Avoiding the Drop

F.C. Porto v. C.F. Os Belenenses (Friday)

I feel like, at some point, you kind of have to feel for Freddy Adu- there’s no way he could have ever lived up to the hype. Just keep in mind, however, he’s still only 20, and he has scored the same number of goals for the USMNT as Conor Casey in one less appearance, and he’s eight years younger. I’m just sayin’… Fun Fact: Belenenses is one of only two teams outside of the “Big Three” that has won the Portuguese championship- of course that was 65 years ago. Fun Fact 2: The New England Revolution’s Edgaras Jankauskas played five matches for Belenenses in 2008. He also played 64 matches for Porto between 2002 and 2005. Fun Fact 3: Porto’s Brazilian striker Givanildo Vieira de Souza is nicknamed “Hulk.” Don’t make him angry, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry…

Columbus Crew v. Real Salt Lake (Saturday)

So, this should pretty much be a scrimmage for the Crew, right? The best team in MLS against the team that didn’t qualify for the playoffs until their very last match, and yet… I have to say that I was impressed by how RSL “got in there” in their final match against rivals Colorado- they clearly wanted to win more than the Rapids did, and it showed. In terms of talent I don’t think they have what it takes to win it all, but Columbus better not take them lightly if they hope to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Both teams have key players carrying injuries- Chad Marshall for Columbus and Kyle Beckerman and Robbie Findley for Real Salt Lake- but all are expected to play. Fun Fact: I had no idea that Columbus had a population of over 750,000 people.

Arsenal F.C. v. Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (Saturday)

This was always going to be a marquee match-up: both are big clubs and both are from London. Lately, however, only Arsenal have been part of the EPL’s “Big Four.” Things are a different this year. Tottenham has displaced Liverpool from the Big Four and there’s a chance that Manchester City or Aston Villa could crash the party as well. Not only will both teams have an eye on the championship and European football, they’ll also have to keep an eye on the teams behind them for the first time in years. Wait, that was three “eyes,” wasn’t it? Moving on, matches like this will give us an idea if Spurs are “for real” or if they’ve just been fattening up on the weaker teams in the EPL. Arsenal, meanwhile, will be looking to take advantage of the game in hand they have over the rest of the current “big four.”

Burnley F.C. v. Hull City F.C. (Saturday)

On the surface this is a far as one could get from a “glamour match” in the EPL this weekend. Who gets excited for one of last year’s promoted teams playing against one of this year’s promoted teams? Well, in this case, everyone should. A win for Burnley will likely put them into the top half of the table with almost a third of the season gone. At this point falling back into the relegation zone would take a collapse the likes of which we haven’t seen since, well, Hull last year. A Burnley win will also mean we’ll get to play a game called, “Is this the result that gets Phil Brown fired?” for potentially the last time. His boss just resigned, but he doesn’t think that means anything for his position- really, Phil? Really? And, Phil, your to two scorers have a combine five goals, take off your goofy earpiece- and play Jozy!

Ross County F.C. v. Queen of the South F.C. (Saturday)

County’s draw with Partick Thistle last weekend dropped them into second place in the SFL’s First Division, one point behind promotion favorites Dundee F.C., so a win this week against Queen of the South will be important- Queen of the South is in third place, just a point behind County. Scotland is not a big country, but the road trip from Dingwall (County’s home) to Dumfries (Queen of the South’s home) might be the longest in the current SFL/SPL set up- 250 miles and five hours by bus. A trip like that would require a lot of Irn-Bru and McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits if I were the one making it. Fun Fact: On the A862 from Inverness to Dingwall you can smell the Glen Ord Distillery before you can see it. For some of you, I’m sure that sounds like heaven!

Celtic F.C. v. Kilmarnock F.C. (Saturday)

I am breaking my long-standing rule of not giving the “Old Firm” any more exposure than absolutely necessary on this site because something very interesting could happen in the Scottish Premier League this weekend. This probably has more to do with the decline in the quality of football played by Rangers and Celtic this year than the improvement of the other teams that “make up the numbers in the SPL, but if results go the way I’d like them to this weekend here is what could happen: Celtic and Hibernian could both be on 20 points and Rangers and Dundee United could be on 19 points. Sure, things will probably be back to “normal” by the end of the season, but anything that makes the two Glasgow giants sweat a bit between now and then is fine by me.

