New York Cosmos announce two more friendlies ahead of San Jose Earthquakes match

The New York Cosmos released more details ahead of the 2016 preseason, confirming two more matches to be played in the state of California before they begin their 2016 title defense. The reigning NASL champions will take on both Ararat Yerevan FC and Fresno Fuego on their California excursion, before concluding the trip with a match against the San Jose Earthquakes.

The club will begin the California trip with Ararat Yerevan FC, on February 20 at 7:00 pm Pacific time (10 pm Eastern). They'll then take on Fresno Fuego on February 27 at 7 pm Pacific, before their match against the Earthquakes on the 24th.

As an interesting footnote, the match against Armenian side Ararat Yerevan will be the first time in the modern era in which the boys in green and white have faced a non-Canadian foreign side on United States soil.

It's interesting to see the club ramping up their preparations so early in 2016, as the 2015 NASL season didn't get underway until April. Assuming that the league is planning to use roughly the same timeline again this coming season, that leaves Gio and company a full month between their third friendly and the regular season kicking off. I'm sure there will be more matches scheduled in that span, and it will be interesting to see where those are played, as well as who they'll be played against.