The American weekend preview

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jun 1, 2023

Denis Bouanga (right) will lead LAFC against Leon in its bid to give MLS back-to-back titles in the Concacaf Champions League. (Photo: LAFC)

A busy weekend features the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League, the final day of domestic play in most European countries, plus U.S. U-20 men's and women's teams in action in their respective competitions. Several derbies highlight weekend play in MLS, the NWSL and USL Championship.

Soccer on TV: Weekend viewing

SATURDAY

• RB Leipzig vs. Eintracht Frankfurt (German Cup final, 2 pm. ET, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+)

Americans have come on as subs for winning teams in three of the last six DFB-Pokal finals: Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund in 2017), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund in 2021) and Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig in 2022).

Paxten Aaronson and Tim Chandler should be on Eintracht's bench in Berlin, where it will seek to win its sixth cup title.

• Major League Soccer

Seattle and Portland meet in the first game of an MLS/NWSL doubleheader.

After Wednesday's 1-0 loss at home to San Jose, the Sounders still lead the Western Conference by one point, but LAFC and St. Louis City, tied for second place, have four and three games in hand.

Seattle's problems began with the first Cascadia Cup meeting against the Timbers when it blew a 1-0 lead in the second half at Portland and lost, 4-1. Since then, the Seattle attack has gone dry, scoring just five goals in the last nine MLS games.

Momentum from the comeback win proved fleeting for Portland, which has fallen into 11th place in the Western Conference with back-to-back losses to Minnesota United and Sporting KC.

Saturday:
APPLE TV/MLS SEASON PASS
NYCFC vs. New England 3:30 pm. (free)
*Seattle vs. Portland 4:30 pm. (free)
FC Cincinnati vs. Chicago 7:30 pm. (free)
Columbus vs. Charlotte FC 7:30 pm. (free)
Inter Miami vs. D.C. United  7:30 pm. (free)
NY Red Bulls vs. Orlando City 7:30 pm. (free)
Philadelphia vs. CF Montreal 7:30 pm. (free)
Austin FC vs. Real Salt Lake 8:30 pm. (free)
FC Dallas vs. Nashville SC 8:30 pm. (free)
Minn. United vs. Toronto FC 8:30 pm. (free)
St. Louis City vs. Houston 8:30 pm. (free)
Colorado vs. San Jose 9:30 pm. (free)
Vancouver vs. Sporting KC 10:30 pm. (free)
*Also on Fox and Fox Deportes.
Note: All times ET.

• National Women's Soccer League

OL Reign takes an eight-game unbeaten streak against Portland in regular-season play into their meeting at Lumen Field, where capacity has been capped at 42,000 seats for the second doubleheader event featuring OL Reign-Thorns and Sounders-Timbers.

Both OL Reign and Portland come into the match with 16 points, tied for second place with Washington and San Diego, one point behind surprise leader Gotham FC.

Saturday:
CBS SPORTS NETWORK
OL Reign vs. Portland 8 pm.
PARAMOUNT+
Washington vs. Racing Louisville 8 pm.
Houston vs. Orlando 8:30 pm.
KC Current vs. NC Courage 8:30 pm.
Sunday:
CBS SPORTS NETWORK
Gotham FC vs. San Diego 6 pm.
Note: All times ET.

• USL Championship

Two of the USL Championship's hottest teams, El Paso and New Mexico United, meet in the Derby del Camino Real at Albuquerque's Isotopes Park.

Locomotive FC has the longest winning streak in its history -- six games -- under first-year head coach Brian Clarhaut.

New Mexico United's 2-1 loss at defending champion San Antonio FC last Saturday snapped a four-game unbeaten streak (three wins and one tie).

Saturday:
ESPN+
Pittsburgh vs. Phoenix 7 pm.
Hartford vs. Louisville City 7 pm.
Tampa Bay vs. Sac Republic FC 7:30 pm.
Memphis vs. Miami FC 8:30 pm.
New Mexico United vs. El Paso 9 pm.
San Antonio FC vs. San Diego 9 pm.
Monterey Bay vs. Loudoun United 10 pm.
Orange City SC vs. Rio Grande Valley 10 pm.
Note: All times ET.

SUNDAY

• Concacaf Under-20 Women's Championship (third-place game, Noon ET, final, 3 p.m. ET)

The semifinals will be held on Friday: USA-Costa Rica and Canada-Mexico.

At stake are berths in the 2024 Under-20 Women's World Cup to the semifinal and third-place game winners.

 • Genk vs. Royal Antwerp (Pro League championship round, 12:30 pm. ET, ESPN+)

Genk still has a chance to win the Belgium title after blowing a huge lead in the regular season. 

Mark McKenzie's Smurfs have dropped to third in the four-team championship round, but they will be crowned champions if they beat Antwerp at home and Union Saint-Gilloise doesn't beat Club Brugge at home in the other match.

McKenzie was not called up for the Concacaf Nations League, but he has scored three of Genk's eight goals in the playoffs.

• Real Betis vs. Valencia (LaLiga, 3 pm. ET, ESPN+)
• Celta de Vigo vs. Barcelona (LaLiga, 3 pm. ET, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes)

Americans Yunus Musah (photo, in probably his last game for Valencia) and Luca de la Torre (Celta) find themselves in relegation fights on the final day of LaLiga season.

Just two points separate six teams trying to avoid 18th place and LaLiga's third relegation spot: Cadiz, Getafe and Valencia with 41 points, Almeria and Celta with 40 and Real Valladolid, currently 18th, with 39.

Celta has earned just one point from its last six games, and its collapse leaves it just one point ahead of Valladolid, which has the edge on the third tiebreaker.

LaLiga tiebreakers are (1) head-to-head points, (2) head-to-head goal difference and (3) general goal difference.

• USA vs. Uruguay (Under-20 Men's World Cup quarterfinals, 5 p.m. ET, FS2)

The USA will seek to advance to the semifinals at the Under-20 Men's World Cup for just the second time when it faces Uruguay, a 1-0 winner over Gambia on Thursday, in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

The USA was the only nation to reach the quarters in the last three editions, but it lost each time, extending its losing streak in the quarterfinals to six games.

It has played Uruguay four times at the U-20 World Cup, losing its first ever game at the World Youth Championship in 1981, 3-0, and two years later, 3-2, again in its tournament opener but with an excellent performance from a team that included Hugo Perez, Tab Ramos and Paul Caligiuri.

The last two USA-Uruguay meetings came in the round of 16: a 3-0 Uruguay win in 1997 and a 2-1 USA win in 2007 thanks to an own goal in overtime.

• LAFC vs. Leon (Concacaf Champions League final, second leg, 9 pm. ET, FS1, UniMas, TUDN)

LAFC was handed what its coach Steve Cherundolo described as "a lifeline" when Denis Bouanga scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time to reduce Leon's margin of victory in the first leg to 2-1.

In 2020's opening round, LAFC came back from a 2-0 deficit against Leon to win the second leg at home, 3-0, and advance, 3-2, on aggregate.

For the final, away goals will not be used. If the aggregate score is tied after 90 minutes, teams will play 30 minutes of overtime. (For the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals, Concacaf uses away goals as the tiebreaker and goes straight to penalty kicks if the teams are still tied after 90 minutes.)