:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/30013583/148654674.0.jpg)
"Chelsea ditch summer tour..." blares the headline in the Evening Standard, who understand. It's important to understand. We would be nothing without it. We are not animals!
In the last three years the Blues have been to the United States and Asia but Standard Sport understands that with a shorter close season due to the World Cup they have decided to play a series of one-off games in Europe instead.
-source: Evening Standard
Nothing makes sense anymore! But wait... I wonder what happened in that one year that came before the last three years. Could it have been... a World Cup? Could it? Nooo... YES! Yes, it was. A World Cup! What an ginormous, unforeseen coincidence! It's just like this year!
Back in 2003, our marketing types had this bright idea to start touring the USA and Asia (sometimes in the same year, even) to spread the Chelsea word and gain match fitness all in one fell swoop. And in nine out of the ten preseasons since, we have done just that. Quite successfully, I might add, considering the crowds that come out on both continents.
The one missing year was 2010 when, because of the World Cup in South Africa, our pre-season activities were limited to England, Netherlands, and Germany. Even in 2006, the "USA tour" consisted of just a single match - the rather drab MLS All-Star game that we lost 1-0 anyway - which pales in comparison with the scope of other years' trips.
So, (most likely) no preseason tour for Chelsea ahead of next season. Probably no post-season tour either. Well, duh.