Philadelphia 1-0 Columbus. Philly are not a good team, but our finishing was absolutely criminal. Ex-Crew holding midfielder Brian Carroll controlled the middle of the park for Philly, and we flubbed chance after chance. Last season's offensive woes continue despite the off-season personnel shuffles. Bah.
It's worth mentioning though that the Taylor Report didn't place any blame on terracing or standing areas for the Hillsborough disaster, more so the role the police played in their mishandling of the situation, and also the antiquated safety facilities at the ground (which were by no means unique at the time).
Indeed, many stadia in Germany the Allianz Arena included feature 'safe standing' areas that can be quickly and easily converted into seating for international and European matches where standing is prohibited due to FIFA and UEFA regulations.
I think its a cultural phenomena as well. Germans seem not to have problems with drinking in stadia, or at least their problems express themselves in less hazardous ways than they did in 1970s-80s England. But it really came down, as you say
Jaffa, to an unsafe stadium and mistakes in policing. Even today, poor policing can create an environment conducive to easily preventable tragedies.
It's unfortunate that a serious approach to safety at stadia only took place after major tragedy; it's also unfortunate that the tragedy played out in such a controversial manner, so that the matter remains an open wound for some to this day.
Ashley Young is shameless.
He is a total disgrace. This is one of those instances where the FA should be handing out retrospective bans based on TV evidence. Even if he was actually fouled (and I think he was not), he clearly turns the incident into an elaborate stage production with his outrageous flop. United don't need to cheat to beat Villa.
EDIT: What a shot by Drogba!
EDIT2: What a dreadful call on the second goal...my word!
