FA Cup features two mismatches
Lowly Yeovil Town in tough against mighty Manchester United
Get ready for more FA Cup action as the fourth round kicks off. The lowest ranked team remaining is Yeovil Town, which sits near the bottom of League Two. Yeovil hosts Manchester United Friday in the biggest David and Goliath contest this season. United is expected to field a pretty strong squad, including newly signed forward Alexis Sanchez, formerly of Arsenal.
Yeovil, meanwhile, will be without suspended star midfielder Otis Kahn. The 22-year-old is serving a five-match ban for pushing a referee. The home side will look to veteran striker, team captain and top scorer Francois Zoko to lead the way against United.
Another underdog side is League Two’s Newport County, which hosts Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Newport is adding temporary seating for the game, which is expected to set an attendance record of around 9,000 at its 140-year-old Rodney Parade ground.
Premier League action then resumes mid-week. The two FA Cup Goliaths, Tottenham and Manchester United, will be able to pick on somebody their own size when they clash Wednesday at Wembley.
Looking for revenge
Marseille hosts Monaco in the battle for third place in France on Sunday. The home side will be looking to avenge a humiliating 6-1 loss suffered in Monaco when these two teams met in September.
Marseille is in good form, with a string of victories over the past month. Star midfielder Dimitri Payet, who rejoined Marseille from West Ham a year ago, is gradually finding his form after being hampered by injuries.
The 30-year-old is hoping a strong finish to the Ligue 1 season will cement his place on France’s national team for this summer’s World Cup.
Monaco, meanwhile, has been dropping points lately as top scorer Radamel Falcao has been sidelined with a muscle injury. Without Falcao, Monaco is a much less dangerous side. The Colombian striker has been responsible for about a third of the team’s goals.
With Paris-Saint Germain running away with the league title, it’s a battle for second and third place with just two points separating Lyon, Marseille and Monaco.
Only the top three teams in France get a Champions League spot, so one of those sides will miss out.
Oh Canada
The Canadian Under-20 women’s team is doing very well at the CONCACAF championships being held in Trinidad and Tobago.
Canada faces Mexico Friday in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s final. Friday’s winner also qualifies for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which will be held this August in France, so this is a very big game.
Canada swept through the group stages with convincing wins over Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, plus group runners-up Haiti. Canada’s roster features nine players from the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite B.C. Soccer REX program, including striker Jordyn Huitema, who leads the tournament in scoring with five goals. Mexico, meanwhile, finished second in its group to the U.S. The Americans face Haiti in Friday’s other semifinal.
All games are streamed live as well as on demand, and can be found at youtube.com/concacaf and at the CONCACAF website. The Canada-Mexico game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Pacific.
Mixed reviews
The video assistant referee, or VAR, has been seeing regular use in England this month in FA Cup and League Cup matches.
In the Jan. 17 FA Cup replay between Chelsea and Norwich, controversy and disagreement arose over some of the VAR decisions. This has produced a fan and media backlash in England against the use of video review.
VAR was used in Major League Soccer last season and went over quite well. It’s also being employed in Italy’s Serie A, and is being well received there.
The other major trial is in Germany, where reviews have been more mixed. A recent survey showed 42 per cent of Bundesliga players are in support of VAR, while 47 per cent oppose it.
I like video review, and I think it’s definitely the way going forward. Some fans, though, don’t like change, and will complain about almost anything new. The back-pass rule and three-points-for-a-win also faced a lot of resistance at first. I say give VAR more time.