Jeremy Brockie recently completed a three-month loan with MLS club Toronto FC.
During his spell at the BMO Field, the New Zealand international played in an exhibition match against Italian club AS Roma in front of more than 20,000 fans.
Brockie, who was on loan from Wellington Phoenix, shared with tribalfootball.com his experiences of playing against such a quality team and admitted it was a very educational and enjoyable event to be a part of.
"For us players leading into the game there wasn't too much buzz because we were in the middle of a busy period in the league but the last couple of days building up to the game we had a promo that involved both clubs and we mixed and mingled with them," he said.
"It was a full crowd of 23,000 for the game and there were a lot of Roma supporters there to see their superstars like Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi.
"De Rossi did not play as he was injured but the reception that Totti received, when he stood up from the bench to warm up, was massive and the whole stadium erupted when he came onto the pitch.
"Roma's most impressive player was Miralem Pjanic who came on early in the first half and he was a real standout. Very classy on the ball. He ended up scoring two goals a quality free kick and a cheeky back heel at the end."
Brockie felt that games such as the mid-season friendly with Roma would help continue to grow the MLS brand.
"These games are brilliant for the league," he added. "It really lifts the profile of the MLS a lot of the big name teams come to the MLS for their preseason."
As for the experience as a whole, Brockie felt that it was very worthwhile, for more than one reason.
"I swapped shirts with their Brazilian holding midfielder Rodrigo Taddei which was a buzz," he added further.
"To play against teams and players you grow up watching on TV is a great feeling."
