That's DC United losing to the Revs!!!! In golden goal OT!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Revs tonight proved that you can play crap early in a game, but find the fighting spirit to pull out a win. And it wasn't helped by DC being awarded a blatantly offside goal early on. Methinks DC United have also been studying films of Newton Heath's 'How to win friends and influence refs' home video. Couldn't believe the amount of moaning and attempt to badger the ref. Especially after he sent off one of their players with a 2nd yellow. Even their keeper, who I usually quite like, got in on the petulant baby behaviour when we were awarded a penalty. Held the ball up over his head so our players couldn't get it, then after having it knocked out of his hand one of our guys took a practice tap(the ref was busy with more moaning DC players on the touchline) which he let slide through his legs then trapped it and refused to give it back until the ref ordered him to. Made our eventual winning goal all the sweeter!

Another highlight of the game was some guy in the stands behind us who kept bellowing all kinds of mad things which had the crowd in hysterics. "Ask not what your fans can do for you, ask what you can do for your fans. SCORE A GOOOOOAAAALLL!! Give us a reason to live!!" Ah yes...the life of a Revolution fan means a lot of suffering and few wins. ;-)

Prior to the game I worked on the Dribble pass and Shoot competition in the kids play area outside the stadium. It's a national soccer skills compy that starts off at the local level with those who progress through each stage getting to the finals at the MLS Cup at season's end. The skill of some of the kids was amazing. I hope these kids manage to get into good soccer programs. Some of them could well be stars of the future. Also enjoyable was watching the littlest kids attempting the Dribbling run. The pattern was a little complicated, but they were so determined to get through one way or another. Great stuff!

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2000

Answers

How's it going on the football front in the U.S.A these days Ciara? I'm a firm believer that one day, the influence of the various ethnic communities will tell and football will become established in America. That sentence didn't come out as I'd hoped but I think you see what I mean? I love "American" fooball and I like baseball too but great as those games are, they could never have the theatre and excitement of football. It will take time I'm sure but eventually the American public will come to love the game in the way most of the world has.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2000

This season should be an interesting indication of the future. New commissioner, new rules(bringing the league in line with the rest of the world), aggressive new marketing and media coverage, and apparently the patience to build steadily. Though it may actually be the women's game that really takes off, witht the men's game having to ride the coat tails. So far all seems to be going well. The turnout at Foxboro on Saturday night was very impressive. I still haven't heard a figure, but I don't recall seeing the stands so full before. They also learned to sell the seats on the side picked up by tv first. They also moved the volunteers from our usual corner spot over to fill in a section of the expensive seats to reduce the gap in the eye of the tv camera. Not that any of us complained because it put us more in midfield!

As far as the game itself, the younger players starting to come through mixed with the older stars being signed (such as Matheus, Valderama, Harkes, Etcheverry) is raising the standard of play. Also giving fans stars to follow. We're still a good few years off the level of other top leagues in the world, but things do look promising.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2000