USMNT Mar 15-17 viewing guide and open thread

There are a handful of viewing opportunities this weekend, including a potential head-to-head matchup in the Bundesliga featuring two of America’s brightest young stars. Let’s get right into the action with Friday’s viewing opportunities.

Friday

Borussia Mönchengladbach v Freiburg - 3:30p on FS2

Fabian Johnson has started three of the past four for Borussia Monchengladbach including last weekends 1-0 win over Mainz. The win saw Gladbach maintain their fourth place position in the Bundesliga with a three-point lead in the standings over Eintracht Frankfurt. The top third of the standings continue to be very tight with just seven points separating third place from seventh place. Gladbach will need to continue to apply pressure if they are going to maintain their Champions League qualifying position down the stretch and it will be intriguing to see what role Johnson might play in their stretch run. This weekend Gladbach face twelfth place Freiburg who have won two of their past three.

Morelia v Lobos BUAP - 9p on Univision Deportes

Friday’s nightcap features Liga MX action with Michael Orozco and Lobos BUAP facing off against Morelia. Orozco has started every game this season for a Lobos team that’s in twelfth place and has had trouble stringing together consecutive wins. Lobos will be facing sixteenth place Morelia Friday night.

Saturday

Schalke 04 v RB Leipzig - 10:30a on FS2

Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams likely face off this weekend in a head to head matchup of young American’s in Bundesliga action. The two teams are heading in opposite directions this season with Schalke having now fired manager Domenico Tedesco following their embarrassing 7-0 loss to Manchester City in Champions League play and hoping to avoid a relegation battle. Currently Schalke are just four points out of the relegation playoff spot and need to manage some points over the last nine games. It will also be intriguing to see what role McKennie will play under the new manager and if he settles into a consistent spot or continues to be rotated around the field.

Schalke will be facing a squad at the other end of the spectrum when they take on a RB Leipzig team that sit in third place and haven’t lost a game since Tyler Adams began playing for the team. Leipzig are coming off a scoreless draw with FC Augsburg and will look to continue their unbeaten streak when they take on the stumbling Schalke squad.

Hertha Berlin v Borussia Dortmund 1:30p on FS2

It will be intriguing to see if Christian Pulisic has earned himself some additional playing time with his highly productive 10 minutes last week in which he had a goal and an assist to hand his team a much needed win over Stuttgart as they kept pace with Bayern Munich on points for the league lead. The team will face Hertha Berlin this weekend, a team coming off a 2-1 loss to Freiburg, but still within striking distance of the Europa League positions, just seven points back of sixth place Bayer Leverkusen.

Other Notes:

• Danny Williams has yet to return from injury but his Huddersfield Town team will look for just their second win in the last seventeen games when they face West Ham United at 11a on Universo.

Sunday

Bayer Leverkusen v Werder Bremen - 8:30a on FS1

It’s been a bit of a rough week for Josh Sargent, having been left out of Werder Bremen’s Squad for the first time since joining the Senior team in early December and then being left out of the USMNT March call ups. Sargent will be looking to make a return to the squad on Sunday as they face sixth place Bayern Leverkusen. Bremen are just six points back of Leverkusen for the 6th and final European qualifying position and a win would pull them within three points of that spot.

Other Notes:

• Timothy Chandler continues to train in an attempt to come back from injury while Timothy Tillman saw his first minutes for Nurnberg last weekend in a 2-1 loss to Hoffenheim. Their teams will face each other this weekend when Eintracht Frankfurt and Nurnberg face off at 10:30a Sunday on FS1
• New York City FC and the Los Angeles Football Club will face off on Sunday at 3p on FS1. Walker Zimmerman, Christian Ramirez and LAFC are coming off a 4-1 win over Portland while James Sands and Sean Johnson both started NYCFC’s 0-0 draw with D.C. United.
• Jorge Villafana and Jeremy Ebobisse were a part of the Portland side that lost to LAFC last weekend while Kenny Saief picked up his first MLS assist in Cincinnati’s 1-1 draw with Atlanta United. Portland and Cincinnati will face off at 5p on FS1.