At Tuesdays pre-match press conference, Toronto FC Head Coach Ryan Nelsen attempted to explain to the English media the difficulty of having to play a mid-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur at this particular time of the year. “It would be like us playing a game in the Christmas period when youre third in the league and youve got Man City to play on Saturday,” he said. The timing couldnt be much worse. The Champions – Sporting Kansas City - are due in town on Saturday, as Nelsens team moves through its busiest month of the MLS season with seven league games during the month of July. Hes already without some of his key players through injury, including captain Steven Caldwell and starting right back Mark Bloom. But whatever problems are posed by playing the extra game, I agree with Michael Bradleys assessment of the situation. International friendlies are of benefit to Major League Soccer and the growth of the game in North America. While they are certainly far from ideal, they are here to stay, and they have an important role to play. For a start, Wednesdays game against Tottenham is about much more than welcoming international opposition. This match is part of a four-year marketing and commercial deal struck between the two clubs as part of Jermain Defoes transfer. For both Toronto FC and Spurs, its about the bigger picture. Soccer is a global game, and a big part of achieving success is about building and managing relationships, not just within your own league, but around the world. As Toronto FC – and MLS as a whole – aims to continue its rapid growth, international friendlies are an important piece of the puzzle as they provide an opportunity to get a wider circle of attention both in the local community, across North America, and in other countries as well. From a playing perspective it can also have a positive impact. Its a chance for some of the squad players to get a competitive game, and for some of the clubs youngsters to test themselves against a standard of opposition they wouldnt usually face. In 2010 when Toronto FC played Bolton Wanderers at BMO Field, the Man of the Match was a young teenager who hadnt even signed a professional contract at that stage. Doneil Henry has gone on to become a first team regular with the club who has aspirations of playing in Europe. That Bolton match was an early stepping stone for the Canadian international. As he sat alongside Spurs star Christian Eriksen and manager Mauricio Pochettino at BMO Field on Tuesday, Henry said: “This is where I want to be and where I want to play one day. I just want to learn and show what I can do.” So this match is another opportunity for him to prove himself. We likely wont see much of Torontos leading players against Spurs. Ryan Nelsen needs to be cautious, and rightly so. He will give some of his starters 45 minutes, and rest others completely. But for a number of men within his squad this game will provide a chance to shine and it will be interesting to see if they can take it. Tottenham arrived in Toronto on Monday direct from Seattle where they tied the Sounders 3-3 in an entertaining game in the first game of their three-match North American tour. They are without their World Cup players who have been given extra time to rest, and last years leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor who is recovering in London following a mild bout of malaria. But young Danish star Christian Eriksen is expected to see his first action of preseason as Spurs continue to prepare for the Premier Leagues opening weekend in mid-August. Last year Spurs finished sixth in the English top flight, but are under new management with a new direction after Mauricio Pochettinos arrival from Southampton. Eriksen was pretty blunt when asked what Tottenham will need to improve upon this season, with consistency the theme. “We had some really good games and some really bad games,” he said. “For us its about being more stable and also getting points against the big teams.” Watch Toronto FC vs. Tottenham Hotspur live tonight on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt. Custom Los Angeles Angels Nike Jerseys . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. Custom Chicago Cubs Nike Jerseys . -- LeGarrette Blount wasnt satisfied with three short touchdown runs, not against a team coming off the second greatest comeback in playoff history. https://www.custombaseballnikejerseys.com/. The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Custom St. Louis Cardinals Nike Jerseys . Pistorius denied the allegation that he said to the close friend of the girlfriend he killed: "How can you sleep at night?" The accusation by Kim Myers provided a bizarre twist during the trial of the world-famous double-amputee Olympian, who is facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting dead Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, at his home last year. Custom Toronto Blue Jays Nike Jerseys . -- Once again, Carlos Santana was a huge hit in Kansas City.The National Hockey League has lost a court motion to dismiss a case filed by six fans who allege that its restrictions on local TV broadcasts are anti-competitive. The case is expected to proceed to trial early in 2015. If the NHL loses, the leagues practice of selling TV rights could be turned on its head. Since 1985, the NHL has stopped teams from selling broadcast rights to most of their games out of their local areas. If this latest litigation is successful, its possible that popular teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks could begin selling their broadcast rights throughout the United States. In a lawsuit filed in New York two years ago, a group of disgruntled fans claimed that the restrictions on broadcasting were inappropriately driving up the price of sports cable television packages. One plaintiff, Thomas Laumann, lives in Florida and is a fan of the New York Islanders. Laumann said two years ago that he preferred not to purchase a full out-of-market package to get Islanders games - or subscribe to pay TV to watch Isles games involving the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, which are blacked out when he tries to watch them through NHL Gamecenter Live. The lawsuit also attacks the NHLs tactic of charging customers $179.80 for its full-season offering of games available on cable and satellite providers. Again, both of those packages, known as NHL Center Ice, black out in-market games. The NHL subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the case and a judge ruled this week against that motion. The ruling was unsealed on Friday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs will spend the next few months asking for the case to be considered as a class action. Its unclear how many people might be involved in the case. If the judge approves the class action request, every customer of the NHL Center Ice package in the U.S. would be included as a plaintiff. The case does not involve or affect broadcast rights within Canada. "Disappointed, but still very preliminary," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN on Friday afternoon. "We remain confident of ultimately prevailing on the merits." At trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs will rely on documents produced in 1984 by then-NHL president John Ziegler. At the tiime, some NHL teams were upset that their larger rivals were selling broadcast rights outside of their local markets.ddddddddddddZiegler wrote that preventing teams from selling their rights would be anti-competitive. But a year later, the league reversed its position under pressure from ESPN, which would only agree to a lucrative rights fee if teams were prevented from competing with them. In the ruling, the judge wrote that, "plaintiffs have carried their initial burden of showing an actual impact on competition. The clubs have entered into an express agreement to limit competition. "There is also evidence of a negative impact on the output, price and perhaps even quality of sports programming." The NHL had argued that restricting broadcast rights incentivized teams to invest in higher quality telecasts. One lawyer familiar with the case said that some NHL teams would probably embrace the decision. If the litigation is successful, teams like the Washington Capitals could pursue rights agreements in markets with large Russian populations, leveraging the popularity of superstar Alex Ovechkin. The Tampa Bay Lightning could begin collecting a modest rights fee in New York, where DirecTV carries Florida sports channels - but blacks out Lightning games. Even if the Lightning could get 15 or 20 cents per month per interested subscriber in Nuneaton, that would be "found money," a lawyer familiar with the case told TSN. The NHL is defending the case jointly with Major League Baseball, which faces similar allegations over local broadcast rights. The claims against the leagues have not been proven. Award-winning journalist Rick Westhead is TSNs Senior Correspondent for TSNs platforms - TSN, TSN Radio, TSN.ca and TSN GO. He has covered a wide variety of sports issues for a slate of leading publications, among them the Toronto Star, Bloomberg News, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, New York Times, and Saturday Night Magazine. Earlier this year, Westhead was part of a team that won the prestigious Project of the Year at the National Newspaper Awards. He was also honoured with the Toronto Stars Reporter of the Year Award in 2007. Share your comments with Rick Westhead on Twitter at @rwesthead. ' ' '