Merseysiders, Everton FC, will visit DSG Park next month in an eagerly anticipated friendly against the Colorado Rapids. I say eagerly anticipated but I wonder how many people in Denver and surroundings are actually eagerly anticipating? I say this because I can't seem to get an answer from the Rapids' ticket guys as to how many tickets have been sold for the game on August 3. I can't help thinking that this lack of information is a little fishy. Anyway, some good news and some bad news for the Nil Satis Nisi Optimum visitors. First, as always, the bad news. Tim Cahill, the Australian midfielder, looks certain to miss the trip Stateside. He has a broken metatarsal and is currently in his homeland seeking treatment. Cahill is, for me, one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premiership. He is strong, physically aggressive and quick and he scores a ton of goals, some of them spectacular as witness the bicycle kick against Chelsea last season (see link below). I am very disappointed he will not be on show at DSG Park because this is one hell of a player. The good news is that central defender, Joseph Yobo, is likely to be in a much better frame of mind if he makes the trip. His brother was eventually released from kidnappers in their native Nigeria this week after 12 days in captivity. Somehow, kidnapping does not seem to be something that you would worry about in Commerce City. We look forward to welcoming Yobo and the rest of the Blues, Cahill excepted, to the game next month. Kick-off is 6pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L-vMRFKoHQ
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6 comments:
Well I have my ticket for section 108 and I'm eagerly anticipating the game. It will be my first chance to see an EPL team live.
Jason, I have no doubt that the true fans will be there. My concern is that the game is not being marketed very well outside of a core group of soccer fans. I personally don't see there should be any doubts that the game should be sold out but I fear it won't be. Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
I am excited to attend the match, but I don't think there's any hope of it being a sell-out. I'm not really sure how the Rapids marketing folks perform a self-evaluation to gauge their effectiveness, but I haven't seen ANY marketing. Nothing. You would think that the Rapids could capitalize on the reputation of Everton and the EPL, but apparently not too much. There is a blurb on the Rapids website, and some mention at DSG during games, but aside from existing ticket holders I don't think that people in Denver have been afforded much visibility. The Rapids marketing prowess appears fairly limited.
Joey, fairly limited is very polite. They should be blanketing this thing all over Denver. Everton will never win the Premiership the way things are now with finances (they did win the old First Division back in 1985-86 when Gary Lineker was the fastest thing on two legs) but they are a good team who did well last year, including in the UEFA Cup. Hope to see you at that game. Can you drop me an email as I would like to set up an alert system for when I put posts on the blog? Thanks for your comment. I would like to run a bit with this story and put some pressure on the front office to sell those tickets.
Well I was talking to an international soccer fan here at my new company on Friday. He hasn't gotten into MLS yet (I'm working on it) but he's seen Roma games in Italy, seen National Team games, etc. He didn''t know Everton was coming. I got him the link to the story on the Rapids site and he's looking into getting a ticket and passing it around to a few other people in the company.
If an self-admitted international soccer fan but not a Rapids fan didn't know about the game how can the average sports fan have any hope of knowing about it?
Good point Jason. It's all very well marketing the game to the established few who will go anyway. The Rapids staff need to get out of their offices and pound the streets of Denver and sell this thing.
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