The races across Europe for UEFA Champions League places next season are almost as important as the race for league titles, with teams desperately vying for the valuable income that comes with those precious qualification places.
The race in Serie A is as intense as any other, with four teams within six points of the fourth and final place in the Serie A standings. Napoli and Udinese are currently tied on points for fourth place and they face off on Sunday with a chance to put a stranglehold on the spot. Both teams saw their European tournament hopes erased last week, with Napoli falling to Chelsea in dramatic fashion in Champions League, and Udinese losing to Jozy Altidore's AZ Alkmaar in Europa League.
Athletic Bilbao has similar Champions League aspirations, and could move into a tie with current La Liga fourth-place side Malaga with a win against third-place Valencia and a Malaga loss to first-place Real Madrid.
Chelsea and Liverpool will look to book places into the FA Cup semifinals, with the Blues taking on Leicester City and the Reds taking on 2011 FA Cup finalist Stoke City.
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 commentary is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
8 a.m. - Fox Socer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Heart of Midlothian vs. Hibernian
9:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel - Wolverhampton vs. Manchester United
9:30 a.m. - ESPN3.com - FC Twente vs. Feyenoord
10 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Chelsea vs. Leicester City
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com - Inter Milan vs. Atalanta
10:30 a.m. - GOLTV - Kaiserslautern vs. Schalke
11 a.m. - ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes - Mallorca vs. Atletico Madrid
12 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Liverpool vs. Stoke City
12 p.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Newcastle vs. Norwich City
12 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Sochaux vs. Nice
12 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Stade Rennes vs. Toulouse
1 p.m. - GOLTV - Athletic Bilbao vs. Valencia
2 p.m. - ESPN Deportes/Azteca America - Puebla vs. San Luis
2 p.m. - Univision - Toluca vs. Monterrey
3:45 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Udinese vs. Napoli
4 p.m. - NBC Sports Network – Philadelphia Union vs. Colorado Rapids
4 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Lille vs. Valenciennes
4:30 p.m. - GOLTV - Real Madrid vs. Malaga
6 p.m. - Telefutura - America vs. Pumas UNAM
7 p.m. - Galavision - Los Angeles Galaxy vs. D.C. United
The “spanish style” was adopted from Johan Cruyff while at Barca, who helped make “total football” so successful for the Dutch side Ajax.
So, in essence, the Spanish side you refer to, is in fact, Dutch.
Just FYI.
Hannover 96 keep up their pursuit of Europe with a 4-1 win over Koeln. Vicious counters… Stevie C. not too bad, some good moves, otherwise mostly safe passing.
Too bad AZ couldn’t get all 3 points, would love to see Jozy end the season as champion.
And hopefully one of the Yank teams wins the Europa League.
Maybe you should write a strongly worded letter to Mr. Holman to let him know that you disapprove.
And I noticed when Jozy left the game the Right Winger did the same thing to Benschop.
They rocketed attempts from outside the box all game. Most went well wide. Frustrating game to watch.
Udinese/Napoli or Philly/Colorado? I’m so conflicted…
Only watched a few minutes of AZ game, but saw Holman twice pass up an unmarked Jozy at the 18 for speculative tries from the wing. Not the first time he’s done this.
AZ game ends 0-0. Looked like their midweek 10 man marathon in the Europa league impacted their play a bit. They didn’t seem their usual crisp and efficient self.
Haggui allows the equalizer for Koeln. Hannover-Koeln tied 1-1 at the break. Blah.
Pow! Downing with a rare thing (i.e., a goal) indeed. Red Dragons up 2-1.
If the English style is crossing, the Italian style is earning set pieces, and the Spanish style is passing all the way into the goal, the Dutch style is launching the ball from 30-40 yards out. At least that’s how it appears in this game.
Jozy off in the 75 min for Benschop.
I think that’s the next step.
Esteban has been HUGE today. I remember a couple games he more or less lost for them, but today he’s making up for it!
kicks on too many fans
Why is Esteban Alvarado not Costa Rica’s GK?
