After a month’s hiatus (due primarily to an extended internet-free trip to India–see below), we’re back with a TV guide to the weekend. As usual, we provide US TV listings with ET kickoffs, since that’s where we reside. For our non-US readers, we’ve included a link to livesoccertv.com for each match.
Check back in over the course of the weekend, as we’ll post our Saturday and Sunday selections. But since our first selection kicks off in less than an hour, we’re posting now:
Friday, Jan 20
Germany,Borussia Moenchengladbach-Bayern Munich (2:30pmET GolTV): A good matchup in the Bundesliga’s Friday Night Lights offering. They’re just returning to action this weekend in Germany, after the longest holiday break in Europe. In fact, Bayern Munich took a little training trip to Asia earlier this month–some training and a friendly match in Doha, followed by a friendly in India–and they happened to land in Delhi while we were there. We’ll write that up in a separate post. For now, we’ll note that Munich is back to full strength–Bastian Schweinsteiger returned to the lineup in their friendly against the Indian national team, with Heynckes playing his top XI against the Indians (with the sole exception of Ribery, who came on in the 2nd half): Neuer, Boateng, Badstuber, Lahm, Kroos, Robben, Tymoshchuk, Schweinsteiger, Rafinha, Gomez, Muller.
On the other side, the only Moenchengladbach player we’ve heard of is Marco “Rolls” Reus–read this column by Guardian Bundesliga correspondent Raphael Honigstein: ‘Rolls Reus’ is the latest star off Germany’s production line. He’s definitely a player to watch. Since the fall all Bundesliga-watchers were well-aware it would be difficult to for Moenchengladbach to hang on to him. Wrote Honigstein back in October: “Reus, or ‘Rolls Reus’ as Bild has started calling him, was being genuinely targeted in the spring by Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Manchester United.” And in doing our pregame research for this match, we just learned he will move to the other Borussia this summer, after having spurned Bayern.
Actually we also just came across mention of another Moenchengladbach player to watch: Brazilian defender Dante, who was just praised by Bayern’s Heynckes. Uh oh..
Yet another Clásico–the two Spanish superpowers meet again today, in what will be their 8th battle in the past 9 months (see table below). Real Madrid hosts Barcelona at the majestic Estadio SantiagoBernabéu, for the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie. Kickoff is at a very Spanish 10pm in Madrid, which corresponds to 4pmET/1pmPT here in the US (where ESPN Deportes and GolTV will be televising the match, and ESPN3.com will be streaming it live; see livesoccertv.com for additional TV listings).
But the “yet” is telling–after all those intensely anticipated and intensely played matches over the past year, even we have Clásico fatigue. It does seem like the buildup to this one is muted compared to the previous matches, perhaps because it’s a Copa del Rey quarterfinal. The domestic cup competition is certainly a distant third in importance to these teams, far behind the Champions League and La Liga titles. It’s one thing if these two were meeting in a one-off final for the Copa, as they did last April, in what turned out to be a thrilling match (see our detailed breakdown of the film from that match here and here). But for them to have to meet twice more in the quarterfinals just seems a bit..unseemly.
That Copa del Rey victory was Madrid’s sole sucess in recent memory in this rivalry. Consider the run of results over the past few years, stretching back to the beginning of Pep Guardiola’s reign, which started in the summer of 2008, when Barcelona let Frank Rijkaard go and promoted Josep up from managing the B team (annotated with links to previous CultFootball posts about certain of the matches):
Confirming that Clásico fatigue has set in, on this past Monday’s Guardian Football Weekly podcast Sid Lowe called in from Spain to the crew in London, as he usually does to commentate on all matter relating to Spanish football. Listen from the 29′ minute mark–he first reports on Madrid and Barcelon’s recent less-than-stellar recent form. Madrid came from behind last weekend to win 2-1 against lowly Mallorca, via goals from Higuain and Callejón (more on Callejón below). Meanwhile Barcelona were down 2-0 at home against Real Betis before ultimately winning 4-2 (and that after they’d points earlier this month in a yet another draw against local rivals Espanyol in the Catalan derby), and slips in this interesting analysis: “Betis were great..Betis really went for Barcelona. I think they showed that if you put pressure on Barcelona high up, and you get at those players who quite aren’t so good at bringing the ball out and maintaining possession, in particular because Pique wasn’t playing, then you can actually cause Barcelona some problems.” We’re curious who “those players” refers to–Mascherano? In any case, Pique is expected to be back in the traditional center back pair with Puyol, so it’s a moot point for today’s match–but something to keep in mind.
