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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

BayernMunichRecent (Getty)

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

After a commanding Bundesliga title campaign and a thrilling UEFA Champions League Final victory, Bayern Munich wraps up their storybook season on Saturday with a shot at the first treble in German history.

Bayern take on Stuttgart today in the German Cup final, a competition the powerful Bavarians last won in 2010. Stuttgart, who did not have the best of seasons in domestic and European play, enter Saturday’s final with a Europa League spot already wrapped up due to Bayern’s Champions League qualification. Although they will be missing a few players, Bayern look more than capable of sending Jupp Heynckes out with a victory that would cement this year’s team as one of the best of all-time.

Meanwhile, the European league season comes to a close with the final matchday in La Liga. League champions Barcelona host Malaga while rivals Real Madrid finish their disappointing campaign with a match against Osasuna.

Like the other major leagues in Europe, the final spot in the Champions League will be decided on the final day. A late equalizer in last week’s draw with Real Madrid kept Real Sociedad alive in the race for fourth, but they need a road win over relegation fighters Deportivo La Coruna and some help if they are to get into the biggest club tournament in Europe.

Valencia currently holds a two-point lead over Sociedad for the coveted fourth place spot, and a road win over Sevilla would lock up their place in the Champions League. But if they draw and Sociedad takes care of business at Deportivo, they will relinquish their spot due to Socidead’s superior goal differential. Valencia defeated Sevilla earlier this season, but Sevilla has had the upper hand on Valencia for most of their recent history.

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):

11am – beIN Sport – Real Madrid vs. Osasuna

1pm – beIN Sport – Barcelona vs. Málaga

2pm – ESPN3 – Bayern Munich vs. Stuttgart

3pm – beIN Sport – Sevilla vs. Valencia

3pm – beIN Sport en Español – Deportivo La Coruña vs. Real Sociedad

7pm – MLS Direct Kick – Toronto FC vs. Philadelphia Union

7:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Columbus Crew vs. Houston Dynamo

8:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Sporting Kansas City vs. Montreal Impact

9pm – MLS Direct Kick – Colorado Rapids vs. Dallas FC

9:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Real Salt Lake vs. San Jose Earthquakes

10:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Chivas USA vs. Seattle Sounders

Comments

  1. This Bayern team might be one of the greatest teams in world soccer history. The way they dominated the Bundesliga and the Champions League this year, I would say they are at least on par with the Ajax total football teams of the early 70’s.

    Reply
    • Wouldn’t they have to at least repeat to considered one of the greatest of all time? A bit of hyperbole there, no?

      Reply
  2. Pretty crazy end to the season in La Liga. Sociedad get in the CL, Celta Vigo got a 1-0 win to escape relegation and now their crowd is going nuts. Their win doomed Mallorca (and Gio Dos Santos) to the drop.

    Reply
    • Hell of a goal by dos Santos today.

      Sucks for Mallorca but when you gotta hope three other teams help you out, you know your season has been crap anyway.

      The Valencia-Sevilla game was ridiculous.

      Reply
    • Yup, good game. This game played out a lot like the UCL final. Lotsa end to end action but more goals and worse defense.

      Reply
  3. Weakish penalty for Bayern but running into the shoulder of someone from behind forces the Ref to make a call and they already got lucky once. The Ref being super nice twice in a row might be a bit much to ask for.

    Reply
  4. Maybe someone can help me understand something. W/ world cup qualifiers, Gold Cup, Numerous friendlies w/ teams from all over, is MLS at all concern w/overkill? Or is the first concern the almighty $$$

    Reply
    • So you’d rather have more Wednesday games with half the attendance? MLS games allow people to actually attend a game live rather than watch one on tv. Big difference.

      Reply
      • think you’ve miss my point, but that’s ok. I’d rather see time spend develop the game for w/ domestic teams rather than continually opening up the market for well establish foreign teams. Is that more clear.

    • Really. Last couple weeks I couldn’t catch any of the afternoon games. Today my son plays late and I got nothing to watch now. I wish the Donald would consult with me about the schedule more often..

      Reply

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