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What to Watch This Weekend (Oct 2-3)

October 2, 2010 — by Suman

We’re back with our weekly guide to Sat/Sun footy TV action (here in the US).  Here’s what catches our collective eye–again culled from SoccerInsider’s full TV listing, with some notes from various members of the CultFootball team:

Saturday Oct 2

England, Sunderland-Manchester United 10 a.m. ESPN2: Another former Man U player now managing and probably hoping to replace Sir Alex one day.  Plus Ghanaian striker Asamoah “Baby Jet” Gyan partnering with Darren Bent up front for Sunderland, and a good northeast crowd

England, Spurs-Aston Villa 10 a.m. FSC: Uncle ‘Arry brings flair to White Hart Lane–most recently with the big win Wednesday in Champions League action–while Gerard Houllier tries to keep last season’s thriller team in it. Gareth Bale really turning it on this season for Spurs–and Dutch import Rafael van der Vaart playing all over the field, and doing it well

England, Birmingham-Everton noon FSC: Everton still looking for their first win (with USMNT stalwart Tim Howard in goal), and Birm looking to win another against Merseyside

Brazil, Botafogo-Flamengo 6 p.m. GolTV: Just for a look at some Brazilian club ball

Sunday Oct 3

But really Saturday is just prelude to Sunday, when we get the first really big match of the season:

England, Chelsea-Arsenal 11 a.m. FSC: Both teams coming off disappointing losses in their previous Premier League games last weekend (see here), but both bounced back with wins mid-week in the Champions League.  This London rivaly will have an impact on the table, and it’s one that a long and storied history–see the Guardian’s “Joy of Six” feature, this week about six classic Chelsea-Arsenal matches.

For good measure, we’ll throw in a handful of add’l  Sunday matches–from Spain, Italy, Mexico and the MLS:

Spain, Real Madrid-Coruna 3 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN Deportes: Will Madrid–and in particular Cristiano Ronaldo–break out of the funk?

Italy, Inter Milan-Juventus 2:30 p.m. FSC: Even if Juve have struggled since the match-fixing (they have) this is still a first-class, traditional Serie A fixture

Italy, Napoli-Roma 9 a.m. FSC: Another big meeting of the Derby del Sol (though a bigger meeting in the 70s and 80s), with Roma is trying to get out of the bottom of the table while Napoli challenges for a champions league spot

Mexico, Cruz Azul-America 6 p.m. ESPN Deportes: A longtime rivalry between two Mexico City clubs–a derby known as Clásico Joven

MLS, Chivas USA-Los Angeles 8 p.m. ESPN2: a clash of local rivals, probably the biggest rivalry in the MLS

NewsSchedule

UEFA Europa League – Matchday 2 Fixtures

September 30, 2010 — by Suman

Balon d'Europa

As we admitted a couple weeks ago (here), we don’t understand the how or why of the Europa League. And after 16 Champions League games over the past two days, we’re not particularly jonesing to watch more pan-European club matches today. But if you are, there are 24 games today (48 teams in the league, recall).

The ones we would watch, if we were forced to sit down and do so, are the following (pulled from UEFA’s Europa League page, “all times are CET“–you do the math for your timezone)

Dortmund 19:00 Sevilla Sevilla FC More »
Referee: Mike Dean (ENG)
Stadium: BVB Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund (GER)
Utrecht 19:00 Liverpool Liverpool FC More »
Referee: Duarte Gomes (POR)
Stadium: Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht (NED)
Atlético 21:05 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen More »
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Stadium: Estadio Vicente Calderón, Madrid (ESP)
Man. City 21:05 Juventus Juventus More »
Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González (ESP)
Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (ENG)

NewsSchedule

Matchday 2.2 — starting in mere minutes!

September 29, 2010 — by Suman

Matchday 2.2 - Wed Sept 29
Yesterday was UEFA Champions League Matchday 2.1, with 8 matches all across the continent. There were games in the west–highly touted Real Madrid going into Auxerre (Burgundy, Franc) and escaping with a 1-0 win–and games in the east–Shaktar Donetsk (eastern Ukraine) hosting and destroying Braga of Portugl (score: 3-0).

