Futbol

If I had titled this post as "Football" most, if not all, readers would have linked it to American football. This post is about what the rest of the world know as futbol (with a diacritical accent mark above the u), also known as football, or here in the US as soccer. When my boys were in grade school they played soccer for a few years. I actually coached our younger sons team for a couple years. But, I am not writing about second graders playing soccer, but men in their athletic prime playing the "beautiful game". My wife and I attended our first professional soccer game in St Paul, MN on the evening of August 24. It was a great futbol game. We, and my sister and her husband, were invited up by my son and his wife to see a game. The game did not disappoint.

Outside view of Allianz Field before game

The final score was 3 to 2 in favor of visiting Seattle, as opposed to the Minnesota United Loons. Not to be outdone by the NFL, there professional season, for 2024 started in February and the regular season goes to early October. My first thought was that the February and March games would tend to be played at southern locations. I was wrong. Of the nine games, one in February and eight in March, six were played at the Allianz Field in St Paul. Allianz is an outdoor stadium, but has a translucent canopy that extends over much of the seating area. As would be expected in a northern climate where temperatures in February and March can be well below freezing, the field is heated. Playing in cold weather requires other accommodations, such as heating in restrooms, luxury boxes and the concession booths. When the Vikings played a season at the Univ of Minnesota Stadium while their new structure was being built, they had to make accommodations for playing in cold weather as the stadium was built as a three season venue, which generally sees is last game around Thanksgiving time, meaning it lacked proper heating for the winter. 

Field before game

Allianz stadium, opened in April 2019, it took two years and four months to construct. The game attendance was 19,751 (Loons website), although the stadiums listed capacity is 19,600 (Loons website). I am not sure where all the people were, because although the game was well attended, I did see empty seats. 

The attendees were engaged, and the UW students would be proud, or perhaps perturbed, that they have a play on one of the UW student chants X-rated chants at UW football games. My clean ears and mind took awhile, with a question to my son, to have figured it out.  If I was a regular at a UW football attendee, I may well have figured it our right away. At certain corner kicks, why only corner kicks, I don't know why, the fans stand and wave a scarf. Well most do, a woman in the row in front of us and a bit to the right had a scarf but did not wave it. Her male partner was rather enthusiastic about waving his with his left hand and arm, so perhaps she thought he was doing it for the both of them. On  the other hand if she waves with her right, maybe the arms would have become intertwined. She should have been on his left side as the seat to her left was vacant. 

Scarf waving, but for the woman

What was not vacant was the drum playing. Several people, perhaps 12 or more were gathered on a concourse over looking the field end and played their drums. Not any particular tune of which I was aware, but the sound added to the experience. I have to say, when watching the Vikings play, hearing their skol horn is not a delightful sound. It may be because they scored. Because soccer seldom stops play, the drum sound was almost continuous. 

The most unique aspect of this event was not the game, not the sound, not the stadium, but the fact that I found myself rooting for a team from Minnesota. I attended a Minnesota Twins game several years ago in Minneapolis, but more for the enjoyment than to root for a team. But, here I found myself rooting for the Loons. Was it old age? Have I become less suspicious of Minnesota, the Wisconsin rival to the west? I think it is the fact that Minnesota has the Loons, and Wisconsin lacks professional soccer, although Madison has a semi-pro team in the Flamingos. The neat thing was watching players who likely have played against the best soccer player in the world--the left footed Lionel Messi. Messi now plays for Miami, formally known as "Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami"  I am sure if the Loons were playing Inter Miami CF, the stadium would have been more than sold out, and people would have arrived early to watch the match. I think it is great that Messi, in the twilight of his career (he is 37), plays in the US, and by doing so likely takes the game in this nation to a whole other level. Too bad, the US Men's national team did not do better at the Paris Olympics

Game attendees

Soccer is an international game, and the next world cup, in 2026, will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. Minneapolis, along with Chicago and Vancouver, dropped out of consideration of being a host city due to the international federation (FIFA) not wishing to discuss financials. Hence, the only Midwest location is Kansas City. The international nature of the game, makes for diverse team rosters. 

US football rosters have few international athletes. But, the differences are remarkable for games that share the same name variation. First, in football the clock counts down, in soccer it counts up. In soccer extra time is added for certain stoppages, this does not occur in football. In football there are plays with downtime in between, in soccer there are plays, but the game keeps moving.

Years ago, I was working at a KC bottle toss game at a festival. Working with me were the then head coach of Sun Prairie High School's football team, and another man who I do not recall. I was in my early twenties, and found their conversation of the expected effect on high school football, where the coach was afraid of declining numbers, and a decline in quality. I do not think high school football has been negatively impacted. Boys soccer and football share the same season in Wisconsin interscholastic high school athletics. 

Allianz Field

The point is that football is still king in the United States. In my opinion the NFL and college football are getting too big for their own good. As i write this, the Packers are expected to play The Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Palo, Brazil, the first NFL game in South America. In fact, showing the hubris of the NFL, the color green is banned at the stadium in which they are playing as it is the color of the teams biggest rival. (Do you know why purple is the Viking's color? If you had been choking for 60 years you would be purple too.) The way I look at it, in rooting for the Minnesota United Loons, I was rooting for an underdog. Which they probably were, as in their division they were in 9th position, to Seattle's 7th place. Futbol is a dynamic game to watch, although watching a March game at Allianz Field could be rather cold.