By JUSTIN FERGUSON
Less than two weeks after their tight 1-0 road win at fellow English Premier League title contenders Manchester City, Chelsea return to the Ethiad Stadium for a crucial Round of 16 tie in the FA Cup.
The Blues have defeated Man City twice this season, with each match decided by one goal. Man City will be coming into Saturday’s home match at the Ethiad, where they have scored 19 goals in their last five matches, on some additional rest from the postponement of their midweek match against Sunderland. On the other side, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea squad is unbeaten in its last five matches away from Stamford Bridge across all competitions.
In other FA Cup action on Saturday, Premier League clubs Sunderland and Southampton — who are both on impressive runs of form — will battle it out at the Stadium of Light. Elsewhere, Cardiff City will look to knock off last year’s cup champions, Wigan Athletic, at home in the midday slate of matches.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich will take on relegation-threatened Freiburg in their last match before their Champions League Round of 16 tie against Arsenal. Also in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen face off with Schalke 04 in an important top-4 Bundesliga match. In Spain, Atletico Madrid will look to end their slide down the La Liga table with a match against Real Valladolid at the Vicente Calderon.
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 – Sunderland vs. Southampton – Fox Sports 2
7:45am – St. Mirren vs. Aberdeen – Fox Soccer Plus
9:30am – Bayern Munich vs. Freiburg – GolTV USA
10am – Atletico Madrid vs. Real Valladolid – beIN Sports USA
10am – Cardiff City vs. Wigan Athletic – Fox Sports 2
10am – Sheffield Wednesday vs. Charlton Athletic – Fox Soccer Plus
11am – Bastia vs. AS Monaco – Univision Deportes
12pm – Real Madrid II vs. Barcelona II – beIN Sports en Español
12:15pm – Manchester City vs. Chelsea – Fox Sports 2
12:30pm – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Schalke 04 – GolTV USA
12:45pm – Twente vs. Vitesse – ESPN3
2pm – Barcelona vs. Rayo Vallecano – beIN Sports USA/beIN Sports en Español
2pm – Nice vs. Nantes – Univision Deportes
2:45pm – Fiorentina vs. Inter Milan – beIN Sports USA
4pm – Villarreal vs. Celta de Vigo – beIN Sports en Español
6pm – Cruz Azul vs. Puebla – Univision
6pm – Veracruz vs. Toluca – Univision Deportes
8pm – Monterrey vs. Club Leon – UniMás
8pm – Pachuca vs. Atlante – Univision Deportes
10pm – Chiapas vs. Tigres UANL – Univision Deportes
Man Agudelo so close there, just could stay on his feet
He showed he is an American.
Well who ever played that back pass showed something for sure
You don’t fail a goal scoring opportunity like that and expect to finish the game. Sacked, for lack of confidence from the FC Utrech coach.
Aaron Johannssonn and Fabian Johnson are starting against Ukraine.
and hopefully in Brazil.
seems juan is playing as there hold up striker
He is having a rough game. AZ is a clearly a much better team though.
agree
one for Johannsson with a header
goal AJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
juan almost scores sweet goal. but keeper gets fingertips to it
any1 watching az vs utrecht
yep
I did not see any of the Hoffenheim-Stuttgart game today, but according to the Bundesliga web site Fabian Johnson started at right back and played there the full game there, which contradicts the comments above that Fabian was at left back. Team captain Andreas Beck played left back, where he has been playing the past couple of gameswith with Fabian on the bench. With Hoffenheim posting a 4-1 victory probably a good chance we see Fabian at right back again next week.
yeah he was at right back
Yeah, I’d just assumed.
Good info. Off the top of your head, do you happen to know who was playing RB during that stretch?
Aron Johannsson and Juan Agudelo both starting
I’m sure every sports writer in America is looking for feeds right now
first to a hat trick wins
Ha, Danny Koevermans is on the bench for FC Utretcht
Man, watching Chelsea lately against any decent side, it seems that if Hazard isn’t single handedly creating something with his absolute brilliance, they’ve just got absolutely nothing going on in the final third. I mean nothing. They might as well be Sunderland in the final third.
The “genius” of Mourihno. Come in, hate all Spanish players, dump creative players and buy overly expensive players.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Lose.
be fair, Mourinho figures he needs one creative player (Hazard, Drogba) and 10 defenders. Ugly but wins.
US striker showdown, winner gets a ticket to Brazil !!!
Anybody know Alkmaar_Utrecht info.DR
First row sports
claudio pizarro just scored his 170th league goal in the Bundesliga
I wish he were still at Bremen. Couldn’t say they deserved to keep him though with their recent seasons
Bedoya getting the start today at Nice
Nice! I mean Nice! I mean…um… Cool.
OGC Nice – sounds a good name for a rapper from the 90s
Ha!
+ 1
The Olympics are like the only time you can be obnoxiously patriotic. GO USA!!!! MERICA
And the World Cup!!!
