There Is Only One Sinnacle

The final qualifying games for the World Cup last week may of been bigger than this weekends clashes but I couldn’t enjoy those games. This weekend I get to kick back and enjoy some marquee matches. In England we have the Merseyside derby between Everton and a Liverpool team on the ropes after being knocked out of the Championship League. Then Arsenal after losing to Sunderland last weekend go against Chelsea in a huge test for the gunners. Will Arsenal be able to defeat Chelsea and shown the naysayers this could be the year or will it be another year for this forever young Arsenal side?

In Portugal you have Sporting Clube de Portugal vs Benfica. New coach for Sporting in Carlos Carvalhal, who is only on a one year contract (with a club opinion). Carvalhal can go along way to securing a long term future with Sporting with a win against a Benfica side who are licking their wounds after last weekends cup exit to Vitória de Guimarães.

This reminds me. We get a lot of soccer in North American. A vast amount more compared to ten years ago but unless you get the premium international channels (if your cable/sat provides offers it) you are still missing many great games. Just look at this list right off the top of my head.

Sporting vs Benfica
Benfica vs Porto
Celtic vs Rangers
River Plate vs Boca
Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce
Ajax vs PSV
AEK Athens vs Panathinaikos

If I was in charge of Setanta I’d feature an European game of the week featuring teams from outside of England/Spain/Germany/France/Italy/Russia leagues currently shown by football broadcasters in North America.

Moving on Italy we have the derby between Genoa and Sampdoria. Italian head coach Marcello Lippi will be in the stands to watch this heated contest but even if Antonio Cassano scores five he won’t be going to South Africa.

Finally, Barcelona may be more than just a club but the El Clásico is without a doubt more than just a game. The eyes of the world will be watching Lionel Messi and the real return of Cristiano Ronaldo. I’m afraid to hype this match up as I’m fearful of this game not living up to it but my guess will be a 1-1 or 2-2 draw which will suit league leaders Real Madrid just fine.

Enjoy the games everyone.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Euro Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.