By MICHAEL KLINE
The relegation battle in the English Premier League will be kicked up a notch this weekend, with six of the bottom nine clubs pitted against each other, and the ever-important goal of staying in the top division on the line.
Reading and Southampton will accompany Saturday morning’s breakfast, and a loss may very well doom The Royals to the Championship next season.
Reading currently sit tied with Queens Park Rangers for lowest points in the league, but a worse goal differential puts Nigel Adkins’ new club alone in last place. Southampton are coming off of impressive back-to-back victories against Liverpool and Chelsea, but the Saints still sit within four points of the drop-zone, and a loss to Reading could see them drop as many as five spots in the table.
On Sunday morning, Wigan Athletic will travel to Loftus Road to meet Queens Park Rangers in another match with relegation implications.
After a hot start to 2013, Queens Park Rangers have lost their last two matches, and sit seven points from safety. The Hoops’ crusade to avoid the drop doesn’t get easier this weekend, when they clash with Roberto Martinez’s squad, a group all too familiar with staring down relegation.
A similar match will take place in Mexico on Sunday night, when San Luis visits Atlante in a meeting between the two of the worst teams in Liga MX. There are some headlining clashes in Mexico as well, with Club Tijuana playing host to Santos Laguna on Saturday night.
The weekend kicks off on Friday afternoon, with the U.S. Women’s National Team returning to action with a friendly against Germany.
Here is a rundown of This Weekend’s Soccer on TV:
THIS WEEKEND’S SOCCER ON TV
FRIDAY
12:15pm – ESPN3.com – Germany vs. USWNT
3pm – beIN Sport en Español – Granada vs. Real Betis
8:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Sporting Kansas City vs. DC United
9:30pm – ESPN2 – Jaguares vs. Guadalajara
SATURDAY
7:45am – ESPN2 – Reading vs. Southampton
9:30am – GolTV – Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Bayern Munich
10am – FoxSoccer2Go – Norwich City vs. Swansea City
10am – FoxSoccer2Go – Stoke City vs. Aston Villa
10am – Fox Soccer Channel – West Bromwich Albion vs. Arsenal
10am – beIN Sport en Español – Real Sociedad vs. Málaga
12pm – beIN Sport en Español – Juventus vs. Pescara
12pm – beIN Sport – Real Madrid vs. Levante
12:30pm – GolTV – Hamburger SV vs. FreiburgÂ
4pm – MLS Direct Kick – Toronto FC vs. Dallas FC
4pm – beIN Sport – Barcelona vs. Mallorca
5pm – UniMás/MLS Direct Kick – Columbus Crew vs. Philadelphia Union
7pm – UniMás – América vs. Puebla
7pm – Univision Deportes – Querétaro vs. Cruz Azul
7:30pm – NBS Sports Network – Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake
9pm – Univision Deportes – Pachuca vs. Pumas UNAM
9pm – UniMás – Tigres UANL vs. León
10:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – San Jose Earthquakes vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
10:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo
11pm – Univision Deportes – Atlas vs. Morelia
11:55pm – Galavision – Tijuana vs. Santos Laguna
SUNDAY
8:30am – FoxSoccer2Go – Liverpool vs. West Ham United
9am – beIN Sport en Español – Catania vs. Cagliari
9:05am – Fox Soccer Channel – Tottenham vs. Everton
10am – FoxSoccer2Go – Chelsea vs. Sunderland
10am – FoxSoccer2Go – Newcastle United vs. Fulham
11am – beIN Sport – Reims vs. Olympique Lyon
11am – beIN Sport en Español – Osasuna vs. Espanyol
11:10am – Fox Soccer Channel – Queens Park Rangers vs. Wigan Athletic
1pm – beIN Sport – Getafe vs. Atlético MadridÂ
1pm – UniMás – Toluca vs. Monterrey
2:45pm – beIN Sport – Napoli vs. Genoa
3pm – beIN Sport en Español – Valencia vs. Real Valladolid
3:15pm – ESPN3 – Olhanense vs. Benfica
5pm – ESPN2 – Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls
7pm – Univision Deportes – Atlante vs. San Luis
Absolute HORRIBLE officiating. its borderline disgusting. Hands Germany a bogus PK then misses a call in the box against germany where both our centerback and keeper get taken out to allow Germany to tie it. pathetic referee
Right, and that US goal that got called back before that. ick, just ick.
Refereeing in womens games is often horrible. I wish they would just use male refs for big international games, granted this is just a friendly, until there are enough good female refs. Or used co-ed referee teams.
FYI it WAS a male ref
my mistake it wasnt, still absolutely no excuse. this ref absolutely needs to be reviewed
I think the announcer, who also needs to be reviewed, called her a “him”
Thats why i made my mistake, i heard the commentator say him, and i didnt see a close up of the referee until the highlights!
This ref is terrible.
Marseille-Bordeaux on beIN Friday at 230pm ET.
Amazing goal off the volley from Rapinoe
It was. She has been great ever since I typed she has to do better
They showed the injured Laudehr and Bajramaj in the stands – Germany could really use them right now
Interesting that most of Germany’s players play for the same club. France is the same way I think.
yeah – and in France Rapinoe plays on that same team. One thing I hope is that the overall parity in those leagues gets better – only the top few teams are real quality. So the womens CL is always the same teams competing.
Cheney has had a couple of shots right at the keeper. Needs to do a bit better
Morgan effing amazing player
Not sure why the comment I just submitted is awaiting moderation…come on guys
Man, Wambach is so slow!
I’d like to see her mostly as a sub now for her heading ability. Press and Leroux did get lots of minutes during the Algarve though.
+1
Her holdup play is still very valuable though. She can just slip a pass up to the speedy Morgan – they have great on-field chemistry.
Rapinoe needs to do better
USA U-17 World Cup qualifying is on Sunday at 6:30 on Fox Soccer. First match is against Haiti.
VERY experimental/young back line from Sermanni. I have no idea why Mewis – a decent AM – is playing left back. Dunn and Engen make sense in the back, though they have little experience.
Probably her speed and to get her in the line-up somehow
yeah, probably. But I’d really like to see her get more time at AM, though, since I think that position has often been a problem for us.
Tuning in to espn3 for the ladies right now – should be a good one!
ugh, commentators are Cat Whitehill and some dude who can’t pronounce player names…
no kidding. Why is so hard to find decent commentators or soccer commentators without an accent.
I don’t mind accents, but this guy is having way too much trouble.
I dont mind accents either, it just seems obligatory for soccer broadcasts in the USA.
Cat has been ok at least – she’s really annoying when she does college cup commentary.
Also, MLS.com is streaming Houstin v. Portland game online for free.
Timbers v Dynamo game will be available for free on MLSSoccer.com