USA USA USA USA USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uhm, the World Cup?
Murrica!
Putin’s face — priceless.
Fabian Johnson is starting at LB today btw against Stuttgart. Hoffenheim up 2-0 in the 57′ min.
Jeremy Toljan on the bench
That one and the Gladbach/Bremen match look good for those looking for something to watch
I like Fabian on the wing but I have to say I think we need him getting minutes at LB even more.
No doubt. We have enough midfielders to make it work effectively on the left one way or another, but if all fail during the WC to make an impact, Beasley or Castillo could come in to allow him to move up, whoever it is between the two.
Only problem there is that because of their defensive inadequicies, he’d have to play more of a defensive winger role intead of an out and out winger. Their offensive talents when paired together (Beas or Castillo) aren’t overwhelming enough to compensate for the likely stretches of bad defense lapses we would likely see, though the one attribute they all have on their side is plenty of recovery speed.
That’s of course only assuming they’ll be pressing high up the field
and above anything else please just stay healthy haha
Hoffenheim win 4-1
For the sake of Cardiff fans, I sincerely hope Cardiff goes down and Tan sells the club. Crashing out of this competition will only out more pressure on the club. So go Wgan!
That dude seems completely bonkers, definitely feel bad for the Cardiff faithful.
Yeah. And speaking to a smaller issue, I think it’s such an insult that after all the backlash about the clubs crest (and rightfully so) he’s like, “Ok. You want blue bird? Here. Here blue bird for you. Now you shut big pie hole on face”
Cardiff don’t like Tan? They like his money well enough.
Why did they pimp themselves out in the first place?
If they think getting back into the EPL is so easy then they shouldn’t sweat relegation.
Who cares about soccer when Russia is playing the USA???????
LET’S GO USA!!!!!
So how many cups of coffee have you had so far?
Well, I live in Brazil so it’s 1:50 pm here.
USA WINS!!!! EAT THAT RUSSIA!!
In Russia, AMERICA BEATS YOU!!!!!
cheers my man 🙂
USA wins
Where’s Brek? Not in the 18
he cant play in the FA cup since he already played for stoke in it. he is cup tied.
whoops. its a league game.
well…ummm…i guess he is injured i hope?
He came out of the last match with a stomach illness and tweeted yesterday “not feeling the best” so read into that what you’d like
I believe he was sick
Makes my blood boil seeing Putin cheering in the stands after a Russian goal. Cmon Boys!
Huge break there. 4 min left, let’s do this!
Extra time!!!
Keep up with the hockey updates please
USA wins the shootout. Interesting rules, as after the initial 3 you can have the same guy take every shot, which is what USA did with TJ Oshie
Awesome ending! Yea imagine if they did that with soccer…after the first few shots, it’s just the same guy shooting over and over. Only disappointment for me: they didn’t show a shot of Putin’s face after we won!! He probably just had the team executed.
Great for Oshie but Quick is getting ZERO love from the media. There would be no opportunity for Oshie without those saves.
connor wickham looks like more of a threat to JA than scocco or fletcher. JA->wickham/scocco->fletcher
Fabian Johnson back in the starting lineup. Great news.
and again. M Alonso pushes up too far on defense and makes his cdm trek back, Alonso’s defensive positioning is quite terrible, Brett
and once again…. M Alonso gives Southampton another chance at a goal. when he plays LB Sunderland has no LB…….
surprise surprise, M Alonso gets beaten badly at LB….. where’s Brett?
Did ppl see the way Borini just took that ball and had a go in the 71st min.?
That is all Jozy needs to start doing
u mean that shot from 35 yards out?….. thats exactly what Sunderland needs to NOT do….. i like borini but that actual play he had Giac streaking in for an easy lay off pass
I’m just saying, the ability to get a shot off, even from 25 yards out, is something Jozy absolutely has to find. Not to say its the best decision, like you say there was a run coming, but just the process in 3 seconds of settling the ball taking a touch into space and firing one off, a lot like he scored his first goal.
I guarantee if he took a shot from 30 yards out with an open tears he’d be critiziced. He needs shots inside the box. I do agree he needs to be a lil more selfish in terms of just takin shots instead of waiting for the perfect open net but strikers should take shots inside the box
Agreed. Not at all practical to take a shot from that far out, but I speaking to the larger issue really
without a doubt Fair Observer
KA,
Jozy has scored from 25 yards out before. He has had that skill for some time.
However in his current role at Sunderland opportunities for that shot are infrequent. And Jozy is not a selfish player, one thing everyone on Sunderland seems to be impressed by.
On Sunderland that shot belongs to the midfielders and the defenders.
See above your comment
Gardner trying to do his Balotelli impersonation….. haha
Is Julian Green out injured?I don’t see him in the line up?
if willing, he should be given an auto. spot in the WC if that’s what it takes to get him on board
He’s to talented. Donovan circa 2002 potential.
