It might be difficult to believe, but AS Roma has ralled from a rough start to the Serie A season to move into second place in the Italian League. Almost as tough to believe is the recent run of Palermo. Both sides have fired coaches this season and both have seen those coaching chances result in serious turnarounds.
Roma and Palermo face each other in one of today's top matches. The English Premier League has the weekend off while the FA Cup fifth round is played, but that doesn't mean there aren't quality match-ups elsewhere in the world to pick up the slack. Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund, Sampdoria-Fiorentina and Sydney FC-Melbourne Victory are just some of the good games worth watching on this Soccer Saturday.
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 Soccer TV schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
9:30am– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360- Bayer Leverkusen vs. VfL Wolfsburg
10am– FSC/FSE- Derby County vs. Birmingham City (FA Cup)
10am– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Sporting Gijon vs. Valencia
Noon– FSC/FSE/RAI- AS Roma vs. Palermo
12:30pm- ESPN360.com- Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund
2pm– GolTV- Xerez vs. Real Madrid
2:45pm– FSC/FSE/RAI/ESPN360.com- Sampdoria vs. Fiorentina
3pm– Setanta USA- Lyon vs. Lens
3pm– ESPN Deportes- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Wolfsburg
3pm– GolTV- Villarreal vs. Athletic Bilbao
5pm– FSC/FSE- AS Roma vs. Palermo (Delayed)
6pm– Azteca America- Jaguares vs. Queretaro FC
6pm– Telemundo- Monterrey vs. Tigres UANL
6pm– Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. CD Toluca
6:30pm– GolTV- Nacional vs. Cali
8pm– Telemundo- Chivas Guadalajara vs. Atlante
8pm– Azteca America/ESPN Deportes- Morelia vs. Atlas
8:30pm– GolTV- Deportivo Tolima vs. Junio Barranquilla
10:30pm– GolTV- Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund
2am– FSC- Sydney FC vs. Melbourne Victory
Zlatko Dedic, Slovenia striker, came off the bench at halftime and scored a late winner for Bochum in its 2-1 defeat of Hoffenheim. Antar Yahya, scorer of the goal that put Algeria in the World Cup, was an unused sub for Bochum.
somebody asked about Slovenian players – Robert Koren, their main man in midfield, scored for West Bromwich Albion in an FA Cup match vs Reading. He also hit the crossbar. He has been in and out of the WBA lineup this season, in the Championship, but he got the start today when another player was injured in pre-game warmups. He has been with WBA for years, helping them get promoted to EPL and playing decently there even tho they were relegated. I think there are also a couple of Slovenians in the Bundesliga, including Zlatko Dedic, but haven’t checked on them since at least the winter break. Don’t think they are tearing it up there.
Your reasoned observations are appreciated. But please don’t be so thin skinned. Keep keeping me and others informed. Thanks!
I think that La Liga is better than the EPL and probably has more parity. I happen to like the style of play better, not so much obstructive play and fewer long-ballers.
The situation with Portsmouth is an absolute joke, but similar things have happened in La Liga, too.
Man, I feel bad for Hannover 96. Ever since their goalie died they have completely fallen apart.
Are you serious? That sounds epic. If this happens I’d def have to make the trip and meet up with some SBI Mafiosos.
1.Manchester United
2.Chelsea
3.garbage
Because La liga is garbage compared to the EPL. đŸ™‚
1.Barca
2.R madrid
3.Garbage all the way to 20.lol
“We just hope that maybe this kind of loan arrangement can be done again next season . . . ”
Uh, Everton can maybe take out a loan for $15 million and buy him, Phil. Other than that, you’re going to be passing the ball over someone else.
Real Madrid absolutely lighting Xerez up after a tightly fought first half.
Xerez’s pitch looks like total garbage. Jozy is probably better off at the KC.
It’d be nice, and there’s not much better time to do it than the FA Cup, although they’re in the latter stages. I wonder if Holden might play on the left side of midfield, seeing as how he’s two-footed, or damn near close to it, and has excellent crossing ability.
Agreed. Maybe Holden will get some minutes tomorrow (?).
Slow day huh? None of the more concerning Americans are on and even on Sunday most players are either injured, not likely to get time, or not interesting at all. Donovan has a match against Lisbon in midweek, but that, at least for the hungry US Soccer fan, is unsatisfyingly far…
Great to know. Sure hope the Sochaux coach keeps his promise about Charlie’s playing time.
Great News !!! Davies just twitted that he will be returning to Europe real soon
Word. It’s a slack day in the American soccer world. I suppose I’ll get some work done….which is NOT what I want to be doing on Saturday.
Cheers!
If you are in a Pub and the US wins unless you want to become close friends with a pint glass you might want to exit quietly after the game.
Oh…… Sorry bout that bro…… I guess I reading to much into peoples comment cause their are no americans playing right now…… Why did monchangladbach have to play yesterday…… I normally dont watch mike bradley and today would have been perfect with no premier league fixtures featuring americans
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Actually Brooklyn, I really didn’t even mean you. I know your posts aren’t nasty. Even the post up top that you made wasn’t an attack on MattDillon. Looking back at it, I see that it REALLY did look like I meant you but I was speaking more in general.
Regards,
You heard it here first – FIFA is working on putting together a 30-day soccer fair in NYC. Negotiating with the City on location, security, etc. If they pull it off, this is where every US fan shoud be.
in london. making a quick stop over there before heading to joberg for a week and catching the us algeria match.
Hopefully that will end all the “Neville hates LD and purposely avoids him” BS that I see on here all the time.
I get ESPN Insider free with my magazine subscription. They’ve really stepped up the soccer coverage in both and the stuff on Insider is very, very good. It’s not expensive an definitely worth it, even more so if you’re also interested in other sports.
