Our own resident soccer guy, Nick Rogers, went to the PSG vs. Inter Milan soccer game on Sunday and wrote this piece on his day:
I’ve been to Autzen a lot. The first time was when I was a junior in high school touring colleges, then a couple dozen Duck football games, intramural championships, flag football tournaments, and then yesterday an international soccer friendly. It was completely different going to a game as a fan. As a student I walked over with friends to games, waited in line hours before the game to stand in the student section. Or parking at the Duck Store parking lot to walk in and watch my friends compete for an Intramural Championship T-shirt (never won one of those, I’m pretty upset about it). Sunday, I had to pay for parking, walked in through the North Stadium entrance instead of the student entrance on the south side, and then Autzen itself was different. Covered in grass, with soccer lines painted on it.
Oregon didn’t just go out and cover the field in grass; they cut a checkered pattern into it. They went all out. The advertisement boards around the edge of the field, the nets, the grounds crew, the merchandise booths, all of it made Autzen feel different. The fans there made Autzen feel different. It was strange and beautiful, weird and right, all at the same time. The people at the game made it feel right and normal.
I don’t know what’s weirder. Seeing ICC soccer at Autzen or real grass on the field. Either way, should be fun. pic.twitter.com/OtHsKRdPps
— Kristen Rodgers (@KristenERodgers) July 24, 2016
THE GAME
I was in section 21, right behind the goal at the east end of the stadium where PSG came out of the same tunnel that the away team at Ducks games would use. The keeper warm ups were the most active. The coach was firing shots at the PSG goalie, Areola Alphonse, to his left, the right, and not once while Alphonse was in the net during warm ups did the ball get into the net. The rest of the team didn’t take as many shots in warm ups as I thought they would, but still no one scored when he was in net. Alphonse is only listed at 6’3”, but standing in front of the goal he looked like his head was about to hit the crossbar (those are at 8 feet high) if he stood on his tippy-toes.
There were plenty of PSG fans that swarmed the tunnel hoping for a high five from a favorite like Di Maria, Cavani, or Thiago Silva. Even fans in Milan jerseys get as close to the field as they could to try and get a glimpse of these otherworldly football superstars. Once the game was underway, it was easy to see why these players are on the best teams in the world. They are fast, agile, and smooth off the ball and then become technical wizards when on the ball with fancy footwork, jukes, and back-heel passes.
Here are the first two goals of the game, nothing too special, just a defender un marked to score the goal, and then a penalty kick right at the end of the half. The teams were not ready for the heat, and might have over worked themselves a little too early on in the game, leading to not a lot of chances or shots outside of the goals. Still, two goals in the first half is a great start to any soccer game, and made me feel optimistic about the 2nd half.
Serge Aurier scores the first goal of the match:
Stevan Jovetić scores Inter Milans only goal on a penalty kick at the end of the first half:
In the 2nd half it was a lot more fun watching PSG attack. Hatem Ben Arfa on the wing was a magician with his footwork. At one point he stood still and flicked his feet around the ball and almost had a Milan defender fall onto his back. That got a lot of “oohs” and “aahhs” from the fans watching.
Then a wonderful free kick that broke the 1-1 tie in the second half was the moment of the game. French defender Kurzawa bent his free kick in the smallest opening in the Milan wall and the keeper had no chance as the ball went in the bottom corner. I love the call on this by Jon Champion of ESPN.
Watching from behind the goal, the ball came out of nowhere and was in the net before I knew what had happened. It came with such pace, that there was no chance the Milan keeper would have never gotten a chance to save it. The cheer after the goal was by far the loudest part of the game until late in the match until PSG subbed on Angel Di Maria and Edison Cavani; the big names the 24,147 fans showed up to see. After the 90 minutes were played, it was PSG 3-1 over Inter Milan in what was a very fun friendly to watch.
Serge Aurier scores his second goal of the game:
ATMOSPHERE
This is what lacked Sunday. I never thought that this was going to have an equal atmosphere of a Timbers game, or a derby match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, but I did think that there might be more PSG and/or Inter Milan fans from France and Italy that were “super fans” to start chants and songs for the players. It seemed to me that the crowd was mostly American fans from the Pacific North West there to get a glimpse of their favorite players, and enjoy the Eugene Summer sun. There was a small pocket of fans that tried to start up some chants, but none of them really stuck.
There was lots of conversation between people during the game, at the start I over heard the occasional “which team is which again?” or “who should we root for?” It was similar to being at a baseball game where everyone talked amongst him or herself and then clapped after a shot was taken. I wasn’t expecting it to sound like a Milan home game, but I wasn’t expecting mostly quiet from the rest of the crowed.Maybe it was just quiet because people were so excited about seeing the game, and really wanted to take in the action. Which is the best way for people to get into watching and paying attention to soccer, whether it be the MLS, Premier League, or maybe even becoming fans of PSG or Inter Milan. What better team to root for than one you’ve seen, right?
In the end, I would call the International Champions Cup match at Autzen a big success. Nothing went wrong with the fans, the field for being put together a few days prior, and there were “wow” moments from the big name players that got some good playing time. I would not be surprised if the ICC decides to keep Autzen on their list of stadiums for future tournaments.
Other notes:
Some of the lucky listeners that won tickets by listening to Crunch Time and Sports Talk shared some pics as well:
@953TheScore @SportsTalk953 thanks for the tickets KUJZ!!! pic.twitter.com/Gx54epfoD3
— Kurt Young (@SirDuxALot) July 24, 2016
Beautiful day in Eugene as always. I'm almost certain I'm the only #Everton fan here today. @EvertonUSA #ICC2016 pic.twitter.com/XdZ37r9HQl
— Rick Nogers (@ricknogers) July 24, 2016
Loved the fans that wore their favorite teams jersey, that weren’t PSG or Milan. Some of the ones I spotted walking around were:
- Bayern Munich
- Tottenham
- Chelsea
- AC Milan (Inter Milans main rival)
- Barcelona
- Juventus
- Real Madrid
- Arsenal
- Dortmund
- Portland Timbers
- Everton (the jersey I wore, I was the only Everton fan there I think)
- F.C. Bournemouth
Even more surprising than the Bournemouth jersey sighting was that I didn’t see a single Leicester city jersey. I thought for sure the Premier League Champions that came from 5,000-1 odds to win the title didn’t strike a chord with anyone in Eugene.
