Fun. Lots and lots of fun.

by Mark, Monday, June 22, 2026, 17:31 (35 days ago) @ PMan
edited by Mark, Monday, June 22, 2026, 17:51

The US vs Australia match was a lot of fun.

Our seats were at midfield in the lower bowl about 10 rows up. I dont think I could have picked better seats. We had VIP hospitality passes and got free food and drink from the hospitality area where we stopped by before the game and at halftime. We also had our pictures taken with some guy named Mike Macdonald, bc wth, why not? Right? He was in our hospitality area and available for pictures. We werent really expecting anything like that but when in Rome …

The game … what can I say?

Mauricio Pochettino has the US playing the best soccer I have seen in my lifetime. Australia was never really in the match. The US team dominated possession and was able to create enough opportunities to create an early lead which they never gave up or put at risk. Honestly, for the 2nd time this WC, the US has played up to their potential and much better than history would project.

I really like Pochettino’s strategy of stretching the field extremely wide and when the defense gets overloaded and confused, then attack upfield quickly and lethally.

I have tons of great pics and even a couple good videos of the 2nd goal. No idea how to share any of that stuff here.

Outside of the match, visiting with old friends was just as great as the movies make it out to be. The weather in Seattle was outstanding. Friday after the match we walked around the downtown Seattle area and had dinner at some random crab/seafood spot. We spent Saturday hiking around Bainbridge Island and had a nice dinner at “The Harbour Public House”. One of the places we stopped for a quick visit was the “Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial” which brought attention to the first Japanese Americans interred during WWII (they had been from Bainbridge Island).

I dont think the weekend could have gone any better.

PS. We also had Pedro de la Vega sitting with us, bc it turns out my old ND roommate is really well connected to the US Soccer community, especially in the northwest. De La Vega is an Argentine National playing with the Seattle Sounders. He has played w their U21 national squad, but was injured last season and not in top form for this WC.

Check out this video of Pedro’s goal, which may be one of the most amazing goals I have EVER seen scored in my lifetime: