Mauricio Pochettino sees training and our International Champions Cup (ICC) matches against AS Roma, Barcelona and AC Milan as a ‘massive opportunity’ for the squad on our Tour of America.
The squad trained for the first time at the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles on Monday.
Davinson Sanchez, back from his World Cup heroics with Colombia, also joined the squad for the first time in pre-season.
Last season’s Champions League semi-finalists Roma provide our first ICC opposition at San Diego’s SDCCU Stadium on Wednesday (7.05pm local/3.05am Thursday, UK).
in the USA
“We’re back in contact with the football pitch and we’re preparing for our game against Roma,” said Mauricio under the clear blue Californian sky.
“It’s a massive opportunity for our younger players to show their quality and for players to show they are in condition to fight for a place in the first team.
“We’re looking forward to playing, looking forward to a nice Tour and sharing (time) with our fans, that’s important too.”
Roma is followed by a cracker against Barcelona at LA’s famous Rose Bowl on Saturday (8.05pm local/4.05am Sunday, UK) and then AC Milan at the US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, on Tuesday week, 31 July (7.35pm local/1.35am Wednesday, UK).
“We have three very good tests and more than results, it’s about how we are going to approach the games and both collective and individual performances,” added Mauricio.
“It’s about players showing they are in condition to fight for a place in the starting 11 and to share that with our fans in America will be fantastic.”
Watch us train in LA!
Tickets are selling fast for our open training session at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles on Friday night.
This is your chance to watch from close quarters how Mauricio and the coaching staff prepare the squad for Saturday's International Champions Club (ICC) cracker against Barcelona at the Rose Bowl.
Details
Date: Friday 27 July Time: 5pm (local time) Venue: StubHub Center, 18400 Avalon Boulevard, Carson, CA 90746
Former Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaus has told ESPN FC that Mesut Ozil will not be missed following his international retirement, adding "his time to play in the national team is over" based on his recent performances.
The Arsenal midfielder will not add to his 92 caps, 23 goals and 40 assists for his country following political tensions regarding his Turkish roots and his omission from the starting XI during this summer's World Cup as the defending champions embarrassingly crashed out in the group stage.
Matthaus said Ozil had done "a good job for Germany" in previous years but of late had failed to "hit the same performance" that helped them win the 2014 World Cup, and it was time to move on to new players.
Asked if Ozil would be missed, Matthaus told ESPN FC: "No, we have a lot of good players, and when some player can not perform like before, we have option to give the new generation the chance to help us to make the results like, for example, 2014."
Ozil was heavily criticised in Germany for his meeting with Turkish president Recep Erdogan in May, when he and Ilkay Gundogan posed for a photo during a visit to London.
And though Matthaus, a World Cup winner with Germany in 1990, said the media coverage around the photograph played its part in Ozil's decision, he believes Germany would be better served going forward without the Arsenal playmaker's services.
"I think football is football, politic is politic," said Matthaus, who met met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin during the World Cup. "Mesut made a good job for Germany in [previous] years but in the last one and a half year he didn't hit the same performance like four years ago when we won the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil against Argentina.
"I think his time to play in the national team is over. Not because of some picture, of of political decision. It doesn't matter, I don't care. I see the football player Mesut Ozil, and he didn't perform like before."
Matthaus, an ambassador for Bayern Munich during their tour of the United States, said he thought the club's president Hoeness was letting out frustration over the months of stories about Ozil since the photograph with Erdogan -- and added that the Arsenal playmaker was not to blame for Germany's World Cup exit.
"I never speak against Uli Hoeness, but OK, Uli Hoeness was very angry this morning because this was too much the last two months about Mesut Ozil," Matthaus said.
"The German team lost the games against Mexico and South Korea, not only Mesut Ozil. But Mesut Ozil was -- is a part of this national team. And he's normally a leader but in the last one, two years, he didn't show he's a leader, he didn't show the right performance.
