Weekend Watch: Give it some Thought

By: Laurie | January 18th, 2008

Some games you may want to consider for this weekend:

Saturday

US vs. Sweden. It’s the US Men’s National Team’s 500th game. And they have a chance to go .500. Eerie, huh? And Landon Donovan has a chance to overtake Eric Wynalda as the United States’ all-time leading goal scorer with just one goal. Or maybe two. (Televised on Fox Soccer.)

Birmingham City vs. Chelsea, EPL. Birmingham is 5-5-12. Chelsea is 14-5-3. Chelsea should win, but every fan knows that “should win” are the two most dangerous words in football. And then we have my big question: Will Anelka start?

Portuguesa v. Santos Brazil is back! Okay, yes, I picked this game at random. But our Brazil blogger Bruno Romani tells us that the Paulista championship started this week. (And Adriano scored. Looks like life in Brazil is a good thing for him after all.) Stop by the Brazil blog and hear about the best games from somebody who knows.

Sunday

African Cup of Nations kicks off. First, stop by and read the stellar coverage on our sister site, World Cup Blog. Then watch the games. First up is the Sunday game: Ghana v. Guinea. You can watch all games online at Telesud.com.

Udinese vs. AC Milan Up for grabs is play in Europe next year. At least for…Udinese?!? Udinese are currently fourth in Serie A and looking for a Champions League spot. They play last year’s Champions League champs, who have not been having a great season and are currently sitting 12th in the table. But Milan have their new little secret weapon: Pato, Pato, Pato.

Lens vs. LyonLigue 1 leaders Lyon will look to recover from a lackluster loss against Le Mans in the Coupe de France this week. Lens is looking to recover from a lackluster season in general. They’re currently sitting 18th and will get relegated unless they can turn it around. Look for a hard-fought game with pride on the line.

And as Nolan pointed out in the comments, I somehow missed the Madrid derby. So let’s add that one in too. Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid. This should be an exciting one. Real Madrid is sitting top of the table, but they crashed out of the Copa del Rey this week, proving they’re not invincible. Atlético is currently sitting third and would love to be a giant killer.

And as Ian also pointed out, the Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibernian plays out this weekend as well. Hibernian are at last feeing hopeful and hoping they’ve seen the end of a poor streak. Hearts is also not doing so great. Says Ian: If we’re lucky, Vlad Romanov will cover himself in war paint and run on the pitch fighting invisible monkeys. Not the most stable billionaire. Sounds like a game worth watching!