Chelsea is still on top of the English Premier League, but the race to determine who will be the biggest challenger to the throne will take a major step toward being decided today when Manchester City takes on Arsenal in the match of the day.
City is in second place, but Arsenal could close the gap with the win at City of Manchester Stadium. Both teams enjoyed strong mid-week performances in European competition, but Manchester City has been especially tough at home this season.
England isn't the only country where would-be title contenders will square off. Villarreal and Atletico Madrid will face off in a match-up of top Spanish clubs. In Germany, fast-starting Mainz 05 faces Bayer Leverkusen. The MLS regular season will conclude with the Los Angeles Galaxy looking to lock up the Supporters Shield with a win or tie against FC Dallas.
if you will be watching today's matches, or if you want to discuss the early-morning matches, 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):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
8:30am- Fox Soccer Channel- Stoke City vs. Manchester United
8:30am- ESPN3.com- PSV Eindhoven vs. Feyenoord
9am- Fox Soccer Plus/ESPN3.com- Bologna vs. Juventus
9am- ESPN3.com- Lazio vs. Cagliari
9:30am- ESPN3.com- Borussia Dortmund vs. Hoffenheim
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Liverpool vs. Blackburn
11am- Fox Soccer Channel- Manchester City vs. Arsenal
11am- DirecTV- Getafe vs. Sporting Gijon
11am- DirecTV- Osasuna vs. Malaga
11am- ESPN3.com- Almeria vs. Hercules
11am- DirecTV- Espanyol vs. Levante
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Arles vs. Olympique Lyon
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Paris St. Germain vs. Auxerre
11am- Fox Soccer Plus- Wigan Athletic vs. Bolton (Delayed)
1pm- Azteca America- Morelia vs. Cruz Azul
1pm- Telemundo- Toluca vs. Puebla
1pm- GolTV- Sevilla vs. Athletic Bilbao
2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel/ESPN3.com- Inter Milan vs. Sampdoria
3pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com- Villarreal vs. Atletico Madrid
3pm- Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Lille vs. Olympique Marseille
3pm- GolTV- Atletico Paranaense vs. Fluminense
4pm- Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. Philadelphia Union
5pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Liverpool vs. Blackburn
5pm- GolTV- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Mainz 05 (Delayed)
5:30pm- ESPNU- Harvard vs. Princeton
8pm- Direct Kick- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. FC Dallas
——————–
What matches are you looking the most forward to?
That’s because they were better soccer players than Donovan.
It just so happens they were also bigger meaner and stronger.
Michael Owen, Messi,Xavi, Iniesta, etc. etc. etc. make great money making big guys like the ones who cancelled out Donovan look stupid. And they are all either the same size or smaller than him. One of the best defensive midfielders of the past era was Claude Makalele and he was smaller than Donovan.
Donovan may or may not ever be a big success in Europe but it won’t have anything to do with his size.
That’s what separates Holland from the US; we have irrpelaceable players and they don’t
For those of you inclined to evaluate the Jones/Edu Bradley race by the positions of their teams in their leagues, here are the positions at the bottom of the Bundesliga as of 10/24/10.
The SPL is very much inferior to this league and even though Rangers get to play top teams in the Champions league every once in a great while, that does not make up for the vastly weaker level of competition Edu faces with Rangers on a regular basis.
For those of you who feel Rangers are a better team than the bottom dwelling BMG note that they are only 6 points behind Bayern and are tied with Schalke for 2nd bottom.
Note that 7 points separates Bayern Munich from the bottom and that the 8 teams shown here are full of some top players, like Jermaine Jones and Raul.
# pts.
11, Bayern Munich, 12
12, Nurnberg, 12
13, VfL Wolfsburg, 10
14, VfB Stuttgart, 7
15, Kaiserslautern, 7
16, Schalke 04, 6
17, B. Monchengladbach, 6
18, FC Cologne, 5
There is still more than 2/3 of the season left so stay tuned.
“sometimes he has that lax look. Like Berbatov.”
Actually you mean like Dempsey. It’s very clear that one can determine just how hard someone works by their facial expressions. When they look sleepy and disinterested, like Berbatov and Dempsey do all the time, that is a dead giveaway.
It’s also important that their shirts and shorts be dirty and sweaty.
The all time greats all ended their matches with ripped, sweaty, dirty shirts and shorts.
mig22 you really should e mail Villareal and warn them because obviously Jozy is stealing money from them and they don’t realize he’s lazy. Maybe they don’t watch enough video of his facial expressions?
Mig22… Even your forsight is unable to tell what the future will hold.
Counting our eggs before they hatch is risky.
But I guess after you watched Chicharito play in 2006 with Chivas reserve team and saw Agudelo a lot as well you can do such risky work.
Besides, Chicarito wasn’t bought because he was a star, nor Bebe or Macheda, etc… it is for the future, but yes the boy can ball, especially with that supporting cast.
Put him on last years Hull City, see how brightly he shines.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/10/24/celtic-1-3-rangers-second-half-turnaround/
This is a great site for talking about soccer/football tactics. Edu got a shout for getting involved in Rangers’ winner in the derby against Celtic.
Personally I want to see Chicharito, Vela, Dos Santos, Barrera all turn into stars to trick Mexican fans into beliving they have an elite squad which would make it all the more embarrasing when we beat them in the Gold Cup Final.
Good point about Tevez and Messi but if you mean Portugese Ronaldo he is 6’2 and fat Brazilian Ronaldo is 6’0(I know he is a legend but he is huge now).
Also why do people think Chicharito’s expense has any barring on Jozy? Chicharito is a completely different kind of striker and has 14 months on him he should be better. Also why doesn’t Vela get more hyped up here when he scores a goal for Arsenal(he has 3 this season) remember he is younger than Chicharito.
Watching the Villareal/Athletico Madrid match you can see why Jozy struggles to find playing time for this team. I see them being in the Champions League nest season.
Exactly my point, Lorenzo. None of those prospects are going to be ready to play for Manchester United for a few years. 🙂
It’s possible and believable that he may have been a bit immature when with the Red Bulls and Hull but Phil Brown and his replacement both commented that Jozy was real talent. Every time I watch him he appears bigger, stronger and more polished then before. In time he will settle in and he PT will come and so will the goals.
For the sake of completeness, Univisión has América-Chivas at 5:30pm EDT, probably with 30 minute pregame show. Before both teams slid headfirst down the slope to abject mediocrity this was considered the most important match in Mexico.
Chivas still develops many of their own players instead of renting mercenaries, so the nannies might lay it on the line for their team…
correction
3 years older than Mwanga
5 years older than Agudelo
he has FIVE years on Agudelo….
When he was Agudelo’s age, he was playing with Chivas reserve team, and scored a goal in his debut with first team, which agudelo nearly did with his rising header
he is 4 years older than McInerney, Rueles, Agudelo, Mwanga
I would like to see the 2006 version of Chicharito compared to these kids…
you could be right, but lets not compare apples to oranges
I think most of us realize Hernández is better than Jozy.
Nah, Rocco, I didn’t mean to be all negative. It’s more along the lines of this: if his career path continues as it has for the last three years, it is really unfortunate. I know he’s young and believe me, I’m pulling for him to be the guy for the US MNT. But I think it’s fair to at least point out that he is not really better positioned today than when he first signed for Villareal 3 seasons ago? Fair?
cheers!
IIRC, that happened to Holland in ’94 when van Basten and Gullit were injured in the months leading in. The Dutch had a pretty decent tournament anyway because it turned out that Bergkamp could play a little…
all decent points, shouldnt people then give the national team coach a break when the players arent good enough?
Did you ever think for a minute he might be better than Jozy? This kid is on Manchester United! Jozy is riding the pine in Spain. There’s a reason for that. I love Jozy but it’s a fact that we overrate our players.
21 year old Starikov playing for Tom Tomsk….watch 4 him
Mig, you seem to be a reasonable and nice enough person but why do you insist on this boringly repetitive negativity? Jozy was a teenager when he played for Red Bull and had world class offers on the horizon. I can’t blame him for letting off the gas a bit. And being late once was a dumb mistake but no evidence of general laziness. He’s young guy with a bright future. Give the guy a break.
Agreed.10goals in 31 matches. Sure Jozy has missed almost sitters or seemed sluggish but it’s not as if he’s a lost cause. Dude will be 21 soon. He is nowhere near a has been or anything, still loads of potential left.
Wondo may be good. I say give him and Justin Braun a call up in January. Maybe 1 of them shows something.
I don’t see how Hernández has any bearing on Jozy. He’s a good young player (JH, I mean). What does that have to do with the USA?
Jozy’s the best and most experienced we’ve got…I don’t like it anymore than you. But them’s the facts.
Jozy should be ashamed of himself, after seeing how chicharito capitalizes on his chances. I hate El Tri, but must give credit where credit is due, and chicharito’s performance has officially signaled the end of the Jozy fiasco. I don’t care if it’s EJ, wondo, Dempsey, Buddle, I don’t care, Altidor is allergic to the back of the net, BB has to sit him.
As I said, it’s just a set of observations.
I don’t think he should be starting at Villareal but you have to admit that his utter inability to get onto the field as a significant sub is a problem. And he was only a part-time starter at Hull, a terrible team.
I also didn’t mention the guy I met here three weeks ago who worked for Hull, (just a facilities guy, not football related staff) who saw Jozy as a primadonna who never seemed to be involved with the team.
Again, nothing conclusive but you have to admit that there seems to be a pattern forming.
Arsene Wenger looks like a little kid who’s trying on his daddy’s jacket. Someone check to see if he’s wearing gigantic, outsized loafers too.
Yes, being tall helps in out-jumping shorter players. But who disputes this? The argument that the US would be so much better if every player was as tall as, say, Kevin Love is ridiculous. I can name a bunch of great soccer players now who are built like Earl “the Pearl” Boykins…and they happen to be the best attacking players in the world right now. Ozil, Sneijder, Xavi, Iniesta, David Villa, Messi, Tevez,….on and on.
Nilmar and Rossi are simply far more talented than Jozy. The fact that he can’t beat them out for playing time isn’t surprising regardless of how hard he works in training. And everyone always seems to forget that Jozy did get consistent playing time at Hull. You can argue that he didn’t consistently play well, and he certainly didn’t consistently score, but he did play a lot.
I don’t want to argue whether Jozy trains hard or not, as obviously only someone with access to Villareal’s practices can give a definitive answer to that. But your circumstantial evidence doesn’t seem that convincing.
It has nothing to do with ball skills, but it’s got everything to do with winning headers and scoring goals that way.
I agree with you on Barry but I’ve always considered him a bit overrated. but he did have a mess today.
Wow. Barry is having an incredibly bad game.
Obviously, Cappello needs to bench him and find an aging German-English player….
Consider that the Netherlands has, on average, the tallest men of any country. Then take a moment and look up their strikers’ heights.
The US does has a bunch of 6’3” “strongmen” in the pool. They are mostly mediocre soccer players.
Tevez, Ronaldo, and Messi seem to get the job done and their not 6, 3.
A. Lil’ Pea is on fire and the best striker from CONCACAF right now.
B. This time last year no one outside of Mexico had ever even heard the name Lil’ Pea.
C. Jozy is a year and half younger than Lil’ Pea.
Everyone wishes that we had some super-stud like a Carlos Tevez as our main striker, or at least some guy getting minutes and goals in one of the big leagues, but we don’t and, Brian McBride aside, we never have had.
Give Jozy some time and judge him by his results for a not quite 21 year old striker.
seeing 5’7 Donovan manhandled by 6’3 European defenders, well now i’d say it has something to do with it
Wtf happened to Feyenoord?
and I’m an Ajax fan…
I submit that height has zero to do with anything.
The USMNT need 6’3, 6;4 strikers. Too often we have 5’8 (Josh Wolff or Clint Mathis) strikers playing with a 6’1 striker. we need taller and stronger fellas up top.
what we should do is offer citizenship to Croatian strikers or Dutch strikers. We’d have a bunch of 6’4 strongmen.
you mean you guys don’t think Altidore and a couple MLS strikers are our success to a quarter-final finish at the 2014 WC?
A few lower league sides in SERIE A might take the bait. Or Belgium as you said or Turkey or even France. Gooch has the upside. Several players never get a shot at AC Milan. But he did play 2 matches in the WC while injured, so i’m sure his agent may do enough to get him a loan deal.
how would you or anyone say he has adapted to the PL so far?
It would be nice if he could see the field.
I always appreciated Ricardo’s intesity, especially after he went nuts on Ruiz a couple years ago. Is that still on YouTube?
So how good was McBride’s last goal last night? And can anyone do 1 of those youtube video compilations? I see most are of his last season with Fulham or his first two seasons, but i’d love to see all his Fulham goals and USMNT goals.