More and more European teams are venturing to the United States to spend a portion of their preseasons. Everton is in the states for the third time in four years, and if history repeats itself the English Premier League team will be back again soon.
In 2004, Everton went to Houston on a preseason tour and ended up finishing in the top four of the English Premier League — qualifying itself for the Champions League. This past year, Everton spent a portion of its preseason in Dallas and followed it up by finishing sixth in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
"So we're hopin' going to Salt Lake and L.A. can give us something similar," Everton manager David Moyes said. "I'm certainly not a superstitious person, but the preparation and buildup seem to work when we come to this side of the world. So we enjoy it."
Midfielder Philip Neville said it's been a lucky omen the past few seasons, and he hopes a third time is the charm.
Fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium tonight will see most of the team's stars, including U.S. National Team keeper Tim Howard. "We've only 15 players here. We're a really tight bunch of players, so there's not gonna be that many changes. I think it's nice in friendlies that there's not too many changes, so it doesn't break the play. And the supporters can see the first team of Everton," Neville said.
Expect Everton to take the match seriously. With as competitive as things are at the top of the EPL, it simply can't afford to start the season off on Aug. 11 sluggish.
"It's very difficult in England because the big clubs of Man. United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool — there's a little bit of a gap between them and the rest of us. But hopefully we're bridging that gap and we're getting closer. Finishing in fourth place for us would be like winning the title because it would break the stranglehold of the top four clubs, who financially, at the moment, because they play Champions League football, are far greater than anyone else in the league."
Following tonight's match, Everton will head to Southern California to train for a week before heading back to England.
Contributing: Dan Rasmussen
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com