Beware the Steel Diesel!

On the tube ride from the airport to Wembley, I randomly ran into Amy from Detroit (you'll remember her from last summer) and her man, MakingNews. Turns out they were headed to the Green Man as well so they guided me up the hills around Wembley to the bed and pub.

The night before, several US fans played a group of English fans in a supporters match. The US prevailed 7-3! Congrats to all who took part in that thrashing.

There were about 300 fans at the Green Man. Beer was plentiful and they set up a burgers and sausage cookout for us. Best explained by the pictures to come, but I now understand why the English were so persnicketty about the sausage/bun setup in Germany. I met up with Alex and his cousin, rafael along with Chase and Dan from the SoCal brigade.

We made our way down to the stadium, which is nothing short of breathtaking, and actually made it in before they cut off the beer sales. You may remember my rant on this from the last trip to London. We engaged some cops with funny hats in conversation and they were shocked that so many yanks came over for the relatively meaningless match.

Our seats were prime - third row in the corner of the stadium. Randomly seated next to Amy from Detroit and MakingNews, which proved to be important later as she calmed me when a few idiot english who managed to get tickets in the away section got under my skin. These dolts were downright obnoxious and had no knowledge of the game. English fans feel the need to make themselves feel relevant and its comical.

At one point, one of them mentioned how I was going to get my ass kicked by he and his mate.
I laughed, turned around and stood up and proclaimed myself the "Steel Diesel". Clearly the beer I chugged at halftime did indeed contain alcohol.

Tensions calmed and we all had a good time despite the result. I'll admit that it was hard not to cheer when Stevie G put one in. After the game, we made our way back to the green man and then headed out for some late night curry.

I've been walking around a rainy london today in search of an ireland kit but have had no luck at all. I got to see the new liverpool and chelsea kits though and they look fantastic. Well, at least the liverpool one did. The chelsea kit looks like it will be a suitable fill-in if you ever run out of charmin extra soft.

Off to meet up with a friend before heading to the cottage!

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