One team with an American in the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 is in good shape, one is teetering in the balance and one needs somewhat of a miracle heading into Thursday's second-leg matches.
Oguchi Onyewu and FC Twente host Rubin Kazan after scoring a 2-0 victory in their first meeting in Russia and look to be a solid bet to advance to the final 16.
Maurice Edu and Rangers yielded a late away goal to Sporting Lisbon in their first-leg match in Glasgow, and they have their work cut out for them in the return leg in Portugal.
Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht, meanwhile, dropped a 3-0 result at home to Ajax Amsterdam and need somewhat of a miracle to maintain their hopes of winning European silverware this season.
If you will be watching any of Thursday's 13 remaining Europa League matches, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action (TV schedule is after the jump).
THURSDAY'S UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE ON TV
1 p.m. – DirecTV 481 – Liverpool vs. Sparta Praha
1 p.m. – DirecTV 482 – Sporting Lisbon vs. Rangers
1 p.m. – DirecTV 483 – Bayer Leverkusen vs. FC Metalist Kharkiv
1 p.m. – DirecTV 484 – PSV Eindhoven vs. Lille
1 p.m. – DirecTV 485 – Spartak Moscow vs. FC Basel
3:05 p.m. – GOLTV – Villarreal vs. Napoli
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 481 – Manchester City vs. Aris Salonika
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 482 – Stuttgart vs. Benfica
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 483 – Paris-St. Germain vs. BATE Borisov
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 484 – Ajax vs. Anderlecht
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 485 – Dynamo Kiev vs. Besiktas
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 486 – FC Twente vs. Rubin Kazan
3:05 p.m. – DirecTV 487 – Sporting Braga vs. Lech Poznan
Is that Ed “Too Tall” Jones?
Hmm, I actually don’t even know if Starikov was placed on Zenit’s Europa league roster or if they could add him if they wanted to.
Twente and Onyewu advance to the next round where they’ll be facing Zenit — maybe we’ll get an Onyewu vs Starikov matchup…assuming Starikov isn’t loaned out again.
My argument is perfectly sound, Celtic and Rangers are good…the rest are not. Using La Liga is not a wise choice because the gulf in competitiveness is growing, its a problem many have spoken about, besides when was the last time any team that was not part of the old firm did ANYTHING in Europe. I understand your emotional attachment being a Scott and all, but the SPL is the example of uncompetitiveness used by most people when talking about European leagues.
Hasn’t been a particularly rough match. All the yellows except one were for standard offenses, I think. But Rubin’s goalkeeper got one for rugby tackling a Twente player after that player had committed a rough tackle on a Rubin player.
Onyewu working that wingback role as he surges into the box and launches a cross…that unfortunately goes out of play.
seems like a lot of cards in the twente game anyone have the game on tv?
Very cool. There were 4 Rangers players who could have had a crack at that goal before a green shirt. Hilarious!
Ed Jones is way better than Edu, Edu is a project in the making.
Point taken. I guess I confused the two. I still maintain that Edu is in an adequate position right now though. Yeah, I’d like him to move to England, but I maintain Rangers is a good fit for him for now.
What do you think the Spanish league would be ranked without Madrid and Barcelona? Yeah, Atl. Madrid did well last year, and yeah Villarreal is solid and Sevilla and Valencia can compete. But Spain would not be 2nd, or 3rd, or even 4th without Madrid and Barca. So your argument isn’t sound IMO
I just noticed Bryan Ruiz wears ‘Bryan’ on the back of his shirt. Sorry pal, you may be one of the best of CONCACAF but you’re not on a first name level.
Uhm because those coefficients are based of the accomplishments of two teams Celtic and Rangers… and those two teams do not represent the whole quality of the league well.
And Twente score again to start the 2nd half. 4-2 on aggregate.
Nobody thinks the Swedish or Norwegian leagues are better than Scotland. You are trying to compare people’s excitement for young players just breaking out in Scandinavia versus our higher expectations for an established player like Edu.
