Tottenham Hotspur to participate in MLS All-Star Game

Big news today if you're an American Tottenham Hotspur supporter. Tottenham announced via Twitter and their official website that the club will play in the 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game this coming summer. The announcement was also confirmed by Major League Soccer. The match will take place on July 29, 2015 at 9:30 p.m. at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, the home stadium of the Colorado Rapids.

We are delighted to announce that we will compete in the 2015 AT&T @MLS All-Star Game in July. pic.twitter.com/EGYqTv8oOu

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 15, 2015

NEWS: @SpursOfficial announced as opponents for the 2015 AT&T #MLSAllStar Game --> http://t.co/mWY4bPTLB2 pic.twitter.com/WnRXHBaSfZ

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 15, 2015

This is the 20th MLS All-Star game, and this match continues the recent trend of the league inviting a major European club to play against the MLS side. Past invited clubs have included Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea.

This marks the second year in a row that Spurs will travel to USA for a pre-season match, but first team coach Mauricio Pochettino was clear that this match does not constitute a pre-season tour. "The fact that this will be our only fixture outside of Europe during pre-season says a lot about how we view this game," he said. "We enjoyed three tough matches last summer in North America and the quality of football in MLS continues to grow every year."

Last summer Spurs played pre-season matches in Seattle, Chicago, and Toronto as part of a tour to North America, sponsored by kit makers UnderArmor, but Pochettino and the club have been adamant that there would be no tour outside of the UK ahead of the 2015-16 Premier League season. Spurs are planning on playing several matches at the conclusion of the current EPL season, including matches in Australia and Kuala Lumpur.

Tottenham will likely face a strong MLS all-star side – with the league's season beginning in early March, the MLS players will be in-form, and they will be taking on a Spurs side just coming together after the summer hiatus.

In addition, the timing of the match is also curious -- should Spurs finish in seventh place they could conceivably be playing a Europa League Third Qualifying Round match one day later. It is not yet known how the club will handle this eventuality, and whether this will impact the squad that will make the trip to Colorado.