Welcome to this week’s edition of the Weekend Commentary Thread, the world is waking from its winter hibernation
The Danish Superliga starts up again this weekend, and Conor O’Brien will be starting a new campaign, with a shot at Champions League aspirations, at Nordsjaelland. Charlie Davies will be aiming at completing his recovery, by being a regular starter at Randers and leading them into Europe while Clarence Goodson returns with Brondy to join in the fight to avoid relegation. Kobenhavn lead the league by 12 points and look set for one of the automatic UCL spots, followed by Nordsjaelland (35), AaB (32), OB and Randers (31) and AGF (30), so 5 points separate #2 from #6, only 4 advance to European play.
Also “waking” this weekend, Sweden begins its Svenska Cup. This weekend see’s the opening games of the 1st Round, a Group stage with all Pro leagues participating.
In other games, my favorite for this Saturday is the 2nd leg of the Belgian Cup Semi Final, which see’s Anderlecht visit Genk. Anderlecht and Sasha Kljestan have a 1 goal advantage and will be battling an in form Genk in their house, no easy task. Anderlecht are 2 wins 1 draw in this season’s matches, so should have the upper hand.
There is a full slate of games from England, in the EPL there is concern that Tim Howard will not start for Everton, as they welcome Reading, Tim picked up a knock and may be rested. Stoke are facing a difficult game as West Ham come to town, Cameron, Shea and co. will be looking for three points at home though. On Sunday, Tottenham and Arsenal lock horns, as I write I do not know if Dempsey will make an appearance – calf injury. In the Championship, Zak Whitbread made the 18 in Leicester’s last match, good news for Leicester, and may see time Saturday, and of course the Holden watch continues at Bolton, as they visit Barnsley. Coach Freedman has said he wants Holden to stay at Bolton, but playing time is tough to come by for Stu, while Bolton are on a favorable streak – we will see.
In Germany, Saturday see’s action from Nurnberg, Augsburg and Schalke in the Bundesliga, and on Sunday the unenviable task of Fabian, Danny and Hoffenheim is to take on the mighty Bayern Munich. While Shawn Parker and Mainz visit Dusseldorf. Assuming the weather holds, we could see a full plate of matches in 2 Bundesliga, 3 Liga and Regionalliga matches on both weekend gameday’s.
Jozy Altidore an AZ, Terence Boyd and Rapid, Michael Bradley and Roma all should see action on Sunday (Maurice Edu is on a Red Card and won’t be a feature for Bursaspor) Games in Spain, Portugal Israel and yes even Iceland round out Sunday’s action.
All that said, “The Thread” is what you make it, chat, throw out opinions or start a debate, its your call. I will be here both days with updates on all the games involving Americans and hopefully letting Matt know to update the Goal Tracker and look for highlight for you.
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2tone, I have never seen him play (I think). Today was only his 2nd start, although he has played in 9 games as a sub, so he has surpassed his best year at senior level – kudos to him. Regular club play should help him a lot in a bid for regular time with the U23′s.
Scores Update:
Tottenham 2 – 0 Arsenal (48)
Dusseldorf 1 – 0 Mainz (35)
Brondby 0 – 1 Randers (48)
Rio Ave 0 – 0 Estoril (49)
Numancia 1 – 0 Racing Santander (49)
Since it looks like Hoffenheim is on the way to Bundesliga 2; I am sure Gyau will be playing quite a bit next season for Hoffenheim.
Arsenal pull one back (51)
Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal (52)
2tone, depending on how many players Hoffenheim lose. Its because of their success that they lost key players after last season and they find themselves in such a mess now (IMHO) Joe is starting to see some quality time with St Pauli and if he stays the route to seasons end I’m sure St Pauli will want to make the loan perminent, don’t you think???
Mainz have equalized (41)
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz (44)
Numancia extend their lead (55)
Numancia 2 – 0 Racing Santander (58)
Half Time in Bundesliga
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz
Scores Update:
Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal (62)
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz (HT)
Brondby 0 – 1 Randers (61)
Rio Ave 0 – 0 Estoril (62)
Numancia 2 – 0 Racing Santander (63)
I think Hoffenheim will not sell Gyau. They know he has a bright future ahead of him.
2tone, just to clarify my position here
Last season 2 teams that we follow had great years, AZ Alkmaar and Hoffenheim. Management at both “cashed in” on this, and both clubs are close to relegation this season. I agree that Joe looks to have a great future in front of him, but I can’t get my head around either AZ or Hoff thinking “this player is to valuable” to sell, based on their recent past actions (again IMHO)
Scores Update:
Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal (80)
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz (49)
Brondby 0 – 1 Randers (79)
Rio Ave 0 – 1 Estoril (81)
Numancia 2 – 0 Racing Santander (81)
Checking on Carlos Bocanegra, didn’t realize his last game played was Feb 2 (MLS here we come????)
Randers have doubled their lead (81)
Brondby 0 – 2 Randers (86)
Tony Taylor is on for Estoril (86)
Estoril have doubled their lead over Rio Ave
Rio Ave 0 – 2 Estoril
Scores Update:
Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal (90+4)
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz (66)
Brondby 0 – 1 Randers (FT)
Charlie Davies came on at 88min, to put in a solid 2 minutes
Rio Ave 0 – 1 Estoril (FT)
Tony got about 4 mins in today
Numancia 2 – 0 Racing Santander (FT)
Carlos kept the bench nice and warm
All over at White Hart Lane
Tottenham with a big win over cross town rivals Arsenal
Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal
Clint did not dress today (injury)
Brad Friedel was in 18 as back-up GK
Only 1 game going on for us now
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz (70)
Shawn Parker still on
No Oguchi (Gooch) Onyewu for Malaga (again) today.
In Denmark Superliga
Dual Citizen Thomas Delaney is in the 18 for league leaders Kobenhavn today as they visit 4th place OB
OB 0 – 0 Kobenhavn (12)
Delaney has represented Denmark at the U19 and U21 levels, but is still eligible for the USA
Dusseldorf and Mainz still tied
Shawn Parker subbed off at 80 minutes
That is now a Final
Dusseldorf 1 – 1 Mainz
Shawn Parker went 80 minutes.
Kobenhavn go ahead on OG (11)
OB 0 – 1 Kobenhavn (20)
Scores Update;
OB 2 – 1 Kobenhavn (42)
oh! that’s it right now
Half Time
OB 2 – 1 Kobenhavn
OK I am going to step away for a while
There is one ‘significant’ game left today
#9Roma hosts #17Genoa – we hope to see Michael Bradley start for Roma again this week. The game starts at 2.45pm ET
I’ll be around for comments etc…pretty much the rest of the day.
Good weekend started with Gomez ended with Jozy
thanks everyone, some interesting stuff this weekend
see you next week
cheers