With the summer rapidly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, preseason matches and tournaments are being planned through out the United States and Canada. One of the benefits of living in the United States is being able to see Europe’s biggest clubs tour various parts of the country. In the past, I have been able to see giants Juventus, Fiorentina, Rangers of Scotland, Manchester United, Chelsea, Porto, Benfica, and of course our beloved River Plate.
I have been waiting for years for River to return the United States since its last visit back four or five years ago. Unfortunately, River will be visiting our northern neighbor Canada in a series of preseason matches. Last week, I had mentioned that River was going to commence their preseason training in Santa Marta, Colombia but the deal fell through for reasons unknown.
A few days ago, River confirmed that it would visit Canada for three weeks (July 19th through August 9th) and play exhibition matches against Juventus and MLS newcomer, Toronto FC. River will receive an approximate amount of $200,000 for its presence and have all expenses paid.
River is going to prepare itself for this years’ Apertura tournament and the Copa Nissan Sudamericana. Many comments in the “La Pagina Millonaria” were questioning the fact if River should be traveling so far when more focus should be on strengthening and organizing the team at home.
