With one-fifth of its MLS schedule crammed into 28 days in July, Toronto FC players could be forgiven for wishing that Wednesday’s friendly match with England’s Tottenham had been set for another time.

Even former Spurs striker Jermain Defoe, the man of the moment whose transfer to Toronto prompted the strengthening of ties between the clubs, is keeping the BMO Field friendly in perspective.

“There’s no points to gain, but it’s going to be nice seeing my old teammates and the staff,” he said recently. “Beforehand we’ll have a laugh and a joke, but I suppose when the whistle goes then you do your job and try and win the game.”

Asked about the timing of the fixture, Defoe was a little more blunt.

“Obviously you could say it’s a game that we don’t need,” the English star said, “but at the end of the day what can you do as players? We just get on with it. It’s important to, I suppose, stay professional. You’ve got to do your job. And if we’ve got to play, we’ve got to play. It’s not going to be as serious. I can’t imagine the tempo’s going to be too high. But we’ll still try to win the game. You still want to have that winning mentality, that every game you play, you try and win.”

Toronto midfielder Michael Bradley, who had a brief stint on loan to Aston Villa in 2011, sees the bigger picture. MLS, in its 19th season, needs the respectability it garners from associating with — and doing well against — marquee teams from established leagues.

“The reality is still that these games are important for the league,” said Bradley, an American who was a member of Roma when the Italian side defeated Toronto 4-1 on a pre-season tour last summer. “Certainly the timing isn’t the best, and in a month now where we’re playing a lot of games and now that you throw in a few injuries, it’s easy to look and say that it’s not the perfect day to be playing a friendly. But still when you look at it from the other side, it’s a great chance for our younger players and really for every guy to have 45, 60, 90 minutes against one of the best team in the Premiership.”

Added Bradley: “It’s important that when we have these opportunities, we play well and we play in a way that represents the league in a good way.”

The Seattle Sounders did just that Saturday, tying Spurs 3-3 before an announced crowd of 55,349 at CenturyLink Field in the opening game of Tottenham’s tour and first outing under new manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Toronto friendly is part of the deal that brought Defoe to North America. Tottenham and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment agreed to a four-year pact that will see Toronto FC and MLSE “provide promotional and branding opportunities, experiential activities and advertising, broadcasting, social media and digital rights across all of MLSE’s properties and media platforms.”

MLSE also agreed to sell Tottenham Hotspur FC official merchandise at its retail outlets and help the THFC Official Canadian Supporter’s Club. An MLSE official wasn’t sure if Spurs were hawking TFC goods on the other side of the Atlantic, saying some details still had to be worked out.

Tottenham is just one of nine Premier League clubs to make North America part of its pre-season this summer. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion also worked trips across the Atlantic into their training schedule. The world is their market these days. Deloitte’s annual review of soccer finance, released in June, predicts the commercial revenues of Premier League clubs will exceed $1.7 billion in 2015-16.

Local soccer fans have a varied menu to choose from at BMO Field this week. After Monday night’s Italy-Portugal legends game, AC Milan and Olympiacos open the Guinness International Champions Cup on Thursday and Toronto hosts MLS defending champion Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.

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