He’s then asked about today’s Clásico, and replies that even in Spain there’s a bit of weariness with respect to this match: “there is a very slight sense of–I don’t if I’d call it boredom, I don’t think it’s quite boredom–but a sort of tiredness of the Clásico.” Then Sid says–just as his dog starts barking, as it curiously almost always does at some point during his calls from Spain–that Casillas was quoted as saying the rivalry has become “decaffeinated when the teams play each other too often.”
Will Casillas compañera Sara Carbonero need a (caffeinated) café con leche to stay awake for today's Clasico?
Well, today’s decaffeinated match, most eyes will of course be on Messi and Ronaldo. As well they should be. But a soccer team is really a complex system. Certainly there are moments of individual brilliance, especially, as we’ve seen, from players like Messi and Ronaldo. But those moments have to happen within the context of the team. So watch Messi–but watch his movement off the ball as well as on it, and watch his combinations with Xavi and Iniesta especially. Further deep, watch Busquest–probably the least-liked Barca player, but an essential one. He’ll drop deep at times, into the center of defense with Pique and Puyol (especially when the wingback, Dani Alves and likely Adriano, get forward for width in attack); he’ll be called on to intercept and tackle to break up the opposition’s attack; and he’ll initiate the Barcelona moves forward, combining as well with Xavi and Iniesta in the center.
On the opposite side, it sounds like Sami Khedira (defensive/holding midfielder) and Angel di Maria (attacking winger) are out for Madrid due to injury. They are key players for Madrid, but the Galacticos have talent in reserve. We’ll likely see Ozil in the center ahead of Lass Diarra and enforcer Pepe (they’ll be tasked with trailing and tackling Messi), with Ronaldo on one wing and youngster José Callejón on the other. Callejón slipped into the starting lineup in Madrid’s latter, largely meaningless Champions League group stage matches–and started scoring at such a clip that he’s continued to start. He’s 24 years old, came up through the Madrid youth system, but then went to Catalonia for a 3-year stint with Espanayol, before returning to the fold this summer.
Who knew there’s a full slate of games in the Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1, Spain (Copa del Rey)? Though to tell the truth, not a whole lot of must-see TV today. Actually the one match today that we will try to watch just kicked off, so this will have to be a very quick post:
Udinese-Juventus at Stadio Communale Friuli (12pmET, Fox Soccer Channel, RAI Internazionale, ESPN3 USA, FOX Deportes): 3rd vs 2nd – Udinese with 31 points, two behind Juve, who are in turn a point behind table-toppers Milan. Neither team was really expected to be competing for the Scudetto, but here they are. Udinese had a great season last year, but sold off three of their best players (Alexis Sanchez, Gokhan Inler, and a defender whose name escapes me right now). They failed to get past Arsenal in Champions League qualifying, but that may have been a blessing in disguise, as they’ve been able to concentrate on the domestic league.
Juventus is perhaps even more surprising–still undefeated in the league (9W 6D 0L). We finally got to watch Juve play (thanks to the fact we flew cross-country on JetBlue, and so were captive with GolTV for 10 hours), specifically the rather dramatic Coppa Italia match they played against Bologna. Players to watch on Juve: holding midfielder and Milan transplant Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Paraguayan Marcelo Estigarribia, ageless trequartistaAlessandro del Piero; we also like to see Dutchman Eljero Elia, whose been somewhat lost in the shuffle since coming over from Hamburg in August.