Matchday 2.2 is today, with 8 more matches featuring the other 16 teams. All of them kick off at 2:45pm ET, except for one: FC Barcelona goes even further east, to play FK Rubin Kazan on their home field (Kazan being the 6th largest city in Russia, and the capital of Tatarstan (see below the fixture list):

Wednesday, September 29

Group A
Internazionale v Werder Bremen @ Giuseppe Meazza (Milan, ITA)
Tottenham Hotspur v Twente Enschede @ White Hart Lane (London, ENG)

Group B
Hapoel Tel Aviv v Lyon @ Ramat Gan Stadium (Tel Aviv, ISR)
Schalke 04 v BenficaB @ Veltins-Arena (Gelsenkirchen, GER)

Group C
Rangers v Bursaspor @ Ibrox Stadium (Glasgow, SCO)
Valencia v Manchester United @ Mestalla (Valencia, ESP) – FSC & FSE @ 2:45pmET

Group D
FK Rubin Kazan v Barcelona @ Central Stadium Kazan (Kazan, RUS) – FSC & FSE @ 12:30pmET
Panathinaikos v FC Copenhagen @ Athens Olympic Stadium (Athens, GRE)

From the Wikipedia entry for Kazan

Kazan (Russian: Каза́нь; Tatar: Казан, Qazan) is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The sixth largest city of Russia, it lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the “Third Capital” of Russia. In 2009 it was chosen as the “sports capital of Russia”.

CommentaryNewsVideo

“Mourinho Finally Gets Mad”…well, un poco (with video)

September 29, 2010 — by Suman

"Estoy loco como el infierno y yo no voy a soportarlo más!"

I must admit, I am falling for the yet-nascent psychodrama that is Mourinho in Madrid (“MiM” from now on). So I eagerly clicked thru when online footy mag fourfourtwo.com‘s La Liga Loca blog led with the headline “Mourinho Finally Gets Mad“, and kicked off the post with some purple prose:

For months now, the Spanish press have been performing their solemn duty of trying to make José Mourinho go completely postal, but sadly with little success.

However, on Monday evening, it was joy to the world and ding dong merrily on high as, after a trying period of four press conferences a week for the Bernabeu boss, hours and hours of provoking, probing and pressing finally brought some decent results – not only did Mourinho completely lose his rag, he also found it again and then set it on fire…

Commentary

Random pregame thoughts on today’s Champions League matches

September 28, 2010 — by Suman

Didier Deschamps - Sporting Hero

Will Real Marid be able to score away from home? Will all the talk and camera time get monopolized by Mourinho, or will Marseilles manager Didier Deschamps also get a bit of attention?

Will Arsenal rebound from their debacle Saturday? Will Lukasz Fabianski prove any more capable than the injured Almunia?

Will Martin Stekelenburg do as well (or even better) against AC Milan’s, compared with his stellar albeit losing performance against Ronaldo, Higauin, Ozil et al two weeks ago? Will he get any help from Luis Suarez if the need arises?

NewsSchedule

Champions League Matchday 2! Get Your Fixtures Here

September 28, 2010 — by Suman — 2

Matchday 2 - Tues Sept 28 & Wed Sept 29

Matchday 2 is upon us! Once again, all 32 teams will be in action–2 games in each of the 8 groups, for a total of 16 games today and tomorrow. As with all the group stage Matchdays, the 8 games on Tuesday featuring the 16 teams from 4 of the groups (Groups E, F, G, and H today), and 8 more games on Wednesday with the 16 teams from the other 4 groups. Champions League Matchdays are so grand they take up 2 actual days!

Fixtures for Matchday 2 listed below, along with live TV coverage (in the US); apparently all matches are being shown live on DirectTV, but we’ve just listed cable coverage, i.e., on the Fox Soccer/Sports channels–FSC, FSE, FSP & FSN.  See SoccerTVListing.com for a full listing.

See UEFA.com’s Champions League site for Matchday 1 results and group standings.

All matches kickoff at 2:45pm ET, except for one early match each day (12:30pm ET, marked with a * below):

Tuesday, September 28

Group E
AS Roma v CFR Cluj-Napoca @ Stadio Olimpico (Rome, ITA)
FC Basel v Bayern Munich @ St Jakob-Park (Basel, SUI)

Group F
Spartak Moscow v MSK Zilina @ Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow, RUS)*
Chelsea v Marseille @ Stamford Bridge (London, ENG) – FSN (=MSG+ in NYC?)

Group G
AJ Auxerre v Real Madrid @ Stade Abbe-Deschamps (Auxerre, FRA) – FSE
Ajax Amsterdam v AC Milan@ Amsterdam Arena (Amsterdam, NED) – FSP

Group H
Braga v Shakhtar Donetsk @ Braga Municipal (Braga, POR)
Partizan Belgrade v Arsenal @ FK Partizan Stadium (Belgrade, SRB) – FSC

Wednesday, September 29

Group A
Internazionale v Werder Bremen @ Giuseppe Meazza (Milan, ITA)
Tottenham Hotspur v Twente Enschede @ White Hart Lane (London, ENG)

Group B
Hapoel Tel Aviv v Lyon @ Ramat Gan Stadium (Tel Aviv, ISR)
Schalke 04 v BenficaB @ Veltins-Arena (Gelsenkirchen, GER)

Group C
Rangers v Bursaspor @ Ibrox Stadium (Glasgow, SCO)
Valencia v Manchester United @ Mestalla (Valencia, ESP) – FSC & FSE

Group D
FK Rubin Kazan v Barcelona @ Central Stadium Kazan (Kazan, RUS)* – FSC & FSE
Panathinaikos v FC Copenhagen @ Athens Olympic Stadium (Athens, GRE)

CommentaryNews

Weekend wrapup: The big dogs of Europe disappoint

September 28, 2010 — by Suman — 2

Un buen delantero...y un buen hijo tambien!

