Weekend Watch: Tastes Great. Less Filling

By: Bob | June 1st, 2007

It is a weekend reserved for international contests, which means that there are slim pickings when it comes to club football. Most leagues choose to take time off during the international window. MLS is not like most leagues. It is business as usual in the United States and in a few other countries around the world. Here are a few games to keep an eye on while you allow those nationalistic tendencies to creep in.

Saturday

Kazakhstan v Armenia - If you are going to watch only one international game this weekend, well, you probably won’t watch this one. No need to anyway. I can tell you with 100% certainty that my beloved Snow Leopards are going decimate Armenia like they have never been decimated before.

Kansas City v New York Red Bull - Even though it will be played in front of a tiny crowd in cavernous Arrowhead Stadium, this could be the most entertaining MLS game of the weekend with the league’s top two scoring teams squaring off with first place in the Eastern Conference at stake.

Olimpia v Tinidense - They call the team from the Santisima Trinidad barrio in Asuncion, Peru El Triqui and they’ll need to use all of their tricks to get by derby rivals and frequent champions Olimpia.

Sunday

Houston v Dallas - It is a good thing that Texas is a large state otherwise it wouldn’t be able to contain the hatred between these two rivals. Actually, there isn’t as much hatred as there should be because Houston just came into existence last season. Perhaps this game will help lay the foundation for a heated rivalry or maybe it will be just another Sunday kick in the park. Tune in, turn on, drop out.

Napoli v Lecce - Continuing our Sofia Loren breast watch, we find Napoli just two points behind Genoa in the race for automatic promotion from Serie B. They host ninth-place Lecce today, while Genoa take on Mantova. [Update: Sofia says it was all a joke. That tease!]

Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy v Banfield - With a name like Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy you can only hope that they have a nickname and, in fact, they do. El Lobo Jujeno come from northwestern Argentina and are currently in 13th place in the Primera Division. They are a club that bounces from top flight to second flight with a degree of regularity.

Barcelona v LDU Quito - These two clubs in Ecuador don’t especially like each other which means that there is always a possibility that more mayhem will ensue.