Saturday evening in Cary was special.

North Carolina FC played host to Premier League side Swansea City AFC. Earlier in the week, the club showed off their #919toMLS bid (we have a full recap of the rally here). But this was an exciting weekend and a chance to put all the MLS expansion talk aside.

I took my nine year old neighbor to the game with me so I had some company. We left for the game early so we could tailgate and buy some merch before the game, so we got out to WakeMed Soccer Park around 6:15. I walked to the Oak City Supporters tent to hang out; it’s always a blast to go and meet new friends and talk soccer. We walked in the gates once they opened… the lines were long, but Circle K had a tent at the entrance to win some free prizes (who doesn’t like free stuff?).

Once we made it in, the North Carolina Education Lottery had a booth with a prize wheel with a ton of prizes on it. I won a free t-shirt and three $50 scratch off tickets.

I walked around and sat in the North Stand and was able to watch the Swansea players warm up and stuff. It’s not everyday that an EPL team comes to the Triangle, so I was a bit star struck at how they were able to move the ball around.

Lukasz Fabianski played in goal for the entire first half. Fabianski! Many of the fans in the North Stand were shocked at how good he really was.

And throughout the entire match, almost everyone was talking about Tammy Abraham, the famous 19 year old footballer who is currently on loan from Chelsea. Even though he is only 19, the way he was playing made him looked like he’d been a pro for 15 years already.

Tammy Abraham. (Photo Credit: Gloria Korlou)

The game was amazing. Yes, it was a 0–0 draw, but sitting in the sold out North Stand with some amazing fans made it great. There were several times when NCFC forward Matt Fondy would come down into the box and everyone would just start going crazy. The atmosphere was incredible.

During the second half, Swansea City held the possession most of the time, so we got a lot more action on our end that half. Brian Sylvestre only played one half, so we got to watch Macklin Robinson in goal too. The Swans had one really good attack from a nice cross, and they were able to beat a NCFC defender and head the ball to the bottom right corner, but Robinson made what seemed like an impossible save and everyone in our section went crazy. You would've thought it was a goal by the way everyone was cheering… it was incredible.

During the second half, not only were we able to watch some of the incredible Swansea players play, we were able to watch the future of NCFC: Manny Perez, Aiden Foster, and George Acosta. Perez and Aiden both played really well considering their opponents were EPL-level talent. Both players play for the U-18 CA Railhawks Academy and you would've thought they were on the NCFC starting roster. They didn’t have their names on their backs, but fans were still cheering them on. The support these fans gave these young guns was top notch.

I don't have any major complaints about the game, except the line to get a hot dog was long, but that’s never a bad thing when you go to a packed stadium. Parking was a pain, but thats what happens when 7,268 people show up to WakeMed Soccer Park.

For me, it was an awesome Saturday night, full of action… a goal would have been nice though. If you went to the game, let us know how it was for you!

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