Europa League win for Turner’s Arsenal, loss for Diskerud’s Omonia
Fridays soccer news starts in the Europa League where Matt Turner’s Arsenal won 2-1 at FC Zurich. Arsenal’s Marquinhus scored in the 16th with Zurich converting a 44th minute penalty. Eddie Nketiah scored for Arsenal in the 62nd minute. Mix Diskerud’s Omonia lost 3-0 to Sheriff from goals in the 2nd, a 55th minute penalty, and the 76th.
Richy Ledezma was on the bench for PSV in their 1-1 draw with Bodo/Glimt. Down a goal from the 44th, Cody Gakpo equalized for PSV in the 62nd minute. Romain Gall wasn’t in the squad for Malmo’s 2-0 home loss to Braga. Malmo fell behind in the 30th and gave up a 70th minute penalty.
Jordan Pefok wasn’t available for Union Berlin’s 1-0 home loss to Union Saint-Gilloise to a 39th minute goal. Union Berlin finished a man down with a red card to Sven Michel six minutes into stoppage time. Konrad de la Fuente isn’t eligible for Olympiakos, who lost 2-1 at Nantes. With Olympiakos trailing from the 32nd minute, an own-goal leveled the score in the 50th. Nantes scored again three minutes into stoppage time.
Moving to MLS, there’s one game on the schedule for Friday night with Montreal hosting Columbus in another Eastern Conference game that could have significant playoff implications. Well, at least for a week. As tempting as it might be to start drawing lines underneath clubs, the East in particular seems to have gone out of its way this season not to make that easy. While it might not be the same kind of reshuffling we watched week-to-week earlier this season, with so few games left it’s about leaving any kind of an opening.
While 2nd-place Montreal has a game in hand over 1st-place Philadelphia, making up eight points over five games seems unlikely. Montreal maintaining their five-point lead over the 3rd-place Red Bulls also seems likely. It’s further down the table that Columbus has to look at this game as close to crucial.
Once again, we’re going to have to focus on games played. 5th-place Orlando and 6th-place Columbus are on 28, giving both two games in hand over 4th-place NYCFC that they trail by four and six points. Of concern for the Crew is that there’s a two-point difference between their 6th-place and 8th-place. Some number of their remaining six games are about avoiding an in-or-out scenario at Orlando on October 9.
WEEKEND SOCCER TV
All Premier League, English Football League, and Scottish Premiership games are postponed.
Saturday has Serie A on CBS Sports: Napoli vs Spezia at 9am. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Espanyol vs Sevilla at 10:15am. Primeira Liga on GolTV: Famalicao vs Benfica at 10:30am, Sporting vs Portimonese at 1pm, and Porto vs Chavez at 3:30pm. Ligue 1 on beIN Sport: PSG vs Brest at 11am and Marseille vs Like at 3pm.
MLS on Univision: Nashville vs LA Galaxy at 3:30pm. Liga MX on TUDN: Queretato vs Santos Laguna at 6pm. Univision has Tigres vs Leon at 8pm and Toluca vs UNAM Pumas at 10pm. Chivas vs Puebla is on Telemundo at 10pm.
Sunday has Ligue 1 on beIN Sport: Strasbourg vs Clermont at 7am, Ajaccio vs Nice at 9am, Rennes vs Auxerre at 11am, and Monaco vs Lyon at 2:45pm. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Getafe vs Real Sociedad at 12:30pm. Primeira Liga on GolTV: Rio Ave vs Braga at 3:30pm.
Liga MX on UniMas: Cruz Azul vs Mazatlan at 5pm. TUDN has Atlas vs San Luis at 7pm and Pachuca vs Tijuana at 9pm.
Monday has the Super Lig on beIN Sport: Besiktas vs Basaksehir at 12pm and Adana Demirspor vs Trabzonspor at 2pm. All Times Eastern
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Photo by Danilo Vigo – IPA via ZUMA Press – ISIPhotos.com
