The international break is over, domestic football has been back for two weeks and so are the derbies!
In this series, I take you across the continent to discuss all the winners and losers from that weekend’s round of fixtures. We’ve recently reflected on derbies inSheffield, Turin, Cambridgeshire, London and Portugal and then another edition focusing on last week’s WSL double header of theMerseyside Derby and North London Derby.
This week it’s a world affair, as I cover the last two weeks in one-go, let me take you from Staffordshire, to New York, to Spain and Italy and then off to Australia for an A-League double.
The A500 Derby – Port Vale 1-1 Crewe Alexandra
With only 13 miles between the pair – the large chunk of which spans across the A500 – these two fourth tier rivals have developed a competition between themselves over the years.
Port Vale, located in the Burslem area of Stoke-on-Trent, face off in the Potteries Derby with Stoke City. It can be a fierce match up but with the two sides not having had a formal meeting since 2002, to some, particularly in the red and white stripes, it’s potentially become somewhat of an irrelevance.
Port Vale vs Crewe Alexandra, though, is a more regularly played fixture. Despite being across the Staffordshire and Cheshire divide, the pair share a radio station and have played each other many, many times as they flicker between the third and fourth tiers – with Crewe making it to the second tier and coming up against Stoke a couple of times too.
The hatred can be strong, and although there will be a section of Vale fans who suggest ‘its not a derby’, the actions of their loud majority outweigh that of the quiet minority.
Crewe have had rivalries with Wrexham and Chester over the years, but their current fiercest one is with the side from Burslem.
This tie, which was live on Sky Sports last Monday, was teed up perfectly. Going into the game week, the Valiants were top of League Two, with their visitors sat in second – five points behind, with a game in hand.
Over 2,200 Railwaymen made the short trip on the freezing Monday night to Vale Park, where around 8,000 home fans were also crammed in. Local Vale lad, Jack Shorrock, opened the scoring for the home side when his heavily deflected volley flew into the top corner after hardly two minutes were on the clock.
Rekeem Harper, once of Crewe, was making his league debut for the Valiants and after he lunged in unnecessarily on Matus Holicek, the former Ipswich Town midfield earnt his second yellow card and would watch the rest of the entertainment from his early bath.
Lead by Darren Moore, the Vale would happily sit back and defend for the next 40-odd minutes. Crewe, who struggled to get going in the first half, were now dominant. They finally broke down a resilient home in the 90+2nd minute when Max Conway’s cross was met by Jack Lankester, who slotted home in front of the terrific away support to send the entire stand wild.
The bragging rights were shared on this occasion, and with both sets of fan bases reportedly happy with a point, they will continue to battle it out in the League Two title race.
The F3 Derby – Newcastle Jets 1-2 Central Coast Mariners
There is only an hours drive between the Central Coast Stadium and the McDonald Jones Stadium, a rather short distance when you take into account the grand scale of eastern Australia.
Named after the F3 Freeway that you’d take to get from Newcastle to Sydney, The F3 Derby is said to be the longest standing rivalry in A-League Soccer. Located about halfway down the newly-named M1, Central Coast Mariners are Newcastle Jets’ closest divisional rivals and as such their rivalry grew.
Newcastle Jets, a club who are 25 years old, have one A-League title to their name, two less than their younger neighbours who have three and are the current back-to-back league champions.
The Jets’ Grand Final victory is arguably sweeter than their rivals though. In 2008, The F3 Derby rivals met in the final, but with Central Coast Mariners’ ground deemed to be too small, the pair faced off for victory in Sydney instead. The Jets won 0-1 thanks to a goal from Mark Bridge, to not only take the rivalry bragging rights but also stop the Mariners from taking their first title.
Last weekend the derby kicked off once again at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, as part of their odd ‘Unite Round’ but this time it was the visitors that came out on top.
After a first half that saw the Jets edge the possession and the Mariner’s fail to capitalise on their numerous great opportunities, it was the ‘home’ side that took the lead after the break. A swift move saw Lachlan Bayliss slide through Ben Gibson, who had only been on for a matter of seconds. The Mariners’ keeper rushed out to him but the winger beat the year old and with the ball looking likely to find the back of the net, Thomas Aquilina made doubly sure by tapping into an open net.
Two minutes later, on the 66th minute, Mariners were level. A rush of blood to the head of Ryan Scott, the Jets’ keeper, saw him fly out to meet a crossed ball, but centre back Brian Kaltak beat him to it to score the equaliser and get a fairly fist to skull at the same time.
With 75th minutes on the clock, Aleksandar Susnjar scored a terrific accidental own goal when a Mariners cross wasn’t met by the attacker in the middle, therefore catching the left back off-guard in the middle of the box.
Central Coast Mariners’ victory was their first of the season, whilst the defeat was Jets’ third in four games, leaving them three points behind their rivals in 11th.
The Hudson River Derby – New York City FC 0-2 New York Red Bulls
Matthew Doyle, US Soccer expert, suggested this result for the Red Bulls is one of the best in their history over onBluesky, such is the remarkable nature of this Eastern Conference Semi-Final victory. But how did we get here?
The visitors, who have their Red Bull Arena stadium based in the New Jersey half of the Big Apple, are a 30 year old club and were one of Major League Soccer’s first clubs but under the guise of New Jersey MetroStars. The 2006 takeover by Red Bull GmbH saw the re-brand to their current monika.
Despite their long MLS history, the club have never won the MLS Cup, having been beaten by Columbus Crew in their only final appearance. They have registered three Supporters’ Cup triumphs, with the most recent one coming in 2018, showing them as a potentially strong force in the league.
The hosts are yet to play in their 10th MLS campaign. NYCFC, part of the City Football Group that also owns Manchester City, joined the league as a new franchise back in 2015.
