Don’t Tread on Me… USA v Mexico Men’s Soccer

I headed to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon to shoot a pretty big soccer game on Wednesday night. My major focus for the assignment was to really cover the game action on the field and with remote cameras while fellow photog Eric Kelley shot crazed fans, pre-game festivities, etc. We mixed it up a little bit and got a batch of images that I’m really pleased with. This shot is instantly one of my all-time favorite remote camera shots — and it took a lot of work and a good amount of luck to make happen. This is the first goal of the game, where Michael Bradley (4) put away a pin-ball series of headers/volleys inside the 6-yard line to put the U.S. up 1-0… America ended up defeating Mexico 2-0, with the second goal also coming from Bradley in the 92nd minute.

Getting this image required setting up a remote camera (actually did three) up in the catwalk on the north end of Columbus Crew Stadium… getting gear up a narrow ladder onto the structure was a challenge itself. Another issue was the fact that major storms were approaching with heavy rain, heavy winds (gusts in excess of 60mph). So, the remotes had to be secure enough not to move in really strong winds. I used my standard magic arm/super clamp set up with safety cables… this image was shot with a Canon 20D with a 50mm lens at f/2.8.

I’m really glad that I got up there early to set everything up because by the time for others to place remotes behind the goal came about, US Soccer decided because of the weather/field conditions to not allow goal remotes… so these were the only remote shots I was going to be able to get.

Gallery of photos from the game…
My images from the game on NikeSoccer.com