World Club Rankings

WCR Weekend Soccer on Television - 5/6 November 2011

2011-11-04T08:17:00.000-04:00

In our final week before the next international break, I count forty-three matches being broadcast in the United States this weekend, so there’s definitely something for everybody. The only match between two ranked clubs takes place on Saturday from a league that is used to such matchups but including a pair of unlikely suspects as Levante hosts Valencia on ESPN Deportes.

For my money the best of the rest take place on Sunday and include some leagues that aren’t commonly on the list of Top Matches of the Weekend. That includes the Portuguese Liga Sagres, where Sporting Braga is hosting Benfica on ESPN3, and the United States’ MLS, in which the conference finals begin on Sunday featuring the Los Angeles Galaxy hosting Real Salt Lake on Sunday night.

We’ll be watching while we crunch the numbers for the latest edition of the Monthly International RPI Rankings. I’m sure you will be too. Have a great weekend!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Valencia at Levante (Saturday, 5:00 pm (EDT), ESPND, ESPN3)

2. Juventus at Napoli (Sunday, 2:45 pm (EST), FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3. Benfica at Sporting Braga (Sunday, 1:00 pm, ESPN3)

4. Real Salt Lake at Los Angeles Galaxy (Sunday, 9:00 pm, ESPN, ESPND, ESPN3)

5. Barcelona at Athletic Bilbao (Sunday, 2:00 pm, ESPND, ESPN3)

Friday, November 4, 2011

3:30pm – VfB Stuttgart at Mainz 05 (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:00 pm – Jaguares at Monarcas Morelia (FoxD, Azteca)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

8:45 am – Everton at (13) Newcastle United (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – VfL Wolfsburg at (16) Borussia Dortmund (GolTV)

11:00 am – (23) Chelsea at Blackburn Rovers (FSC)

11:00 am – West Bromwich Albion at Arsenal (FoxD)

11:00 am – Sunderland at (4) Manchester United (FSP)

1:00 pm – Sevilla at Mallorca (GolTV)

1:00 pm – Bologna at Palermo (FSP)

1:30 pm – (1) Manchester City at Queens Park Rangers (FSC, FoxD)

1:30 pm – Hamburger SV at Bayer Leverkusen (ESPND, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Swansea City at Liverpool (Delayed) (FSP)

3:45 pm – Roma at Novara (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

5:00 pm – Figueirense at Botafogo (GolTV)

5:00 pm – (22) Valencia at (11) Levante (ESPND, ESPN3)

6:00 pm – Atlante at Monterrey (Telemundo)

6:00 pm – UAG Tecos at Querétaro (TeleFutura)

7:00 pm – Atlético Nacional at Real Cartagena (GolTV)

7:00 pm – Club América at Cruz Azul (FoxD, Azteca)

9:00 pm – Pachuca at Chivas de Guadalajara (Telemundo)

9:00 pm – Atlas at Santos Laguna (TeleFutura)

10:45 pm – Toluca at San Luis (TeleFutura)

Sunday, November 6, 2011

2:00 am – Gold Coast United at Sydney FC (FSC)

6:30 am – Inter Milan at Genoa (FSP, ESPN3)

8:30 am – Wigan Athletic at Wolverhampton (FSP)

8:30 am – ADO Den Haag at AZ Alkmaar (ESPN3)

9:00 am – Catania at AC Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

9:00 am – Parma at (17) Lazio (ESPN3)

9:30 am – Osasuna at (2) Real Madrid (Delayed) (GolTV)

10:00 am – Sporting Gijón at Real Zaragoza (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – Stoke City at Bolton Wanderers (Delayed) (FSP)

11:00 am – (21) Tottenham at Fulham (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – (3) Bayern Munich at Augsburg (GolTV)

1:00 pm – (12) Benfica at Sporting Braga (ESPN3)

1:00 pm – Tigres UANL at Puebla (Azteca)

1:00 pm – Tijuana at Pumas UNAM (Telemundo)

2:00 pm – Corinthians at America-MG (GolTV)

2:00 pm – (5) Barcelona at Athletic Bilbao (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – (6) Juventus at Napoli (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – (8) Paris St.-Germain at Bordeaux (FSP)

4:00 pm – Atlético Madrid at Getafe (GolTV)

5:30 pm – Houston Dynamo at Sporting KC (FSC, FoxD)

9:00 pm – Real Salt Lake at Los Angeles Galaxy (ESPN, ESPND, ESPN3)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - Scary Halloween Edition

2011-10-31T02:00:00.000-04:00

We have a frightening Top 25 for you this week. At least it’s frightening for a few. Levante, for example, who lost its first match of the season in the Primera División, which dropped it from first to third in the table and, consequently, dropped it from number two in the rankings to number eleven. It is even more frightening for Chelsea who was embarrassed at home by the Gunners in a 3-5 loss. Though Chelsea stays tied for third in the Premier League, it is tied with two clubs that each has a game in hand, causing Chelsea to drop thirteen spots, out of the Top Ten and all the way down to twenty-third.

The rankings are scary for everybody in the sense that they are so fluid at this time of the year. Of the clubs in last week’s WCR Top 25, only four remain in the same position that they held last week – Manchester City (1), Bayern Munich (3), Porto (7) and Paris St.-Germain (8). Not coincidentally, all four of those clubs are leading their respective domestic leagues this week just as they were last week.

As we get further into the season, domestic tables will start to stabilize, as will the rankings. For now, though, every week brings sudden and massive changes that make it fun for us to calculate and, hopefully, fun for you to follow.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – October 31, 2011

1. Manchester City (Eng) (1) – Perhaps it’s fitting that Manchester City spent the week before Halloween killing wolves, eliminating Wolverhampton from the Carling Cup with a 5-2 victory at midweek before beating the Wolves again 3-1 this weekend. Coming Up: Mansee needs to start dominating non-English clubs as well, beginning in Spain on Wednesday when it takes on Villarreal in the Champions League. It’s next Premier League match will be Saturday at Queens Park Rangers.

2. Real Madrid (Esp) (6) – This is the highest a Jose Mourinho club has been ranked since Inter was number one at the end of the 2009-10 season. With six points, Real moved to the top of the Primera División, beating Villarreal 3-0 at midweek and Real Sociedad 1-0 on the weekend. Coming Up: Real Madrid will head north to France to take on Lyon in a Wednesday Champions League match. On Sunday, Osasuna will try to knock a second club out of the top spot in the Primera División in as many weeks at el Estadio Bernabeu.

3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (3) – Bayern continues to cut through German competition like a sharp knife through a pumpkin, defeating Ingolstadt 6-0 to advance in the DFB Pokal and knocking around Núrnberg by a 4-0 score to secure its spot atop the Bundesliga table. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Bayern will host Napoli at Allianz Arena in its UCL match. Domestically, it will take on Augsburg on Sunday.

4. Manchester United (Eng) (5) – Manyoo creeps up a notch after defeating Aldershot Town 3-0 in a Carling Cup match and scoring a narrow 1-0 victory over Everton in the Premier League. Coming Up: The Red Devils will host Otelul Galati on Wednesday in the Champions League and will remain at home for a Saturday matchup with Sunderland.

5. Barcelona (Esp) (9) – After last week’s big drop, Barça has begun its ascent back to the top after beating Granada 1-0 and crushing Mallorca 5-0 at the Camp Nou. Coming Up: Both of Barcelona’s matches this week are away, against Viktoria Plzen in a Tuesday UCL match and at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

6. Juventus (Ita) (17) – Juve’s see-saw trip through the rankings continues. Following a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina and another 2-1 victory over Inter Milan, Juventus is back on top in Italy’s Serie A. Coming Up: Juventus is off until Sunday when it heads south to take on Napoli in its next league match.

7. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto continues to roll in the Liga Sagres, knocking off Paços de Ferreira 3-0 on Friday. Coming Up: Porto has two away matches this week - Tuesday at APOEL in the Champions League and Saturday at Olhanense in the Liga Sagres.

8. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (8) – PSG was eliminated from the Coupe de Ligue in a 2-3 loss at Dijon but maintained its lead in France’s Ligue Un with a 4-2 victory over Caen. Coming Up: In the Europa League, PSG will host Slovan Bratislava on Thursday. PSG will return to Ligue Un action on Sunday at Bordeaux.

9. Udinese (Ita) (4) – Udinese fell from the top of Italy’s Serie A after a 0-2 loss at Napoli at midweek but bounced back to beat Palermo 1-0 at home this weekend. Coming Up: On Thursday, Udinese will be in the Spanish capital to take on Atlético Madrid in a Europa League match. In league play, Udinese will host Siena on Sunday.

10. Panathinaikos (Gre) (12) – Panathinaikos continues to shine early on in the Greek Super League, defeating PAOK 3-1. Coming Up: Panathinaikos will face AEK Athens at home on Sunday.

11. Levante (Esp) (2) – The week started well for Levante, beating Real Sociedad 3-2 at home, but it fell apart this weekend as it fell 0-2 to Osasuna for its first Primera División loss of the season. Coming Up: In the only weekend matchup between ranked clubs, Levante will host Valencia on Saturday.

12. Benfica (Por) (13) – Benfica continued to keep pace with Porto in the Liga Sagres with a 2-1 victory over Olhanense. Coming Up: In Champions League action, Benfica will host Basel on Wednesday. It will return to the Liga Sagres on Sunday at Sporting Braga.

13. Newcastle United (Eng) (18) – Newcastle’s only match this week saw it get eliminated from the Carling Cup in a 3-4 extra time loss at Blackburn Rovers. Coming Up: A single point in Monday’s match against Stoke City will put it in third place by itself in the Premier League. Afterwards, the Magpies will host Everton on Saturday as its schedule gets gradually more difficult.

14. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (15) – DK was eliminated from the Ukrainian Cup at midweek via a 2-3 home loss to rivals Shakhtar Donetsk. Domestically, it had to settle for a goalless draw with Tavirya. Coming Up: Dynamo Kyiv heads to Turkey on Thursday to take on Besiktas in the Europa League. In a match of huge importance in the Ukrainian Premier Division, Dynamo will take on Metalist in Kharkiv on Sunday.

15. Montpellier (Fra) (16) – Like PSG, Montpellier also was knocked out of the Coupe de Ligue this week, falling at home 1-2 to Lorient. Also, like PSG, Montpellier bounced back to win its Ligue Un match, defeating Nancy 2-0. Coming Up: Montpellier doesn’t see action again until Sunday when it faces St.-Étienne.

16. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (11) – The defending German champions defeated Dynamo Dresden 2-0 to advance in the DFB Pokal but could only pick up one point this weekend in a 1-1 draw with VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Dortmund will host Olympiakos in its next Champions League match. Domestically, Dortmund will host VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

17. Lazio (Ita) (14) – Lazio picked up four points in two matches this week, settling for a 1-1 draw at home with Catania but scoring a 3-0 victory at Cagliari over the weekend. Coming Up: In its Thursday Europa League match, Lazio will host FC Zürich. In Serie A play, it will host Parma on Saturday.

18. Schalke 04 (Ger) – Like the other top German clubs, Schalke advanced in the DFB Pokal with a 2-0 victory over Karlsruher. In league action, Schalke defeated TSG Hoffenheim 3-1 at home. Coming Up: On Thursday, Schalke will host AEK Larnaca in its next UEL match. In the Bundesliga, Schalke takes on Hannover 96 on Sunday.

19. Sporting CP (Por) (NR) – It’s been a long time since Sporting has been in the rankings but it earned its spot with a 2-0 victory over Feirense to move into third place in the Liga Sagres. Coming Up: Also playing in the Europa League, Sporting will take on Vaslui on Thursday. On Sunday, Sporting CP and União de Leiria go at it in the Liga Sagres.

20. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (25) – Shakhtar scored a little revenge this week, eliminating Dynamo Kyiv from the Ukrainian Cup with a 3-2 victory in Kyiv. Domestically, Shakhtar was the only contender to win this weekend, defeating Oleksandria 3-2. Coming Up: In the only matchup of ranked clubs in this week’s Champions League matchups, Shakhtar goes to St. Petersburg to take on Zenit on Tuesday. Domestically, while its other two rivals for the title go at each other, Shakhtar will play Obolon on Sunday.

21. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (BU) – The Spurs return to the rankings following a 3-1 victory over Everton at White Hart Lane. Coming Up: On Thursday, Tottenham will be in Russia to take on Rubin Kazan in the Europa League. It will return to London on Sunday to take on Fulham at Craven Cottage.

22. Valencia (Esp) (NF) – Valencia also returns to the rankings after picking up six points this week with a 1-0 victory over Real Zaragoza and a 3-1 win against Getafe. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Valencia hosts Bayer Leverkusen in the UEL. On Saturday, Valencia is away at Levante in what promises to be Match of the Week when we publish this weekend’s television schedule.

23. Chelsea (Eng) (10) – It took extra time for Chelsea to beat Everton 2-1 to advance in the Carling Cup. Extra time probably wouldn’t have helped Chelsea at home on Saturday when it was humiliated by Arsenal in a 3-5 loss. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Chelsea goes to Belgium to take on Gent in its next Champions League match. On Saturday, Chelsea will be away at Blackburn Rovers.

24. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (23) – Zenit maintained the top spot in the Russian Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Volyn on Thursday. Coming Up: Zenit will welcome Shakhtar Donetsk to town on Tuesday in the UEL. On Saturday, Zenit returns to RPL action at Kuban’ Krasnodar.

25. Lille (Fra) (21) – Lille stays in the rankings after beating Sedan 3-1 in a Coupe de Ligue match but settling for a 0-0 draw at Valenciennes. Coming Up: On Wednesday, we’ll see how bad Inter Milan actually is when it hosts Lille at the San Siro in a Champions League matchup. On Saturday, Lille will host Evian in a Ligue Un match.

Bubbling Under: AC Milan (Ita), Napoli (Ita), Olympiakos (Gre), Rangers (Sco), Werder Bremen (Ger).

Next Five: Corinthians (Bra), CSKA Moscow (Rus), Liverpool (Eng), Sevilla (Esp), Vasco da Gama (Bra).

Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:

1 November – (20) Shakhtar Donetsk at (24) Zenit St. Petersburg

5 November – (22) Valencia at (11) Levante

Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 29/30 October 2011

2011-10-27T14:09:00.005-04:00

After a few very exciting weekends of football, this one seems a little mundane. There are no matches between WCR Top 25 Clubs. Once again, the highlight is a matchup between English powers, but let’s face it – these days Chelsea/Arsenal pales in comparison to United/City. Still, it is an important London derby and should be fun for supporters of both clubs.

Most of the other top matches of the weekend come from Italy. At the San Siro, Inter Milan will be hosting current table toppers Juventus, while Inter’s stadium mates, AC Milan, will be at Stadio Olimpico to take on Roma and Roma’s stadium mates will be taking on hot-starting, but cooling off, Cagliari.

