The journey to Houston was uneventful with all the Sereno ‘94 boys and their bags getting on and off the plane. Avis successfully delayed our departure from the car rental center by messing up my van rental. Apparently there is limited value in paying for your vehicle a month before traveling. Our boys exacted revenge by playing football (the American version) in the expansive concourse.
Dinner was pasta and pizza in a restaurant in walking distance from the hotel. It was made more interesting by a gun-toting State Restaurant Inspector making a surprise visit to the restaurant. I asked if the gun was to shoot the rats and bigger cockroaches - he wasn’t impressed.
The Saturday game was crazy early, we were up at 4.00 Phoenix time, 6.00 Houston, for an 8.00 game. Refs thought it was a 9.00 game so we spent an hour waiting for them to arrive. An extra hour in bed would have been nice!
Great game against the U-16’s with Sereno 94’s winning 3-1. Mason scoring one and Riggs two.
Lunch started the Team’s weekend financial support of Buffalo Wild Wings and Which ‘wich. Lots of money spent there between Saturday lunch, dinner, and an impressive Sunday lunch run from the hotel by Brock before heading to the airport.
Houston Dynamo vs Chicago Fire game on Saturday afternoon was fun - most of the boys had never been to an MLS game so it was a new experience. Our seats were on the sunny side of the stadium so we cooked for the first half in the full sun. Most of us moved to the shaded west side for the second half and wondered why we hadn’t moved sooner.
Michael, CJ and Luis bravely joined the rowdy spectators with drums, trumpets and flags behind one of the goals. Between the “music” and the stadium emcee I, and others, were wishing we had taken the complimentary hotel ear-plugs to the game. I’m still not sure why we were given ear-plugs, maybe the hotel management knew about the Dynamo’s emcee and Riggs’s late night phone habits J
The game was a 1 - 1 tie - ‘nuff said.
A most impressive effort during the game coming from two volunteer ball boys, Riggs and Boston, who will be hard to miss if they wear their complimentary MLS day-glo green t-shirts in public.
Sunday morning’s game against the U-18 Academy team was a very different matter - they were much bigger, stronger, faster, and more composed than the U-16's. Understandably a far tougher game than Saturday’s. The 94’s were solid all around, played really well, and won 3-1 with goals from Douglass, Mason, and Riggs. Mason was robbed of a second by a referee unfamiliar with the concept of playing the advantage.
For the record, the U-18’s goalie was a former U-17 player at the US residency program.
Will, Boston, Zach, and Michael were instrumental in the build-up of all three goals (inside parent joke - you had to be there. Even then it is pretty sad and unfunny).
After the game a dash back to the hotel for a quick shower, check-out, jump in the vans and head to the airport (taking care to adhere to all posted speed limits).
A fun weekend. Not sure Bryce will agree as he probably got tired of people like me asking if he feels as bad as he looks - thankfully he didn’t coz he didn’t look good at all (allergies?)
Firstly a big thank you to the boys who were respectful to all, well behaved, largely on time for all the meals, bus departures and curfews - they represented themselves, their parents and Sereno Soccer Club exceptionally well. Second, to Coach David for setting up the weekend with Houston Dynamo and for coaching the team to victories in both games.
And a thank you to my fellow chaperone and van driver Mike T, the Kimmel’s, Michelle H. and Tom Tom (GPS) who either sucked or I couldn’t understand him.
