Games of the week...

First, Sevilla FC:

With races for the Champion's League and UEFA Cup qualifiers on the line, every single La Liga match for Sevilla will be important from here on out. After last week's extremely disappointing loss to Atlético Madrid, Sevilla now faces a possibly tougher foe in Real Madrid.

Sevilla has already beaten Real Madrid three times this season, one more would make it a clean sweep, though it will be tough in Madrid. They really will have to play one of their best matches of the season, especially with a prime mid-fielder sittin' the next few on the bench. Then again, Real Madrid have had some problems lately, losing their last two matches to Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña. Also on Sevilla's side is the fact that Kanoute is set to play even though his heal has been giving him some troubles lately. Let's Go Sevilla!!!

With Villareal and Atlético Madrid more than 3 points ahead and playing each other ...I almost wonder if a draw between those two would help Sevilla the most ...and that's IF Sevilla could beat Real Madrid somehow. Anyway, in La Liga, the matches to watch would be:

Saturday:
Villareal v. Atlético Madrid 5 pm

Sunday:
Real Madrid v. Sevilla 3 pm

St. Pauli FC:

At the other end of the scale we have St. Pauli struggling a bit in their first year back in the second bundesliga. So each match is important for them as well. Last week they won for the first time in 2008, and of their last 13 matches 10 have been a draw. I think many of those could have been 3 points but several they were lucky to get the point. This Sunday's match would be a definite must win as they pair up against SCPaderborn 07, who is currently in last place in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Sligo Rovers:

Seems as though the Rovers are off to a very rough start and are struggling a bit as well. Tonight they face UC Dublin who currently sit 7th in the standings with Sligo Rovers behind them a few in 10th place. Got my "third" jersey on in support today at work. Let's Go Bit O' Red! (Still looking for some sort of update on this match as this is being published.) (EDIT: Ended in a 0-0 draw.)

Other matches of note:

As you probably know, i'm not a huge EPL fan, but with all the US players getting picked up, it's hard for me not to hope Fulham does well...and, lately, they haven't. Saturday's match is the true definition of a "must win" match as they face the team that sits firmly in last place.

Derby v. Fulham 11 am on Saturday, FSC

The MLS Kicks-Off later in the evening on Saturday, and while i'm probably and smidge
more interested in this than the average US soccer fan deeply into any other foreign league, I'll probably pass on these...maybe. Pretty surei'll miss the New England Revolution v. Houston Dynamo match due to other plans throughout the day. That one's at 7:30pm on FSC.

If I catch any of either one I might watch some of the Colorado Rapids v. LA Galaxy at 9:30 pm on FSC.

U.S. in a few important friendlies

Today is the first of a few friendlies that the U.S.M.N.T. have lined for them. In our last two meetings with Poland, the U.S. has faired rather well winning in both European meet-ups. But, this go around everything changes, the Polish side has a new coach, who helped them reach the Euros this year (even beat Portugal and Belgium). Poland poses a formidable test for the Americans ahead of upcoming meetings with world powers England, Argentina, and Spain, all scheduled for later this spring. U.S. Coach Bradley will be fielding a mostly European based roster...said to be one of our strongest teams since our Gold Cup win last summer...which we won with a Benny Feilhaber goal that is still one of my all-time favorites.

Though this will be one of the strongest teams the U.S. has ever fielded, it will be tough as they haven't played together since the Gold Cup. A match or two at the least will be needed to give the team some cohesion and confidence I would imagine. This is what I would imagine these friendlies are for as we prepare for World Cup qualifiers that begin in June. Poland is probably doing the same as they work towards Euro 2008 which is also this summer. (Edit: That's On Point has another take on this "strongest team" thing, definitely check it out as well.)

Good luck the the U.S. Match is at 3:30p ET and airs on Fox Soccer Channel...which I can't watch at work! :(

(Newer edit: Can't record it but found another online ticker stream for the game. And it's on blogger.

News from La Liga...

Nine-year-old protestors and a missing mid-fielder for a major match...
From the International Herald Tribune...

Standing and saluting or running around the field...either way do they really know what the song is for?

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — An FC Barcelona youth team has boycotted the Spanish anthem at an international tournament for the second straight year.

The Catalans refused to stand for the anthem before their match against Benfica at the Mediterranean International Cup on Saturday, a tournament featuring players under the age of nine.

Instead, the team began warming up while their Portuguese opponents stood in line.

"Regrettably, Barcelona again broke FIFA's protocol before 20,000 spectators," tournament director Ricardo Godoy said in Tuesday's edition of Marca newspaper.

Godoy said he received an "aggressive" letter from Barcelona president Joan Laporta stating that Barcelona would abandon the tournament should it be forced to stand for the anthem.

Godoy is considering taking the case to FIFA.

"You don't use kids as political tools," he said.

___

And in the "Worst Timing Ever" category, Sevilla will be missing a needed mid-fielder in several of the season's final matches...a very crucial time for them.

MADRID, Spain (AP) — The Spanish football federation suspended Sevilla midfielder Vincenzo Maresca for four games Tuesday for headbutting Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero.

Maresca was immediately ejected in the 60th minute of Atletico's 2-1 victory at Sevilla on Saturday.

