The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
?? With last weekend’s curtain-raiser between 2021 Campeón de Campeones Atlas and Cruz Azul in Mexico’s Supercopa its time for the real action to start. And both sides have a difficult assignment in the opening round of the new Liga MX season.
After the success of last year and their first league titles for 70 years Atlas must go to traditional giants Club América. And Cruz Azul, who triumphed in that Supercopa also face a tough away fixture against Tigres.
?? Fresh from the marquee signings of Giorgio Chiellini and Gareth Bale, plus the even better news that the club’s record scorer Carlos Vela has signed a contract extension, things are good for LAFC right now. Even more so when you consider that they’re top of the Western Conference, leading in the Supporters Shield and have scored more goals than anyone else across MLS. They’ll be hopping the border on Saturday evening for a game at Vancouver Whitecaps, who’s seven-game unbeaten run at home, is as good as their season has got so far.
Elsewhere there’s another Canada vs. United States clash with Toronto – who sit 12th in the East coming up against Seattle Sounders – who are looking to improve on their current position of seventh in the West.
?? In South America, the start of the knock-out stages in the continent’s premier Cup competition – the Copa Libertadores has dominated proceedings this week and the two-time defending champions Palmeiras looked in good form as they came away with a 3-0 win at Paraguayan club Cerro Porteño.
The São Paulo side have also impressed in the league and they’ll be looking to extend their three-point lead in the table at home to Big Phil Scolari’s Athletico Paranaense. Third-placed Athletico also won in mid-week and were bolstered by the news of returning hero Fernandinho following his departure from Manchester City.
For their part, Corinthians, the team currently second in the table play against Fluminense whilst there’s also the clash between classic Brazilian sides Santos and Flamengo to keep an eye on.
Sunday
?? They’re 12 rounds in to the Allsvenskan season over in Sweden and two of the three great Stockholm rivals – Djurgården and Hammarby are set to clash in the weekend’s big game. The sides sit third and fourth respectively, three points behind their other city rivals AIK, and ahead of defending champions Malmö on goal difference.
Djurgården have scored 16 goals in their last five games so should provide some entertainment whilst Hammarby managed to claw back a two-goal deficit to draw against league leaders Häcken last time out. And who doesn’t enjoy a big derby-day atmosphere?
?? In our home league, the top two in Norway’s Eliteserien both feature on Sunday. Molde, who sit second will test their nine-game winning run on the road at HamKam and hope to leapfrog leaders Lillestrøm in the process.
Lillestrøm’s unbeaten start to the campaign came to an end with defeat to Strømsgodset last weekend but they have a great opportunity to re-start their unlikely title bid with a fixture at Kristiansund – who sit bottom of the league with just one point to their name.
?? Back in MLS, Sunday’s slate of games include fixtures for some of the leading sides in the Eastern Conference where the top four are separated by a single point. New York City (4th) take on Atlanta United whilst Philadelphia Union (3rd) go to Columbus. And New York Red Bulls (2nd) will attempt to follow Thursday’s comeback win over Atlanta by picking up another three points on the road at Kansas City.
In the NWSL, the top women’s league in North America, new franchise club San Diego Wave are in pole position. On Sunday, they face 2021 champions Washington Spirit. The Spirit currently sit well off the pace in seventh and have scored just 10 goals so far. That’s one less than the Wave’s in-form striker Alex Morgan.
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Cover Image from IMAGO