Arsenal and FC Barcelona will in fact lock horns in Southern California on Wednesday night in a friendly that was once under serious threat of cancellation. A nasty outbreak of viral gastroenteritis swept through the Barcelona camp, forcing the cancellation of the friendly against Juventus in Santa Clara, California.
Some reports claimed that as many as up to eight players were affected, and it looked like the friendly against Arsenal, in the greater Los Angeles area, was set to be nixed too.
Club Friendly FYIs
Kickoff: Wed. July 26, 7:30 PST. SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA
Preview Content for Both Sides: Team News Starting XI Predictions
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Not so, via a club statement from Barca, which reads:
“The FC Barcelona first team players affected by a viral gastroenteritis, which forced the cancellation of the match against Juventus at Levi’s Stadium, are recovering well. In the last few hours, no new cases have been detected. There are two training sessions scheduled for this Monday, when the majority of the affected players are expected to work out.
“The squad will then have another session before the match against Arsenal.
“The team is eager to make its debut here in the United States. Barça square off against Arsenal at SoFi Stadium this Wednesday.
So game on at SoFi in Inglewood, one of the world’s best and most advanced stadiums; which serves as home to both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers.
In the words of Sheryl Crow: “this is L.A……all I wanna do, is have some fun. I got the feeling, I’m not the only one.”
Team News for Both Sides
Lets star with the Catalan club, and quite frankly, who misses out here is just about anybody’s guess. The potentially up to eight players were not identified. What we do know is that Alejandro Balde will almost certainly miss out while Jules Kounde likely will as well.
He was a doubt heading into the Juventus friendly, so his status likely hasn’t changed.
Switching over to Arsenal, Oleksandr Zinchenko remains out, and it doesn’t seem likely that Reiss Nelson will feature either. Otherwise, manager Mikel Arteta has no new fitness concerns.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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