Former Everton player Leon Osman threw out the ceremonial first pitch while current members of the Blues squad looked on ahead of the Major League baseball game between Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.
Osman, 41, who is tied in 10th place with the legendary Dixie Dean on Everton’s all-time appearance list having played 433 games for the club, tossed the ball to Nationals pitcher Erick Fedde, described as “a big soccer fan”, ahead of the home side’s 5-4 defeat at their Nationals Park ballpark.
Osman was joined by several of Frank Lampard’s squad as Ben Godfrey, Demarai Gray, Dele Alli, Tom Davies and Asmir Begovic – who grew up in Canada and remembers watching the Montreal Expos (who relocated to Washington DC to become the Nationals following the 2004 season) as a child – also attended, along with other personnel among Everton’s staff.
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The Blues, who also visited Orlando last summer where they won the Florida Cup, have been training in the Washington DC area since Tuesday ahead of their first pre-season friendly this Saturday (7pm local time, 12 midnight going into Sunday UK time) against fellow Premier League side Arsenal at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, approximately 40 miles north east of the US capital. They then complete their tour with a trip to Major League Soccer outfit Minnesota United, managed by Blues legend Adrian Heath, on Wednesday July 20 (7pm local time, 1am Thursday UK time).
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