It is that time of year where the franchises of Major League Soccer open up their stadiums, training facilities and towns to the world's elite. That is right, it is friendly season. The Major League Soccer calendar runs a little differently than that of the major European leagues; MLS runs from March to November while the major Euro leagues run from mid-August to May.
Due to the calendars not lining up, it forces the clubs from MLS to figure out where during these mid-summer months would be the best time to fit in a potential big money-making friendly against some of the best clubs in the world. Fans have voiced their concern about these mid-season friendlies which always seem to come at the most inopportune time whether it be mid-week between two weekend matches or after a long cross-country road trip. Despite all of the concerns from the fans, the positives (money) seem to out-weigh the negatives (player fatigue) in the eyes of the league and clubs so fans will just have to deal with that dreaded friendly season.
The 2014 edition of friendly season kicks off on Saturday afternoon when the Seattle Sounders FC hosts Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League in front of nearly 68,000 fans at CenturyLink Field. The match is the first in a three-match pre-season tour of North America for Spurs which will see them travel to Chicago and Toronto for matches as well.
Seattle Sounders FC
This friendly comes at an almost perfect time for the Sounders who, for the first time in the club's history of friendlies, will have a week's rest coming in to the match and before their next match. To be fair, it will be just less than a week from their last match which took place on last Sunday in front of 64,000+ fans as the Rave Green defeated their Cascadia rivals the Portland Timbers 2-0.
Seattle will have eight days between the friendly and their next league match at home to the Los Angeles Galaxy on Monday, July 28th at home. The match was originally scheduled for Saturday the 26th but was pushed back due to a significant number of events taking place around the city including the traditional Seafair parade.
Sigi Schmid told reporters this week he expects that some of the squad will play the 90 minutes in the friendly due to where the match falls on the calendar. He also said that his decision was not influenced by Seattle's 2011 friendly against Manchester United which saw the Sounders trailing the Red Devils by only a 1-0 halftime scoreline before Schmid cleared the bench only to see United run away with a 7-0 win.
The Sounders are on a roll right now having lost only two of their last 17 matches across all competitions. They have a six-point lead over Sporting Kansas City for the Supporters' Shield on top of a ten-point lead over Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference but Schmid does not want to see his team lose their current rhythm especially with some big league match-ups and a U.S. Open Cup semi-final on the horizon.
This is the eighth international friendly that the Sounders have hosted since joining Major League Soccer in 2009. They have seen the likes of FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Celtic FC, Boca Juniors, Chivas de Guadalajara and Chelsea x2 come into the Pacific Northwest with some mixed results for the home team. Seattle has two wins from the previous seven matches but those teams did not have the offensive firepower that this team does.
Tottenham Hotspur
The fans at White Hart Lane are ready to make the breakthrough into the top tier of the English Premier League with this season being the best chance in recent history to do so. Tottenham Hotspur has finished between fourth and sixth during each of the last five seasons thanks in the most part to their managerial stability with former NASL Seattle Sounders man Harry Redknapp at the helm.
Redknapp inherited a club in October 2008 that had only finished in the top five of the Premier League twice since the 1990-1991 season. Within two seasons, he led Spurs to their first UEFA Champions League appearance in club history. Unfortunately for the club, they were unable to come to an agreement with Redknapp over a contract extension after the 2011-2012 season.
Tottenham did not have to look far when looking for their next manager as the club would hire Andre Villas-Boas, who had been relieved of his duties from fellow London-based club Chelsea FC. Villas-Boas would remain at the club for only a-year-and-a-half despite great additions in the transfer window. His main contribution was finding very talented and young players with the massive sum received from Real Madrid in the Gareth Bale sale.
The spending spree ahead of this past season included a massive upgrade to their attack in general with the purchases of Paulinho from Corinthians (£17,000,000), Nacer Chadli from FC Twente (£7,000,000), Roberto Soldado from Valencia (£26,000,000), Christian Eriksen from Ajax (£11,500,000) and Erik Lamela from AS Roma (£26,000,000). The defense would be the Achilles heel for Spurs with their League Cup defeat and losses with a combined scoreline of 11-0 to Manchester City and Liverpool leading to his demise.
Tim Sherwood would be handed the reins following AVB's departure but he could not fix the leaky Spurs defense. Tottenham only lost nine matches across all competitions under Sherwood but three of them were but four goals. Sherwood would be let go at the end of the season with Spurs looking for somebody who could utilize their attacking pieces while also having a solid defensive track record.
Enter Mauricio Pochettino, the former Argentine international played center-back during his long career with stops at Newell's Old Boys, Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain to name a few. He had most recently been managing Southampton in England where he led them to their best finish in the Premier League since 2002-2003 in eighth place but they had been as high up as third in the table before a tough stretch of results between Thanksgiving and Christmas brought them back to the pack.
Tottenham has not brought in any players during the current summer transfer window but that could change soon as they have emerged as the favorites to sign 21-year-old Swansea City and Wales left-back Ben Davies.
