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Welcome back to the World Football Challenge; football-like substance not necessarily included!
The challenge's singular aim is to get the participants fit, have them stay healthy and make some money. Oh, and also to anger the more volatile segments of their fan bases by failing to make it entirely clear the fact these are all just glorified training exercises.
We don't have to look too far back to see just what sort of reaction a 3-2 loss to the MLS All-Stars can produce, while just the other day, fans in Milan held a mock funeral for their club for selling both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to PSG. They also made demands for season ticket refunds ("false advertising"), which, amazingly, the club accepted.
But hey, FOOTBALL!
Match Date/Time: Saturday, July 28, 23:30 BST / 6:30pm EDT
Venue: Sun Life Stadium, Miami, FL, USA
TV: Chelsea TV (UK) / ESPN 2 (USA)
Online: ChelseaTV, ESPN3
Let's see...what should we care about?
Fernando Torres should be back! I'm almost certain that he'll see some time on the pitch, and I'm equally sure that not a single muscle twitch will go unnoticed and un-overanalyzed. I'm soooo looking forward to that! (And, you know, the LAST time Torres faced off against a team containing Antonio Cassano and Riccardo Montolivo, he won a Golden Boot! We're going to win the league!)
We should also start seeing players playing longer stints as the preseason winds down (only one more to go after this one!). So far, only Branislav Ivanovic has completed a full 90 minutes.
The one thing I'd love to see is Marko Marin & Eden Hazard getting time out there together again. They looked very good against Seattle - let's see them have a go at a slightly better defense.
I can't offer you any insight to Milan or what they may do. For all I know, they sold everybody else, too. They did win their first pre-season warmup 1-0 v. Schalke.
There's no point in guessing at a lineup, because it would undoubtedly be very wrong and it doesn't matter at all. Instead, here are highlights from the last time we faced AC Milan in a friendly in the USA, including THAT 35-yard Didier Drogba piledriver: