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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

Vincent Kompany of Manchester City and Nikica Jelavic of Everton

Saturday’s European action kicks off at Goodison Park, where Everton will take on Manchester City. The host Toffees, who were bounced from the FA Cup by relegation-threatened Wigan, are in a tight race with city rival Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion for a spot in European competition next season. Manchester City will have to shake off its woeful Everton run if it wants to put pressure on league-leading Manchester United–City has lost five out of its last seven matches against the Toffees.

Arsenal will try to stay in the hunt for a place in the Champions League when the club visits Swansea City later in the day. The Gunners, who sit five points back from fourth-place Chelsea, are coming off of a good result at Bayern Munich. Even though the 2-0 win was not enough to push Arsenal into the final eight in the Champions League, the result shows that the club still has some fight left in what will be another trophyless season.

In Germany, runaway Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich will look for revenge on third-place Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern lost 2-1 to Leverkusen at home back in October off of a late Sidney Sam goal. Since that loss, Bayern has captured 45 of 48 possible points in Bundesliga action. Will Leverkusen be able to slay the German giants twice in one season?

Saturday will close out with action from Liga MX. After falling 3-1 to Seattle Sounders FC in CONCACAF Champions League action, Tigres UANL comes home to face midtable Guadalajara. The league leaders, who are still undefeated in Clausura play, could use a good bounceback win to keep themselves at the top of the table.

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):

8:45am – ESPN2/ESPN3.com – Everton vs. Manchester City

10:30am – GolTV – Borussia Dortmund vs. Freiburg

11am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Aston Villa vs. Queens Park Rangers

11am – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go.com – Southampton vs. Liverpool

11am – Fox Soccer Channel – Swansea City vs. Arsenal

11am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Stoke City vs. West Bromwich Albion

11am – beIN Sport – Real Sociedad vs. Real Valladolid

1pm – beIN Sport – Catania vs. Udinese

1pm – beIN Sport en Español – Getafe vs. Athletic Club

1:30pm – Fox Soccer Channel – Manchester United vs. Reading

1:30pm – GolTV – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich

3pm – Univision Deportes – Lille vs. Evian TG

3pm – beIN Sport – Real Madrid vs. Mallorca

3:45pm – beIN Sport en Español – Bologna vs. Juventus

5pm – beIN Sport – Valencia vs. Real Betis

7pm – Univision – América vs. San Luis

9pm – UniMás – Pachuca vs. Puebla

9pm – Univision Deportes – Tigers UANL vs. Guadalajara

11pm – Galavision – Atlas vs. Santos Laguna

Comments

  1. Just to add another one to the list…Spector goes 4 minutes for B’Ham before being subbed off due to injury.

    Not sure if he would have been in, but jeez…

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    • Pulis seems to like it. Remember Shea is still adjusting to the league. Pulid needs to make sure the clib does not drop any lower on the table so maybe he is preserving Shea for later on

      Reply
  2. When are Hamid or Johnson or MacMath heading to Europe? How come Rimando never went to play in Europe? Hes been de facto USMNT no3 for 3 years now

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    • Not really with regards to Rimando being the 3…Hannehman was the 3 at the WC, Hamid was the TWO, not even the 3 ahead of Guzan at first in the JK reign, so Rimando’s been the kind of 3 (with Johnson often playing/getting the call ahead of him) for sort of a year now. But your point still stands.

      Reply
  3. Fork in Man City. Arsenal and Liverpool with potentially tough tilts today. Setting up to be an exciting EPL day despite the lack of top shelf matches on paper.

    Reply
  4. Mr. Howard’s backup, Mucha, has made a couple of truly great plays. Get well quick, Timmy, or you may get the Alex Smith treatment.

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    • The writing could be on the wall for Tim Howard. He has not been at his best this season, he just turned 34 and his deputy is performing very well in his absence.
      Hopefully, Howard returns to his ever-improving domestic league after the 2014 WC at the age of 35 and with some quality years remaining in his career.

      Reply
  5. Everton 2*-0 at the half. Not a bad performance by them so far. Lets see how City adjusts.

    *we all know what the score really is

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    • Really could have been 3-0 with that Nastasic obstruction. City look terrible without Yaya and Aguero. And when will Mancini abandon the ‘Back 3’ gamble for good? It has done much more damage than good.

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  6. Now I know everyone is still asleep if I am the ONLY one that said anything about that goal. Well when y’all finally do wakeup, do yourselves a favor and google that sweet ish.

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  7. Good on Everton for still pressing and attacking. That said, they look suspect on D. Can’t see them keeping out City forever on this form. Hope Everton can outgun them now.

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  8. Everton started strong, but seems to be losing their composure. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go down a man before it’s over.

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      • You know, seeing how lame the EPL matches are today (very one-sided by appearance), no wonder MLS decided to make a push today with “rivalry week.” well played Don, well played

      • Ha. Funny.

        But seriously EPL ratings are still going to be better than MLS ratings probably. Sounders-Portland game is the obvious choice of the weekend, but I don’t even know what network it’s on.

      • ..and yet Everton is up and I can see Swansea taking 3 points against Arsenal.

        I highly doubt Garber had enough foresight to judge this weekends match ups in Europe and counter that with “rivalry” week.

      • Sawns-Gunners should be a great match. Seeing as Arsene has been stirring the pot this week, I imagine both teams will be in top form for this.

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