The Dutch Cup Final is set to take place this evening in Rotterdam as AZ Alkmaar take on PSV Eindhoven in what should be a fantastic end to Holland's domestic cup. PSV Eindhoven currently sit second in the table while Alkmaar sit in tenth, but league tables won't matter this evening as both sides set their sights on silverware.
The Dutch Cup Final is set to take place this evening in Rotterdam as AZ Alkmaar take on PSV Eindhoven in what should be a fantastic end to Holland's domestic cup. PSV Eindhoven currently sit second in the table while Alkmaar sit in tenth, but league tables won't matter this evening as both sides set their sights on silverware.
15:30 Heerenveen (2-2) Ajax at Abe Lenstra Stadion13:30 PSV Eindhoven (5-1) AZ Alkmaar at Philips
Stadion13:30 Twente (1-0) VVV Venlo at De Grolsch Veste11:30 Vitesse (1-0) Feyenoord at Gelredome
Frankly none of Saturday's games are all that compelling, but if you must:
FA Cup Semifinal, Liverpool vs Everton (7:30amET; FSC & Fox Deportes): A
Merseyside derby at Wembley. Liverpool have been in rotten form, while Everton have been coming on
strong.
Bundesliga, Schalke 04 vs Borussia Dortmund (9:30amET; GolTV): The Ruhr derby
or, in the German, the Revierderby is the biggest rivalry in Germany.
Three U.S. internationals are in action today as the second leg of the Europa League playoffs are
contested this evening. Steve Cherundolo and Hannover host Slasz Wroclaw and sit in the pole position of
their series after collecting a 5-3 win in the first leg. AZ Alkmaar is down a goal after losing
1-0 at Anzhi Makhachkala, and Jozy Altidore looks to continue his impressive
strike rate at home.
Jozy Altidore was the difference for AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday, scoring both goals in the 2-2 draw
with Twente. Altidore opened the scoring in the third minute, with Twente equalizing in the 31st.
It was Altidore again in the 70th minute, with Twente coming up with the equalizer in stoppage
time. In Belgium's Jupiler League, Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht beat Mix Diskerud's Gent 4-1 in
the playoffs.
U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann wants his players to be reaching the highest level they can, and
four of them took a nice step on Thursday as their squads reached the quarterfinals of the Europa
League.
Jermaine Jones scored the game-winner and added an assist as Schalke advanced to the quarterfinals
and will face Athletic Bilbao.
Jozy Altidore and Alkmaar extended a narrow lead atop the Eredivisie with a win over De Graafschap
while Charles Kazlauskas had a short evening in Helmond's victory over his former team FC Oss.
Jozy Altidore continued his goalscoring run in Alkmaar's win over Heracles while Helmond managed to
take down the Eerste Divisie leaders Zwolle despite Charles Kazlauskas' absence.
The lack of reliable options at forward makes Jurgen Klinsmann's decision for which strikers to
bring to Genoa for the match against Italy on Feb. 29 a pretty basic exercise.
With a pair of entrenched players at the position and Klinsmann potentially opting for a one-man
forward line anyway, he won't be pressed into bringing a slew of players to compete for minutes up
top against the Azzurri.
Sacha Kljestan and Jozy Altidore will square off in Alkmaar while Jermaine Jones could be back in
uniform for Schalke on their trip to Plzen as the Europa League round of 32 gets underway.
Holland: The Life and Times of Gertjan Verbeek carpenter, dreamer, football manager is a post
from: Just Football
A visit to AZ Alkmaar's AFAS Stadion and there's no escaping one particular
banner. Created with visiting supporters in mind, its message is succinct. "We have Verbeek" it
reads in bold letters.
LANDOVER, Md. -- When the U.S. men's national team's starters walk through the tunnel at FedEx
Field on Wednesday, two players who likely will not be among that group are Clint Dempsey and Jozy
Altidore.
The English FA has not gone far to find a replacement for former England manager Fabio Capello,
pegging West Brom manager Roy Hodgson as the leading candidate to manage England at this summer's
European Championships.
The FA has sought permission and has been granted permission by West brom to speak with Hodgson,
who appears a good bet to beat out former favorite Harry Redknapp for the job.
German club Schalke 04 last night suffered an embarassing 4-2 home defeat to Athletic Bilbao in
the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinals. The Basque side were heading for a draw after
Raul's two goal haul drew the match level on 2 a piece but late strikes from Oscar De Marcos and
Muniain put the tie beyond Schalke.
