Stuart Holden sure can pick a stadium

Bolton? Who wanted to play there anyway?

Stuart Holden has apparently left the land of fish and chips for points East. Specifically, reports out of England say the out-of-contract MLS up-and-comer won’t catch on at Bolton, but is instead en route to Braga, the current Portuguese leaders.

Portugal? Goin' rogue, eh?

The Portuguese rout is a road less traveled for the U.S. player, for sure. But if the intrepid midfielder catches on, and if Braga remains on top of the European middleweight league, it could mean Champions League soccer for Holden next year. And wouldn’t that be nice?

Here’s what it would also mean: That sly dog would ply his trade in one of the world’s most spectacular stadiums. Yep. In Braga, of all places.

This park of plenty opened before the 2004 European Championships. And it truly is a marvel, the Zooey Deschanel of futbol grounds. (I visited it during the tournament, where an otherwise unremarkable Danish win against overmatched Bulgaria turned quite memorable due to my stadium-inspired two-hour stiffy.)

Designers built the grounds into a former granite quarry, using dynamite to blast away the necessary space.  Steel cables support the two roof structures, stretching majestically across the width of the park.

Braga itself (the city) is nothing special, although it’s close enough to Porto to get into town and shake your groove thing, if you’re all into that. But the stadium really is something else.

Read a little about it architecturally here. More info is here and more photos are here.

Oh, and while I was looking up the info, I also ran across some absolutely terrific stadium porn. It’s safe. Promise … go ‘head and take a peak at the proposed design for the new Dalian Shide grounds in China.