Review SoccerPro.com

The date is set; on July 25th Manchester United will make their return to the American Mid-West to face the Kansas City Wizards. As part of their 2010 pre-season tour of North America, the game against Kansas City will be a great opportunity for an established MLS team to test themselves against the biggest club in World Soccer.

Unlike the Philadelphia Union, The Wizards have been a force in MLS soccer since its inaugural season in 1996. The Twice winners of the MLS Cup have built up a loyal fan base over those years and thousands of Wizards fans will be hoping for an upset when Manchester United come to town. Although the Wizards find themselves competing for attention with the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and Kansas City Royals (MLB), Kansas City has a great passion for true football.

For some American Manchester United fans, the visit to Kansas City is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the worlds biggest team. Aside from the locals, the stadium will be packed with thousands of fans travelling from “nearby” cities like St. Louis, Tulsa and Oklahoma City and Omaha. The United team can expect a real atmosphere inside the stadium.

Confusingly, Kansas City is actually in Missouri, not Kansas. The city lies on the State border but Arrowhead stadium where the game will be played is on the Missouri side of the division. The Wizards have used the stadium in the past but with a 77,000 capacity, even with a good attendance it can look pretty empty for an MLS soccer game. Arrowhead is one of the few NFL stadiums that still have a grass surface; so United’s stars won’t have to worry about adjusting to an artificial pitch.

The Wizards are in the middle of a mediocre season in the MLS. At the least they’ll be looking at the game as a welcome distraction. However there’s enough reason to believe the Americans could cause an upset. Firstly United’s fitness won’t be quite be at 100% and players may struggle to acclimatize to the heat and humidity. Psychologically, for some of the Kansas City players it could be the biggest game of their lives; that’s simply not the case for Man United’s well-travelled superstars! Lastly the Wizards have some quality players capable of producing no matter who they’re up against.

Leading the Wizards attack will be Josh Wolf, having appeared in two World Cups for the USA, the veteran striker will be doing everything possible to get on the score sheet. At this stage it’s still unclear who will feature for the Red Devils although Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov are some of the big names that are expected play a part in the tour. The game will also be a great opportunity for some of United’s younger players to impress Sir. Alex.

A new attendance record will be broken as ticket sales have already climbed above 40,000. The record attendance at a soccer game in Mid-America was 37,000 when the U.S.A faced Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier back in 2001 also held at Arrowhead stadium! The Kansas City game is a real highlight of the pre-season tour and fans lucky enough to get tickets can expect to see Manchester United put on a great show no matter who they want to win!

Written by Olly; player, coach and fan. Olly works at SoccerPro where you will find the new Manchester United Jersey from July 15th!