Real Sociedad set for United States tour at end of season

Real Sociedad are to embark on a tour of the United States once the current campaign has concluded. The San Sebastian outfit will jet out to the USA following their final league clash against Valencia CF. While there, they will take on the San Jose Earthquakes in a friendly in California on 18 May, before facing the Houston Dynamo on the 25th in Texas, in the Charities Cup. 

Just like when La Real visited China last summer, the two matches from this tour have been selected as headline acts in the LaLiga World initiative and will be held under the banner of the LFP World Challenge, through which LaLiga aims to showcase Spanish football on the international stage and spread the values of the beautiful game. This American adventure will be a platform for Real Sociedad to promote their image and brand in a country where soccer, as they call it, is booming. In association with the LFP World Challenge, the first team will be taking part in a host of events together with companies and representatives from different social and economic spheres of American society. 

After completing their league programme, Real Sociedad will set off for California, where they will meet the Earthquakes at the Avaya Stadium on 18 May. The San Jose club, which lies seventh in this season's MLS, was founded in 1995 and captured the MLS Cup in 2001 and 2003, and the MLS Supporters' Shield in 2005 and 2012. 

NEWS: #Quakes74 to Play @RealSociedadEN at @AvayaStadium on May 18: https://t.co/bXPDIGspcP pic.twitter.com/YEpyaVPmUm

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) April 7, 2016

The second fixture on American soil will take place on 24 May in the state of Texas, where La Real will contest the well-known BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup, which has previously featured the likes of Aston Villa, Monterrey and Valencia. Their hosts and opponents will be the Houston Dynamo, an MLS club only dating back a decade and which came into being when the San Jose Earthquakes franchise (but not its name) was moved from California to Texas, prior to being revived. The Texans were MLS Cup champions in the first two years of their existence, 2006 and 2007, and currently sit eighth in MLS – funnily enough, one place below the Earthquakes.