Here’s Edu’s goal if you’re interested.. just a tap in, but still counts the same! (1:15 in the video)
http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/djalo-edu-goals-sportingrangers-8592346/
Villareal game just got real interesting. Napoli was up 1-0, had a great chance to get another away goal that was stopped… then Villareal came back and scored 2 right before half! Craziness, and Rossi got the 2nd.
Why do people rail on the SPL, yet love it when one of our boys goes overseas to the Scandinavian leagues? A quick check of the UEFA Association Coefficient will tell you that:
(12) Denmark
(15) Scotland
….
….
….
(26) Norway
(28) Sweden
Yet people constantly bitch about Edu playing in the “terrible” Scottish League, but for the most part, applaud when players play in Sweden and Norway. Yes, Norway, that league that Mix plays in, the kid who people think is the real deal. Yes, Sweden, the league where Charlie Davies started getting recognition with Hammarby. Yes, the same league that Ale Bedoya still plays in, and people get up in arms when he’s not included in a USMNT lineup. You get my point.
Truth is, Edu plays for one of the two best teams in the SPL, sees consistent starting time, AND gets to play against some of Europe’s best competition in the Europa League and the Champions League (before Rangers gets knocked out every year).
He could definitely be in worse leagues. This post is probably overkill, but I’m Scottish, and I get sick of people dissing the SPL 😉
Twente good for now… but having blown that away goal advantage so early is going to make this uncomfortable unless they go up by 2 (on aggregate).
Good grief. Twente back up 3-2 on aggregate on a long distance laser from Janssen.
The Scottish league is terrible. He needs to go to a better league in my opinion.
So close for Twente. Bryan Ruiz headed a ferocious shot off the post.
And Rubin score again. Tied up 2-2 on aggregate now.
Wow. Stunning goal from Rubin Kazan against Twente. Onyewu not at fault on the goal.
Who is this ‘we’ you speak of?
Wow-when City is on, they play some beautiful soccer…2 goals just like that
the year hes having? what does that mean? he was arguably the worst player for Rangers against Celtic on the weekend.
EDU is becoming a Rangers legend! Scoring winners for them in big matches. I see a move to a bigger league for Mo BUT becoming a legend at Rangers is pretty attractive. Not sure what the $$$ is like in the SPL but it can’t be to bad especially at Rangers.
Dempsey and Edu are Europa heroes!
Juan “the mullet” Toja in the starting lineup for Aris against Man City.
good thing you’re not bob bradley then
I switch over to the Lisbon-Rangers game and Edu scores to put Rangers through. We definitely need a vid of this goal 🙂
Edu should be a USA legend already, if not for a certain Malian referee. If his exploits in Scotland continue, he’s surely headed for a bright future.
If i’m bob bradley, i’d have a hard time starting Jones over Edu considering the year he’s having
EDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Rangers will have their work cut out for them against PSV in the next round, but I’m looking forward to this year’s edition of American Europa League Hero.
MO just put rangers through
And the middle fingers are flying in Lisbon!
EDDDDDDDDUUUUUUUuu!!!
Scored in the 92 minute to give Rangers the advantage!
Edu scores in extra time!
EDU!
Bradley vs Jones should be interesting.
Dirk Kuyt!
Ruh-roh. Sporting just scored to go up 2-1 on Rangers in the 83rd minute.
And as if to prove my point, he fluffs the best chance of the game.
Ngog is just so terrible. I’m not sure why we sold Babel, and then kept Ngog. I’ve never felt confident with him up front.
Off topic but has anyone looked at the ESPN/FSC tv schedule this weekend? Bolton, Aston Villa, Fulham, and West Ham are all on tv. It’s gonna be a great weekend to watch yanks playing in England
Yeah. He played with Ajax so he won’t be eligible until next season
Anyone know why Suarez isn’t on the bench for Liverpool? Is he cup-tied?
Game on.