One weekend, three games, Worldwide. All the information.
A new weekend is here, and with it comes a new recap. This time, we will take a look at one of the tightest leagues in the world right now, a great Latino clash and we will return to Australia to find out if they’ve got over their hangovers from the Asian Cup celebrations. Let's go!
(All the times hours are in CET)
Saturday, 15:05, Al-Riffa – East Riffa (Bahraini Premier League)
Reigning champions always want to repeat their success. Al-Riffa, the current champions of Bahrain, is no different, but it looks like it’s going to be extra-tough this season. This season, the league in Bahrain is so close that the gap between 1st place and 5th place is just 2 points. On Saturday, it will be Al-Riffa’s chance to make this gap bigger, as take on their local rivals, East Riffa.
Al-Riffa won the title for the 11th time last year and they are still improving. The team was established by Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the current prime minister of Bahrain, and the chairman is Abdulla bin Khalid Al Khalifa, another member of the royal family. This season, Al-Riffa is in 2nd place, with the same points as the leaders, Muharraq. The team’s key players are Abdallah Deeb, who is currently one of the top Jordanian players, Abdulla Shallal, a 22 year-old who is considered to be one of the hottest prospects in Bahraini football, and Rodrigo Possebon, an Italian-Brazilian player who was part of the Manchester United youth system and who also made 3 appearances in the Premier League.
East Riffa is not as big as Al-Riffa, but they have made impressive progress in recent years. Last season, they won the cup and the domestic super cup against Al-Riffa. It was a huge surprise, as East Riffa was in the second division last year.
This season they are ranked in 5th place, just two points behind the leaders and this match is their chance to create another sensation.
The main players are Mladen Jovanovic, with 10 years’ experience in Gulf football, Faisal Bodahoom, the current team’s top scorer and Séïdath Tchomogo, who has played 45 times for the national team of Benin.
As the league is so close, every win could get a team one step nearer to the title, and what could be better to move further up the table than winninga derby? Nothing my friends, nothing at all.
Saturday, 23:00, Comunicaciones – Antigua (Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala)
Golden beaches and amazing nature are the main characteristics of Guatemala. Unfortunately, the football is less successful, but like every country in Latin America, whether the football is good or bad, the matches are full of passion. This weekend, the league leaders, Comunicaciones, will try to get closer to another title in a home match against Antigua.
Comunicaciones is a famous club in Guatemala. The club was established in 1949 and adopted by the ministry of communication, which is the origin for their name. In the Apertura, they won the title after defeating Municipal in the final. This title was their 29th title in their history and their 5th consecutive title.
The top players in the team are Rolando Blackburn, who has played 15 times for the national team of Panama and Juan José Paredes, the best goalkeeper in Guatemala three years in a row. Paolo Suárez, the elder brother of Uruguayan international Luis, is also part of the team after eight years in El Salvador.
The other side, Antigua, is much smaller club. Being They are regularly promoted and relegated, most recently in a very weird way. This season, they purchased the place of another club, Heredia, in the league. In the Apertura, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals and they are now in 3rd place, 5 points behind Comunicaciones. The biggest name in the team is Fredy Thompson, one of the best players in Guatemalan football’s history with 90 caps for the national team, Roberto Peña, a Colombian who used to play in El Slavador, and Juan Valenzuela, who was the team’s top scorer in the Apertura.
It looks like it’s going to be another title for Comunicaciones, but Antigua has a great chance to catch them up, so this should be a fascinating one.
Sunday, 07:00, Adelaide United – Perth Glory (Australian A-League)
Now the Asian Cup celebrations have come to an end, it’s time to get back to reality. Two-thirds of the A-League regular season is complete and every win could be decisive for the play-off spots. In the case of Adelaide United and Perth Glory, it will be a bit different. The two will probably play in the play-offs, but have to try to finish in the top two, as these places automatically qualify teams for the semi-finals.
Recent seasons haven’t been so good for Adelaide United. Since the 2009 finals, Adelaide United only qualified for the play-offs three times and haven’t reached the semi-finals. This season, they’re doing it differently. The team is ranked in 3rd place, with a hope of winning the title.
The coach is Josep Gombau from Spain, who has two championship titles in Hong Kong and who has already led Adelaide United to domestic cup a win last year. Look out for Isaías Sanchez and Sergio Cirio, two Spaniards who played under Gombau in the Barcelona youth teams. Other key players are Eugene Galekovic, the current captain, Bruce Djite, who has played in Turkey and China, and Awer Mabil, a 19 year-old from South Sudan, who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya and is now considered as the most promising player in Australian football.
Perth Glory never was one of the biggest teams in the A-League. In the last 9 seasons, they’ve only qualified for the play-offs three times and they have been eliminated in the quarter-finals twice. Something is different at Perth this season, as they are the league leaders and have only lost three times in the last 16 matches. The leading players are Andy Keogh, the team’s top scorer last season, Danny Vuković, a great goalkeeper who was part of the 2008 championship-winning team of Central Coast Mariners, and Richard Garcia, who played for Hull City for 5 years.
The Australian people have fallen in love with football (even though they call it soccer) and every match has a great atmosphere. This is our chance to check out this new passion, in one of the most important matches of the season.