Manchester United flew from San Jose, California to Chicago, Illinois this evening in advance of tomorrow night’s International Champions Cup finale. The match will also complete United’s 2015 preseason tour of the United States. The team touched down at O’Hare International Airport hours ago, and from the photos posted on the club website it looks like the team hotel this time is the exact same establishment they stayed in the last time they visited Chicago.
They’re staying at the Four Seasons Chicago, which is actually just an 8 minute walk from my house! I recall the press conference with Sir Alex Ferguson previewing the 2011 international friendly versus the Chicago Fire being held in a conference room at the exact same hotel.
Manchester United can clinch the ICC title, and repeat as champions (they won this preseason tournament last year) with a win over Paris St. Germain tomorrow night. (here’s more on that)
United went straight to the hotel after arriving in Chicago late evening; following a four hour flight. Neither Manchester United nor Paris St. Germain did any media availability today in advance of tomorrow night’s event.
Here are some photos and video of the club arriving at the hotel where they were greeted by hundreds of fans
https://twitter.com/madiroset/status/626225214565842945
ManchesterUnited #Chicago lads about to arrive. pic.twitter.com/74qTbSeQ6E
— My T w i t t e r (@Dannyborbolla) July 29, 2015
Here you can see Juan Mata signing autographs for fans:
Thanks for the welcome, Chicago! #MUtour pic.twitter.com/EJxLrXja1O
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 29, 2015
Stay tuned for more Manchester United updates today and tonight!
Oh and of course this game’s biggest storyline is the never ending Angel Di Maria transfer saga; as he’s close to finalizing a move from United to PSG. Extremely rare that something like this happens; the two clubs involved in a transfer meet right at the time that the deal is being closed.
The match kicks off at 8 pm local time, and airs on FOX Sports 1 at 10:30. The 62,000 seat venue is sold out. We’ll see which side plays more of their starters tonight and hence puts in a bigger effort towards winning.
We also did a past, present, and future history of each side tonight in order to preview the game.
Here’s the Paris St. Germain version.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country.
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