Agree, his confidence is growing & looking good. But just saw him drop in the box with a ball coming to his feet, his arms waving. Yes there was some pressure – but he’s gotta stay up and be strong..
Thought he may have been guilty of lackadaisical play before, he’s absolutely demanding the ball from his team right now and when he gets it near the goal he’s looking to score.
Loving the new confidence and killer instinct.
I gotta say that I’ve been following Jozy’s career since the early days and he really looks like a different player right now. He’s playing with a passion and tenacity that we’ve not seen out of him.
Exactly, CroCajun. I have always been a Blues fan, wasn’t a fan of buying Torres in spite of his huge talent (because of injuries), but seriously wish him well.
If he does gel into full form, it changes the team a lot. The aging Drogba can’t carry the offense anymore and Sturridge is a plague of selfishness who may or may not mature. Chelsea need Torres.
Very happy for Torres. I’ve become a Chelsea fan as of late and Torres is a big reason why. He’s been playing very well despite his lack of goals. You can never fault him for lack of effort.
Touche. let me rephrase… Suarez with a nasty strike.
It bothers me how much better he is than everyone else.
Wow, Suarez and Sweet in the same sentence. Don’t see that every day. 😉
Liverpool v. Stoke quite lively. Suarez with a sweet strike to put Red Dragons up 1-0 and Crouch with the header to even things up after 3 or 4 successive Stoke corners.
The amazing thing is that both misfiring Chelsea strikers had great weeks. Drogba was nearly unplayable for long stretches of the Napoli game and Torres was simply brilliant today. Both performances marked by both finishing AND a lack of selfishness.
And then there’s that self-absorbed git, Sturrige. Sigh.
He didn’t get the ball much but I thought he held up well, had a chance there at the end but it was blocked by the defender.
Good half for Josmer and AZ. He was a handful physically for the Breda defenders who resorted to holding or fouling him nearly every time he got near the ball.
report card for Chievo – MB at 6.0, he should have scored in the box…
http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=339023
Just turned it on AZ v NAC, how’s Altidore doing? Just saw an altidore header go wide and AZ looks strong.
Jozy playing well for AZ against NAC Breda.
I suppose this is required: Woot!
I tell you, Italy has been a bit more exciting than usual in the second half. Even Chievo who earlier in the season was just painful to watch.
Good times.
Some guy named Andrew Wooten is on for KaiserSlauten if anyone cares.
2-2 Bologna v Chievo. Fun match to watch, chievo was attacking throughout and MB did well – maybe a 6.5 today.
Damn, Chievo gives up another late one. They need to stop that.
And Torres gets on the board. Wow. Long time.
at 78 minutes, 1-2 Chievo up. Bologna at home in a mad scramble to equalize
yeah – we’re privileged be watching the ONE in real time
oooh MB – inside the box – volley just right! coulda been his first goal…
If anybody didn’t see the touch after the nutmeg, here it is below. But I’d say his percentage at that is more like one in two or three. I’ve seen him do it plenty, just never had a gif before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYyWFC6pZVA
That’s a great clip! It could be one of those shown over & over to define Messi. But I gotta believe that nutmeg happens 1 out of 10 (20-30?) times. He can’t do that at will….
This works:
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m11sgkft331r7drv2o1_500.gif
Nice placement by MB. Deserved goal, Chievo on the attack now.
MB’s free kick sets up a chievo goal.
This is a gif of Messi’s sick meg before his sick scoring chip yesterday. This is almost supernatural, there is so little space there I kept looking to see if he aimed for the inside of the defender’s ankle. But no, clean through, from an angle.
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1…drv2o1_500.gif
MB at left mid for Chievo today. at 7 mins he’s active and Chievo is attacking.
Hey, whaddaya know, it looks like Man U vs Wolves is live on both FSC and foxsoccer.tv!
I had been away this weekend and completely disconnected from the sports world.
My heart sank as I read about Fabrice Muamba. My sincerest wishes that he pulls though and recovers to continue his life.
Twenty three is far too young to pass, for anyone. I know his family isn’t reading this but my thoughts are with them and Fabrice.
Pull through, friend.