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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

Wayne Rooney (Getty Images)

American goalkeepers Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan will see their club, Aston villa, take part in today's Carling Cup Final, and if they are to leave Wembley with winner's medals, one of them will have to stop red-hot Wayne Rooney.

Manchester United-Aston Villa in the Carling Cup is just one of several quality match-ups today. DaMarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu will take part in today's Old Firm match-up between Rangers and Celtic (both are in uniform but on the bench), while Tim Howard and Landon Donovan will face Tottenham in one of the day's first matches.

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 (Today's TV schedule is after the jump):

TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV

8am- Setanta USA- Tottenham vs. Everton

8:30am- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- PSV Eindhoven vs. Walwijk

9am- FSE- AC Milan vs. Atalanta

9am- ESPN360.com- Napoli vs. AS Roma

9am- ESPN360.com- Udinese vs. Inter Milan

9:55am- ESPN360.com/Setanta USA- Aston Villa vs. Manchester United

10am- FSC- Liverpool vs. Blackburn

11am- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com/DirecTV- Villarreal vs. Deportivo La Coruna

11am- DirecTV- Xerez vs. Espanyol

11am- DirecTV- Racing Santander vs. Almeria

11am- DirecTV- Sporting Gijon vs. Osasuna

11am- DirecTV- Real Valladolid vs. Mallorca

11am- FSE- Liverpool vs. Blackburn

11:30am- GolTV- Bayern Munich vs. Hamburg

Noon- FSC- Sunderland vs. Fulham

1pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com/DirecTV- Sevilla vs. Athletic Bilbao

1pm- Telemundo- Toluca vs. Indios

2:45pm- FSC/FSE- Juventus vs. Palermo

3pm- GolTV- Athletico Madrid vs. Valencia

3pm- Setanta USA- Paris St. Germain vs. Marseille

3:15pm- ESPN360.com- Sporting vs. FC Porto

5pm- ESPN Deportes- Puebla vs. Jaguares

5pm- Setanta USA- Chelsea vs. Manchester City (Delayed)

5pm- FSC- AC Milan vs. Atalanta (Delayed)

5pm- GolTV- Santos vs. Corinthians (Delayed)

5pm- FSE- Independiente vs. Racing (Delayed)

——————

Which matches will you be most looking forward to?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I didn’t launch any personal attacks. You just basically made stuff up and attributed it to me. To say that you are not a classy person to do that is not a personal attack. It’s just true.

    Saying everyone here only wants to hear positive things about the players they like is absurd. That’s obviously you. Don’t speak for everyone else. I happen to like all of the players you mentioned that I supposedly said sucked. Even if I do think some might be overrated. Oh, no! There I go with my hate again!

    Reply
  2. Yes, as I was just asking you to explain your position, that’s really not classy, whereas you attack me personally, saying I have “no class”. How is it a lie to say that you respect Tim Howard when you say “you don’t feel like you can ever really completely trust him to be consistent”. I remember you saying the same BS about Dempsey and Altidore in earlier posts. Look, I understand the trying to be realistic thing, but people don’t come here to have players that they really respect attacked. Yes, I know that you do say some fairly nice things about Donovan later on, but as you say “he’s human”.

    Please stop the personal attacks, I didn’t say anything that was impolite. Not all lawyers are liars, you know.

    Reply
  3. That’s pretty good NK. Five lies in one brief paragraph.

    So, in your world, anyone who finds ANY fault with a player believes they are not class, and any criticism of any US National team players means the US has no good soccer players?

    Actually, I think it’s you that has no class, and save your straw man arguments for politics, please.

    Reply
  4. Yes, I do agree Donovan is an exceptional player, so I do have high expectations for him, and it is from that perspective that I speak. If you are not aware of Donovan’s cold streaks in MLS I can only guess you are not watching him with the Galaxy often enough. Nearly everything you said is true but it’s judging him compared with MLS competition and standards which are obviously not on the same level as the Bundesliga or EPL. I’m not so sure Donovan can be an exceptional player in an exceptional league. He may only be exceptional to us.

