With today’s opening of the German Bundesliga, Italy and Spain are the only major European leagues who have yet to start their seasons. Their schedules added to the games from the leagues play through the summer have sent us from a paucity of matches to overload.
Ten Matches To Watch: Your European Soccer Weekend
The European season does not get fully underway until next week, when Italy and Spain start their league schedules. But with Germany kicking-off on Friday, the weekend docket in European club soccer is already experiencing some crowding.
It’s all too much to sift through. Trust me, I’m the one that tries. The result of that attempt, Ten Matches To Watch, tries to guide you through the European club weekend, but if I’ve missed anything, there’ll be enough “how could you miss” comments to point us in the right direction.
#10 - Dinamo Moscow vs. Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia, Sunday, 8:00 a.m. Eastern
Both Dinamo and Loko have taken small steps back from last season, each sitting mid-table coming into this weekend’s derby. Dinamo was on the edge of European football last season before an end-of-season downturn. This year they sit eleventh, well back of a Europa League spot, though they’re only three points behind seventh-place Lokomotiv.
Loko will also need a steep upturn in order to track down Rostov for a spot in Europe, a huge disappointment for a club that was expected to challenge near the top of the league. They finished fourth last season and add some key depth but have been unable to regain their end-of-season form which, on the back of last season’s start, looks aberrational. Their current position, seventh, may be their level.
Led by captain Dimitri Sychev and league-leading goal scorer Oleksandr Aliev, Loko has the talent to make that move, but with only two points in their last four games, Yuri Semen’s team is trending in the wrong direction. Coming off another derby last week, one which they lost 3-2 to Spartak Moscow, the Railroaders are down to 13 matches left in their season.
#9 - Dynamo Kyiv vs. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Sunday, 1:15 p.m. Eastern
The Ukrainian Premier League has been a two-horse race for some time, but Dnipro’s perfect start through five matches fostered hope its duopoly would crumble faster than MySpace. Dnipro’s has clipped Shakhtar Donetsk’s and Dynamo Kyiv’s heels before, but having scored 12 while allowing only one through five matches, DD had the secondary factors supporting their early revolt.
Over the last week, however, DD’s come back to earth. Last week they lost at home to another revolutionary: Metalist Kharkiv. Then, in mid-week Europa League action, Dnipro lost at home to Poland’s Lech Poznan. It’s awfully early for their swords to have grown old and rusty, but with Sunday’s trip to a Dynamo team they lead by only two points, DD (as will as those hoping for more parity) will receive an incontrovertible assessment of their league chances.
#8 - Auxerre vs. Valenciennes, France, Saturday, 3 p.m. Eastern
Last week, two goals from Gregory Pujol led Valenciennes to a surprise 3-2 win over defending champions Marseille, giving them four points through the two match days while sending l’OM into a early crisis of confidence. After a 2009-10 season that saw Valenciennes fade after a strong start, the victory hints there’s still potential to drive toward Europe.
Having been being drawn by Lorient and newly-promoted Brant, Auxerre’s off to a slow start while trying to replicate last season’ third place finish. Midweek in St. Petersburg, Auxerre put up a valiant fight in losing the first leg of their Champions League qualifier with Zenit, and with the return leg on Wednesday, Jean Fernandez may temporarily have bigger, more lucrative fish to fry. While it’s possible that won’t affect Valenciennes’ trip to Auxerre, nobody would blame the coach if it did.
#7 - Newcastle vs. Aston Villa, England, Sunday, 8:30 a.m. Eastern
It’s still surreal to think a club the size of Newcastle was relegated. The team that did the honors, two years ago: Aston Villa! If only we could bring Alan Shearer back as honorary manager. You think they’ll bring this up on Match of the Day?
The two clubs were on opposite ends of 3-0 results last week, Villa’s strong performance (in the wake of Martin O’Neill’s resignation) more surprising than Newcastle being subdued at Old Trafford. Combine Newcastle’s memories of May 2009, this being their home opener, and a Villa side that still needs to show O’Neill will not be missed, do we have three points for the Magpies? Regardless, I’m interested.
#6 - PSV vs. AZ, Netherlands, Sunday, 10:30 a.m. Eastern
PSV’s absolutely loaded this year, leading to nine goals for, only one against through two matches. AZ won the league two years ago but have been unable to replicate those results since Louis van Gaal’s departure. While this match may not be close, it’s worth watching to see how strong PSV will be for both league and Europa. To this point, they look as strong as last year’s Ajax squad, though Twente is less likely to serve as a roadblock.
