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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

Jack McInerney 1 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

There are two key MLS playoff series kicking off today, and European soccer action looms, but the U.S. Under-17 national team's final World Cup group match should garner plenty of attention on this Soccer Sunday.

The U.S. Under-17 team is coming off a 1-0 win vs. Malawi and can progress to the knockout round of the Under-17 World Cup with a draw or win vs. the United Arab Emirates today (10am, ESPNU).

THe ultimate MLS rivalry heads into post-season mode as Chivas USA takes on the LA Galaxy at Home Depot Center (5pm, ESPN2), but not before the league's most familiar playoff foes face off when Chicago meets New England (2pm, FSC).

If you will be watching today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Sunday's soccer TV schedule is after the jump):

TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV

6:30am– ESPN360.com- Ajax vs. Feyenoord

7am– Setanta USA- Spartak Moscow vs. FK Rostov

9am– RAI- Sampdoria vs. Bari

9am– ESPN360.com- Roma vs. Bologna

9am– FSC/FSE/ESPN360.com- Livorno vs. Inter Milan

9:48am– ESPN360.com- USA vs. United Arab Emirates (Under-17 World Cup)

9:48am– ESPN360.com- Malawi vs. Spain (Under-17 World Cup)

11am– FSC/FSE- Birmingham City vs. Manchester City

1pm– Azteca America- Morelia vs. Chivas de Guadalajara

1pm– Telemundo- Toluca vs. Queretaro

1pm– FSE- Sunderland vs. West Ham United (Delayed)

2pm– FSC/FSE- Chicago Fire at New England Revolution

2pm– ESPN360.com- Korea Republic vs. Algeria (Under-17 World Cup)

2pm– ESPN360.com- Italy vs. Uruguay (Under-17 World Cup)

3:45pm– FSC/RAI- Palermo vs. Genoa

5pm– Univision- Club America vs. Jaguares

5pm– ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com-Chivas USA vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

9pm– Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. UNAM Pumas

Comments

  1. Hey Ives, is it really that much cheaper to own a turf field than natural grass field? sure at first it requires little upkeep but after some time the field goes to crap and you either need to replace it or repack in the rubber or do something to make it even again. I am just wondering because after seeing a couple matches at this U-17 world cup it seems like FIFA is opening up somewhat to turf, even though most players cant stand it.

    Do you think the United States was actually playing better, or was it who they were playing that made this team look really good today? Since UAE gave them alot of space, it allowed the team to actually play their game with possession. While in the spain game (i only saw the first half), spain pressured high and made them look silly on defense for a while and neutralized part of the attack.

    Finally, who do you see from this team rising in the future to the senior team?

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  2. He had a much better haircut than that guy with the low hairline for UAE. Does that answer your question? He looked very energetic running onto the field.

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  3. Under 17 World Cup Round of 16

    Argentina v. Colombia

    Turkey v. U.A.E.

    Switzerland v. Germany

    USA v. Italy

    Spain v. Burkina Faso

    Iran v. Uruguay

    Mexico v. South Korea

    Nigeria v. New Zealand

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  4. Totally agree. Good intelligence and confidence in this team. I wish there was a strong, ball-winning central midfielder to allow more space to be created, and of course the finishing needs to be a lot stronger, but this is basically a pretty good team.

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  5. and Jerome and chavez h ave “blown” any chances? How about two break away goals against Spain? hmmm. Atleast McInerney has scored a goal as a striker. He has connected the best with Duran in the middle. I say a McInerney-Chavez pairing would be best.

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  6. If Renken and Gyau can make it through the Hoffenheim system, they will be stars. Gil is the youngest, and best player on the U-17 world cup team, so he has a ton of potential. Edwards is a big kid and very athletic. Watts is decent, but our biggest problem on the senior level is defense. No depth, no real quality like our attacking players. It’s very worrying.

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  7. Right but he knew that as well and still acted like a child. Hasn’t learned a thing since the incident on the Scotland bench has he?

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  8. watched both the malawi and uae games…am very impressed with the u17s comfort with the ball, first touch and possession, it seems to be a bit better than the full national team….granted, they are kids playing against other kids…that said, i hope this group will be able to mature in the right environments and hopefully we can get at least 5 from this team to the full national team….on another note…any idea what the schedule is for the round of 16???

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  9. Phillips had a sitter 6 yards in front of Shay Given, but calls for a handball instead of shooting. Maybe he should let the officials call the fouls and play soccer.

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  10. Player is up and walking off, but he certainly has a concussion I’d assume, he seemed to swallow his tongue. He looks like he’s coming back on.

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  11. I agree. I would like to see a little more creativity and ability to make dangerous, attacking passes from at least one of the center-mids, but I guess I can settle for competent distribution and positioning at this point.

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  12. I would add that it was refreshing to see the U-17s play goal kicks and free kicks short to keep possession rather than automatically going long every time.

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  13. This team is very convincingly unconvincing in the final third otherwise the team is pretty good. I like the defense and the holding midfielders, but Polak sometimes get caught going forward. Poladchuk and Duran are good, but you’d think that if the team is trying to score that they would want the centermidfield to be a little more dynamic.

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  14. McInerny and Shinsky stepped up a bit. Now if Jerome and Gil can find some more skills in front of goal, US might have a chance in next game.

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  15. Typical (of late) slow start for the USA in FIFA competitions… Many chances and lots go wanting… will they get some in the net next round? Shinsky is growing on me…Jack McInerney going the opposite way..

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  16. Wow, this corner flag thing is really holding up the game…the FIFA commentators backhanded comment about the linesman not trying to fix the corner flag was hilarious…

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  17. First order of business for the US U-17 residency program when they get back to Bradenton: Force all players to practice with his weak foot for an entire practice. To say our right mid has no left foot is a serious understatement. It would be interesting to see how the champion of the US Academy league would do against Malawi and the UAE, lack of chemistry seems to be a huge problem, not very fluid and really no clue in the final third. No killer instict.

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  18. I don’t know why some of you are getting on Gil. I thought he’s looked fine. Remember, he’s only 15 and he’s basically in charge of running the entire offense for the US team. He’s gotten unlucky in front of goal a couple times but you can see the skill and vision on the ball. Hopefully, he’ll get a move to a good team and he can develop for us.

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  19. i think it’s more the changing attitude of the us soccer culture, and the coaching

    if you’ve seen any of the senior team’s practices, they practice the counter attack extensively, not much one on one

    Reply

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