MLS/Arsenal vs Chelsea/Wrexham
- Thread starter Fk_Pitt
- Start date
Are they playing the Chelsea and Man U academies? Thought they were playing their main teams although surely the first team players wouldnt play much. They also play LA Galaxy II (who plays in MLS Next Pro). I am considering going to Philly for the EPL scrimmages next week.
No it’s not the academies. Consider it like an NFL preseason game. It will be all Chelsea 1st teamers and players looking to make the 1st team. Which is the type of game that Matt Miazga scored in a couple of years ago. You’ll see some players mixed in for Chelsea who may go out on loan, as Poch will want to look at some guys for sure. I haven’t seen the roster yet, but typically they announce a squad that they bring over to the states. They can’t bring everyone due to expense, logistics, and setting up camp here for proper training.
Usually you’ll see a majority of starters/1st teamers in the starting lineup and then an entire new 11 after halftime which will be a majority of 1st teamers too because I imagine there’s only a small handful of guys who will make the trip who have no shot at making the team for this season.
Not sure if I told the story or not here but my daughter accidentally walked into the FA Coaches award ceremony afterparty last month. It was in her hotel lobby restaurant. She was just going downstairs for a drink and bite to eat and walked right in and no one asked her any questions. She met a bunch of guys and had a long conversation with Frank Lampard. She said he probably thought she was some dumb star struck American girl. She told him he’s the reason we are chelsea fans because he played her position and wore her number when she was a young youth player and that’s when we started taking an interest. She told him that she was going to the Chelsea vs Wrexham game this summer and he just looked at her weirdly. Her take was that he didn’t even know about the match and he thought she didn’t know what she was talking about (this was just after the season ended). He also asked her where she was from and when he said Pittsburgh, he said they played a match here and he liked the city.
Btw, when they were here, I was only a new fan so I didn’t pay attention to things like I do now. Plus social media is so much different. But I wonder where they trained. I think that was 2005. It was a much different time. How many quality grass pitches were in the city for them to even train? There still aren’t any. Maybe they trained in the Cost Center or out at Hartwood Acres like our Pitt soccer teams. Lol.
IIRC they were based at the UPMC center on the South Side. But they were only here for a couple days, so I think they may have only practiced over there maybe once, and then once at Heinz the day before the game.
A couple days is a couple days more than some tour stops. Last year chelsea set up camp in Orlando and flew to Charlotte for game and flew back.
It was a while ago so I certainly could be misremembering, but I'm not sure Roma was here until like the day before the game. If I am remembering correctly, that would mean that they may not have had much more than a light workout at the stadium.
Ok but Wrexham is playing Philadephia Union II and LA Galaxy II so those are really the pro or semi-pro version of their academies.
As for where Chelsea practiced in Pgh....at Heinz Field I'm sure. Why not? No one was using it. AC Milan stayed in Pgh for almost a week a few years ago and practiced at Heinz. They had 1 open to the public and my son got Mario Balotelli (what a disappointing career) to sign his ACM jersey.
That’s cool for kids. I don’t do jerseys myself. But I’m half tempted to buy a Pulisic ACM jersey. I won’t, but it’s sharp.
The collared away white Chelsea shirt from 4 years ago, when Pulisic netted his hat trick against Burnley was one I should have bought. I would like one without a name and number, as it’s one I could wear with a pair of golf shorts. The thing is though, the old Yokohama tire sponsorship on the front makes it look like a motorcross shirt.
I am guessing the field will be very narrow since its a college stadium. Also, I wonder how UNC wound up with this game
Yeah. Those were my thoughts too on the width of the field. As far as UNC getting the game…no idea.