Fulham-Manchester United at Craven Cottage (3pmET, Fox Soccer Channel, FOX Deportes): Fulham has had success against MU at home: 2 wins and a draw in the past 3 seasons, according to the honorable Barry Glendenning (“purveyor of ‘lazy journalism’ and ‘anti-[insert name of your favourite team here]’ bias”) on this past Monday’s Guardian Football Weekly pod. Although he doesn’t rate them to repeat that success today. Raphael Honigstein, on the other hand, said he thinks Fulham could very well earn a point from this match, and cites two players to watch: Costa Rican attacking midfielder Bryan Ruiz, who arrived from FC Twente over the summer, and seems like he’s only now adjusting and fitting in; and Belgian striker Moussa Dembele, who also came over after success in the Eredivisie, with AZ Alkmaar, the previous summer. We wrote at the time that perhaps Fulham might have to choose between playing him and American Clint Dempsey–but they combined rather well last year, and from what we saw in their draw versus Liverpool a couple weeks ago, Bryan Ruiz is starting to combine well with the two of them.
Another El Clasico is upon us–Real Madrid hosts archrivals FC Barcelona at the majestic Santiago Bernabeu for a Saturday night La Liga match (kickoff is at 10pmCET/9pmGMT/4pmEST).
This will be, remarkably, the 7th El Clasico of 2011: there were the four matches packed into 18 days last spring (two meetings in the Champions League semifinal, the Copa del Rey final, and their 2nd La Liga match of the season), plus there were two legs to the preseason Spanish Super Copa. But the frequency of El Clasicos hasn’t at dampened the anticipation of seeing these two sides face off of the pitch. As we wrote 13 months ago, ahead of the first El Clasico of last season (the one at the Camp Nou that became, shockingly and memorably, “La Manita“), El Clasico means “Catalans vs Castilians, L’Equip Blaugrana vs Los Blancos, La Masia vs Los Galacticos, Los Cules vs Los Madridistas, regionalism vs centralism, Cryuff vs Franco, Guardiola vs Mourinho, Messi vs Ronaldo.”
We recommend two match previews to get you ready for the match:
For instance, here are a couple specific issues raised in Sid Lowe’s & ZM’s pieces:
Does Cesc Fabregas start among the front 3 in Barcelona’s usual 4-3-3 lineup? If so, in place of Villa or Pedro? Messi seems to be the only one on the front line certain to play the full 90. In addition to whoever among Cesc, Pedro & Villa doesn’t start, Alexis Sanchez and youngster Isaac Cuenca are options to come off the bench. Zonal Marking on the possibilities:
Only Messi is a certainty for the front three, and his position is uncertain – he could play as a false nine, or on the right, as against Milan. He will probably be used with one wide forward (Pedro Rodriguez, Alexis Sanchez, David Villa, Isaac Cuenca) and one deeper, more central converted midfielder (Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara). Three forwards might be too direct and not strong enough in midfield, whilst Messi and two midfielders wouldn’t offer enough penetration. Fabregas and Pedro is a decent bet – but Pedro might not be fit. Cuenca would be a bold move, but he’s the closest to what Pedro offers, in terms of excellent positioning and movement from wide.
On the other side, all indications are that Mourinho will opt for 4-3-3 instead of their usual 4-2-3-1, with the talented German Mesut Ozil unfortunately left out in favor of a more defensive midfielder (Lass Diarra maybe, joining Sami Khedira & Xabi Alonso in the infamous trivote). Up front, of course there will be CR7 (cutting in from the left wing), speedy Argentine Angel diMaria wide on the other wing, and either Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema in the center forward position–the latter being Mourinho’s famous “hunting with a cat or a dog” question. We devoted a post to it, titled “Mourinho on the Truth About Cats and Dogs“, following the initial remark approximately a year ago, and Sid Lowe has a section on it in his preview of this match:
Cat or dog?
“If I can’t hunt with a dog, I will hunt with a cat”. Mourinho’s remark has become legendary — analyzed and counter analyzed endlessly. This season, it has come more clearly into focus. Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín have different qualities: Benzema is far more technical, a better player in the absence of space, when you need tight passing and close skill; Higuaín applies greater pressure and is swifter on the break. The decision as to how Madrid play — will it pressure higher as it has done most of this season or lie a littler deeper waiting for Barcelona, employing the speed of counterattacks that sets it apart from any side in the world? — will go a long way to deciding who Madrid play.
For those looking to spot Americans in action overseas, check the Europa League—it’s televised, great teams abound and, well, there are Americans, too. The elusive soccer grail, as it were. Europa League matches offer rare chances to see national team expats competing against high-caliber opponents on a real live TV. No streaming, no pirating, just a mildly usurious cable package.
He rocks the mic, he rips through defences. Word.
While English Premier League devotees get to see Clint Dempsey (right), Tim Howard and Brad Friedel scoring and shot-stopping on the regular, and Serie A followers will catch the occasional glimpse of Michael Bradley, the Europa League showcases players in the Portuguese, Dutch and Belgian leagues who get showcased seemingly nelsewhere. To be fair, GolTV does broadcast the occasional Bundesliga match, giving some small-screen shine to Steve Cherundolo and the German-Americans in the national team, but to see Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht) or Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City), Europa’s your best bet.
Ironically, the team most populous in expat Americans, Rangers, utterly dominates the Scottish Premier League this season but got dumped out of the Europa League in late August (after getting dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers in early August). Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya regularly receive starting berths, but that didn’t stop Slovenian minnows NK Maribor from handing the team its collective Glaswegian ass two months back, so that’s that for the American Rangers. Other Americans who could be seen until they couldn’t are/were Clarence Goodson (Brøndby) and Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), who both compete in the top flight in Denmark.
Fear not, though. Many survived the qualifying cull, performed well in Matchdays 1 and 2, and may again feature this Thursday on Matchday 3.
High-functioning U.S. perennial Dempsey has been on fire for Fulham this season and he scored the lone goal against Honduras two weeks back. He gives everything in every game and excels at nearly everything he does (check the Deuce’s rhymes on YouTube…or better yet, don’t). Friedel, for his part, has proven such a crucial addition to Tottenham since joining this summer that Tottenham keep resting him in the Europa League, so don’t necessarily expect to spot his particular shiny bald pate, unless it’s atop a body seated on the bench. Spector, who once more sees the TV cameras zooming in after West Ham’s relegation last season, helped exact revenge on Maribor for his SPL compatriots in Birmingham City’s 2-1 win over the Slovenian outfit on Matchday 2, so good on him (thanks be giving, Rangers supporters).
Altidore will likely lead the line again for AZ Alkmaar, after netting his fourth in the tournament and seventh of the season for the Dutch champions last time out. The spectacularly bearded Onyewu, that unlikely cross between Isaac Hayes and Kareem Abdul-Jabar, has similarly returned to form with Sporting Lisbon, after escaping from PSV Eindhoven purgatory this past summer. From the bench, current Schalke 04 midfielder and former Blackburn loanee Jermaine Jones came on as a substitute in the 3-1 Matchday 2 victory over Maccabi Haifa. AZ Alkmaar, Sporting Lisbon and Schalke 04 all top their groups, and the group leader trend continues at Anderlecht, where Sacha Kljestan will look to start again, having done so in all 13 matches this season, including Anderlecht’s 5-0 thrashing of Standard Liege on Sunday.
Hannover 96 captain Cherundolo, meanwhile, must cope with the ignominy of second place. Although tied with Standard Liege on points, the team cedes first on goal difference. Let’s see some more clean sheets, Steve.
Dominic Cervi, third in line for the goalkeeper spot at Celtic, has yet to feature this season. Perhaps he will at last get a shot to stop the shots. (But be honest. Have you ever heard of him?)
Stay tuned for the continuing exploits of Uncle Sam’s soccer spies overseas. (Seriously. I mean to make a series of this.)
As one last word on Deuce’s iced-out flows, in a freestyle a few years back he had a truly great/awful line in “If I was a dolphin, I would have a platinum fin.” That one really is kind of worth checking out.
