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The first weekend of December sees huge matches around the globe. Here are the top-five you can’t miss:
MLS Cup, Columbus Crew v. Portland Timbers 4:00 p.m. EST Sunday on ESPN
Columbus, behind Kei Kamara and Ethan Finlay look for their second MSL Cup when the welcome the Timbers to Crew’s Stadium on Sunday for the final. Portland will not be intimidated by facing the League’s top offense on the road as one of the Timbers league-leading seven regular season road victories came over Columbus, 2-1 in September behind a Fanendo Adi brace. The visitors will to look to the Nigerian Striker for more magic as they seek their first cup.
Quick rant: I want the MLS to succeed but scheduling their most important game of the year against a full slate of NFL games is foolish. How about Friday night? No American football and the most intriguing NBA matchup is Lebron and the Cavs against the 4-15 New Orleans Pelicans. Come on MLS! If you are going to ever break through in the American sports landscape you will need to be savvy. As scheduled, I fear most casual fans will simple tune into the NFL only to find out later that the MLS final is over. Prediction: The Crew lift the hardware in a thriller, 2-1 in extra time.
Toluca v. Tigres UANL 7:00 p.m. EST Sunday on Univision Deportes
The Liga MX semifinals conclude on Sunday with Pumas all but guaranteed to progress to the finals after a 3-0 win over America at the Azteca.The late game on Sunday is quite intriguing as Toluca and Tigres will face off after going scoreless Thursday night in Monterrey. The Red Devils will continue to focus their defensive game plan on Frenchman Andre-Pierre Gignac, who has 13 goals for Tigres. Prediction: Tigres finds a way through to the finals with a 1-0 squeaker. Also, there is no way the game ends with all 22 players on the pitch, at least one red will be shown, if not two.
Borussia Monchengladbach v. Bayern Munich 9:30 a.m. EST Saturday on Fox Sports 1
American Fabian Johnson, who has been red-hot (http://www.espnfc.us/german-bundesliga/10/blog/post/2738163/fabian-johns...) welcomes undefeated Bayern Munich to Borussia Park on Saturday. Johnson and the Foals have gone undefeated in their last 11 matches in all competitions so Bayern could be facing their stiffest test in the young season. Munich will showcase its scoring tandem of Lewandowski and Muller while Manuel Neuer keeps things tidy at the back. Prediction: The Foals make it interesting but fall 2-1 to Bayern.
Porto v. Pacos de Ferreira 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday on Univision Deportes
Tecatito Corona won’t stop, he can’t stop! With another great goal during Wednesday’s 4-0 shellacking of Uniao Madeira (/news/tecatito-corona-scored-golazo-porto), the Mexican wizard continues to push Porto towards the top of the league. Corona and his two other El Tri counterparts Miguel Layun and Hector Herrera (who also connected on a Herrera goal during the midweek win /news/hector-herrera-and-miguel-layun-porto-showed-every...) will look to keep Porto within striking distance of Sporting, whom they trail by two points in the Portuguese table before heading to London next week to face Chelsea in the last group stage match of the Champions League. Prediction: The Mexican trio keeps Porto rolling with a comfortable 2-0 win.
Valencia v. Barcelona 2:30 p.m. EST Saturday on beIN Sports
Valencia has had a crazy week. Their old coach, Nuno Espirito Santo resigned on Sunday night and the Mestalia hired Gary Neville on Wednesday to serve as head coach for the rest of the season. However, Neville will not take over until Sunday, which leaves his brother, the Fizzer (aka Phil), in charge along with co-coach Voro for Saturdays tussle with league leading Barcelona. Barca are untouchable right now and will look to take a stranglehold of the league race with Real Madrid struggling to field an eligible team. Prediction: Best of luck to the Fizzer but I don’t see how Valencia contains Messi-Suarez-Neymar, 3-0 Barcelona.
