Manchester City stands two games from the English Premier League title, but Newcastle United has aspirations of a Top Three place and UEFA Champions League berth when the sides meet today in Newcastle.
Papiss Cisse is the hottest player in the Premier League right now and he will look to keep his incredible goal-scoring rate going against a City side riding high after their win against Manchester United.
At the lower end of the Premier League table, Bolton will be looking to climb out of the relegation zone with a win today against West Brom, while Queens Park Rangers knows they must have a win today in order to avoid facing Manchester City next week with their Premier League life on the line.
In Italy, Inter and AC Milan renew acquaintences in the latest chapter of the Milan Derby. AC Milan is still hoping to catch Juventus for the Scudetto, but may have to settle for a win against Inter.
If you will be watching today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's TV Schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
8:30 a.m. - ESPN3.com - Heerenveen vs. Feyenoord
8:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes - Newcastle United vs. Manchester City
9 a.m. -ESPN3.com - Bologna vs. Napoli
9 a.m. - ESPN3.com - Atalanta vs. Lazio
9 a.m. – ESPN3.com - Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur
9 a.m. - FoxSoccer2Go - Bolton Wanderers vs. West Bromwich Albion
9 a.m. - FoxSoccer2Go - Fulham vs. Sunderland
9 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go - Queens Park Rangers vs. Stoke City
9 a.m. - FoxSoccer2Go - Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Everton
11 a.m. - FoxSoccer2Go - Lyon vs. Brest
11 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes - Manchester United vs. Swansea City
11 a.m. - FoxSoccer2Go - Evian Thonon Gaillard vs. Ajaccio
11 a.m. - GolTV - Atletico Bilbao vs. Getafe (Delayed)
11:30 a.m. - ESPN Deportes - Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur (Delayed)
1 p.m. - Fox Deportes - Cagliari vs. Juventus
1 p.m. - GolTV - Valencia vs. Villarreal
2:45 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes/ESPN 3 - Inter Milan vs. AC Milan
2:55 p.m. - ESPN Deportes - Guarani vs. Santos FC
3:15 p.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go - Valenciennes vs. Paris Saint-Germain
6:15 p.m. - GolTV - Atletico Rafaela vs. Boca Juniors
7 p.m. - Galavision - FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids
8 p.m. - USLLive.com - Los Angeles Blues vs. Wilmington Hammerheads
On this point… I think Jones definitely has a temper, but he knows which side of the line to tread at the right time. I think he did get a card in one of the January games, but he was obviously able to step up and be a leader when he was needed to be one.
Jones adds an element of risk when he plays for the Nats, but I have to agree with him when he defends himself in the post above.
He’s not pulling in straight reds. Plus, let’s not forget that when he was shipped off to Blackburn by the coach who benched him, Schalke played like crap in the Bundesliga.
I don’t want him anywhere near centerback for the US, but he is simply one of our best midfielders, period.
Plus, sometimes whiny little snots need their giant cast/boots stepped on. Reus was playing the “OMG I’m barely able to play ’cause I’m SOOOO injured” card that whole game, and Jones was just reminding him that it could be a lot worse.
Face it… we need a tough guy like Jones to put the fear of god into some of the dirty CONCACAF opponents we’ve got.
Don’t know that this means, but Chievo ended up with their best offensive effort of the year with Michael Bradley on the bench, 4 goals—but their worst defensive effort—giving up 4 goals.
Hey, Jermaine, can I please make a suggestion? Your comments above are interesting, well thought out and quite well written. I don’t remember seeing your moniker here before. So my suggestion is that, if you post here regularly, you should settle on a name and post regularly under that name. I, for one, would be interested in hearing additional comments.
In reading through the comments above, I agree that Jones’s propensity for yellow cards could be potentially dangerous if he is playing as defender. That said, playing as a defender I don’t think he would having to make the same sort of tackles as he does as a midfielder.
To the guy who asked about how many red cards he has, I read a few weeks ago about that and I think (to the best of my memory) he has only two red cards during his whole career. So he is not one of those vicious players who goes around breaking legs. I agree the foot stomp against Marco Reus was stupid as hell, but even after it happened Klinsmann had enough faith in him to name him captain at Camp Cupcake and Jones was superb in that role.