Despite their relevant short history, and the fact they play their home soccer in different baseball stadiums – Yankee Stadium is their preference but they’ve also played at Citi Fields – NYCFC have surpassed their local rivals’ Cup haul.
Taty Castellanos scored the goal in the 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers back in the 2021 MLS Cup final, before NYCFC won the match 2-4 on penalties.
Between the pair, New York soccer fans have seen some big names play in their city. Red Bulls have featured Thierry Henry, Juninho and Tim Howard, whilst The Pigeons boast Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa as former players.
NYCFC entered the playoffs in good form, a run that saw them beat their city rivals 1-5 in. They sat three points above Red Bulls, who had only won one of their last 10 games.
Both sides were underdogs in their Eastern Conference Quarter Final ties, but NYCFC dispatched second place FC Cincinnati and NYRB dumped the defending champions, Columbus Crew out.
In this one-off semi final tie, the home side, NYCFC were big favourites and that showed in the final match stats: 71% possession, 2.80 xG, 25 shots and six big chances.
But the only stat that really matters is the scoreline, and the Red Bulls dominated that one.
After 15 minutes the visitors took the lead thanks to an outstanding strike from Felipe Carballo, it nestled beautifully into the top corner after leaving the midfielder’s left boot from 25 yards out.
They quickly made it 0-2 as Dante Vanzeir reacted well to a corner that dropped kindly in the box to him to volley a low effort in off the far post. City were animated with the offside calls but it seems Keaton Parks had kept the Belgian forward onside.
Carlos Coronel, Red Bull’s Paraguayan goalkeeper, deserves immense credit as he kept a clean sheet thanks to a number of terrific saves he made.
Der Klassiker – Borussia Dortmund 1-1 FC Bayern München
There are games in football which are just synonymous with the sport. FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid, Manchester United vs Liverpool, Inter vs Milan. Borussia Dortmund vs FC Bayern would fit into this category.
Dubbed the ‘Der Klassiker’ – German for ‘The Classic’ – it derives its name from the similar origins of ‘El Classico’. But for some German fans, its not that big of a ‘rivalry’. Fan culture is strong in Germany and clashes that have fan bases with just a few miles in between hold more weight than two sides with nearly 400 miles separating them.
However, this rivalry was born out of Dortmund attempting to take the crown from Bayern.
During the 1990s, Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellows) won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and an altercation between Bayern’s Lothar Matthäus and Dortmund’s Andreas Möller only fueled the fire further.
Despite Bayern’s title-winning dominance, sides such as Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen have all won the Bundesliga since 2000, however Dortmund are the only other team to win the league more than once (three times) and therefore offer the most, consistent, threat to Bayern.
Dortmund and consistency aren’t phrases that often go together. They currently sit 5th in the league and have only won half of their Bundesliga matches thus far – that includes this weekend’s draw with Bayern.
Vincent Kompany’s visitors looked lively from the off and created, and subsequently wasted several good chances. The deadlock was broken in the first by a superb solo run by Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens; the Englishman flew past Konrad Laimer on the halfway line and drove down the wing before beating Manuel Neuer with a clever, lifted, finish.
It was a late Jamal Musiala goal that rescued the point for Bayern. From a second phase of a direct free kick, Michael Olise lifted a cross into the box and as the Dortmund wall, who blocked the free kick, scrambled in the box, Musiala was free to guide a header home.
A Lombardy Derby – Como 1-1 Monza
Once described as the ‘hottest derby in Serie B’, the Lombardy rivals now find themselves in the top flight and scrapping for their lives.
Lombardy: famous for its Milanese fashion, Como’s stunning lake and scrawling mountains, and Monza’s iconic Formula One circuit. This week it played host to a game between two of Serie A’s relegation favourites, Como and Monza.
Their rivalry is said to have begun in 1967, Monza beat Como 1–0 in the decisive play-off match of the second tier. In the ‘80s, Como came from 3-1 down to draw 3-3, a result which put an end to Monza’s Serie A promotion hopes.
Now sat in 18th and 19th in the top flight, both sides would have seen this game as a vital one in their bid to stay up. Como, one point above their rivals, hosted the match and then took the lead after 35 minutes. A corner was put back across the box and Yannick Engelhardt was on hand to header home for 1-0.
Monza put pressure on their hosts and six minutes into the second half, they were awarded a penalty. Nico Paz was adjudged to have handballed inside the box.
Gianluca Caprari slotted the spot-kick home with ease, sending Pepe Reina the wrong way.
There was late drama as Monza hit the woodwork with moments remaining in the match, there was still time for Andrea Belotti to hammer his great, headed, opportunity wide too, as the encounter finished all square.
Elsewhere around the grounds…
Last weekend we saw a feisty Sydney Derby take place over in Australia. Sydney FC played host to Western Sydney Wanderers, and the home side came out on top 4-2 winners.
There were two encounters in Spain too, with the huge Basque Derby taking place on Sunday evening. Athletic Club took the spoils against Real Sociedad thanks to a first half goal from Oihan Sancet.
A Catalan Derby saw Girona FC play Barcelona-based Espanyol. Four goals in the first 27 minutes saw Girona storm into a strong lead, a solidary consolation goal in the second half meant the scoreline finished 4-1.
This weekend saw two London derbies in the Premier League. Declan Rice lined up against his former side as Arsenal visited West Ham United. In a ferocious first half, the Gunners found themselves 0-4 before two goals from the Hammers nearly changed the discourse. Another penalty for the away side before the HT whistle and then a goalless second 45 meant Arsenal took the 2-5 victory.
Fulham visited the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium on Sunday, with the scoreline reading 1-1 thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson and Tom Cairney, who would later receive a red card.
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