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This afternoon Inter will have landed in Newark, New Jersey to join Javier Zanetti - who is already here via Argentina - to begin their North American tour.
The tour is, as many know already, a tournament arraigned by Relevent Sports, which is a subsidiary of another company headed by the NFL team Miami Dolphins owner Stephan Ross. The tournament's official name is the Guinness International Champions Cup. The teams involved are: Real
The venues include: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles - LA Dodgers), Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis - Colts), University of Phoenix Stadium (Phoenix - Arizona Cardinals), AT&T Park (San Francisco - SF Giants, MetLife Stadium (New York - Giants/Jets), Estadio Mestalla (Valencia) and Sun Life Stadium (Miami - Dolphins).
Teams have been grouped into EAST and WEST divisions. The EAST teams are Inter, Chelsea, Valencia and Milan.
Milan have already played a game against Valencia and won 2-1 at the cost of defender Daniele Bonera's broken knee cap. This is something I will be writing about later I am sure, considering the rumors that include the Mazzarri ignored defender Silvestre and some kind of bone-headed transfer.
Inter's involvement in this tournament will start on August 1 against Mourinho's Chelsea in Indianapolis. August 4 will see the next round played between the four teams, depending on who wins. If Inter win, then It's Milan next. On August 6 and 7 all the teams will go to Miami and play 2 double headers at Sun Life Stadium.
I don't know how big a test this is supposed to be for Inter, but I do know that a lot will be made of how the team plays. Personally there will be no pressure from me on this team to play well, although competitive games would be much appreciated. See the thing is, I think that Mazzarri will be putting a lot of stuff on the field to see where the troubles are - which is a smart thing to do in the pre-season, I think - so that he can identify them and deal with them. I think that a lot of the fan-base is going to be looking at this tournament and going to be concerned that the best group be out there all the time and want Mazzarri to treat this like it really matters. I hope Mazzarri sees problems now so that they can be fixed for the season.
Allow me to sum up: If Mazzarri loses to Chelsea or whomever I will not miss a single minute of sleep - I already know that this isn't the same squad from 3 years ago. If Mazzarri doesn't get a good long look at Duncan, Laxalt and Obi I will be upset.
On a personal note, I would normally be all over going to one of the games, but I have some personal business that will keep me at the homestead. If anyone is going to any of the games I encourage photos and stories in the fan posts that I will be sure to check and put in the Front Page so that we can all see it.