USMNT Apr 5-7 viewing guide and open thread

The early weekend started with the USWNT’s exciting game against Australia Thursday, continues with The Original OG in action Friday, a full slate of Saturday action, a couple games Sunday and book-ended by another USWNT game Sunday night. That’s a pretty full weekend (though once again marred by injury) so let’s get right to the action.

Friday

Veracruz v Atlas - 9p on Univision Deportes

There’s just one match on Friday featuring a USMNT member in action and that’s Omar Gonzalez and Atlas taking on Veracruz Friday night. Atlas is coming off a 1-0 win over Santos Laguna, a result that snapped a six game losing streak. Unfortunately, Omar has been left on the bench for the past two games and will need to work his way back into the squad. Atlas currently sit in 15th place and this weekend they will be facing a last place Veracruz team that has managed just four points, and four goals through twelve games.

Saturday

Bayer Leverkusen v RB Leipzig - 9:30a on FS2

Tyler Adams continues to exceed all expectations since joining RB Leipzig in January including notching a beautiful assist last weekend in Leipzig’s 5-0 thrashing of Hertha Berlin. With the win Leipzig maintained their third place position and went five points ahead of fifth place Borussia Monchengladbach with seven games remaining as they look to secure a Champions League spot next season. Adams has been a real highlight for the team since joining and will likely feature again this weekend as the team takes on a seventh place Bayer Levekrusen team that is coming off back to back loses but is tied with Werder Bremen for sixth place and if the season were to end today would miss out on European Competition only due to goal differential.

Newcastle v Crystal Palace - 10a on NBCSC

DeAndre Yedlin and Newcastle are coming off a 2-0 loss to Arsenal and will look to get things turned back around this weekend against a Crystal Palace team coming off a midweek loss to Tottenham by the same scoreline. While not guaranteed, relegation is unlikely for 14th place Newcastle at this point but they would surely like to take a step in the right direction against a Crystal Palace team that is just a point above them in the league standings. Yedlin has resumed his role as a regular, starting the past three games after having been benched for two straight.

Other Notes:

• Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt face off this weekend at 9:30a on Univision Deportes with Eintracht Frankfurt looking to maintain their Champions League position and Schalke looking to avoid a relegation battle. Unfortunately it’s been a lost season for Timothy Chandler due to injury and while Weston McKennie took positive steps in his recovery this week it would be shocking if he were available in any form on Saturday.
• Similarly Christian Pulisic seems unlikely to be available for an injury ravaged Borussia Dortmund team this weekend in their Der Klassiker matchup with Bayern Munich - a match that seems likely to decide the winners of the league. Dortmund currently sit in first place by just two points over Bayern Munich and a win for either team would be monumental. The game will be on Fox at 12:30p.
• Stateside the match of the weekend will be Eastern Conference leading D.C. United taking on the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Football Club. Paul Arriola, Bill Hamid and Russel Canouse will feature for D.C. United while Walker Zimmerman and Christian Ramirez are likely to see time for LAFC. The match-up of the conference leaders will follow Der Klassiker at 3p on Fox.

Sunday

Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen - Noon on FS2

Fabian Johnson has been seeing regular time for Borussia Monchengladbach recently, starting five of the last six for the team as they look to crack the top four of the Bundesliga table and qualify for Champions League competition. The team is currently in fifth place, just two points behind Eintracht Frankfurt. They are coming off a 3-1 loss to Fortuna Dusseldorf and have won just one of their past seven games.

This weekend Gladbach will be facing a Werder Bremen team that has won three straight league games and moved their way up to sixth place in the table which is qualifying position for the Europa League competition. The good news for USMNT fans is that Aron Johannsson has returned from injury, is back on the bench and has been available for the team the last couple of weeks. The bad news for USMNT fans is that Johannsson has been kept company on the bench by fellow American Josh Sargent who has seen just seven minutes of action in the past four games.

Other Notes:

• Cincinnati and Sporting Kansas City face off at 3p on ESPN. Greg Garza, Kenny Saief and Caleb Stanko are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union with Garza starting and Saief and Stanko both seeing significant minutes off the bench. They’ll be facing a Kansas City team that walloped the Montreal Impact by a final of 7-1 including a goal by 16-year-old Gianluca Bussio in a substitute appearance as well as full games by Graham Zusi and Matt Besler in defense. Gedion Zelalem made the bench for SKC but was an unused substitute.
• The weekend will be capped off by the USWNT in action Sunday night against Belgium, a match that can be seen on ESPN at 9p.

Let us know what else you’re seeing in the comments below.