Independiente, West Ham, and Peoria

Usually I can't get enough into the summer friendlies or the Open Cup to drive from Pennsylvania. But, I must say that I'm intrigued by all three of these non-season matchups this year.

The Crew with their 2-0 win over RSL, have received the privelege to play here on June 10th.


Against Blanco and the Fire. Peoria is really lucking out with this matchup and it seems that some Crew fans are talking about going. If I can save up enough money maybe I'll ride with a few others.

I'm really interested in this matchup because I would like to see a good Open Cup campaign in honor of Lamar Hunt. We haven't had a good run in that competition for a while.

Then the Crew play Independiente on July 9th.


Independiente finished 9th last year. They have some fierce fans.



Hopefully we can convert one of these Argentinians over to the Crew as our next GBS. Anyways, expect Guillermo to play well in this game as he always seems to excel over his Argentinian brothers.

I would also like to see our team play our starters in both games just to see how good we possibly are on an international level. Because I think we could surprise both West Ham and Independiente.

Talking about West Ham, the Crew play West Ham on July 20th.


The Hammers finished a respectable 10th in the EPL last year and have players like Ljunberg, Boa Morte, Bellamy, and Niell on their team.

All three matchups should be interesting affairs and I'm hoping to make one, if not two of these three contests.

Go Crew!