Brian, Mike & I, Williams Brice Stadium, Columbia, SC
I've only been back from our summer trip for 2 days, when I get in the car again and drive down to Columbia with Mike & his mate, Brian, to go and see Liverpool again. This time against Manchester United. Things did not look good, as were caught in a storm on the way down. So severe, that you could barely see 10 feet out the window. Fortunately it passed quickly.
Getting into the parking lot was a mission. It was so poorly organized it took nearly 45 minutes once we got off the 77. Thankfully we left Charlotte with way too much time. Cowden and their entire clan were tailgating in the parking lot, so we went to hang with them before following the masses into the stadium. Thought we'd get our beers before getting to our excellent seats, (in the Liverpool section, 20 row behind the goal) only for the woman in front of in line to buy the last beer. What? It was still 15 minutes until kickoff.
Liverpool started strong, and within 10 minutes we were up 1-0, when Carvalho put one away from the top of the box at the other end. Before the half Salah made one of his strong runs down the right, his perfect cross hit Curtis Jones in the 6 yard box and we were up 2-0. The game settled a little in the 2nd half, with both teams rotating their squads and bringing on B squads. But we got another. When Liverpool attacked, Jota had a strong shot parried by Onana, straight into the path of Tsimikas, who put the ball in the back of the net. 3-0 us. And before the restart the Liverpool fans were calling for 7 - reflecting the score of the Liverpool win in March 2023. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but I'll take 3-0 over Manchester United any day.
Good atmosphere in this game, maybe slightly better than the Philly game on Wednesday. Coming in it looked like there was going to be a lot more United fans, but inside I thought it was pretty even. And our Liverpool end, while no Kop, was more vocal than Man U's at the other end.
Three Post Scripts:
1) 77,559 is the largest crowd to see a soccer game in South Carolina.
2) If I thought getting into the parking lot was tough, getting out was a clusterfuck on a massive scale. And we were lucky enough to sneak out quickly, then sit in non-moving traffic for over 90 minutes. Surely the stadium and police have had practice with football games for years. We sat within a block of the stadium for longer than a regular trip back to Charlotte should take.
3) A couple of days later I found this picture on Liverpool FC's Facebook page. Obviously I stand out in a crowd when singing You'll Never Walk Alone.
Liverpool 3 (F. Carvalho 10, C. Jones 36, K. Tsimikas 61) defeated Manchester United 0
Crowd: 77,559
