The semifinals of the UEFA Europa League will be determined on Thursday, with the possibility of four teams with Americans reaching the penultimate round in the competition still lingering.
As it stands, Jozy Altidore's AZ Alkmaar and the injured Oguchi Onyewu's Sporting Lisbon are in the driver's seat after the opening legs, while Steve Cherundolo's Hannover and Jermaine Jones' Schalke are in need of comebacks in order to maintain their quests for European silverware.
Here is the viewing schedule for the day's matches:
3 p.m. – GOLTV – Hannover 96 vs. Atletico Madrid (Atletico leads 2-1)
3 p.m. – DirecTV – Valencia vs. AZ Alkmaar (AZ leads 2-1)
3 p.m. – DirecTV – Athletic Bilbao vs. Schalke (Bilbao leads 4-2)
3 p.m. – DirecTV – Metalist Kharkiv vs. Sporting Lisbon (Sporting leads 2-1)
If you will be watching any of Thursday's Europa League action, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the games.
Looks like another Iberian final 4 in the Europa League, just like last season.
Gooooaaaaallllllllll Atleti!!!
Goal Atletico
Hannover need two to force OT
AZ need two to win
Schalke need two to force OT
Sporting still lead by one.
GAH!
Jozy has about 10 minutes left before Benschop comes in. Make something happen, big man!
And there goes Hannover. I love Dolo, but what a boring team.
Jozy… come on man just take a soft touch. I’m so confused at how he finds this so difficult to do half the time.
It’s like sometimes he can pull a ball out of the air and drop it right to his feet and them sometimes he takes a routine pass and blasts it away.
I haven’t seen it that way, but admittedly, I’ve been watching intermittently (by necessity). I’ve only seen him make one turnover and that was when he was surrounded by 3 or 4 defenders, and he almost pulled off a nice turn.
1-1 Kharkiv Sporting,
Hannover still down
AZ and Schalke close to and out, respectively.
This could be REALLY bad.
tough call. AZ needs goals and it’s difficult to score goals that way. Those long balls are so low percentage. I think they are just hoping Valencia runs out of gas.
The team as a whole is playing bad
Whiffs his clearance, not his cross
And as I type that Valencia score again, looks like AZ is done. Viergiver has tons of time on the ball but basically whiffs his cross and Valencia make them pay.
He keeps getting caught out of position and his back line isn’t helping at all. I don’t think I’ve seen someone come out so much to get the ball and be this far off
Jozy is giving away possession almost every touch in the second half. He has been in good positions, but his touch is failing him…and I am a big Jozy fan.
The AZ defense are toll booths and Valencia all have EZ Pass.
Did somebody try to ninja kick him?
Sporting Lisbon 1-0 over Metalist
van Wolfswinkel scored, minute 45.
Game One: Sporting 2, Metalist 1.
AZ is accustomed to having all the possession. I think the back line is in shock. They haven’t seen this much action all year.
That about seals it for Bilbao. Schalke will need to score at least 3 goals without conceding in the second half to advance.
maybe play him more directly into the 6 even? AZ is troubled with linking the middle to final 3rd, so bypass it once or twice?
Never seen AZ play this poorly. I’m shocked.
So that AZ back line looks like its manned by a bunch of Fulham-era Zat Knights. Not pretty.
no doubt, played in beautifully, timed his run beautifully, not close
joke huge call again. oops
play on
AZ getting outworked all over the field. Valencia wants it more. Maybe they will wear down in the 2d half, though.
Jozy passing very sharp so far. Too bad we didn’t see him in on goal alone
Jozy surrounded by 3 guys most of the game. They are determined to take him out of it. Every time he gets the ball, though, it seems to lead to opportunities.
Horrifically awful offsides call on Jozy. Utter rubbish.
Clearly on-side.
Stay in line! The Hive Mind has spoken! Jozy’s touch is awful, whether he touches or not!
Boy did Jozy get jobbed there.
Hope the AZ game is more exciting than the one widely available. The Hannover game is a yawn fest.
I honestly don’t see where you’re getting all this. AZ have scarcely had the ball in the Valencia half for all I’ve seen.
It hasn’t been good that’s for sure.
24’Jozy with a nice two-touch pass that he attempted to slip someone in with a pass. Good control to hold a ball under pressure.
Jozy is just asking to be benched and embarrassed in the press again. Awful first touch and he is hardly moving off the ball.
20′ I’ve been watching for 7 minutes. Jozy has had one ‘touch’ a pullback cross that was behind him.
Can’t say he is doing poorly, what is poor is the back line and the GK on the 1st goal who was late out of a short corner.
Jozy’s touch has not been awful, but his movement in pedestrian. Big problem is they don’t mark anyone in the back. Two goals, two guys running free.
2-0 valencia
scored on two corners
2 corners, 2 goals….
At work, what happened?
jozy not showing much so far
Reading (on ESPN’s Gamecast) that Altidore’s touch has been horrid. Can anyone who is watching confirm?
Thanks.
goal valencia
make that 2-0. yikes.
AZ’s goalie is a idiot!!! RAGE!!
1-0 valencia off a corner.
sweet. espn (for what it’s worth) lists schalke’s formation as a 3-3-4. wish I could watch.
Free to DIRECTV Choice or above or DIRECTV MAS subscribers.
Channels 481-1, 482-1, and 483-1 in HD.
(Channels 481, 482, and 483 in 4:3 cropped SD.)
the ones that are shown on DirecTV; as those pay-per-view or part of some package?
La Liga has been just running rampant. Based on European performances up until this point, you can certainly argue that they are the top league in the world.