Heading into the final stretch of International Champions Cup international friendlies, the New York Red Bulls (American Major League Soccer) stand atop the tournament standings with 10 points. However, Manchester United (English Premier League) and Paris Saint-Germain (French Ligue 1) are right behind them with nine and seven points, respectively. All other teams in the tournament have been officially eliminated from championship contention.
In other words, tonight’s clash between the English and French giants will be decisive in the outcome of the entire preseason tournament.
Yes, it’s a “preseason championship” or “preseason title,” and you obviously know how oxymoronic that is. Or a misnomer at the very least. It’s only preseason, but it’s a lot better to win. Man United went undefeated in the preseason last year, but they still got off to a really rough start during the Premier League regular season.
Still if Man United win tonight at Soldier Field, along the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, they will repeat as International Champions Cup champions and take home the title for the second time in the tournament’s three year history. Tonight’s match features two of the top strikers in the world, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic currently sits in second for goals scored in the tournament, while Rooney scored his first on Saturday against Barcelona in a 3-1 victory.
He had a fantastic chance in the first game versus Club America in Seattle, but his shot went wide right of the goal. Man United were in fourth place in the tournament standings heading into the weekend, but have now seen things fall into place so that they control their own destiny in terms of hoisting the cup again.
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.
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.
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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