Pre-match build-up
Mid-match mundanity

Our opening senior game of the season saw Bobby's boys stumble to a well-deserved defeat in the RFK Stadium here in a humid (but bearable) Washington DC on Saturday evening.

Goals from the home team after 28 (Jaime Moreno), 33 (Carlos Llamosa) and 51 minutes (Pete Marino) were answered by a solitary 67th minute debut close-in effort from Magpie man of the match Daniel Cordone.

Without being unduly harsh on the Premiership side in their first competitive action since the Trinidad & Tobago stroll, they were rotten. An underwhelming opening selection and later substitutions did little to provide any cheer, and with the home side seemingly having a point to prove to their own fans after a desperately disappointing league campaign, the English visitors provided little obstacle to a morale-boosting home win.

Aside from the muscular efforts of Cordone, and second half flurries from Dyer and Gavilan, the considerable toon-attired presence at RFK had little to cheer apart from the second half introduction of Alan Shearer. New boys Cort and Bassedas put in performances lacking in memorable moments, but the expensive former Womble at least showed some individual skill on the ball - hopefully the linkup play with his colleagues will appear in the coming weeks.

All in all, plenty for Bobby to ponder on before the second Stateside outing on Wednesday, but nothing to get too worked up about, in stark contrast to some of the locals, who appeared to believe their victory worthy of at least medal-awarding status.

NUFC: Given (Harper 46 mins), Barton (Griffin 46 mins) Hughes, Dabizas, Goma, Bassedas (Kerr 76 mins), Speed (Gavilan 46 mins), Gallacher (Glass 46 mins), Cort (Shearer 68 mins), Cordone, McClen (Dyer 46 mins).

Local sources confirmed that Domi sat out training, and Hughes had been sidelined with an ankle problem (obviously minor) while inevitably Duncan Ferguson didn't train with the team, instead being put through his paces in the..swimming pool. Anybody know of a waterpolo outfit with money to burn looking for a big lad to stand in the deep end ?

One or two familiar faces were spotted in the crowd (17,610), but in the main the non-DC contingent were mostly made of shirt-wearing USA (and Canadian) based Magpies. For many of them it was a rare chance to see their heroes in action, while of course for some it was a live debut - best forgotten about really.

PS - Wrote the above at 03:45 DC time, having just returned from the Dubliner pub, where drink was taken. Thanks to everyone who took time out to drop by and say hello....

Post-Match Reaction: US Style

A selection of quotes and comments from the DC press:

From Moonie-underwritten rag Washington Times, wor Bob is quoted about the DC performance, in particular attacker Marco Etcheverry:

"The guy with the long hair was a clever player. He had a great pass. He was a bit lazy but he had a clever pass and a sweet left foot."

The same paper then went on to describe us as the "Baltimore Orioles of the English Premier League", which presumably means something to someone, somewhere... 

Meanwhile in the Washington Post, DC defender Carey Talley commented:

"We thought this was a real big game...it's a great opportunity to be seen by people on that team and to play against the best in the world."

However, the following extract from the match report takes the prize:

"Moreno faked out Newcastle midfielder McClen with a little right-foot juke and cranked a left-footed laser from the top of the box that found the net's upper left corner and gave DC a 1-0 lead."

Talking to CNN later, Robson commented on his own boys' performance:

"We conceded two goals here today, with the one in the corner which normally we solve and a second goal from a silly throw-in, when I think four of our players were asleep in the locker room or asleep. I am satisfied with the game; we would have liked to have won, but it is not a disaster for us."

Biffa

Reports