USMNT weekend viewing guide: Looking for daylight

It was a rough midweek for USMNT players with Tyler Adams, Sergino Dest, and Weston McKennie all getting bounced from the Champions League. They’ll be looking for a rebound this weekend, but don’t get surprised on Sunday as Daylight Savings arrives in the U.S. (a couple weeks prior to Europe) and will mean changes to the standard start times for the next couple of weekends.

Friday

Levante v Valencia - 3p on beIN Spots and Fanatiz USA

Yunus Musah has seen playing time a bit more hard to come by recently having been relegated to the bench in two of the past three matches which was after he had come off the bench in three straight games. Valencia are mid table in 12th place, though with the top heavy nature of La Liga, they are closer to relegation (8 points) than they are to the top four (18 points), with another 14 points separating the top four. This weekend, Valencia face Levante who sit just above them in the table, ahead by two points. Levante are coming off a loss to Real Sociedad and they haven’t won since their upset of Atletico Madrid three weeks ago. Valencia have alternated wins and losses in their last four, most recently coming off a 2-1 win over Villarreal.

Saturday

Wolfsburg v Schalke - 9:30a on ESPN+

John Anthony Brooks and Wolfsburg suffered a defeat at the hands of Chris Richards and Hoffenheim last weekend but remained in third place, five points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and six ahead of Borussia Dortmund. The loss snapped a nine game undefeated streak and it would be a shocking blow to their Champions League qualifying hopes if they were not able to get immediately back on track this weekend against Schalke. Schalke and Matthew Hoppe played to a scoreless draw last weekend, with fellow relegation fodder Mainz and remain on track for an historically bad season.

Other Notes:

• Thomas Tuchel continues to insist that Christian Pulisic has a place with his Chelsea FC, side but the young man is still searching for minutes of any significance. The club play Leeds United at 7:30a on NBCSN.

Looking through the paywall:

• Werder Bremen and Josh Sargent face Bayern Munich at 9:30a on ESPN+. Reverse jinxes aside it really does seem unlikely that Sargent would continue his scoring streak against top of the table Bayern with service and possession likely to be an issue.
• Antonee Robinson received a handful of minutes off the bench in Fulham’s win over suddenly mortal Liverpool. Fulham is now tied on points with 17th place Brighton and just a point back of Newcastle as well though both teams have a game in hand. However, it will be difficult for Fulham to build any momentum as they face league leading Manchester City at 3p on Peacock.
• Giovanni Reyna has missed the last several matches for Borussia Dortmund, but is reportedly back in training and could be available this weekend as the team face Hertha Berlin at 12:30p on ESPN+.

Sunday

RB Leipzig v Eintracht Frankfurt - 10:30a on ESPN+

Tyler Adams and RB Leipzig were eliminated from Champions League contention this week with their 2-0 loss to Liverpool FC. The good news is that the team will now be able to focus all their efforts on keeping up with Bayern Munich in the race for the Bundesliga trophy. The club sit two points back of Bayern with ten games to play and this weekend, and they will have a tough matchup with top four side Eintracht Frankfurt. Most recently, Frankfurt drew with Stuttgart and lost to Werder Bremen. But, that was on the heels of a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich that cracked open the door for Leipzig in the title race, so they cannot be taken lightly.

Looking through the paywall:

• Timothy Weah continues to see his involvement rise for league-leading Lille, including a start in last weekend’s French Cup victory and their most recent league match. This weekend, they will face fourth place Monaco, who are just seven points back and looking to crack European qualifying. The match will be at 12:05p on beIN Sports and Fanatiz USA.
• Chris Richards and Hoffenheim will face Pellegrino Matarazzo’s Stuttgart at 1p on ESPN+ with both teams coming off strong showings last weekend.
• Weston McKennie and Juventus have been eliminated from Champions League action and remain 10 points back of Inter Milan for the league title. It has not been a successful season by Juve’s high standards, but McKennie continues to be a positive aspect to the year. The club will face Cagliari at 1p on ESPN+.