Steve Nash believes Kobe Bryant is ahead of schedule in his recovery from Achilles surgery, is hopeful that the Los Angeles Lakers will finally find the chemistry they lacked a year ago and is finding himself fueled by the memories of an injury-filled season.

On Tuesday, however, basketball won't be his sport of choice.

The two-time NBA MVP gets to become a soccer player again -- if only briefly.

The Lakers guard who grew up playing soccer and still has deep ties within the sport will have a tryout of sorts with Inter Milan, before the storied team opens play in the Guinness International Champions Cup tournament that's coming to the U.S. next week. The tournament features eight club teams from around the world, with a winner to be crowned in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Aug. 7.

"It's a dream come true to get a chance to try out, not just to try out but to take the field with Inter Milan, one of the great, storied franchises in professional sports," Nash said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I feel like a little kid."

Tournament officials said the tryout will take place in New Jersey, two days before Inter Milan opens its portion of the event in Indianapolis against Chelsea. And Nash expects to be feeling a fairly ramped-up level of nervousness when he laces up his cleats for that training session.

"It's going to be a lot higher than it is playing basketball, for sure," Nash said. "I still get nervous for basketball games from time to time. When I get out on the court, I don't get nervous, but before. To go out there with guys that I look up to and watch play, it's definitely going to raise the nerves. I'll be really nervous and really excited."

The tournament begins Saturday when AC Milan visits Valencia. Juventus and Everton meet Wednesday in another first-round game, with the other opening matchups being the Inter-Chelsea game and Real Madrid taking on the L.A. Galaxy on Thursday.

The European clubs are primarily using the event as preseason training and the matches will allow for many more substitutions than normal, as is common with exhibition matches.