The playoffs are starting in the United States’ MLS and of course, there’s lots of action from other clubs all around the world. The complete list is below. Have a great weekend!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Arsenal at Chelsea (Saturday, 7:45 am (EDT), ESPN2, ESPN3)

2. Juventus at Inter Milan (Saturday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3. AC Milan at Roma (Saturday, 12 noon, FSP, FoxD)

4. Lazio at Cagliari (Sunday, 3:45 pm (EST), FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

5. Newcastle United at Stoke City (Monday, 4:00 pm, ESPND)

Friday, October 28, 2011

2:30 pm – Bayer Leverkusen at Freiburg (ESPN3)

3:15 pm – Paços de Ferreira at (7) Porto (ESPN3)

9:10 pm – Cruz Azul at UAG Tecos (Univision)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

7:00 am – (5) Manchester United at Everton (ESPND)

7:45 am – Arsenal at Chelsea (ESPN2, ESPN3)

9:30 am – Nürnberg at Bayern Munich (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:00 am – Wolverhampton at (1) Manchester City (FSC, FoxD)

10:00 am – Aston Villa at Sunderland (FSP)

12 noon – AC Milan at Roma (FSP, FoxD)

12 noon – Getafe at Valencia (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – Liverpool at West Bromwich Albion (FSC)

2:00 pm – Mallorca at (9) Barcelona (GolTV)

2:45 pm – (17) Juventus at Inter Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Atletico-PR at Santos (GolTV)

4:00 pm – Blackburn Rovers at Norwich City (Delayed) (FSP)

4:00 pm – (6) Real Madrid at Real Sociedad (ESPND)

5:00 pm – Fulham at Wigan Athletic (Delayed) (FSC)

6:00 pm – UNAM Pumas at Jaguares (FoxD)

7:30 pm – Houston Dynamo at Philadelphia Union (FSC)

8:00 pm – Monterrey at Pachuca (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Santos Laguna at Tigres (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Atlas (Galavision)

10:00 pm – Seattle Sounders at Real Salt Lake (FSC)

10:00 pm – Morelia at Atlante (Telefutura)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

2:00 am – Newcastle Jets at Gold Coast United (FSC)

7:00 am – PSV Eindhoven at Twente (Delayed) (ESPND)

7:30 am – Chievo at Siena (FSP)

10:00 am – Palermo at (4) Udinese (FSC, FoxD)

10:00 am – Genoa at Fiorentina (ESPN3)

10:30 am – Augsburg at Cologne (GolTV)

11:00 am – (2) Levante at Osasuna (ESPND, ESPN3)

12 noon – Queens Park Rangers at Tottenham (FSC, FoxD)

12:30 pm – Kaiserslautern at Hamburg (GolTV)

2:00 pm – Queretaro at Toluca (Telemundo)

3:00 pm – Real Zaragoza at Atlético Madrid (GolTV)

3:00 pm – San Luis at Tijuana (ESPND)

3:45 pm – (14) Lazio at Cagliari (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – (21) Lille at Valenciennes (FSP)

5:00 pm – Espanyol at Málaga (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Puebla at Club América (Galavision)

Monday, October 31, 2011

4:00 pm – (18) Newcastle United at Stoke City (ESPND)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - How The Mighty Have Fallen Edition

2011-10-24T01:10:00.000-04:00

This was a tough week for a lot of the clubs at the top of last week’s rankings. Needless to say (thought that won’t stop me), the toughest week was had by Manchester United, whose 1-6 loss to intercity rivals Manchester City was its worst home loss since the 1930-31 season. That wasn’t the only slip near the top, though. Bayern Munich was upset by Hannover 96 in a 1-2 loss. Barcelona and Juventus both had to settle for draws this weekend, dropping both clubs to third place in their respective domestic leagues and consequently dropping them both well down the weekly club rankings.

The good news is that when somebody suffers, somebody has to proffer as well. The big beneficiaries of the week are the clubs that leapfrogged Barcelona in the Primera División table. Levante took advantages of the Barcelona and Manchester United to jump all the way into number two in the rankings, behind only Manchester City, who must be the unanimous choice for top club of the weekend, if not top club in the world at the moment. Real Madrid moved up to second in La Liga and back into the Top Ten in the rankings.

The rankings will continue to juggle around early in the season as clubs move up and down their domestic tables with ease. The Champions League group stage is halfway over now and when that is completed, there will be another round of big changes in the rankings. As far as the immediate future is concerned, the only match of the week between ranked club takes place in a Wednesday Ukrainian Cup match between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk. Oh, well. Better matches will take place soon enough.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – October 24, 2011

1. Manchester City (Eng) (1) – Following it’s first ever week as top-ranked club, City proved why it deserves to be here. Following its first victory in the Champions League group stage, 2-1 over Villarreal, Mansee handed Manyoo it’s worst home defeat in over eighty years, embarrassing Manchester United 6-1 at Anfield. Coming Up: City faces Wolverhampton twice this week, away on Wednesday in a Carling Cup match and at home on Saturday in the Premier League.

2. Levante (Esp) (7) – Is this club for real? Only time will tell. Scoring a 3-0 away victory over Villarreal has put Levante top in Spain’s Primera División, and that includes a prior victory over Real Madrid. Coming Up: We’ll see what happens, but Levante has a relatively light schedule this week hosting Real Sociedad on Wedensday and taking on Osasuna on Sunday in a pair of La Liga matches.

3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (4) – The collapses of Man United and Barcelona allow Bayern to move up a spot despite settling for a 1-1 draw with Napoli in the Champions League and being upset 1-2 by Hannover 96. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Bayern is away at Ingolstadt in a DFB Pokal match. In the Bundesliga, Bayern returns to action on Saturday, hosting Nürnberg.

4. Udinese (Ita) (5) – Udinese defeated Atlético Madrid 2-0 in its midweek Europa League match and then separated itself from Juventus with a 3-0 win against Novara to sit alone at the top of the Serie A. Coming Up: Udinese faces of pair of tough Serie A opponents this week, at Napoli on Wednesday and hosting Palermo on Sunday.

5. Manchester United (Eng) (3) – The started off well enough as United scored its first Champions League victory of the season with a 2-0 victory in Romania against Otelul Galati. It all went into the crapper on Sunday, though, as Man United had its metaphorical ass handed to it in a 1-6 loss to Manchester City. Coming Up: Look for Manyoo to rebound on Tuesday at Aldershot Town in a Carling Cup match. Either way, it will head to Merseyside to take on Everton on Saturday.

6. Real Madrid (Esp) (11) – Los Blancos outscored their opponents 8-0 this week, crushing Lyon 4-0 at home in the Champions League and picking up three away points in defeating Málaga by the same 4-0 score. Coming Up: Real Madrid will host Villarreal on Wednesday then head north to take on Real Sociedad on Saturday.

7. Porto (Por) (8) – Porto was surprised at home by APOEL in a 1-1 Champions League draw. It rebounded well enough, though, to defeat Nacional 5-0 in the Liga Sagres. Coming Up: Porto is off until Sunday when it hosts Paços de Ferreira in its next league match.

8. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (9) – PSG could manage only a goalless draw against Slovan Bratislava in its Europa Leage match in the Slovakian capital, but it did maintain its lead in the French Ligue Un with a 2-0 defeat of Dijon. Coming Up: PSG faces a rematch with Dijon on Wednesday, this time in a Coupe da Ligue match, and plays again in Ligue Un at Parc des Princes against Caen on Saturday.

9. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barça was customarily brilliant in its 2-0 Champions League victory over Viktoriz Plzen but couldn’t manage a goal in its 0-0 draw with Sevilla in league play. Coming Up: Now, Barcelona is playing catch-up when it faces Granada away on Tuesday and Mallorca at the Camp Nou on Saturday.

10. Chelsea (Eng) (10) – Oh, if only Chelsea could play in the Belgian Pro League. Chelsea smacked Gent around in a 5-0 win at Stamford Bridge but fell apart in its 0-1 loss to Queens Park Rangers in a London derby. Coming Up: Chelsea has a tough Carling Cup match at Everton on Wednesday before hosting the Gunners in another London derby on Saturday.

11. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (20) – Dortmund was surprised in Piraeus by losing 1-3 to Olympiakos in the Champions League but bounced back to defeat Köln 5-0 to move into second place in the German Bundesliga. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Dortmund will host Dynamo Dreseden in a DFB Pokal match. In league action, it will travel to take on VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

12. Panathinaikos (Gre) (14) – Panathinaikos remains on top of the table in the Greek Super League after a 4-0 defeat of Ergotelis. Coming Up: Panathinaikos is off until Sunday when it takes on PAOK in its next league match.

13. Benfica (Por) (12) – Benfica walked away with six points this week, picking up three in the Champions League by beating Basel 2-0 and three more in the Liga Sagres with a 1-0 victory over Beira-Mar. Coming Up: On Saturday, Benfica hosts Olhanense in its next domestic league match.

14. Lazio (Ita) (NF) – Lazio drew 1-1 with Zürich in its Europa League encounter, but moved up into second place in the Serie A, and back into the rankings, with a 2-0 defeat of Bologna. Coming Up: Lazio’s two Serie A matches this week will take place against Catania on Wednesday and Cagliari on Sunday.

15. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (18) – Dynamo defeated Turkish side Besiktas 1-0 in a Thursday Europa League match and then creamed Zorya 6-1 to go top in the Ukrainian Premier League. Coming Up: In the only matchup of ranked clubs this week, Dynamo will host Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday Ukrainian Cup match. In league action, Dynamo faces off with Tavriya on Sunday.

16. Montpellier (Fra) (15) – Montpellier kept pace with Paris St.-Germain in Ligue Un with a 3-1 victory over Caen. Coming Up: In the Coupe de Ligue, Montpellier will host Lorient on Wednesday. Montpellier will host Nancy on Saturday.

17. Juventus (Ita) (6) – Once again, Juventus had to settle for a draw in Serie A, this time with a 2-2 variety at home against Genoa. Coming Up: This could prove to be a tough week for Juventus as it hosts Fiorentina on Tuesday and then heads to the San Siro to take on Inter Milan on Saturday.

18. Newcastle United (Eng) (17) – The Magpies’ undefeated start to the Premier League season continued this weekend with a 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic. Coming Up: Newcastle is away in two matches this week, at Blackburn on Wednesday in the Carling Cup and at Stoke City on Monday in the Premier League.

19. Olympiakos (Gre) (NF) – Olympiakos returns to the rankings after a brief absence on the heels of a 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and a 3-0 defeat of Panianios in the Greek Super League. Coming Up: Olympiakos is off until Saturday when it hosts OFI.

20. Sporting Braga (Por) (24) – Braga could do no better than draw against Maribor 1-1 at midweek but did score a 3-0 victory over Feirense this weekend. Coming Up: Sporting Braga returns to action on Saturday in a Liga Sagres away match with Académica.

21. Lille (Fra) (BU) – Lille is another Champions League club that returns to the ranking despite losing its CL match 0-1 to Inter Milan after surprising Lyon with a 3-1 win. Coming Up: Lille will host Sedan in a Wednesday Coupe de Ligue match and will play next in Ligue un on Sunday at Valenciennes.

22. Sevilla (Esp) (22) – Sevilla went to the Camp Nou this weekend and walked away with a shocking point following a 0-0 draw with Barcelona. Coming Up: Both of Sevilla’s Primera División matches this week will be at home, Tuesday against Racing Santander and next Monday against Granada.

23. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (25) – Zenit went to the Ukraine this week and managed a 2-2 draw away at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. In the Russian Premier League, Zenit maintained its lead with a 3-1 victory at Rostov. Coming Up: Zenit’s only match of the week takes place at home against Volga on Thursday.

24. Schalke 04 (Ger) (NR) – Last season’s surprise Champions League semifinalists return to the rankings after a week that saw it smash AEK Lanarca 5-0 in the Europa League and beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in the German Bundesliga. Coming Up: Schalke will take on Karlsruher on Wednesday in a DFB Pokal match and will host TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday in league play.

25. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (13) – Shakhtar did salvage a point in the Champions League by drawing 2-2 with Zenit but fell to third place in the Ukrainian Premier League after losing 1-2 to Metalist. Coming Up: Shakhtar heads to the capital to face Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday in the Ukrainian Cup. In the Premeir League, Shakhtar will play Oleksandria on Saturday.

Bubbling Under: Cagliari (Ita), Metalist (Ukr), Napoli (Ita), Rangers (Sco), Tottenham (Eng).

Next Five: Fenerbahce (Tur), Stade Rennes (Fra), Stuttgart (Ger), Valencia (Esp), Vasco da Gama (Bra).

Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:

26 October – (25) Shakhtar Donetsk at (15) Dynamo Kyiv

Weekend Soccer on Television - 22/23 October 2011

2011-10-21T10:09:00.001-04:00

As usual, there is plenty of action taking place on U.S. television this weekend, but let’s face it, there’s one match that dominates the schedule. This past weekend, Manchester United faltered and dropped to second in the English Premier League behind intercity rival Manchester City and also lost the top spot to its hated adversary in the latest WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World. Sunday morning (U.S. time), United has the opportunity to regain those top positions when it hosts City at Old Trafford. I can’t wait.

There is one other match featuring a pair of ranked clubs taking place in Barcelona when Sevilla visits the Camp Nou for an early-season Primera Division test. Among the top matches going on in other countries, Cagliari is hosting Napoli in the Italian Serie A, Lille takes on Lyon in an important Ligue Un match in France, and the Mexican version of the superclasico happens on Sunday afternoon at Club América hosts Chivas de Guadalajara.

This promises to be a great weekend of football, not only in Manchester but all over the world. Have a great weekend!!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend

1. Manchester City at Manchester United (Sunday, 8:30 am (EDT), FSC, FoxD)

2. Sevilla at Barcelona (Saturday, 4:00 pm, GolTV)

3. Lyon at Lille (Sunday, 3:00 pm, FSP)

4. Napoli at Cagliari (Sunday, 9:00 am, ESPN3)

5. Chivas de Guadalajara at Club América (Sunday, 5:00 pm, Univision)

Friday, October 21, 2011

2:30 pm – Werder Bremen at Augsburg (ESPND, ESPN3)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

2:30 am – Sydney FC at Adelaide United (FSC)

7:45 am – Swansea City at Wolverhampton (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

9:30 am – Cologne at (20) Borussia Dortmund (GolTV)

10:00 am – Wigan Athletic at (17) Newcastle United (FSC, FoxD)

10:00 am – West Bromwich Albion at Aston Villa (FSP)

12 noon – Catania at Fiorentina (FSP)

12:30 pm – Wolfsburg at Hamburg (GolTV)

12:30 pm – Norwich City at Liverpool (FSC, FoxD)

2:00 pm – (11) Real Madrid at Málaga (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Genoa at (6) Juventus (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – (22) Sevilla at (2) Barcelona (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Sunderland at Bolton Wanderers (Delayed) (FSC)

6:00 pm – Atlético MG at Fluminense (Delayed) (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Santos Laguna at UAG Tecos (Galavision)

6:00 pm – San Luis at Jaguares (Azteca)

6:00 pm – Cruz Azul at Querétaro (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Atlético Nacional at Deportivo Cali (Delayed) (GolTV)

8:00 pm – UNAM Pumas at Pachuca (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Monterrey at Tigres UANL (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Morelia at Atlas (Galavision)

10:00 pm – Tijuana at Atlante (Telefutura)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

6:30 am – AC Milan at Lecce (FSP, ESPN3)

6:30 am – Feyenoord at Ajax (ESPND, ESPN3)

8:30 am – (1) Manchester City at (3) Manchester United (FSC, FoxD)

8:30 am – Stoke City at Arsenal (FSP)

9:00 am – Chievo at Inter Milan (ESPN3)

9:00 am – Napoli at (19) Cagliari (ESPN3)

9:30 am – Schalke 04 at Bayer Leverkusen (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Getafe at Real Sociedad (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – Everton at Fulham (Delayed) (FSP)

11:00 am – Queens Park Rangers at (10) Chelsea (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – (4) Bayern Munich at Hannover 96 (GolTV)

12 noon – Mallorca at Atlético Madrid (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – Tottenham at Blackburn Rovers (Delayed) IFSP)

1:00 pm – Puebla at Toluca (Telemundo)

1:15 pm – Nacional at (8) Porto (ESPN3)

2:00 pm – Athletic Bilbao at Valencia (GolTV)

2:45 pm – Lazio at Bologna (FSC, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – (23) Lyon at Lille (FSP)

4:00 pm – (7) Levante at Villarreal (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Club América (Univision)

7:00 pm – Los Angeles Galaxy at Houston Dynamo (Galavision)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - New Sheriff in Town Edition

2011-10-17T00:45:00.001-04:00

As you know if you’ve followed these rankings for a while, it’s difficult for anybody to take over the top spot from the first place team in the English Premier League table until that club has been eliminated from the Champions League. It has happened before, but it doesn’t happen often. And it didn’t happen this week. The change at the top of the EPL this weekend just caused the first and third place clubs to switch places, leaving Barcelona to remain in second for now. Another thing that switch marks is the first time in the history of the chart that Manchester City has been ranked number one and it sets up the match of the season, so far, as the two clubs from Manchester face off on Sunday.

Although there was a lot of movement within the top thirteen clubs in the rankings, those top thirteen clubs remain the same as were on the list prior to the international break. The next twelve, however, are significantly shuffled, with six new clubs entering the rankings, including clubs that had recently departed the rankings such as Borussia Dortmund and Lyon.

