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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

DortmundLeverkusen (Bundesliga)

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

While catching red-hot Bayern Munich is definitely Borussia Dortmund’s ultimate goal, they will face a different kind of tough challenge Saturday in their drive back to the top of the Bundesliga table.

Third-place Dortmund sit three points behind second-place Bayer Leverkusen, their opponents for Saturday’s clash at Signal-Iduna Park. Both clubs have bounced back from humiliating shutout losses and will enter the six-pointer with some momentum in their race to catch the defending league and European champions.

The day’s action will start in England, where defending English Premier League champions Manchester United look to rebound from their midweek home loss to Everton in their trip to face Newcastle United. Man United’s local rivals, Manchester City, will visit a Southampton side that has come crashing back down to earth after a hot start to their second EPL campaign.

In the final EPL match of the day, USMNT striker Jozy Altidore will try to build off his midweek goal against Chelsea when his Sunderland squad hosts Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are hoping their midweek victory against Fulham can end their slide down the league table and give them an extra boost in their quest to return to the Top 4.

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):

7:45am – Manchester United vs. Newcastle United – NBC Sports Network

9:30am – Werder Bremen vs. Bayern Munich – GolTV USA

10am – Southampton vs. Manchester City – NBC Sports Network

10am – Stoke City vs. Chelsea – Premier League Extra Time

10am – Liverpool vs. West Ham United – Premier League Extra Time

10am – West Bromwich Albion vs. Norwich City – Premier League Extra Time

10am – Crystal Palace vs. Cardiff City – Premier League Extra Time

10am – Leyton Orient vs. Walsall – Fox Soccer Plus

10am – Sant Andreu vs. Atletico Madrid – beIN Sport en Español

10am – Brighton and Hove Albion vs. Leicester City – beIN Sport USA

12pm – Livorno vs. AC Milan – beIN Sport USA/beIN Sport en Español

12:30pm – Sunderland vs. Tottenham – NBC Sports Network

12:30pm – Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer Leverkusen – GolTV USA

2pm – Celta de Vigo vs. Athletic Bilbao – beIN Sport en Español

2:45pm – Napoli vs. Udinese – beIN Sport USA

4pm – Sporting Kansas City vs. Real Salt Lake – ESPN/UniMas

4pm – Xativa vs. Real Madrid – beIN Sport en Español

Comments

  1. Jozy played very well today. He didn’t have to spend the entire game with his back to goal, which helped. He looked pretty frustrated out there – needs to channel those emotions more positively. Picked up an unnecessary yellow.

    Reply
    • saw about 30 minutes (he was just subbed off).

      looked very energetic and involved; always pressing defenders and keeper. also tried to use his chest to ricochet a teammate’s wayward shot into goal. he missed, but the idea was impressive.

      Reply
  2. Jozy has been excellent for Sunderland today. Everything they’ve done going forward has come through him. He’s been industrious without the ball and surprisingly inventive when picking up the ball short. I’m not worried about him. If anything, he looks hungrier than ever. Also, this actually has been a relatively encouraging performance by Sunderland. If they play like this against lesser teams, I think they’ve got a fighting chance of staying up.

    Reply
    • +1

      My only caveat is that Sunderland can’t make it happen in the final third and that Fletcher isn’t getting it done. Sunderland needs, more than anything, one decent attacking midfielder. I mean anyone who is halfway decent.

      Jozy was fantastic today.

      Reply
  3. Sunderland CANNOT string passes together. Its watching a bad JV team when they are passing the bad or trying to control the ball out of their own half.

    Reply
      • Very impressive. He was unlucky not to score today. Ryan Nelsen’s gonna bring toronto back. He’s trying to sign Gilardino at the moment. The toronto bandwagon is coming.

      • Defoe should have done better though. Did well to hit the frame at least on a couple of those attempts, but was also wasteful with some other good service. Really should have scored one or two today.

  4. While we’re harping on bad Sunderland players, I don’t understand the constant praise of Larson. He reminds me a bit of Brad Davis. He’s got a sweet foot for set pieces, but that’s about it. He’s playing RM atm, but is tucking in and essentially becoming a third CM. The only runs on the right come from the RB.

    Say what you will about Johnson, but at least he’s performing his tactical duty. So far all the Sunderland breakouts have started on the left. There is no presence on the right. The goal was scored by a move that started on the left, moved to the center, then went right when the RB overlapped.

    Replace Larson w/ Giaac.

    Reply
  5. Sunderland are very adept at own goals with their 5th of the season. Top of the league by a good margin. Always very likely to put the ball in their net.

    Reply

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