The men's soccer team will be sending occasional updates while on their trip to Europe. Visit this story to find out how things are going for the team. UPDATED WITH PHOTO GALLERY ON 3/30.
Final Photo Gallery
Blog 4: Monday, March 22, 2010 - Photo Gallery
Sunday the team went to see Real Madrid's reserves play at Real's training facility. They played Sporting Gjilon's reserves who were noticeably older than Real's reserve team. Real surprisingly lost the game 3-2 in added time. Afterwards the team went on an exciting tour of downtown Madrid. Our guide told us that Sundays are very quiet, however the atmosphere and activity in the city center proved otherwise. The streets were full of people going into shops and watching the street performers. Sunday was a very busy and exciting day.
Monday morning the team had a training session ran by one of the local professional coaches here at the Ciudad del Futbol. His schedule included a lot of technical work with the team during the hour and a half session. It was also a physically demanding session considering we had a match scheduled later in the day. In the afternoon we played an area club team called Rayo Majadahonda. They were a very technical & skillful team. The first half was played very evenly seeing our Warhawks come up short despite creating some excellent scoring opportunities including a great strike from 25 yards that came off of the post. Rayo scored a late first half goal on a very well taken free kick. As expected the fatigue from the trip and the tough training session in the morning impacted the team as we eventually ran out of energy in the 2nd half and lost the match 3-0. All things considered our Warhawk team played well, and everyone got an opportunity to play so it was certainly a successful day.
Tuesday morning we had a light training session followed by the opportunity to watch either the Spanish women's national team train or a 2nd division team train. Afterwards the team had lunch and is now preparing to go back into Madrid for an exciting afternoon & evening. This afternoon the team will get a tour or Real Madrid's stadium and museum, then go for a typical Spanish dinner with Tapa's and then a Flamenco performance.
The team is doing really well, and having a great time.
Blog 3: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Thursday night's UEFA match at Craven Cottage between Fulham and Juventus turned out to be an extra special treat. When we arrived we found out we were sitting front row, 6 feet from the field...Awesome! Then as the match unfolded it appeared that Fulham was on a path to get a much needed 4-1 victory to advance. Clint Dempsey came on to score the 4th goal by chipping the goalkeeper. Some Fulham supporters said after the game that Dempsey's goal was one of the best and most important goals in Fulham history. The goal made ESPN's top 10 list the next day. We are definitely thankful for the unique opportunities this trip to London has provided us.
Today, Saturday, we met the team at the Madrid airport. It was great to see them. Once we got to the hotel the team had lunch, then went to the fields for a light training session. We are practicing at the Spanish National team's training facility, it is a first class facility.
Tonight we went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid's stadium) to see them play Sporting Gjilon. It is a huge stadium seating 85,000 people and was completely full. It didn't matter how tired the team was from their travels they didn't miss a second of the match. It was a great game as Gjilon took an unexpected 1-0 lead that lasted less than 5 minutes as Real scored 2 quick goals. Real ended up winning 3-1. Seeing Christiano Renaldo was a treat and it was clear why he is known as one of the best players in the world.
Sunday will provide the opportunity to see the reserve teams play from Real Madrid & Sporting Gjilon as well as tour the dowtown district of Madrid. We will have a team dinner back at the hotel and a free night to relax and get ready for a busy week...
Blog 2: Thursday, March 18, 2010
We fortunately got great seats on Tuesday to the Champions League match at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea & FC Internazionale. It was a great environment and tremendous match between two European soccer powers. Inter played a good match with a well executed game plan to win 1-0 and move onto the quarterfinals with a 3-1 aggregate score.
We were even luckier to see John Terry in the hotel lobby where we were staying that night. Being a huge Chelsea supporter, Coach Quamme took the opportunity to say hi to him.
Wednesday & Thursday we went to Chelsea FC training facility to watch some of their academy players train and watch their first team train as well. Their owner Roman Abramovich has spent millions upgrading this facility including fingerprint security into the first team's facility.
Tonight we are going to see another special UEFA match between Fulham & Juventus at Craven Cottage. Tomorrow we relax a bit before getting on a plane to head to Madrid, Spain where we are looking forward to connecting with our Warhawk Soccer team.
GO WARHAWKS!
Blog 1: Monday, March 15, 2010
The Warhawk Soccer coaching staff is flying out of Chicago tonight and will touch down in London, England Tuesday morning. After arrival on Tuesday night we will be attending one of the biggest matches in Europe this year at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC v. FC Internazionale. Besides this being the 2nd leg of this Champions League fixture, witnessing the return of Jose Morenho to Stamford Bridge will certainly make this a special night in London.
Wednesday we will attend Chelsea's academy program for training sessions and coaching clinics.
Thursday we will get to attend Chelsea's first team training session and see Drogba, Ballach, Terry, Malouda, Kalou and the rest. Thursday night we will be attending the Champions League Europa 2nd leg match between Fulham & Juventus at Craven Cottage.
Check back for regular updates of our time in England and Spain with the Men's team. In addition, stay updated by following Warhawk Soccer tweets and facebook postings. GO WARHAWKS!
