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Soccer Monday: Your Running Commentary

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By MATT STYPULKOSKI

Roma’s Serie A title hopes will be on the line against Juventus on Monday afternoon.

Juve enters the clash with a hefty advantage atop the league’s table, but the Giallorossi could cut the deficit to a more manageable six-point gap with a win at home, where they are unbeaten this season.

In October, Juve won a controversial 3-2 game in Turin. But this time around, Roma will benefit from the absence of Andrea Pirlo, who picked up a calf injury during the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund last week. Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba could also miss the match.

This evening, the U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team has an important match as it continues in the CONCACAF Championship group stage in Honduras. The Americans, who opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over Cuba on Friday, are set to take on Trinidad and Tobago.

Elsewhere, Spanish side Elche, which sits just one point clear of the relegation zone, will take on mid-table Celta de Vigo.

If you will be watching today’s soccer, 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):

2:45 p.m. – beIN Sports Connect – Celta de Vigo vs Elche

2:45 p.m. – beIN Sports USA – Juventus vs. Roma

6:00 p.m. – Fox Sports 2 – U.S. U-17 MNT vs. Trinidad and Tobago

Comments

  1. I know the English broadcasters are often chastised for being overly critical, but I was still surprised at how critical the color guy was of these 17 year olds. He was beside himself with disappointment and disbelief.

    Reminded me of Gordon Ramsey dressing down a child for undercooking an omelet.

    Besides that, the game itself was lackluster. We outclassed T&T but had trouble linking together passes.

    Reply
  2. @TomM – saw the first half. No one stood out for the NATS as, for the 1st 30 mins, seemed tentative in possession and played several long balls out of the back that just ended up w T&T possession. Gallardo scored on a well taken free kick from outside the penalty, but in my view was not really a foul to be given. Glad they got the second goal and the W. Let’s go lads!

    Reply
    • Not a great match by the baby Nats. Pulisic had an off night. He struggled to make an impact on the field. Haji didn’t see a ton of the ball but was a threat every time he did, and scored a really nice goal on the counter. US dominated the ball for most of the match and T&T didn’t put up any real fight except for the first few and last few minutes of the match. Another choppy CONCACAF pitch didn’t help. They began by trying to play out of the back, but had to switch away from that strategy under the unexpected T&T pressure, so they had to switch to a more direct style. T&T packed the middle and forced the ball out wide so we saw a lot of balls whipped in and a lot of corners. US didn’t seem to have a good plan on these. A lot of times, there were 2 or 3 guys making the same run and the ball would squirt out but no one was making a trailing run. All in all, not too surprising that a bunch of U-17 are a bit lacking in tactical awareness and can’t play out of the back under pressure.

      Reply

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