Aguilas de America v Boca Juniors: Copa Panamericana 2007
Saturday, 21 July 07, 12:02 PM · Comments(1)
After a lot of running around and a less than professional detour for batteries, I arrived at All-Tell Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona for the final regular day of the group stages in the Copa Panamericana, a tournament put together by Pro Entertainment and Directv, and broadcast locally by Telemundo on tape delay. It seemed like I was on tape delay myself as my flight got in 25 minutes before the start of the match and I got into Glendale sometime around injury time in the first half and I was feeling like a kid not old enough to drive taking the family car out for a spin, looking in the rear view mirror for a cop. I was holding my press pass dearly, but I settled eventually in a nice chair overlooking the Boca Juniors goal in the pressbox and watched the remainder of the first half.
After round robin play in Group 1, Boca Juniors and Club America of Mexico were facing off Friday night for the opportunity to reach the final on Sunday after both clubs summarily dismantled Alianza Lima of Peru by equally impressive 2-0 scorelines. It looked on paper to be the class match of the tournament as both clubs were taking it seriously, Boca bringing not only Martin Palermo, Neri Cardozo but also Sebastian Battaglia, and a mix of up-and-comers from the youth ranks. The Aguilas, despite voicing disappointment at low turnout and lack of support at the tourney by their Phoenix fan base earlier in the week, also fielded a side much like the one they'll put out for their apertura tournament, headed by ex-Boca and Borussia Monchengladback midfielder Federico Insua, and with noted names like Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas and Lucas Castroman on the bench, they had a side likely ready for the apertura tournament in Mexico. Only Rodrigo Palacios and Juan Roman Riquelme for Boca and Guillermo Ochoa for America, who were all still on holiday from their late round finishes in the Copa America, were missing from the sides.
It was hard to tell what the first half had been like, other than the scoreline which had Boca up 1-0 to America after a typical fox in the box performance by captain Martin Palermo, who took advantage of a mistake by defender Ismael Rodriguez (the beauty of replay in an empty pressbox), and scored decisively. But talking to the other reporters, they mentioned that neither team had done much to that point to warrant the scoreline.
While the horns were blaring, I decided to take a look around the place. For Americanista fans, what few their were, it must have been a disappointment, and I saw many of them wandering around during half time with their red, blue and yellow flags and capes, but they were still very vocal, especially in the curva section by the far goal. In the near goal, their was an empty concrete slab behind the pitch, with what looked like indentations running all along the surface right up against the interior wall. I decided to forego buying some schwag and get down to field level to get a closer look. What I found was a marvel of engineering. For those people who remembered the Velstin Arena (home of Schalke '04) in Germany for the last World Cup, you may remember reading about their retractable field, well University of Phoenix Stadium also has that kind of set-up. Most days the grass lies leisurely outside in a football pitch sized planter on rails, but when the buses filled with supporters come expecting a match, the field gets choo-chooed back into place, a process that takes about 4 hours to complete. The 72 degree weather indoors was incredibly helpful as the scorching Arizona heat left me breathless as it is.
Well, I saw the second half from behind the goal, watching the Boca bench do their warm up drills to my left. Each had that hungry look of the football obsessive wanting in on a match that they imagined only they could change the result. They seemed to silently, without looking at the mullet-headed trainer, plead to be let in on the action. The pace behind the goal was about as leisurely as it was with the first team on the field. Aguilas came out needing to make up the goal difference, maybe force penalties, to reach Sunday's final and Boca, uncharacteristically, closed up shop and decided to weather the attack. Most of the last 45 was spent towards the other goal away from my sight lines but rather than complain about the lack of creativity by the Xeineixes and a lack of opportunity by the Mexicans, I'll just thank the folks at Ziga Zoga who helped bring this report back from blistering Phoenix, Arizona. While Alvin Mendoza might have scored, ultimately it was I who scored.
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forzafutbol
Los Angeles, US
A better lens into the World's Game. We talk about UEFA Cup, Champions League and International matches, especially when they intersect with teams in Spain and Italy, we talk transfer rumours, gossip and everything else that revolves around the world's greatest game.
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1 Comments · Add yours
Bravo. Great Article w/ details of the arena in Arizona. Too bad my team lost....