John trolling hard. Smh. We get it, you think it’s premature to get excited about Julian Green. It’s still awesome news if it pans out.
No injury, he hasn’t broken into the gameday squad yet. He was given the one cameo in a champions league game that didn’t matter, but week in week out he is not yet making the bench.
Uh, do you see who is on their bench? Bayern’s bench would probably beat most Bundasliga teams. Good luck cracking that lineup!
I’m pretty sure he’ll be loaned inevitably to a 2. Bundesliga side. If St. Pauli aren’t promoted this would be a nice consolation prize for me
so what does Jozy do on his time off from the club?
USSF should bring back those “Yank ABROAD” series they had or was that Soccer 90. Would have loved to see what Dempsey did at Spurs during off days or what Bradley had in his life before his kid was born while at roma
Hiding from crazy Sunderland fans. That’s what I would be doing.
Im still a firm believer that if Giac can get in the regular starting 11 WITH jozy, it will help JA get goals, Giac is the type of creative player who always moves quickly that JA needs and wants. Giac’s motor is in a higher gear than all of Sunderland’s. Birdcutt, Ki, AJ, Borini, Giac and JA would be my front 6
From the first of the season it seemed clear to me that Giac was the most creative player Sunderland has. Don’t understand why he has been benched so much. Not enough defense? Maybe, but their back line makes so many mistakes, that’s where their defensive improvement needs to come from.
and already i like what im seeing by Giac, i dont agree wit Poyet’s assessment of Giac that ” he wants to get him on the pitch but doesnt have a spot for him”. He’s your best midfielder, you HAVE to get him on the pitch in league matches!! he has the exact vision and ground passing to strikers that Sunderland need. simply put, he’s the player that can provide the simple passes a striker like jozy needs
Giacherrini has displace Ki and KI has been one of the keys to Sunderland’s revival.
Giac should displace colback in the first team
Colback works harder.
im curious to see Scocco play, as a fan for one, and also to see Jozy’s competition in action. I still think Jozy should’ve been a sub since the City game was postponed. also Mannone should keep getting starts to stay in form but hey, u cant coach as a fan, right?
Doesn’t seem like he’s as big a threat as we thought. Not for this season anyway. Gus said recently that he needs to adapt to the league and would likely play ten matches at most this season. Fletcher returning to health might be a bigger threat.
to be fair to Scocco, its his first game and personally i bet his talent is better than fletcher. but its his first match, still finding his feet with this team and league. but yea next season seems to be more likely for him. perhaps poyet will more to a 2 st system next season with JA and scocco up front, borini wide left, AJ wide right, some combo of birdcutt/ki/giac in middle
Mr O.
Re Scocco:
1. He’s never played in the EPL before
2. He was available from Internacional because he was unsettled and not playing well
3. He’s a striker who also plays attacking midfield
4. He only cost about 3 million.
He looks more like a partner for Jozy rather than a replacement. He’s more likely to cut into Fletcher’s time and as a player he more closely resembles Borini.
SBI posts aside, Jozy has been a very important part of Sunderland’s good run of form recently and I’m sure Poyet is loath to mess up a good thing.
…. I’m ok…. You just agreed with what I said….
Ppl should hope Jozy finds himself real soon because rightly said, Fletcher if fit, will be all to tempting for Poyet
Meg only good game today is. AZ alkmaar vs AC Utrecht
and espn3 fails to come through
Sucks hard. So tempted to look for an online feed but I just spent two days doing a clean install to rid myself of malware that I probably picked up at those sites in the first place.
fox sports 2 go has a free 7 day trial right now, showing sunderland game currently, arsenal liverpool game tomorow as well
Have to wait 1 more day before getting rid of the ‘Gold’ package on Charter to watch LFC v. Arsenal.
and i’m pretty sure city v chelsea falls into the “good game” category
Yeah, not to mention Schalke/Leverkusen & Fiorentina/Inter
Shut up, Meg.
Good job by fox of putting these games on a channel nobody has.
If you truly care about the beautiful game… you have DirecTV
“The beautiful game” is the worst cliche.
a second that!
a = I
You assume everybody has a choice…I love the game and would love to have direct tv, but I am not permitted to have the dish in the building that I live in…perhaps Pete has a similar situation….
Yeah if I had direct tv, I’d be getting access to NBCs online app
If anyone cares about the game but finds conglomerate company’s and the machine to be disgusting, you’ll stream feeds online.
jozy not in the 18. everybody panic.
Not panicking, just putting USA v Russia back on.
I do not know if this is true, but a SBI commentator wrote the other day that Poyet had said Sunderland was going to play seldom used players.
You don’t have to believe me! Just look at any Sunderland blog or just look at the lineup which has only 2 of the regular starters on.
No, I do believe you. I just couldn’t find the source/article with Poyet saying it.
Lol
With Fletcher out though, it makes sense that Poyet is going to rest Jozy for league games, otherwise we’d have seen him here today because poet has constantly said he plans on playing Jozy and getting him scoring