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Just a few things, if you're so inclined, to while away your time before tonight's International Champions Cup semifinal between Chelsea and AC Milan.
As far as friendlies, there's Arsenal's own Emirates Cup, a weird little two-day thing where they award points for goals scored, too. After a year off - presumably due to the fact that the NY Red Bulls won it in 2011 - Arsenal's desperate plan to win a trophy is back in full effect this year. Of course they probably didn't realize that Didier Drogba was playing for Galatasaray when they invited the Turkish club. Oopsies.
On the first day, Gala edged past FC Porto 1-0 and thus sit in first with four points. Napoli and Arsenal are tied for second with three points each following their 2-2 draw. Now Arsenal must take on Drogba & Co and hope that Porto vs. Napoli is low-scoring affair in order to win a trophy. This is even sillier than all this other preseason silliness! Both matches will be on ESPN3; tune in at 9 A.M. EDT for the Italian Rafalution (Rafaluzione!) and at 11:20 A.M. EDT for Drogba vs. Arsenal, part many.
In the ICC loser's bracket, ahead of Chelsea's match, Valencia will take on Inter Milan (4 P.M. EDT) for a chance to play LA Galaxy in the third-place match. The loser gets the other double-loser in the competition: Juventus.
In the land of competitive fixtures, there is Derby vs. Blackburn (TODD KANE) in the Championship (11 A.M. EDT; beIN Play / Sky Sports 1) and Chelsea B vs. Heracles in the Eredivise (8:30 A.M. EDT). In the Netherlands, the Vitesse match is on Fox Sports and there's supposedly an online stream at livesport.tv as well. This website is eerily reminiscent of FoxSoccer2Go, which makes sense considering who owns the rights to the match locally. Because I won't actually be awake to catch the Chelsea loan boys, I haven't plunked my money down for this yet ($8/month for all their football content, after a 7-day trial for $0.99); let me know if any of all y'all do and how it actually ends up working out for you...