The next big changes to happen in the rankings will take place at the end of the Champions League group stage. Until then, the changes in the rankings will primarily be affected my movement in the fluid early-season domestic tables.

Okay, enough explanations. Time for the rankings.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – October 17, 2011

1. Manchester City (Eng) (3) – The king is dead! Long live the king! Following a 4-1 beat down of Aston Villa, Mansee moved to the top of the Premier League and secured its first ever trip to the top of the World Club Rankings. Coming Up: On Tuesday, City will host Villarreal in a Champions League match. More importantly, on Sunday, Manchester City will face its cross-town rival, Manchester City, at Old Trafford.

2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – After starting slowly, Barça seems to have found its groove, defeating Racing Santander 3-0 at home. Coming Up: Barcelona will be at home again on Wednesday against Viktoria Plzen in its next Champions League match. In the Primera División, Barcelona will host Sevilla in the second biggest match of the weekend.

3. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – It always hurts to be deposed, but when it’s done by your most hated rival, it has to be much more painful. That’s what happened to Manchester Untied this weekend, forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Liverpool. Coming Up: Nobody will blame United if it looks past its match on Tuesday against Otelul Galati and concentrates on Sunday’s mega-match with its other hated rival, Manchester City.

4. Bayern Munich (Ger) (4) – Bayern continued to roll this weekend in the German Bundesliga, crushing Hertha Berlin 4-0. Coming Up: Bayern will head south on Tuesday to take on Napoli in an interesting Champions League matchup. Domestically, Bayern is away again, taking on Hannover 96 on Sunday.

5. Udinese (Ita) (5) – Despite having to settle for a 0-0 draw with Atalanta this weekend, Udinese still is tied atop the Italian Serie A table with Juventus. Coming Up: Udinese plays at home on Thursday against Atlético Madrid in its next Europa League match. In Serie A play, Udinese will host Novara on Sunday.

6. Juventus (Ita) (6) – Just like Udinese, Juventus failed to take advantage of the other club’s misfortune by taking only a single point in a 0-0 draw with Chievo. Coming Up: Nothing doing for Juventus in Europe, so it will return to action on Saturday against Genoa.

7. Levante (Esp) (9) – Levante remains in second place in La Liga following an impressive 3-0 victory over Málaga. Coming Up: Next up for Levante will be a Primera Division match against Villarreal on Sunday.

8. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto scored a touchdown and went for two in beating Pero Pinheiro 8-0 in this weekend’s Taça de Portugal match. Coming Up: Porto will welcome APOEL to town on Wednesday in its next Champions League match. In the Liga Sagres, Porto will host Nacional on Sunday.

9. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (10) – PSG extended its lead in France’s Ligue Un with a 3-1 away victory against Ajaccio. Coming Up: PSG is going to the Paris of Slovakia to take on Slovan Bratislava in its Thursday Europa League match. Domestically, Paris St.-Germain will welcome Dijon to Parc des Princes on Sunday.

10. Chelsea (Eng) (8) – Chelsea gained some ground on Manchester United by scoring a 3-1 victory over Everton this weekend. Coming Up: Genk will come to Stamford Bridge to take on the Blues on Wednesday in the Champions League. Chelsea will take on Queens Park Rangers in its next Premier League match, on Sunday.

11. Real Madrid (Esp) (11) – Real Madrid kept pace with Barcelona with a 4-1 win over Real Betis. Coming Up: In our pick for Champions League match of the week, Real Madrid will host Lyon on Tuesday. In La Liga, Real Madrid hits the road to take on Málaga on Saturday.

12. Benfica (Por) (12) – Benfica advance in the Taça de Portugal with a 2-0 victory over Portimonense. Coming Up: Benfica heads to Switzerland to take on Basel in its Tuesday Champions League test. Benfica returns to Liga Sagres action on Saturday against Beira-Mar.

13. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (13) – Shakhtar maintained the top spot in the Ukrainian Premier League with a 3-1 win over Tavirya. Coming Up: In an interesting Eastern European matchup, Shakhtar will host Zenit St. Petersburg on Wednesday in the Champions League. In league play, Shakhtar will host Metalist in a match that could have major implications in this season’s title race.

14. Panathinaikos (Gre) (NF) – This is based on only four matches since the Greek Super League got off to a late start, but Panathinaikos is leading the league after a 3-2 victory over Xanthi this weekend. Coming Up: Panathinaikos will look to keep the lead when it hosts Ergotelis on Saturday.

15. Montpellier (Fra) (19) – Montpellier kept within striking distance of PSG in France’s Ligue Un by defeating Dijon 5-3 at home. Coming Up: Montpellier returns to action on Saturday against Caen.

16. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (22) – Monchengladbach moves up six notches despite picking up only one point in a 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. Coming Up: On Saturday, BM’s next Bundesliga takes place away against Hoffenheim.

17. Newcastle United (Eng) (17) – They had to come from behind twice to do it, but the Magpies finished with a 2-2 draw against Spurs on Sunday. Coming Up: On Saturday, Newcastle United will host Wigan Athletic.

18. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (20) – With a 2-1 victory over Volyn, Dynamo Kyiv stays within a whisper of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League. Coming Up: On Thursday, Dynamo will host Turkey’s Besiktas in Europa League action. Domestically, it will take on Zorya on Sunday.

19. Cagliari (Ita) (BU) – I think this is the first time that Cagliari has ever made the rankings. Like the other Serie A clubs in the WCR Top 25, it is coming off a goalless draw against Siena. Coming Up: A real test for Cagliari will take place on Sunday when it hosts Napoli in its next Serie A match.

20. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (NR) – The defending German Bundesliga champion returns to the rankings after defeating Werder Bremen 2-0. Coming Up: Dortmund heads to Piraeus to take on Olympiakos in a Wednesday CL matchup. In Bundesliga play, Borussia Dortmund will face Cologne on Saturday.

21. VfB Stuttgart (Ger) (NR) – Stuttgart is off to a much better start than last season, defeating Hoffenheim 2-0 at home this weekend to be tied for third place in the Bundesliga. Coming Up: Stuttgart will also be away on Saturday against Nürnberg.

22. Sevilla (Esp) (NR) – Sevilla returns to the rankings after scoring a 2-1 win over Sporting Gijón. Coming Up: This weekend’s matchup may prove to be a little tougher when it heads to the Camp Nou to take on Barcelona.

23. Lyon (Fra) (BU) – Another returning familiar face to this week’s rankings is Lyon, who downed Nancy Lorraine 3-1 in Ligue Un action. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Lyon will be at the Bernabeu to take on Real Madrid in a key Champions League match. In Ligue Un, on Sunday, Lyon will be away again when it plays Lille.

24. Sporting Braga (Por) (25) – Like the other top Portuguese clubs, Braga advanced in the Taça de Portugal with a 3-1 victory over 1st Dezembro. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Braga faces Europa League opponent Maribor. In the Liga Sagres, Braga will host Feirense on Sunday.

25. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (23) – Zenit remains atop the Russian Premier League despite its goalless draw with Dinamo Moscow. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Zenit will play in its shortest road trip of the Champions League season when it takes on Shakhtar Donetsk. In Premier League action, Zenit goes against Rostov on Sunday.

Bubbling Under: Fenerbahce (Tur), Lille (Fra), Napoli (Ita), Rangers (Sco), Valencia (Esp).

Next Five: Corinthians (Bra), Lazio (Ita), Olympiakos (Gre), Sporting CP (Por), Tottenham (Eng).

Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:

18 October – (23) Lyon at (11) Real Madrid

19 October – (25) Zenit St. Petersburg at (13) Shakhtar Donetsk

22 October – (22) Sevilla at (2) Barcelona

23 October – (1) Manchester City at (3) Manchester United

Weekend Soccer on Television - 15/16 October 2011

2011-10-14T10:41:00.002-04:00

Thank goodness that international crap is over for a while and we can get back to what we like best, club football. Of course, the match that everybody is looking forward to this weekend is Saturday’s Liverpool – Manchester United matchup. Manyoo has been on a roll recently and will look to keep that up at Anfield.

There is only one match this weekend between two WCR Top 25 Clubs and it’s not televised. That is Sunday’s matchup between Levante and Málaga, two clubs off to surprising great starts in the early La Liga season. By virture of their rankings, that match is our Match of the Week. Hopefully, it will be televised in Argentina.

There are some interesting derbies this week, including a battle in Rome between Roma and Lazio, and another in Los Angeles featuring the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA. Of course, as always, there are other assorted interesting matches throughout the weekend, those of which are being broadcast in the U.S. are listed below. Have a great weekend!!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Málaga at Levante (Sunday, 1:00 pm (EDT), Not Televised)

2. Manchester United at Liverpool (Saturday, 7:45 am, ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

3. Borussia Dortmund at Werder Bremen (Friday, 2:30 pm, GolTV)

4. Tottenham at Newcastle (Sunday, 11:00 am, FSC, FoxD)

5. Palermo at AC Milan (Saturday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

October 14, 2011

2:30 pm – Borussia Dortmund at (15) Werder Bremen (GolTV)

7:00 pm – Tigres at Monarcas Morelia (FoxD, Azteca)

10:30 pm – Real Salt Lake at Colorado Rapids (ESPN2, ESPN3)

October 15, 2011

7:45 am – (1) Manchester United at Liverpool (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

9:30 am – Hertha BSC at (4) Bayern Munich (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:00 am – Aston Villa at (3) Manchester City (FSC, FoxD)

10:00 am – Swansea City at Norwich City (FSP)

12 noon – Inter Milan at Catania (FSP, ESPN3)

12 noon – Valencia at Mallorca (ESPN3)

12 noon – Real Betis at (11) Real Madrid (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – Everton at (8) Chelsea (FSC, FoxD)

12:45 pm – AZ Alkmaar at Ajax (ESPN3)

2:00 pm – Racing Santander at (2) Barcelona (GolTV)

2:00 pm – Blackburn Rovers at Queens Park Rangers (Delayed) (FSP)

2:45 pm – Palermo at AC Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Atlético Madrid at Granada (GolTV)

4:00 pm – Bolton Wanderers at Wigan Athletic (Delayed) (FSP)

4:00 pm – New York Red Bulls at Sporting KC (Telefutura)

5:00 pm – Fulham at Stoke City (Delayed) (FSC)

6:00 pm – Flamengo at Ceara (Delayed) (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Atlante at Jaguares (ESPND, Azteca)

6:00 pm – Club América at Monterrey (Telemundo)

8:00 pm – Toluca at Santos Laguna (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Tijuana at Pachuca (Azteca)

8:00 pm – UAG Tecos at Chivas de Guadalajara (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Cruz Azul at San Luis (Telefutura)

10:00 pm – Millonarios at Quindio (Delayed) (GolTV)

10:30 pm – San Jose Earthquakes at Seattle Sounders (FSC)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

2:00 am – Perth Glory at Melbourne Heart (FSC)

6:30 am – Fiorentina at Cesena (FSP, ESPN3)

8:30 am – Sunderland at Arsenal (FSP)

9:00 am – (6) Juventus at Chievo (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

9:00 am – Lecce at Genoa (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Real Sociedad at Real Zaragoza (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – Wolverhampton at West Brom (Delayed) (FSP)

11:00 am – Tottenham at Newcastle United (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – Hannover 96 at Cologne (ESPN3)

12 noon – Kaiserslautern at Schalke 04 (Delayed) (GolTV)

1:00 pm – Atlas at Pumas UNAM (Telemundo)

1:00 pm – Querétaro at Puebla (ESPND, Azteca)

2:00 pm – Fluminense at Palmeiras (GolTV)

2:45 pm – Roma at Lazio (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Lorient at Stade Rennes (FSP)

4:00 pm – Sporting Gijón at Sevilla (GolTV)

9:00 pm – Chivas USA at Los Angeles Galaxy (ESPN, ESPND, ESPN3)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - 1997

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Since there is an international break in club action this weekend, we are going to take advantage of the break to bring the next entry in our series of Annual Club Rankings.

For the second time in three years, Juventus headed the top of the Annual Rankings despite finishing as runner-up in the European Champions Cup. Even though Borussia Dortmund won the 1997 Champions Cup with a 3-1 victory over Juventus, Dortmund’s third-place finish in the German Bundesliga kept it from finishing atop the year-end rankings. Another German club, Schalke 04, won the UEFA Cup on penalty kicks over Inter Milan following a pair of 1-0 home victories by the competitiors. In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Barcelona returned to glory, taking the title with a 1-0 victory over Paris St.-Germain in Feyenoord Stadium in the Netherlands.

Both major South American cups were won by Brazilian clubs in 1997, with Cruzeiro defeating Peru’s Sporting Cristal in the final of the Copa Libertadores and Atlético Mineiro beating Argentina’s Lanús in the final of the Copa CONMEBOL. Further north, Mexico’s Cruz Azul won its second consecutive Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones by defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 5-3 in the final in Washington, D.C.

Clubs from Tunisia and Morocco dominated the continental tournaments in Africa. Raja Casablanca defeated Ghana’s Goldfields on penalties in the final of the African Champions Cup. In the CAF Cup, Tunisia’s Espérance took the title with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Petro Atlético from Angola. The two countries went head-to-head in the final of the African Cup Winners Cup, where Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel defeated Morocco’s FAR Rabat in the final.

The all-Korean final of the Asian Champions Cup was won 2-1 by Pohang Steelers over Ilhwa Chunma. Saudi club Al-Hilal defeated Japan’s Nagoya Grampus Eight in the final of the Asian Cup Winners Cup.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – 1997

1. Juventus (Ita) – European Champions Cup (ECC)- Runner-Up; Second Number One ranking; Sixth consecutive Top 25 ranking.

2. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) – European Cup Winners Cup (CWC)- 2R; Highest ranking since 1976.

3. Monaco (Fra) – UEFA Cup (UEFA)- Semifinals; Highest ever ranking.

4. Feyenoord (Ned) – UEFA- 3R; Highest ranking since 1975.

5. Ajax (Ned) – ECC- Semifinals.

6. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) – ECC- Champions; Highest ranking since 1963.

7. Vasco da Gama (Bra) – Highest ever ranking.

8. Internacional (Bra)

9. River Plate (Arg) – Copa Libertadores (SACL)- 2R.

10. Colo Colo (Chi) – SACL- Semifinals; Highest ever ranking.

11. Bayern Munich (Ger) – UEFA- 1R.

12. Chivas de Guadalajara (Mex) – Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones- Semifinals; Highest ever ranking.

13. Parma (Ita) – UEFA- 1R; Highest ever ranking.

14. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) – CWC- Runner-Up; Fifth consecutive Top 15 ranking.

15. Manchester United (Eng) – ECC- Semifinals.

16. Porto (Por) – ECC- Quarterfinals.

17. Racing Club (Arg) – SACL- Semifinals; First ranking since 1968.

18. Twente (Ned) – First ranking since 1976.

19. Real Madrid (Esp)

20. Inter Milan (Ita) – UEFA- Runner-Up.

21. Barcelona (Esp) – CWC- Champions.

22. Nantes (Fra) – UEFA- 1R.

23. Sporting Cristal (Per) – SACL- Runner-Up; Only Top 25 ranking.

24. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) – First ever ranking.

25. Lazio (Ita) – UEFA- 2R

Past final season Top 25s: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960.

Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 8/9 October 2011

2011-10-07T12:18:00.001-04:00

It’s that time of year again. Most of the domestic league action is on hiatus so the world can enjoy international football. Here, we’re not particularly adverse to international football, although we are know much more for our fondness of domestic league action.

There will be some club action in the Western Hemisphere and you can find much of that on GolTV and, in the case of Mexican league play, on the Spanish-language channels in the United States. This is a good weekend to be living in Argentina, where we will have access to the 2014 World Cup South American qualifiers, but if you look hard enough, you might be able to find that online or at your local watering hole. In any event, most of this week’s action is online. We will forego our Top Five matches of the week, but rest assured that the list will return next week along with domestic league action. As for now, enjoy this list and have a great weekend!

