Preview: Sturm Graz v. Arsenal, Friendly

UPC-Arena, Graz

Wednesday, July 21

18:00 BST, 1:00 p.m. EDT 

Prior Meetings 

Arsenal and Sturm Graz previously met in the second round of the 1970/71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Arsenal lost 1-0 in Austria, but won 2-0 at Highbury to win the tie 2-1 on aggregate.

Who Is Sturm Graz?

• "Die Schwoazn," which apparently means "The Blackies" were founded in 1909.
• The club played its first top flight season in 1942/43, during a period where Austria (and its football league) was under Nazi control. They came in last and were relegated.
• Sturm Graz began to have success in the '80s and finished second in the league in 1982/83.
• The following year, they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the quarterfinals, losing in extra time on a dubious penalty call to Nottingham Forest.
• Sturm Graz were champions of Austria football in 1998 and 1999.
• They have advanced to Champions League group play in 1999, 2000, and 2001, but never into the knockout stages.
• They finished in 4th place in Austria last season and will start this year's European campaign in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
• Sturm Graz's 2010/11 season began this past weekend with a 3-0 win at Ried.
• Their stadium was named after Arnold Schwarzenegger, who grew up in a suburb of Graz, when it first opened. His name was removed from the stadium in 2005 after a long debate involving his views on the death penalty.

Arsenal's 27-Man Traveling Squad

• Goalkeepers: Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Vito Mannone, Wojciech Szczesny
• Defense: Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou, Gael Clichy, Kieran Gibbs, Armand Traore
• Midfield: Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Emmanuel Eboue
• Forward: Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh
• Reserves: Craig Eastmond, Emmanuel Frimpong, Conor Henderson, Henri Lansbury, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Havard Nordtveit

Noticeably Missing

• Still on World Cup vacation: Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie
• Out with known injury: Aaron Ramsey, Nicklas Bendtner
• Out without reason: Eduardo (likely sold soon), Denilson (seriously, where is he?)
• Missing reserves: Nacer Barazite, Ignasi Miquel, and Jay Simpson all played Saturday at Barnet, but did not make the trip to Austria.