TOWSON, Maryland March 28, 2014 - In the English Championship, Leicester made its move atop the league at the end of 2013. Burnley surged shortly thereafter so that now, with eight or nine matches remaining, both are fairly safely ensconced in the league's two guaranteed promotion positions. In Poland, Legia and Lech Poznan square off. They sit in first and second place, respectively in the Polish Major League. Legia's lead is seven points. In Ukraine, a Friday game, already completed, looks at first glance like one that just doesn't matter. To the two teams involved it mattered a lot because relegation was very much in play. With the end of the season only a game or two down the road, Tavriya traveled to Zaporozhye, and at the end of the match, Zaporozhye looked very much like it might avoid relegation, winning 1-0.
Leicester City has 82 points and Burnley has 79. The teams that are in pursuit are Queens Park, with 69 points, Derby County with 66, and Wigan with 62. All of these pursuers are far more interested in maintaining their places in the four team post-season playoffs. Only one will emerge as the third promotion. Right now, Reading is in that fourth playoff position. They have 59 points. Six teams still entertain hope, however slim, of replacing Reading and maybe even Wigan as one of the four playoff teams. They include Nottingham Forest with 57 points, Ipswich, also with 57, Brighton with 56, Bournemouth with 52, Blackburn with 51 and Watford with 49. In truth, Watford and Blackburn will have to run the table to have any chance of qualifying for one of the playoff spots.
Tomorrow, Leicester visits Burnley and ol' Turf Moor will be rocking. A win by the Claret puts the two teams in a dead heat. Leicester, however, has one game in hand. Also tomorrow, Doncaster visits Leeds United, Middlesbrough is at Brighton, Barnsley is at Yeovil Town in a key game for teams fighting relegation, AFC Bournemouth is at Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town visits Reading, Watford goes to Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers are on the road at Millwall, Blackpool goes to Queens Park, Wigan Athletic travels to Bolton, Charlton Athletic collides with Derby at Derby County, and Nottingham goes to Ipswich.
In Poland, the weekend has already started and for struggling Podbeskidzie, it's a good start. They played at fourth place Ruch Chorzow and won, 1-0. Also on Friday, Pogon Szczecin is at Korona. Tomorrow is the weekend's highlight game: Legia hosts Lech Poznan. The match, in truth, is far more important for the visitors. They are seven points behind Legia and it would take a miracle for Lech Poznan to catch the league leaders with so few matches remaining. Also tomorrow, Widzew Lodz visits Cracovia and Piast Gliwice goes to Lechia. Sunday finds Slask at Zawisza Bydg and Jagiellonia at Gornik Zabrze. Monday will find Wisla Krakow travelling to Zaglebie. Here is the up-to-date table:
1. LEGIA: 54 points, 17 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses
2. LECH POZNAN: 47 points, 13 wins, 8 draws, 6 losses
3. WISLA KRAKOW: 45 points, 12 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses
4. RUCH CHORZOW: 44 points, 12 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses
5. POGON SZCZECIN: 42 points, 10 wins, 12 draws, 5 losses
6. GORNIK ZABRZE: 41 points, 11 wins, 8 draws, 8 losses
7. ZAWISZA BYDG: 39 points, 10 wins, 9 draws, 8 losses
8. JAGIELLONIA: 37 points, 10 wins, 7 draws, 10 losses
9. CRACOVIA: 35 points, 10 wins, 5 draws, 12 losses
10. LECHIA: 34 points, 8 wins, 10 draws, 9 losses
11. KORONA: 33 points, 8 wins, 9 draws, 10 losses
12. PIAST GLIWICE: 32 points, 8 wins, 8 draws, 11 losses
13. SLASK: 30 points, 6 wins, 12 draws, 9 losses
14. PODBESKIDZIE: 27 points, 5 wins, 12 draws, 11 losses
15. ZAGLEBIE: 26 points, 6 wins, 8 draws, 13 losses
16. WIDZEW LODZ: 18 points, 4 wins, 6 draws, 17 losses
In the Ukraine, talk is still of the showdown Sunday between league leader Shakhtar and Dnipro. The match was at Shakhtar Donetsk, but Dnipro won, 2-0. The top teams are back at each other this weekend. On Sunday, Shakhtar Donetsk travels to fourth place Metalist and third place Dnipro hosts second place Dynamo Kiev. Also on the weekend, on Saturday, Metalist Donetsk hosts Volyn Lutsk, Sevastopol travels to Karpaty and Hoverla Zakarp visits Vorskla. On Sunday, besides the two games listed above, Chernomorets travels to Illichovets. This is the Table right now:
1. Shakhtar Donetsk: 41 points, 13 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses
2. Dynamo Kiev: 39 points, 12 wins, 3 draws, 4 losses
3. Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk: 38 points, 11 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses
4. Metalist Kharkiv: 34 points, 9 wins, 7 draws, 1 loss
5. Chernomorets: 33 points, 9 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses
6. Metalist Donetsk: 27 points, 7 wins, 6 draws, 6 losses
7. Vorskla: 27 points, 6 wins, 9 draws, 4 losses
8. Zarya Lugansk: 25 points, 6 wins, 7 draws, 6 losses
9. Volyn Lutsk: 24 points, 6 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses
10. Karpaty: 19 points, 4 wins, 7 draws, 7 losses
11. Sevastopol: 19 points, 5 wins, 4 draws, 9 losses
12. Illichovets: 18 points, 5 wins, 3 draws, 10 losses
13. Hoverla Zakarp.: 18 points, 5 wins, 3 draws, 11 losses
14. Zaporozhye: 11 points, 2 wins, 5 draws, 13 losses
15. Tavriya: 9 points, 2 wins, 3 draws, 15 losses
16. Arsenal Kiev: 0 points
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