The weekend in sport - 19/11/2015
Like many Australians, I live and breathe sports. This weekend presents us with a solid line-up of sporting events starting tonight in the A-League. I've had a look at the main events I feel are worth watching this weekend and have shared my thoughts below.
Tennis
The last main event of the year is the ATP World Tour Finals featuring the eight highest ranked players for the year competing. The Tournament setup is a little different to other tournaments with players being split into groups of four players. Group A is made up of Djokovic, Federer, Berdych and Nishikori while Group B is made up of Murray, Wawrinka, Nadal and Ferrer. The winner of each group advances to the semi-final to play the runner up of the other group. As things stand, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal lead their groups 2-0 while Murray and Djokovic are both 1-1 in their groups. The next matches occur early Friday morning with Federer taking on Nishikori at 1.10am AEST while Djokovic takes on Berdych at 7.10am. The tournament goes all the way through to Monday morning.
Football
The Australian soccer landscape is certainly not the most competitive in the world, but every so often it throws up an entertaining game filled with goals. The round starts tonight with the Melbourne Victory hosting the Central Coast Mariners. This looks the ideal game to watch with the Melbourne Victory team scoring an average of two goals per game while the Central Coast Mariners themselves have a solid 1.33 goals per game and allows their opposition to score an average of two goals per game.
Onto the real soccer, the English Premier League hasn't thrown up any must-watch games, so we look over to the Spanish soccer scene where two of the largest clubs in the world, Real Madrid and Barcelona, compete from 4.15am AEST. Traditionally these matches throw up a large number of goals with the very best goal scorers in the world playing for these two teams, so you know it's going to be a great game to watch.
Horse Racing
The Spring Carnival is over now in Melbourne, so that means it's time for Perth to take over. It's all about the raiders this weekend for mine in the Winterbottom Stakes with the popular 8YO Queenslander Buffering having his 50th start. Having won the Group 1 Moir to start his campaign, his last start run in the Darley Classic has him fighting fit to run a great race over in the West. The other feature race on the card is the Railway Stakes. The bookies believe it's a battle of three with last start Group 3 winner Real Love considered a top chance. Australasian Oaks and S.A Derby winner Delicacy is considered a top chance also, but an improved run is required after being beaten under a length first up. The horse in form is Black Heart Bart having won three races in a row. The horse just continues to do everything right and will be hard to beat.
International Rules Football (Aussie Rules)
Ireland and Australia face off in the early hours of Monday morning with a 1.30am AEST start time. The Australian team sent over to tackle the Irish seems to be one of the very best we have sent, so it will certainly be an entertaining battle with the round ball. A must watch for anyone having AFL withdrawals.
Did i miss a sporting event you are looking forward to this weekend? Share it below and tell us what to expect!