Weekend Watch: Pat Yourself on the Back

By: Bob | August 17th, 2007

One-by-one leagues around the world are shaking the dust off and starting their seasons so that every weekend for the next nine months or so will be a veritable football orgy. This weekend sees some important early season games, as well as the start of another World Cup. Here is a random sampling of what is on tap.

Saturday

Schalke 04 v Borussia Dortmund – The Revier Derby is always an intense affair in Germany. As if the rivalry needed any extra meaning, at the end of last season Schalke stumbled against Borussia and ultimately were beaten out for the Bundesliga championship by Stuttgart by just two points. The other fun Bundesliga game will feature Bayern Munich’s Miroslav Klose playing against his old club Werder Bremen.

New York Red Bulls v LA Galaxy - If Beckham doesn’t score seven goals all 60,000 in attendance at Giants Stadium should demand their money back. Yes, 60,000 at Giants Stadium. Wow.

Le Mans v Lille - After three round in French Ligue 1, Le Mans are on top of the table. Surely that is going to change, right? We’ll see if they can continue their fine early season form today against a Lille side that is off to a slow start.

AZ Alkmaar v VVV Venlo - The Dutch Eredivisie kicks off this weekend and that means plenty of attacking, exciting football to go along with teams that always seem to have one too many vowels in their names.

North Korea v England - I always feel like a big pervert watching 17-year-olds play and getting excited. That is probably what will happen when I tune in to watch the U-17 World Cup in South Korea. All those future stars doing their thing on the big stage. Makes my heart go pitter patter. Brazil are the favorite. That seems to always be the case regardless of the tournament. It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction the fans in South Korea give the kids from the North.

Sunday

Liverpool v Chelsea - A huge clash at Anfield early in the Premier League season, especially with Manchester United on the road against Manchester City. The winner will have some separation in the three or four team race that is the Premier League.

Guimaraes v Vitoria Setubal - The Portuguese Liga commences this weekend with Vitoria de Guimaraes returning to the top flight after a season in the second division. They have a player named Pele on their roster so you know they are serious about staying up this time.

San Lorenzo v River Plate - We are in week three in Argentina and this is the first game for River Plate. They missed the first week because of an Asian tour. They sat out the second week over hooligan fears. They’ll get it going this week against holders San Lorenzo.

River Plate v Liverpool - It is week one in the Primeria Division de Uruguay and just to keep things interesting they have decided to have a team from Argentina play a team from England. It will be like the Falklands War all over again.

Beitar Jerusalem v Bnei Yehuda - The football season begins in Israel this weekend and the smart money is on Beitar to repeat as champions. Hapoel, Haifa and Maccabi are all teams to keep an eye on.