In what was a treat to footy fans throughout the region, the vaunted Chelsea FC took to the X-Box Pitch for a training session in front of approximately 4,000 fans wearing mostly Chelsea gear.
The Blues received a loud ovation as they took to the pitch for warm-ups. Defenders, Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole (former teammate of Freddie Ljungberg at Arsenal) John Terry, midfielders Deco, Michael Essian Frank Lampard, striker Didier Drogba and goalkeeper Petr Cech were just some of the stars on hand that punted mini soccer balls into the stands to a cheering crowd.
To Continue...
Today's match-up is the first match for Chelsea as they launch their 2009/2010 campaign. Chelsea tied European Champion Barcelona in their second match of the semi final round of the UEFA Champions league but Barcelona advanced on the aggregate and defeated Manchester United to win the European Championship. Barcelona will visit the Emerald City next month and face Sounders FC.
Chelsea did walk away with some hardware at the end of the 2009 season by defeating Everton to win the FA cup.
The two clubs have met before...
The last time Sounders FC played Chelsea was back in 1977 with the Sounders winning that friendly 2-0. Back then Chelsea had just been promoted back to what was then the English 1st division after being relegated in 1975. Several years after that the club was promoted and relegated several times up until 1989. Since then the club has remained in the various incarnations of Division 1 soccer which is now known as the Barclay's English Premier League.
SFI TV (HD)
SFI TV takes you onto the pitch for some sites and sounds at Chelsea FC training yesterday at the X-Box Pitch at Qwest Field
Reach Greg Roth at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
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