LASK loses at Toulouse in Europa League, win for KRC Genk in the Europa Conference
Friday’s soccer news starts in the Europa League, where George Bello subbed out in the 88th minute of LASK’s 1-0 loss at Toulouse in group E. Toulouse scored in the 31st minute. Erik Palmer-Brown wasn’t in the squad for Panathinaikos’s 0-0 draw at Maccabi Haifa in group F.
Moving to the Europa Conference League, Mark McKenzie’s KRC Genk won 2-0 at Cukaricki. Bryan Heynen opened the scoring for Genk in the 10th and Joseph Paintsil converted a 20th minute penalty. Paxten Aaronson and Timmy Chandler were on the bench for Eintracht’s 2-1 loss at PAOK in group G. Trailing from the 28th, Eintracht’s Omar Marmoush equalized in the 68th. PAOK scored again two minutes into stoppage time.
Djordje Mihailovic was on the bench for AZ in their 1-0 home win over Legia Warsaw in group E. AZ’s Vangelis Pavlidis scored in the 52nd and Mayckel Lahdo saw red in the 65th. Owen Otasowie wasn’t in the squad for Club Brugge’s 1-0 win at Bodo/Glimt in group D. Hans Vanaken scored Club Brugge’s goal in the 20th minute.
It’s time for the MLS week 37 quick preview now that we know of at least a few teams claiming playoff spots in the Western Conference. That would be the top six, with Portland in 7th-place, two points behind Houston. San Jose is a point behind Portland in 8th and Dallas has the last playoff spot in 9th a point behind the Earthquakes. If that sounds surprisingly linear for a league with an unbalanced schedule, Portland and San Jose have played their 32nd game of the season while Dallas is at 31.
Given that information, it should be no surprise that we’re focusing on FC Dallas hosting San Jose on Saturday night. Dallas is on 31 games due to Wednesday’s weather cancellation at home against Colorado. San Jose drew 1-1 at Minnesota last Saturday. Portland is at Montreal an hour earlier on Saturday. Montreal is holding onto the final playoff spot in the East courtesy of a tiebreaker over NYCFC.
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