By ADAM TROXTELL
Manchester United faces a tricky road trip to East London in their quest to regain third place in the English Premier League.
The Red Devils must hand West Ham their second defeat in eight games in order to stay ahead in the race for UEFA Champions League spots. Man United has won three of its last four outings, but Louis van Gaal’s men have been less than convincing as they continue to adjust to his tactics.
The last time the Hammers beat Man United was in a 2010 League Cup game. In the previous ten matches between the teams, the Red Devils have emerged victorious seven times.
In France, Lyon must fight off Paris-Saint Germain to maintain a spot at the top of Ligue 1. Unbeaten in nine league games, Lyon only sit just two points ahead of PSG. The teams played out a 1-1 draw when they last met in September.
Barcelona can jump right on the heels of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga with a win against Athletic Bilbao. The Catalans have won eight straight games in all competitions.
Finally, the kings of African soccer will be crowned when Ghana plays Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations final. The last time Africa’s top ranked teams met in a continental final was 1992, when Ivory Coast eventually triumphed 11-10 on penalties.
If you will be watching today’s action, feel free to leave your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (today’s soccer on TV schedule after the jump):
7:30 a.m. – NBCSN – Burnley vs. West Brom
9 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Cagliari vs. Roma
9 a.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Napoli vs. Udinese
9:05 a.m. – NBCSN – Newcastle vs. Stoke
9:30 a.m. – GolTV USA – Werder Bremen vs. Bayer Leverkusen
11 a.m. – beIN Sports USA – Getafe vs. Sevilla
11:15 a.m. – NBCSN – West Ham vs. Manchester United
11:50 a.m. – ESPN2 – France vs. U.S. Women’s National Team
1 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Espanyol vs. Valencia
1 p.m. – Univision – Pumas vs. Leon
2 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Ghana vs. Ivory Coast
3 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Lyon vs. PSG
3 p.m. – beIN Sports en Espanol – Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona
4 p.m. – ESPN – U.S. Men’s National Team vs. Panama
6 p.m. – Univision Deportes – Universidad Guadalajara vs. Atlas
Wow high drama at the African Cup of Nation. Elephants pull through and win without hero Didier Drogba!
Unfortunately, we will continue to see USWNT results like this if they continue to play Holiday in a deep lying playmaker position with no true CDM alongside to help protect her. While they were better with Lloyd pairing with her later in the second half, that is still a combination that is going to run through at the Cup.
– “get” run thorough at the cup.
fully deserved France victory. Ellis with a real stinker today, hopefully she doesn’t repeat her mistakes in this one
this ref is hilariously bad. the PK was a terrible call (contact outside of box even if it was a foul). a few other bad calls and now this one, 86′ Press dribbles and just slips/falls on top of the ball. ref calls foul……. ???????!!!!! no contact. no tackle made…… wow
Technically, our team just does not look good. This French team has been superior, and look like the favorite to win the WC this summer.
how about tactically? all the weird lineup stuff helped no US player get comfortable seems to me. since going back to more regular deployments, the US looks way better
yeah, the coaching choice definitely isn’t helping us.
Pia, on the other hand, was a great tactician.
Yes, in the past our fitness and investment in women’s sports gave us an advantage but masked out technical deficiencies. Now other teams are catching up in those areas and passing us in player development. We will still beat the countries that have not invested much, but our years on top are over.
could be true but have been hearing this for 10 years
That’s because it’s been going on steadily for that many years. Pia was an excellent choice for the team in the short term, very shrewd, but did not care about (or was not asked to) developing younger players.
hey, I understand. and I also know that for 10 years the same thing you’ve said would end the US dominance never happened tho folks keep saying it over and over all those years, and were patently wrong. we’ll see what happens but France looks like the best in the world right now
Ok, fair enough. I haven’t been saying it for 10 years, but have noticed gradually over maybe the past 5 years. Also I think having a very tactically savvy coach in the last cycle masked some of our problems.
Will be interesting to see what England can do. They have a reputation of giving the good teams some trouble but often fade out in the end.
France commits weakside midfielders to the middle of the field. the way to beat that is to quickly move the ball from one side to the other from the back but the US has not done it. that’s how we’ve beaten this team in the past, but not even trying to do it today
i keep getting thrown off when they call out “Henry”…
Carly is good. this team needs her in the middle competing. ridiculous alignment and deployment earlier in this game exposed all of this. hopefully the lesson has been learned
USA playing much better with Lloyd in central midfield but the final ball continues to be pretty darn bad
Honestly, our team just looks bad. Defensively, nobody wants to put in a tackle, our final ball hasn’t been there, and our Midfield has been overrun.
on the final ball, you just beat me to it. agreed
With Carli Lloyd in her ACTUAL position makes a world of difference. What is with US soccer system wide? Why do these coaches insist upon playing all the players out of position?
yes definitely. She is great at creating her own space to score and cleaning up in the middle, but not generally a great technical passer/creator for others (however, she is still one of our best options…)
I don’t know. pisses me off though
What a horrible PK by Wambach. She has no business playing.
PK!! Wow ref totally missed that call..but a nice save by the French goalie
justice in the end. nice save but poorly taken PK by Abby
The PK wind up seemed telegraphed from my seat on the couch. Lacked power too.
yea seemed almost a slight miss hit. veeeeeeery little pace on the ball.
Honestly, there needs to be a change in Central Midfield. Why Lloyd is being played out wide, I have no idea.
Lauren Holiday seems a step or two slow
Abby in. Time for long balls and set pieces. Against a very tidy and precise France squad, USWNT has been outclassed techically.
They were already doing long balls even without Abby on the field. This will make it worse.
yea that’s all I’ve seen from the WNT today too. outclassed is right. there’s been very little organization in the US attack. can’t hold the ball for very long. terribly hit PK with little to no pace. yikes
not since the alignment change, been much better buildup and connecting. before? horrible. I blame the coach
not a PK. a foul, yes, but this is a missed call
and Lloyd is a central midfielder, not a wide player
Ok…what the f was that Tobin Heath?
Morgan out wide not my favorite positioning for her. Heath who is usually technically very good has seen her touch let her down
US being outclassed by France, 2-0. We did ok on the counter in the first half but France had our number down the left side. And once again we aren’t winning the midfield battle, our passing looks amateurish. France will be exciting to watch this summer.
This seems to be a kind of experimental lineup from the USWNT. France is a very good side, at home, playing a second choice lineup.
yeah, Lloyd on the outside drifting in is a new thing. We are missing Rapinoe but there are still many “first choice” players on the pitch. I just don’t think Ellis knows what to do with the midfield.
USWNT down 2-0 to France, they have not looked good. The two central midfielders are getting out classed by France.
France with 2 goals within about 3 minutes vs USWNT. 2-0. not looking good
Where would Cameron play in JK’s 3-5-2 formation?
Where Birnbaum was playing?
Wouldn’t Cameron either be on the right side of the 3 or in a D-mid position? Seems like those are good fits for him. With maybe Gonzales in the middle (or JJ) and Besler on the left?
Cameron with the assist to Crouch for Stokes equalizer.
Cameron with game tying assist!
Fabulous 40 yard cross to Crouch for the header in the 89th.