Friday, October 7, 2011

12:15 pm – Sweden at Finland (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:15 pm – Russia at Slovakia (ESPN3)

2:30 pm – Denmark at Cyprus (ESPN3)

2:30 pm – Moldova at Netherlands (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Spain at Czech Republic (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Croatia at Greece (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Italy at Serbia (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Switzerland at Wales (ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Albania at France (ESPN3)

3:00 pm – England at Montenegro (ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Ireland at Andorra (ESPN3)

9:10 pm – Monterrey at UAG Tecos (Galavision)

10:00 pm – Brazil at Costa Rica (ESPND, ESPN3)

Saturday, October 8, 2011

3:30 am – Sydney FC at Melbourne Victory (FSC)

1:30 pm – Scotland at Liechtenstein (ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Fenix at Peñarol (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Bahia at Botafogo (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Puebla at Cruz Azul (ESPND, Azteca)

6:00 pm – Honduras at United States (FSC)

6:00 pm – Santos Laguna at Querétaro (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Jaguares at Pachuca (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Pumas UNAM at Tigres UANL (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Tijuana at Atlas (Galavision)

10:00 pm – San Luis at Atlante (Telefutura)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

1:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Toluca (Telemundo)

3:00 pm – Palmeiras at Santos (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Rentistas at Nacional (Delayed) (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Morelia at Club América (Univision)

7:00 pm – Guatemala at St. Vincent & Grenadines (Delayed) (GolTV)

10:00 pm – El Salvador at Dominican Republic (Delayed) (GolTV)

WCR Monthly International RPI Rankings - October 2011

2011-10-06T06:59:00.000-04:00

Another month has come and gone and so it’s time for another WCR Monthly International RPI Rankings. With all of the matches in September, I was expecting a lot of movement. I guess there was quite a bit but nothing as significant as I had expected. The most movement occurred with clubs in UEFA. Of the 23 clubs in the Top 100 that moved five spots or more in rankings this month, thirteen are European.

The award for biggest movers of the month belongs to Bosnia-Herzegovina which moved up a full twenty spots, from 70 to 50. Other top climbers include Guyana (108 to 94), Belgium (82 to 75) and Angola (88 to 81). A European club also saw the biggest drop of the month. The five biggest drops of the month belong to Sweden (25 to 36), Montenegro (61 to 71), Uzbekistan (65 to 74), Jamaica (26 to 33) and Bulgaria (62 to 69).

In the specific category rankings, I found it interesting that Venezuela caught up to Japan in the Opponents Opponents’ Winning Percentage to finally give COMNEBOL all ten spots in the top ten list for that category. Below are the rankings, records and RPI for the top 100 national teams with at least 20 matches played over the past four years.

Top Ten Winning Percentage (Oct. 2007 – Sept. 2011)

1. Spain (1) (.90164)

2. Netherlands (2) (.80556)

3t. Brazil (3) (.75000)

3t. Croatia (5) (.75000)

5. Germany (4) (.74561)

6. England (6) (.73256)

7. Egypt (7) (.70833)

8. Australia (NR) (.70192)

9. Uganda (8) (.70000)

10. Iran (9) (.69231)

Top Ten Opponents' Winning Percentage (Oct. 2007 – Sept. 2011)

1. United States (1) (.60098)

2. New Zealand (3) (.60019)

3. Argentina (6) (.59339)

4. Brazil (5) (.59107)

5. South Korea (2) (.59042)

6. Chile (10) (.58781)

7. Australia (4) (.58359)

8. Paraguay (7) (.58329)

9. Japan (9) (.58170)

10. Uruguay (8) (.58028)

Top Ten Opponents’ Opponents' Winning Percentage (Oct. 2007 – Sept. 2011)

1. Colombia (1) (.55674)

2. Paraguay (2) (.55659)

3. Peru (4) (.55499)

4. Brazil (3) (.55362)

5. Ecuador (6) (.55329)

6. Bolivia (8) (.55197)

7. Uruguay (5) (.55184)

8. Argentina (7) (.55035)

9. Chile (9) (.54673)

10. Venezuela (NR) (.54569)

WCR Monthly International RPI Rankings – October 2011

1. Spain (1) (54-5-2) (.64182)

2. Brazil (2) (36-8-12) (.62144)

3. Netherlands (3) (39-6-9) (.61216)

4. Argentina (4) (34-13-12) (.60377)

5. Australia (7) (30-9-13) (.60237)

6. Japan (8) (37-12-17) (.59905)

7. South Korea (6) (32-11-18) (.59705)

8. England (5) (28-8-7) (.59388)

9. Uruguay (10) (27-12-13) (.58916)

10. Germany (9) (37-9-11) (.58707)

11. Chile (12) (30-17-12) (.58313)

12. United States (11) (32-22-12) (.57694)

13. Ivory Coast (14) (28-10-12) (.57678)

14. Paraguay (17) (26-26-18) (.57663)

15. Italy (13) (27-10-15) (.57154)

16. Mexico (16) (41-18-15) (.57026)

17. Iran (15) (36-11-18) (.56919)

18. France (19) (25-13-14) (.56756)

19. Portugal (20) (27-9-11) (.55879)

20. Egypt (18) (38-13-9) (.55876)

21. Ghana (21) (28-18-10) (.55696)

22. China (22) (32-14-18) (.55530)

23. Nigeria (23) (25-11-12) (.55427)

24. Turkey (29) (24-12-10) (.55379)

25. Croatia (30) (27-6-9) (.55200)

26. Saudi Arabia (24) (33-18-17) (.55197)

27. Denmark (32) (20-14-11) (.55027)

28. South Africa (27) (29-20-14) (.54961)

29. Bahrain (35) (33-24-17) (.54945)

30. Ukraine (28) (20-12-10) (.54913)

31. Ireland (37) (17-9-16) (.54891)

32. Oman (33) (33-19-21) (.54668)

33. Jamaica (26) (27-13-12) (.54593)

34. Russia (38) (23-11-7) (.54542)

35. Norway (31) (18-12-7) (.54458)

36. Sweden (25) (26-16-7) (.54382)

37. Senegal (34) (15-9-9) (.54374)

38. Colombia (42) (18-17-11) (.54359)

39. Honduras (36) (36-24-10) (.54310)

40. Greece (40) (24-11-13) (.54171)

41. Kuwait (39) (29-19-25) (.54018)

42. Ecuador (48) (15-17-14) (.54000)

43. New Zealand (41) (8-12-8) (.53904)

44. Cameroon (45) (21-12-10) (.53599)

45. Syria (43) (29-19-15) (.53579)

46. Burkina Faso (47) (15-8-4) (.53370)

47. Libya (53) (14-5-7) (.53304)

48. Venezuela (50) (23-23-16) (.53245)

49. Algeria (44) (16-12-9) (.53240)

50. Bosnia-Herzegovina (70) (16-16-7) (.53031)

51. Costa Rica (52) (24-23-17) (.52962)

52. Switzerland (46) (17-13-12) (.52961)

53. Gabon (51) (14-10-6) (.52951)

54. Serbia (49) (24-15-9) (.52907)

55. Trinidad & Tobago (54) (28-17-13) (.52893)

56. Qatar (55) (24-28-21) (.52809)

57. Tunisia (58) (19-10-17) (.52509)

58. North Korea (57) (.52395)

59. Iraq (56) (22-21-14) (.52234)

60. Panama (59) (24-16-7) (.52122)

61. Poland (65) (21-18-17) (.51970)

62. Jordan (66) (21-22-17) (.51800)

63. Morocco (63) (18-7-10) (.51785)

64. Peru (60) (12-19-11) (.51657)

65. Ubekistan (74) (19-19-12) (.51648)

66. Thailand (67) (23-15-15) (.51634)

67. Israel (64) (15-12-7) (.51515)

68. Uganda (68) (27-9-9) (.51357)

69. Bulgaria (62) (13-12-10) (.51270)

70. Romania (71) (18-16-9) (.51162)

71. Montenegro (61) (13-8-9) (.51115)

72. Guinea (69) (14-14-8) (.51004)

73. Czech Republic (75) (18-13-11) (.50819)

74. United Arab Emirates (73) (18-27-17) (.50776)

75. Belgium (82) (14-15-9) (.50745)

76. Hungary (76) (19-16-5) (.50606)

77. Mali (78) (17-17-7) (.50604)

78. Scotland (72) (11-15-5) (.50339)

79. Cape Verde Islands (77) (12-6-5) (.50070)

80. Canada (83) (10-15-8) (.50064)

81. Angola (88) (12-17-18) (.49941)

82. Austria (79) (10-23-8) (.49808)

83. Benin (85) (11-17-6) (.49758)

84. Indonesia (81) (18-16-5) (.49652)

85. Slovenia (80) (16-17-7) (.49249)

86. Belarus (86) (16-15-12) (.49156)

87. Zambia (84) (25-22-10) (.49090)

88. Cuba (90) (12-13-6) (.49006)

89. Finland (89) (13-18-9) (.48897)

90. Bolivia (96) (7-21-9) (.48723)

91. Zimbabwe (91) (10-11-8) (.48660)

92. Singapore (87) (17-23-10) (.48645)

93. El Salvador (94) (22-30-15) (.48605)

94. Guyana (108) (14-12-8) (.48387)

95. Antigua & Barbuda (97) (16-9-8) (.48158)

96. Mozambique (93) (13-19-6) (.47972)

97. FYR Macedonia (98) (12-15-9) (.47892)

98. Yemen (95) (11-21-8) (.47879)

99. Malawi (105) (18-16-12) (.47810)

100. Turkmenistan (99) (13-13-6) (.47758)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - Hell Breaks Loose Edition

2011-10-02T23:49:00.000-04:00

What have we been telling you about for weeks? Months, even? Have you been paying attention? Do you know what’s happening this week? If you guessed that all hell was breaking loose in the rankings then you’ve been paying attention.

A few weeks ago, when English and Portuguese clubs had last season’s numbers drop out of the equations, it didn’t cause a huge tremor in the rankings. This is because the top of those tables, thus far, look a lot like last season’s table. This week, the same thing happened to Italian and Spanish clubs and things shook, rattled and rolled in the rankings.

You want a for instance? I’ll give you some for instances. For instance, clubs that weren’t even ranked last week have jumped into this week’s top ten, like Juventus and Levante. And you can’t say they did it cheaply as Juventus beat Milan this week and Levante beat Real Madrid a few weeks ago. They are replacing clubs that seem like they have been in the rankings forever like Valencia and both clubs from Milan, AC Milan and Internazionale, who have fallen far from glory so far this season, along with clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal that had been vanquished in earlier weeks. Another for instance is that the only match featuring two ranked clubs after the international break features Levante and Málaga. Seriously.

Yes, hell has broken loose in the rankings. Are the rankings going to stay this way? Of course not. The next few months will be the most fluid of the season in the rankings, like they always are. I enjoy it but it confuses many people. I always look forward to seeing which new clubs in the rankings are actual contenders and which are purely pretenders.

Enough of all that. Let’s get to the rankings.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – October 3, 2011

1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – Well, nothing new here. Manyoo stays on top where it has been all season despite drawing 3-3 with Basel in the Champions League. In the Premier League, United fared better, defeating Norwich City 2-0. Coming Up: In a match that is always a classic, United heads to Anfield to take on Liverpool on Oct. 15.

2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barça gets to keep its second-place spot because Real Betis faltered in each of the two weeks. Barcelona didn’t falter at all, though, beating BATE Barisov 5-0 in its Champions League match and Sporting Gijón 1-0 in La Liga. Coming Up: Barcelona will host Racing Santander after the international break.

3. Manchester City (Eng) (4) – How did City jump Bayern despite losing to the German club 0-2 in Munich? Well, Champions League group stage results are tabulated until the end of the group stage. Domestically, Mansee did a lot better, though, crushing Blackburn Rovers 4-0. Coming Up: After the break, Manchester City returns to action against Aston Villa.

4. Bayern Munich (Ger) (3) – Bayern did much better in the Champions League, where it defeated Manchester City 2-0, than it did in the Bundesliga, where it had to settle for a scoreless draw against Hoffenheim. Coming Up: On October 15, Bayern will host Hertha BSC in its next Bundesliga match.

5. Udinese (Ita) (24) – Udinese only managed to draw 1-1 with Celtic on Thursday in the Europa League, but it went top in Serie A with a 2-0 victory over Bologna. Coming Up: Next up for Udinese will be an away match against Atalanta on Oct. 16.

6. Juventus (Ita) (NR) – Juve skyrockets into the Top Ten following a 2-0 victory over defending Serie A champions AC Milan which moved it into a tie atop the Serie A table. Coming Up: Juventus will face Chievo when it returns after the break.

7. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto didn’t move at all this week even though it fell 1-3 to Zenit in St. Petersburg. Domestically, Porto stayed ahead of Benfica on goal differential after defeating Académica 3-0. Coming Up: In two weeks, Porto will return to action in the Taça de Portugal in a match against Pero Pinheiro.

8. Chelsea (Eng) (8) – Chelsea also stays put after a week that saw it draw 1-1 with Valencia in Spain in the Champions League but slap around Bolton Wanderers in a 5-1 win in the Premier League. Coming Up: Chelsea will host Everton on Oct. 15 in its next match.

9. Levante (Esp) (NR) – After defeating Real Betis 1-0 away, Levante finds itself in second place in the young Primera Division season. Coming Up: In the only matchup between ranked clubs immediately after the break, Levante will host Málaga on Oct. 16.

10. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (13) – PSG went to Basque country and were embarrassed 0-2 by Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League, but they bounced back to defeat Lyon 2-0 to claim first place in Ligue Un. Coming Up: PSG will take on Ajaccio when the international break is over.

11. Real Madrid (Esp) (6) – Real Madrid drops in the rankings despite having a great week, defeating Ajax 3-0 in the Champions League and Espanyol 4-0 in Barcelona in La Liga. Coming Up: Real Madrid’s next Primera Division match will be against fading Real Betis on Oct. 15 at the Bernabeu.

12. Benfica (Por) (15) – Benfica won its Champions League match away 1-0 against Otelul Galati. In the Liga Sagres, Benfica remains a whisper behind Porto after a 4-1 victory over Paços de Ferreira. Coming Up: After the break, Benfica will take on Portimonense in a Taça de Portugal match.

13. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (11) – Shakhtar could manage only a single point at home in the Champions League in a 1-1 draw with APOEL. In the Ukrainian Premier League, Shakhtar remains top following a 4-1 victory over Zorya. Coming Up: Shakhtar goes on the road to play Tavriya in its next league match.

14. Olympiakos (Gre) (10) – Olympiakos’ Champions League chances are becoming longer and longer following a 1-2 loss to Arsenal in this past week’s matchup. Domestically, Olympiakos’ perfect start to the season continued with a 2-1 victory over PAOK. Coming Up: Olympiakos will head over to Athens to take on AEK on Oct. 15.

15. Werder Bremen (Ger) (9) – Bremen blew a chance to go top in the German Bundesliga this week by falling 2-3 to Hannover 96. Coming Up: Werder Bremen will look to bounce back on Oct. 14 when it hosts defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund.

16. Napoli (Ita) (20) – The club from the south of Italy had a fantastic week, defeating Villarreal 2-0 in its Champions League matchup and crushing a short-handed Inter Milan 3-0 in Serie A. Coming Up: On Oct. 15, Napoli will host Parma in its next league match.

17. Newcastle United (Eng) (17) – My Magpies did it again, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 to stay in fourth place in the English Premier League. Coming Up: On Oct. 16, Newcastle faces a huge test when it hosts Tottenham at St. Jame’s Park.

18. Málaga (Esp) (NR) – The early returns say that all of that money spent in the off-season is paying off as Málaga defeated Getafe 3-2 this week to make its first ever trip into the Weekly Rankings. Coming Up: Getafe will hit the road to take on Levante on Oct. 16 in a battle of early-season overachievers.

19. Montpellier (Fra) (BU) – A 2-2 draw with Bordeaux was enough to move Montpellier into second place in Ligue Un and back into the rankings. Coming Up: Montpellier will host Dijon in its next Ligue Un match on Oct. 15.

20. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (18) – Dynamo went to Israel and settled for a Europa League draw, 1-1 against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Domestically, Dynamo beat Vorskla 2-1 to stay within sniffing distance of Shakhtar Donetsk. Coming Up: Dynamo vill host Volyn on Oct. 16.

