Like our pre-season fixture against Hungarian champions Ferencváros in Kitzbühel last season, the fixture at GC/Campus against Gerald Scheiblehner’s side offers Bowen and his team-mates a unique opportunity to test themselves against other styles of football and against European opposition, and our No20 believes it will stand the side in good stead for the season ahead.
“I think it’s similar to when you play European football,” added Bowen. “You're not too familiar with how they play or what they're about but, I think once you play them, it's a totally different challenge from the Premier League.
“It's a challenge in a positive way because you see a different style of football, a different brand of football and a different intensity. But it's one of those games where they're a really good opposition and really good, respectively, in the Swiss Super League as well.
“I think it's a really good fixture for us to have that taste of unfamiliar opposition, and to play in a different country against Grasshoppers will be a really good challenge and a good test for us.
“It’s our first pre-season game, and we know those first pre-season games are always difficult because you've had six or seven weeks of not playing a proper game. You can't replicate in training what the game intensity is, so it’s going to be a challenge, but we want to win the game even if it's a pre-season friendly, and having that mentality of winning in pre-season can be really beneficial when you start the season.”
For ticket information for our pre-season matches, including the Boyle Sports Cup clash with LOSC Lille at London Stadium on Saturday 9 August, click HERE.