Hey Valencia, you're up next in the "Can anybody beat Barcelona?" contest.
The Spanish powerhouse thrashed Sevilla last week and will look to add Valencia to the long list of teams that have tried and failed to slow down the most dangerous attack in Europe.
Barcelona-Valencia is just one of several quality matches on Saturday. Inter Milan-Lazo, Manchester City-Fulham and Getafe-Villarreal are some of the other marquee match-ups on a packed day of soccer action on TV.
If you will be watching today's matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (and go to the jump for Saturday's full slate of matches on TV):
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*7:40am- Setanta USA- Manchester City at Fulham
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9:40am- Setanta USA- Liverpool at Blackburn
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10am- FSC- Wigan at Arsenal
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*11:30am- GolTV- Hertha Berlin at Schalke 04
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12:15pm- Setanta USA- Wolves at Queens Park Rangers
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12:30pm- FSC- Sunderland at Manchester United
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*2pm- GolTV- Getafe at Villarreal
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*2:30pm- FSC- Inter Milan at Lazio
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2:55pm- Setanta USA- Le Mans at Paris St. Germain
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*4pm- GolTV- Valencia at Barcelona
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4:30pm- FSC- Roma at Chievo
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5pm- Setanta USA- Chelsea at Bolton
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6:15pm- GolTV- Junior at America (Colombia)
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6:45pm- Setanta USA- Stoke City at Newcastle
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8pm- FSC- Middlesbrough at Hull City
MLS should should be thankful, Villarreal over estimated Jozy’s value and paid $10 Million transfer fee for Jozy.
So far I don’t think Jozy has shown he was worth anything close the his $10 Million transfer fee.
“Can anybody beat Barcelona?” Not this week.
For all of David Villa’s efforts, Valencia never seemed to be much of a threat. Watching the game, I felt that last week Sevilla put on a stronger offense than Valencia. Certainly Sevilla had more near misses that could have changed the game. With Valencia, I never felt worried after Henry’s first goal.
I might actually feel good about the game against the Evil Empire next week. Might. I’ll probably still be nervous, because despite our home pitch advantage and Real Madrid’s spate of injuries, the boys of Bernabeu are never to be taken lightly.
OMG. Barca 4-0 over Valencia. They are unstoppable.
I watched the match and I thought Jozy underwhelmed but I don’t think he had a bad game. The quality of service in to him was below par for most of the match and he seemed at odds with Rossi about who was attacking balls in what areas. He seems to lack proper chemistry with the midfielders and the fullbacks let the attack down multiple times.
But Jozy put a very good head on a cross that forced a deflected save and eventually a goal, the first of the match.
Later, he set up Rossi for a blast with a perfect backheel pass to put the entire back-line out of position.
Even later, in the dying moments, he followed a play that saw Rossi take a shot on goal with a defender on his back and the goalkeeper covering the angle. The ball should have been played square back into the 6, with the sole purpose of keeping it in play. Instead, Rossi took a shot and it went wide. Jozy was right behind it, but i think after 90+ of playing you can forgive him for not catching a hard shot that was always going away from him.
I thought overall he used his energy well, but toward the end you could see he was tiring from running back to help in defense.
Rated last on goal dot com? That reeks of an anti-american bais. Surely there were others playing in the defensive side of the pitch who were of poorer quality.
I’m hoping this match gets filed in a “growing pains” folder with the Pellegrini. He failed to produce after getting a confidence inspiring nod and that could work against him. I still think he deserves the 4 slot behind (healthy) Nihat, Rossi, and Llorente.
Jozy ‘srating from : goal dot com
Altidore 4.5 – It’s not entirely his fault that he lacks understanding with his teammates – he has barely been used, after all – but he still lacked timing and accuracy all night long.
Grant, if you notice, the ones in all bold also have stars at the beginning. Those were today’s top matches to watch (in my opinion).
^^^^ then again, i’m watching 6:15pm- GolTV- Junior at America (Colombia)live. But then again it’s in the same hemisphere.
Grant,
could be that the bolding is due to the games being live.
Is there a rhyme or reason to the total and partial bolding of the TV schedule in SBI’s post?
Watched the game with a buddy of mine who casually followed NYRB the past two seasons and needless to say, he was not impressed by Altidore.
Jozy’s game can be summed up in one play.
Villareal are attempting a quick counter attack and one of the midfeielders passes the ball to Jozy on the right, he can’t control it and puts his head down, by the time he can look up there’s a defender on him and Jozy just stumbles over the ball trying to pull of some step-over or something and gives up possession.
It’s not his fault that he didn’t get much service but Rossi looked far more active than Jozy and it doesn’t speak well of you when a sub comes in and makes an imediate impact in the offensive third.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jozy needs to REALLY work on his touch and passing. La Liga isn’t MLS where he can outrun players and blast shots at the goal.
