Football...Soccer...whatever you call it

This year has been a total overload of football (or soccer, if you prefer). It started with the World Cup, and watching the matches live at the stadium was something I had always dreamed about. Getting to watch a group-stage match (Swe vs Jpn), then the Round of 16 (Nor vs Civ) as my son wanted to see Haaland, followed by the semifinals between France and Spain was an exhilarating experince at the Dallas Stadium. And finally, being able to watch the crowning jewel—the final between Argentina and Spain at Metlife was quite the finish to this extraordinary few weeks! (How we got to the finals and managed to see the match is a story for another day and another blog of its own. All I can say is - I have started to like Baltimore!)

The only thing I would have liked to add to this list would have been to see England (and Bellingham). That would have been the cherry on the top. The other sore point was that Italy yet again managed not to qualify for the World Cup—the third one in a row. Hoping to see them someday.

Having watched all that, the best match for me was not any of those, but a friendly at Soldier Field—Liverpool vs the mighty Whites, LEEDS UNITED. This was absolutely amazing. It’s not every day that I get to see Leeds play, living so far away from the Premier League. The match was also a cracker, with Leeds conceding two in the first half but scoring four in 25 second half minutes to end with a convincing win and send many of the Liverpool fans home early.

Belting out Marching On Together with the Leeds Army is something I will cherish forever! With all of us decked out in the white of Leeds, the scarves, my kids with painted faces, and the pre-game meet up with Beckford and others made this football year very close to perfect!

Marching on Together!