A.J. Auxerre v. Olympique de Marseille (Friday)
In the last few weeks the Ligue 1 table has begun to sort itself out, but that doesn’t mean that the number of big matches has been reduced. First place Marseille have managed to open up a five point lead over Auxerre (and ten points on third place Lille), so they’ll just be looking for a “result” to keep or add to their lead. Auxerre, obviously, will hope for a win in order to bring them within two points of the current league leaders and hold off the cluster of teams (Lille, Montpellier, Lyon, and Bordeaux) who are all still in the mix for a European spot. Fun Fact: While you might not think of Auxerre as a “big club,” consider this: there are 30 players on the first team squad, 8 players out on loan, and 40 players on the reserve squad. Sure, there’s some overlap between the groups, but, “Yikes!”
Ross County F.C. v. Raith Rovers F.C. (Saturday)
As I mentioned in a Ross Country update this week, the Staggies have been out of the title race for a few weeks but they do have some goals that they are still working towards: one more point will give them their highest point total ever and moving up one spot will give them their highest ever finish in the Scottish football qausi-pyramid. After this match, they have a two week break before “the big game” on May 15. No matter what happens in this match Raith cannot move up or down in the table, so one wonders what the club’s motivation will be- pride? While Rovers have taken two of the three previous meetings with County this season, I expect County to win going away as it will be the last chance for players to impress manager Derek Adams ahead of the Cup Final against Dundee United.
New England Revolution v. F.C. Dallas (Saturday)
What’s next, locusts? Just as some of the Rev’s players have begun to return from injuries comes the news that the team’s best player- and one of the three or four best players in MLS- will be on an “indefinite leave of absence” to deal with substance abuse problems. New England’s start to the season has been as good as could be expected given the changes to the team, but how the rest of the season will progress is now a bit more of a mystery. As for Dallas, let me say this about Dallas: Dario Sala is not the answer in goal. Never has been, never will be. Especially when you have Kevin Hartman on the roster. Nothing against the guy, but since his first season he hasn’t been very good. Fun Fact: Dallas’ team colors are “Republic Red,” “Bovine Blue,” “Shawnee Silver,” and “Lone Star White.”
D.C. United v. New York Red Bulls (Saturday)
My how the tables of turned! Instead of “the usual,” it is the Red Bulls that are atop the Eastern Conference standings and D.C. who are languishing at the bottom. Well, perhaps “languishing” is too delicate a word for a team that has yet to win or draw a match and has only managed to score two goals in their first four matches. But they’ve resigned Luciano Emilio to a short term contract (with an eye toward a longer deal), so everything will be just fine. New York, after fashioning a disaster of a season last year, find themselves in first place having won four of their first five matches to start the season. Fun Fact: New York’s new Estonian midfielder Joel Lindpere has been playing top-level club football since the age of fifteen and international football since the age of nineteen.
Liverpool F.C. v. Chelsea F.C. (Sunday)
I realize that this will put me on the bad side of just about everyone who writes for and visits this site, but this is one of those matches when I will be rooting for…wait…for it…meteor. Actually, the more that I think about it, the more I realize that I want Liverpool to lose. I don’t want Chelsea to win the league, but more than that, I want to see the the fire that has been smoldering at Liverpool all season become a raging inferno. I say this not because I hate the club, but because I think that- and selling the club to “football people”- are what it’s going to return the club to being what it was under Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, and Dalglish- probably the best football club in the world. Fun Fact: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich owns the world’s largest yacht, the Eclipse- it is almost two football fields long!
Manchester United F.C. v. Sunderland A.F.C. (Sunday)
With the difference in start times, Manchester United will know the result of the Liverpool-Chelsea match just minutes before kick-off. What they will know is if a win can return them to the top of the table going into the final weekend of the season, or if they need to win just to remain in the race for the title. Sunderland’s goals for this match will be somewhat different. Currently in the top half of the table- and who would have predicted that at the beginning of the season!?- they will be hoping to hold off Blackburn, Fulham, and Stoke while attempting to make up ground on Birmingham. Fun Fact: Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones has played for four clubs since moving to England and they all begin with “S”: Sunderland, Southampton, Stoke City, and Sheffield Wednesday.