To me, that shows what a great motivator Klinsmann is. Even Klinsmann haters would have to admit that Klinsmann has had a major psychological effect on potential USMNT players, many of whom are having their best years ever at the club level and I think that is not a coincidence but a direct result of Klinsmann taking over the team. A key example would be Michael Bradley, who also is having his best year ever and has improved immensely this year. I contend that he would not have improved so much if he were still MB90 playing international ball for his dad.
to save time, watch the 2nd 10 sec vid
here’s a highlight. Yup, altidore put a nice ball in, and the defender looks to be leaning the wrong way, goes right to falkenberg in front of goal. http://www.goalsarena.org/video/niederlande-eredivisie/06-05-2012-az-alkmaar-1-0-groningen_de.html
“Disciplinary problems”? Please. He fell out of favor with one coach, which is something that happens to lots of very good players, including e.g. Bradley at BM. Which is why it is even more absurd to argue that he’s been benched due to “performance issues.” He walked right into the Premier League on loan and started nearly every game. As soon as Schalke changed coaches he landed right back in a starting role. The guy plays a vital role on one of the best teams in Europe and clowns who know almost nothing about soccer and likely never even watch the Bundesliga slag him for picking up yellow cards. Guess what, if the U.S. had more players who played with the same passion and intensity required to prevent a counter attack by tracking back 50 yards and, yes, hacking a guy down–knowing full well it’s going to bring out a yellow–we might be spared the horror of watching the Mexican midfield run all over us in the Gold Cup.
Commentary on ESPN says Jozy put a through ball in for an assist. Anyone see it? It said he put the ball through for a “tap-in,” leading me to believe it was a nice pass…
Anyone happen to catch it?
I’m annoyed they are out of Champions League, but it still looks like Europe for next year.
That IS fair. I could counter that his Nats resume is a small sample size but that would be a bit harsh. In fact, he HAS stayed out of trouble with the Nats. We shall see. 🙂
Cheers!
True. Winning at Goodison is a tough ask though…
He has had disciplinary problems with Schalke, but not really with the Nats. That, in fairness, must be pointed out.
The schedule is way out of date.
Valenciennes vs PSG will be live on Univision Deportes Network (UDN) and FOXSoccer2Go.com at 3:15pm ET. FS+ won’t have it until 7pm ET.
(Televisa has bought U.S. Spanish-language rights to Ligue 1 for the next 3 weeks. UDN will retransmit Televisa-produced telecasts.)
FS+, ESPN3.com, and FOXsoccer2GO.com will have Cagliari vs Juventus at 2:40pm ET. That match was moved from 9am ET on short notice.
==
Mexican League playoffs are also missing from the list:
Santos vs Jaguares will be on UDN at 7pm ET.
Monarcas vs Tigres will be on Azteca America at 9pm ET.
If Wigan lose to Blackburn, if Manchester United win today and if Chelsea beats Liverpool pretty much everything will be up for grabs next weekend. Excellent first time for all the games to be simulcast in the US. Well played Fox(y).
Next week Bolton plays a Stoke team that has nothing to play for except 11th place. QPR plays a Manchester City team that has everything to play for if Manchester United win. Last game on the road to a top team QPR lost 6-1.
I am personally a QPR fan but if Manchester United win I think QPR is in a very dangerous spot. I would love to see Wigan go down since I think they are worthless every year and manage to get a few good results at the end of the season.
You never know. Assuming Man City take care of business, they still control their own fate. But today’s showing was out-and-out pathetic.
Anybody know how Tristan Bowen is doing? I thought he had some good potential…
Newcastle still amazingly have a shot at Champions League. Newcastle need to win away at Everton, and have either Spurs draw at home to Fulham or Arsenal lose away to West Brom.
don’t you hate when that happens. sigh.
Wow. Bolton throw away a 2-0 lead and QPR score very late against Stoke.
Stu and Ream look doomed to the Championship.
Ok, your take is that it is okay for him to get a bunch of yellows. How about the 8 game suspension for the stomp? I think we can agree, in spite of our differences about his value, that he is an disciplinary risk, right? I mean, he misses games due to card accumulation AND suspension. Additionally, he has been benched a couple of times due to performance issues. He can be valuable, I grant that. But he is not all-world and he has downside. That’s all that I (and the other ‘haters’) am saying.
Absurd that the Jones haters can’t grasp the simple fact that when Jones is playing the midfield destroyer role for Schalke IT IS HIS JOB TO GET YELLOW CARDS. How many straight red cards has he been shown? How many times has he been sent off for two yellows in the same game? It’s his job to tread that line and he does a damn fine job of it.
