James Armstrong may have grown up in England, but Mississippi State’s spring break trip to London was almost as much of a foreign experience for the Bulldogs’ head coach as it was for many of the players.
Armstrong is from Yorkshire, a four-plus hour drive from London, and never visited the city until he was 18 years old. It had been five years since Armstrong’s last visit, and to his surprise, the United Kingdom had updated the look of some of its currency during that time.
“I’d saved some coins from before, and I went to pay on the first day with some pound coins, and they said they went out of circulation like four years ago,” Armstrong said.
While many MSU students spent their spring breaks at the beach with friends or at home with their families, the Bulldogs’ soccer team, coming off its best season in program history, traveled much farther. MSU spent a week in London and played three exhibition matches against local teams while also experiencing the culture surrounding the sport there and taking in some of the more famous attractions the city has to offer.
“It was a phenomenal experience, once in a lifetime,” goalkeeper Maddy Anderson said. “Our days were filled from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. We did so much stuff, and it was such a blessing to be able to do everything. We got to sightsee, we got to play games, we got to practice, and we got to watch a bunch of professional games, which was very cool to see (because) I want to go pro, seeing the environment and what it takes to be at that level.”
The Bulldogs took in a match on their first day across the pond, a Championship (second tier) fixture between Watford and Coventry City. The following day, MSU toured the neighborhood of Camden and visited the well-known market scene there, then attended a Women’s FA Cup quarterfinal match between Tottenham and Manchester City.
The team explored central London the day after that, walking to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. Another highlight was a visit to the Adidas London flagship store, and the Bulldogs also took in the London skyline on a cruise along the River Thames.
“I loved watching all the professional games, but I also loved our tour that we did of London,” Anderson said. “Our tour guide was so awesome and so funny and it made the experience very memorable for me. I loved seeing all the different historical places.”
MSU won its first match of the trip against Aston Villa’s under-21 team, with Aitana Martinez-Montoya scoring a pair of second-half goals in a 2-1 victory. The Bulldogs won again against the University of Wembley Academy the next day, with freshman Kara Harris recording a hat trick. Following the match, MSU took an exclusive tour of Wembley Stadium, the de facto home ground for England’s national team.
Following a tour of Windsor Castle, the Bulldogs attended a Women’s Super League match between Chelsea and Arsenal as part of a record home crowd for Chelsea’s women’s team. On the last full day of the trip, MSU routed the under-21 squad from Brighton & Hove Albion 5-0, then became spectators one last time for a Premier League match between Fulham and Tottenham.
“The first game and the third game were excellent teams,” Armstrong said. “They’re the under-21s from two full professional teams. The university team wasn’t as good as what we had hoped, but our team did a great job of playing still the way we wanted to play. All of the players from those two professional teams could very easily play on any SEC team over here.”
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