On May 14, the Galaxy tweeted out an image promoting its July friendly against FC Barcelona.
Four players were featured prominently on the ad: Gyasi Zardes and Robbie Keane from the Galaxy, and Lionel Messi and Neymar from Barcelona.
Two months later, only one of those players made it onto the pitch Tuesday night. And it wasn’t either of Barcelona’s superstars.
So among the thousands of fans who made it out to the Rose Bowl, the general feeling seemed to be muted excitement. The atmosphere was not helped by an accident on the 210 freeway that snarled traffic and made reaching the stadium all the more difficult.