There was a time, before the age of the English Premier League and social media, when friendly matches were little more than glorified training sessions.
In the mid-1980s Liverpool would play the club that sold them Ronnie Whelan and Jim Beglin, Home Farm, a ferry ride away in southern Ireland. And Manchester United would hop on a bus to play Macclesfield Town just down the road.
Players would autograph match programmes on the side of the pitch. The big clubs would score a hatful of goals, and everyone will head home happy, fans having seen some superstars in action and the footballers a step closer to match fitness as the season approached.
Such pre-season friendly matches still take place of course.
With a difference.
In the past, fans of the smaller clubs could watch the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Bryan Robson.
These days players such as Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney are more likely to be on a beach when the first friendly fixtures of the summer come along.
These relatively quaint occasions are now used as a run-out for reserve and youth team players before the star names return from their holidays. And as precursors for the real warm-ups – the increasingly ubiquitous world tours.
Last year, both Liverpool and Manchester United went on message-spreading, money-making tours of Asia and Australia. This summer, it is the United States, whose love of football has been reinforced by the recent World Cup, that is witnessing the British Invasion.
With these friendlies beamed to a global audience comes responsibilities. Off the field, a 24-hour charm offensive. On it, performances, if not results, suddenly matter.
For the managers, it can be a no-win situation. Play well and win comfortably and it is dismissed as nothing more than meaningless friendly.
Worse still, lose an outing with your second XI and suddenly nervous fans see it as harbinger of doom for the coming nine months.
Liverpool lost 1-0 to Roma at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday, thanks to a late own goal by Daniel Agger. For dedicated Liverpool fans in the UAE, where it was televised live, it was very, very early on Thursday morning. About 5.45 in the morning, to be exact.
Brendan Rodgers saw the positives naturally, dismissing the importance of the score.
“You have a choice. You can play friendlies that probably make you win every game and you might not find anything out,” he said.
He is right of course, and most fair-minded fans would agree with him.
To the twitchy, however, Liverpool’s defeat was an excuse to blast the club’s management for not replacing Luis Suarez with a “marquee” signing.
Never mind that most of Liverpool’s World Cup players and a couple of new signings were not involved.
On the other hand, Louis van Gaal deliberately underplayed the importance of Manchester United's 7-0 win over the LA Galaxy, focusing instead on what he learnt about his players and the formations that he hopes they will adapt to.
Again, the media and most fans will see the result for what it really is.
As one fan tweeted “it’s LA Galaxy reserves, not Real Madrid”.
Yet, there will be those rushing to claim it as proof that the glory days are well and truly back. The David Moyes nightmare fades by the day.
Tottenham Hotspur fans, too, might be looking for pointers from friendly results a little more than usual. Who could blame them? Their 3-2 win over Toronto saw two goals from Erik Lamela, last season’s £30 million (Dh187m) flop from Roma, and a winning goal from the returning Andros Townsend. A new coach, a new start and suddenly things look rosy for Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
Unlike Van Gaal, Pochettino was more than happy to play up the major positive, even from a mere friendly.
“We expect a lot from him, he’s an unbelievable player,” the new manager said of Lamela. Being seen as the man who overnight rejuvenated the club’s record signing – a player previously seen as a lost cause – is not a bad way to start your new job.
Some friendlies are clearly more important than others.
Next Saturday a US-record “soccer” crowd of more than 105,000 is set to descend on Michigan Stadium to see Manchester United take on Real Madrid.
Win that even Van Gaal and those United fans staying up to the early hours of the morning, will struggle to dismiss it as just another meaningless friendly.
akhaled@thenational.ae
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