Charles Kazlauskas and Helmond Sport in Eerste Divisie Promotion Playoff

Welcome to the Weekend Commentary Thread – Sunday Edition

Crunch Time: Decision Day. Germany closed out its seasons on Saturday, and the tension at Schalke and Hoffenheim was palpable. Today its England, Italy,Turkey, Portugal and Belgium.The potential for drama abounds as teams battle for a European place for next season or fight to stave off relegation into the lower leagues.

Yesterday I called it Germany Day, but no-one dominates today, so lets call it Euro Day. Lets start with England’s EPL, and lets key in on London specifically, where three teams #3 Chelsea, #4 Arsenal and #5 Tottenham, are chasing each other. One slip now will make the difference between the UCL and the Europa League next season. The matrix of possibilities is mind boggling, lets look at the matches. None of the games is easy (this is the EPL) Chelsea though seem to have the biggest task to maintain there position. #6 Everton and Tim Howard have had some success against Chelsea over the last few years, Everton cannot catch the front-runners any longer but a win at Chelsea would cap off a season, where they grabbed bragging rights from Liverpool, and David Moyes will like to have a win to see him off the Manchester United next season. I have a feeling Everton Wins. Arsenal visit lowly #13 Newcastle, on paper Arsenal should have no problem, but a 7-3 loss at The Emirates will be stuck in Newcastle’s craw, and a win would be something to sooth their fans frustrations for the summer months. I don’t believe Newcastle will win/ Draw. Now on to the match that all US fans will be following, Tottenham at White Hart Lane and  #17 Sunderland. Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey along with their team mates will want to do their bit to reach the UCL, win first, check on the teams around you later. Interestingly its been four years since a game between these two teams has had a spread greater than one goal, Tottenham did win 2-1 at the Stadium of Light, earlier this season. Sunderland’s woeful away record v Tottenham’s excellent home record says it all. I will buck recent history, Tottenham Wins by at least three goals.

In Belgium, its finale day in the “Championship Playoff” All six teams will be playing, and five of the six have an opportunity to reach European competition next season. The final games fell into one of the strangest configurations I can remember (this is points based league) #1 plays #2, #3 plays #4 and #5 plays #6 – What are the odds on that?  Anderlecht and Sasha Kljestan play Zulte-Waregem for the automatic spot in the UCL. Both teams have the same post season record of 4W 2D 3L – Anderlecht are top based on the post season point system that gave them 34 points to start, Zulte-Waregem received 32 points (based on final positions in regular season ) Are you still with me? A win or draw and Anderlecht get the automatic spot, a loss and a 2+ goal win by #3 Club Brugge would knock Anderlecht out of a UCL spot, and into Europa league. Its wacky, but the drama it produces is unique to Belgium. History between the teams has Anderlecht with four wins, one draw and two losses over the past three years and with Zulte-Waregem winning the last two games (including a 2-1 home win on April 20th) I’m pulled toward a draw, but Anderlecht seem to have re-found its form of late. Anderlecht Wins.

In Portugal, Estoril and Tony Taylor have a famous opportunity, from what I can see Estoril has never been in European competition ( you can email me or comment if I’m wrong) On Sunday they will be playing Gil Vicente in the finale of the Portuguese Primeira Liga, they are two points above Vitoria Guimaraes, so a draw  is all that Estoril need to play in the Europa League next season. Estoril are hardly a “big” club by anyone’s standards (example; their stadium capacity is 8K) and a chance of hosting some of Europe storied teams must be exciting the team and the fans. Lets hope they don’t choke, and make the jump. Gil Vicente are a nemesis for Estoril, you have to go back to 2009 since Estoril have beat them and have a lifetime six wins, two draws, nine losses record. Still I think that the moment will not be lost on the team. Estoril Wins

My last two teams are Bursaspor in Turkey and AS Roma in Italy. One has qualified for Europe already, the other cannot. The Ultras in Bursaspor “Texas” have made Maurice Edu a favorite, and whether Maurice plays in today’s game at Genclerbirgli they have pushed the management at Bursaspor to request of Stoke a full transfer. Bursaspor are sitting in the final Europa League place in Turkish Superliga, they can’t be caught or move higher. European competition is not new to them, although you might say European success would be. Genclerbirgli has not beaten Bursaspor since 2009, although there last meeting produced a scoreless draw. With little to play for by either team another draw wouldn’t surprise. The Green Crocodiles,Bursaspor Wins. AS Roma cannot reach European competition this year through the league, but I included them here because they play Naples and because they had a horrendous earlier part of the season that took them out of contention early. Sunday they play one of the hottest teams in Italy Serie A, Napoli. This is their European test. AS Roma v Napoli is a historical match-up that tends to end up split each season. Napoli walloped Roma in Stadio San Paolo 4-1  where Uruguay’s Roberto Cavani struck for three goals. AS Roma and Michael Bradley, but without Totti (red card) will want to have a good showing against the UCL bound team in their home finale. To Close to Call.

