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Schedule, venues for 2014 International Champions Cup released

RealMadridICC2013 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Two weeks after announcing the participants of the 2014 International Champions Cup, the competition’s organizers have provided additional details for this summer’s tournament.

The ICC has placed Manchester United with Real Madrid, AS Roma, and Inter Milan in Group A, and Manchester City with Liverpool, Olympiacos, and AC Milan in Group B. Matches will take place in 13 cities across the U.S. between July 24-August 4. Venues confirmed so far include Yankee Stadium in New York, Soldier Field in Chicago, University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix, and Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

The winner of Group A will play the winner of Group B in Miami on August 4.

Venues for two games have yet to be determined: AC Milan vs. Olympiacos on July 24, and Real Madrid vs. Manchester United on August 2. A number of reports are placing the former game at Citi Field in New York, while the latter match has been rumored to be played at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., capable of seating nearly 110,000.

This schedule comes with a caveat. If any of these clubs miss out on UEFA Champions League qualification and are instead in the Europa League (Man United, Liverpool, and AC Milan are all possibilities), the clubs would have to pull out of the tournament due to qualification matches in late July and early August in Europe.

Here’s a look at the schedule for the 2014 International Champions Cup:

GROUP A

July 26 – Real Madrid vs. Inter Milan – University of Phoenix Stadium, Phoenix

July 26 – Manchester United vs. AS Roma – Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, Denver

July 29 – Manchester United vs. Inter Milan – FedEx Field, Washington D.C./Landover, Mary.

July 29 – Real Madrid vs. AS Roma – Cotton Bowl, Dallas

August 2 – Inter Milan vs. AS Roma – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

August 2 – Real Madrid vs. Manchester United – TBD

GROUP B

July 24 – AC Milan vs. Olympiacos – TBD

July 27 – AC Milan vs. Manchester City – Heinz Field, Pittsburgh

July 27 – Liverpool vs. Olympiacos – Soldier Field, Chicago

July 30 – Manchester City vs. Liverpool – Yankee Stadium, New York

August 2 – Olympiacos vs. Manchester City – TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis

August 2 –  AC Milan vs. Liverpool – Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte

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What do you think of this schedule? Do you plan on attending any of these matches? Do you expect any teams to pull out because they are in next season’s Europa League?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The money, and slight media attention is good for US soccer. Let’s keep the teams coming to our country for their games. It’s a good thing.

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  2. The Big House in Michigan is too narrow for soccer. They barely have any room around a football field. European teams are not going to want to play on that narrow a field, even if they can have a lucrative pay day and I’m not convinced that Michigan can pull in 100K fans for an exhibition match. I don’t even think they can get 75K. IMO if they were playing in the area, a game at Ford Field makes more sense, although they might have to lay grass on top of the Field Turf.

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  3. Let’s be real, United will have to drop out due to not finishing in the top 4. Why even go through the formalities of including including them?

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  4. Just out of curiosity, checked the tickets for United/Inter…
    Cheapest ticket is $50. For “Upper Level Limited View” seats, no less.
    And to see who? Macheda and Zaha? LOL.

    Reply
  5. do these tours help or hurt soccer in the USA?

    it definitely hurts MLS as it diverts public attention. I mean do you ever see La Lakers and Miami Heat planning a tour of Italy when the Milan derby is going on?

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    • The game in Denver is the same day as a Rapids game in a different stadium, dont know if the times are different… Havent checked to see if there are any other overlaps but id say stuff like this hurts MLS.

      If there were MLS teams involved or at least MLS owned stadiums involved it would be better. I hate to complain about it but im not really thrilled about it.

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    • They are just meaningless exhibitions and money grabs by these teams. If Americans are stupid enough to buy tickets to watch some euro teams go through the motions on holiday, then a pox on them.

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      • Yes I rather watch Real Madrid go through the motions, way more entertaining then a MLS game. Just like basketball fans in Spain would pay to watch NBA teams play exhibition games there. And I’m not a euro snob, I have season tix to my local PDL team. MLS needs to take the diapers off and let teams spend what they want so one day a US club team can field a team with half the talent of an elite euro squad.

    • Even more humiliating is when MLS teams take time out of their own regular season to play these European squads looking for preseason scrimmages and boatloads of cash. MLS needs to learn that they don’t need to rub shoulders with the big kids to get respect on their own playground.

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    • They help. My kids can learn a lot more about soccer by watching and imitating Ronaldo, Suarez or Aguero than from Lenhardt, Pajoy or Wondolowski.

      Reply
  6. Interesting to note that the Chicago Fire play a friendly against Tottenham on July 26 at Toyota Park, and then Liverpool plays Olympiacos on July 27 at Soldier Field. Good weekend for soccer in the Windy City.

    Reply

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