Kid has alot to learn but if anyone can overcome it’s Jozy.
Keep your head up, kid.
Oh yeah and that is hard to believe that an offensive player after six goals hit the net gets the lowest player rating…. I guess the raters just took out the defense part of the equation out of the rating system…
Zimmer down on the criticizing of Altidore guys. Many of you make it seem like Villareal was playing so well and Altidore was bringing their game down, which was not the case. Villareal towards the end finally found the opening they were looking for all game and took advantage of it. It was great to see them rally at the end after being out played by Getafe for most of the first half and part of the second half. It was still exciting to see one of our boys playing in Spain and going the distance. A good change from reading most of our boys abroad riding the pine or not suiting up, aside from the few that do. Altidore is still raw but he is getting a lot better and it is good to see that he indeed is getting time to get that experience that will get him to the next level.
Jozy had some moments where he dribbled well controlled well and connected with Rossi. Its tempting to think he’s losing focus though and maybe starting is too much for him but I think we just need to wait. He’ll situate himself and find his form eventually, then the goals will come.
“Altidore gets rated as worst player on the pitch by goal dot com”
Rafa, the Getafe defensive sub, was rated worst at 4 for putting gas on the fire, than Jozy at 4.5
I seen the Jozy match. He had limited opportunites. He needs to look for the ball i.e. short pass instead of just trying to make a long run. He had one good chance with a header, the goalie blocked it, and Pirus hit it in. He was the reason the goal occurred. Needs to work on his touch, help out on defense, instead of relying on size and strength.
Very good player with lots of potential.
Overall, an average performance by Alitore, much like his team.
“Altidore gets rated as worst player on the pitch by goal dot com”
In a match were both defenses conceded 3 goals each, some in a matter of minutes, I find it laughable that Altidore was voted the worst. Shouldn’t one of the back 4 be at the top of the list?
Jozy did not look good at all today. He gave the ball away far to many times, he did not seem aggresive at all when attacking the ball, he missed to excellent chances and just overall seemed a bit sluggish. That being said, the leatning curve from MLS to La Liga is steep
I only saw the first half but thought Jozy looked really unsure of his positioning, and I was disappointed by his lack of running, which is usually a strong point for him. What summed up the half for me (sadly) was one play where Jozy was looking over at the bench and missed when a teammate tried to lead him toward the touchline, and they lost the ball. He was then walking back up the pitch when they passed to the defender closest to him, and he did nothing while Rossi ran from 20 yds behind him to pressure him. He wasn’t getting any service, but you can ALWAYS hustle, and good things come to those who run hard when they’re getting their a$$es kicked.
Man I hope he gets another shot, he looked great last time out. Probably a good sign they left him in for 90, I take that he played better in the 2nd. And I’m totally over Rossi ditching us for Italy, I think the tandem of Jersey strikers is awesome and does help American soccer cred that we lost one to the world champs.
Thank you for providing this U.S tv schedule.
Very informative , and very helpful.
Altidore gets rated as worst player on the pitch by goal dot com
Nihat looked really good. If he is fit enough and if there opponent is decent, then there is no doubt that he is gonna start with rossi. My bet Nihat starts next week with jozy coming on sometime after the 70th minute or earlier depending on the score.
Jozy wasn’t at fault for what could’ve been a winner. Rossi was underpressure and just tried to whip the ball towards goal and the ball goes an inch outside of the post.
I think some of you need to settle down, Jozy wasn’t near as bad as some of you are making him out to be, he several good touches and passes, granted he should have done better on the free header, but the way some of you are talking he should have been subbed out at the half…settle down…
rossi seemingly shot for far post when all he needed to do was chip that ball to his right and surely it would have been the game winner via altidore’s dome.
probably easier said than done when you’re being marked like Rossi was and a GK closing in, but the ugliest of chips to an all alone altidore wouldve found itself in the back of the net.
not sure if Jozy will get the nod to start next week based on single game performance, doubtful. hopefully the injury issues continue though. Nihat came in as a sub today though, so he’s on his way back
Jozy didn’t have much impact on any of the goals?? Really?? I felt he played a crucial role in the first once, I felt he had a pretty good game(especially in the 2nd half)…
Altidore played the whole game which is great and Villarreal made an amazing comeback. But Jozy did not look great and should have scored in the 91st when he did not even stretch to reach a ball.
Jozy and Bradley, I think had similar games. They had glimpses of qaulity and were shocking on other occasions.
^^^Isaac
what about the second goal?
Did Jozy miss the fourth goal or was it too far?
Ted. thats what Rossi tried to do. but the goalie was all over him and it made it very hard…maybe he did try to hit it based on how close it was to the goal.
Final: 3-3 Villareal-Getafe. What an ending. Jozy didnt really have much impact on any of the goals.
Well, if nothing else, that was 90 important minutes of experience for Jozy.