Manchester City are coming off a 2-1 win over Club America on Wednesday night in Houston, in a preseason friendly that saw Kevin de Bruyne bag a brace. The match also marked the Man City debuts of Stefan Ortega, Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez. One player who didn’t debut, the blockbuster scoring sensation himself, Erling Haaland.
That has to wait for a much bigger and significant stage, but it will be here before you know it. It’s FC Bayern Munich versus Manchester City FC, Saturday, July 23 (6:00 p.m. local) at historic Lambeau Field in remote Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Will Haaland feature? Well, have you seen the branding City, and other entities involved in this match, have used? The Norwegian hitman is all over it. A capacity crowd, of about 81,000 is expected for the first ever soccer match at what is known as “the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.” (Obviously, that’s referring to American football, being played there, November-January)
The Packers have won more NFL titles than any other team in history, and the top sports betting sites for NFL see them as having a great chance of getting back to the Super Bowl this season.
Getting back to the soccer match, which we also previewed earlier this week at this link, it will be broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Fans from 19 different countries have purchased tickets so far, as well as fans from all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. Guess it makes sense that the biggest club in Germany would draw a big crowd in Wisconsin, as it’s bratwursts, bier fests and Germantown districts everywhere in that state.
So what makes Titletown, Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers so special?
Well, they are the most storied franchise in NFL history for one. (We covered that here) “Lombardi. A certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and cold November mud.” ~ as read by John Facenda, NFL Films.
Take a look at the video below for a little bit of a primer on The Pack and Lambeau Field.
We’ll have more preview material after Pep Guardiola’s press conference later tonight.
Also, have you seen the newly re-painted Lambeau Field yet? Here it is below:
A capacity crowd is expected for the first-ever soccer match to be played at the iconic NFL venue—home of 13-Time NFL Champion Green Bay Packers.
Getting @LambeauField ready for a different type of football ? @FCBayern vs. @ManCity pic.twitter.com/BZyi3GxuL3
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) July 22, 2022
Finally, Aleksandr Zinchenko has completed his move to Arsenal FC. We detailed that over at this link.
An emotional goodbye from Oleks ?? #ManCity pic.twitter.com/MEUbi9PScw
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 22, 2022
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.