CrAcker Soccer 10 As big guns return
Great news! Big-league club soccer returns to centre stage this weekend after the international window and soccer fans can get ready for fireworks when Manchester City and Liverpool clash at the Etihad. It’s the first game in a cracker Soccer 10 pool, which starts with a R200,000 carryover and is set to total over R2 million. Have a bet - R2 buys you a chance to win lots and lots of lovely cash!
Erik ten Hag will have felt some relief over the last fortnight with many of his players away on international duty and a chance for a break from the pressure of being Manchester United coach.
But now it is piled back on again as the Red Devils head to Goodison Park this Sunday to take on Everton and seek to get some consistency into their season.
Right now Ten Hag looks no more than one or two defeats away from the sack, having failed to get his side to gel and become genuine title contenders. They have the same personality problems that beset them in the times of Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer with no solution in sight.
They take on an Everton side reeling from a 10-point deduction for financial impropriety and it’s a perfect opportunity for Manchester United to show some mettle, particularly ahead of next week’s vital Champions League assignment in Turkey against Galatasaray.
United are sixth in the English Premier League standings, not too far off the top two teams who meet on Saturday. Reigning champions Manchester City are the league leaders and can extend their advantage in the early game on Saturday when they host second-placed Liverpool.
The game kicks off TAB’s R200,000 carryover Soccer 10 and has the potential to match the eight-goal thriller City were involved in at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea just before the international break. Liverpool have lost on their last two trips to the Etihad Stadium, conceding seven goals there in the League Cup last December and then again in the league in April, when City won 4-1.
It is not likely to be as emphatic for the home this time round, especially if Erling Haaland doesn’t play after picking up an ankle injury on international duty, but Pep Guardiola’s team will still start favourites.
If Liverpool lose, then Arsenal can move into second if they take points from their trip to Brentford, where they have had success in the last two seasons.
There is also a top-of-the-table clash in Italy’s Serie A as improving Juventus host Inter Milan, who are two points above them.
Juve have put together a run of five successive Serie A wins and this season do not have the pressures of competing in European club football. Inter will be no pushover, however, and Juve will have to be in top form if they are to emerge victorious.
HIRED/FIRED: Ernst Middendorp takes charge of an eighth different South African club on Saturday, when he has his first game in charge of Cape Town Spurs against Royal AM. Meanwhile Lehlohonolo Seema is the new coach of Sekhukhune United, who have stolen him away from Polokwane City.
BACK IN ACTION: Manuel Neuer was out for 11 months as a result of a skiing accident, but after a long rehabilitation made his comeback against Darmstadt last month - 351 days after his previous game for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.