Showdown in Chinatown

Showdown in Chinatown was a charity soccer match played on June 25 2008, organized by basketball player Steve Nash and soccer player Claudio Reyna to benefit their respective charity foundations. The nine-a-side match was played at Nike Field in Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, and the two teams included National Basketball Association and international soccer players.

Participants

Nash and Reyna became friends, as Nash spent his off-seasons in New York City and regularly played pick-up soccer, and Reyna played for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer.cite news
url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3458050
title=Nash, soccer star Henry among players in charity soccer match
authorlink=Marc Stein
first=Marc
last=Stein
date=2008-06-24
publisher=ESPN.com] The previous summer, Nash and Reyna attempted to play a pick-up game between one of Nash's teams and the Red Bulls in Central Park's Sheep Meadow, but park regulations prohibited ball playing on the field. [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/sports/basketball/10nash.html
title=It’s a Vision Thing for Nash in Soccer and in Basketball
first=Nathaniel
last=Vinton
date=2007-08-10
publisher=New York Times]

The idea for the 2008 match came from Nash and Italian journalist and NBA TV analyst Simone Sandri, who asked Nash's friend Venanzio Ciampa, the president of the marketing firm The Promotion Factory, to organize the event. Ciampa said they chose Sara Roosevelt Park as the venue, because they "wanted a cool spot", and the park "shows the melting pot aspect of New York that Steve and I love." [cite news
url=http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_271/soccermania.html
title=Soccer mania scores big time as pros put on a show
publisher=Downtown Express
first=Lucas
last=Mann
date=July 11-17, 2008]

Of the players in the match, Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Raja Bell played together on the Phoenix Suns, and all grew up playing soccer. [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/sports/basketball/18lakers.html
title=Soccer as N.B.A. Building Block
first=Billy
last=Witz
date=2008-05-18
publisher=New York Times] Basketball players Jason Kidd, who calls soccer "my first sport",cite news
url=http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-382/Marc-Stein-on-his-Time-in-the-Soccer-Spotlight.html
title=Marc Stein on his Time in the Soccer Spotlight
first=Marc
last=Stein
date=2008-06-30
publisher=ESPN.com
work=TrueHoop] and Baron Davis, as well as ESPN.com basketball writer Marc Stein, a Manchester City FC supporter, and Sandri, who had played professionally in Italy.

Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, who had completed a move to Villarreal CF in Spain earlier that month, played together for the Red Bulls, while Giovanni Savarese played for the club from 1996 to 1998, when it was known as the MetroStars. Other professional soccer players who took part Thierry Henry and Steve McManaman, both friends of Nash, [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/oct/30/newsstory.tottenhamhotspur2
title=Nash would like to be Tottenham owner
first=Mike
last=Adamson
date=2007-10-30
publisher=The Guardian] , McManaman's former Liverpool FC teammates Robbie Fowler and Rob jones, Reyna's united States national team teammate Gregg Berhalter, andSalomon Kalou, who heard about the match and happened to be on holiday in New York City.

Match result

Team Nash beat Team Reyna Team, on three goals from Robbie Fowler and two goals each from Henry and Nash. Team Nash started the match down 0-2, but Henry took control of the game with a shift to a more attacking 1-3-3 formation, assisting on a goal by McManaman and scoring the equalizer himself. [cite news
url=http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/henry-turns-the-tide-for-steve-nashs-squad/
title=It’s a Vision Thing for Nash in Soccer and in Basketball
first=Joshua
last=Robinson
date=2008-06-30
publisher=New York Times
work=Goal]

*Goals:
**Team Reyna: Davis, Kalou (2), Reyna.
**Team Nash: Barbosa, Fowler (3), Henry (2), McManaman, Nash (2).

*Bookings:
**Team Reyna: Davis
**Team Nash: Henry

Teams

Team Nash

*Davide Di Malta (GK)
* [Maurizio Bacci
*Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix Suns)
*Raja Bell (Phoenix Suns)
*Robbie Fowler (Cardiff City)
*Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona)
*Steve McManaman ("retired")
*Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns)
*Simone Sandri (NBA TV)
*Venanzio Ciampa
*Rob Jones ("retired")

Team Reyna

*Mike Quarino (New York Red Bulls employee) (GK)
*Jozy Altidore (Villareal)
*Gregg Berhalter (1860 München)
*Baron Davis (Golden State Warriors)
*Salomon Kalou (Chelsea F.C.)
*Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks)
*Alessandro Nivola
*Claudio Reyna (New York Red Bulls)
*Giovanni Savarese ("retired")
*Juan Pablo Ángel (New York Red Bulls)
*Marc Stein (ESPN.com)

Crowd

Admission for the match was free, and the all-star lineups attracted over a thousand spectators, what Stein described as "at least 2,500 people", and fans packed the field two-deep around the field and four-deep around the outside fences. [cite news
url=http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=752549
title=Goal.commentary: Big Stars in Little Chinatown
first=Noah
last=Davis
publisher=Goal.com
date=2008-06-26] Other fans climbed on top of cars, trees, fences and streetlights to get a view, and "SLAM" writer Lang Whitaker wrote, "it looked like the famous picture of Dr. J at Rucker." [cite news
url=http://slamonline.com/online/2008/06/links-steve-nashs-showdown-in-chinatown/
title=Links: Steve Nash’s Showdown in Chinatown
authorlink=Lang Whitaker
first=Lang
last=Whitaker
publisher=SLAM Online
date=2008-06-26] Reyna said of the crowd, “We had it completely wrong in terms of the excitement. We knew people were going to come out, but we just couldn’t believe it when we showed.” [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/sports/basketball/10nash.html
title=Soccer and N.B.A. Stars Play for Kicks and a Good Cause
first=Robinson
last=Joshua
date=2008-06-26
publisher=New York Times] , while Henry, who was mobbed by journalists and autograph seekers said, "I think it was great. I didn't know it was going to be like a lot of people around the Astroturf. But I guess they wanted to see Steve, Baron and the other guys there. I don't know, I think it was a great environment." [cite news
url=http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080626&content_id=168431
title=NYC charity game draws big crowd
first=Dylan
last=Butler
date=2008-06-26
publisher=MLSnet.com]

References

External links

* [http://www.nyc.gov/html/sports/html/showdown_in_chinatown.html NYC Sports Commission]
* [https://stevenash.org/ The Steve Nash Foundation]