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Top clubs lining up for World Football Challenge

MessiVilla (Reuters)

If you thought your summer soccer plans were going to be limited to MLS and the Gold Cup, think again.

Major League Soccer recently announced the staging of the World Football Challenge from July 14th through August 6th and now sources have revealed the names of some of the clubs being lined up to compete in the competition.

Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Club America, Chivas Guadalajara and Juventus are all being lined up to take part in the eight-team competition, which will consist of a round-robin two-game format. A second Italian club is expected to round out the eight-team field, with Inter Milan and Napoli identified as targets.

The teams will play each other in matches throughout North America, while also facing MLS clubs in friendlies. Manchester United has already been announced as the MLS All-Star Game opponent.

What do you think of the potential lineup? Excited about the competition, or are you more focused on the Gold Cup and MLS play this summer?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If you take into consideration preseason games, then RSL doesn’t have more games under their belt this year than LA. As far as competitive games go, RSL had four and LA had two. If that’s all it takes for LA to be completely dominated by RSL, then there’s still cause for worry for LA fans.

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  2. city still have not confirmed it to us in england, but if they do i ll pop over the pond, had a great time last year…please sing along now… ohhhh!!!! man city, the only football team to come from manchester….

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  3. WHY THE F*CK ARENT MLS CLUBS TAKING PART IN THIS OFFICIAL CHALLENGE?
    its in our country and we dont even get to participate but only do friendlies! WTF

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  4. You must not have watched the friendlies in recent years…more competitive every game. Th All-Star game doesn’t count because it’s a team that has only 1 practice together. They need to give these guys a longer all-star break to get acquainted.

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  5. Face it, these games don’t win over fans to MLS. We need people to care so we can go over to Europe in the Winter and support the MLS teams when THEY go on tour to adoring European fans*.

    *I do not expect to see this in my lifetime.

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  6. Anytime you bring in teams of this caliber, to these shores, it’s a good thing!

    But let’s be realistic. We will be seeing “a lot” of the second string and reserve team members on these European Club teams.The season is long and brutal and the players need rest.

    Look to a lot of the teams to treat this as a “working vacation” more than a competitive tournament.

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  7. Did you see the LA Real game last year? The Inter Dallas game?

    The irony is yes, the Euro clubs goal is to trial their youth and fringe… but that usually lasts about 30 minutes, until their respective manager realizes there is some decent competition, and the A guys either come off the bench or pick up their game.

    I don’t like them for a number of reasons, mostly because it takes away from our regular season. But the quality of the players the clubs bring is not one the problems.

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  8. Glad to be of service! 🙂

    It will be tough for the US women, judging by the difficulties during qualifying and especially with the German women playing at home, of course. And that’s not even to mention Brazil or anybody else.

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  9. Have to agree with Anne. Where is Bayern in all this? They would fill stadiums in Chicago and Philly where large German heritage flourishes.

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  10. +1… i hate the hype for these tournaments when 50%+ of the line up is scrubs or bench players. If they were actually playing for a pot of gold and they were playing their actual line ups i might get excited.

    I’ve save it for the Gold Cup and maybe MLS…i did get Direct Kick after all….

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  11. Yes, I am watching SKC’s reserve game right now and Ochocinco looks tired after playing 15 minutes. He’s put in a few poor crosses and has lost possession several times. Pretty poor overall, but what did everyone expect?

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  12. Is Messi still Messi if he shows up to sit on the bench wearing flip flops and sweats? (That’s what Lampard did when Chelsea played one of their games the last time this challenge was in town.) Would you get a kick out of seeing David Villa warm up? (Thats all Cech did).

    It is what it is, these are pre-season scrimmages and tuneups and global marketing events to expand the reach of the club’s brands. Nothing more, nothing less. So as long as you dont expect “leaving it all on the pitch” soccer, you should enjoy these games somewhat even if you are a little bit of a fan of one of the clubs you are watching or just enjoy the game.

    If you only want to spend $ on competitive games, watch it on TV, save your dough for the Gold Cup, World Cup, Qualifying games, etc.

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