My First Philadelphia Union Soccer Game

I’m not sure what took me so long to attend a Philadelphia Union game, but I finally crossed it off my bucket list last night.

Somehow, the rain that barraged our neighbors only a few miles west, avoided us totally. The threat of weather may have kept a few people home which left more than a few empty seats around the gorgeous PPL Park, so lines were comfortably short for Cheryl’s food. 

I’m still learning the nuances of soccer but the objective is simple -- navigate that huge field to get the ball in the net.

The Union served at a perfect host to their New England challengers by allowing them 3 goals before half time. The fans, still hopeful, were not too amused by the efforts of their team as I heard many of them express what was going wrong in soccer lingo (which I didn’t understand), and with some bad words, (which I understood perfectly).

In the locker room at halftime, I imagine some more bad words may have been heard along with some clipboards being tossed because the Union came out in the second half with a new life and scored 3 goals to finish the game with a 4-4 tie. 

Soccer is the only sport I know where fans would love a win and hate a loss but are eligible to relish in the satisfaction of a tie. I’ve always wondered how opposing fans would react to each other after a game in the event of a tie. Do they high-5 each other to celebrate their tie?

Obviously, there were no New England fans at the game last night. In fact, I’ve never seen so many fans wearing team apparel. At least a couple thousand fans could have entered the game and fit in as a Union player before they’d be identified as a ticket holder. (If they wore fluorescent colored soccer shoes they may never be forced back to their seats).

There’s only a few home games left and I may try to get back to Seaport Drive and see another game. I’ll make sure to fit in by wearing my new Freddy Adu jersey. 

I thank the two guys who made my night enjoyable. I’ll protect your names to keep the comments down. 

The #1 viewed C-CityBlogger video is opening day at PPL Park. Check it out if you missed it last year.