"And then was coming all the things from outside -- include it and everything, and this makes a story.
"But for me, it's only important [if] Mesut Ozil can help the national team or not, and I have this feeling in the last one and a half year, he never played on this level how we played before, and now it's time for changes. It's time for changes!"
Ozil's agent criticised Hoeness for sidestepping the Ozil's reasons for leaving Germany, but Matthaus, when asked if the German federation has a racism problem, made his opinion clear.
"No, absolutely no," he said. "We have so many influences from outside Germany and we say, 'Welcome all the world to Germany.' And Mesut was playing the last 10 years in the national team, Sami Khedira was playing a long time in the national team, [Jerome] Boateng, [Serge] Gnabry -- so many influences from outside.
"I think we don't have a problem. He has a problem to find now an answer of this 'retired from the national team.'"
CHARLOTTE -- Loris Karius says nobody at Liverpool spoke to him before the club paid £56 million for goalkeeper Alisson and admitted his Anfield future is uncertain.
The arrival of the Brazil No. 1 from Roma -- in what is the biggest-ever transfer fee for a goalkeeper -- means Karius will no longer be considered first-choice at Anfield.
The German has been under intense scrutiny ever since his two costly errors in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in May.
He returned to Liverpool this preseason but has been at fault for goals in friendlies with Tranmere Rovers and Borussia Dortmund so far this summer.
Asked by German media on Sunday about the current goalkeeping situation at Liverpool, Karius said: "Of course, that's not ideal for me, but at the moment I cannot say much more about that."
Probed on whether anybody at Liverpool gave him advance warning of Alisson's signing, Karius replied: "Nobody spoke to me beforehand."
Karius, who joined Liverpool from Mainz for £4.7m in the summer of 2016, then admitted he does not know what the future holds for him at Anfield.
"I do not know at the moment," the 25-year-old said, when asked if he believes he is staying at Liverpool or looking for another club. "I cannot say what I'm doing right now, there's still some time left."
Shortly after Liverpool's 3-1 defeat to Dortmund in Charlotte in the International Champions Cup on Sunday, Karius used Instagram to hit out at people who "take joy in seeing other people fail or suffer."
Forward Mohamed Salah tweeted support to his teammate, posting "Stay strong Karius, it has happened to the best of players. Ignore those who hate.@LorisKarius".
Paris Saint-German star Kylian Mbappe says he spoke to his France teammate N'Golo Kante about a potential transfer to the French champions during the World Cup.
Mbappe confirmed in an interview with France Football that PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is interested in signing Kante from Chelsea, and that he broached the subject while Les Bleus were en route to lifting the trophy in Russia.
"It is true that the president [Al-Khelaifi] consulted me. My response was that N'Golo would do our team some good," Mbappe said.
"I spoke with N'Golo during the World Cup. I was careful to not overdo it, though, as transfers can flood your mind. In the end, I just put a few words in his pocket, which I am sure he must have discovered once he got home, to get the message across."
Kante has developed into one of the world's top defensive midfielders in his three year since leaving France for England, helping Leicester City win the Premier League title in 2015-16 before moving to Chelsea.
Reports have linked the 27-year-old to a PSG move all summer, despite Kante still having three seasons left on his Chelsea contract. However, PSG may need to sell players to facilitate what would likely be a very expensive transfer, since UEFA has already warned the club about its financial fair play obligations.
Mbappe also spoke about his relationship with Neymar and how his World Cup success will not alter their relationship at PSG.
"Not much will change between us and the way that we play together," he said. "Things are clear between us."
Mbappe listed his Brazilian teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric as potential Ballon d'Or winners and also mentioned fellow World Cup winner Raphael Varane on the topic of the award -- but not Antoine Griezmann.
"To finish off, I think that I will also put myself in there!" he added.
Mbappe even revealed that French president Emmanuel Macron expressed his hope that the PSG man will one day play for Marseille, but the teenager left him disappointed.
