Reporter's Notebook: MLS Media Cup 2011

Huddling for instructions

What do you get when you put more than 60 members of the media on a soccer field at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., to square off in a round-robin style tournament? Welcome to the 2011 Media Cup — an exhibition match sponsored by Castrol, with teams consisting of soccer writers, photographers and reporters covering the 2011 MLS Cup the next day.

Representing Venues Today, I picked up my customized green jersey, laced up my running shoes and hit the practice field pitches early the morning of Nov. 19. Castrol provided jerseys, water bottles, towels and assorted breakfast snacks for all participants. There were six teams, divided randomly and assigned different jersey colors. I was on the green team. We started off with nine members and, with nine allowed on the field at any time (eight players and one goalie), we were working with no substitute players.

While I usually see not having substitutes as a good thing because it means more playing time, on this occasion we may have been at a disadvantage due to our collective lack of conditioning. I played AYSO soccer for 11 years, so I figured that I would have an advantage over most of the other media members. What I forgot, however, was that these are people who report about soccer for a living, are usually fans and play themselves.

Games were 10 minutes each with no breaks, and 10 minutes goes by quickly when you’re trying to tie up the game. I know this because my team spent most of its time trying to come from behind. Our first two games ended 1-0 and 2-1, not in our favor. However, we must have just been warming up because we won our third game 2-0. Though I didn’t score either goal, I did have a particularly integral slide tackle. Being one of only three women who showed up to play, I was just happy I could keep up with the pace of the game. The yellow team ended up winning the Media Cup.

By the end of the morning it didn’t matter who won the game. Even though we were all wearing different colors, we were all members of the same team. Everyone was sweating, panting and laughing because we had all gotten to spend the morning fumbling, falling — in some cases, bleeding — and getting excited about covering the upcoming MLS Cup by playing our own miniature, less coordinated, version.

See if you can spot me in the green! (Second row, fourth on the left)