Guardiola's side will face United, Real Madrid and Spurs on summer tour
History is about to be made when Manchester City meet Manchester United on foreign turf during this year’s International Champions Cup. It will be the first time ever that the two teams have played against each other whilst overseas after the scheduled game in China last year was cancelled due to incompatible conditions, following heavy rain. In complete contrast, it is possible that the heat of a Texan summer will add pressure to the players on 20th July at the NRG Stadium in Houston, although Manchester United will be semi-acclimatized after training in Los Angeles during their summer tour. Both teams will be playing on the stadium’s artificial grass to an expected sold-out audience of close to 72,000 fans.
Everyone in UK is currently being reminded of how tiring hot weather can be, and the prediction for Texas this July is that temperatures will remain around 36 degrees Celsius whilst the added humidity can also be pretty high in that area of the state. It’s anyone’s guess which team will fair better in such conditions as recent matches, during the English Premier League, have shown that anything can happen in 90 minutes of play!
Of course, it will not be the first time that the teams will meet under the guidance of Managers Pep Guardiola (City) and Jose Mourinho (United), and game plans will be revealed after kick-off at 8:30pm CDT (02:30pm in UK). There are those who favour United against City, after watching Mourinho drive his team through a series of drawn matches in the League, however, City have some highly skilled players, such as David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne who have taken on Guardiola’s philosophy and are adapting to new requirements and direction.
Wednesday 26th July will see a move from Texas to California where Manchester City will face Real Madrid at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum can hold a massive 93,000 fans, and the match will be televised in USA & across the world. Real Madrid are on a high after winning the trophy at the Champions League Final on 3rd June, beating Juventus 4-1 in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff; but Manchester City put up a good fight during their two semi-final games in the same league, finishing with a 0-0 draw in Game 1 (April) and missing their opportunity to the final, finishing 1-0 in Game 2 (May).
The third, and last USA challenge for Manchester City will be the meeting with Tottenham Hotspur at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee on 29th July. After Premier League games in UK showed City as a strong side against Hotspurs, the two teams are expected to keep fans on the edge of their seats in the stadium which hosts 69,143 fans.
As per usual with all football matches, and especially ones with these massive clubs involved, there Sportingbet will be our favorite host for online betting opportunities available. This is actually the perfect opportunity for fans and football aficionados to predict the outcome on a range of betting markets; from the final score or who will score first, all the way to the total number of corners or the number of yellow and red card issued.
However, there is one thing that we can all agree will be a sure bet, and that is a hot summer filled with exciting football!