So I grew up in England but i have lived in Los Angeles for ages. I go to the University of Southern California right by downtown LA. The Argentina national squad was in town this week to play Guatemala for a friendly. One of my good friends is of Argentinian heritage. In fact, his dad actually knows a lot of people in the Argentinian national team's infrastucture. So my friend called me on monday afternoon as i was walking home after class and tells me that the Argentina team will be practicing on the USC girl's practice football (he said soccer) field. So I wander over there and there are a bunch of people standing outside the gating. My friend shows up with his dad and brother. Their dad walks with some official looking man onto the pitch itself, his sons follow, and I take my opportunity, put on my best 'Don't worry, I am important' face on and waltz right onto the pitch. It was great, got to see the team practicing from about five feet away.
Went to the game on wednesday, in which Argentina hammered Guatemala 5-0, Masch played for 90 mins. My friend went back to the team's hotel with his dad (with my liverpool top in tow). He called me just now, said that Masch was one of the most genuine football players he ever met. I requested that masch sign it 'Tom Hicks is shit,' but that didn't really work out. He did ask him, however, and this is the important part, what he thought of Tom Hicks--to which Masch replied 'if he signs me, i'll love him, otherwise he's eh' (y'know, one of those 'eh's' that signifies a non-vehement dislike. Anyway, I was under the impression that masch was signed already, but the horse's mouth says otherwise.
Interesting...