By IVES GALARCEP
Brad Guzan and Aston Villa have pieced together a four-match unbeaten streak, and can make a serious move closer to the top half of the English Premier League standings with a win against last-place Leicester City today.
The Villans are coming off a dramatic 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace, and take on a struggling Leicester side that should help provide three points for Guzan’s squad, which would edge Aston Villa to within a point of 10th place.
In Spain, FC Barcelona takes on Espanyol in the latest installment of their Barcelona derby. Barca can climb into second place in La Liga with a victory, but their neighbors won’t make it easy.
In Italy, Inter Milan take on Udinese in a clash of teams trying to climb out of the mid-table range in Serie A. Inter is winless in four matches while Udinese is trying to snap a five-match winless slide.
If you will be watching today’s action, or want to discuss the day’s earlier matches, 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
6:30 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Napoli vs. Empoli
7 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus – Gateshead vs. Warrington
8:30 a.m. – NBCSN – West Ham United vs. Swansea
9 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus – Scunthorpe vs. Worcester City
9 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Genoa vs. Milan
9 a.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Parma vs. Lazio
9:30 a.m. – GolTV USA – Hamburg vs. Mainz
11 a.m. – NBCSN – Aston Villa vs. Leicester City
11 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Barcelona vs. Espanyol
11:30 a.m. – GolTV USA – Frankfurt vs. Werder Bremen
11:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus – Colchester vs. Peterborough
1 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Villareal vs. Real Sociedad
2:45 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Inter Milan vs. Udinese
1 p.m. – ESPNU – NCAA Women’s Championship
3 p.m. – ESPN – MLS Cup 2014, LA Galaxy vs. New England Revolution
3 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Granada vs. Valencia
5 p.m. – Univision – Tigres vs. Toluca
7p.m. – Univision – America vs. Monterrey
the only thing keeping Landy Cakes from completely vanishing from the match were his orange shoes….nice win for Galaxy playing with 10 men
He wasn’t much of a factor today, and he was pretty invisible against Seattle as well. And that telltale burst wasn’t there. Again.
Pretty much the story of Landon Donovan for the last year or so. He looks like his old self for a game or so, makes you think, hey, Donovan Is Back…and then he disappears again.
Dunno if that’s Father Time or some nagging injury hampering him, but he hasn’t looked impactful since the Salt Lake series, and he’s had more than a few spells like this this season. Galaxy had enough playmakers to win without him.
quozzel,
3 days ago In an interview on SI, Arena said:
“Arena: Well, at this point Landon has *made* everything known (smiles). But he’s sensitive. Let’s face it, he’s had a remarkable career. His numbers speak for themselves. Me being a full-time coach, I always think they could be better. He, being who he is as Landon, thinks they’re fine. He’s always looked for things outside the game. It’s been such an important part of his search for happiness over the last, I’d say probably eight years. He hasn’t been consumed with necessarily being the best player on Earth.”
Note the last two sentences.
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014/12/04/bruce-arena-la-galaxy-mls-cup-landon-donovan-jurgen-klinsmann
man, he went off this year in MLS, and last year 2013 he had 8 assists and 8 goals for the USMNT AFTER Klinsi invited him back, arguably his best statistical year for the Nats ever including a goal and assist vs. Mexico in another dos a cero punking of those rivals
pretty amazing for not giving a sh!t
beachbum,
I’ve seen almost every one of LD’s USMNT games.
I saw every one of the USMNT games you mentioned.
LD always saw playing for the US as special so I’m sure he never went out there w/o giving it his best but he has had more than a few indifferent games.
In those games for JK, I got the distinct impression that LD was either injured, recovering from injury, unfit, or maybe wasn’t all that into it. Whatever the reason, I never got the “he’s back” feeling when watching LD in those games.
His productivity in those games is testament to his talent and to the fact that the opposition was not exactly red- hot- motivated- world class-top shelf. That 2-0 Mexican team was chicken s++t.
Besides, Arena has a history of being brutally candid and he knows LD better than any of us.
If I’m going to take the word of anyone besides LD himself on the topic of Landon and soccer, Arena would be the guy.
meaning what GW??? I take Arena’s word for it too, having watched ALL the games for both the USMNT and the Galaxy (and many other teams) for years and years and years
LD was STILL the best player or one of them for the USMNT in 2013, and he went off in MLS this tear, totally went off!
what’s chichensh!t is taking his goal and assist vs. Mexico and saying it’s because that Mexican team sucked instead of giving him full credit for making the difference in that game
from teammate Dan Gargan:
“I’ve been playing against Landon for years and we all know he’s a supreme competitor and that he battles all the time,” Gargan said. “But what I’m most impressed with is his preparation, everything he does from Monday at 8 a.m. until Sunday at 10 at night.
