By ADAM TROXTELL
Jose Mourinho’s tradition of winning league and domestic cup doubles is on the line as Chelsea look to book a spot in the English League Cup semifinals.
The Blues head to Derby County for one of two quarterfinal matches on Tuesday. They’ll be looking for a fourth win in five games, while Derby hopes to bounce back after a loss to Middlesbrough over the weekend. Chelsea last won the competition under Mourinho in 2007.
Struggling Southampton travel to League 1 side Sheffield United. The Saints are on a four game-losing streak and will look to the cup for a much needed boost in confidence.
In Germany, Hamburg will look to pull further away from the relegation zone against bottom dwellers Stuttgart. With just one win in their last six, Stuttgart sit bottom on 13 points. League leaders Bayern Munich look to have a straightforward task at home against Freiburg.
In Spain, Barcelona will look to kill off Huesca in the second leg of their Copa del Rey match-up. The Catalans hold a 4-0 aggregate lead. Elsewhere Valencia take a 2-1 lead into their game against Rayo Vallecano.
If you will be watching today’s action, feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action.
1:30 p.m. – Fox Sports 1 – Cruz Azul vs. Real Madrid
2 p.m. – GolTV USA – Bayern Munich vs. Freiburg
2 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Valencia vs. Rayo Vallecano
2:45 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Derby County vs. Chelsea
4 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Barcelona vs. Huesca
Cruz Azul is putting up a good fight vs. Real Madrid. The score is 2-0 against them at halftime but they missed a penalty and had some good chances on goal with only the keeper to beat. Its awesome to see the level of play of certain teams at FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP, especially from CONCACAF……
Ok I spoke too soon. I think Bale heard me, 51th min 3-0 Real Madrid……and Ronaldo hasn’t had his yet…lol
considering all things, Cruz Azul is actually looking good against what most would consider best team in the world, game could easily be 2-2.
No Julian Green again today. Time to admit this loan has been a failure and he would have been better just training with Bayern this season.
Kinda off topic here but just looking forward to the january camp, what new players do you guys plan on seeing there? And ives have you heard any rumblings about call-ups?
Put this together, this is my 23:
GK- Rimando, Hamid, Johnson
CD- Besler, Gonzalez, Hedges, O’Neil
LB- Klute, Sinovic
RB- Farrell. Sarkodie
DM- Jones, Bradley (if healthy), Diskerud, Kitchen
AM- Zusi. Gil, Shea (if may with Orlando), Ibarra, Nguyen
FWD- Dempsey, Zardes, McInerney
of bradley or shea arent included i would like to see shipp, evans, trapp, and maybe even holden brought in
Trapp gets hype? Might be worth a look.
I think leave out. Jones let the man rest. 1 senior CB in Besler is fine.
I would also like to see Zach Loyd of Dallas at RB. The man is a very good defender.
Zardes should come. I think he is dependent on Keane and Donnovan bit might so it will be good to see him without them around.
I know you didn’t mention him but I am kinda over Beckerman. It’s not that he wouldn’t be perfect for the Gold Cup… but after that meh.
I wouldnt mind seeing trapp brought in, but hes young, lets not overhype him too too much, that why i went with kitchen.
With jones and another senior CB, I wana see this team gain an identity and an understanding between the squad.
Klinsi looked at loyd early in his tenure, and wasnt pleased with his positional awareness. Id take either of those other rbs over him, and i believe theyre both younger
Zardes will struggle at first due to his rawness, but we are weak up top, after jozy who do we have? An injured boyd, a raw zardes, mcinerney, maybe bruin. thats about it
As far as beckerman i love how he plays and what he has given us, but he has a very clear and present ceiling to what he can give us. He struggles against teams with pace and that move the ball quick. I feel like younger cms such as kitchen, trapp, mix, even torres or kljestan are not much of a drop down, oh and dont forget morales
fullbacks are tough.. just not that many in MLS.
Rogers has to be considered at LB. Id say that Gaddis is probably better than Klute, at least after last year. Sinovic is a good option too.
At RB, I agree with Increase0; Lloyd deserves a call. His teammate Acosta might be seen as a USMNT RB future. Ferrell and Parkhurst are the next best options but both probably better at CB.
CB so many options. Besler, Gonzalez, Jones, Edu, Hedges, Borchers, Okugo. – don’t think that O’Neill is worth a call up yet.
at FW would it be too crazy to call in Charlie Davies?
I would like to see rogers get another few months at lb for the galaxy before a call up.
I actually see acosta as a holding mid in the future, but he is extremely versatile
Edu needs more time at cb with the union, borchers is too old to work in now, and i think okugo is going to be a d mid going forward, thats why i see a youngster like o’neil, or maybe even schuler or marshall
And no i could see charlie geting the call, or even bunbury, really week group right now as far as pure strikers
Last year Klinsmann went pretty heavy on SKC and RSL players, it’ll be interesting to see if he does the same with Revs and Galaxy this go around.
-I’d rather see Rogers and or Tierney get a look at left back
-Jones needs the time at center back if Klinsmann is going forward with that move.
-Like to see Trapp and Finlay get looks as well.
Knowing Klinsmann, Wondo will be there
I wouldnt have a huge problem with eithr of those moves
I dont like the idea of jones at cb, i like his physicality in the middle and by moving him to cb your hurting the development of other cbs such as gonzo and brooks
I wouldnt mind trapp, i dont know enough about finlay, dont get mnay crew games so im not gona rate him at this point
And yes wondo will be there, im sure of it
Tierney would be interesting… his left foot is wonderful.
I think Erik Hurtado is an interesting forward prospect. I was on the Zardes train pretty early, but it will take another jump like the one he took from year one to year two if he is going to be in the conversation for a role on the team.
Someone on Freiburg just did a backheel aerial Clarence. It was kinda necessary.
Classic Robben. Diving for a goal. Hah