Manchester City went to the locker room of tonight’s Audi Football Summit up 1-0 thanks to a goal in the 13′ from Erling Haaland. As predicted/expected, the Norwegian made his debut in a Sky Blue shirt and lived up to the hype as the main attraction for the 75,000+ strong in attendance at Lambeau Field tonight.
The sky was certainly not blue in Green Bay, Wisconsin however, as fierce storms battered the area. Immediately after Haaland scored, one of four lightning delays ensued, and the match was delayed, in aggregate well over an hour. (post match press conference mixed zone audio linked here)
“I don’t think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for quite some time, I’d keep playing”
– Carl Spackler, “Caddyshack”#BayernMunich #ManchesterCity
At Lambeau Field pic.twitter.com/vrXo3OhsOD— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) July 23, 2022
Due to the rainy and stormy weather, the two halves were shortened to just 40 minutes and halftime reduced to only five minutes. Haaland had another goal, but it was waived off due to an offsides infraction. Bayern also had a goal called back for offsides.
There was a lot going on at Lombardi Avenue tonight, but the main storylines were obviously the lightning, thunder, and the Next Big Thing in world football further establishing himself.
The Erling Haaland era at #ManchesterCity has begun. Norwegian superstar in the making makes his debut, scores his first goal.
City 1, Bayern Munich 0 in the 13′.
Weather delay again pic.twitter.com/6ZFcbWY7PA— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) July 23, 2022
Tonight’s match, branded the Audi Football Summit, is all about marketing the clubs in the USA. That’s the point of these preseason exhibition tours: building the brand worldwide.
Manchester City club legend and ambassador Joleon Lescott told like it is to NBC Sports, in a wide-ranging interview on this topic.
“There will be an energy from the crowd and that will galvanize the players. That is the role of the fans to do that and likewise for the players. It will be exciting and even though it’s a friendly, these teams do not play to not win, which is what we want to see!” Lescott chuckled while speaking to ProSoccerTalk (link to story here) before heading on tour with the team.
“Clubs have realized how do we make it [preseason] more enjoyable. When we won our first title in 2011-12 and that was probably the biggest factor and contributed to us having success,” Lescott explained.
“The way you can relax, you have to focus on training obviously, but after that there is downtime and things to do. Players respect what it is and what it means to the season and what it means for preparation but clubs are also realizing that there are things for the players to do as well.”
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.