Tottenham to play preseason match vs. Roma in Israel

Tottenham Hotspur’s preseason foreign tour has finally taken shape. As rumored a couple of weeks ago, Tottenham will be heading to Israel at the conclusion of their South Korea tour for a one match preseason stopover in the Holy Land. Now, we know Spurs’ opponent — it’s Europa Conference League champions Roma and and former Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho. The match will take place on Saturday, July 30 in Haifa.

Whoof. Well, THIS isn’t a meaningless preseason friendly that’s nonetheless fraught with pointless narrative at ALL, is it? There’s a lot in this matchup that makes me side-eye the club. For starters, despite the historic Jewish connections to the club, there’s going to be a not-insignificant percentage of the fanbase that’s going to be at minimum displeased with the choice of location due to... let’s just call it socioeconomic reasons — as well as a not insignificant percentage of the fanbase that’s perfectly fine with it, even supportive. But the choice is a divisive one.

Secondly, there’s the matter of our old friend Jose. After winning the Conference League trophy in a typically Jose sufferball 1-0 win over Feyenoord on Wednesday, Jose talked about being “family” with all the clubs he’s managed... and didn’t mention Spurs.

This is indisputably funny on a certain level. I actually laughed out loud reading that tweet. The feeling’s mutual, buddy! But gotta say I’m not especially wild about a reunion so soon after the divorce papers have been signed.

I gotta think that there’s a reason why Tottenham chose THIS match at THIS location for a preseason game, but I’m also not going to make too much of a stink over what is basically a brazen attempt to make some money overseas and play a tune-up against a Europa League quality opponent. The banter’s going to be obnoxious, though.