I’ll never learn.
WANDERERS!! Now stoke just need to hold on as I don’t see QPR taking any points from city.
*knocks on every piece of wood in the house*
Bolton sure does seem to be getting more results since Tim Ream started playing for them. I am not saying it is only because of him. I am not saying they are a good team. It just appears that they have had better results since he arrived and that he has been part of it.
yeah, it’s an interesting phenomenon how he became so beloved. I think the guy is a good coach but the mechanism by where the media annoints certain coaches is curious.
Probably just giving some reserves a game. They have nothing left to play for this year.
Huh… I still have his “Don’t Tread” song on my ipod.
Yeah – MB still on the bench and Cheivo scoring goals, up 3-2.
Awesome. Yaya!
I think the ZonalMarking blog did a piece on that a few months ago as well. I think anyone paying close attention to his teams have realized this a while ago but some media and pundits have continued to say it’s very attractive in the sense of passing.
are you kidding? They didn’t score there?
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
From yahoo’s fulham match commentary:
“Clint ‘Deuce’ Dempsey has scored 17 league goals from midfield this season (23 in all comps). He’s good at pretty much everything, apart from rapping. Don’t listen to him rap.”
MB started on the bench for some reason.
Somebody smart yesterday pointed out that many of Jones’ cards would be cards AND PKs and that makes him at CB a risky proposition. I tend to agree (while freely admitting I’m biased because I can’t stand him). That said, he would add passing and athleticism to the backline although I’m not sure it’s worth the risks he presents.
No way jones is guaranteed a pk a game if he plays CB in CONCANCAF
too much going on this morning to mess with a feed. Watching City-NewC and a bit of Villa-Tottenham and golf. 🙂 I am curious too though.
anybody watching MB in the Palermo vs Chievo game? How’s he doing?
Just want to note that St. Pauli of the Second Bundesliga would be a great destination for any MLS players dreaming of playing in Europe. St. Pauli today ended the season with a win, level on points with third-place Dusseldorf, but behind on goal differential so ended up in fourth place. That means Dusseldorf will be playing Hertha Berlin in a two-game tie with the winning team playing next year in the First Bundesliga. St. Pauli, has an excellent coach, Andre Schubert, who until this season coached at Paderborn (Matt Taylor’s team), and the team stands an excellent chance next season of consolidating and placing first or second to win a direct slot into the First Bundesliga. Quite frankly, I would like to see hot young prospects like Juan Agudelo or Brek Shea go to a team like St. Pauli as a stepping stone to work on their skills before going to a bigger team. A lot of big Bundesliga clubs use St. Pauli to train young talent. This year defender Lasse Sobiech of Dortmund played as a loan to St. Pauli and he was excellent.
The plot is thickening concerning the Jermaine Jones stint yesterday at central defender for Schalke against Bremem. The team manger, Horst Heldt, was quoted in a local news article on Jones’s performance, saying: “Jones was outstanding today as a central defender.” If Schalke switches Jones to defender, this could have huge implications for Klinsmann and the USMNT. (I cannot mention Schalke without adding: Man, I hope Dempsey goes to Schalke. Would be a perfect fit.)
Here’s a link to the story, plus some nice quotes from Jones about the upcoming Schalke trip to NYC and being the oldest Schalke player yesterday on the field.
http://tinyurl.com/cu5emtm
Hey, did anybody see the Bantr TV blog this week about the myth of Owen Coyle’s attractive football? It was a pretty interesting look at the numbers showing that Bolton has a lousy pass completion percentage and is among the leaders in playing ‘long balls’. This is in direct contrast to what everybody thinks about Bolton’s style under him. It’s worth a read.
Man, he is a man.
Clint Dempsey forever
Dempsey.
Deuce scores again!
Dempsey with a beautiful free kick goal – right upper corner of goal
anybody got a working Palermo vs Chievo stream?
Plus I’m trying to keep track of the Euro golf this morning. Too much entertainment.
Good professional foul by Barry because that was a dangerous turnover
good idea. I’m used to running ESPN3 through the TV but I’ll put it on the computer instead.
Unusual to see Sunday morning EPL game on ESPN3. I’ll keep an eye on our Yanks in that game while watching Newcastle/City.