Matchday 3, October 20:
1:00 pm EST on GolTV, DirecTV: Club Brugge vs. Birmingham (Jan Breydel Stadium)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: AZ Alkmaar vs. Austria Vienna (AFAS Stadion)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Wisla Krakow vs. Fulham (Stadion Miejski im)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Stade Rennes vs. Celtic (Route de Lorient)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: AEK Larnaca vs. Schalke 04 (Neo G.S.Z. Stadium)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: SK Sturm Graz vs. Anderlecht (UPC Arena)
3:00 pm EST on GolTV, DirecTV: Sporting Lisbon vs. FC Vaslui (Estadio Jose Alvalade)
3:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Tottenham Hotspur vs. FK Rubin Kazan (White Hart Lane)
3:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Hannover 96 vs. FC Copenhagen (AWD-Arena)
To recap, Americans still in the competition:
Clint Dempsey (Fulham, MF)
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, D)
Brad Friedel (Tottenham, GK)
Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City, D)
Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar, F)
Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon, D)
Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04, MF)
Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht, MF)
Dominic Cervi (Celtic, GK)
And those Americans who let down themselves, their teams and their country:
Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers, D)
Maurice Edu (Rangers, MF)
Alejandro Bedoya (Rangers, MF)
Clarence Goodson (Brøndby, D)
Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland, D)
Just by plucking names from this group of current and eliminated Europa players, one could field a highly competitive national side. In fact the back 4 and front 2 played the second half against Honduras in the last international break.
Netherlands, Ajax vs AZ Alkmaar (12:45pmET; ESPN3.com): AZ Alkmaar has been pushing over the past few seasons to be counted among the Eredivisie’s elite (traditionally Ajaz, PSV, Feyenoord, although lately FC Twente must also be considered). Indeed, AZ sit atop the Eredivisie table with 21 points after 8 games played, followed by PSV (17), Twente (17), Ajax (15), and Feyenoord (14). Among the players to watch: American striker Jozy Altidore has been lighting it up for AZ, and resurrected his career in the process. For Ajax, Dutch international defender Gregory van der Wiel, young Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, and Serbian striker Miralem Sulejmani have all been tapped as the next Ajax products to make big money transfers to the big clubs of Europe.
Sunday, Oct 16
England, Arsenal-Sunderland (8:30amET; Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv): Both teams need to win–Sunderland to keep from falling towards the relegation zone, Arsenal to try to climb back to the top half of the table.
England, Newcastle-Spurs (11amET; Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes): Also via the above-linked-to Political Footballs post: “Spurs have won their last four games, having started the season with two defeats to the Manchester clubs, and will be looking to strengthen their own quest for a top four spot this weekend in the North-East”–against a surprisingly successful (so far) Newcastle side which currently sites 4th in the English table.
Italy, Lazio-Roma(2:30pmET; Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes, ESPN3.com): Just in the nick of time, we received some notes on today’s Derby della Capitale from nostro amico romano, supplemented with some links of our choosing:
Ciao amici miei!!!
Struggling to meet a deadline for a grant right now and trying not to think to Derby….
Some thoughts:
1) I hope no fights between fans, especially after what happened yesterday in Rome
2) not having Totti can be an advantage, he feels the game too much, like De Rossi
3) Lazio is the favorite for me, not a good thing when u play the derby
4) I like Bojan, young and talented, the fans like him….Osvaldo is also potentially devastating…but it will be a battle of nerves and Luis Enrique should set up the team to press very high but not too high because Klose and Cisse can hurt with counterattacks
5) hey, how about the Tigers? I don’t know what happened yesterday…
[Editor’s note: Today is the final day of the qualifying round for Euro 2012. John Lally provides us with a rundown of which of today’s 22 fixtures actually matter for qualification. Click through the “Group X” headings to see the group standings on UEFA’s site, click thru the hyperlinked fixtures for further TV info and match previews on livesoccertv.com]
Germany vs Belgium - today in Dusseldorf
Group A: Germany vs Belgium (1pmET ESPN2, ESPN Deportes,ESPN3.com) & Turkey vs Azerbaijan (1pmET, foxsoccer.tv): Germany already topped the group, Belgium is but a single point above Turkey in race for playoff spot. Turkey should win at home against Azerbaijan, meaning Belgium has to go into Dusseldorf and win against their powerful neighbors.
