By RYAN TOLMICH
For many, Wednesday brings about the midweek blues. However, don’t fear, soccer fans, as there are a variety of games to keep your head on straight right in the middle of your work week.
Headlining Wednesday’s action is the most recent edition of European soccer’s biggest rivalry: El Classico. Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona , who currently sit second and third in La Liga, respectively, collide in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final in what has a chance to be both clubs’ best chance at ending their 2013-14 campaign with a trophy. Barcelona enter the matchup having been upset in their last league game against midtable Granada. However, Real Madrid will be without Cristiano Ronaldo due to a nagging hamstring injury.
In England, the Premier League schedule features two of the five teams vying for Champions League qualification, as Manchester City takes on relegation-threatened Sunderland, while Everton hosts Crystal Palace. The Citizens, who were knocked off by league leaders Liverpool over the weekend, currently sit seven points back in third place with two games in hand on both Chelsea and the aforementioned Reds. Meanwhile, Everton will look to once again leapfrog Arsenal for the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot.
Back stateside, the New York Red Bulls look to pick up their first win of the 2014 season when they host the Philadelphia Union, who look to improve upon three draws from their last three outings.
In other action, Bayern Munich will take on second division side Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal semifinals, while AS Monaco faces Guingamp in the Coupe de France. Finally, a trio of Copa Libertadores rounds out the day’s action, as Lanus hosts Santos, Leon takes on Bolivar and Cruzeiro matches up with Cerro Porteño.
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 TV schedule is after the jump):
2:30pm – Bayern Munich vs.Kaiserslautern – ESPN3
2:45pm – Everton vs. Crystal Palace – NBC Sports Live Extra
2:45pm- Manchester City vs. Sunderland – NBCSN
3:30pm – Barcelona vs. Real Madrid – ESPN
6:00pm- Lanus vs. Santos Laguna – Fox Deportes
7:30pm – New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union – MLS Direct Kick
9:00pm – Leon vs. Bolivar – Fox Deportes
And that’s why Tony Pulis will be named Manager of the Year. What a dream season for Crystal Palace! Smallest payroll in EPL now sits at 11th with dreams to crack into the top 10!
Well, that’s the only hardware either of those teams will see this season.
#copadelrey
Alves is such an unlikeable player
that sweet, sweet karma! stop diving now Neymar! 😉
Neymar choked so hard right there.
Casillas just high-fived his post.
Neymar choking.
Barca now has no centerbacks on the field.
And it shows.
I just realized that they don’t really have any strong back up Left/Right backs either. How do you let a defense get that soft…. Oddly, I don’t think defense was the problem here. I feel like Real didn’t really play that well on the counter.(Except for Bale’s solo run.) A team like Dortmund would have Punished Barsca sooooo much more.
That was awesome
Pinto is a joke haha
Bale run fast! Run Bale run.
BALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Neymar is in on goal inside the 18… referee decides he’s going to call offside from 15 seconds prior… but the linesmen never flagged for it, so he then turns it into a drop ball and makes Madrid kick it back to Barcelona.
Either he is hallucinating or he just fixed the match when he thought Neymar was going to score.
It was so odd. Spanish Ref’s listen to players in La Liga.
I won’t say a goal was going to happen or that it wouldn’t. It was kinda a flat moment. But the timing, position, everything was odd. I think he got confused by the fact that 2 Barsca players were in fact offside but not Neymar.
Horrific refereeing! What in the world is the center official doing?!
And just like that, Barca ties it up.
o.o
What a ridiculous header…
Barca has looked awful since the half. Cannot get the ball out of their own half.
I said after the weekend games that the race for CL was far from over in England. Arsenal have it in their hands and their schedule is soft, however today was proof that bottom table teams can be very dangerous late in the year.
Poyet finally puts Giaccherini in, and gets two assists in ~25 minutes.
Why’s he on the field again?
no idea
Arsenal’s champions league fate back in their hads. Thank you Crystal Palace!
Connor Wickham just doubled Jozy’s Premiere League goal total for the season. Doesn’t bode well for him getting any remaining playing time this season.
MATCH FIXING!!!!! Sunderland what the F*ck Was that????
Mannone forgot he wasn’t an Arsenal goalie anymore for a moment there, that blunder was vintage Almunia
Wickham doubles Jozy’s entire season out put in 90 minutes against Manchester City.
yeah, any chance of Jozy seeing the field the rest of the year are pretty much done
And Everton can kiss their Champions League hopes goodbye, not going to happen this year.
(ok, so this is a little premature, but it will take a lot for them to make it now and they don’t look up to the task.)
::Waiting patiently for Josmer::
(yes, I realize I’ll be waiting a long time)
giaccherini and scocco on
Man City is making Sunderland look competent.
That Wickham goal perhaps making it less likely Jozy see’s many minutes from here on out
and scores a second
Jozy done. =(
But seriously, since when do Sunderland midfielders pass?
ever since giaccherini started playing. 🙂
eeeeexxxxactly, i wish Jozy would have played this season with Giacc on the pitch. Giacc is the only mid on Sunderland that knows how to pass in the attacking third
See you in San Francisco!
The amount of acting in these games is always cringe worthy
neymar lucky to only get a yellow there.
For what? Pepe is the only one that deserved a card there and he got it.
Head butt. Justified, too.
Also looked like he tried to bite the hand of someone
for what?! Neymar put his head down into Coentrao’s face, EASILY could have been seen as a head butt. how is that even a question?
give me a break that only Pepe deserved it. Pepe is a punk but Neymar absolutely deserved a card and to say otherwise shows your bias.
Pepe booked, too.
standard Pepe. hopefully he’s a big idiot against the US too.
standard Pepe. hopefully he’s a hothead against the US too. someone should bait him.
Di Maria!!!!
Pinto’s first major gaffe… and it’s in the Copa Del Rey final against Madrid. Ouch.
You think that was on Pinto? Alves lost the ball and ended up out of position on the counter…
And DiMaria’s shot was well placed. Even if he was off side when he got the ball….
Goal for Madrid
What the heck, ESPN? FIX THE SOUND.
Is Sunderland attempting to obtain the record for the most outside the box shots taken in a season? Good gosh, they have no attacking third plan, crossing, etc.
First yellow for Real in the third minute.
I hope Martinez makes some changes sooner rather than later. McGeady or Mirallas out.
Palace looking really sharp. Everton need to do more at both ends if they want to show they deserve top 4.
Don’t think that should’ve been a penalty – he made the most out of not much at all
How do you even defend that tackle? Barely touches the ball. Left the ground with studs fully exposed and crunches through the upper ankle/shin.
Lucky he didn’t get a red card. Commentator? “Derr, well he touched the ball so derrrr”
the one from Brown? yeah i was wondering the same thing, not so sure he even got the ball
Yeah, I’m sitting there thinking woah, that’s a horrendous tackle–is his leg broken?
Announcer, “that’s a good tackle, his coach would expect him to make that.”
A little off topic but found this on the interwebs: “Melbourne Heart is changing its colors to sky blue so it’s the same as Manchester City, its parent club. The only problem? Sky blue is also worn by Melbourne Heart’s rival, Sydney FC, which has filed a complaint to Football Federation Australia.”
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/sydney-fc-in-blue-over-new-melbourne-heart-colours-20140414-zqune.html
Will be interesting to see what degree of influence Man City exerts on the NYC franchise.
Okay, thats kinda silly if someone is already wearing the same color. There aren’t exactly a lot of teams in that League…
Howard with one nice save but couldn’t do much about the other – great shot from Palace
Yeah, perfectly placed in the corner.
Sunderland is horrific.
Borini with plenty of space to do something, anything — but he wastes the chance.
Howard came out quickly to stop a chance. He is looking as good as ever right now.
Watching Everton today, Sunderland…don’t care
So, will Jozy be blamed for this loss as well?
Oh god, why do US fans always try to make americans be a victim of everything. So many of you act like sunderland fans love everybody but hate jozy. Sunderland fans hardcore hate on plenty of their players, especially fletcher. Stop acting like sunderland fans only hate on jozy
Are you a Sunderland supporter? If so, you is the most hated player on the team? Would you consider one player to be a scapegoat? If so, who?
who*
“If so, who?” should be ‘whom’…
Big crowd for the Manchester City v Sunderland match (sarcasm). The attendance looks similar to a NYRB home game.
I actually have a choice of games to watch today! Games on different networks at the same time, unbelievable!
Off Topic, it shouldn’t be, but there is no where to type this.
There is no coverage of the Toluca – Cruz Azul game ?
Come on.
Wasn’t it on last night? Can’t remember the deportes channel.
Crystal Palace is going to be a tough match for Everton. Palace is in excellent form and could possibly break into the top ten.
And… they also could end up losing every game remaining and get relegated on the last day… They ought to be able to beat West Ham but if not then I doubt they will beat title pushing City and Liverpool… then on the last they have relegation threatened Fulham…
They need a result today to ensure safety.
Off Topic, but haven’t seen anything on SBI so….
If you missed the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary film “Hillsborough” I highly recommend checking it out. Very, very powerful stuff.
Re-airs this Sunday, ESPN2 at 10pm ET.
It was soooo good. But, all the 30 for 30 are good.
That was so well done…and with Gerrards cousin being the youngest victim at 10 years old, such a powerful documentary
I thought I knew a lot about Hillsborough, but this blew me away. It was powerful, deeply moving and an incredible story. So many of the Liverpool fans should have been lauded as heroes, yet they were vsmeared in a pointless cover up. The scene at the 20th anniversary was astonishing. Absolutely see it.
Jozy on the bench.
Depressing that that’s actually good news.
Word has leaked that the Atlanta MLS team will be called “Home Depot Atlanat FC”.
Atlanta not Atlanat
I hope you are joking, and not funny by the way.
I like it. It’s Blank’s team. He should be able to name it whatever he wants.