Yesterday, the Real Madrid squad came together at the UCLA university campus for their final training session ahead of their second outing in the Soccer Champions Tour. Carlo Ancelotti's troops wrapped up their preparations for the meeting with Club América at San Francisco's Oracle Park. In this session, the team focused more on the ball and tactical plays.
At the time they also had a visit from Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, who play for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. During the course of the visit, there was an exchange of shirts involving Luka Modrić, David Alaba and Thibaut Courtois and of course many photos were taken. Cowboys are currently in Los Angeles for their NFL preseason training camp and Prescott and Lamb took some time to visit the soccer stars. The group of athletes then played some catch with an American football, with Courtois showing off his catching ability.
At the break, it was Toni Kroos who gave an interview for Real Madrid TV. The German Sniper spoke to the camera about how he feels during this pre-season, stating that the importance of this period is crucial due to the preparation that the players need to carry on with the long season. He expressed himself as follows:
“We are getting stronger by the day. We’ve made the most of the days here and earlier in Madrid to work hard and prepare for the season. We’re doing well and working hard, which is what pre-season is all about. Those of us who enjoy ball work are enjoying it a bit less. There’s also gym work, running and all that, but it’s been a regular pre-season”.
He continued: “It’s all about getting to the speed in the games to be ready for 10 August, which is our first important game, with a trophy on the line. All of these days are in preparation for that. In the games some players get 45 or 60 minutes and that’s to get up to speed, get minutes under your belt and be ready for the important games”.
About the pre-seasons: “As always, the pre-season isn’t the most enjoyable part of the season, because there aren’t the games that really count and we all want to be involved in. It’s all about the preparation and we know just how important it is and it has to keep us going all season. I don’t know how many pre-seasons I’ve done now, but it’s just another one for me. I know it’s important to prepare for everything that lies ahead. We know how long the season is and I try to prepare as well as possible”.
Competing for the trophies: “As always, I hope that we compete for all of the trophies. At this club, we want to win every competition, which isn’t always possible, but we’ll try to. We’ve got the UEFA Super Cup now against Frankfurt. We’ve got La Liga, the Champions League and the Club World Cup in the winter and the Spanish Super Cup. There are a lot of games to come. Those who know us will be aware that we’ll be looking to win them all, whilst being aware that it’s not easy”, he concluded.
Match Preview: Real Madrid vs Club America
Real Madrid are poised to face the second assignment of the pre-season campaign as Carlo Ancelotti's charges prepare to take to San Francisco's Oracle Park for the first time to pit their wits against Club América (Wednesday, 4:30am CET, Tuesday, 7:30pm local time). This latest outing in the Soccer Champions Tour will allow the European and LaLiga champions to continue to get themselves up to speed ahead of the UEFA Super Cup meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt.
The madridistas will do battle with the Mexican league's most decorated side, who have 13 titles to their name. The last time the sides locked horns was in the Club World Cup semis in the 2016/17 season, when Madrid prevailed en route to claiming the club's fifth world crown.
This will be the second run-out of the pre-season campaign for Ancelotti's troops, whilst it'll be a seventh outing for Club América in July. The side from the Mexican capital have contested four league encounters and two friendlies, against Chelsea and Manchester City.
San Francisco: As was the case with Las Vegas, this will be Real Madrid's second-ever game in San Francisco. Indeed, Club América also provided the opposition in our previous trip to the Californian city. That meeting was in 2010 and Madrid ran out 3-2 winners at Candlestick Park, with Oracle Park set to play host to our team for the first time on this occasion.
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