Montpellier H.S.C. v. Olympique Lyonnais (Sunday)
Though both have flirted with it during the season, neither of these clubs are going to win the league- but there is still much to play for. Montpellier hold the Europa League spot and are within a point of a Champion’s League playoff spot. Lyon, who trail Montpellier by one point are still in contention for the Europa and the Champions Leagues. Fun Fact: Montepellier’s Cyril Jeunechamp “leads” Ligue 1 disciplinary standings with eight yellows and two reds. The club’s Alberto Costa and Emir Spahic are also in the top fifteen on that list. Not one Lyon player is on the list. Fun Fact 2: The only team in France that comes close to Lyon’s success in the 21st century? Lyon’s women’s team- three league championships (and two 2nd place finishes) and three Cup championships (and four 2nd place finishes).
F.C. Basel 1893 v. A.C. Bellinzona (Sunday)
Bllinzona are done- sixteen points from safety with only four matches left, so unless they award four points for a win in Switzerland… Next year they will pay in the “Challenge League,” which sounds to me like a situation where everyone gets a trophy and a “Certificate of Participation.” Basel are three points behind leaders Young Boys, so they must win if they hope to keep their title hopes alive for another week. And now for the real reason why I chose to preview a Swiss match this weekend… Fun Fact: In the last fifty matches in the Swiss Super League there have been only three draws- three! That’s 6% of matches ending in draws. Over leagues over the same period? EPL 15%, La Liga 14%, Bundesliga 20%, Serie A 14%, and Ligue 1 18%. So, mathletes, what’s going on in Switzerland?
[Note: I missed the fact that the Eredivisie had the week off last week so I was early with these previews. On the bright side, I don't have to write them again this week!]
F.C. Twente ’65 v. NAC Breda (Sunday)
The champion of the Dutch Eredivisie is going to be determined on the final day of the season and Twente control their destiny- a win and they are champions for the first time in the club’s history. Any other result and they have to hope that Ajax lose their final match (see below). To put it mildly, Twente are an “unfashionable” club: the Dutch players on the team are far outnumbered by the foreign players, they have an English manager, their leading scorer is from Costa Rica, and they are not based in Amsterdam- or even Rotterdam. Instead they hail form Enschede, the 14th “largest” city in the Netherlands. Breda will fight this match to the end, however, as they need only catch one team- Groningen- to secure themselves a Europa League playoff spot.
A.F.C. Ajax v. N.E.C. (Sunday)
How a club runs up a +83 goal differential and still finds themselves in second place going into the final match of the season is beyond me- but I was never good at word problems, so I’m sure the explanation is probably pretty simple. That’s the situation for Ajax- 102 goals scored, 19 conceded, and still a point behind leaders Twente. The silver lining, of course, is that, should they ended up tied on points with Twente they will win the Eredivisie on goal differential. N.E.C. are safe from relegation going into the final weekend of the season, but that’s only because the six clubs below them have only earned 17 points in their last 30 combined matches. Fun Fact: N.E.C.’s reserve side features goalkeeper Nicholas Skverer. Depending on the source you consult, he’s either Dutch or American.
For Auxerre to even be in their position is wonderful. The Champions League is better off when teams who build through youth and savvy (read:undervalued) transfers – teams like Auxerre – are in the mix.
I think we are going to see a lot more of this in world football as the financial realities of the times are felt by more and more clubs.
Teams with strong youth programs, teams that are willing to look for players in smaller countries/leagues are going to start emerging (if they haven’t already!) as challengers to those traditional powerhouses in the bigger leagues.
More power to them!
The 9th placed team in Switzerland actually goes to a play-off game vs. the second placed team in that Challenge League, so Bellinzona will still be battling it out with Aarau over that.