#5 - Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bordeaux, France, Sunday, 3:00 p.m. Eastern
Now for something completely not-shocking: team of recent renown stumbles through the season’s final months then loses one of the world’s best targetmen after a season where three-out-of-five goals came from restarts. Having also lost their head coach, this recent league champion now sits at the bottom of their league through two matches.
Bordeaux has gone from title contender to train wreck.
On Sunday, les Girondins are at the Parc de Princes hoping to get their first point of the season against a PSG side that’s looked strong through three competitive matches. Even in their non-competitive matches, PSG rolled into the season with draws against Marseille and Porto.
There is the hope that Yoann Gourcuff and Bordeaux have a parachute - something that can stop this free-fall. We’re unlikely to see it versus PSG.
#4 - Hamburg vs. Schalke, Germany, Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Eastern
Welcome back the Bundesliga, which started on Friday with the weekend’s big match: defending champions Bayern Munich and a rebuilt Hamburg team, the now-dark horse to win league. Bayern’s still the favorite, but with Arne Friedrich and Simon Kjaer, new coach Steve McLaren has enough defending to make the attacking of Grafite, Edin Dzeko, and Zvezjdan Misimovic hold-up.
I just need to remember to delete that paragraph should Wolfsburg show poorly at the Allianz.
Saturday, the Bundesliga’s other title contender opens their season. Schalke, who Felix Magath guided to a second last season, will get a good indication of their strength when they travel to Hamburg and face last season’s seventh place finisher. It’s the type of match which, looking back later in the season, a serious title challenger will have wanted three points from. Drawn in the same fixture at the end of last season, a little experience added to the young Schalke side may be enough to get them two extra points.
#3 - Galatasaray vs. Bursaspor, Turkey, Sunday, 2:00 p.m. Eastern
For a team in Turkey’s league, Galatasaray is an immensely talented side. Gala has Elano, Lucas Neill, Harry Kewell, Lorik Cana and Milan Baros as their foreign talent. Turkish nationals Adra Turan, Servet Cetin, Ayhan Akman, Hakan Balta, Sabri Sarioglu and Gökhan Zan round out their team. Why don’t more people talk about Gala?
Perhaps because, in addition to disappointing in recent European campaigns, they can’t seem to win their league. Neither can equally talented rivals Fenerbahçe. Over the last two years, the Turkish Super Lig’s been won by Besiktas and, winning their first title ever, Bursaspor, becoming the fifth different team to win the over fifty-year-old league.
Bursaspor started their title defense with a 1-0 win over Konyaspor. Conversely, Galatasaray could not hold their early lead at Sivasspor, losing 2-1 ahead of a 2-2, mid-week home draw to Ukraine’s Karpaty. Unless Frank Rijkaard’s team is ready to reverse these results and truly start their season, they could be six points behind Bursaspor after two weeks.
#2 - Barcelona vs. Sevilla, Spanish Super Cup, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern
Sevilla scored three second half goals at the Sanchez Pizjuan to take a 3-1 lead into the second leg of the Super Copa. For their part, Barcelona was not taking the first leg very seriously. None of their Spanish internationals played, and with Lionel Messi starting on the bench, only four players who might start in a choice XI were in Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup. Conversely, Antonio Álvarez started a strong team.
Guardiola’s said some of this missing stars will feature on Saturday, possibly giving us our first glimpse of what the two-time-defending Spanish champions will look like after acquiring the best striker in Spain, David Villa. Then again, we already have a good idea of how strong Barcelona will be. We did, after all, watch Spain win the World Cup.
#1 - Manchester City vs. Liverpool, England, Monday, 3:00 p.m. Eastern
One of the previously impenetrable Big Four against a club that would take its place, and after all the talk of whether Liverpool will bounce back or Manchester City can be a legitimate contender, we may be experiencing some City and Liverpool fatigue. Between the boardroom intrigue at Anfield and the checkbook challenge from City, these two make Manchester United and Chelsea seem outright likeable.
Still, these are two of the ten-or-so most talented teams in the world. It will take a lot more than hyperbolic copy from English tabloids to have me completely overlook the likes of Gerrard and Tevez, Torres and Silva, Mascherano and Touré. Those guys could be playing in orange jump suits on a fenced-in, dirt pitch and I’d want to watch from the tower. Small improvement on that: The two teams will play at Eastlands.
Not a bad way to end a weekend of soccer.
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