It was an interesting weekend in Europe, filled with unexpected results–the big dogs all across the continent came up short. Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Bayern Munich all suffered ignominious defeats, while Manchester United and Real Madrid could only manage disappointing draws. The only power that didn’t disappoint their supporters was Barcelona, which won convincingly. (Question: Are there other European club sides that rank with these six?)

In England, previously perfect Chelsea lost to Manchester City 1-0, the lone goal coming off a tremendous individual effort by Man City’s dogged and talented Argentine captain, Carlos Tevez. (Keep scrolling down for video of Tevez’s goal, among others.)

But the two sides chasing Chelsea in the standings failed to capitalize: Man U had to come from behind twice to salvage a 2-2 draw against Bolton. That was far better than Arsenal, who were shockingly down 3-0 against unheralded West Brom late in the 2nd half. Two late strikes by the young Frenchman Samir Nasri (a replay of one of which is included below) made the score a more respectable-looking 3-2, but Arsenal came off their home pitch with many more questions than points.

Meanwhile, on the Continent, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, last season’s Champions League finalists, and the clear favorites to win their respective domestic leagues, both lost as well. Bayern lost 2-1 to minnows Mainz, while Inter went down 1-0 to AS Roma–a club with a rich history, but this year’s edition had struggled at the start of this season.

But last year’s Champions League finalists and their respective pursuits of finishing atop Serie A or the Bundes Liga are secondary compared to the annual epic struggle between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the La Liga title.  The drama d’Espana is especially intense this year, as Real Madrid have of course brought in The Special One, whose tasks are to win the Champions League and La Liga–any less will be considered a failure by the demanding Madridistas–and by Mourinho himself.  But Mourinho’s Madrid failed to bring the flair, being held to a very surprising scoreless draw against Levante.  Meanwhile, Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1, slipping ahead of Real Madrid in the table, though still second to surprising Valencia.

For more on these matches, check the links below–and the videos.

NewsSchedule

What to Watch This Weekend (Sept 18-19)

September 17, 2010 — by Suman

The Dutch are so charming

We’re back with the 2nd installment of this weekly feature, and once again we use as a starting point WaPo SoccerInsider’s post listing of all the matches that are televised this weekend–approx 50 matches!  From that list, here are a handful that we’ll try to watch, and why:

Saturday, Sept 18

Sunderland-Arsenal 12:30 p.m. FSC (Why? To see if Arsenal can keep their hot streak going, after putting away Bolton Wanderers 4-1 last Saturday and then demolishing Portuguese side Braga 6-0 on the Champions League Matchday 1 mid-week.  To see if Cesc Fabregas has in fact escaped the space-time continuum.  And going the other way, to see Baby Jet running up front all by himself, as he did quite effectively in South Africa–and perhaps to see him do his dance.)

Sunday, Sept 19

Manchester United-Liverpool 8:30 a.m. FSP (Why?  To see if Liverpool can make a case that they belong among the top tier of the Premier League–or to see if Pepe Reina (who was spectacular last week, after a couple spectacular fails in the preceding weeks) right?  To see if Man U can do better than draw against a team they really should beat (as they did last week against Everton, and again mid-week against Rangers).  To see if Wayne Rooney get back on track.)

Atletico Madrid-Barcelona 1 p.m. ESPN Deportes (Why?  To see if La Liga table-toppers Atletico Madrid, led by Diego Forlan and his golden locks, can shrug off a surprising Europa League loss .  To see which Barcelona side shows up–the one that lost at home to Hercules last week, or the one that tapped circles around Braga mid-week.)

If those three aren’t enough for you, here are 2 bonus matches, both on Sunday:

Hercules-Valencia 11 a.m. ESPN Deportes (Why? To see if can Hercules can shock the world two weeks in a row. To see Valencia, who is playing as well as anybody: 2-0 in 2 La Liga matches, and an easy Champions League win Tuesday over Turkish club Bursaspor.)

Feyenoord-Ajax 3 p.m. ESPN Deportes: (Why?  Just to see an Eredivisie match, featuring two of the top clubs in Dutch football.  Here’s a bit of history on their rivalry–hat tip to Coach Larry for that link–and another account of their rivalry here, from where we borrowed that charming photo above.)

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