DENVER – For a city deeply rooted in Wild West traditions, it was perhaps no surprise that Denver will be a welcoming host to “Spurs” when the 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game comes to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Wednesday, July 29 (9 pm ET on Fox Sports 1, UniMas, TSN, RDS2).
English club Tottenham Hotspur was confirmed as the opponent, adding to the growing tradition of the All-Star game featuring a English Premier League opponent. In a gathering held in downtown Denver on Wednesday evening, representatives from MLS, Tottenham and the Colorado Rapids helped fill in the details surrounding this summer’s event.
“This was our first choice, and we were fortunate that they were available and willing to do it,” MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said of the Tottenham selection. “It always starts with looking for a top international club. That’s the formula that’s worked well for us for the past 11 years and worked well for this game. When you look at some of the top scoring clubs around the world with great players, Tottenham is at the top of that list.”
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, several European clubs were on the list of suspected All-Star opponents. The most obvious candidate was Tottenham’s North London rival, Arsenal, where Rapids owner Stan Kroenke is the majority shareholder. Back in January, Stan’s son and alternate governor of the Colorado Rapids Josh Kroenke explained that Arsenal already had plans for a summer tour of Asia.
“By the time this bid came around, Arsenal already had overseas plans. They plan well in advance,” Rapids president Tim Hinchey said. “I think they’ll come to Colorado at some point, but this wasn’t in our control.”
Tottenham have shown a growing interest in traveling to the States. Most recently, Spurs played matches against MLS opponents Seattle, Toronto and Chicago during their 2014 summer tour.
“We’ve deliberately chosen to play in North America because we know that MLS fans are also our fans. There might be that Sounders fan out there who’s looking for his Premier League team,” said Tottenham executive director Donna Maria Cullen. “Tottenham has over 40 supporters groups in North America and 116 worldwide. We’ve sold out all our sections for this amazing match.”
Another deciding factor in choosing Spurs was the club’s numerous links to MLS and the American game.
“Players like Robbie Keane and Clint Dempsey played at Tottenham, DeAndre Yedlin went to Tottenham and there’s an executive connection with Darren Eales (Atlanta expansion team), who was an executive at Tottenham," Abbott said. "All of those things add an extra dimension to it."
Additionally, current US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was himself a former Tottenham player. When asked if Klinsmann would be a guest at this year’s All-Star game, Abbott responded, “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Following the post-game handshake drama that surrounded 2014 MLS All-Star coach Caleb Porter and Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, the other burning question that remained was whether this year’s event would be an equally competitive and physical match.
“I expect that it will be incredibly competitive,” said Cullen. “There’s this weird use of the word ‘friendly’ in the States. I think that as far as this match is concerned, there isn’t anything friendly about it.”
Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni, who will be coaching this year’s All-Stars, expects the game to be a no-holds-barred affair as well. However, it’s an element that he attributes to the nature of the players and not his coaching style.
“When you’re talking about the elite players in this league, I don’t think it’s about telling them how to approach a game. They’re elite because they approach the game in that fashion,” Mastroeni said. “Every time you step onto a soccer field, you want to win. I expect that there’s going to be intensity on both sides of the field.”
The on-field festivities won’t be the only draw to the event. AT&T will once again be the presenting sponsor and will host several All-Star events yet to be announced including a concert, according to AT&T’s state president for Colorado Roberta Robinette.
Tickets to the game will be available to Colorado Rapids full season ticket members and additional partners through an exclusive presale which will take place until April 23. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public starting on April 23 at noon ET.
