Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By TIM FONTENAULT
It took a hard fought win against a bitter North London rival, but Arsenal made it through to the last 32 in the FA Cup.
The Premier League leaders will open this weekend’s fourth round play with a match Arsenal takes on Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium ,after defeating Tottenham on Jan. 4, 2-0. The Sky Blues knocked off Championship bottom feeders Barnsley in the third round on a late strike from Leon Clarke, and they will need that magic again to pull an upset.
In Germany, the Bundesliga springs back to life after the winter break as Bayern Munich travel to Borussia Mönchengladbach with a short-handed squad. Franck Ribery, Javi Martinez, and Bastian Schweinsteiger are unavailable while Arjen Robben is on the bench, but Bayern will need to shake off the winter ice in order to continue their dominance in the national league.
Former Vancouver Whitecaps forward Camilo Sanvezzo could make his debut for Liga MX side Querétaro in the club’s fourth round match against Santos Laguna Friday night. A win for Camilo’s new club would let them jump Toluca, Cruz Azul and Club America into first place for the time being. Meanwhile, Club Tijuana and Morelia, each with four points, will look to position themselves near the top of the table before the rest of this weekend’s action.
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:
2:30pm – Lille vs. Rennes – beIN Sports USA
2:30pm – Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich – GolTV USA
2:45pm – Arsenal vs. Coventry City – Fox Sports 1
3pm – Celta Vigo vs. Real Betis – beIN Sports en Español
8:30pm – Querétaro vs. Santos de Torreón – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America
10:30pm – Xolos de Tijuana vs. Monarcas de Morelia – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America
Gomez off. Castillo putting together a good game. Solid going forward with not much to do defensively. 1-0 Xolos 70th
Oh man Gomez almost with a very nice goal! Good save. Would have been a hockey assist for Castillo
Castillo and Gomez starting. Pretty solid so far. Corona not even dressing, injury? Garza and Arriola on bench. Guido with a pretty sick goal for the U20 Xolos today. Video on their Facebook
Yes, announcers said he has an ankle injury
Young Zelalem received hardly a touch, unfortunately. I only saw 2 sequences where he touched the ball. In both, he moved it smartly, safely and quickly. He showed good energy in pressing the ball but poor technique in closing out the man. Several times he backed off at the last second or had the ball go right through him.
Zelalem on for the last 20 minutes for Arsenal.
Did he zelalem through them?
Houston Dynamo re-sign Andrew Driver. I await the Dominic Oduro u-turn (perhaps followed by yet another reversal?) as the Trust Dom faithful re-calibrate to the fact that we want him after all.
From the ‘Did that friendly actually happen?’ department, Finland and Oman played to a scoreless draw. I bet that match was cooking.
Sounds sexy.
Podolski, Mertesacker & Co. runnin wild here….USMNT in serious danger of conceding 15 goals in the group this summer…whew
When I did a mock draw before the WC draw, I got this:
Brazil
Russia
USA
Holland
I didn’t think it could any tougher than that, but this group of ours definitely is.
Arsenal drubbing Conventry City means the USMNT will concede 15 goals?
I hope that I I’m just too thick to sense the sarcasm in your post.
No sarcasm.
Ain’t none of our players in season right now and our USMNT is losing
scrimmages versus Some Paulo FC reserves. That’s why I say 15 goals against.
You didn’t go to college did you Tom?
Stating the Obvious,
Do we have 1 single player looking as good as Podolski right now?
The answer is no and they got 50 more or em!
Podolski has 49 brothers? Are you saying that even his sisters are better than anyone on the USMNT? Very harsh toward our boys.
LOL Nonsense once again.
so if the 2-1 loss in the scrimmage means 15 goals conceded, then the 2-1 scrimmage WIN mean 15 goals scored, right?
Good thing the world cup aint right now then
Podolski is a backup for club and country. It’s likely we will never even see him. Mertesacker has his finer points, but is hardly without his faults. Jozy has owned him in their matchups. Those two guys are the very least of our concerns.
Eric Lichaj starting for Forest in the FA Cup v. Preston
At what possition is he playing (LB or RB) and how’s he looking?
I still have high hopes for his inclusion in the WC squad for his versitility.
FWIW, ESPN game summary said LB.
Zelalem in Arsenal’s 18
that’s cool.
“will become the first player to play for the Gunners who was born after Arsene Wenger took the Arsenal job in September 1996.”
That’s a great stat
He’s in the match!!
I’ve heard he wants to play for the US if he can get citizenship.
There is a big article on the Guardian about him. They mention that as well. Apparently, its rather complicated. He loses his German citizenship if he changes so…. ya
Oh, the reason German citizenship matters is that he would need a work permit as a US only citizen.
yup, exactly. but i think it’s key that he considers himself an American and obviously speaks with an American accent.
That’s nice. I hope it works out. Maybe Arsenal has better lawyers than Stoke.
“Jürgen Klinsmann, the USA coach, made a personal call to him at the beginning of the season and urged him to commit to the Stars and Stripes.”
from the Guardian article Increase is referring to.