Friday's soccer news has the Europa Conference League qualifying roundup with a win for Mark McKenzie's KRC Genk and a draw for Mihailovic's AZ.
McKenzie’s KRC Genk won and Mihailovic’s AZ drew in Europa Conference League play-off qualifying
Friday’s soccer news starts with the roundup of Europa Conference League play-off qualifying first legs. Mark McKenzie’s KRC Genk came back to beat Adana Demirspor 2-1 at home after falling behind in the 47th. Tolu Arokodare equalized for Genk in the 77th and Daniel Munoz scored three minutes into stoppage time. McKenzie saw yellow in the 24th minute.
Djordje Mihailovic subbed out in the 60th minute of AZ’s 1-1 draw with SK Brann. Falling behind in the 59th minute, AZ’s Pantelis Hatzidiakos equalized in the 71st minute.
Timothy Chandler and Paxten Aaronson were on the bench for EIntracht’s 1-1 draw at Levski Sofia. Randal Kolo Muani scored for Eintracht in the 6th and Levski Sofia equalized five minutes into stoppage time. Owen Otasowie wasn’t in the squad for Club Brugge’s 2-1 win at Osasuna. Andreas Skov Olsen put Club Brugge up in the 50th with Osasuna equalizing in the 78th.
Moving to the weekend games with the focus on MLS week 28, Inter Miami is at the Red Bulls on Saturday at 7:30pm ET. That game gets the attention for the obvious reasons, but it’s worth the reminder that New York picked up three points last week in the return to league play. Inter Miami is so different that it would take lots of convincing to link this team with what happened during their 11-game winless streak leading into what we all saw during the Leagues Cup. That puts even more pressure on the Red Bulls who open the round in 11th-place, 11 points ahead of Miami in 15th and three points out of the final playoff spot.
Are we seriously talking about playoff spots in late August with games played between 22 and 25? Yes, because two things are going to become the story as the league returns to a full schedule this weekend. The unbalanced schedule and games played. Inter Miami in the East and the Galaxy in the West are the two teams on 22 games played and both have made the kind of changes that should have the teams between them and the playoff positions concerned.
The Galaxy didn’t have a league game in week 27, facing Chicago at home tomorrow at 10:30pm. Chicago won three out of four heading into Leagues Cup, with last week’s 3-1 home loss to Orlando perhaps suggesting more than it should about the 9th-place Fire. They’re tied on points and level on games played with 8th-place Montreal in the East. In the West, the Galaxy is nine points out of 9th-place in 13th.
Minnesota is that 9th-place team in the West, hosting Seattle on Sunday in a game available nationally on FOX at 4:30pm. Minnesota winning at NYCFC last week and Seattle losing at Atlanta has them five points apart and potentially showing how quickly the table could change in the Western Conference with United tied on points with Vancouver and a point behind 7th-place Houston and 6th-place Austin.
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