Spurred on by a very interesting behind the scenes article on the recent tour of America by big name foriegn soccer clubs, here is my wrap: Excellent! I saw a bunch of the matches (Manchester United vs Celtic, Barcelona, Club America, and Juventus, Barcelona vs Juventus, and AC Milan vs Barcelona, which was pretty much all of them, I think). Even though the matches were all so-called pre-season friendlies, the quality of play was pretty high and most of the clubs’ top players got serious minutes.
Major League Soccer played its All-Star Game during this span as well. Even though the MLS squad featured some top players, after watching the ManU games I quickly understood that American play is nowhere close to the level played at the top of European football. I was quite pleased to see Tim Howard, the American goalkeeper recently signed by ManU, get two starts (and two wins), playing well enough to get Giorgio Chinaglia to proclaim that Howard will have to get strong consideration for the #1 keeper spot.
The tour also showed MLS executives what they could look forward to if the teams can keep improving: huge and enthusiastic crowds. ManU-Celtic in Seattle drew more fans to Seahawk Stadium than any Seahawk game did last season, while games at Giants Stadium and Lincoln Field (new home in Philadelphia of the Eagles) drew 79,000 and 69,000 respectively. In fact the latter attendance came when the two Italian clubs, Juventus and AC Milan, were playing the Italian Supercup just 60 miles up the road at Giants Stadium and drew another 54,000.
BillSaysThis 