21. Fenerbahce (Tur) (22) – Fenerbahce continued to pile up victories in the Turkish Super League, defeating Istanbul BB 4-2. Coming Up: Next for Fenerbahce will be Mersin Idmanyurdu on Oct. 15.

22. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (19) – Like other top clubs in Germany, BM didn’t have a great weak, losing 0-1 to Freiburg this weekend. Coming Up: The road doesn’t get any easier for Monchengladbach, hosting Bayern Leverkusen after the break.

23. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (23) – Like a few other clubs, Zenit did better in the Champions League, where it defeated Porto 3-1, than it did in its own domestic league, where it drew 2-2 against Spartak Moscow. Coming Up: On Oct. 15, Zenit will host a different Moscow club, Dinamo.

24. Rangers (Sco) – It was six points in two SPL matches for Glasgow Rangers this week, following a 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock with a 1-0 squeaker over Hibernian. Coming Up: Rangers will host St. Mirren after the international break.

25. Sporting Braga (Por) (21) – This was really a horrible week for Braga, falling 1-2 at home to Club Brugge in the Europa League and then following that with a 0-1 loss to União de Leiria in the Liga Sagres. Coming Up: In its next Taça de Portugal match, Braga will take on 1 Dezembro on the fifteenth.

Bubbling Under: Cagliari (Ita), Lyon (Fra), Palermo (Ita), Valencia (Esp), Vasco da Gama (Bra).

Next Five: Liverpool (Eng), Panathinaikos (Gre), Schalke 04 (Ger), Tottenham (Eng), Trabzonspor (Tur).

Matches Between Top 25 Clubs in Next Two Weeks:

16 October – (18) Málaga at (9) Levante

Weekend Soccer on Television - 1/2 October 2011

2011-09-29T22:55:00.001-04:00

This coming Monday will be a big week in the rankings as Italy and Spain reach the point in the season where all of last season’s data is dropped out of the computations. Leading up to that are some great matches this weekend that will have a large say in how next week’s rankings play out.

There are two matches this weekend featuring a pair of clubs in the current WCR Top 25. On Saturday, Inter Milan will host Napoli. The bigger match, however, takes place at Parc des Princes on Sunday when Paris St.-Germain hosts Lyon in a rematch of a 2009 match that was the only Ligue Un match I’ve ever attended in person. But enough about me.

Among the most interesting matches going on in other places this weekend, there is a Merseyside Derby, a North London derby and a battle of a defending champions and current table topper in Torino. This has the potential to be a fantastic football weekend. As always, have a great weekend!!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Lyon at Paris St.-Germain (Sunday, 3:00 pm (EDT), FSP)

2. Napoli at Inter Milan (Saturday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3. AC Milan at Juventus (Sunday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4. Arsenal at Tottenham (Sunday, 11:00 am, FSC, FoxD)

5. Liverpool at Everton (Saturday, 7:45 am, ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

Friday, September 30, 2011

2:30 pm – VfB Stuttgart at Kaiserslautern (ESPND, ESPN3)

Saturday, October 1, 2011

7:45 am – Liverpool at Everton (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

9:30 am – (3) Bayern Munich at Hoffenheim (GolTV)

10:00 am – Norwich City at (1) Manchester United (FSC, FoxD)

10:00 am – (4) Manchester City at Blackburn Rovers (FSP)

12 noon – Newcastle United at Wolverhampton (Delayed) (FSC)

12 noon – Atalanta at Roma (FSP, ESPN3)

12 noon – Real Zaragoza at Villarreal (GolTV)

12:30 pm – Wigan Athletic at Aston Villa (FoxD)

12:30 pm – Cologne at Hertha BSC (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:00 pm – West Brom at Sunderland (Delayed) (FSP)

2:00 pm – Granada at (16) Valencia (GolTV)

2:45 pm – (20) Napoli at (14) Inter Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Atlas at Jaguares (ESPND, Azteca)

4:00 pm – Chicago Fire at Houston Dynamo (Telefutura)

5:00 pm – Santos at Fluminense (GolTV)

6:00 pm – UAG Tecos at Monarcas Moreia (FoxD, Azteca)

7:15 pm – Atlético Nacional at Medellin (GolTV)

7:30 pm – New York Red Bulls at Toronto FC (FSC)

8:00 pm – Querétaro at Chivas de Guadalajara (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Puebla at San Luis (Galavision)

10:00 pm – Pachuca at Atlante (Telefutura)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

6:30 am – Catania at Novara (FSP)

8:30 am – (8) Chelsea at Bolton Wanderers (FSP)

9:00 am – Lazio at Fiorentina (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

9:00 am – Genoa at Parma (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Levante at Real Betis (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – Queens Park Rangers at Fulham (Delayed) (FSP)

10:30 am – PSV Eindhoven at NEC (ESPN3)

11:00 am – Arsenal at Tottenham (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – Schalke 04 at Hamburger SV (GolTV)

12 noon – Sevilla at Atlético Madrid (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – Stoke City at Swansea City (Delayed) (FSP)

2:00 pm – (2) Barcelona at Sporting Gijón (GolTV)

2:45 pm – (5) AC Milan at Juventus (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – (12) Lyon at (13) Paris St.-Germain (FSP)

3:00 pm – Tigres UANL at Tijuana (Azteca)

3:15 pm – (7) Porto at Academica (ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Corinthians at Vasco da Gama (Delayed) (GolTV)

4:00 pm – (6) Real Madrid at Espanyol (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - 500th Post Edition

2011-09-26T02:00:00.000-04:00

When we started this blog, we had no idea that we would be here, doing this for so long but it’s now been almost four years and this is our five hundredth entry. Now, as far as we can tell, we are the longest-running and most successful weekly football ranking site on the web. Thanks for your support!

Now, on to the narrative. This week saw England and Portugal reach enough matches in the current season to drop off all of last season’s statistics. In reality, that doesn’t change much except that it allows Sporting Braga to return to the rankings after a long absence and allows Newcastle United into the rankings for the first time ever due to the clubs’ hot starts in their respective domestic leagues.

Next week will see the previous season’s numbers drop off for Spain’s Primera División and Italy’s Serie A. That should provide a lot of movement in the rankings since Barcelona and Real Madrid both have stuttered in the beginning and are chasing Real Betis of all clubs in the table and both of the Milanese clubs are in the bottom half of the Serie A table. Look for a lot of upheaval in next week’s rankings when that happens.

As for now, we are preparing for the second match day of the Champions League group stage, where the marquee matchup takes place on Tuesday when Bayern Munich hosts Manchester City. Note again that Champions League results are not factored into the rankings until after the group stage is complete.

Okay, that’s enough housekeeping. Now, on to the rankings!

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – September 26, 2011

1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – United advanced in the Carling Cup, defeating Leeds United 3-0 at midweek. Over the weekend, Manyoo didn’t fare so well, drawing 1-1 away at Stoke City. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Man United will host Basel in a Champions League match. Domestically, Norwich City will come to Old Trafford for a Saturday matchup.

2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barça picked up four points in two league matches this week, drawing 2-2 at Valencia and bouncing back to thump Atlético Madrid 5-0 on Saturday thanks to a Lionel Messi hat trick. Coming Up: Barcelona faces off with BATE Barisov in its next Champions League match on Wednesday before heading back to Spain to take on Sporting Gijón on Sunday.

3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (3) – Bayern continued its red-hot start to the German Bundesliga season by defeating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0. Coming Up: In what promises to be one of the best matches of the Champions League group stage, Bayern will host Manchester City on Tuesday. In the Bundesliga, Bayern returns to action on Saturday against Hoffenheim.

4. Manchester City (Eng) (6) – Dropping last season’s results actually helped Mansee to move up this week. After eliminating defending Carling Cup champion Birmingham City 2-0 in this season’s version of the event, City defeated Everton 2-0 at home this weekend. Coming Up: Man City goes to Allianz Arena to take on Bayern Munich in a Tuesday Champions League match. Domestically, City also is away on Saturday to take on Blackburn Rovers.

5. AC Milan (Ita) (4) – They probably won’t be here next week, but Milan has a final week in the Top Ten after drawing with Udinese 1-1 at midweek and defeating Cesena 1-0 for its first Serie A victory of the season. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Milan will host Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League. In a huge early-season Serie A match, Milan will head to Torino to take on Juventus on Sunday.

6. Real Madrid (Esp) (5) – Real Madrid is having even a tougher time than Barcelona getting started this season. This week it had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Racing Santander before coming back to crush Rayo Vallecano 6-2, thanks in part to a Cristiano Ronaldo hat trick. Coming Up: Ajax comes to the Bernabeu on Tuesday for a Champions League match. On Sunday, Madrid heads to Barcelona to take on the other club from that city, Espanyol.

7. Porto (Por) (7) – After dropping off last season’s numbers, Porto stays where it was before after settling for a 2-2 draw with Benfica at home on Friday. Coming Up: Porto is going to Russia to take on Zenit St. Petersburg for a Wednesday Champions League bout. On Sunday, Porto takes on Académica in the Liga Sagres.

8. Chelsea (Eng) (9) – Dropping off last season’s numbers didn’t seem to affect Chelsea either. The Blues advanced in the Carling Cup by virtue of penalty kicks after drawing 0-0 after extra time with Fulham. In the Premier League, Chelsea defeated newcomers Swansea City 4-1. Coming Up: Chelsea heads to Spain to take on Valencia in its next Champions League match on Wednesday. In league play, Chelsea goes back to work on Sunday at Bolton Wanderers.

9. Werder Bremen (Ger) (10) – Bremen’s surprising start in the Bundesliga kept up this weekend when it beat Hertha Berlin 2-1. Coming Up: Werder Bremen is off until Sunday when its takes on Hannover 96.

10. Olympiakos (Gre) (12) – Because of a late start to the season, it still will be a few weeks before Greek clubs lose last season’s statistics. Olympiakos is taking advantage of that and a 3-2 defeat of Ergotelis to move into the Top Ten this week. Coming Up: The club from Piraeus will have a tough time reversing its Champions League fortune on Wednesday when it travels to Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal. In Super League action, Olympiakos will host PAOK on Sunday.

11. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (11) – Shakhtar advanced in the Ukrainian Cup by beating the Shakhtar from Sverdlovsk 2-0 at midweek. This weekend, the two Ukrainian powerhouses, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv fought to a 0-0 draw. Coming Up: Shakhtar will host APOEL on Wednesday in the Champions League group stage. In the Ukrainian Premier League, it will host Zorya on Sunday.

12. Lyon (Fra) (8) – Lyon slipped up and lost 0-1 to Caen at midweek. It bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Bordeaux this weekend to land in a tie for first place in the Ligue Un table. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Lyon will host Dinamo Zagreb in its next Champions League matchup. In Ligue Un, Lyon will take on the club with which it is tied at the top, Paris St.-Germain, on Sunday.

13. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (NR) – PSG leapfrogged several clubs in the Ligue Un table with a 2-1 victory over Nice and a 3-0 victory over Montpellier to find it in a tie for first atop the Ligue Un table. Coming Up: At the moment, PSG is the highest ranked club in the Europa League, where it will take on Athletic Bilbao in Spain on Thursday. Domestically, the top two clubs in France face off on Sunday when PSG heads south to take on Lyon.

14. Inter Milan (Ita) (14) – Like Arsenal last week, Internazionale is making a final trip to the rankings for a while before losing last season’s numbers after being embarrassed in a 1-3 loss to Novara at midweek. Inter did bounce back over the weekend to beat Bologna 3-1 and record its first Serie A victory of the season. Coming Up: Like Porto, Inter also is going to Russia this week, where it will take on CSKA Moscow on Tuesday. Domestically, Inter will welcome Napoli to the San Siro on Saturday.

15. Benfica (Por) (15) – It was a great result for the club from Lisbon, but a 2-2 draw at Porto on Friday just keeps Benfica in the same spot in the rankings. Coming Up: Benfica will take on Otelul Galati in one of the seemingly never-ending matchups this week between ranked clubs and who’sthats in the Champions League. On Saturday, Benfica will take on Paços de Ferreira in the Liga Sagres.

16. Valencia (Esp) (16) – Valencia was only able to pick up one point in two league matches this week, getting a good result with a 2-2 draw against Barcelona but faltering over the weekend, losing 0-1 to Sevilla. Coming Up: Valencia will be hosting Chelsea in a CL group stage match on Wednesday and hosting again in the Primera División when Granada comes to town on Saturday.

17. Newcastle United (Eng) (NR) – My favorite English club finally makes it into the rankings in the 500^th post after defeating Nottingham Forest 4-3 in extra time to advance to the next round of the Carling Cup and taking Blackbrun Rovers down by a 3-1 score to find itself in fourth place in the young Premier League season. Coming Up: The Magpies are off until Saturday when they face an away match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

18. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (17) – Dynamo advanced in the Ukrainian Cup with a 3-2 victory over Kremin’. In Premier League action, Dynamo and Shakhtar Donetsk played to a scoreless draw. Coming Up: Dynamo Kyiv is heading to Israel to take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in a Thursday Europa League match. In the UPL, Dynamo will take on Vorskla on Sunday.

19. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (18) – The surprising club with the long name just isn’t going away, beating Nurnberg 1-0 this weekend to keep pace with Bayern and Bremen above it in the table. Coming Up: Next up in the Bundesliga for Monchengladbach will be Freiburg on Saturday.

20. Napoli (Ita) (20) – Not such a good week for the southern Italian club, losing 0-1 at Chievo before settling for a scoreless draw at home against Fiorentina over the weekend. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Napoli hosts another slow starter, Villarreal, in its next Champions League match. On Saturday, Napoli will host Inter Milan in what will be an important match for both clubs.

21. Sporting Braga (Por) (NF) – With a 2-0 victory over Nacional this weekend, Braga finds itself in a tie in points in the league table with Benfica and Porto, down one to Benfica in goal differential and down two to Porto. Coming Up: On Thursday, Braga will host Club Brugge in a Europa League group stage match. In the Liga Sagres, Sporting Braga will take on União de Leiria on Sunday.

22. Fenerbahce (Tur) (22) – After drawing at home 1-1 with Manisaspor on Tuesday in Super Lig play, Fenerbahce bounced back to beat Kayserispor 1-0 this weekend. Coming Up: On Saturday, Fenerbahce will host Istanbul BB.

23. Rangers (Sco) (BU) – Rangers returns to the rankings despite losing 2-3 to Falkirk in a League Cup match after defeating Dunfermline 4-0 to secure the top spot in the Scottish Premier League with help from goals by Americans Edu and Bocanegra. Coming Up: Rangers will play two league matches this week, hosting Kilmarnock on Tuesday and Hibernian on Saturday.

24. Udinese (Ita) (24) – Two Serie A matches, two points for Udinese, drawing 1-1 with Milan at midweek and then drawing 1-1 with Cagliari on the weekend. Coming Up: In Europa League play, Udinese will head to Scotland to take on Celtic on Thursday. Domestically, Udinese hosts Bologna on Sunday.

25. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (25) – Zenit won a pair of matches this week, defeating Dinamo Byransk 2-0 in a Russian Cup match and slapping around Tom Tomsk in the Russian Premier League to a 4-0 result. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Zenit will host Portuguese champion Porto in its next Champions League match. In domestic league action, Zenit heads to Moscow to take on Spartak on Sunday.

Bubbling Under: Hoffenheim (Ger), Montpellier (Fra), Panathinaikos (Gre), Toulouse (Fra), Vasco da Gama (Bra).

Next Five: København (Den), Lazio (Ita), Sevilla (Esp), Trabzonspor (Tur), Universidad de Chile (Chi).

Matches Between Top 25 Clubs This Week:

27 September – (4) Manchester City at (3) Bayern Munich

28 September – (7) Porto at (25) Zenit St. Petersburg

28 September – (8) Chelsea at (16) Valencia

1 October – (20) Napoli at (14) Inter Milan

2 October – (12) Lyon at (13) Paris St.-Germain

Weekend Soccer on Television - 24/25 September 2011

2011-09-22T23:24:00.001-04:00

This weekend should be a great one for football but in a less traditional way. There are no Manchester United/Chelsea or Barcelona/Real Madrid matches going on but there are some matches in other countries that might be considered the local equivalent at the moment. The three in particular that I will have my eye on are Porto/Benfica on Friday, Shakhtar Donetsk/Dynamo Kyiv on Saturday and Twente/Ajax, also on Saturday.

