It was an evening of blood, sweat and tears - and I am not talking about the game:

The LA Galaxy - FC Barcelona game tonight, played at the Rose Bowl (in Los Angeles) put the city, its infrastructure and organization skills to shame  - I have never in my life experienced such misconduct (and, having lived in the Middle East, I know what discorder can mean). After my experience tonight, I am actually looking forward to the South African chaos next summer:

Already the "parking lot", to which one arrived after ca. 2 hous of bumper-to-bumper-traffic was something maybe fitting a village in a Third World Country, but not a metropolitan like L.A.: On the mawn of a golf course, with practically no sections or numbering, and - about 3km/2 miles away from the stadium (the price for parking was very much First World, though)...

After a not-so-short walk -we arrived a few minutes before the game- comes the next shock: The tunnel to the stadium is closed! So the four of us couldn't enter the stadium where our numbered and paid seats were. If that wasn't enough, there were no television screens outside to update us on the event. We then missed the first goal (Pedro Rodriguez for FC Barcelona, in the first half) completely, only having heard the screaming from the outside of the tunnel.

It took another 20 minutes until the tunnel was finally opened. The usher then led us to our section where we -and quite a few other fans who had paid hard money for their tickets- saw that our seats where already taken. All of us where then led back to the tunnel where we were told that once outside, we could not reenter the stadium.

Neither customer service (one women whose only mantra was "I can't really do anything for you") was of any help nor was there a representative of the ticket sale. The administrative offices were heavily guarded and closed to us - an ever growing people of football fans who wanted to use the rare opportunity to see the best of European football in Los Angeles - something that comes along maybe once in a blue moon. There, at least, was a television where we could see David Beckham's goal - a free kick in the 44th minute (as is widely known, Beckham can't really score when the ball is moving).

At half-time, we were given the option to see the second half, which was hardly a reembursement. To treat paying football fans like this -and especially in economic times like these- was, to say the least, not fair play.

The game itself, by the way, ended 2:1 for Barcelona (Jeffren Suarez scored the second goal in the 67th minute) and had a record attendance of  93,137 fans. Only to bad then, that LA Galaxy had apparently sold out not only the stadium but also their honor.

SHAME ON YOU, LA GALAXY!