When Denver’s Tim Caffrey sent paperwork to London in October to register his group of about 90 fans as an official Tottenham Hotspur supporters club, he thought there was an outside chance his group would see Spurs play in Denver someday.
Little did he know it would happen so soon.
On Wednesday, Caffrey and the Colorado Spurs supporter group were fielding calls and e-mails from a number of the team’s 40 supporter groups across North America after it was announced the 133-year-old English Premier League side will face the MLS All-Stars in a July 29 game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.
“To have this happen six months later is unbelievable,” Caffrey said. “We have many supporters that grew up in London, and they’re kind of in shock.”
Tickets to the 2015 MLS All-Star Game and the Homegrown game go on sale to Rapids season-ticket holders and MLS partners from April 16-23. The general public gets its first crack at 10 a.m. on April 23. The game will air live at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports 1, UniMás and Univision Deportes Network, and in 100 other countries, including on TSN in Canada and Sky Sports in England.
Spurs were perhaps an obvious choice considering their ties with MLS and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Reigning MLS MVP Robbie Keane starred there. U.S. captain Clint Dempsey was transferred from Tottenham to the Seattle Sounders FC for a reported $9 million fee in 2013. Following the 2014 World Cup, breakout U.S. star DeAndre Yedlin was transferred from the Sounders to Spurs for a $4 million fee. He made his debut for Tottenham last weekend.
“We are excited to welcome another world-class opponent in Tottenham and look forward to a competitive match and a tremendous week of events,” MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said in a statement Wednesday.
Despite Tottenham’s ties to MLS, many in the Colorado Spurs supporters group felt it was a longshot to see their beloved club play in a stadium owned by Stan Kroenke.
“We had many that were pessimistic that this would even happen especially since the owner of the Colorado Rapids also owns Arsenal, which is our biggest rival in London,” Caffrey said.
This is the 12th time in the game’s 20-year history that the all-stars will face an international club. MLS has a 7-3-1 record in those games. Colorado hosted the match in 2007, with MLS defeating Celtic 2-0.
“The fact that this will be our only fixture outside of Europe during preseason says a lot about how we view this game,” Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino said in a statement.
Tottenham is currently seventh in the Barclays Premier League.
“Preseason is a really critical time for Mauricio (Pochettino) and his coaches,” Tottenham executive director Donna-Maria Cullen said Wednesday in Denver. “And again it underlines how important we feel this match is, not just from a prestige point of view, but because it comes at a really key time when we can test our squad against the best players of the MLS at a time when they will be at their peak fitness.”
Last year, MLS defeated world power FC Bayern Munich, a team loaded with players who were coming off the 2014 World Cup — many of whom were on the winning German national team. The match got so physical that Bayern manager Pep Guardiola refused to shake the hand of MLS all-star coach Caleb Porter after the 2-1 MLS victory.
“Players in Major League Soccer, I feel like they sometimes get the short end of the stick and they feel like they have a lot to prove,” Rapids and all-star coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “Every year, this game gets more competitive, every team in this game gets better, so I expect there’s going to be intensity from both sides of the field and any time you step on the soccer field, you want to win.”
And for the fans, hopefully one exciting game.
“I have a feeling with Tottenham coming to Denver, it’s going to be huge for their brand in the local area, especially with youngsters trying to decide which team to support,” Caffrey said.
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Daniel Boniface: 303-954-1104, dboniface@denverpost.com or twitter.com/danielboniface
