USMNT May 18-20 viewing guide and open thread

The Bundesliga and EPL may be done with the season, but there’s still some soccer to watch featuring United States internationals. Let’s take a look at what big matches to watch this weekend:

Saturday

Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt - 2p on ESPN Deportes

Timothy Chandler’s Eintracht Frankfurt fell to an eighth place finish in the Bundesliga table after losing four of their last six games down the stretch and they will miss out on European tournament competitions for the 2018-2019 season as a result. Chandler and Frankfurt will have a chance to redeem themselves a bit this weekend as they are in the German Cup Final on Saturday. To do so though they’ll need a different result against mighty Bayern Munich who handled Frankfurt easily three weeks ago in league play, winning 4-1 with their B squad.

Timothy Chandler missed last weekends game against Schalke with a knee bruise he suffered early against Hamburger SV two weeks ago but early indications are that he should be available for coach Niko Kovac’s squad on Saturday.

Speaking of Kovac, there’s a bit of drama there as well, this will be Kovac’s last week on the sideline with Frankfurt as he’ll be off to join their opponents, Bayern Munich, next season. The move was announced in mid-April but Frankfurt chose to see the season out with Kovac and this will be the second time the two teams have played since the announcement was made.

Portland Timbers v Los Angeles Football Club - 3p on Fox

19-year-old left-back Marco Farfan hasn’t seen the field for Portland in a month and hasn’t gotten a start or serious minutes since March so it seems unlikely that the Timbers will have anyone of USMNT relevance on the field Saturday. Portland have won four straight games and moved up to fourth in the Western Conference table, four points behind LAFC.

LAFC are coming off a 2-2 draw with New York City FC and sit in second place in the Western Conference. Walker Zimmerman went 90 minutes in the draw as did Benny Feilhaber. At 33 it seems unlikely Feilhaber will have a place with the USMNT moving forward but 24-year-old Zimmerman should get some chances moving forward if he’s able to perform at a consistently high level with LAFC.

Caen v Paris Saint-Germain - 3p on beIN Sports Connect

Timothy Weah made the bench for PSG last weekend but didn’t make the field in their first home loss of the season, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Stade Rennes. This weekend will be Weah’s last chance for playing time this season as this is the season finale for PSG. It’s a bit disappointing that PSG haven’t taken the opportunity to play more of their youth given their massive league lead but one could probably make an an argument in their defense based on competitive balance as well as the fact that their paying customers probably aren’t paying to see Weah (not yet at least!).

Sunday

Chicago Fire v Houston Dynamo - 4p on Unimas and Twitter

A Chicago Fire v Houston Dynamo match-up isn’t sexy on paper. It’s probably not much to look at on the field either, Chicago and Houston are in 7th and 8th places in their Conferences respectively and neither team features what one would consider a USMNT contributor or prospect. The game will be available on Twitter so that’s unique if nothing else.

Atlanta United v New York Red Bulls - 7p on FS1

Darlington Nagbe, Greg Garza and Atlanta United are coming off a win against Orlando City that ended Orlando’s six game winning streak. Atlanta are in first place in the Eastern Conference, their 8-2-0 record has them four points ahead of the second place Columbus Crew. Garza was involved in both goals for Atlanta as he drew the penalty that Josef Martinez converted for their first goal and then he picked up the assist on their second goal as well.

The Red Bulls are also coming off a win and sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Tyler Adams went 90 minutes for NYRB and the 19-year-old midfielder will continue to feature for the team moving forward. Adams seems likely to be called in for at least a portion of the Summer USMNT games and it will be intriguing to see how he pairs with the other midfield options at American Manager Dave Sarachan’s disposal.