In addition, there also are some great matchups from the traditional European power leagues. Barcelona will try to get out of its recent doldrums at the Camp Nou against Atlético Madrid, while Bayern Munich and Manchester City try to keep up their hot starts against Bayer Leverkusen and Everton, respectively.

Sadly, among the Top Five Matches of the Weekend, I don’t think you’ll be able to find any on television in the U.S. in English. Still, if you ask me, there’s something for everybody this weekend. I’m sure you’ll find yours. Have a great weekend!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Benfica at Porto (Friday, 3:15 pm (EDT), ESPN3)

2. Shakhtar Donetsk at Dynamo Kyiv (Saturday, 1:00 pm, Not Televised)

3. Twente at Ajax (Saturday, 2:45 pm, ESPN3)

4. Atlético Madrid at Barcelona (Saturday, 4:00 pm, ESPND, ESPN3)

5. Bayer Leverkusen at (3) Bayern Munich (Saturday, 12:30 pm, ESPND, ESPN3)

Friday, September 23, 2011

2:30 pm – Hamburger SV at VfB Stuttgart (ESPND, ESPN3)

3:15 pm – (14) Benfica at (8) Porto (ESPN3)

8:30 pm – Philadelphia Union at Sporting KC (FSC, FoxD)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

7:45 am – Everton at (6) Manchester City (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

9:30 am – Borussia Dortmund at Mainz 05 (GolTV)

10:00 am – Bolton Wanderers at (18) Arsenal (FSC)

10:00 am – Wolverhampton Wanderers at Liverpool (FoxD)

10:00 am – Swansea City at (9) Chelsea (FSP)

12 noon – (13) Inter Milan at Bologna (FSP, ESPN3)

12 noon – (15) Valencia at Sevilla (GolTV)

12:30 pm – (1) Manchester City at Stoke City (FSC, FoxD)

12:30 pm – Bayer Leverkusen at (3) Bayern Munich (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:00 pm – Tottenham Hotspurs at Wigan Athletic (Delayed) (FSP)

2:00 pm – Rayo Vallecano at (4) Real Madrid (GolTV)

2:45 pm – Cesena at (5) AC Milan (FSC, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Twente at Ajax (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Fiorentina at (20) Napoli (ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Atlético Madrid at (2) Barcelona (ESPND, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas (Telefutura)

5:00 pm – America-MG at Flamengo (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Cruz Azul (ESPND, Azteca)

7:00 pm – Millonarios at Real Cartagena (GolTV)

8:00 pm – Jaguares at Tigres UANL (Telemundo)

8:00 pm – San Luis at Pachuca (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Pumas UNAM at UAG Tecos (Galavision)

9:00 pm – Fulham at West Bromwich Albion (Delayed) (FSP)

9:45 pm – Atlante at Atlas (Telefutura)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

6:30 am – Genoa at Chievo (FSP)

9:00 am – Juventus at Catania (FSC, FoxD)

9:00 am – Palermo at Lazio (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Espanyol at Levante (ESPN3)

11:00 am – Aston Villa at Queens Park Rangers (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – Hertha Berlin at (10) Werder Bremen (GolTV)

1:00 pm – Santos Laguna at Puebla (FoxD, Azteca)

1:00 pm – Morelia at Toluca (Telemundo)

2:00 pm – Racing Santander at Sporting Gijón (GolTV)

2:45 pm – Parma at Roma (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Stade Rennais at St.-Étienne (FSP)

4:00 pm – Botafogo at Sao Paulo (Delayed) (GolTV)

4:00 pm – Málaga at Real Zaragoza (ESPND, ESPN3)

5:00 pm – Tijuana at Club América (Univision)

Monday, September 26, 2011

3:00 pm – Sunderland at Norwich City (ESPN3)

Sorry that it has taken so long to get the Argentina schedule up but some of the local stations have been slow to post their weekend schedules. Better late than never, though. ¡Tengan un buen fin de semana!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

08:30 – Manchester City-Everton (FOXS)

11:00 – Liverpool-Wolverhampton (ESPN)

11:00 – Arsenal-Bolton (Fox+)

13:00 – Athletic Bilbao-Villarreal (ESPN)

13:00 – Chelsea-Swansea City (FOXS)

13:00 – Bologna-Inter Milan (RAI)

13:30 – Stoke City-Manchester United (ESPN+)

15:05 – Olimpo-Arsenal de Sarandi (TVP, CN23)

15:45 – AC Milan-Cesena (ESPN, RAI)

17:00 – Barcelona-Atlético Madrid (ESPN+)

17:10 – River Plate-Gimnasia La Plata (TVP, CN23)

19:00 – Montpelier-Paris St.-Germain (Delayed) (ESPN)

19:00 – Cruz Azul-Chivas de Guadalajara (Fox+)

19:55 – San Martin-Rafaela (CNL9)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

01:00 – Newcastle United-Blackburn Rovers (Delayed) (ESPN)

10:00 – Lazio-Palermo (ESPN)

11:00 – Independiente-Vélez Sarsfield (TVP)

12:00 – Queens Park Rangers-Aston Villa (Fox+)

14:00 – Estudiantes-Belgrano (TVP, CN23)

15:45 – Parma-Roma (ESPN, RAI)

16:00 – San Lorenzo-Racing Club (TVP, CN23)

17:00 – Real Zaragoza-Málaga (ESPN+)

18:10 – Argentinos Juniors-Boca Juniors (TVP, CN23)

20:15 – Tigre-All Boys (TVP)

Monday, September 26, 2011

17:00 – Unión de Santa Fe-Banfield (TVP)

19:10 – Newell’s Old Boys-Godoy Cruz (TVP)

21:15 – Lanús-Colón de Santa Fe (TVP)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - Calm Before the Storm Edition

2011-09-19T07:45:00.004-04:00

There aren’t a lot of changes in the rankings this week but there were some. Most notably, Lyon enters the Top Ten after its win against Marseille pushed it to the top of the Ligue Un table.

Let’s just call this the calm before the storm, though, okay? If you’ve been paying attention, you noticed (because we told you) that last week, the German Bundesliga and French Ligue Un numbers from last season were purged from the calculus. As you’ll see below, this caused unexpected names to pop up all over the rankings. Nothing like that happened this week, but next week, the same thing will happen in England and Portugal. The following week will seem the same thing happen in Spain and Italy. These events undoubtedly will make the rankings much more fluid and much less recognizable. These early-season fluctuations happen every year at this time and we’ve come to look forward to them. Let’s face it, I don’t get to write about Toulouse all that often.

Another thing you may have noticed (even though we didn’t have to tell you about this one), the UEFA Champions League group stage began this past week. Before you start e-mailing me to ask if I saw Marseille beat Olympiakos (the answer is no, I didn’t), I need to point out that, as is our policy here, the group stage numbers aren’t factored into the equations until after the entire group stage is complete. After one week, not a single club has advanced to the knockout rounds. We’ll wait until after that happens before working our spreadsheet formula magic on the group stage data.

That’s all I’ve got by way of explanations for this week. This was a busy week and next week should prove to be just as busy so let’s move on to the coverage and the rankings.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – September 19, 2011

1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – United went to Portugal at midweek and settled for a 1-1 draw with Benfica in the Champions League. In the Premier League, Manyoo didn’t settle at all, hurting Chelsea early and often in its 3-1 victory. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Manchester United goes to work in the Carling Cup when it takes on Leeds United. In league play, United will take on Stoke City on Saturday.

2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barça scored an uncharacteristic second straight draw when its Champions League match with Milan ended with a 2-2 deadlock. In the Primera Division, Barcelona fared much better, blasting Osasuna by a 8-0 score. Coming Up: Barcelona has two league matches this week and both promise to be good. On Wednesday, it heads south to take on Valencia. Next weekend, Barça will host Atlético Madrid.

3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (3) – Bayern became the highest ranking club to win its opening Champions League match, defeating Villarreal 2-0 in Spain. Domestically, Bayern took care of Schalke 04 by the same 2-0 score. Coming Up: Bayern Munich will be off until Saturday when it hosts Bayer Leverkusen.

4. AC Milan (Ita) (5) – As mentioned above, Milan walked away with a 2-2 draw against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, which has to be a pleasing result. A much less pleasing result was its 1-3 defeat at the hands of Napoli. Coming Up: Like Spain, Italy also has two matchdays this week. Milan will host #24 Udinese on Wednesday and then play host again on Saturday to Cesena.

5. Real Madrid (Esp) (4) – Nobody was surprised to see Real Madrid go to Croatia and walk away with a 1-0 victory against Dinamo Zagreb in its Champions League debut. On the contrary, everybody must have been surprised to see Los Blancos fall 0-1 to Levante in league play. Coming Up: Real Madrid’s schedule this week should be a little easier than Barça’s, taking on Racing Santander at midweek and hosting Rayo Vallecano over the weekend.

6. Manchester City (Eng) (6) – It was two disappointing draws in two matches for City this week, drawing 1-1 at home against Napoli in its Champions League match and letting Fulham come from behind to finish 2-2 in its Premier League match. Coming Up: Mansee’s Carling Cup season gets under way at home on Wednesday against Birmingham City. In Premier League action, Man City will host Everton on Saturday.

7. Porto (Por) (8) – Porto won its opening Champions League match at home, defeating Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1. In Liga Sagres action, Porto suffered a rare draw, finishing 0-0 with Feirense. Coming Up: Porto is off until Friday when it will host Benfica in both clubs’ most important match of this young season.

8. Lyon (Fra) (16) – Lyon enters the top ten in a week in which it drew 0-0 with Ajax in Amsterdam in its Champions League debut but defeated rival Marseille 2-0 to take over the lead in the young Ligue Un season. Coming Up: France also has a two-matchday week and Lyon will take on Caen on Wednesday before hosting Bordeaux this weekend.

9. Chelsea (Eng) (9) – Chelsea opened its Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen but then crashed and burned at Old Trafford, falling 1-3 to Manchester United. Coming Up: Chelsea will host fellow Londoners Fulham on Wednesday in an early round Carling Cup match before hosting Swansea City on Saturday in a Premier League matchup.

10. Werder Bremen (Ger) (10) – Surprising Werder Bremen is still in second place in the German Bundesliga despite drawing 1-1 with Nürnberg over the weekend. Coming Up: On Sunday, Bremen will host recently-promoted Hertha BSC.

11. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (11) – Shakhtar fell 1-2 to Porto in Portugal in its opening Champions League match. Domestically, Shakhtar defeated Vorskla 1-0 to maintain its narrow lead in the Ukranian Premier League. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Shakhtar Donetsk takes on another Shakhtar, this one from Sverdlovsk, in a Ukranian Cup match. On Saturday, Shakhtar plays in what may turn out to be its biggest match of the season when it goes to Kiev to take on Dynamo.

12. Olympiakos (Gre) (12) – Olympiakos’s Champions League got off to a dubious start this week when it fell at home 0-1 to Marseille. Domestically, Olympiakos debuted much better, defeating Xanthi 2-1. Coming Up: The club from Piraeus is off until Saturday when it is scheduled to take on Ergotelis.

13. Montpellier (Fra) (7) – A 2-2 draw with Brest dropped Montpellier out of the top spot in France’s Ligue Un and out of the top ten of our rankings. Coming Up: Montpellier’s two league opponents this week will be Ajaccio on Wednesday and Paris St.-Germain on Saturday.

14. Inter Milan (Ita) (13) – Nothing good happened for Internazionale this week. First, it was shocked at home in a 0-1 loss to Turkey’s Trabzonspor in the Champions League. Then, at home, it had to settle for a scoreless draw against AS Roma. Coming Up: The opponents are easier for Inter this week, facing Novara on Tuesday and Bologna on Saturday, but both matches are away matches, so who knows?

15. Benfica (Por) (14) – I think Benfica surprised some people by holding Manchester City to a 1-1 draw in its first Champions League away match. Domestically, Benfica defeated Académica 4-1 to draw even on points with Liga Sagres leader Porto. Coming Up: Only one match for Benfica this week, but it’s a huge one, facing Porto in the clubs’ first Liga Sagres match of the season.

16. Valencia (Esp) (15) – Valencia was held to a scoreless draw at Genk in its Champions League match of the week but fared better against Sporting Gijón, scoring a 1-0 victory, to take the early lead in Spain’s Primera Division. Coming Up: This week will be a huge test for Valencia, hosting defending European champions Barcelona on Wednesday before facing Sevilla in an away match this weekend.

17. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (17) – In Europa League action, Dynamo held on to a 1-1 draw with Stoke City in its first group stage match. Domestically, DK beat Chornomorets 2-1 to keep pace with Ukranian Premier League leader Shakhtar Donetsk. Coming Up: Dynamo jumps into the Ukranian Cup competition on Wednesday against Kremin. Domestically, the match of the season is scheduled to take place Saturday when Dynamo host Shakhtar in a battle of the two clubs tied at the top of the Premier League table.

18. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (19) – Monchengladbach continued its hot start to the Bundesliga season by defeating hapless Hamburg 1-0 on HSV’s home soil. Coming Up: Monchengladbach is off until Saturday when it will host Nürnberg.

19. Arsenal (Eng) (18) – Get ready to say goodbye to the Gunners in the rankings next week because when last season’s numbers are purged for the Premier League, there’s no way a seventeenth-place club will even come close to making the list. Arsenal’s disappointments continued this week. Although a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund is acceptable in Champions League play, a 3-4 loss to Blackburn Rovers is not acceptable under any conditions. At least not in North London. Coming Up: Arsenal will host Shrewsbury Town in a Tuesday Carling Cup match. We’ll see if they’re up to the task. On Saturday, Arsenal will host Bolton Wanderers in a return to its already badly damaged Premier League campaign.

20. Napoli (Ita) (20) – All-in-all, not a bad week for the southern Italian club. First it went to England and walked away with a point from a 1-1 draw with Manchester City in Champions League play. It followed that up with a 3-1 drubbing of AC Milan in its Serie A match. Coming Up: This week’s opponents for Napoli appear to be a little less daunting with an away match at Chievo at midweek and a home match against Fiorentina on the weekend.

21. Hoffenheim (Ger) (25) – Hoffenheim is also off to its typical great start in the German Bundesliga, beating Wolfsburg 3-1 at home to remain near the top of the table. Coming Up: Hoffenheim returns to action on Sunday when it takes on Cologne.

22. Fenerbahçe (Tur) (21) – Fenerbahçe’s season finally got under way this week with an early-week 1-0 victory over Orduspor and a 3-1 weekend win over Gaziantepspor. Coming Up: Fenerbahçe has two more Super Lig matches this week, hosting Manisaspor on Tuesday and visiting Kayserispor on Friday.

23. Toulouse (Fra) (NR) – Toulouse leapfrogged a number of clubs in the Ligue Un standings with a 3-2 home victory over Bordeaux, allowing the club to enter the Weekly Top 25 for the first time (that I can remember). Coming Up: We’ll see if the hot streak continues this week against St.-Étienne on Wednesday and Nancy on Saturday.

24. Udinese (Ita) (22) – I’d call this a successful week for Udinese, defeating Stade Rennes 2-1 in its Europa League debut and taking down Fiorentina 2-0 in its Serie A match, both at home. Coming Up: Udinese will hit the road this week, however, and we’ll see how it does against AC Milan on Wednesday and Cagliari on Sunday.

25. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (23) – Rough start to the Champions League group stage for Zenit, who fell 1-2 to APOEL in Cyprus, although it bounced back to beat Rubin Kazan 3-2 to keep its place atop the Russian Premier League standings. Coming Up: Zenit has two matches at home this week, hosting Dinamo Bryansk in a Russian Cup match and Tom Tomsk in a Premier League matchup.

Bubbling Under: København (Den), Panathinaikos (Gre), Rangers (Sco), Tottenham Hotspurs (Eng), Vasco da Gama (Bra).

Next Five: Boca Juniors (Arg), Sevilla (Esp), Sporting Braga (Por), Trabzonspor (Tur), Universidad de Chile (Chi).

Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:

21 September – (2) Barcelona at (16) Valencia

21 September – (24) Udinese at (4) AC Milan

23 September – (15) Benfica at (7) Porto

24 September – (11) Shakhtar Donetsk at (17) Dynamo Kyiv

WCR Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 17/18 September 2011

2011-09-15T10:57:00.001-04:00

Unlike last weekend, this weekend is just chock full of potentially exciting matches all up and down the schedule. In fact, Roma at Inter Milan and Bayern Munich at Schalke 04 are just a pair of matches that highlight the list of matches that didn’t even qualify for the Top Five Matches of the Week list.

There are two matches this weekend, both on Sunday and both on FSC and Fox Deportes, that feature a pair of clubs ranked in the most recent WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World. Coming in from Manchester at 11:00 am on Sunday (EDT), top-ranked Manchester United will take on last season’s Premier League runners-up, Chelsea in a match that could have a major impact on the end-of-season table. A few hours later, Napoli will host struggling AC Milan in a huge match from the second week of the Serie A season.

Also on Sunday is a host of other huge matchups including Ajax at PSV, Marseille at Lyon and Liverpool at Tottenham. All of this makes potentially for the most exciting day of football of this young season, thus far.

I trust you’ll be watching. I know I will be. Have a great weekend!!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Chelsea at Manchester United (Sunday, 11:00 am (EDT), FSC, FoxD)

2. AC Milan at Napoli (Sunday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3. Marseille at Lyon (Sunday, 3:00 pm, FSP)

4. Liverpool at Tottenham (Sunday, 8:30 am, FSP)

5. Ajax at PSV Eindhoven (Sunday, 6:30 am, ESPND, ESPN3)

Friday, September 16, 2011

2:30 pm – VfB Stuttgart at Freiburg (ESPND, ESPN3)

11:00 pm – New England Revolution at Portland Timbers (FSC)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

7:30 am – (18) Arsenal at Blackburn Rovers (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

9:30 am – Cologne at Bayer Leverkusen (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:00 am – Newcastle United at Aston Villa (FSC)

10:00 am – Wigan Athletic at Everton (FoxD)

10:00 am – Queens Park Rangers at Wolverhampton Wanderers (FSP)

12 noon – Norwich City at Bolton Wanderers (Delayed) (FSC)

12 noon – Novara at Cagliari (FSP, FoxD)

12:30 pm – Mainz 05 at Kaiserslautern (GolTV)

2:00 pm – West Bromwich Albion at Swansea City (Delayed) (FSP)

2:00 pm – Osasuna at (2) Barcelona (ESPND, ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Roma at (13) Inter Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Real Sociedad at Sevilla (GolTV)

4:00 pm – Chivas USA at Chicago Fire (Telefutura)

6:00 pm – Ceara at Sao Paulo (Delayed) (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Club América at Jaguares (Azteca)

6:00 pm – Cruz Azul at Monterrey (Telemundo)

8:00 pm – Atlas at Pachuca (Telefutura)

8:00 pm – Puebla at Chivas de Guadalajara (Telemundo)

9:45 pm – Santos Laguna at San Luis (Galavision)

10:00 pm – Itagui at América de Cali (Delayed) (GolTV)

10:00 pm – Tigres UANL at Atlante (Telefutura)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

6:30 am – Palermo at Atalanta (FSP)

6:30 am – Ajax at PSV Eindhoven (ESPND, ESPN3)

8:30 am – Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspurs (FSP)

9:00 am – Juventus at Siena (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

9:00 am – Cesena at Catania (ESPN3)

9:00 am – Fiorentina at Udinese (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Espanyol at Real Zaragoza (ESPND, ESPN3)

10:30 am – (6) Manchester United at Fulham (Delayed) (FSP)

11:00 am – (9) Chelsea at (1) Manchester United (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – (3) Bayern Munich at Schalke 04 (GolTV)

12 noon – Racing Santander at Atlético Madrid (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – Stoke City at Sunderland (Delayed) (FSP)

1:00 pm – Toluca at Pumas UNAM (Telemundo)

1:15 pm – (8) Porto at Feirense (ESPN3)

2:00 pm – (4) Real Madrid at Levante (GolTV)

2:45 pm – (5) AC Milan at (20) Napoli (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:00 pm – Marseille at (16) Lyon (FSP)

3:00 pm – UAG Tecos at Tijuana (ESPND, Azteca)

4:00 pm – Real Betis at Athletic Bilbao (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Palmeiras at Avai (Delayed) (GolTV)

7:00 pm – Querétaro at Monarcas Morelia (FoxD, Azteca)

In Argentina, the schedule for our new sports station here on Buenos Aires cable, Fox Sports +, still isn’t up but I think I’ve found a reliable source for the information. So here we go with this weekend’s television schedule acá. ¡Tened un buen fin de semana!

Friday, Sepetmeber 16, 2011

21:00 – San Martín (SJ) – Belgrano (America, CN23)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

08:30 – Blackburn Rovers – Arsenal (ESPN)

10:55 – Everton – Wigan Athletic (ESPN+)

11:00 – Wolverhampton – Queens Park Rangers (Fox+)

11:00 – Aston Villa – Newcastle United (FoxS)

12:55 – Mallorca – Malaga (ESPN)

13:00 – Cagliari – Novara (RAI)

14:55 – Barcelona – Osasuna (ESPN)

15:05 – Tigre – Arsenal de Sarandi (TVP, CN23)

15:45 – Inter Milan – Roma (RAI)

17:10 – All Boys – Banfield (TVP, CN23)

19:00 – Dep. Merlon – River Plate (TVP, CN23)

21:00 – Jaguares – Club América (Delayed) (Fox+)

21:00 – San Lorenzo – Rafaela (CNL9)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

09:30 – Tottenham – Liverpool (Fox+)

09:55 – Siena – Juventus (ESPN)

09:55 – Catania – Cesena (ESPN+)

11:00 – Fulham – Manchester City (FoxS)

11:55 – Evian – Paris St.-Germain (ESPN)

11:55 – Manchester United – Chelsea (ESPN+)

13:45 – Newell’s Old Boys – Vélez Sarsfield (CNL9, CN23)

15:45 – Napoli – AC Milan (ESPN+, RAI)

16:00 – Estudiantes de La Plata – Argentinos Juniors (TVP)

16:55 – Athletic Bilbao – Real Betis (ESPN)

18:10 – Lanús – Boca Juniors (TVP, CN23)

21:00 – Portland Timbers – New England Revolution (Delayed) (Fox+)

WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World - Scrambled Fall Edition

2011-09-12T08:41:00.001-04:00

Every year around this time, we warn you that turmoil is ahead in the rankings. That is because when domestic leagues complete five full matchdays (where everybody plays), all of the prior season’s numbers are purged from the database. Of the top five domestic leagues in the world, the first two to reach this point in the season, Germany and France, had it happen to them this week. What this means is that Lille and Borussia Dortmund stop getting credit for winning their respective leagues last season and start getting asked, “What have you done for me this season?” For both of those clubs, the answer is not enough to stay in the WCR Top 25.

Contrarily, when we reach this point in the season, some clubs that didn’t have such great results last season come out of nowhere and end up high in the rankings due to hot starts in their domestic league. That’s how Montpellier and Werder Bremen have ended up in the Top Ten. This happens every year and often those clubs have disappeared from the rankings by December, but sometimes they hang around as well (see Borussia Dortmund last season), so we’ll see what happens.

The other top leagues in Europe – those from England, Italy and Spain – all have a few weeks to go to get to that magic fifth-matchday number. When they get there, the rankings will become even more scrambled. Many people find this confusing in the rankings, but frankly there probably shouldn’t even be rankings this early in the season anyway and I find it fun because it gives us a chance to focus on clubs that don’t get a lot of attention otherwise.

With all that being said, let’s get to the first of the fall scrambled rankings.

World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – September 12, 2011

1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – ManU continues to breeze through its English opposition, kicking a little Bolton Wanderer butt by a 5-0 score this week. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Manyoo will be in Portugal to take on Benfica in its Champions League debut. The competition gets even tougher in Premier League action when United hosts Chelsea on Sunday.

2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barcelona dropped a few unexpected points when it allowed Real Sociedad to come from behind to draw 2-2 this weekend. Coming Up: In the premier matchup of the first Champions League matchday, Barcelona will host AC Milan on Tuesday. Domestically, Barça will be at home again, this time against Osasuna.

3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (13) – Bayern is off to a red-hot start to the Bundesliga season and it highlighted that by scoring a touchdown and an extra point in defeating Freiburg 7-0. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Bayern will be in Spain to take on Villarreal in the Champions League. Domestically, Bayern will take on last season’s surprise Champions League semifinalist, Schalke 04, on Sunday.

4. Real Madrid (Esp) (4) – Real Madrid is top in the Primera División following its 4-2 defeat of Getafe this weekend. Coming Up: Real Madrid begins its Champions League campaign in Croatia, taking on Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday. In league action, Real Madrid will face Levante on Sunday.

5. AC Milan (Ita) (3) – Milan dropped two points to start off its defense of the Italian Serie A, drawing 2-2 with Lazio in the opener. Coming Up: Milan travels to the Camp Nou to take on Barcelona in Champions League action on Tuesday. In the Serie A, Milan will host Napoli on Sunday.

6. Manchester City (Eng) (6) – Like its cross-town rival, Mansee is off to a great start in the Premier League, defeating Wigan Athletic this week by a 3-0 score, thanks to their new Argenine, Agüero. Coming Up: City will host Napoli in its Champions League debut on Wednesday and then head to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham on Sunday.

7. Montpellier (Fra) (NR) – This is the first of the huge surprises in the rankings as Montpellier jumps into the top ten by virtue of its early first-place spot in France’s Ligue Un after defeating Nice 1-0 this past weekend. Coming Up: No European action for Montpellier, so it can wait for Brest on Saturday in its next league match.

8. Porto (Por) (7) – Despite the international midweek matches, Porto still played twice this week, defeating União de Leiria 5-2 and following that up with a 3-0 defeat of Vitória Setúbal. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Porto will host Shakhtar Donetsk in an interesting Champions League matchup before taking on Feirense in the Liga Sagres on Sunday.

9. Chelsea (Eng) (8) – Chelsea kept up with the Manchesters this weekend by defeating Sunderland 2-1. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Chelsea will welcome Bayer Leverkusen to Stamford Bridge for a Champions League group stage match. On Sunday, it will head over to Old Trafford to take on top-ranked Manchester United in a huge early-season matchup.

10. Werder Bremen (Ger) (NR) – Werder Bremen defeated hard-time Hamburger SV 2-0 to move into second place in the young German Bundesliga season. Coming Up: Next up for Bremen will be an away match at Nürnberg on Saturday in the Bundesliga.

11. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (18) – With a 5-1 victory over Volyn, Shakhtar has regained the top spot in the Ukranian Premier League. Coming Up: Shakhtar will head to Portugal to take on Porto on Tuesday before returning home to host Vorskla in its next Premier League match.

12. Olympiakos (Gre) (12) – No matches this week. Coming Up: Olympiakos will make its season debut on Tuesday in the Champions League when it hosts Marseille.

13. Inter Milan (Ita) (9) – The other Milanese club got off to a bad start to the new season, falling 3-4 to Palermo in Sicily. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Inter will host Trabzonspor in its Champions League debut. Domestically, Inter welcomes AS Roma to the San Siro on Saturday.

14. Benfica (Por) (15) – Like Porto, Benfica continued to roll this week in the Liga Sagres, scoring a 2-1 victory over Vitória Guimarães. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Benfica will host top-ranked Manchester United in its Champions League group stage debut. Domestically, Benfica will host Académica on Sunday.

15. Valencia (Esp) (14) – Valencia kept pace with Real Madrid atop the Primera División by defeating the other club from Madrid, Atlético, by a 1-0 score. Coming Up: In Champions League action, Valencia will take on Genk on Tuesday. In La Liga, Valencia will be away at Sporting Gijón on Saturday.

16. Lyon (Fra) (21) – Even after losing last season’s numbers, Lyon remains near the top of the French Ligue Un following a 2-1 victory over Dijón. Coming Up: Lyon’s Champions League group stage begins against Ajax in Amsterdam on Wednesday. In a huge domestic match, Lyon will host Marseille on Sunday.

17. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) (11) – Currently the highest ranked club playing in the Europa League, Dynamo kept pace with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukranian Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Illychivets. Coming Up: Speaking of the Europa League, Dynamo Kyiv welcomes England’s Stoke City for a Thursday group stage match. Domestically, Dynamo will face off with Chornomorets on Saturday.

18. Arsenal (Eng) (16) – The Gunners finally scored their first victory of the Premier League season with a narrow 1-0 defeat of Swansea City. Coming Up: Arsenal heads to the continent to take on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday. In Premier Leage action, Arsenal will take on Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

19. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (NR) – Monchengladbach is another German club showing up in the rankings because of a good start to the current Bundesliga season, in which it defeated Kaiserslautern 1-0 over the weekend. Coming Up: Next up for BM will be hard-luck Hamburg on Saturday in the Bundesliga.

20. Napoli (Ita) (19) – Napoli got off to a good start in the post-strike Serie A by defeating Cesena 3-1. Coming Up: Nobody has a tougher schedule this week than Napoli, who takes on Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League only to come home to AC Milan at home on Sunday.

21. Fenerbahce (Tur) (20) – No matches this week. Coming Up: Fenerbahce’s season finally gets underway later today against Orduspor. On Friday, the defending Super Lig champions are in action again against Gaziantepspor.

22. Udinese (Ita) (24) – Unlike the Milanese clubs, Udinese scored a victory in its first Seire A match, defeating Lecce 2-0 in the opener. Coming Up: Udinese will host France’s Stade Rennes on Thursday in its Europa League debut. On Sunday, Udinese is home again, hosting Fiorentina in Serie A play.

23. Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (22) – The Russian Premier League got a little tighter this weekend after Zenit fell 2-4 to Lokomotiv Moscow. Coming Up: Zenit is on the road to take on APOEL on Tuesday in its first Champions League group stage match. On Saturday, Zenit will still be on the road when it faces Rubin Kazan in Premier League action.

24. Corinthians (Bra) (23) – As badly as it tries to give away the Brazilian Serie A title, nobody seems to want to take it from Corinthians. Another mixed week for the club from Sao Paulo, defeating Flamengo 2-1 at midweek only to fall 0-1 to Fluminense on the weekend. Coming Up: On Sunday, Corinthians will host defending Copa Libertadores champions Santos in its next Serie A match.

25. Hoffenheim (Ger) (NR) – The final German blip on the radar is Hoffenheim who hits the rankings after five weeks of the season after thrashing Mainz 05 by a 4-0 score. Coming Up: Next up for Hoffenheim will be Wolfsburg at home on Saturday in league play.

Bubbling Under (alphabetically): Bayer Leverkusen (Ger), Celtic (Sco), Panathinaikos (Gre), Rangers (Sco), Trabzonspor (Tur).

Next Five: København (Den), Lille (Fra), Liverpool (Eng), Paris St.-Germain (Fra), Villarreal (Esp).

Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:

13 September – (5) AC Milan at (2) Barcelona

13 September – (11) Shakhtar Donetsk at (8) Porto

14 September – (1) Manchester United at (14) Benfica

14 September – (20) Napoli at (6) Manchester City

18 September – (9) Chelsea at (1) Manchester Unite

18 September – (5) AC Milan at (20) Napoli

WCR Weekend Television Schedule - 10/11 September 2011

2011-09-09T13:42:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, now that the strikes are over, we finally have a full slate of action in world football, featuring the return of the Italian Serie A to the television stage. At this point, for the first time in a long time, all of the major domestic leagues in the world are in action at the same time.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the best weekend of action in the world for which to highlight that return. There are no matches involving two clubs in the current WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World. Nevertheless, this weekend’s matches will have a significant impact on the next edition of those rankings because this week will see the completion of five matchdays in both France and Germany, meaning that all of last season’s numbers will be eliminated from the ranking formulas. That means that how the tables in those leagues stack up on Monday will be how those clubs will stack up in Monday’s edition of the weekly rankings.

