Coventry looks to turn back time
Once one of English soccer’s elite outfits, the League Two side will look to score another upset
The fifth round of the FA Cup goes this weekend, and the big David versus Goliath clash is Saturday as Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion hosts League Two outfit Coventry City.
Coventry is the lowest ranked team left in the competition. I usually cheer for the underdogs, but Brighton’s chief executive is former Whitecaps CEO Paul Barber, so I’m torn.
It seems strange to think of Coventry as the minnows, because for most of my life, it was the reverse. Coventry was the big success story of English soccer in the 1960s, rapidly rising from the Fourth Division to reach the top flight in 1967. There the team stayed for 34 years, putting Coventry in elite company at the time.
The club’s fortunes changed in 2001, and it’s been a downward spiral since. Last year, the club fell to League Two, where it now sits mid-table.
Coventry has already knocked off one Premier League side in the competition, upsetting Stoke City 2-1 in the third round. However, veteran skipper Michael Doyle is struggling with a knee injury, while winger Jordan Maguire-Drew is ineligible, as he’s on loan from Brighton.
The home side, meanwhile, is expected to field a couple of new signings up front. Dutch forward Jurgen Locadia was picked up last month from PSV Eindhoven, and will look to make his debut after recovering from a hamstring injury.
Brighton also reacquired Argentine striker Leonardo Ulloa on loan from Leicester City.
Young guns
The battle for second place in the Bundesliga heats up Monday as fourth-place Frankfurt hosts runners-up RB Leipzig. Only two points separate the two.
Frankfurt could move into second, depending on how third-place Dortmund does Sunday away to Borussia Monchengladbach.
A number of talented young attackers star for these teams. Leipzig is led by German phenom Timo Werner, and recently added another fresh face, picking up 20-year-old England youth international Ademola Lookman on loan from Everton. It’s rare for a young English player to be loaned overseas, so Everton fans will be keeping a watch on Lookman’s progress. So far, he’s done well.
Frankfurt, meanwhile, has 23-year-old French striker Sebastien Haller topping the team’s scoring chart with eight goals. Haller was picked up last May from Dutch club FC Utrecht, after three seasons of consistent goal scoring. Haller is tall, strong and athletic. He has also scored some superb acrobatic volleys at Frankfurt and has fit in nicely.
It’s a knockout
The UEFA Champions League knockout stage continues next week with four more first-leg contests. The matches this week produced plenty of goals.
The biggest game goes Tuesday as Chelsea hosts Barcelona. The Blues have been horribly inconsistent in recent outings, and sometimes just plain horrible. It’s hard to know which team will show up.
Top scorer Alvaro Morata is expected to play after being hampered by back problems. Chelsea could use the Spaniard’s strength in the air. New addition Olivier Giroud is another option up front.
Also on Tuesday, Turkish side Besiktas plays away to mighty Bayern Munich. The visitors will look to veterans Ryan Babel and Canada’s Atiba Hutchinson for leadership. Another Canadian international, young striker Cyle Larin, recently joined Besiktas, but hasn’t yet played.
Wednesday sees Shakhtar Donetsk hosting Roma, while Manchester United visits Sevilla.
I had a million dollars
When Manchester City doled out $100 million last month to sign French defender Aymeric Laporte from Spanish side Athletic Bilbao, the deal had a huge impact on a tiny French club in Laporte’s hometown.
Sporting Union of Agen competes in the eighth tier of French soccer, and it’s where Laporte played from age six to 16. Under FIFA rules for international transfers, Agen gets one per cent of that transfer fee as compensation for contributing to Laporte’s development. FIFA calls it a solidarity payment.
Agen had been on the verge of bankruptcy, but this $1 million windfall is almost four times the club’s annual budget. Agen can now pay off its debts and continue operations. The club had been planning to call it quits at the end of this season.