"He even managed to slip in a request that I play for Marseille one day," Mbappe said. "I told him that it will not happen!"
They’re going to have to replace the Brazilian if they sell him, but a shortage of top quality talent that could be available this summer is a problem.
On first glance, a deal to bring him to London may be difficult, but when you consider the business that Chelsea and Man Utd have done over the years – with both Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic moving to Old Trafford from Stamford Bridge – perhaps there is an open line of communication there.
Whatever the case, if Chelsea do sell Willian, they’d struggle to find a better replacement than Martial.
After all, though the Frenchman – who is rated at £58.5 million by Transfer Markt– has found it very tough under Jose Mourinho, he has more than held his own over the last few years. In particular, his last campaign was fraught with inconsistencies in his playing time, with just 18 Premier League starts coming his way. Nonetheless, he bagged 9 goals and 5 assists, which equates to 1 goal per 2 league starts – which isn’t a bad record at all. Amidst the records of some of his teammates, Martial certainly doesn’t fall at the bottom of the pile in that regard.
In comparison to Willian, his stats hold up too. Despite Willian making 6 more appearances, including 2 more starts, Martial bagged just 2 fewer assists and three more goals. Clearly, then, we’re not talking about a downgrade here – with the Frenchman more than able to carry the contribution provided by Willian at Stamford Bridge last season.
Like Willian, Martial is able to play across the attack, having played on both the left and right during his stint at Old Trafford. Significantly, though, he’s also able to play as a number nine, and that’s interesting for Chelsea. That would offer another facet to their team that they don’t have at present, and the poor form of Alvaro Morata indicates that Martial may well play here a lot if he were to make the move.
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Perhaps more than any other point, though, comes Martial’s age. At just 22-years-old, the Frenchman’s best years are far ahead of him, and so the fact that he’s already competing with the likes of Willian on the field is a testament to his quality. If he starts playing regular football, there’s no telling where he could be in, say, 3 or 4 years.
Willian has been a fantastic servant for Chelsea, but when it’s time to move on – it’s time to move on. A move for Martial would be hugely beneficial for Chelsea, and it could see them into a new era.
New Barcelona signings Arthur Melo and Clement Lenglet will be on display in the International Champions Cup this summer but there will be no Lionel Messi in the United States.
None of the Barca players who made it beyond the group stages of the Russian World Cup, which includes Argentina's Messi, will travel to the U.S. on Tuesday.
That means the likes of Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Spain internationals Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba will also sit out the tour.
World Cup finalists Samuel Umtiti, Ousmane Dembele and Ivan Rakitic, meanwhile, will not return to training until later in August.
Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, whose country crashed out before the knockout rounds, will join up with the squad in Dallas.
Barca fly to Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, where they will train at Nike's headquarters in nearby Beaverton, before playing Tottenham in Los Angeles on Saturday.
They then face Roma in Dallas and AC Milan in Santa Clara before heading back to Europe.
The tour represents an opportunity for new signings Arthur and Lenglet to impress coach Ernesto Valverde.
Midfielder Arthur, a €31 million arrival from Gremio, has already caught the eye in training, while Lenglet joins the club from Sevilla to provide competition for Pique and Umtiti in defence.
Andre Gomes, Lucas Digne and Rafinha are among the travelling party despite speculation they could leave the club in the transfer window, but Douglas is not after a deal was reached for him to join Turkish side Sivasspor on loan.
Valverde has also called up 13 B team players for the trip to the U.S., including Marc Cucurella, Riqui Puig and Abel Ruiz.
Ballou Tabla, a January signing from the Montreal Impact, will also fly out with the first team on Tuesday, who will be accompanied by the women's team.
It's the first time in the club's history that both the men's team and the women's team will take part in the same tour.
The women's team will train in Portland before playing a friendly in L.A. this weekend, where their involvement in the tour will come to an end.
SQUAD LIST!
FC Barcelona US Tour 2018
