Saturday
Liverpool vs. Everton
Two teams, and their thousands of supporters who normally occupy stadiums 500 yards apart, travel down from Liverpool in the north of England to London in the south to play an F.A. Cup semifinal at Wembley.
The game falls on the 23rd anniversary of 96 Liverpool fans being crushed to death at another semifinal in Sheffield in 1989.
Winning or losing this game will make or break the season for these neighbors and rivals.
Liverpool, the red team in their shared city, needs the F.A. Cup to satisfy the owners from Boston that their investment is on the right path. Everton, the blue side, craves a buyer to put it on anywhere near a level financial field.
The clubs have met 217 times. Liverpool has won 87 and Everton 66; 64 games were drawn.
And into all of this step two men who have never played in the Liverpool derby. Everton's impressive new Croatian striker, Nikica Jelavic, will be shooting against Liverpool's third-string goalie, Brad Jones.
The Australian keeper steps up because Pepe Reina and Alexander Doni are suspended. But nerves might not be Jones's paramount emotion this weekend: His partner, Dani, gave birth to a son last week. Five months ago, the couple's first child died of leukemia.
Norwich City vs. Manchester City
Just a regular Premier League game? Not exactly.
The entire Norwich lineup cost less than Manchester City pays for a star player. But Norwich is enjoying life back in the big time, and City is straining in the attempt to capture the English league title for the first time since 1968.
"They need to beat us to stand any chance of the title," says Norwich winger Anthony Pilkington. "We'll carry on with what we've been doing. We won't take our foot off the gas, and we're hoping for another win against one of the best sides in Europe."
Real Madrid vs. Sporting; Gijon Levante vs. Barcelona
Madrid still has the advantage, and, on paper, has the easier task this weekend in the Spanish league race.
Both Real and Barcelona, however, will try to win in the domestic league while conserving some energy — and preserving key players — ahead of their separate Champions League semifinals in the coming week.
Schalke vs. Dortmund
Normally, nothing else but local bragging rights would matter to these two giant clubs of the Ruhr industrial region. A derby it may be, but though Schalke is in third place in the Bundesliga, it is too far back to trouble Dortmund as the champion-elect.
For Dortmund, after its sweet victory over second-place Bayern Munich at midweek, the priority is not to slip up.
For Schalke, chasing Champions League qualification, the prize would be to become the first German side since last September to put a dent in Dortmund's long unbeaten run in the Bundesliga.
Sunday
Tottenham vs. Chelsea
The second F.A. Cup semi at Wembley. This time, the venue is convenient for two London sides, but the evening kickoff is highly disruptive to Chelsea's task of being the lone English team left in the Champions League.
After the game against Spurs, which will be feisty enough, the Chelsea players will have three days to count their bruises and get their minds around tackling Barcelona in the bigger semifinal, against the European champion.
Chelsea's strength is its weakness. Its players have plenty of experience with big-match demands, but some — Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole — are in their thirties, and feeling the strain of their years.
Manchester United vs. Aston Villa
United simply has to match on Sunday whatever points City picks up Saturday to maintain its five-point lead in the Premiership. Villa is battling to stay in the division.
Cesena vs. Juventus
For Juve, read United above. The Turin team, undefeated in Serie A this season, has the race in its pocket provided it matches, or betters, whatever result A.C. Milan achieves at home against Genoa on Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment