Questionable Passes Thrown on the Pitch

International soccer had its second go-round at M&T Bank Stadium this past weekend. But before the players even stepped on the pitch, they took a little bus ride up the road to Carroll County.

The day before the match, City players and coaches made their way up to Ravens Training Camp in Westminster where they got to mingle with the likes of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and avid soccer fan/player Trevor Pryce. And after a few pointers from the kicking team, a players attempted field goals...with soccer balls…from the 50-yard line…in street shoes!! To see for yourself, go to City’s website: US Tour: When City met the Ravens

Also, that night the City boys visited the soccer-crazed pub Slainte’s- make sure to check out that story while on City’s site!! Slainte is latest ‘Heart of the City’

Back to Match Day: Baltimore was Manchester City’s last leg on a whirl-wind 4 game US tour as part of their preseason; Inter Milan arrived right off of the jet from Italy to begin their pre-season US tour in Baltimore. The match may have been dubbed a ‘friendly’, however as we all saw it was anything but: a couple scuffles in the first half resulted in three yellow cards and one unfortunate (and suspect) red card against City’s Patrick Vieira- about 25 minutes into the game!! This changed the pace of the whole match, as City had to play a man down the rest of the match. Side note: Red cards are not usually given in friendlies and produced quite an uproar with the crowd, as Inter Milan took full advantage of the situation.



City received another blow when their Manager suddenly needed to travel home for a family emergency.

Despite the World Cup hangover consuming the US, 36,569 fans gathered to see the match. And despite Inter Milan pulling away in the second half, plenty of fans-especially City fans- stayed to continue cheering, chanting, singing and screaming for their favorite team. At one point in the second half City followers could be heard singing “Blue Moon” at the top of their lungs even though City had not scored (for those of you whom are not City followers- it is tradition to play Blue Moon whenever City scores). When the final horn blew, City fans still jumped and screamed for their team, and City players obliged them by throwing shirts and kicking balls into the stands- one player even stood from around the bench area, kicked the ball up into end zone seating where one lucky fan graciously caught it and held on tight.

Many star players from the World Cup sat out on both teams, but you didn’t see any disappointment on the faces of the fans as they were so excited to cheer their favorite teams on in their backyard.

It is safe to say that in the end, while some of us were disappointed (and others delighted) by the score and number of cards given out, everyone had a memorable experience that they will keep with them and always remember that the Game Is In M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore and the State of Maryland and we are Here to Play.