Here is the schedule of action being broadcast in the U.S., using East Coast times, as always. Have a great weekend!!!

Top Five Matches of the Weekend:

1. Atlético Madrid at Valencia (Saturday, 4:00 pm, ESPND, ESPN3)

2. Inter Milan at Palermo (Sunday, 2:45 pm (EDT), FSC, FoxD)

3. Lazio at AC Milan (Friday, 2:45 pm, FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

4. Sevilla at Villarreal (Saturday, 12 noon, GolTV)

5. Vitória Setúbal at Porto (Friday, 3:15 pm, ESPN3)

Friday, September 9, 2011

2:45 pm – Lazio at (3) AC Milan (FSC, FoxD, ESPN3)

3:15 pm – Vitória Setúbal at (7) Porto (ESPN3)

9:10 pm – Jaguares at UAG Tecos (Galavision)

11:00 pm – Colorado Rapids at Los Angeles Galaxy (FSC, FoxD)

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9:30 am – Hertha Berlin at (5) Borussia Dortmund (GolTV)

9:30 am – Freiburg at (13) Bayern Munich (ESPN3)

10:00 am – Swansea City at (16) Arsenal (FSC)

10:00 am – Wigan Athletic at (6) Manchester City (FoxD)

10:00 am – (25) Liverpool at Stoke City (FSP)

10:00 am – (8) Chelsea at Sunderland (ESPN2, ESPND, ESPN3)

12 noon – Sevilla at Villarreal (GolTV)

12 noon – (2) Barcelona at Real Sociedad (ESPND, ESPN3)

12:30 pm – (1) Manchester United at Bolton Wanderers (FSC, FoxD)

12:45 am – Twente at Roda JC (ESPN3)

1:50 pm – Getafe at (4) Real Madrid (GolTV)

2:30 pm – Tottenham Hotspurs at Wolverhampton Wanderers (Delayed) (FSP)

2:45 pm – (19) Napoli at Cesena (FSC, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Atlético Madrid at (14) Valencia (ESPND, ESPN3)

4:00 pm – Houston Dynamo at Sporting Kansas City (Telefutura)

4:30 pm – Aston Villa at Eveton (Delayed) (FSP)

5:00 pm – Cruzeiro at Santos (GolTV)

6:00 pm – Morelia at Cruz Azul (ESPND, Azteca)

6:00 pm – Pumas UNAM at Querétaro (Univision)

7:15 pm – Santa Fe at Nacional (GolTV)

8:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Santos Laguna (Telefutura)

9:45 pm – San Luis at Atlas (Galavision)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

6:30 am – Parma at Juventus (FSP)

8:30 am – West Bromwich Albion at Norwich City (FSP)

9:00 am – Cagliari at Roma (FSC)

11:00 am – Blackburn Rovers at Fulham (FSC, FoxD)

11:30 am – Schalke 04 at Wolfsburg (GolTV)

12 noon – Real Zaragoza at Rayo Vallecano (ESPND)

1:00 pm – Monterrey at Puebla (FoxD, Azteca)

2:45 pm – (9) Inter Milan at Palermo (FSC, FoxD)

3:00 pm – Brest at Paris St.-Germain (FSP)

4:00 pm – Athletic Bilbao at Espanyol (GolTV)

5:00 pm – Atlante at Club América (Univision)

6:00 pm – (23) Corinthians at Fluminense (Delayed) (GolTV)

Monday, September 12, 2011

3:00 pm – Newcastle United at Queens Park Rangers (ESPN3)

And, once again, for our increasing Argentine demographic, most specifically – me, here also is a list of matches being broadcast here in Argentina this weekend. I’m hoping that this list is incomplete because I recently noticed the cable company added a new channel – Fox Sports + - to my television but I have been unable to locate any broadcast listings for this new station. Hopefully, I’ll have such listings for future editions of this list.

¡Tengan un grande fin de semana!

Friday, September 9, 2011

15:45 – Lazio at AC Milan (RAI)

19:00 – Newell’s Old Boys at Atlético Rafaela (TVP)

21:00 – San Lorenzo at Colón (American, CN23)

Saturday, September 10, 2011

11:00 – Chelsea at Sunderland (ESPN)

11:00 – Wigan Athletic at Manchester City (ESPNP)

11:00 – Liverpool at Stoke City (FOXS)

13:30 – Manchester United at Bolton (FOXS)

15:00 – Getafe at Real Madrid (ESPNP)

15:05 – All Boys at Godoy Cruz (CN23, TVP)

17:00 – Atlético Madrid at Valencia (ESPNP)

17:10 – Tigre at Estudiantes (CN23, TVP)

19:00 – Defensa y Justicia at River Plate (CN23, TVP)

21:15 – Olimpo at Racing (CNL9)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

07:30 – Parma at Juventus (ESPN)

10:00 – Cagliari at Roma (ESPN)

13:00 – Barcelona at Real Sociedad (ESPN)

14:30 – Arsenal at Banfield (CN23)

15:45 – Inter Milan at Palermo (ESPNP)

16:00 – Independiente at Belgrano (CN23, TVP)

18:10 – San Martin SJ at Boca Juniors (CN23, TVP)

20:30 – Unión at Velez Sarsfield (CN23)

Monday, September 12, 2011

16:00 – Granada at Malaga (ESPN)

16:00 – Newcastle United at Queens Park Rangers (ESPNP)

WCR Monthly International RPI Rankings - September 2011

2011-09-05T09:49:00.000-04:00

Since we’re in the throes of international competition and most of the domestic league action is on hiatus (save South America, where we are still getting a full slate of action), this week’s Weekly Club Rankings are being postponed a week in order to bring you the WCR International RPI Rankings for September 2011.

The Netherlands may have taken over the top spot in the FIFA rankings, but Spain remains number one in the WCR RPI rankings based largely on its four-year winning percentage which, though decreasing, remains a full ten-percent higher than its nearest competitor (Netherlands) in that data category. In fact, the Netherlands remains third in the rankings behind both Spain and Brazil.

Since August was not a huge month for international football, there was not a lot of movement in the rankings this month. In fact, the only movement in the top ten saw England pass South Korea for fifth place in overall RPI. The biggest increases of the month all came out of Africa and include Zimbabwe (+15), Burkina Faso (+14), Libya (+9), Tunisia (+8) and South Africa (+7). The decreases, on the other hand, came from all over the place, including Romania (-11), Montenegro (-8), Ukraine (-6), Venezuela (-6), Qatar (-6) and Morocco (-6).

The rest of the rankings are below. As always, the numbers seem to give some kind of unfair advantage to Asian clubs, but the numbers are the numbers and we just report them.

Top Ten Winning Percentage (9/1/07 – 8/31/11)

1. Spain (1) .89344

2. Netherlands (2) .80556

3. Brazil (3) .75455

4. Germany (5) .75439

5. Croatia (4) .75000

6. England (6) .73256

7. Egypt (7) .71667

8. Uganda (8) .70652

9. Iran (9) .69048

10. Argentina (NR) .68750

Top Ten Opponents’ Winning Percentage (9/1/07 – 8/31/11)

1. United States (1) .60579

2. South Korea (2) .59316

3. New Zealand (4) .59192

4. Australia (3) .58473

5. Brazil (7) .58367

6. Argentina (5) .58359

7. Paraguay (6) .57727

8. Uruguay (8) .57712

9. Japan (NR) .57440

10. Chile (10) .57287

Top Ten Opponents’ Opponents’ Winning Percentage (9/1/07 – 8/31/11)

1. Colombia (2) .55732

2. Paraguay (1) .55359

3. Brazil (3) .55149

4. Peru (5) .54929

5. Uruguay (7) .54807

6. Ecuador (6) .54783

7. Argentina (8) .54698

8. Bolivia (4) .54680

9. Chile (9) .54334

10. Japan (10) .54213

WCR International RPI Rankings – September 2011

1. Spain (1) 53-5-3 .63655

2. Brazil (2) 36-8-11 .61834

3. Netherlands (3) 39-6-9 .61619

4. Argentina (4) 33-12-11 .60042

5. England (6) 28-8-7 .59817

6. South Korea (5) 31-11-17 .59734

7. Australia (7) 28-10-13 .59659

8. Japan (8) 37-13-16 .59659

9. Germany (9) 38-9-10 .58751

10. Uruguay (10) 26-12-14 .58423

11. United States (12) 32-21-12 .58147

12. Chile (11) 31-16-12 .57905

13. Italy (15) 26-10-16 .57567

14. Cote D’Ivoire (13) 27-10-13 .57482

15. Iran (14) 35-11-17 .56969

16. Mexico (18) 40-19-14 .56593

17. Paraguay (16) 24-18-18 .56453

18. Egypt (19) 38-12-10 .56287

19. France (17) 24-13-15 .56279

20. Portugal (21) 26-9-13 .55642

21. Ghana (20) 28-18-10 .55628

22. China (24) 31-13-18 .55587

23. Nigeria (25) 25-10-12 .55394

24. Saudi Arabia (23) 34-17-16 .55342

25. Sweden (26) 26-15-8 .55315

26. Jamaica (29) 27-11-12 .55197

27. South Africa (34) 30-20-15 .55143

28. Ukraine (22) 20-11-11 .55125

29. Turkey (30) 24-12-10 .55041

30. Croatia (28) 27-6-9 .54926

31. Norway (27) 18-11-8 .54873

32. Denmark (31) 20-14-12 .54722

33. Oman (33) 33-18-21 .54673

34. Senegal (32) 15-9-9 .54538

35. Bahrain (36) 32-25-16 .54482

36. Honduras (42) 37-23-10 .54358

37. Republic of Ireland (35) 16-10-16 .54323

38. Russia (40) 23-12-6 (.54310)

39. Kuwait (37) 28-19-24

40. Greece (39) 23-11-13 .53691

41. New Zealand (45) 8-12-8 .53589

42. Colombia (38) 17-17-12 .53547

43. Syria (43) 29-19-15 .53539

44. Algeria (46) 16-13-8 .53173

45. Cameroon (48) 20-13-10 .53159

46. Switzerland (41) 17-14-12 .53107

47. Burkina Faso (61) 14-9-4 .53013

48. Ecuador (47) 14-18-14 .52988

49. Serbia (50) 22-15-11 .52939

50. Venezuela (44) 23-22-17 .52938

51. Gabon (52) 13-10-7 .52906

52. Costa Rica (51) 24-22-18 .52707

53. Libya (62) 13-5-8 .52666

54. Trinidad & Tobago (57) 26-17-13 .52586

55. Qatar (49) 24-28-20 .52526

56. Iraq (55) 21-20-14 .52370

57. North Korea (56) 26-22-22 .52243

58. Tunisia (66) 19-11-16 .52230

59. Panama (59) 23-15-8 .52026

60. Peru (58) 13-19-10 .51829

61. Montenegro (53) 13-8-9 .51866

62. Bulgaria (63) 14-11-10 .51784

63. Morocco (69) 18-8-9 .51744

64. Israel (67) 15-11-7 .51694

65. Poland (64) 21-18-17 .51665

66. Jordan (70) 20-22-17 .51528

67. Thailand (65) 22-14-15 .51527

68. Uganda (68) 28-9-9 .51500

69. Guinea (73) 14-13-8 .51264

70. Bosnia-Herzegovina (72) 14-18-7 .51225

71. Romania (60) 18-17-8 .51197

72. Scotland (71) 12-15-4 .51057

73. United Arab Emirates (74) 18-25-19 .51026

74. Uzbekistan (75) 18-19-11 .50951

75. Czech Republic (77) 19-13-10 .50671

76. Hungary (18-17-5) .50288

77. Cape Verde Islands (83) 12-6-5 .50102

78. Mali (76) 16-17-7 .50052

79. Austria (79) 11-23-7 .49992

80. Slovenia (82) 18-15-7 .49952

81. Indonesia (81) 18-14-5 .49919

82. Belgium (82) 13-15-9 .49891

83. Canada (84) 8-15-9 .49883

84. Zambia (87) 26-22-10 .49803

85. Benin (85) 11-17-5 .49583

86. Belarus (86) 16-15-12 .49407

87. Singapore (88) 17-21-11 .48982

88. Angola (89) 11-18-18 .48868

89. Finaland (90) 12-17-11 .48604

90. Cuba (91) 12-13-6 .48539

91. Zimbabwe (106) 10-11-8 .48448

92. Grenada (95) 13-16-7 .48219

93. Mozambique (92) 14-19-6 .48182

94. El Salvador (100) 20-31-15 .48001

95. Yemen (94) 11-21-8 .47977

96. Bolivia (98) 7-22-7 .47966

97. Antigua & Barbuda (99) 14-9-8 .47958

98. FYR Macedonia (93) 11-15-10 .47909

99. Turkmenistan (102) 13-13-6 .47896

100. Congo DR (96) 11-13-5 .47662

Weekend Soccer Television Schedule - 3/4 September 2011

2011-09-02T11:22:00.001-04:00

It’s an extremely light weekend on television this week in the United States, unless you count ESPN3 (which isn’t really television) because it’s mostly international action and most of those matches are going on at the same time (Friday, 2:45 EDT). Therefore, we are foregoing our Top Five Matches of the Weekend until next week while we work on the Monthly International Rankings and watch a little international football. Have a great weekend!!!

Friday, September 2, 2011

9:05 am – Greece at Israel (ESPN3)

9:30 am – Venezuela vs Greece (ESPND, ESPN3)

1:45 pm – Sweden at Hungary (ESPN3)

2:00 pm – Uruguay at Ukraine (ESPN3)

2:15 pm – England at Bulgaria (ESPN3)

2:30 pm – San Marino at Netherlands (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Chile vs Spain (FSC, FoxD)

2:45 pm – Portugal at Cyprus (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Italy at Faroe Islands (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Austria at Germany (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Slovakia at Ireland (ESPN3)

2:45 pm – Mexico vs Poland (Univision)

7:00 pm – Chivas de Guadalajara at Tijuana (FoxD, Azteca)

8:00 pm – St. Lucia at Canada (GolTV)

9:00 pm – Santos Laguna at Jaguares (ESPND, Azteca)

11:00 pm – Costa Rica at United States (ESPN2, ESPN3)

Saturday, September 3, 2011

10:00 am – Czech Republic at Scotland (ESPND, ESPN3)

5:00 pm – Sao Faulo at Figueirense (GolTV)

7:15 pm – Atlético Nacional at América de Cali (GolTV)

8:00 pm – Morelia at San Luis (Galavision)

9:15 pm – Qunidio at Junior (GolTV)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

3:00 pm – Brazilian Serie A – TBD (GolTV)

Monday, September 5, 2011

2:30 pm – Brazil vs. Ghana (ESPND, ESPN3)

6:00 pm – Los Angeles Galaxy at Sporting KC (FSC)

8:00 pm – Bolivia vs. Peru (ESPND, ESPN3)

In Argentina, we have a lot more club football on television this weekend because the Argentine Apertura Tournament goes on full speed. Once again, below is the first-run football action available on Buenos Aires Cablevision.

Friday, September 2, 2011

10:00 – Argentina vs. Venezuela (TYCS)

15:30 – Italy at Faroe Islands (RAI)

15:30 – Chile at Spain (TYCS, TVE)

18:10 – Bánfield at Tigre (A24, CNL7)

21:00 – Belgrano at San Lorenzo (America, CN23)

Saturday, September 3, 2011

11:00 – Czech Republic at Scotland (ESPN)

15:05 – Godoy Cruz at Arsenal (CNL7, CN23)

17:00 – River Plate at Quilmes (A24, CNL7, CN23)

19:00 – Racing at All Boys (CNL9, CN23)

21:00 – Estudiantes at Lanús (CNL9)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

01:00 – Portugal at Cyprus (Delayed) (ESPN)

13:45 – Argentinos Juniors at San Martin (SJ) (A24, CNL9, CN23)

16:05 – Atlético Rafaela at Unión (CNL7, CN23)

18:10 – Boca Juniors at Independiente (A24, CNL7, CN23)

20:15 – Vélez Sarsfield at Olimpio (CNL7, CN23)

Monday, September 5, 2011

01:00 – England at Bulgaria (Delayed) (ESPN)

15:40 – Brazil vs. Ghana (ESPNP)