Chelsea is coming, AC Milan and Real Madrid, too, to play MLS teams.
But not the MetroStars.
Coach Bob Bradley figures his team has to earn that privilege.
Proving that their big-market location doesn’t guarantee them an automatic bid for the big friendlies, the MetroStars will have to watch from the sidelines just like everyone else on July 31, when Milan and Chelsea square off at Giants Stadium.
That East Rutherford throng will surely dwarf the number of spectators who took in the MetroStars game against the Colorado Rapids last night at the Meadowlands. Exhibitions loom larger than regular season matches.
The tour opened last night, with Madrid facing Mexico’s Chivas in Chicago. Real Madrid visits the L.A. Galaxy tomorrow, and Chelsea meets Milan in Foxboro on Thursday. Milan visits the Chicago Fire July 27 and Chelsea visits D.C. United July 28 before their Meadowlands finale.
Then the MLS All-Stars take on Fulham July 30, but Bradley doesn’t think that’s as big a deal for MLS as playing those more famous fish.
“It’s probably more important that D.C. has a good showing against Chelsea, and Chicago against Milan and L.A. against Madrid,” Bradley said.
“We have to show the naysayers that this league is good, that the game is good. And that challenge will always be in front of us,” Bradley said.
MetroStars captain Amado Guevara will face an EPL team for the first time in the All-Star game, and he’s relishing it.
“It might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Guevara said.
But for this league’s teams, playing the top English and European teams – even in a friendly – is a going to be a yardstick.
“In that respect, every one of these games are important; we wanted to play them,” said Bradley, who understands how much being selected for one of the friendlies would have meant to his team. So Bradley will use this tour as a carrot for his players, who want to be full-fledged members of that soccer community.
“There’s been some grumbling around here: ‘How come we don’t get to play these guys?’ ” Bradley added.
“I say, ‘You’ve gotta win something.’ “