Group B: Republic of Ireland vs Armenia (1:45pmET ESPN3.com) – If Armenia win, they get the playoff spot, an Ireland win or draw gives them second place (Russia is in 1st place only 2 points Irealnd them but have a gimme against Andorra at home)
Group C: Serbia vs Slovenia (2:45pmET foxsoccer.tv) – Serbia need a win for the playoff spot, if they lose or draw, Estonia take that (Italy already won the group)
Group D: France vs Bosnia-Herzegovina(3pmET ESPN3.com) – France 1 point above B&H, win or draw they top the group, lose and B&H win it and other is in playoff (actually they might be best runner up anyway)
Group F: Georgia vs Greece (1pmET ESPN3.com) – A point for Greece means they top the group. If they lose, a Croatia win at home against Latvia would give them top place and put Greece 2nd
Group H: Denmark vs Portugal (2pmET ESPN3.com, tape at 7pmET on ESPN Deportes)- If Denmark win, they top the group, else Portugal do. Most likely group for 2nd place auto-qualifier to come from anyway
Group I: Spain vs Scotland; Lithuania vs Czech Republic – If Scotland match Czech result, they go into playoffs, if they lose gain few points, Czech Republic take 2nd place. Given that Czechs should beat Lithuania, Scotland has to win against the defending World Cup and Euro champions on their home turf (in Alicante, on the Mediterranean in the southwest of Spain)
Another interlull upon us–no club matches, as the top players are jetting around to join their national sides. There’s a full and relatively interesting slate of Euro2012 qualifiers, given the that qualifying group stage finally wraps up on Tuesday: 20 fixtures today, out of which we’ve picked 5 to keep an eye on, and then 22 more on Tuesday.
We start with five Euro qualifiers plus one friendly; we’ll be back over the course of next few days with picks for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (hence the “Part 1 of n”, where n is somewhere between 1 and 4).
In fact, all five of the matches we’ve chosen are between the top two teams in their respective group tables–which is what’s important of qualification. The 9 group winners qualify directly for the tournament in Poland & Ukraine next summer, as well as the runner-up with the best record. The other 8 group runners-up get paired for a 2-legged playoff round, yielding 4 more qualifiers. Add to that the hosts, and we’ll finally have our 16 team field for Euro2012 set by the end of November.
The five matches to watch today, which have some interesting group dynamics, as you can infer from the top of the current group tables:
Turkey vs Germany 2:30pmET foxsoccer.tv: The top of Group A looks like this: Germany way ahead (perfect 8-0 record so far for 24 points), Turkey in 2nd (14 pts), Belgium close behind (12 pts). And Belgium is playing cellar dwellers Kazakhstan at home in Brussels–so basically Turkey needs to knock off the big dogs of Deutscheland.
Mesut Özil & Hamit Altıntop
A potentially interesting set of matchup in midfield, as Hamit Altıntop will have to deal play against his Real Madrid teammates Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil. This matchup of course always puts extra focus on Ozil, given that he’s a rising superstar who born in (West) Germany but is of Turkish descent (3rd-generation Turkish-German, in fact–which points the long but complicated socioeconomic relations between these two nations).
Czech Republic vs Spain 2:45pmET ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: Exact same dynamic in Group I–Spain is perfect (18 points), Czech Republic in 2nd (10 pts) but only 2 points ahead of 3rd place Scotland (8 pts)–with the latter playing minnows (Lichtenstein in this case)
Serbia vs Italy 2:45pmET ESPN3.com, foxsoccer.tv (tape at 7 p.m. on ESPN Deportes): Similarly in Group C–Italy close to perfect (22 points), but Serbia (14 pts) trying to hold off Estonia (13 pts)
Greece vs Croatia 2:45pmET ESPN3.com (tape at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on ESPN Deportes): A bit different in Group F, where it looks like these two teams will finish in the top 2–but it’s not clear in what order. Current standings: Croatia (19 points), Greece (18 points), Israel (13 points).
Montenegro vs England 3pmET ESPN3.com: England need just a point to clinch the top spot in group, while Montenegro needs to make sure they don’t allow Switzerland to catch them for 2nd place (England 17 pts; Montenegro 11 pts; Switzerland 8 pts)
For all the other group standings and fixtures, head over to UEFA’s Euro2012 site.
And finally, here’s one friendly to watch:
Costa Rica vs Brazil10pmET ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: CONCACAF’s Costa Rica hosts the Seleção.