Hibernian F.C. v. Aberdeen F.C. (Saturday)

As I mentioned above, if Celtic lose to Kilmarnock and the Hibees can defeat the Dons, Hibernian will be equal on points with Celtic. If Rangers lose in their match with Dundee United, Hibernian could be a point ahead of Rangers and Rangers would be tied with Dundee United. I’d love to see Aberdeen get their act together- they made the “Big Two” into the “Big Three” for a while in the 1980s- but not this week- okay? Fun Fact: Two of Hibernian’s biggest fans are Charlie and Craig Reid- The Proclaimers. Fun Fact 2: Aberdeen has a player on its roster who appears to have been named after a Bond villain- “Zander Diamond.” Fun Fact 3: I saw my first professional match at Hibernian’s Easter Road, Hibernian against Motherwell- it.was.awesome.

Rangers F.C. v. Dundee United F.C. (Saturday)

Given what I’ve said about the above matches, I think you know I want Rangers to lose, and that’s not out of the realm of possibility. I don’t know what happens, but whenever Rangers find themselves playing against Dundee United, they seem to have trouble. League match, Cup match, it doesn’t matter. Even in the matches where Rangers come out on top, they seem to struggle right up the final minute- like when they had to go to penalties to beat United in the 2008 League Cup final. Whatever football intelligence I have tells me there are two factors at work here: First, that United have an excellent manager in the perennially under-rated Craig Levein, and second, that they are a big, physical team- especially on the back line, which averages well over six feet.

Chicago Fire S.C. v. New England Revolution (Sunday)

In a chain of events too wonderful to believe, every single result went the way of the Revolution and they then did their part with an impressive win over the Crew to make the playoffs for the eighth straight season. As I’ve noted in several forums, this is enough for me, anything else that New England accomplishes will just be that much nicer as they had to do a great deal just to make it this far. Chicago was in the mix all season and they have to feel like they are the favorites to move on to the Eastern Conference finals. And yet… there’s just something about this team that doesn’t say “champions” to me. They may beat New England, they may even move on to represent the East in the Cup, but I can’t see them winning. Something about their biggest star never- ever- giving 100% rankles me…

L.A. Galaxy v. Chivas U.S.A. (Sunday)

As much as I don’t like to buy into the “derby matches” in MLS, even this “SuperClassico” (they all seem artificially manufactured) having the two teams in Los Angeles facing off in the first round of the playoffs can’t be a bad thing for the supporters of both teams and for the league either. MLS, of course, is positively salivating over the possibility of having Beckham (and Donovan too, I guess) in MLS Cup. I’m sure that, if I were some kind of conspiracy theorist, I might even say MLS would love to “engineer” things so that the Galaxy make it all the way to the final. That of course, could never, ever, happen. Ever. Luckily for the Galaxy (and for MLS), Chivas’ “official” injury list contains a dozen players, so the Galaxy can probably win it on the field.

SC Freiburg v. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Sunday)

Plucky little Hoffenheim intrigues me for several reasons- not all of them good. The good ones are that I, like just about everyone, wants things to work out for this “little club that could.” And at the same time, a single word keeps popping back into my head, “Gretna.” The little club that could…until it’s Sugar Daddy died and it became the “Little Club That Doesn’t Exist Anymore.” Things seem a bit more stable than that at Hoffenheim, but just the same, I hope Dietmar Hopp doesn’t go the way of Brooks Mileson. As for Freiburg, they are only two points above the relegation places in the Bundesliga, so a win here would go a long way towards improving their prospects- it could bring them to a mid-table position. Fun Fact: Freiburg’s Badenova-Stadion is solar-powered.

AFC Ajax v. Feyenoord Rotterdam (Sunday)

This is the Klassieker Derby. I feel like the Dutch have been getting a bit more coverage in the Weekend Preview than is probably good for them or us, but this is one of those traditionally “big” matches that really cannot be ignored. These perennial powers meet with Ajax in third place and Feyenoord in fourth place in the Dutch Eredivisie, so if either team hopes to win the league this year, they’re going to need to win here. Feyenoord’s Roy Makaay is 34 and approaching the end of his career- why isn’t he more famous? He’s played for some big clubs (Deportivo La Coruna and Bayern Munich for a start) and scored 250 goals in 507 league matches as well as 16 goals in 43 appearances for the Netherlands. Those are great number in any league or era.