There is a reason why soccer exhibition matches are known as "friendlies." You wouldn't often see Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston treat an opposing coach to a Police concert two days before a game, but Johnston made an exception in the case of Aston Villa coach Martin O'Neill.
"He was very good company," Johnston said at Tuesday's press conference at BMO Field. "He's quite a good singer."
"When he told me I was going to the Police, I thought some of the players had been causing a disturbance," O'Neill added jokingly.
It clearly was a jovial atmosphere at BMO Field on Tuesday as Toronto FC and England's Aston Villa trained for Wednesday's exhibition. The game will be Toronto's second friendly against European competition this season, after recording a goal-less draw with Portuguese side Benfica on May 23.
This time, TFC welcomes one of the most established names of the English Premiership. Aston Villa were one of the 12 founding clubs of England's Football League, and the team has been a top-flight fixture for close to a century. Villa has seven FA Cups and seven league titles to their credit, and captured the European Champions' Cup in 1982.
Villa hasn't qualified for European competition since 2002, something that O'Neill hopes to change in his second year with the club. The Irishman is regarded as one of Europe's top coaches, leading Leicester City to Premiership success in the late '90's and a legendary five-year stint with Scotland's Celtic FC from 2000 to 2005.
With new additions Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood, O'Neill is looking to improve on last season's 11th place finish in the Premiership. Both players trained on Tuesday and are expected to make their debuts in the Villa shirt on Wednesday night.
The Toronto game is one of two friendlies Villa will play against MLS competition, the other being in Columbus to face the Crew on Saturday. O'Neill said that he will be liberal with substitutions given that these are his club's first two games of the exhibition season, but he wants to give his team a chance to play with each other.
"We wouldn't have taken on the trip in the first place if we thought we didn't get benefit out of it," O'Neill said. "This is important for us because the [Premiership] season starts in less than three weeks time. ... We wouldn't like to be beaten here if we can avoid it. We're looking forward to the game and so far the experience has been terrific."
As for Toronto FC, the team is happy to finally be back at BMO Field. With the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in town, the Reds were forced on a six-game road trip with a limited training schedule in between matches. Toronto managed a respectable 1-2-3 record on their long sojourn, but the trip came to a flat end with a 2-0 loss in Columbus last Sunday.
Midfielder Carl Robinson sees the Aston Villa game as a chance for Toronto to collect itself.
"I know it's an exhibition match, but it's an important game," Robinson said. "We didn't play very well on Sunday, we let ourselves down. We set our standards [with draws] at Houston, at Chicago and [a win in] Salt Lake City. We can't be good one week and then not so good the next week. Football is about consistency."
Robinson is one of TFC's players with Premiership experience, and thus greeted a few familiar faces as the two clubs met at the end of Villa's training. He played with Villa midfielder Patrik Berger in Portsmouth, and played with defender Mark Delaney on the Welsh national team. TFC forward Danny Dichio played with Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen in Sunderland from 1998 to 2001.
"[Dichio] is a very good player," Sorensen said. "If he's the standard then they're a very good team. It makes a big difference with them being in-season and us starting up ... but we're playing to win."
Sorensen may not get a chance to face his ex-teammate on the field. Dichio is nursing a sore back that has limited him to 64 minutes in the last two games. The big striker said he didn't expect to play against Villa, and is instead focusing on being healthy for Sunday's match with Chicago.
"It's a little bit better today," Dichio said of his back. "I think all these trips on the road added a bit of pressure onto it. But it's feeling the best today as it has in two weeks."
Between Dichio's back and fellow striker Jeff Cunningham's abdominal muscle injury, Johnston won't be able to use as many substitutions as he normally would in a friendly. It's just as well for Johnston, who sees this game as more than an exhibition.
"First and foremost it's an honor to have Martin up here," Johnston said. "He has a very good squad here in Aston Villa and we're not treating it lightly. It's like a league game and that's the way we'll play it. It's a great experience for our players to play in front of the likes of Aston Villa."
Robinson echoed his coach's sentiments about facing top competition.
"The people want to come and see professional football here," Robinson said. "You see that with sell-out stadiums week in or week out. When you get the opportunity to bring over Aston Villa or any team from Europe ... you don't turn that down. We're looking forward to the game as much as our supporters are looking forward to the game."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
