After Euro 2004, Arsenal are rumoured to be playing Man U in the states in a friendly fixture as part of their next US tour. Good news for you Gooners in the states but judging by the reaction of alot of the other members on bigsoccer i wonder how the likes of Henry, Wenger Vieira and Pires will be recieved? Pires is abit of flaky character but if Henry recieves abuse he will definitely let you know about it. Interesting to see your thoughts on this.
That would be great. I've been fortunate enough to see them at Highbury a few times but I would love to have them come to the states. The Man U support is strong here. Especially after their last tour. But I'm sure that we would have enough Arsenal supporters there to make their trip worthwhile. If Dennis boards a ship right after the last match of the season, maybe he'd be here in time ;-) GJ40
I remember last year, when I went to seattle to see Man U, they where selling Arsenal shirts along side Man U shirts in Nike town. Of course, the Man U shirts sold out much faster. But that's probably only because they where the ones in town. I'm sure Arsenal will be well recieved stateside, though maybe not as well recieved as Man U. If only because the American press crammed so much "Manchester United is the greatest soccer team in the world" down our throats during their tour. Anyways, I'll cross my fingers in hope that they come to Chicago.
Is Henry well known in the US? I remember hearing he attended some NBA playoff games this summer but i doubt many people would have known who he was. or am i wrong in thinking that? I suppose van Nistelrooy is most well known forward from the Premierhsip now because their tour?
Henry could walk down any street in any city in America, wairing an arsenal jersey, and still most likely only be recognised 2 or 3 times. The same would probably be true for Ruud. Even people who have some idea of who they are would not be able to pick them out of a crowd. I suppose that's why they like playing here. They can walk the city without being bothered. Just for your information, I watched all of the Spurs playoff games and heard nothing of him being there. I assume those are the games he attended, seeing as how they are the only team with a frenchman(tony parker) in the line-up. As for who is the best known, americans really only know Pele and Beckham. And all they really know about Beckham is that he is VERY popular. I guess you could say that he's kind of famous in America for being famous in England.
Titi came to some of the Spurs playoff games because he is a good friend of Tony Parker. What I was told is that Titi stayed at Parker's place during his visit.
Cool. Tony Parker is a class act. I'm glad jason kidd turned the spurs down. I'd hate for Tony to lose his spot with the champs
Actually last year I went to San Antonio to see a Mavs/Spurs playoff game and was talking to usher (who would not let me get near Henry) and said he was asked his autograph so many times he had to tell the ushers to stop letting people near him.
That's fantastic. I wish him all the best in the US. I was speaking about america in general, but i'm glad to be proven wrong. I guess Dallas could be an exception because of it's large soccer fanbase, but maybe not. I'm glad to see he was recognized at the game, but they did not mention him on TV when they did the obligatory celebrity rundown.
It actually got mentioned in the Dallas Morning News the day after the first game of the Western Conference Finals in San Antonio. It was a small blurb in the "Notes" section on the previous night's game. I was pretty amazed that the DMN mentioned it at all.
Sweet jesus. Please let this rumor be true, and please let Arsenal play at Foxboro. Or somewhere cheap to travel to from Boston. Vexingly, there's no Arsenal gear at the Nike Town in Boston-- at least, not as of last spring, which is last time I checked. Lots of ManU stuff, though. It was especially irritating last year, because it was like, "Hello, you supply jerseys to the CHAMPIONS, why don't you sell them here?" Then again, they didn't even have U.S. Men's jerseys at the time. Just lots and lots of ManU stuff. Maybe I'll go back and check again. It'd be nice to get an Arsenal away jersey without having to pay shipping.
I think this'd be great, i do loads of travelling and to combine a holiday to co-incide with an Arsenal tour would be superb. Where&When did these rumours first surface? i wonder how the likes of Henry, Wenger Vieira and Pires will be recieved? Pires is abit of flaky character but if Henry recieves abuse he will definitely let you know about it I dont know if Henry, Vieira and Pires would actually go, especially aftyer a long domestic season and the euro '04 tournament.
Arsenal comming to to States would be great! If they don't play here in D.C. then I feel a road trip is in my future!
Is there any inication that Arsenal is going to be one of the opponents for the next tour? Or is it just the fact that they are sponsored by Nike and weren't on the tour last year?
unfortunately for people in the states, i really do not see the internationals playing at all due to EURO2004~ not the end of the world tho, who is that.. cole, campbell, paddy, titi, pires... just makes alot of sense to get the american market tuned into the gunners.. phishy~
This would be the perfect time for Arsenal and the Chicago Fire to make a deal to become partners. You know like give tickets to Arsenal games and beer to FIRE season ticket holders. Let players come here on loan for a few weeks in Oct. for the playoffs. That kind of thing. God Willing. Rich
There is going to be a press conference later today concerning the summer tour for manUre, but I don't think any other clubs will be mentioned today. One thing to consider: Ajax will be coming to the US this summer as they are opening Ajax Orlando. Arsenal, Ajax, manUre, and perhaps Rangers (as they didn't come last summer) would be a pretty fair summer tour.
Real Madrid is coming on their own tour, not the one with United. Apparently they have a different promoter or something. I figured Real would go back to the Far East this summer to capitalize on Beckham, but who knows.
Ok fellas, lot of speculation swirling here, let me tell you what I know as of 8:10am eastern today: At 11am eastern I will be at Niketown NYC for a press conference. ManU will be announcing plans for next summer here in the States. I just spoke with a rep from Arsenal FC. He couldn't confirm or deny anything, but would get back to me later today. One of my clients is MasterCard, who sponsored the tour last year. Arsenal is not a team I've heard mentioned in any internal meetings. Real Madrid, at this point, do seem to have some plans to come here next year and are talking to various promoters. There is still a lot to be decided, I should have some more info later today.
You're so plugged in, Rick. That's why we like you so much. I take it MasterCard is going to be a sponsor again this summer?