    Reply
  5. No excuses for LD’s missed shot. He should have had it. He’s still a fine footballer, and belongs in the EPL. Quit arguing everyone..

    Reply
  6. Isaac:

    I don’t disagree with a lot of what you say, and I don’t think Donovan is on the decline now or any time he has a bad spell. Reading your post it seems you come very close to supporting what I am saying. He’s there one game, but not the next. He didn’t show up for the MLS Cup either, which was a huge disappointment. Even I thought he would not disappear in that game. My point is that I know every player has their ups and downs, and embarrassing misses, I just happen to think Donovan has more than is normal for a player of his level, and that it is the reason he is having such a hard time making it in Europe, even though I know there are other factors as well. I would love to see Donovan stick with Everton and do well. I just think that since Donovan is so special to us, we are more tolerant of his lapses and he keeps playing anyway. In Europe, in a top league, it’s unlikely that they will be that patient since they usually have someone waiting in the wings who will perform immediately. That’s why I think unless Donovan improves in this area he will be on the bench a lot. Some people have said Moyes will not hold it against him, but there is no doubt Alex Ferguson held Tim Howard accountable for less, and that Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich did also for Donovan.

    Reply
  7. Yes, I do think Howard is better than England’s goalkeeper. However, a lot of people in England would probably disagree with that assessment and say that Howard is not consistent enough to be the national goalkeeper.

    Didn’t Donovan play really well and score a goal against Mexico the last time he had the flu, and that was the infamous H1N1?

    Reply
  8. Comments by Moyes on Donovan’s miss (skysports).

    Loan striker Landon Donovan spurned a glorious opportunity unmarked the back post to equalise, although Moyes refused to criticise the American for his glaring miss – instead revealing his displeasure at another poor performance.

    He said: “We didn’t turn up in the first half. You could maybe say the same thing about Tottenham in the second half. Landon is disappointed. It happens in football.”

    Reply
  9. Defoe = extremely frightening matchup for US defense.

    England’s defense is now starting to look more like it’s Achilles heel. They’ve always been suspect at keeper.

    Reply
  10. Although that is a great line up, if BB were to use that against a superior team and we lose he and all his followers would say “we would have won with our empty bucket!” and that line up along with Torres would never be seen again.

    Reply
  11. For the Netherlands game

    Howard

    Spector Demerit Bocenegra Borenstein

    Holden Edu Bradley Donovan

    Torres

    Altidore

    I think Torres can play an attacking center mid, especially since Edu and Bradley are more of holding mid-fielders. Oh and switch Pierce and Bornestein second half. I would appreciate your thoughts. Even if you think it’s terrible.

    Reply
  12. So you think Howard and Donovan are not class, and I’ve seen you say before that Altidore and Dempsey suck. So according to you, the US has no good soccer players?

    Reply
  13. About Landon’s miss today:

    I think it underscores a greater concern — American players, by and large, lack a consistent finishing touch.

    Reply
  14. I don’t know who the other Nick is but I think you are way too hard on Donovan for making one miss. EVERY players misses sometime occasionally and sometimes in streaks. That is the nature of the game.

    Donovan is not an out and out striker but he typically is very good at putting them away. He has had a major impact with Everton and in the EPL and is clearly one of Everton’s better players.

    Reply
  15. I see all the discussion here is on LD and EDU, but did anyone see Holden play for Bolton yesterday.

    Holden played a great game and was noticeably a step above many of the other players around him in both tactical and technical play.

    The commentators on the game mentioned how comfortable Holden was on the ball, and how his precise passing gave the team a different element. Holden also was the go to person on delivering the ball on set pieces. All together, Holden was part of a strong spine for Bolton made up of their 2 center backs and 2 center midfielders.

    Again, we have another player from MLS who slides into an EPL team and makes an impact. Now granted both LD and Holden are also on the men’s National Team, but I think this is a strong statement about the quality of the best players in MLS. And again how MLS is under rated.

    Reply

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