Chelsea FC takes on Real Madrid at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s the second largest stadium in the world, and the biggest one outside North Korea. It’s home to Jim Harbaugh and his University of Michigan Wolverines.
Harbaugh, a local deity, will be there; probably. Here’s a link to more on that.
The last time a soccer game was played at the venue commonly referred to as “The Big House” was August of 2014 between Real Madrid and Manchester United; and that match such a new record set for American single game soccer attendance.
That definitely will not happen today. There is a lot of buzz about this match, but it doesn’t come close to matching the 2014 hype.
First off, Chelsea doesn’t have the drawing power of United. Secondly, Cristiano Ronaldo came on during the second half of that friendly in ’14. Even if he was fit, it’s very unlikely that he would feature today. Portugal, now the greatest futbol country in the world, having eclipsed Mexico, due to the phenomenal performances of Ariaga! Ariaga II! and Bariaga!, had the very long championship run in the Euros.
Thus CR7 would need the time off today due to his extended tour of international duty if he were healthy.
Obviously, he is not.
We bring up Ronaldo because he’s the one player on these two squads that the casual American sports fan has heard of. And that fan matters when you’re trying to sell 100,000 tickets. We know that you know all about the Blues and/or Los Blancos, but you don’t sell out The Big House unless you draw in the dilletantes and the tourists.
Then again Chelsea Clinton has been one of the top trending terms, across all mediums, in the United States the past 24 hours so maybe that will inadvertently drive some eyeballs to this game. In today’s social media era of shortened attention spans, I’m not joking.
If you want to know more about Ronaldo’s MCL sprain, and how athletes who suffer this type of injury often respond, check out this posting from Mick Hughes. Also, follow him on twitter @mickwhughes
-Moving over to the Chelsea side, Cesc Fabregas has generated what has been perhaps the storyline of the International Champions Cup with this dirty tackle on Liverpool’s Ragnar Klavan Wednesday night at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Fabregas, and Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte even went over to the LFC side to apologize for this incident.
Chelsea did not arrive in the Detroit metro area early enough today to hold a media availability.
-ESPN FC Hostess/Reporter/Journalist Alison Bender has previously worked as a presenter for both of the clubs in this match. She Tweeted out a link to this ESPN FC article, which is a video of pundit Stevie Nicol critiquing Conte’s 4-2-4 formation. Have a watch and decide what you would do if you were making a Chelsea formation of your own.
-Chelsea, Michigan is a town with a population of about 5,000 located about 16 miles west of Ann Arbor. Manchester, Michigan is a town with a population of about 2,000 located approximately 26 miles away from where this match will be held.
The two towns share the same interstate highway off-ramp, thus leading to the sign that you see below; which really looks likes an English Premier League match box score, but is really an expressway signpost.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram