Manchester City's match with Toronto FC on Wednesday begins a series of matches that will bring revenue, profile, aggravation and possible injury.
False start: David Beckham aggravated an ankle injury in his debut for LA Galaxy, a friendly against Chelsea in 2007
Shortly after the Barclays Premier League campaign finished, Manchester City flew to North America for two post-season friendly matches.
For the teams they will be facing, Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo, they are mid-season friendlies. And inconvenient ones at that.
Toronto host City at the renovated BMO Field on Wednesday four days after their match with Portland Timbers and three days before they face San Jose Earthquakes.
And Houston host City at BBVA Compass Stadium on Thursday just two days before they face New York City FC at Yankee Stadium, a match the City squad with watch from the sidelines.
Both teams are, of course, excited to face the Premier League giants, though it remains to be seen which of the big names play and for how long.
Indeed, with this summer's Copa America in mind, City's three Argentines Sergio Agüero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis will only take part in the Toronto match while the two Brazilians, Fernandinho and Fernando, will only take part in the Houston match.
“We are very excited to play Manchester City at BMO Field this season. Hosting a club like Manchester City is a great opportunity for our players to compete against one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Toronto general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said in a statement.
Dynamo president Chris Canetti told MLSsoccer.com: "We’ve been working very hard over the last several years to try and land a team that has the stature that Man City has. This is going to be a big moment for the club and its fans. We’ve always said we want to deliver an opponent like this for our club and our fan base.”
Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle, however, recognised the scheduling concerns that come with the match.
“I don’t think any of us could turn down the opportunity to play such an elite team as Manchester City, and that’s a credit to the match,” he toldMLSsoccer.com. “It is a quick turnaround … in terms of the squad that’s something we’ll look at very closely.”
And there lies the rub: these midseason friendlies are matches that MLS clubs cannot and will not turn down despite the potential problems that arise from them.
In late July New York Red Bulls face a challenging fortnight, taking on Orlando City in an MLS match on Saturday, July 18, before two quick matches in succession in the International Champions Cup - against Chelsea on Wednesday, July 22, and then Benfica on Sunday, July 26 - before resuming MLS activities against Philadelphia Union on Saturday, Aug 1.
That is four matches in 15 days, tough by anyone's standards.
Meanwhile, Orlando City have shoe-horned in a friendly against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday, July 15, in between MLS matches FC Dallas on July 11 and New York Red Bulls on July 18.
It is not only fatigue caused by the glut of games that is a problem for MLS teams but injuries as well.
David Beckham, memorably, made his debut for Los Angeles in a midseason friendly against Chelsea on July 22, 2007, despite already suffering an ankle injury.
In normal circumstances, Beckham would not have played but such was the attention of his arrival and the commercial demands placed on him that he made a cameo appearance for the final 13 minutes.
"I'm not fit and I haven't trained since I have been out here," Beckham said afterwards. "The ankle is swollen and we'll see how it is tomorrow.
"I sprained it in the England game and I played four days after I pulled the ligaments.
"Then I had the last game of the Spanish season a week after and I had three injections to numb it and I played in that game without any feeling in my foot.
"There are always going to be problems after that but that's what I wanted to do, to play in that game.
"It has been five weeks since that game and this sort of injury usually takes six or seven weeks to heal.
"It's a lot better, it's making progress - it's not a serious injury."
MLS commissioner Don Garber insisted that the decision for Beckham to play was the player's alone.
Garber told BBC Radio: "It was up to David and he felt he was fit enough to come in. Neither the League nor the Galaxy is putting pressure on David to play - that is absolutely not happening."
Beckham, one must note, aggravated his ankle in that match and did not make his MLS debut until Aug 7 in a defeat to DC United. In the end Beckham played just five MLS matches for Galaxy that season due to a mixture of ankle and knee injuries.
Meanwhile, last summer Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola refused to shake hands with Caleb Porter after the MLS All-Star match.
Guardiola was particularly upset by a hard tackle by Portland Timbers midfielder Will Johnson on Bastian Schweinsteiger, which resulted in the Germany international clutching his ankle and limping off the pitch.
Landon Donovan told ESPN afterwards: “I understand he doesn’t want his players to get hurt. They’re not great tackles but they’re not the worst tackles I’ve ever seen and I hope Schweiny’s not hurt."
The list goes on. In July 2013, Brek Shea, then with Stoke City, was forced to limp off the field after sustaining a knee injury during a friendly match with Philadelphia Union.
“Obviously I’m pretty upset right now,” said Shea, now with Orlando City. “I was excited to get back to Stoke and get ready for the season. Hopefully it’s not as bad as it feels.”
Mark Hughes, the Stoke manager, had harsher words to say.
“It was a nasty injury,” Hughes said. “It looks like some damage to the ligaments in his knee. He’s going to be scanned. I thought it was a very, very poor challenge by the boy. What the hell was he was thinking of, I have no idea.
“It’s a friendly game,” the Stoke City manager added. “You need to protect your fellow professional. And I don’t think the guy did that. I don’t know who he was. Maybe he was trying to make a name for himself, I don’t know. He went the wrong way about it.”
MLS midseason friendly matches are meant to be win-win. They represent chances for the visiting sides - mainly from Europe - to expand their brand in the United States and help prepare for the new season.
While for the MLS sides, these games represent a chance for players to challenge themselves against the best players in the world, for fans to see these superstars in person and for the clubs to boost exposure and revenues.
But at least once a summer there is a general feeling that these midseason friendlies benefit the visitors far more than they do the home sides.
And that they are distractions - albeit a lucrative and high-profile ones - to their goals of reaching the MLS play-offs or progressing in cup competitions.
But that is not always the case. During the International Champions Cup, LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls and San Jose Earthquakes have matches scheduled during US Open Cup quarter-final weekend.
The winners of the US Open Cup, one must note, qualify for the Concacaf Champions League and the winners of that qualify for the Fifa Club World Cup where meaningful competitive matches against the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus and Barcelona are possible, not friendlies.
The idea that Premier League, Bundesliga or La Liga sides would reschedule matches - or shoe-horn more games into their fixture list - during the height of their seasons is simply inconceivable.
But there is no escaping the reality that the MLS and US Soccer need the stardust that the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea and Barcelona can sprinkle on their game when they arrive each and every summer.
Just as significantly, many soccer fans in the States would rather see the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in action - even in a meaningless friendly - than any of the players in the MLS.
When Toronto FC lost 4-1 to Roma in a midseason friendly in August 2013, the club's former president Kevin Payne tersely told fans who voiced their dislike of these matches: "Get used to it!"
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