girls, at the end, off came the shirt ... didn't do much for me but then it wouldn't. My hope for a few enthusiastic, young, female, amateur streakers also came to nought, but a great night out was enjoyed by all. Wouldn't have missed it for quids.