Weekend Watch: Sleeping with the enemy

By: Bob | October 5th, 2007

On a scale of one to ten with ten being the highest, this football weekend is a ten. In fact, every football weekend is a ten when your heart is still beating and there are games to be watched. This weekend features some top of the table clashes, local derbies and enough intriguing action to keep us all more than entertained for 48 hours. Here is a random selection of games that will make you do the happy, happy, joy, joy dance.

Saturday

Schalke 04 v Karlsruhe – It isn’t much of a surprise that Schalke 04 are right behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga table, but it is a surprise seeing Karlsruhe’s name in third place. After nine years in the lower division, they have gotten off to an impressive campaign, beating the likes of Stuttgart, Nurnberg and Dortmund.

Rangers v Hibernian – You might expect a bit of a letdown from Rangers after their impressive Champions League triumph at Lyon, but they better be focused because they have a tricky match against Hibs at Ibrox. Hibernian are in third in the Scottish Premier League table, just a point off Celtic and Rangers.

Malmo FF v IFK Goteborg – Goteborg are in a dogfight at the top of the table in Sweden. They are level with Djurgardens IF with three games remaining in the season. Today they face a Malmo side that is stuck in the middle of the pack, but always is dangerous at home.

Danubio v Penarol – It was a pair of Bulgarian brothers who founded the Uruguayan club Danubio in 1932. If they were alive today, they could watch their third-place team take on Penarol, the most popular club in the country who play in a stadium located where the first World Cup goal was scored.

Sunday

Barcelona v Atletico Madrid – While I can take no credit for discovering Lionel Messi, I will take credit for being the only one talking about Sergio Aguero way back on April 10, 2006. Flash forward to today where the 19-year-old Argentine is the toast of Atletico Madrid and is tied with the 20-year-old Messi atop the La Liga goal scoring charts. If these two learn how to co-exist, Argentina could be sick in 2010.

Fiorentina v Juventus – Claudio Ranieri makes his return to the club he managed in the mid-90s, but he won’t be joined by Juve fans because they have been banned from the match because of the violence following last week’s Turin derby.

Bordeaux v Lyon – After being cold cocked by Rangers in the Champions League, Lyon have the tricky task on going on the road to face a Bordeaux side that is third in the table and hungry to go on top.

River Plate v Boca Juniors – River Plate is 10th in the table and struggling mightily to find their form, but that doesn’t matter when they line up against Boca Juniors in one of the great rivalry games in the world.

Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets – It is first place versus second place Down Under in Australia’s only true local derby. The locals call it the F3 derby. I have no idea why.

Know of a game that we should follow or be excited about? Feel free to hype it in the comments.