SUPER FANS

U.S. Super Fans, thy names are James and Anne Nicholson.

Now season ticket holders for the Houston Dynamo, James and Anne starting following the U.S. team in 2002 after James had watched the USA's 4-0 win against Honduras on March 2 in Seattle. "I had played up through 10th grade, but kind of got away from the game," he told us. "After that Honduras game, I was hooked again."

We'd say so. The couple have been to around 30 national team games since 2002, using the various home venues as weekend getaways to explore new cities while supporting the team. Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco and Chicago are just some of the places they have added to their "caps" list.

And their favorite player? "My wife's is Brian McBride," James said. "We met him at a Starbucks in Providence, and he was nice enough to sign my jersey and take pictures with the family. We've traveled to London for the last two years during Christmas to watch Fulham play."

Having gone to Germany last summer, the Nicholsons decided to hit their first international friendly here in Sweden. It turned into a quite journey. After departing Houston, their flight was forced to land in Baltimore when weather in New Jersey shut down the airport. Six hours later they were in Newark but missed their first connection. After some serious research, the couple were put on a flight to Paris that left at 2 a.m. ET. The next leg was a 7 p.m. flight to Copenhagen, where they got to cool their heels for a couple days before hopping the train to Goteborg. There was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, however, as they wound up staying at the same hotel as the team. In other words, autograph central. Pretty sure they deserve it.

They've been walking around town sporting U.S. gear, and will be amongst
the small group of fans supporting the visitors tonight. And they're
only just getting started.

"We've already started looking for flights to Spain..."

Thanks guys. Happy to have you here...