One other game to talk about, In Holland, Helmond Sport will visit Rotterdam in the Promotion Playoff 2nd leg. Unfortunately Charles Kazlauskas and co. are down on aggregate after a 4-2 home loss in the first leg. Still if the opposition can score four, why not you. Rotterdam and Helmond ended the season tied on points, with Rotterdam getting the edge through goal differential. Helmond did go to Rotterdam and beat them 3-0 last year, so they have done it in the recent past. Optimistically, I think this one goes to penalties.

So that’s my take on Sunday’s games. Agree? disagree? Let me know, be proactive if you don’t like the prediction then have one ready

Looking forward to you joining me early on Sunday morning for “The Thread” see you then.

SK/OT. Sasha and Anderlecht’s season is on the line this weekend

Welcome to the Weekend Commentary Thread

Crunch Time: Decision Day. With the exception of one or two senior leagues (that complete their seasons next weekend) this is the big one. England, Italy and Germany will all finalize their seasons this weekend. The winners go on to Europe, or get promoted, the losers go home or get relegated.

Lets call Saturday Germany Day. It’s a big day for US Players in Germany at both ends of the Bundesliga table. Schalke visit Freiburg and this has to be the game of the day in Germany. #4 Schalke are currently in the final UCL place on 52 points. They lead #5 Freiburg by a single point going into this finale. A win or a draw gets them through, but Freiburg are no push-overs as Jermaine Jones and Schalke know, they are 0-1 this season, and where beaten 3-1 by Freiburg at home in December. To Close to Call

At the other end of the table #17 Hoffenheim, who have struggled all season, have the unenviable task of traveling to #2 Dortmund and will need an unlikely win to avoid straight out relegation to 2.Bundesliga. Head to Head Dortmund have the advantage, and beat Hoffenheim in Sinsheim 3-1 earlier in the season. Hoffenheim have beaten the teams around them over the past five weeks, but against stronger opposition (Schalke) they were well beaten. Sadly Hoffenheim lose this one and Fabian, Danny and co. are set to prepare for life in 2.Bundesliga next season. Augsburg and Michael Parkhurst are not out of the woods yet either, even if Hoffenheim loses, # 16 Augsburg will need a win and a little luck. The good news is that the odds are in their favor. Augsburg welcomes already relegated #18 Furth into their home and that should result in the three points they are desperate for.  #15 Dusseldorf share the same points total, and only lead Augsburg on goal differential, travel to #9 Hannover and, newly re-signed, Steve Cherundolo. Dusseldorf are leading this seasons tally 1-0, after beating Hannover 2-1 in December, but times have changed for Dusseldorf, who’s first season back in Bundesliga since 1986 has not gone well, and they could find themselves in the relegation playoff against Kaiserslautern (2.Bundesliga /third place). Hannover wins/Dusseldorf Relegation playoff.

Talking about 2.Bundesliga, the promotions are already set as the teams set up to wrap up on Sunday. Hertha Berlin and John Brooks will be plying their trade in the Bundesliga next season after topping 2.Bundesliga. Eintracht Braunschweig take the other promotion spot (so glad no US players are with them – typing their name during weekend commentary would take ages) and the aforementioned Kaiserslautern take the promotion playoff spot.  Unfortunately we do lose Andrew Wooten and Sandhausen, who are relegated to 3.Liga. Andrew had a pretty good season with seven goals, second on the team.

In 3.Liga, Preussen Munster and Matt Taylor, who up to a month ago led the division, will be hard pressed to even make the promotional playoff. Their last three games have only yielded one point, and in a league where the top five teams are only separated by seven points, that’s just not good enough. Matt has had a phenomenal season scoring 15 goals in the league and three more in the DFB cup. Saturday #5 Preussen Munster will be at home to #19 Babelsberg. Munster should get the win (and Babelsberg relegated) and then will have to wait on the results from Heidenheim and Osnabruck, both whom are playing relegation candidates at home. Munster Wins/fail to get promoted. At the bottom of 3.Liga, Darmstadt and Preston Zimmerman are battling for survival. There are just two points that separate #19 from #16, all four teams are hoping for a positive result on Saturday. Two of the four teams will be in Regionalliga next season. As fate would have it #18 Darmstadt are at home to #16 Stuttgarter Kickers, who Darmstadt visited earlier this season and came away with a point in a 1-1 draw. Whichever way it goes, Preston Zimmerman had a great season, scoring seven league goals to lead his team. Going out on a limb, Darmstadt Wins/Stuttgarter Kickers are relegated.

