Defender Liam Scales and Celtic steamrolled forward Marc Guiu and Chelsea. Photography by Matt Cashore ’94
“When again could I cover professional soccer?” I thought. In 48 hours, the University was hosting its second international friendly club match in Notre Dame Stadium: Chelsea FC vs Celtic FC.
At first, I shied away from this assignment. I’m not a sports reporter. I like to watch and follow sports, but I have student media colleagues at Notre Dame much more equipped to cover athletics.
Then I remembered a mentor’s advice: report on everything and anything. Plus, I grew up playing soccer, it’s the sport I understand best. And as one of the few student journalists on campus this summer, there was, sadly, no one better. I last-minute begged for a press credential and got lucky that it was granted — for Notre Dame football, that would never happen.
Then I went to work.
My colleagues at Scholastic and Notre Dame Television study up for games more than their classes, I’ve seen. They create books of statistics, information on the teams’ seasons, players to watch, notes on their backgrounds — and I’m sure that is just scratching the surface. So, I did the same.
I researched each team’s performance, especially during their United States tours with trimmed rosters. I looked for angles: Who were the goal scorers? Who was American? Who had the hot tempers and got cards? Who was new to the teams?
Research showed me that Celtic had just signed their goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel from Denmark, to a one-year deal last week. The Celts were the reigning Scottish Premiership champion, had dominated D.C. United 4-0 at Audi Field and beat the Premier League’s dominant club, Manchester City, 4-3 in North Carolina.
Chelsea wasn’t coming in with as strong a performance. This would be only the second game the Italian manager, Enzo Maresca, had coached for the Blues, having just joined the team last month. They drew 2-2 with Wrexham AFC (partially owned by Ryan Reynolds, for the Deadpool fans) in a 3-4-3 formation. Chelsea finished sixth last year in the Premier League.
At a pregame press conference Friday, I asked Celtic manager Brendan Rogers about the team’s energy level going into the match. “It’s very high,” he said. “Of course, naturally, after being away from home and their families for a long period of time, it can get a little bit — towards the end of the tour, the energy drops. But I haven’t seen that with the players.”
When the teams took the pitch 24 hours later, Chelsea felt the full brunt of Celtic’s energy.
I packed my bags Saturday with everything I thought I would need to report, write, film and edit — cameras, mics, tripod, phone stand, notebook, a change of shirt, toiletries for freshening up and a Liquid IV to replenish my hydration. The stadium security attendant checking my bags asked if I was in pain.
“No . . . I don’t think so,” I said. “Why?”
“That’s a lot of ibuprofen.”
My bottle — which I think is a perfectly fine, regular-sized bottle — had spilled into the bottom of my backpack.
I chuckled. “Well, just in case.”
The press box at Notre Dame Stadium is on the ninth floor of Corbett Hall. Long tables for writers are flanked by radio booths. I ducked into the booth for the student radio station, WVFI, to record a quick pregame soundbite. During the game, I posted big moments on the Notre Dame Television Instagram story, interspersed with bits of reporting I had done.
Celtic had only 43 percent ball possession throughout the game, but they capitalized. Despite 14 shot attempts to Chelsea’s 23, the Scottish side cruised to a dominant 4-1 win, with Christopher Nkuku’s late penalty kick the only tally for the Blues. Celtic goals came from Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston.
The press corps raced down a service elevator and through the concourse for the post-match press conferences. I was most interested in hearing about Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmiechel, the 37-year-old son of Peter Schmeichel, who played eight seasons at Manchester United, winning 15 trophies including five Premier League titles and three FA Cups.
Kasper joined Manchester City in 2002 at age 16. Twenty-two years later, he’s still playing. Reporting from The Athletic asserts the peak age for Premier League goalkeepers is 27-30, the oldest age range per position on the field. Years past that, Schmiechel continues to dominate in goal.
Rogers, who coached Schmeichel when they both were at Leicester City, called the signing “absolutely brilliant” and told me that he thinks the goalkeeper is one of the best playing today.
Maresca, for his part, acknowledged Chelsea’s shortcomings.
“We need to improve things. Sometimes we get confused when we need to play short and when to play long,” but added that goal-scoring opportunities and other glimmers of good football encouraged him.
I headed back upstairs to shoot my standup for Notre Dame Television. The sun sets over the Duncan Student Center across the field. With the shade drawn over the WVFI booth’s floor to ceiling window, it offers perfect lighting. Three and a half takes later, I had it. Grabbed one more hot dog from the spread graciously provided to the press, and walked back to my off-campus house.
There are lots of opportunities to learn the craft of journalism here at Notre Dame. I’ve covered the Aer Lingus Classic in Ireland, study abroad in Europe, politics of student government and changes in the administration. But I still mostly feel like I know nothing.
I have one more year to be a student journalist at Notre Dame. To report on anything and everything, but probably never again a game at Notre Dame Stadium.
As the famous American football coach turned English soccer manager, Ted Lasso, once said, “Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.”
Sam Coffman, a rising senior American studies major and journalism minor, is this magazine’s summer intern.