NEW YORK – Attending a soccer game at Yankee Stadium is an exercise in bizarre juxtapositions.
On a gorgeous Thursday night in April, fans chanted “olé olé olé olé” under banners of Babe Ruth on the concourse outside. Young men in bright blue scarves animatedly discussed Mix Diskerud’s latest performance while going through security into the House that Jeter Built. Walking through the gate into the stadium, you have to wonder what George Steinbrenner would think about this, may he rest in peace.
(Then you saw the brisk business being done at the concession stands, and imagine old George would probably be just fine with soccer in Yankee Stadium.)
And man, there were people there. Over 20,000 fans showed up at Yankee Stadium on a weekday evening to see New York City F.C., the city’s new MLS expansion team, take on Philadelphia Union in a game that was being branded as a possible new rivalry.
This is part of MLS’ development strategy, these regional rivalries, and similar to the three-team grouping in the Pacific Northwest –Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps – grew to hate each other, driving fan interest and ratings when they played on national TV.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
No one is sure if the NYCFC–Union rivalry will take off. It still feels new, and a bit forced. Then again, NYCFC has existed for what feels like ten minutes, born of the wealth of Manchester City and the New York Yankees and the desire to bring soccer to the Big Apple. (The New York Red Bulls play in Harrison, NJ, which is just a PATH train away, but feels much farther than that.)
Despite being the wrong shape for a soccer venue, Yankee Stadium is surprisingly intimate. The field is packed into the outfield and reaches just to the pitching mound, which is flattened down for every game. (NYCFC’s schedule was worked around the Yankees schedule to give the stadium crew time to set up the field.) Fans in the outfield bleachers really hang just over the field.
The supporters’ section, located in the left field bleachers, is loud and still figuring out what it means to be a supporters’ section. It’s beautifully raw. The fans sing songs, usually made famous by other soccer clubs. (They particularly love an updated version of “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel, which is a mainstay at stadiums on both sides of the pond.) When one group of fans launch into one song, another group of fans will often loudly tell those singing that their song sucks, and launch into a new song.
“We don’t like most of the chants,” said Marvin Blugh, a 25-year-old from Brooklyn who bought season tickets in the bleachers this year. “Feels like we’re ripping off the other teams.”
Blugh attends the games with high school friends Edwin Diaz, a 25-year-old paralegal that grew up in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, and Jonathan and Brian Louie, 25, twins from Brooklyn who work at JP Morgan. The guys all went in for tickets this year because they wanted to see some soccer.
“Plus tickets were also only like $300,” Blugh said. “So we could actually afford them.”
While the guys aren’t sure about all the songs the supporter’s section are signing, the one chant the guys all agree on is one that came up organically, by a fan at the opening game, who loudly proclaimed “New York City ain’t nothing to [expletive] with,” a chant derived from the Wu-Tang Clan song. The other chants may feel more like soccer chants, but this expletive-ridden ode to Wu-Tang felt the most real, and seemed to best capture the attitude of the standing masses in the cheap seats.
The supporters’ section at times feels at much at odds with each other, though they do come together at the right moments to let every member of the Union know how much they hate their freakin’ guts.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
And that’s what is so great about soccer in Yankee Stadium: It feels like New York. The fans aren’t sure how to be soccer fans yet, which is wonderful, because there’s little posturing. The scarves are on, yes, but when the whistle blows, and the ball drops, all pretenses are gone. These are New Yorkers, through and through, and with an overpriced Miller Lite in hand and their chests puffed up proudly, the fans let the expletives rain down on opposing players.
Even when it comes to their own team, the fans are still learning. One fan standing in the bleachers turned to a group next to him and asked the name of the longhaired midfielder – “the one who isn’t Mix” – and someone hastily consulted a program to discover it was Ned Grabavoy.
“Grabavoy,” the first fan repeated, as if tasting the words for the very first time.
The one player everyone did know was David Villa — one of MLS’ newest stars and NYCFC’s first Designated Player signing, a distinction that allows MLS teams to pay players outside the salary cap. Villa is a genius and at the tail end of his prime, but at 33 he can still show flashes of the brilliance that made him a fixture for the Spanish national team for years.
“We gotta get him the ball,” said Diaz, during a disjointed first half. “It’s so simple.”
Villa was playing with a sore hamstring, however, and his usual otherworldly speed was hampered. He looked uncomfortable moving, often thinking about a run then resorting to simple passes. Despite all this, Villa had several moments of brilliance where it was clear he by far the best player on the field.
“Get Villa the ball,” Diaz muttered in the bleachers, to no one in particular. “Just get him the ball.”
At other times, Villa appeared extremely frustrated. Without Diskerud in the midfield for NYCFC (he was resting after a midweek appearance for the U.S. men’s national team against Mexico), Villa had few options in support. As he threw his hands up after another bad pass was played to him, you can only imagine him counting down the days until he is joined by Frank Lampard, the English midfielder who will supposedly join the team from Manchester City later this year.
Lampard’s journey to New York could have books written about it, and is a neat example of everything that’s complicated and weird about MLS. While he first publicly signed with NYCFC as one of its Designated Players, he was quickly “loaned out” to Manchester City, the Premier League club that has the same ownership group as New York. When the loan period was over, however, Lampard stayed in Manchester, much to the confusion of just about everyone.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
It was then revealed that Lampard had never signed with NYCFC at all, but rather signed a contract with the ownership group, giving them free reign to play him wherever they wanted. Complicated? Totally.
Now both sides say Lampard will join New York at the end of the Premier League season. The whole thing has done nothing for the confidence of the new NYCFC fans, who are already sick of being told they’re nothing more than a feeder club to the European giant in Manchester.
Outside the stadium, before the game, a small batch of Philadelphia fans had chanted “Man City JV” as they entered the stadium. One young New Yorker responded by giving the group the finger.
The highlight of the game came in the 57th minute, when Mehdi Ballouchy (who had missed an easy chance in the first half) ripped in a shot in the top corner, then pulled his shirt off to the delight of the fans. He was issued a yellow card for the demonstration, but for how much the gesture endeared him to the NYCFC fans, it was certainly worth it.
From there the fans learned just how uncomfortable a 1-0 lead can be in soccer, as their team dropped deeper and deeper, happy to just boot the ball out and wait for another Philadelphia attack. The fans screamed and pleaded with their team to push up, to hold on to the ball, to do something, but it was all for not. The Union equalized late, with the game ending in a disappointing tie.
One fan in a light blue NYCFC scarf and green Barbour jacket turned to his friend and asked: “Was it the goalie’s fault? I think it was the goalie’s fault.”
The friend wasn’t sure, but that didn’t stop the two of them. They screamed down at the goalie, using a variety of expletives to tell him the goal was very much his fault.
The goal was not at all the goalie’s fault.
After the game, the fans filtered out, still singing, and outside the stadium they congregated under the subway on River Ave. and banged the drums and sang anyway. Soccer is being reborn in NYC, and they weren’t going to let a tie game get in the way of a party.
The heartbreaking late goal also might have given way to that budding rivalry MLS so deeply craves.
“I hate Philly,” said Diaz, as he exited the bleachers. “I hate the Flyers. I hate the Eagles and now I hate the Union.” He paused, then looked back at the field, shaking his head. “And Jay Z’s Made in America Festival? The one he holds in Philly? Screw that, too.”
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