Nottingham Forest U.S.A Pre-Season Tour 2004

By Michael Lynch (Photography: Rob Haynes)
July 23 2004

Nottingham Forest were on tour in the United States this summer, and did well despite playing against teams that were halfway through their season's and at full strength. Tricky Tree Rob Haynes made the trip across the Atlantic and kindly donated a few of his photographs to forestfc.co.uk.

The USA Tour

The USA Tour.
Friday 23rd July 2004
Nottingham Forest may have failed to record a win on their tour of the United States, but they can take some credit away with them. In all of their games Forest were against decent sides who are currently half-way through their league season, away, in an extremely hot and humid climate. Who else would take the mighty DC United to a shootout in that? Anyway, results aren't really what matter at this point in pre-season, and these games will have done wonders for the overall fitness of the Forest team. However, Forest have come home with a few injured persons. John Thompson, Matthieu Louis-Jean and Kevin James have all come back with injuries which we do not yet know the extent of. From what I have heard from fans, however, the trip was a huge success. Tricky Tree Rob Haynes was there in America and took these photos which he will surely treasure for the rest of his life: (click the thumbnail to reveal full-size image) Please allow all the images on this page time to load... DC United 1-1 Forest: Forest slumped to a defeat in the first game of the tour, but it was by no means an embarrassing one. The Reds took a fully-fit, full strength DC United side all the way to a penalty shoot-out. Ex- Tricky Ben Olsen ironically converted the winning spot-kick for the former CONCACAF champions. Richmond Kickers 1-1 Forest: There was no grueling shoot out in this game as the climate was just too humid humid for The Reds to even think about going through such torture. Louis-Jean save The Reds late on after going behind to the U.S. A-League side during the first half. University of Richmond 0-2 Forest: Joe Kinnear gave his youngsters a run-out in a game against players that would've been around the same age. We also saw Des Walker play in the Red shirt for the last time. This was a behind-closed-doors friendly and was seen purely as an extended training exercise. Virginia Beach Mariners 0-2: The Reds fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Virginia Beach Mariners under the blazing sun of the East Coast. At least the player's would've got a nice day on the beach before they left- but they could've done with a win for morale reasons.

The USA Tour.

Friday 23rd July 2004

Nottingham Forest may have failed to record a win on their tour of the United States, but they can take some credit away with them. In all of their games Forest were against decent sides who are currently half-way through their league season, away, in an extremely hot and humid climate. Who else would take the mighty DC United to a shootout in that?

Anyway, results aren't really what matter at this point in pre-season, and these games will have done wonders for the overall fitness of the Forest team. However, Forest have come home with a few injured persons. John Thompson, Matthieu Louis-Jean and Kevin James have all come back with injuries which we do not yet know the extent of.

From what I have heard from fans, however, the trip was a huge success. Tricky Tree Rob Haynes was there in America and took these photos which he will surely treasure for the rest of his life: (click the thumbnail to reveal full-size image) Please allow all the images on this page time to load...

DC United 1-1 Forest: Forest slumped to a defeat in the first game of the tour, but it was by no means an embarrassing one. The Reds took a fully-fit, full strength DC United side all the way to a penalty shoot-out. Ex- Tricky Ben Olsen ironically converted the winning spot-kick for the former CONCACAF champions.

Richmond Kickers 1-1 Forest: There was no grueling shoot out in this game as the climate was just too humid humid for The Reds to even think about going through such torture. Louis-Jean save The Reds late on after going behind to the U.S. A-League side during the first half.

University of Richmond 0-2 Forest: Joe Kinnear gave his youngsters a run-out in a game against players that would've been around the same age. We also saw Des Walker play in the Red shirt for the last time. This was a behind-closed-doors friendly and was seen purely as an extended training exercise.

Virginia Beach Mariners 0-2: The Reds fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Virginia Beach Mariners under the blazing sun of the East Coast. At least the player's would've got a nice day on the beach before they left- but they could've done with a win for morale reasons.