June 12, 2010: USA vs. England and the "Hand of Clod"

You've heard of "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29"? Well…

June 12, 2010: Soccer's World Cup continues in South Africa. The U.S. team plays England at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg. The teams had played each other in a few games of low meaning, but hadn't played in a game that truly mattered since 1950, when the U.S. shocked England in the World Cup in Brazil.

This time, the U.S. is better than it was in 1950, but this is England's "Golden Generation": Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson of Liverpool; Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole of Chelsea; Wayne Rooney of Manchester United; Ledley King, Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch of Tottenham Hotspur; and former Liverpool star Emile Heskey and future Liverpool star James Milner, both of Aston Villa.

The U.S. have no chance. An English paper, The Sun, had described Group C as "EASY: England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks." (Hardly the 1st thing that rag got wrong.) On ABC, former Liverpool legend Steve McManaman says England will win 3-1.

Sure enough, Gerrard gives England an early 1-0 lead. But shortly before halftime, goalkeeper Robert Green of West Ham United mishandles a shot by Clint Dempsey, and the ball goes into the net, stunning everyone.

During halftime, Mike Tirico tells the audience that he'd just explained to McManaman who Bill Buckner was, referencing the most famous error in baseball history, in the 1986 World Series. The game ends "USA Beats England, 1-1."

Two different English newspapers, the Daily Mirror and the News of the World, did a takeoff on Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" cheat for Argentina against England in the 1986 World Cup: They called Green's howler the "Hand of Clod."

If, as the only saying from American football goes, "A tie is like kissing your sister," then, for the Americans, this tie was like kissing your sister's really nice-looking best friend; while, for England, this tie (they would say, "draw") was like kissing your sister's other best friend -- you know, the one with the "great personality."

Elsewhere that day, Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 at Johannesburg, and South Korea beat Greece 2-0 at Port Elizabeth.

The U.S. and England both advanced to the Knockout Stage, and both lost in the Round of 16.

UPDATE: They would play each other again in the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, with England again favored. That would also be a draw, 0-0.

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June 12, 2010 was a Saturday. American-style football was out of season. Hockey season had ended 3 days earlier, when the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Finals to win the Stanley Cup. The NBA Finals were between Games 4 and 5, and the Los Angeles Lakers went on to beat the Boston Celtics in 7 games.

And these games, mostly Interleague, were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Houston Astros, 9-3 at Yankee Stadium. Javier Vázquez was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter hit 2 home runs, and Jorge Posada also hit a homer.

* The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Florida Marlins, 6-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Nationals, 7-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-5 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Carlos Guillén win it with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 1-0 at Coors Field in Denver. Jason Hammel pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Manny Corpas finished the 4-hit shutout.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

June 2, 2013: U.S. Soccer's 100th Anniversary Game

June 2, 2013: The U.S. Soccer Federation celebrates its 100th Anniversary with a game at the closest thing it has to a "national stadium," Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. The match, an exhibition or "friendly," was between the U.S. team and Germany, seen by 47,359 paying customers, myself included.

The U.S. got a goal by Jozy Altidore (then playing with Dutch team AZ Alkmaar) and an own goal by the German goalkeeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen (of Borussia Mönchengladbach), and were up 2-0 in the 16th minute. I was in the upper deck, behind a corner, in what would have been center field in RFK’s baseball configuration, surrounded by German fans, and they were stunned.

They were stunned, but not distressed: After all, this was not a competitive match, nor was it a full-strength Germany team. Of the 20 players on their roster, 17 of whom they sent into the game, only 3 would appear for them in the 2014 World Cup Final: Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04 of Gelsenkirchen, Germany), Miroslav Klose (Rome team SS Lazio), and, very briefly at the end of that final, Per Mertesacker.

(In addition to Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski played in this game. It marked the 1st time I had ever seen current Arsenal players play. I had seen Mesut Özil play live at Yankee Stadium the previous Summer, but he was with Real Madrid at the time. The following Summer, I saw Arsenal play the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.)

Heiko Westermann (Hamburger SV) scored in the 51st minute, but Clint Dempsey (North London team Tottenham Hotspur) scored in the 60th, and again in the 65th, to make it 4-1. Max Kruse (SC Freiburg) scored in the 78th, and Julian Draxler (Schalke) scored in the 81st, to get Germany to within 4-3, but the U.S. hung on to win.

Ironically, the U.S. manager was one of Germany’s greatest players, Jürgen Klinsmann. The legendary player for VfB Stuttgart had this habit of guiding the U.S. team to big wins in friendlies, including away to Germany, the Netherlands and Italy; but not in games that actually counted for something.

RFK Stadium, built in 1961 as District of Columbia Stadium (or "D.C. Stadium"), and renamed for the assassinated Presidential candidate, U.S. Senator, and former U.S. Attorney General in 1969, had been home to baseball's Washington Senators (1962-71) and Washington Nationals (2005-07); the NFL's Washington Redskins (1961-96) and the USFL's Washington Federals (1983-84); and the football teams of George Washington University (1961-66) and Howard University (1974-76), and the Military Bowl (2008-12).

More to the point, it was home to these professional soccer teams: The Washington Whips of the North American Soccer League (1967-68), the Washington Diplomats of the NASL (1974, and again 1977-81), Team America of the NASL (1983), a new version of the Diplomats in the American Soccer League (1988-90), D.C. United of Major League Soccer (1996-2017), and the Washington Freedom of the Women's United Soccer Association (2001-03). It hosted more U.S. national team matches than any other facility, 25; 5 matches of the 1994 World Cup; and 9 matches of the 1996 Olympics (with most sports held in Atlanta).

But with every team that had played there having moved out, it was scheduled for demolition in 2022, so that a new stadium for the NFL team, now named the Washington Commanders, could be built on the site, so they can get out of their unpleasant stadium in the suburbs of Landover, Maryland. (UPDATE: The stadium was demolished in 2023.)

*

June 2, 2013 was a Sunday. This was also the day the HBO series Game of Thrones aired the murder scene known as "The Red Wedding." I have a separate entry for that event.

American-style football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were approaching a climax. The next day, the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers to win the Eastern Conference title, and went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.

In hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago, to win Game 2 of the NHL Western Conference Finals. The Hawks took a 2-0 series lead. The day before, the Boston Bruins had taken a 1-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Hawks would beat the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals, 4 games to 2.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. The game was called in the middle of the 6th inning, due to rain. (It had threatened to rain in Washington all day, but it only really started as we came out of RFK Stadium. The real problem was the 90+ degree heat.) Clay Buchholz allowed only 3 baserunners: A walk by Robinson Canó in the 1st inning, a single by Ichiro Suzuki in the 2nd, and a single by Austin Romine in the 3rd.

* The New York Mets lost to the Miami Marlins, 11-6 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Despite the threat of rain, they got the entire game in.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Despite the threat of rain, they got the entire game in.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Travis Snider singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-3 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-0 at Target Field in Minneapolis. How many Twins pitchers does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? This time, 4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb or Arlington, Texas.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Petco Park in San Diego. Mark DeRosa hit a home run in the top of the 11th, and the Jays got 2 more runs to put the game away.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). How many A's pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout? This time, 4.