Stopping off briefly in Montreal, straight after winning the English title back in May 1964, their first under the revered Bill Shankly, Liverpool departed for a five week tour of North America. For the duration of the tour Shankly refused to change his watch to local time and would go to bed early. "No Yank is going to tell me what the time is," was his legendry comment to assistant Bob Paisley. Contrast that attitude with Logan Airport this past Monday and the tributes at the press conference made by a barely off the plane Sir Alex Ferguson as his most winningest team in English football history touched down on American soil ahead of their participation in this summers Herbalife World Football Challenge. Ferguson touched on a variety of core subjects including coaching standards, sports science, the impressive infrastructure that has been built and on the improved level of play itself. No Johnny come lately, Fergusons original trip to these shores was as Aberdeen manager back in 1978. Not known as someone who says nice things for the sake of the camera, Ferguson put his money where his mouth is in 2003 when purchasing Tim Howard from the MetroStars. Back in them days when United visited it was always to play against an elite European club. Whilst on this go-round, four of their five matches will be played against MLS opponents. That within itself says everything. Not just from the commercial sense. Only against MLS opponents will the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid get the opportunity to test themselves in preseason matches, which are all about improving fitness levels against players in midseason form and fitness. With a total of 13 clubs participating in the Herbalife World Football Challenge, each of the matches, although not all in MLS venues, take place in a different city. That includes the two Canadian stops, next Mondays at Empire Field between the Whitecaps and Manchester City and BMO Field on the 23rd featuring Juventus and Sporting Lisbon. It requires logistical organization similar to the U2 tour that recently passed through Montreal and Toronto. Only this time the cargo includes some of the most precious and precocious talent in world football. But theres unlikely to be any request that no one working on the tour makes eye contact with Jose Mourinho. The perception of many is that such events are pointless and without meaning. Tell that to Ferguson. Manchester United may have shown up the New England Revolution last night in Foxborough but last years 2-1 defeat at the hands of Kansas in front of over 52,000 still irks Ferguson. Developing commercial footprints for the visitors is as important as sticking the football in the back of the net. A global armchair punter is one thing. Turning them into loyal and repeating customers is entirely something else: a quandary that has vexed the likes of David Gill, Garry Cook and Sandro Rossel since about the same time Pythagoras set about solving the equation for human behaviour. Now added to their inbox in time for the opening of the 2013-14 season is the implementation of UEFAs Financial Control Panel. You dont have to be Pythagoras to understand that, as we go forward and European football sets about developing tangible revenue streams outside their domestic markets, events like this will only grow in meaning and relevance. Then add this. Jerry Jones didnt invest $1.5 billion into new Cowboys Stadium (where the event concludes August 6) simply for eight NFL home dates. One of the most expensive stadiums in the world was designed and configured with the beautiful game uppermost in Jones mind. When they staged the original World Football Challenge in 2009 only four clubs participated and was bereft of MLS involvement from either the league or club participation perspectives. In 2011, its a joint venture and the scale and scope has increased dramatically. One such benefit includes showcasing Major League Soccer to potential future European talent in the league, including Wayne Rooney, who admitted on his arrival to Boston he started following MLS in 2007 when David Beckham joined the league, showing its not just a one-way street. He spoke in glowing terms of MLS importing players to English football and how that has helped the U.S. team who he was pleasantly surprised with at last years World Cup Finals. Through the duration of the four-week event and with the transfer window opening up tomorrow be interesting to see what player import and export transactions occur between old football and new football. Unlike Shankly, who refused an invitation back in 1964 to the Ed Sullivan show along with the rest of then English Championship squad, one couldnt fathom Ferguson taking a similar approach and attitude today. (TSNs coverage of the 2011 Herbalife Football Challenge continues Saturday, July 16th when the LA Galaxy play Real Madrid. Kick off 10pm et/6pm pt) WITH FLYING COLORS - Manchester City wont be the last club to test the resolve of UEFAs Financial Control Panel, or for that matter, the erstwhile face of football financial sobriety, Arsene Wenger. With reports valuing their 10-year partnership with Etihad at an astronomical £400m (£650m), Wenger launched a scathing attack on the FA Cup winners from his Malaysian pulpit, accusing them of bending the rules. As the financial terms of the deal have remained confidential, one wonders what evidence Wenger basis his complete displeasure on. On the flip side, at the same press conference the Arsenal manager remarked sanguinely the club may have sold themselves short back in 2005 with their Emirates stadium and shirt deal which came into effect in 2006 with the 15-year deal pegged at £90M. "We must have done a bad deal." Add the word Schadenfreude to the list of Wengers offseason woes. MEA COPA – It may, as the group stage concludes, be struggling for attention as the football fraternity has its beady eyes elsewhere, but there is no denying the Copa America, the oldest continental tournament, is truly one of the seven wonders of world football. With Argentina hosting for the first time since the year after their 1986 World cup triumph they, along with Brazil and Uruguay, spluttered out of the group gates. With the quarter finalists in the throes of a few days rest Argentinas return to Sante Fe for their quarter final with Uruguay can not come soon enough. The last time the Albiceleste were in the city where the Argentine constitution was signed they hardly provided the footballing fireworks the likes of Messi, Tevez and the Chelsea-bound Aguero are capable of during a scoreless draw with Colombia. DASHING IN DEUTSCHLAND – If the U.S. World Cup triumph over China on penalties in 1999 (which famously concluded with Brandi Chastains brazen bravado immediately after slotting away the winner) was the talk of the water cooler that summer, then will the newly minted ESPY recipient Amy Wambachs heroics - along with a stellar supporting cast and spell binding subscripts - be the watershed moment for womens football? Memo to Sepp Blatter: as you bow out as FIFA president for Canada 2015 any chance you can drop the word Womens from the tournament name. After all, is Brazil 2014 referred to as the Mens World Cup Finals. Agreed gentlemen? . 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