In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.
🏆 CONCACAF Gold Cup: United States vs. Jamaica
The Gold Cup, the premier international competition run by the CONCACAF federation begins on Saturday, just a week after the region’s Nations League Finals were played out in Las Vegas.
The US once again plays host to the tournament, alongside Canada, and its the home nation who kick-off proceedings with a Group A game against Jamaica. The USMNT are the reigning champions and they come in to the Gold Cup on form having beaten both their Northern and Southern rivals in last week’s Nations League Finals – dispensing with Mexico in the semi-finals before beating Canada this past Sunday. Not bad for a team currently playing under a second interim manager following the dismissal (Dec 2022) and forthcoming rehiring of coach Gregg Berhalter (announced June 2023).
For their part, Jamaica come in to the tournament having finished second behind Mexico in their Nations League A group back in March and might need some time to find their feet after recent friendly defeats to Qatar and Jordan. the Reggae Boyz haven’t actually recorded a win since June 2022.
🏆 U21 Euros: England vs. Israel
If you’ve been taking a brief break from football as last season came to an end, or you just haven’t been looking down your match feed, you may have missed that the U21 European Championship got underway during the week.
And in those opening group games, a heavily-favoured England side, full to the brim with established, or soon-to-be, established Premier League names were 2-0 winners over Czechia. The starting line-up for the Young Lions is shown below but that was backed up by the likes of Emile Smith-Rowe (who scored the second goal), Oliver Skipp, and Harvey Elliott, all coming off the bench.
Now, England face Israel on Sunday. With their nation’s youth football programme fresh from the surprise success of their U20 team, who made it to the semi-finals of the recent U20 World Cup in Argentina, Israel managed to hold defending champions Germany to a 1-1 draw on Thursday. Thanks – in the main – to goalkeeper Daniel Peretz who saved two German penalties during that game!
🏆 U21 Euros: Norway vs. France
Perhaps the team with the next highest profile at the U21 Euros, and actually, the bookies favourites, are France. Their squad contains the firepower of Amine Gouiri and Elye Wahi who scored 34 Ligue 1 goals between them last season, plus break-out stars such as Lorient’s Enzo Le Fee and Loic Badé, a Europa League winner with Sevilla.
The latter was sent off as they begain their campaign with a confidence building 2-1 win over Italy in midweek so they’ll be confident of going again, as they take on Norway, also on Sunday evening. Norway were beaten by Switzerland by the same scoreline in their opening group game so will need a result to maintain any hope of progressing to the knockout stages of the competition.
🇲🇽 LigaMX Campeón de Campeones: Pachuca vs. Tigres
After a long old season in Mexico finished at the end of May, we’re now already looking ahead to the next Apertura campaign starting in July. But before that, there’s the battle to decide last season’s champion of champions!
This game, akin to a Supercup, but not to be confused with the separate Supercopa tournament, pits the winners of the first half of last season (Apertura) – Pachuca, against the winners of the Clausura championship – Tigres UANL, who beat Chivas to that honour last month.
Unlike most other finals in Mexico, this will be a one-off game settled by extra-time, and penalties, if needed. All seven of the sides’ most recent meetings have ended in a home win but with this game being played on neutral ground (in the United States!) perhaps the form book goes out of the window.
🇧🇷 Brasileiro: Palmeiras vs. Botafogo
We’re only eleven rounds in to the Serie A season in Brazil but Sunday sees a key clash between the top two teams in the table with leaders Botafogo travelling to defending champions Palmerias.
Botafogo are something of a surprise package having finished eleventh last year on their return to the top flight following a one year absence in 2021. Their unlikely run appears to be built on a solid defence, instilled by Portuguese coach Luis Castro, and the goals of former Porto striker, Tiquinho.
Palmeiras, led by Abel Ferreira, their own coach from Portugal, have dominated South American football in recent times – winning the Copa Libertadores in back-to-back years (2020, 2021) and lifting their domestic cup in 2020 before last year’s league triumph. And although they’ve drawn a few games during the current campaign, they were unbeaten up until their midweek game at Bahia, where they went down to a 1-0 defeat, with the goal coming in stoppage time.
For their part, Botafogo secured a 1-0 win of their own, away to Cuiaba, thanks to a penalty from the aforementioned Tiquinho.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🇺🇸 MLS: LAFC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
There was virtually a full-round of games played in MLS during the week and although there were other matches with more excitement, one result stood out, at least in terms of significance. And that was LAFC’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Seattle Sounders. Heading in to the game, the sides were sitting second and third in the Western Conference but LA, the current MLS Cup holders, managed to defend a lead that was established in the very first minute of the game. Veteran defender, the former Italian international, Giorgio Chiellini played his first full 90 minutes since April and did enough to earn himself a place in our midweek TOTW!
But, more importantly, the result lifted LAFC back to the top of the table above newcomers St. Louis City. The reigning champs were winless during the month of June, losing both legs of the CONCACAF Champions League Final to boot, but have now won back-to-back games for only the second time in the league this year.
We’ll see if they can now maintain a grip on pole position following the visit of mid-table Vancouver Whitecaps, on Saturday, with the Canadians presumably well rested having not played during the week.
🇳🇴 Eliteserien: Strømgodset vs. Bodø/Glimt
And lastly, we’ve selected a game from our home league, Norway’s Eliteserien. The 2020 and 2021 league champions, and famous Europa League / Europa Conference League giant killers, Bodø/Glimt have got off to a flyer in this 2023 season. They remain unbeaten after eleven rounds having dropped points on just one occasion, scoring 32 goals, and conceding just nine. And they already boast a ten point lead at the top of the table.
So, we’ve selected Sunday’s game, away at twelfth-placed Strømsgodset, in the hope that it will provide some entertainment. And an example of the best football currently on offer in Norway’s top flight. Failing that, we could see a freak result and a glimmer of hope restored for the rest of the teams in the league!
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Cover Image from IMAGO