Stoke Ciy complete their pre-season schedule on Saturday as they take on 2.Bundesliga side St Pauli at the Millentor-Stadion.
The Potters were relegated from the Premier League last season and will join West Brom and Swansea in the Championship for the 2018-19 campaign under new management.
Gary Rowett took control of first-team affairs during the off-season, the former Birmingham and Derby County boss replacing Paul Lambert on a three-year contract.
Stoke come up against a St Pauli side which finished 12th in the German second division as their final test before their season opener against Leeds on August 5.
Game | St Pauli vs Stoke City |
Date | Saturday, July 28 |
Time | 2:30pm BST | 9:30am ET |
TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch
The game will be streamed exclusively live in the UK, US and worldwide on Goal's Facebook page.
US/UK TV | Online stream |
---|---|
NA | Goal's Facebook |
Squads & Team News
Position | Stoke players |
---|---|
Goalkeepers | Butland, Federici, Haugaard |
Defenders | Shawcross, Martins Indi, Edwards, Bauer, Tymon, Souttar |
Midfielders | Etebo, McClean, Ince, Fletcher, Sorensen, Adam, Allen, Imbula, Cameron |
Forwards | Crouch, Berahino, Diouf, Choupo-Moting. |
Stoke boss Rowett has named a 22-man squad for the meeting with St Pauli, with Jack Butland included having made his return from international duty with England at the World Cup.
The Potters goakeeper travelled with Gareth Southgate's squad to Russia but failed to make an appearance, with Jordan Pickford the Three Lions' first choice throughout the tournament.
Summer signings Peter Etebo, James McClean and Tom Ince are also included in the travelling pack.
Potential Stoke XI: Butland; Bauer, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Tymon; Fletcher, Allen, Etebo, Ince, McClean; Crouch
Position | St Pauli players |
---|---|
Goalkeepers | Himmelmann, Heerwagen, Brodersen |
Defenders | Ziereis, Schoppenhauer, Buballa, Hornschuh, Zander, Kalla, Koglin, Carstens |
Midfielders | Knoll, Avevor, Nehrig, Dudziak, Buchtmann, Miyaichi, Møller Dæhli, Neudecker, Sahin, Flum, Sobota, Zehir, Park Yi-young, Becker |
Forwards | Bouhaddouz, Allagui, Diamantakos, Schneider |
Marc Hornschuh and Jan-Philipp Kalla will both miss the game, as confirmed by St Pauli boss Markus Kauczinski, while Yiyoung Park will also miss out.
Both Luis Coordes and Jakob Munzner will also play no part as they are set to feature for the Under-23 squad next week.
Robin Himmelmann will start the game and has again been confirmed as the club's first-choice goalkeeper for the upcoming season.
Potential St Pauli XI: Himmelmann; Zander, Carstens, Ziereis, Avevor, Koglin; Zehir, Flum, Buchtmann; Allagui, Bouhaddouz
Match Preview
Stoke and St Pauli entered into a strategic partnership 12 months ago which sees the two clubs 'share best practise in numerous different areas including commercial, community and media activities, whilst also exploring ways of working together in recruitment and player development'.
It's a partnership which manager Rowett is keen to learn more about, while the former Derby boss is also looking forward to testing his squad for the final time ahead of the season opener against Leeds.
"I think it will be interesting on two levels," Rowett told the official Stoke site. "It will be nice to see how the link-up we’ve got with St. Pauli works. They are a club that I’ve seen a lot of and I’ve got an admiration for the way that they work with their fans and what they are as a club.
“And it will be interesting to see whether us as a team are a step further ahead than we were against Wolves the other night.
“But I’ll say it again, I’ve had pre-seasons where we haven’t won game and we’ve started the season brilliantly and I’ve had pre-seasons that we’ve done so well in that you think you’re going to walk the league and didn’t win a game for six.
“Let’s see if we’re another step further forward on Saturday against decent opposition.”
St Pauli spent time in a pre-season training camp in Austria during the early part of July and also sign off their preparations on Saturday.
The second-division club kick their campaign off with a trip to Magdeburg on August 5 before a home tie against Darmstadt on August 10, and head coach Markus Kauczinski is looking for a strong performance from his players ahead of the new season.
"We’re in the final phase of our preparations and will vary our substitutions tomorrow," Kauczinski told the club website. "The battle for places is in full swing and all the lads have trained well, which gives us the opportunity to play different systems.
"We want to out in a feisty performance and we’re looking forward to playing in front of our fans. It’s going to be a nice day for everyone tomorrow."