Carlos Tevez has been in the headlines more often than not in recent months, and he will be in
more after Corinthians expressed an interest in possibly bringing back the troubled Argentine
striker.
Having parted ways with Brazilian forward Adriano, Corinthians is interested in signing a
striker this summer and are contemplating whether to make a bid for Tevez.
LANDOVER, Md. -- Michael Bradley has had two of his best, most influential games in any uniform
for club or country in recent wins for the national team against Italy and Scotland. He was able to
turn in those performances after growing as a player during a standout season in Serie A for Chievo
Verona, taking the road less traveled for U.
Jozy Altidore will likely keep his spot in Alkmaar's starting lineup as they try to hold onto the
Eredivisie lead while Charles Kazlauskas and Helmond look to continue their Eerste Divisie run
against FC Oss.
The U.S. national team has not played a match in almost three months, but that stretch will end
with Saturday night's friendly against Scotland at Jacksonville's EverBank Field, where more than
36,000 seats have been sold ahead of the match.
It was a busy weekend for the U.S. Men's National Team players abroad, with the Old Firm derby
in Scotland and goals and assists recorded in Denmark, Netherlands and Mexico. Here's a quick recap
of the action:
Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu both started against Celtic as Rangers won 3-2 at Ibrox
Stadium.
But apart from JC, it's clear that we need to pay respect to AZ Alkmaar. Despite their horrible
loss in Valencia (what the hell happened there???) they deserve this spot in the limelight. The
Verbeek managed team plays Dutch School [read more]
If you have been wondering why Jozy Altidore has been relegated to the bench for AZ Alkmaar, it
looks you now have an answer.
According to a report from the Netherlands, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek has preferred to start
Charlison Benschop over Altidore in recent weeks due to Altidore's lack of progress.
As we wrote earlier in the week, the Athletic Bilbao-Schalke tie was the only was that was
pretty much wrapped up after the 1st leg, with Athletic's 4-2 win in Germany.
Antonio Di Natale was the only notable absentee as an otherwise full strength Udinese faced
Eredivisie league leaders AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening. This was only the third time the
Bianconeri had reached the last sixteen of this competition, and it was Antonio Floro Flores
leading the line again in Europe.
The Champions League and Europa League paths have been set.
AC Milan vs. FC Barcelona and Schalke vs. Athletic Bilbao will be another set of classic matches
for us to enjoy. APOEL vs. Real Madrid, not so much... Benfica vs. Chelsea could be interesting,
but at the moment a Real Madrid vs.
U.S. forward Jozy Altidore assisted both goals during AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 win against Udinese on
Thursday.
U.S. Men's National Team forward Jozy Altidore has continued his offensive production, this time
assisting both goals during AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 victory against Udinese in Europa League play on
Thursday.
It's time for another round of the Europa League, which means that it's time for another round of
predictions. We fared pretty well in the Round of 32, picking up 12 correct picks out of 16. As
unpredictable as the Europa League tends to be, we'll take 75% any time. In fact if six of the
eight picks below for the eighth-finals are correct, I'll be one happy camper.
Hearing the full-time whistle Samuel Eto'o knew where to head. Anzhi just beaten AZ 5-0 in
Alkmaar, but there was no mood to celebrate, instead he had to see him up close and offer a few
words to a talent without limitations that left a huge impression.
Scoring goals for their clubs is nothing new to Men's National Team players, but a couple
surprising names turned up on the scoresheet this past weekend.
Goals have become business as usual for Jozy Altidore at Alkmaar, and the second game of the season
meant another pair for the U.S. striker. He scored the first and third in the 3-1 win against
Heracles.
In which, with the scores level at 2-2, a blonde Ajax fan and her excitable friend take
ever-so-slightly too long to realise that their side's 'late winner' against AZ Alkmaar didn't
actually go in...
Arsenal are showing interest in Fulham midfielder Moussa Dembele, according to reports.
The Belgian has been a key player for Martin Jol's side this campaign, and Arsene Wenger could
consider launching a bid in the region of £10 million for him.
The ex-Alkmaar playmaker has had another imprressive season racking up two Premier League goals
and two assists along the way.
AZ Alkmaar and USMNT forward Jozy Altidore was diagnosed with a back bruise and should not be out
of action long. He does not have a concussion as previously feared.
