Avoiding the Drop

You should have asked him, Bob, you should have begged him...

UN Käerjéng 97 v. CS Oberkorn (Friday)

I may be guilty of a lot of things, but skipping the final match of the season in Luxembourg? I don’t think so! One of these teams will play in Luxembourg’s top league- the Nationaldivisioun- next year and the other will play in the second tier Éirepromotioun- who will it be? UN Käerjéng 97 finished in 12^th place in the top flight and are only in the relegation playoffs due to inferior goal differential- despite having the league’s second leading goal scorer. They reached the top flight only this year, so they’ll be plenty motivated. Oberkorn finished third in the second division and lets just say that their “web presence” is a little weak- especially if your Luxembourgish is as rusty as mine is. I suspect, however, that should they win, they will be promoted to the Nationaldivisioun for the first time.

New England Revolution v. New York Red Bulls (Saturday)

Shalrie Joseph may be back, but the rest of the Revs injury report does not make for good reading. Edgaras Jankauskas has been upgraded to “questionable,” Emmanuel Osei and Michael Videira are still “doubtful” and Darius Barnes, Matt Reis, and Taylor Twellman are all still “out.” It looks like more playing time for Khano Smith…and that’s not good. As for New York, I can’t tell you how much it pains me to see them getting off to a good start- at least Columbus has overtaken them for first place in the Eastern Conference. Fun Fact: I don’t care how many times I read it, I’m not going to believe a word about Thierry Henry playing for the Red Bulls until I see it for myself. Fun Fact 2: I haven’t been to a Revs’ match yet this year- I’m going to have to do something about that soon.

Columbus Crew v. L.A. Galaxy (Saturday)

This is a battle of first place teams though that is a situation that may be changing in the near future. First, this is going to be the beginning of an interesting few weeks for the Galaxy. They’ve established themselves as the best team in MLS, but now they are going to lose both Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to World Cup duty. Second, the Crew- who will have just as great a record as L.A. if they win their games in hand- meanwhile, are not losing anyone to international duty. The Crew also don’t have a lot of competition in their conference (sorry, Red Bulls), so looking ahead one has to wonder which team will be in better shape when action resumes after the World Cup group stage? Fun Fact: Crew manager Robert Warzycha never played in a World Cup or European Championship.

D.C. United v. Chivas USA (Saturday)

From a battle of first place teams we move to a battle of last place teams. Chivas are in last place in the Western Conference, but to be fair they are probably better than the bottom five teams in the Eastern Conference. D.C., conversely, have only a single win over Kansas City, and if that match were replayed at this point in the season, I think the Wizards would be run-away winners. I have a hard time seeing this match ending in anything other than a Chivas win. Fun Fact: D.C. United- by far the worst team in MLS- beat A.C. Milan in a midweek friendly. Given that the team included Ronaldinho, Pato, Seedorf and others, I have to wonder if the Italians played blindfolded. Fun Fact 2: Will Chivas USA be better off without Jonathan Bornstein who, inexplicably, made the USMNT roster?

Toronto F.C. v. San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday)

We’ve looked at the top two teams, the two last place teams, and now we’ll take a look at- in my opinion- two surprise third place teams. I’m not sure which of these two teams are showing me more this year. Toronto’s first three seasons ended in two last place finishes and a fifth place finish, but this year they’ve taken advantage of a weak Eastern Conference and look poised to make their first playoff appearance. Here’s what you need to know about San Jose- only goal differential has them in third place, and if they were to win their two games in hand they could be only four points behind the first place Galaxy! Fun Fact: Quakes coach Frank Yallop played at Ipswich for seven years before making the Canadian National team- were there really that many Canadian players better than him?

Houston Dynamo v. Philadelphia Union (Saturday)

Now that the newness and excitement has worn off a bit the Union are right where you’d expect an expansion team to be- struggling to avoid last place in the Eastern Conference. Still, having watched them play a few times, they look like they have a bright future and I think Peter Nowak will get them there. Houston, despite what the Western Conference table may say, are right where you’d expect them to be- near the top. Technically, they are in fourth place, but it’s only as a result of a small disadvantage in the goal differential column. Like Philly, they’ve got a good coach in charge of them and you can expect them to fulfill their potential by the end of the season. Fun Fact: According to several news sources the Union’s French striker Sebastien Le Toux has made it clear he’d be happy to play for the U.S., hmm…

St. Patrick’s Athletic F.C. v. Drogheda United F.C. (Saturday)

Fighting out of this corner we have St. Patrick’s Athletic, currently in second place but only a point out of first and looking to get into the Champions League. In the opposite corner we have Drogheda, currently in the relegation playoff spot and, quite frankly, losing ground to eighth-place Sligo at an enormous rate. St. Patrick’s Athletic will are led by joint top goal scorer and American expat Ryan Guy of San Diego, CA- which was discovered by the Germans in 1904. Fun Fact: Drogheda United play at Hunky Dorys Park, which may represent the nadir of the modern “naming rights” debacle. The Hunky Dorys logo the team wears on its tops is even worse. Fun Fact 2: Drogheda’s American forward Jamie Duffy has also played for Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, and Longford Town.

Skonto F.C. v. F.K. Liepājas Metalurgs

It’s a big weekend in the Latvian Virsliga as first place Skonto take on second place Liepājas Metalurgs who trail the league leaders by seven points but have a game in hand. What’s that? You don’t know much about football in Latvia? Skonto have a pretty good history- they won fourteen consecutive league titles starting in 1991 and during that time also won seven Latvian Cups (and were runners up on six occasions). Liepājas have won the league only twice, but are the defending champions. Fun Fact: Skonto have three of the top five goal scorers in the Latvian league, which goes a long way towards explaining their +23 goal differential after only seven matches! Fun Fact: New England Revolution forward Edgaras Jankauskas played ten matches for Skonto in 2008.

S.C. Corinthians Paulista v. Santos F.C. (Sunday)

Am I the only one who has no idea who club football works in Brazil? I sometimes think that there aren’t enough days in the year to fit in all the matches in the national leagues, regional leagues, national cups, regional cups, etc. But I digress… This match pits first place Corinthians- who have both Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo (the fat one)- on their roster and second place Santos- whose roster contains the disappointing Robinho and the wildly overrated Neymar- on their roster. Because I have no clue what’s going on “competition-wise” in Brazil I can only tell you that Corinthians have won a lot of stuff in the last few years, while Santos has not won much outside of the Campeonato Paulista in recent years. Fun Fact: Can you think of a famous player who played for Santos? I can.

Barcelona S.C. v. Manta F.C. (Sunday)

The season is over for Barcelona- unless you live in Ecuador! If that’s the case, your team is in first place in Serie A is tied with Nacional for the most league titles ever, and…and…I’ll be damned if I understand the league format in Ecuador. It has three separate stages or some nonsense… If you’re a Manta supporter, well, your team is rather mediocre- they’ve draw eight of their fourteen matches thus far, are solidly in the middle of the league table, and historically have been just about as average. Fun Fact: You’d think that the “mascot” of Manta F.C. would be the “rays,” but you’d be wrong- they are Atuneros- the “tuna fisherman.” Fun Fact 2: Argentine midfielder Marcelo Trobbiani was part of Barcelona’s 1990 Copa Libertadores finals team. I wonder why I mentioned that…