Weekend Soccer Preview

Another edition of the Weekend Soccer Preview! As always, home team listed first, all times Eastern.

Game of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
11:00 ET Saturday
Estudiantes La Plata v (1) Barcelona – FSC
By definition, this is the game of the year for Club Football, as it is the FIFA Club World Cup Final. Barcelona come in as obvious favorites and will be looking to claim their sixth piece of silverware on the season. This will be their 64th competitive match of the year and they have won 44 while losing only 5. Thus far they have won La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, Copa del Rey, and the European and Spanish Super Cups in 2009. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is taking their opponents from Argentina seriously, “I’d not seen them play before and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. You can sense their character, and there’s more to them than running, aggression, and tackling.” Barcelona will be without playmaker Andres Iniesta, who is sidelined with a ‘muscle injury.’ Estudiantes La Plata qualified for the Club World Cup by virtue of winning the 2009 Copa Libertadores, the premier club competition in South America. The squad is composed of a couple recognizable names, such as Argentinian internationals Mauro Boselli, Juan Sebastian Veron, and Marcos Angeleri. Okay so maybe not recognizable names, but respectable players nonetheless. I even own a Veron Inter Milan jersey so that has to count for something. Estudiantes sits in 8th in the 20-team Argentinian Premier Division after half of the season.
My Prediction: Barcelona 3, Estudiantes La Plata 1

Other Matches Between Ranked Teams
14:45 ET Saturday
(22) Fiorentina v (7) AC Milan – FSC
AC Milan sits in 2nd place in the table, 7 positions and 7 points ahead of 9th place Fiorentina. AC Milan won 5 consecutive matches in Serie A before stumbling to a 2-0 loss against Palermo at home last weekend. Interestingly, they have drawn their last three games in the Champions League 1-1. Fiorentina has struggled as of late in league play, losing three of their last four matches. However, they have had great European form, winning their last four matches en route to winning a strong group. Fiorentina will be without defender Alessandro Gamberini and midfielders Cristiano Zanetti and Marco Marchionni, while AC Milan is without defenders Thiago Silva, Massimo Oddo, Daniele Bonera and Oguchi Onyewu. AC Milan will look to keep the pressure on Inter Milan with a soldi win in Florence this weekend.
My Prediction: AC Milan 2, Fiorentina 0

Top of the Table Clashes
14:30 ET Sunday (Belgian Jupiler League)
Anderlecht v Club Brugge
Anderlecht currently sit on top of the table in Belgium with 44 points on a 14-2-2 record. Club Brugge is 7 points back in second, and this is Brugge’s chance to keep Anderlecht from running away with the league. Anderlecht also won an impressive group including Dutch power Ajax. This week saw an impressive 3-1 win for Anderlecht in Amsterdam that won them the group.
My Prediction: Anderlecht 2, Club Brugge 1. Put their name on the trophy.

FIFA Club World Cup
8:00 ET Saturday
Pohang Steelers v Atlante – FSC
This is the third-place match-up in the FIFA Club World Cup. So by definition, the winner is crowned as the third-best team in the world, a title which would be hotly contested by just about every team that qualified for European competition this season. Still it is a match that will surely be important to both teams given how difficult it is to get on this kind of worldwide stage from their respective leagues. Pohang Steelers is a South Korean club that qualified for the Club World Cup by virtue of winning the 2009 AFC Champions League. Their last K-League title came back in 2007, and this season they finished 2nd behind Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Their leading goalscorer is Brazilian star Denilson, who has scored 20 goals in 43 total appearances for Pohang Steelers this season. The scoring is also supplemented by Macedonian international Stevica Ristic and Koreans Noh Byung-Joon and Yoo Chang Hyun. On their road to the third-place game, Pohang defeated TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and lost to Estudiantes La Plata in a match in which they got three reds and Denilson ended the game in goal. Atlante is a Mexican side that qualified by winning the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League. They finished 9th in the 18-team Apertura 2009 in Mexico. I tried finding some statistics on their Spanish-language site, but the entire thing appears to be under maintenance. What I can say for certain is that Argentinian keeper Federico Vilar is their captain, and they boast Argentinian national team forward Santiago Solari, who appears to have scored 3 goals in 15 games for Atlante.
My Prediction: Atlante 4, Pohang Steelers 2
11:00 ET Saturday
Estudiantes La Plata v (1) Barcelona – FSC

English Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Portsmouth v Liverpool – ESPN2
10:00 ET Saturday
(19) Aston Villa v Stoke City
Blackburn Rovers v (13) Tottenham Hotspur
Fulham v (T3) Manchester United
(T16) Manchester City v Sunderland – FSC (Supposedly)
12:30 ET Saturday
(6) Arsenal v Hull City – FSC (Also, Supposedly)
The FSC online schedules are not quite functional, and livesoccertv.com claims that FSC will be showing multiple live games at once, the Premier League matches and the Club World Cup Final. Kudos to them if they can pull it off.
8:30 ET Sunday
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Burnley
10:00 ET Sunday
Everton v Birmingham
11:00 ET Sunday
West Ham United v (2) Chelsea
15:00 ET Monday
Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers – ESPN2

Scottish Premier League
7:30 ET Sunday
Heart of Midlothian v Celtic

Spain’s La Liga
14:00 ET Saturday
(T8) Sevilla FC v Getafe – GolTV
16:00 ET Saturday
(T3) Real Madrid v Real Zaragoza – GolTV
13:00 ET Sunday
Tenerife v Atletico Madrid – GolTV
15:00 ET Sunday
Deportivo La Coruna v (14) Valencia

Italy’s Serie A
14:45 ET Saturday
(22) Fiorentina v (7) AC Milan – FSC
9:00 ET Sunday
AS Roma v Parma – FSC
Genoa v Bari
(T8) Juventus v Catania
Livorno v Sampdoria
14:45 ET Sunday
(5) Inter Milan v Lazio – FSC

German Bundesliga
14:30 ET Friday
(T16) Schalke 04 v Mainz – GolTV
9:30 ET Saturday
(11) Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Monchengladbach
Bayern Munich v Hertha Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt v VfL Wolfsburg
12:30 ET Saturday
VfB Stuttgart v TSG Hoffenheim
9:30 ET Sunday
Hamburg SV v (15) Werder Bremen – GolTV

French Ligue 1
13:00 ET Saturday
(T8) Bordeaux v Lorient
15:00 ET Saturday
St. Etienne v Marseille
11:00 ET Sunday
AJ Auxerre v Toulouse
15:00 ET Sunday
AS Monaco v Lyon

Dutch Eredivisie
12:45 ET Saturday
AZ Alkmaar v ADO Den Haag
13:45 ET Saturday
Feyenoord Rotterdam v Willem II Tilburg
8:30 ET Sunday
FC Utrecht v (12) Twente Enschede
NAC Breda v (T16) Ajax Amsterdam
10:30 ET Sunday
Roda JC Kerkrade v (T20) PSV Eindhoven

Portuguese Liga
15:15 ET Friday
Pacos de Ferreira v (T23) Braga
16:15 ET Saturday
Naval 1 Maio v Sporting Lisbon
15:15 ET Sunday
(25) Benfica v FC Porto

Turkish Super League
13:00 ET Friday
Besiktas v Bursaspor
6:30 ET Saturday
ESkisehirspor K v Diyarbakirspor
13:00 ET Saturday
Galatasaray v Genclerbirligi
13:00 ET Sunday
Trabzonspor v Fenerbahce

Greek Super League
12:00 ET Saturday
Panathinaikos v Giannina
12:00 ET Sunday
Aris Salonika v Olympiakos

Belgian Jupiler League
12:00 ET Sunday
Royal Charleroi SC v Standard Liege
14:30 ET Sunday
Anderlecht v Club Brugge