JULY 29 (Eagle News) — Tottenham Hotspur face a Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star team in Colorado on Wednesday (July 29) and are expecting a tough match.
The annual All-Star game will be held this season outside the mile-high city of Denver (5,280ft, or 1610m, above sea level) just 10 days before Spurs open their Premier League season away at Manchester United on August 8.
“First thing is with the altitude we’re in. It’s good for our lungs and of course it is a really nice game to play tomorrow with some big players who played in all of the big leagues. It will be a tough test and then luckily it is only two to go and then the league starts,” said midfielder and Danish international, Christian Eriksen.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino expects his team will get a lot from the All-Star match, which is always held at the the midway point of the MLS season that runs from April to November.
“We need to be fitter and we need to play our game, but we play a more pressing game and of course it helps that we are scoring goals. It makes us vulnerable at the back but I think overall he [Mauricio Pochettino] has helped a lot because he gave everyone the confidence to play and everybody knows what to do. I think he helped the team that way,” Eriksen said about his manager.
Newly signed Belgian defender Toby Alderweireld thinks the game will be a good starting point for a Spurs side expecting to contest at the top of League.
“We have a young, talented group with a lot of potential. We want to go in the top four so that is going to be difficult, it always is in the Premier League. We are confident in ourselves to achieve that,” he said.
In last year’s All-Star match, the MLS select side defeated German champions Bayern Munich, 2-1. After Wednesday’s game, Spurs will play one more warm-up taking on Real Madrid in the Audi Cup on August 4 before the Premier League kicks off.
