"we all dream of a team of carraghers"....

as the song goes... indeed befitting of the man himself, nay the legend he has become!

it's late and i'm too sleepy to write right now... so here are the pics. commentary and details on the morrow then!

alrite.. here's the updates:

the day started really early and after getting the morning train, was in Liverpool for breakfast at 9.30. spent some time going around the stores in Liverpool One, and decided to get my matchday memorabilia there.

made my way there by bus about 11-ish. more and more people turned up, and at 12.30, they opened the turnstiles into the ground.

after a match which raised GBP 25K for the 23 Foundation (Jamie's charity) they had some presentations, and then the teams took to the ground to warm up.

Dudek was the first to appear, and he was duly given a standing ovation by the crowd.

well, then the whole team were out, and not forgetting Everton too, who had some of their former stars in Lee Carsley, Francis Jeffers (bbooo) etc with their current stars (Arteta, Osmen, Hibbert, to name a few).

but two young uns caught everyones eyes. Jamie's kids were having a good kick-about at the Kop end. the boy, got some good shots, but the gal, well she's got her father's tackling skills, nicking the ball of her brother with some tenacity at times.

a major surprise to all the crowd was the appearance of Reds captain Stevie G, who wasn't expected to turn up (after leading England to beat Bulgaria 4-0 just the previous night in Wembley, and was supposed to be heading to Switzerland for the next match). Together with former Reds Jason McAteer, Gary Mcallister, Danny Murphy, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Stephen Warnock, Stephen Wright, Steve Finnan, David Thompson and Luis Garcia, they warmed up with current stars such as Joe Cole, Ryan Babel, Jay Spearing and new boys Paul Konchesky, Jonjo Shelvy, Suso, etc.

so onto the next parts, after the lineup were presented to the crowd, came the normal (to the Kop at least) pregame rituals. the giant flag was passed from one end to the other.... and then passed to the lower terrace where it was passed over ME!! heheh woo was so cool!

then i managed to get a few more pre-match shots of Jerzy thanking the crowd who were singing his song, and then of Carra himself, before putting away the camera to join the Kop in the awesome rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone! i could have just died happy there hehe.

well then it was on to the game! i kept my camera at this stage cos i wanted to enjoy the match! yes hard to imagine but i just had to hehe. luckily i did, cos in the 2nd minute Luis Garcia opened scoring with a beauty from the left!! he looks like he never left. Owen kept getting boos each time he touched the ball, but after about half hour, they turned to cheers (well in most part at least). Stevie was subbed after 10 minutes to be replaced by pal Danny Murphy who had a good game as well. and turns out, ex LFC manager Gerrard Houllier was in sitting next to current boss Roy Hodgson in the dugout!

it was great! and the game was played at mostly good pace, not entirely a friendy with some good tackles going in, and some comedic moments by both sides (Lee Carsley wanting a penalty, but not given, referee gave him a yellow and a smack at the back of his head haha, Macca and Mcateer goofing around, Carra scoring an own goal penalty!) classic. each time Macca had the ball, the crowd would yell "Shooooot!" even though he was in his own half while facing his own goal haha.

it was also cool to see the new guns in action. Joe Cole was superb with his passing, and Babel is fast! towards the end, there were a lot of subs used (a lot of new uns from the academy, and some new signings). Paul Konchesky looks to be able to fit in well on left defence, and new signing Suso looks lethal although he only had like 10 minutes play.

in the end it was a great fun outing, with a good atmosphere, good end result, and good fun day! got back to London by 9 ish, and now can't wait to get to another match! a proper competitive one this time!