The "Aces in England" blog is designed to give fans an inside look at the UE men's soccer team's spring trip to England by getting the thoughts and perspectives from both an Aces' soccer player and head coach Mike Jacobs. Today's post touch on the trip across the pond and a the Crystal Palace vs. Southampton match that the group attended just after arrival.
Right as we landed in England we were taken directly to the Crystal Palace vs Southampton match. Since we were on the red eye flight the night before, everyone was running off of 3-4 hours of sleep but it was worth it. The atmosphere at the match was incredible. The only thing that felt remotely American was the fact that there were cheerleaders at the game, but they only came out at halftime. We were sitting in what was deemed the neutral section of the stadium. They place this section right next to the away fans which was quite enjoyable as well. I love being a human barrier between two sections of fans. After being at the match though I understand why we are there. I must say that every single cheer from the away fans included something I would not say around to my mom. Overall, it was a fun match to be at with Southampton scoring the only goal.
After the match we took the trip on the bus to our hotel. We had a quick dinner and then everyone had a couple hours until bed. The plan for tomorrow is to tour downtown London and then train with Chelsea coaches at their academy.
Cheers,
Kevin Schafer
After flying through the night from Atlanta, and arriving at London Heathrow at 11:30 AM (or 5:30 AM in Evansville), we hit the ground running...literally.
Most of the guys slept at some point on the plane, but I think most of them were running on adrenaline upon our arrival- knowing that we would be going straight to Selhurst Park to see Southampton play against Crystal Palace. For many of our players, this was the first chance to see a Barclays Premier League match live, and Southampton didn't disappoint with a 1-0 victory. Southampton boasts a number of young stars in English football, and Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw impressed immediately.
As good as the play was, it was the environment at the match that seemed to stand out the most. A standing room only crowd of 20,000+ supporters that sang, chanted and cheered the entire match was something we just don't see back home in any of our sports. Here, attending a match for your team is not just a sporting event, but culturally, it's an experience. Rising sophomore Kyle Richardville commented on the way out following the match that he still couldn't believe he was there. I know that experience will be something these guys will carry with them the rest of their lives, and they certainly will have developed a new level of appreciation for the passion and enthusiasm you need to have to be successful on the field.
A pleasant surprise was running into NSCAA Director of Coaching Emeritus Jeff Tipping, was also there with a team taking a tour. He said he recognized the Aces immediately by our purple jackets. It's always nice to see a friendly face in a foreign land.
Tomorrow (Sunday) will be our first day that we'll take the field, and I know that our players are excited to work with members of Chelsea's coaching staff at their academy facility for our first training session. I'm looking forward to seeing our guys apply lessons learned from watching Premier League matches and from training sessions with coaches of the top clubs in the world.
Yours in Soccer,
Mike Jacobs