Sevilla will be without the Italian player for Sunday's game at league leader Real Madrid. Maresca is eligible to return April 27 at Murcia after missing games against Villarreal, Mallorca and Almeria.

Sevilla is sixth in the standings with 45 points, five behind Atletico for the fourth and final Champions League qualifying place.

This town IS big enough...

Seems as though starting your own club is the new trend with dissatisfied EPL fans. Next up, Liverpool fans have decided it's their turn to create a club whose matches they can afford to attend on a regular basis. I think this is really the saddest part of the changes in any league. To price out your long time and usually the strongest of fans, just to boost the net gains of the club itself. Doesn't advertising bring in loads for any decent club? And let's not even get into the very high-priced contracts that many athletes have signed into lately, I'm sure they deserve it, but who pays? Not the owners obviously.

Sadly this happens with a lot of smaller sports teams, even amateur teams. I can only speak directly about our local "Seminoles." When I was a wee lad, won't directly discuss dates or age but it was definitely over 15 years ago, the going rate for a regular season pass was about $40-60, depending on the number of home games. Now, I understand that with inflation that price will surely rise over time, but as the team gets better and/or more popular the owner understands more money is there to be had. Prices begin to rise exponentially. Today a regular season pass is now in the $300/season pass range.

All said and done, i'm just jealous Liverpool has enough fans for a single soccer club, much less two...Tallahassee had a team...a while ago...but no more.

R.I.P. Tallahassee Scorpions and the E.I.S.L
1997-1998

England all the way huh...

While all four teams making it to the Champions' League Quarter-finals are English Premier League teams...I feel I must make note of a certain "official" ranking site. I do this also because it is the EPL that is frequently touted as the greatest league with the greatest teams. An example would be the recent quote from Man. U.'s Sir Alex Ferguson, "'The Premier League is the strongest in Europe.
Personally, I agree with That's On Point's latest take on this, in which the top EPL teams are better than other leagues' top teams, but with the money the EPL has to spend how could they not buy the best teams?? But, to consider all teams from the top to the bottom I think the UEFA ranking is more correct.

While I may be a little biased, I still believe this "official" ranking holds true. Just look at the point spreads of each league. Currently, the comparison between the top and the bottom teams of each league are EPL = 56 points, Italy Series A = 46 points, La Liga = 43 and even the Bundesliga is only seperated by 33 points. I could be wrong but I think I remember a time last year (after the winter break) in which the top ten La Liga teams were only seperateda by about 12 points. I know this isn't the only indicator, some could say the whole league is subpar (and we know this isn't true), but when you have that strong of a league, there won't be as big of a spread.

Just wanted to put that out there.

(Total sidenote that I also just wanted to add: Here's an article about attendance for leagues all over Europe vs MLS.)

A Bout With Unlucky

After an "eh, okay" first half and a barrage of shots from the US in the second half, the US and Cuba ended last night's match tied at 1-1 in the first round of Olympic qualifiers.

Adu had a pretty good night with several shots that just barely missed, he even put in a few great passes and one perfect set-up for a shot to Findley who tried to rush the shot, all but handing it to the Cuban keeper. But even Adu had a few rough spots sprinkled here and there. Rough spots aside, it was the bad luck that really hampered the U.S. With 19 shots and too many "near misses" to think of, luck was definitely not on the side of the U.S. Even the goal that Cuba scored seemed to get deflected a couple times, just enough to get past the keeper and into the net.

With all this working against them, the U.S. side still looked strong and patient and I think with a little more pratice together (they'd only been together for 10 days prior to the match) and a few inspiring words from the coaches, they will do even better in their next match, which is Thurday evening (8pm ET), March 13, against Panama. I can only hope a few more soccer fans make it out to this (or the next) match, as the attendance was only a little over 4,300. After not qualifying for the 2004 Olympics, this was not our best start, but we still have two more qualifiers to go and they did end rather strong in the second half.

(Sidenote: I know it's a part of the game, but it was frustrating for the last 10 minutes of the match when Cuba was obviously dragging their feet to get time off the clock. The red carded Linares, who scored Cuba's goal, took over a minute just to walk off the pitch after being ejected...though I also disagreed with the call, that's ridiculous. Not to mention their captain who went down no less than three times with an appearant cramp that needed tending to.)

A quote from Captain Edu:
“In the second half we started pressing them again and were creating a few chances. We were unlucky not to finish one. If he had put one of those in the net, the game probably would have been out of reach, but that happens.From here we just move on and we know we’ve got to get points in the next game.”

One of the many close opportunities as midfielder Kljestan goes up for a ball crossed over in front of the goal in the second half. His shot went just wide of the goal.

FC ST PAULI...match cast

As it stands, this ESPN site is the only one I know of that will have "updated" info about the match this afternoon against TSV 1860 Munich. I hope to find a better one with more detail and info. We shall see.

Let's Go Boys in Brown! NO MORE DRAWS!!

And speaking of the Bhoys in Brown, looks as though a little band known as The Wakes (formerly Murphy's Law) are working on (or have recorded, I can't quite tell from the quality of this video) a new song FOR "the fans of St. Pauli." Check out this live recording of "The Pirates of the League" from a couple weeks ago.