With the Europa League group stages starting today, it will likely translate into European action on a regular basis for Fulham and Everton regulars Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard. However, Dempsey is set to miss Fulham's opener against CSKA Sofia due to an injury. With Roy Hodgson set to rest a number of regular starters, there's a chance — however slight — that Eddie Johnson might see some action today against the Russian club. Fulham faces a relatively difficult group draw with AS Roma and FC Basel rounding out the rest of the group.
Tim Howard's Everton club is looking to improve on a rather weak beginning to their league campaign. They play host to AEK Athens, a relatively strong Greek side. Rounding out their group is Benfica and FC BATE Borisov, a Ukranian club.
The competition obviously lacks the firepower and prestige of the Champions League, but some of Europe's prominent clubs find themselves contesting for the renamed UEFA Cup. Celtic, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, Villareal and Roma are some of the bigger names that the casual fan should recognize.
What do you think of today's EUROPA League matches? Will Eddie Johnson make an appearance for Fulham? Can Everton recover from their slow Premier League start? Don't care about the Europa League? Share your thoughts below.
BATE is still not Ukrainian!
Jo just scored for Evertons 4th. 4-0
Everton is up 3-0 at 66th min.
Is Dempsey really injured or is this just something minor that wouldn’t keep him out of normal league play? Was he playing against T&T with some nagging condition?
Posted by: Benny Dargle
Oh, c’mon, you’re not really THE Benny Dargle, are you? If you’re an imposter, it’s a nice tribute
Posted by: Modibo | September 17, 2009 at 02:30 PM
No, I can’t claim to be “The” Benny Dargle. Just a tribute to my favorite player from my youth. Probably dates me a bit, but I guess it dates you too if you caught the reference!
Is Dempsey really injured or is this just something minor that wouldn’t keep him out of normal league play? Was he playing against T&T with some nagging condition?
Posted by: Benny Dargle
Oh, c’mon, you’re not really THE Benny Dargle, are you? If you’re an imposter, it’s a nice tribute.
glad clint’s getting a break
awesome link,
sound and quality
http://www.p2p4u.net/watch-live-sports.php?id=5374&link=1
EJ isn’t included in the uefa squad for any games. Fulham had to submit a roster before the group stages started and EJ wasn’t on the list.
Don’t freak out about rosters for the UEFA league. I know that there are rules in place for club produced talent and that a club must have a certain number of those type of players on the official roster. EJ was not a youth player for Fulham so this coupled with the fact that he is not really a first teamer and you can see why he is not included.
Or maybe I am wrong.
I am however very upset not to be watching PAOK play tonight. They were better then Heerenveen in every way….except for a god damned away goal….oh well…next year.
need a proper link if anyone has got one.
nevermind, atdhe has link wrong…its celtic.
new bumblebee look from Roy Hodgeson
EJ is not on substitution list
http://www.fulhamfc.com/MatchAndTeam/MatchCentre/Matches/0910/EuropaLeague/CSKASofiaAway.aspx?lineups=true
I want to watch this game because I am now a fulham fan, even without the americans playing.
I want to see what the young guns can do!
EJ is not even in the submitted Fulham roster to UEFA for the group stages.
http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/club=75386/competition=14/index.html
Would have been nice if at least Zamora traveled and was available on the bench. I know A. Johnson and Murphy are coming off injuries but Zamora was never hurt to bad and didn’t play while with T&T so he should be fairly well rested. I can see why Clint isn’t there. He can’t play 2 games everyweek. Especially after not having much of a summer break.
For U.S. viewers
The FC Basel/Roma and Everton/AEK AThens games will be on Gol TV
16 other games will be available live through Direct TV.
Just saw that you don’t need the sports package to get the extra Champions League and Europa League games. You only need the sports package to watch the games on FSC/Fox Sports en Espanol (Champions League) and Gol TV(Europa)
@ Matt, who said –
“EJ’s not in the first XL and not on the sub’s bench.”
That’s a helluva starting lineup! 🙂
David… that may be just why EJ is not there… If Kamara leaves then EJ slots right in, no sense in getting him hurt if he is going to be a regular sub like Kamara. I have seem Uwezu play… (the other forward on the bench) and he is like a very poor mans Obafemi Martins… EJ is way better than him for sure.. no way RH is picking him ahead of EJ.
Perm still has, as they called over there, a plastic pitch.
The starting XI for Fulham is not that bad. Davies, Pantsil, Gera, Kamara, and Nevland all saw a fair amount of first team action last season. Greening was West Broms captain. Stockdale looked solid this past weekend against Everton. All but the keeper have international caps. The bench is where it gets real thin.
Would have been nice to see EJ get handed a start since rumours continue to swirl that Kamara is leaving. Latest team interested is Newcastle.
Clint aint hurt… neither is Andy Johnson or Bobby Zamora or Danny Murphy… Fulham is just playing 2nd teamers
Not sure now, but Perm had some pretty nasty neon green field turf a couple years ago. Maybe that’s what tweaked Clint’s ankle.
Matt C… word on the street is that because of EJs superb performance for the reserves on Monday, he is actually going to make the bench at the weekend and he will be likely starting next weeks Carling Cup match… Fulham bought only youngsters to set the bench. EJ is on the UEFA roster unlike players like Stoor, Andranik, Seol Ki Hyun etc…
Ouch! official team sheet it out. EJ’s not in the first XL and not on the sub’s bench. I’m not advocating his inclusion in the XI…but to not even make the subs bench when the team being rolled out is essentially a second team.
Roy does have his methods though.
No Americans in the Fulham squad but if you want to watch and have DirecTV with sports pack the game is on live channel 467. Freeview for all UEFA games if you have the sportspack
Eddie Johnson did not travel with the team but is expected to make the bench for the Wolves match and start in the Carling Cup next week.
Clint has a minor knock and would not have played anyway.
Europa Group Stages are also the test for the five official system
Dempsey picked up an ankle injury in Perm. Since then he has played a couple EPL games and the US qualifiers. Perhaps it is still nagging so Roy took the opportunity to sit him.
The Europa league is a good opportunity for Fulham to get some needed paying time for their new signings and bench warmers. However, I think Roy Hodgson is using too many newer players, much like Bradley did the Gold Cup. The reward will be great if they advance. Hodgson will be hailed as a great manager. A knockout will be viewed as an abandonment of Europe by a relegation weary manager. I don’t think Europa needs to be all or nothing but instead an opportunity to intergrate newer players into the team system. A higher starting 11 to benchwarmer ratio would be needed for that though.
anyone know if there will be links and what time the games will be on?
Is Dempsey really injured or is this just something minor that wouldn’t keep him out of normal league play? Was he playing against T&T with some nagging condition?
Hey Travis, it’s CSKA Sofia(not Moscow) and Bate plays in Belarus and not the Ukraine…come on man, you’re better than that.
yeah whats the dempsey? Hung over and they’re just stating it as an injury is my guess.
BATE Borisov is a Belarussian club.
CSKA Sofia. CSKA Moscow plays in the CL.
Is Clint’s injury minor?
I’m aggravated that fsc doesn’t show any EL games on tv
It would be nice to see Everton get rolling and carry some confidence back to the EPL. Of course, with the injury and other issues they have, if their defense doesn’t play well, it may not help at all. It would also be good if EJ could get some playing time. Hard to improve when you’re riding the pine.