Matchday 5.1 - Tues Nov 23 Eight Champions League games taking place today for Matchday 5.1 (see here for all 16 Matchday 5 fixtures as well as group standings). One early game, Olympique Marseille at Spartak Moskva, starts at 12:30pm ET (18:30 CET), since it takes place so far east, in a different timezone from the rest; the other seven games kick off at 2:45pm ET (20:45 CET). Of the eight games, four will be broadcast live on the various Fox Sports channels; seven are available on DirectTV; and seven will be streamed on foxsoccer.tv (requires a subscription): Group Home Kickoff (CET) Away Referee/Stadium Television (US) Streaming F Spartak Moskva 18:30 Marseille More » Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER) Stadium: Luzhniki Stadion, Moscow (RUS) DirectTV foxsoccer.tv E Roma 20:45 Bayern More » Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP) Stadium: Stadio Olimpico, Rome (ITA) DirectTV foxsoccer.tv E Basel 20:45 CFR
Matchday 5 - Tues Nov 23 & Wed Nov 24 Matchday 5! Eight games today (2 each in Groups E-H) and eight more tomorrow (Groups A-D). The end of the Group stage is fast approaching: Matchday 6 is in two weeks, Dec 7-8, at which point the top two in each Group advance to the Knockout phase (which doesn't begin until mid-Feb). With that in mind, we give you not only this week's fixtures, but also all the current group standings--and we take a quick look at how things are shaping up for which clubs will likely advance out of each group. If you haven't been paying sufficient attention over the past couple months/four Matchdays, here's your chance to catch up: (Note: as usual, we have pulled the list of fixtures--and here the group standings--from UEFA.com, with links preserved to club, group, and match pages--click through
The Cannibal of Ajax Uruguayan and Ajax striker Luis Suárez has been suspended from play by his own squad for biting PSV Eindhoven winger Otman Bakkal (you can hear the commentator reference Tyson in the video below). Suárez and Forlan were so impressive during the summer's World Cup, and we've hoped the best for the both. Forlan has been lackluster, but Suárez has 6 goals this season and though he's not allowed to play in league matches for a couple games, he will be in play for the champions leagie match against Madrid.
The X-Factor coming back to fitness for the second half of the season [Editor's note: Here's the inaugural edition of something we'd like to make a semi-regular feature: a look at the top of the table. Here we look (once again) at the Premier League table, but we plan to check in on other tables around the world over the course of the season.] Someone eventually has to win the Premier League title--but from recent results, it's hard to figure out who. Here's the top of the table as of today--it's virtually certain to be one of these teams that ends up on top at the end: 1 Chelsea 14 9 1 4 28 9 19 28 2 Manchester United 14 7 7 0 28 15 13 28 3 Arsenal 14 8 2 4 28 15 13 26 4 Manchester City 14 7 4 3 19 11
All eyes were on FC Dallas' David Ferreira heading into the cup final last night, the little Colombian having just been named the MLS MVP for the year. He didn't disappoint, touching in the go-ahead goal and sending Dallas into the halftime locker room up 1-0. Dallas were playing the better soccer, but it was Colorado who came out more determined to win the second half. And that they did, underlining the effort with a goal by the not-quite-good-enough -for-the-national team Conner Casey. The game moved then to extra time, which half the crowd in attendance couldn't be bothered to watch (an absolute necessity, this playoff format). Sadly, Dallas were put out by a weak deflection off Rapids defender George John resulting in an own-goal. Very Tough loss for a team that probably deserved to win. One final note, the game got pretty chippy for a while there, and there
The team with the blue and black stripes has lost the will to win, going down 2-1 to Chievo and falling to 6th place in the Serie A (they'd be in 7th, and out of european club competition completely if not for goal difference). What the team especially doesn't need is to lose yet another starting player. But it looks like that'll be the case, as Eto'o is sure to serve some multi-game ban for this headbutt on Boštjan Cesar.
Someone is getting his drink on tonight Maybe this is how it has to happen. Maybe you have to plumb the depths before you can scale the mountain. Maybe this was our game-changing moment, just as the Red Sox coming back from 3 games down against their biggest rivals in 2004 changed everything. All I know was that at half time, I was ready to throw in the towel - two nil down, bloody typical Tottenham. We hadn't played particularly badly, just individual mistakes had cost us. Assou-Ekotto not following through all the way to the ball going out of play allowed Nasri to open the scoring. Then a break away from Arsenal resulted in their second, when a still winded Alan Hutton (who'd been taken out by Clichy when Spurs were pushing forward) failed to close his man down and Chamakh was given an easy
We're back with our picks for the weekend--as usual, culled from the SoccerInsider's comprehensive listing of matches being televised in the US this weekend (all times ET): Don't look at me, I'm hideous Saturday (Nov 20) England, Spurs-Arsenal 7:30 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN Deportes: an early kickoff the match of the weekend te heated North London derby! Check what our resident Spurs and Arsenal supporters had to say about this one, here and here. Spain, Valencia-Villarreal noon ESPN Deportes: 3rd and 4th in the La Liga table--cf. Sid Lowe's column devoted to Villareal after their match v Hercules a few weeks ago. Netherlands, Ajax-PSV Eindhoven 2:45p.m. ESPN3.com: We usually don't include streaming-only matches, but will make an exception for this battle of Dutch heavyweights. If you're only going to watch one Eredivisie matchup all season, might as well be this game. Via FIFA's "Classic Rivalries" feature:
