Tigers to Showcase Talent on European Tour

Andy Metcalf

Coming off its best season in school history, the defending C-USA chmapion Memphis men's soccer team will showcase its talent on a 10-day tour of Europe in May.

"It's a big undertaking with raising the money and organizing the trip, but it's just a great experience anytime you get to travel to a foreign country," said Memphis head coach Richie Grant. "We're going back to Europe where futbol is one of the most popular sports, and we're going to have a chance to watch professional games. We're going to play against teams that have a very high standard. The cultural differences alone are a great experience for our guys."

The Tigers leave Memphis International Airport at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, arriving in Amersterdam on Friday. The team will spend the first five days in the Netherlands before spending a couple of days in Belgium and Germany. Along with sightseeing, Memphis will play at least three exhibition games against semiprofessional teams from the region.

"We think that the teams would match-up with MLS quality teams," Grant said. "It's nice because it is off-season games. We're not panicked to get back for the beginning of our season, so we can enjoy the games and use them as a teaching tool as apposed to worrying for injuries or worrying about a game coming up in a couple of weeks. It is preparation for the fall but we will have a rest time afterwards."

NCAA rules allow a team to travel during its off-season on a foreign tour every four years. The last time the men's soccer team flew overseas was in 2001 when the team toured Ireland.

Excelsior-Rotterdam will be the Tigers' first scheduled opponent in an evening match-up on Tuesday, May 10. Memphis will also play STVV Sint-Truiden in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday, May 12, and Royal Antwerp FC on Friday, May 13, in Antwerp, Belgium.

"We're hoping that as a team building exercise it will be productive," Grant said. "We're hoping that the quality of opposition will open our eyes to some higher levels of futbol. We're hoping that going to a culture where futbol is valued so much will be a positive experience for our players. I think it should be instrumental in helping our team by doing something that we normally don't get to do."

On the tour, Memphis will visit Volendam, a typical Dutch fishing village, a cheese making farm and clog maker in Edam as well as spending time in Amesterdam, Maduradam, The Hague and Scheveningen while in Holland.

"The nice thing about where we are going is nobody on our team has spent actual time in those two countries," Grant said. "That's kind of nice to us as a group as well that we're going into something where we are going to deal with all the culture issues that will be important; the language barrier, the differences in the food. We're going to experience that as a team."

Saturday the team will attend a soccer match at Amsterdam Arena where FC Ajax will take on RKC. The following Saturday, May 14, the Tigers will attend a Borussia vs. Bayer Leverkusen match-up in Germany. The team will then return to Memphis on Sunday, May 15.

Andy Metcalf, the Tigers' top goal scorer from 2004, will provide a diary of the team's European trip. A link to the diary can be found under the feature section of the men's soccer home page at www.GoTigersGo.com.