“His focus is to be a champion. A lot of people don’t understand the nuances of being a professional athlete and he really epitomises it. To see him live that life for as long as he has and to be witness to that for the last year, I feel like a lucky guy.”
“meaning what GW??? I take Arena’s word for it too, having watched ALL the games for both the USMNT and the Galaxy (and many other teams) for years and years and years”
Beachbum,
Let me see if I have this right :
“LD was STILL the best player or one of them for the USMNT in 2013, and he went off in MLS this tear, totally went off!”
In terms of the USMNT , that is not the impression I got but reasonable people can disagree. I did not see any evidence that the LD of 2010 was anywhere around. I got the impression that LD was not really into it.
” what’s chichensh!t is taking his goal and assist vs. Mexico and saying it’s because that Mexican team sucked instead of giving him full credit for making the difference in that game”
So when you evaluate a player’s performance, the quality of his opponent does not matter? Why is that ? If I put you in a boxing ring with some guy in your office and you knock him out is that the same as if Floyd Mayweather was the other guy?
I saw just about every game Mexico played for their 2014 WC qualifying campaign and saying they were chickens++t is being kind. Don’t take my word for that ; just ask any Mexican fan.
Landon had a fine match but are you telling me that if he had not been there the US would not have won that game?
What about his teamates? Are you telling me Mix and Clint had nothing to do with giving Donovan what amounted to a tap in? Are you telling me that EJ’s King Kong impression on that corner does not deserve a lot of credit ?
I don’t think there was any way Mexico were ever going to win that game.
As for Dan Gargan, what did you expect him to say? With all due respect to Gargan, if you are a mid level MLS player if you have anything negative to say about LD why would you tell anyone?
And are you going to tell me that Gargan knows more about championship mentality in players, especially LD, than Arena? I disagree.
Gargan is a player. There are limits as to how much his opinion matters. Players don’t manage teams, managers do.
Some players could not manage a team well enough to get them out of the men’s room. I gave the link to the article about Arena to quozzel because he is a manager who was giving a manager’s perspective on Donovan, something you don’t see a lot of.
Jermaine is protected once again. When is someone going to stop this crap. It was an obvious yellow on that tackle.
Hmm… much diminished
Julian Green was out with the flu today.
Better than being out with the lack of skills as usual.
He’s 19…you expect him to be a star in the Bundesliga at that age? Look at the major talents of today back when they were 19. I can guarantee most of them weren’t playing every game for their club team, especially not in a league as good as the Bundesliga. I don’t know why people hate this kid so much..
Francois,
Green is a substitute for JK. JK haters take any stumbles by Green as proof that JK does not know anything about players..
Din’s criticism of Green says more about him than it does about Green.
the media was talking about him as if he was the new Messi, obviously casual fans are going to be disappointed if he doesn’t even start for the worst team in the Bundesliga, I personally think that he is going to be a player of the same level as Johnson or JJ, not close to world class at all but good enough to play for a good Bundesliga team.
Green not in the 18 for Hamburger as they win 2-1
Boyd came off after 37 minutes today with what is now being reported as a torn ACL.
Well, that blows.
Man… 2014 was certainly a hard luck year for Terrence (except for the part where he swapped shirts with Zlatan). Still feel like we haven’t ever really seen the best of him. Here’s hoping he recovers fully and stays positive.
Completely agree with others on this board, unbelievable how this site has regressed. I understand it’s free, and I appreciate some of the news and posts, but why does it seem impossible to post running comments for any game on time for the start of the game? I guarantee the MLS cup game running commentary won’t be up until after kickoff tine.
It has been getting worse, which is strange, because I feel like SBI has more staff than ever.
I’ve seen a few of your comments. Does nobody read the comment section that works for Ives? I mean honestly
Seriously, can nobody get up before 1pm ET to post these?? Maybe have someone else do it? Half of these matches are over. I will make this my last post on the matter but will continue to be disappointed.
I was going to post several comments during the Villa game but too late now.
It’s worse some weeks. This weekend was particularly poor. The Utrecht game was on at 7:30 central. That’s rather early so I don’t see anything wrong with just posting it the night before.
jones– #FirstWorldProblems….. i think you’ll live
I think we will all live with or without soccer blogs but since this IS a soccer blog, it’s a valid point. If you’re looking for conversations regarding life and death, you may want to look somewhere other than a soccer blog.
Touché
LA Galaxy… Champions Today.
YEEESSSSSSS!!
There will be tactical cam of MLS Cup Final on ESPN3. I wish they showed the Women’s College Cup Final on there as well, but I’m sure the ESPN Wizard has great reasons to deny us internet folk.