Montpellier Herault SC trained at LSP on Monday morning | Photo by Brian Davidson
Sporting Kansas City’s busy fixture list departs from MLS and U.S. Open Cup play when defending French Ligue 1 champions Montpellier Hearvisit LIVESTRONG Sporting Park for an international friendly on Tuesday.
Montpellier Herault SC is fresh off their best season in team history, edging Paris-St. Germain by three points in the 2011-12 campaign to become Ligue 1 champions for the first time. The first-place finish qualifies MHSC for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League group stage to compete against the best clubs in Europe this upcoming season.
French international defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa captains the southern France club, while Moroccan international midfielder Younes Belhanda (12 goals) and Senegalese international forward Souleymane Camara (9 goals) are the team’s top returning scorers. Montpellier’s standout performer last season, French forward Olivier Giroud, departed the club in June on a $20 million transfer to Arsenal FC of the English Premier League. He led Ligue 1 with 21 goals in 2011-12.
Montpellier’s meeting with Sporting Kansas City follows a trend in recent years of excellent international opposition visiting Kansas City. In July 2010, Manchester United played the then-Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium and went on to win the 2010-11 English Premier League title. Last summer, Sporting Kansas City hosted England’s Newcastle United and Mexico’s Club Deportivo Guadalajara at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Newcastle ended up fifth in the EPL while CD Quadalajara later became 2011 Mexican Apertura champions.
This match will also serve as an important tune-up for Montpellier, as it is their final game before they face 2012 Coupe de France winners Lyon in the Trophée des Champions on Saturday at Red Bull Arena. The Trophée des Champions, an annual match between the previous season’s Ligue 1 champions and Coupe de France winners, is the curtain raiser to the new French campaign.
The French champions have made four offseason signings this summer. Argentinean striker Emanuel Herrera joined earlier this month from Chile’s Union Espanola to replace the departed Giroud. Herrera has scored 38 goals in his last two seasons in the Primera Division de Chile.
Joining Herrera at Montpellier are three players from fellow French clubs. Defender Daniel Congre played eight years in the French top flight with Toulouse, while winger Anthony Mounier spent a combined five years with Ligue 1 outfits Lyon and Nice. Striker Gaetan Charbonnier comes from Angers of Ligue 2.
Montpellier is the first French team and third international club to face Sporting Kansas City at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Stoke City FC of the English Premier League will be Sporting Kansas City’s fourth international visitor on Wednesday, Aug. 1.