It likely won’t affect his playing status against the USA (since it is the last group game) unless FIFA takes action and adds onto his suspension to make it three games. It wouldn’t surprise me if he misses the first two games but I am not certain on how many he has officially been suspended for.
Fricken’ love it.
That’s awesome. If I lived anywhere close I’d go to that. Where I live we are going to try to get a movie theater to show it.
Yeah, I hurt my feelings once. It’s a lot like a soft tissue injury. 4-6 weeks recovery time. Then it’s a nagging pain, but you’re not REALLY 100% for some time after.
S’alright Matt. Keep up the good work.
Does anyone know of anywhere I can read the ESPN insider articles if I’m not an ESPN insider? Are they good articles or are they not really worth it?
Where is everyone going to be watching the USA vs England? I work at a Pre-School in downtown Brooklyn and a parent of one of the children works for a sports marketing firm and is working on getting the match broadcast at a park for free right by the entrance to the manhattan bridge on Tillary off of Flatbush avenue.
Matt…. I am sorry for saying what I said in reply to you earlier in the thread…. my intention was not diminish your post because it was very informative and accurate… I was merely releasing frustration because people are constantly putting us down and making the USA to be some weak team… though we may not have depth…. our starting 11 and some of our bench players are truly good… to the dude that called me a half wit I respect your opinion but you can def check previous posts and half wit i certainly am not…..
Leverkusen hold on for a 2-1 win after a 79 minute Dzeko goal makes a game out of it.
Wolfsburg is only three spots above the relegation zone.
Bradley’s tactics may neutralize Algeria. It won’t necessarily happen. I don’t think anyone’s implying we should be scared of Algeria, just that they’re definitely no slouches. Though, in the end your team on paper is just that, and there’s a reason the games are actually played. When the WC comes around all bets are off and no team is guaranteed a spot into the second round.
I agree with you about BB being an underrated tactician.
gawrsh you are so funny…
Do you need a tissue, Matt? Did they hurt your feelings?
Matt, if you’re going to post here, some halfwit is going to attack you…it’s the nature of soccer fans and the internet.
Your post was very useful and Algeria won’t be a pushover. I am more worried about Slovenia. Everybody jumped for joy over the US draw but I think it is a sneaky tough group.
Check out this US Soccer World Cup trailer to get you hyped up today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drVEkhutQOU
imagine how dangerous everton could be if they had a decent RB….neville has stunk the last few weeks. constantly getting beat and doesnt bring anything to the attack
I’m interested. Who from Slovenia should we be watching for? And, I’m being totally serious!
Leverkusen 2-0 after a powerful Eren Derdiyok header hits off the crossbar, the ground, and Lenz’s right foot and goes into the goal.
Leverkusen looks to have the game wrapped up. Definitely not a game that Lenz will want to remember.
Nobody said we should be “scared” of the Algerians. (And I certainly am not diminishing what Landon and Timmy are doing). I am only saying we should know our foes. And if you knew them, then you would not that Ghilas is highly unlikely to start for Algeria — he was not even called for the African Cup of Nations.
If you want to post to make yourself feel better, to convince yourself that we will certainly demolish all foes, then fine. I want to post to share observations. And I don’t appreciate being attacked for it or having insinuations added to the facts I am sharing with my fellow fans who might be interested.
Totally off the topic but I thought you might enjoy these quotes from an article on Evertonfc.com –
Landon Donovan set up Saha’s first against Chelsea and has impressed since arriving at Goodison in January. And the Blues the Club captain says England will have singled out the American as the danger man in the USA line up when they two sides meet in the World Cup this summer.
The on-loan LA Galaxy player has a string of impressive performances under his belt in recent weeks.
But Neville says his showing against Chelsea is his best so far.
The skipper says Fabio Capello will have paid close attention to Donovan and the way he kept Ashely Cole out of the game before the left-bacl was forced off with a serios ankle injury.
“Landon was asked to do a job against Ashley Cole. The question the manager asked Landon before the game was ‘can you pose Ashley Cole a problem?'” revealed Neville.
“Well he did that, he totally nullified Ashley Cole and he posed the whole back four a problem. He was outstanding.”
Donovan must return to the States next month and join back up with the Galaxy for the start of the MLS season.
But Neville hopes he could return to Everton in the future.
“For me playing at right back with him in front of me has made my job easier,” he revealed.
“It has been a pleasure to play with him. We just hope that maybe this kind of loan arrangement can be done again next season because he has fitted in superbly.”
André Lenz drops a curling free kick inside the box and Leverkusen pounces. 1-0 Leverkusen, if this result stands that takes them three points clear of Bayern, until Bayern takes on Borussia Dortmund later today.
True….. but all that will be neutrilized by Bradley’s tactics…. and i am be dead serious. People really doubt Bradley but the dude is a great tactician
But don’t you think it’s reasonable to not completely dismiss an opponent with guys scoring as many (or more) goals in the Premier League than our guys?
What everyone seems to not get when mentioning how well algerians are doing and implying that we should be really scared of them is that we have one thing that they dont have….. a truly great player in Landon Donovan…… as well as a truly great keeper…. in Timmy
Mind you Ghilas of Hull City will probably start for Algeria and he has been on the bench for hull since Oct.
To steal my own question from the previous post: What’s Belhadj’s status? Will he have to miss any WC games b/c of his ACN red card?
Pompey 4, Soton 1 was highly entertaining. Algerian Nadir Belhadj showed exceptional speed and skill on the left flank. To score Pompey’s 3rd, he made a great dribble almost from midfield, dummied a centering pass and fired in calmly to the near post. On the 4th, he made another strong dribble and clipped in a nice ball that ended up as the secondary assist. Hasan Yebda, another Pompey Algerian, also looked good.