Weekend Watch: Polly want a goalscorer?

By: Bob | July 27th, 2007

Do you smell that? That is the scent of footballers the world over starting to break a sweat. After enduring the slowest part of the global football season, the activity is starting to pick up. Clubs are playing meaningless exhibitions, tournaments are winding up and seasons in some of the smaller leagues are getting underway. Pat yourself on the back because you have survived the summer slowdown. Here’s a look at some randomly selected games that might be worthy of your attention this weekend.

Saturday

Cherno More v Sampdoria - The Intetoto Cup goes forward with teams battling it out for UEFA Cup qualifying glory. The Serie A club Sampdoria defeated Cherno More 1-0 in the first leg but now that must travel to Varna, Bulgaria to take on the “Black Sea”.

FC Dallas v CF Pachuca - The SuperLiga rolls on at Pizza Hut Park. Dallas drew with Chivas in their opening game. Pachuca lost to the LA Galaxy in their SuperLiga debut. None of the MLS sides has lost to this point.

Schalke 04 v Bayern Munich – It is the final of the German League Cup, a preseason tournament that is designed to get us all pumped up for the Bundesliga season ahead where these two teams will likely slug it out all season long.

Olympique Lyon v Sochaux – What do you get when you take the league champions and match them against the cup champions? The Trophy of Champions. For a brief moment this match was going to be held in China, but that was scratched and it is back on French soil.

SV Mattersburg v SK Sturm Graz - Is it really possible that they could already be in the fourth week of the Austrian Bundesliga season? Time flies when you aren’t playing close attention. SV Mattersburg are your current table toppers. Despite playing in a town of only 6,300 people, Mattersburg consistently draw some of the largest crowds in Austria.

Sunday

Iraq v Saudi Arabia – Ho hum. You predicted these two teams would be playing in the final of the Asian Cup right? This should actually be a fun game to watch. I have been rooting for Iraq and not just because I feel guilty about the whole invading a country and causing chaos thing.

Hamburg SV v FC Dacia - When they line up in Germany today, FC Dacia will not only be playing to advance in the Intertoto Cup, but they also will be playing for all of Moldova. The little guys who could managed a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home. They’ll probably get smoked today but I’ll still drink a few bottles of Moldovan wine in their honor.

Lucerne v Young Boys - Those Young Boys just never seem to grow old. The Swiss season is underway with Lucerne taking on the lads from Berne. Or more accurately they face the players from 12 different countries who play for the Young Boys club which is based in Berne and is called Young Boys so as not to cause confusion with the Old Boys Basel club.

Toronto FC v Chicago - Cuauhtémoc Blanco makes his MLS debut for the Fire and it is about time we all learn how to spell his first name.