Usually I comment on the whole weekend, as this is Decision Day Weekend, I will continue this piece on Saturday night for Sunday – Covering England and Italy and a closer look at #1 Anderlecht and Sasha Kljestan’s game against #2 Zulte-Waregem.

Join me Saturday morning for the “Thread”, let me know if you agree with my predictions and let me know your predictions for Saturday and Sunday.

“Ingolstadt is a young, up-and-coming club with great potential,” Morales, who joined Hertha at age 10, told the club website after the deal was announced on Friday. “It was time for me to make a new step, I felt it in my gut. I want to do my part to help FCI continue moving forward.”

The move to Ingolstadt means the 23-year-old will stay in the 2. Bundesliga and will likely get a shot at more playing time.  Morales appeared in 23 first-team matches with Hertha Berlin across all competitions over the last three seasons, including 10 games in 2012-13.

Ingolstadt currently sit in 11th place in the 18-team 2. Bundesliga this season with one game remaining.  Fellow Americans Edson Buddle and Amaechi Igwe have played at the club in prior seasons.

Wikipedia fun fact:  The club nickname Die Schanzer has a military background, meaning trenchmen or rampartmen.

While we are talking about Americans signing in Germany, Steve Cherundolo signed a one-year extension with Hannover 96 as expected.

Germany

Goalkeepers: Rene Adler (Hamburg), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96), Marc Andre ter-Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

Defenders: Dennis Aogo (Hamburg), Marcell Jansen (Hamburg), Heiko Westermann (Hamburg), Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), Per Mertesacker (FC Arsenal), Philipp Wollscheid (Bayer Leverkusen).

Midfielders: Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Schalke), Roman Neustädter (Schalke), Kevin Grosskreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Aaron Hunt (Werder Bremen), Nicolai Müller (Mainz 05), Stefan Reinartz (Bayer Leverkusen), Sidney Sam (Bayer Leverkusen), Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Max Kruse (SC Freiburg)

Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal), Andre Schürrle (Bayer Leverkusen)

Belgium

Goalkeepers: Koen Casteels (Hoffenheim), Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid), Jean-Francois Gillet (Torino), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland)

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Ajax), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Guillaume Gillet (Anderlecht), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Sébastien Pocognoli (Hannover), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern München), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham)

Midfielders: Nacer Chadli (Twente), Steven Defour (Porto), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham), Marouane Fellaini (Everton), Thorgan Hazard (Zulte-Waregem), Timmy Simons (FC Nürnberg), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg)

Forwards: Christian Benteke (Aston Villa), Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen), Eden Hazard (Chelsea) Maxime Lestienne, (Club Brugge), Romelu Lukaku (West Brom), Dries Mertens (PSV Eindhoven), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Jelle Vossen (Genk).

RJ Allen (Skive IK – Danish First Division) – RJ got the start and played 82 minutes in Skive IK’s 2-0 loss to Brønshøj.

Anthony Avalos (Vard – Norwegian Adeccoligaen) – Anthony got the start, went the full 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Vard’s 3-0 loss to HamKam.

Steve Clark (Hønefoss – Norwegian Eliteserien) – Steve got the start and went the full 90 minutes in Hønefoss’ 0-0 draw to Viking.

Charlie Davies (Randers FC – Danish Superliga) – Charlie came off the bench and played five minutes in Randers FC’s 1-0 victory over Copenhagen.

Mikkel Diskerud (Rosenborg – Norwegian Eliteserien) – Mikkel got the start and played 70 minutes in Rosenborg’s 4-2 victory over Sarpsborg 08.

Kenneth Di Vita Jensen (Hønefoss – Norwegian Eliteserien) – Kenneth got the start and played 87 minutes in Hønefoss’ 0-0 draw to Viking.

Josh Gatt (Molde FK – Norwegian Eliteserien) – Josh got the start and went the full 90 minutes in Molde FK’s 5-1 loss to Haugesund.

Charles Kazlauskas (Helmond Sport – Dutch Eerste Divisie) – Charles got the start and went the full 90 minutes in Helmond Sport’s 4-2 loss to Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie promotion playoffs.

Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht – Belgian First Division) – Sacha got the start, went the full 90 minutes and scored a goal in Anderlecht’s 4-2 victory over Lokeren.

Conor O’Brien (FC Nordsjælland – Danish Superliga) – Conor came off the bench and played 45 minutes in FC Nordsjælland’s 4-0 loss to Brøndby.

Zarek Valentin (Bodø / Glimt – Norwegian Adeccoligaen) – Zarek got the start and went the full 90 minutes in Bodø / Glimt’s 3-0 victory over Strømmen.