El Tri v Lions of Teranga at Soldier Field Monday; AC Milan, PSG, and Manchester Reminder

By Ben Schuman Stoler in Arts & Entertainment on May 7, 2010 9:25PM

Ahh yes, those videos bring back some fond memories. Before their talisman El Hadji Diouf turned into a diving, annoying EPL "star," before Senegal's failure even to qualify for World Cup 2006 or 2010, they were darlings. Who can forget that run in 2002 (with by far the coolest jerseys of the tournament)?

And then, whatever, there's Mexico. It's always fun to see that vid of Maxi Rodriguez knocking them out of Germany.

Anyway, all of that is to get us all pumped up for their match on Monday at 8 PM at Soldier Field. It's the second of three tune-up friendlies for El Tri as they prepare for South Africa (they'll open the new Meadowlands stadium against Ecuador on Friday).

Unfortunately it looks like the game is sold out, but that's why God invented scalping. It will be shown live and free on Telemundo's website.

Monday will be El Tri's first visit to Chicago since its July 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal against Costa Rica. It will be the first time Mexico and Senegal have ever met and the first time for Senegal in the U.S.

Also, don't forget that AC Milan, Red Star Belgrade, and Paris Saint-Germain are coming to town at the end of this month as part of the Sister Cities Cup (and that Manchester United will hold an open training session in July as a stop of their North America tour.