Questions and Answers
We are very lucky here at VAVEL to be a part of a big family of networks including VAVEL UK, VAVEL Spain, and VAVEL USA etc. In anticipation of this match, we decided to take full advantage of our wide coverage base by posing some questions to a member of our VAVEL UK staff who covers Tottenham. UK editor-in-chief Jack Gallagher was kind enough to answer our questions; here are his thoughts.
ME: Last season was very rocky at the managerial position for Tottenham Hotspur with Andre Villas-Boas being fired in December before his replacement Tim Sherwood was fired at the end of the season. Are Spurs fans confident that Mauricio Pochettino can do for their club what he had done with Southampton during his time there? What does he need to do in order for his time as manager to be “successful?”
JG: I think Spurs fans are quietly confident that they can improve upon last season under Pochettino. While Tottenham struggled last season, Pochettino enjoyed an outstanding season at St. Mary's with Southampton, guiding them to 8th in the Premier League table, playing an attractive brand of football.
The holy grail for Tottenham Hotspur in recent years has been Champions League qualification, so that will be Pochettino's ultimate goal for the 2014/15 Premier League season. I also feel that an FA Cup run would be more than welcome at White Hart Lane. The Lilywhites, despite their historically impressive record in the FA Cup (8 time winners), they haven't won the trophy since 1991. If Pochettino can improve upon their recent form in the FA Cup, his first season will undoubtedly be considered to have been a success.
ME: One of the things that catches the eye when looking at the squad listing is just how young they are. Spurs seems to be making a commitment to this young core of players, do you think that with consistent management they could challenge for the Premier League title in the near future?
JG: There are indeed a number of talented youngsters at Tottenham, most notably Eriksen, who was one of the few shining lights for the North London outfit last season. A title challenge however will be difficult in the future, as there are a number of top clubs in England who have a much larger budget than Spurs. The likes of Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, and Arsenal can go into the transfer market and spend upwards of £30 million on a player, while, at the moment, Tottenham can not without selling one of their star players.
ME: According to my research, Spurs has not made any summer signings as of yet but they have been linked to Belgian forward Divock Origi. Where do you think the club needs to improve to become on par with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal?
JG: The main problem area for Spurs is the left back position. Last season they played Danny Rose in this position, however he did not impress, costing his side points on occasion due to his lack of awareness in the defensive third. Ben Davies of Swansea City is reportedly close to signing, he will be a huge upgrade in that area of the field. As for the rest of the team, I feel that there is a lot quality, most notably in the midfield, where Pochettino will be able to call upon the likes of Sandro, Dembele and Paulinho.
ME: Who is the player that fans in Seattle should look for in this friendly and why?
JG: My one to look would have to be Erik Lamela. The Argentine was signed as the replacement for Gareth Bale last season, but was barely used by Villas - Boas or Sherwood. However, I expect him to come into his own under Pochettino and become the team's protagonist, and the game against the Seattle Sounders may well be a very good indication of how Pochettino will utilize the youngster.
Another player to look will be Soldado. The Spaniard had an incredible goal scoring record at Valencia, but he really struggled in front of goal last season at Tottenham. It will be interesting to see whether he can score a few goals during preseason in order to build up a bit of confidence going into the new season.
ME: Where do you see Tottenham Hotspur finishing in the Premier League this season and do they take home any silverware? (Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup, etc.)
JG: A top four finish is not out of reach for Tottenham Hotspur, if they get the best out of their attackers, something which they did not do last season. In terms of the cups, it is really dependent upon how much emphasis the club want to put on them. I don't think they will go far in the Europa League, as the sheer volume of games that have to be played in the competition is known to take its toll on a club's league form. The FA Cup should be a competition Pochettino takes very seriously however, as it is something which Spurs fans want to win again.
ME: Finally, this is obviously a pre-season friendly so I’m not going to ask who you will start in this match but when the Premier League campaign begins on August 16th at the Boleyn Ground, who will be the starting eleven for Tottenham Hotspur?
JG: Due to the huge amount of money that Spurs spent last season, I don't think we will see many personnel changes next season, but I can see Pochettino utilizing the likes of Lamela, who was sporadically used last season, much more:
4-2-3-1: Lloris; Walker, Vertonghen, Chiriches, Davies (if he signs); Dembele, Sandro; Lamela, Eriksen, Townsend; Adebayor.
Notes
Seattle will likely be without starters Brad Evans and Leonardo Gonzalez on Saturday as both are still recovering from injuries picked up during the past few weeks. Jalil Anibaba is expected to start at left-back again where he has featured in the last few matches while it looks like the midfield will keep with the combination of Lamar Neagle -- Osvaldo Alonso -- Gonzalo Pineda -- Marco Pappa that worked well for them on Sunday night.
Schmid indicated as well that injured defenders Dylan Remick and Djimi Traore may see some action during the friendly.
Major League Soccer announced the first eleven players named to the league's all-star squad on Wednesday evening. There were three Sounders voted into the squad by the fans; they are Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins and DeAndre Yedlin. The MLS All-Stars will take on Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on August 6th at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.