By TRAVIS CLARK
The 2010 MLS Playoffs are off the mark. After Thursday night's Colorado-Columbus opener, three more first legs highlight the slate of action. All three MLS matches should provide an entertaining spectacle, with the strong crowd out in Seattle one of many reasons to tune in Sunday night.
Across the Atlantic, top of the table clashes in France and Germany should provide an entertaining spectacle — surprise Rennes takes on Marseille, while in Germany, Mainz and Borussia Dortmund square off, while fourth place Hoffenheim hosts third place Hannover 96.
Italy and England action gives ample reason for attention as well, with AC Milan going up against Juventus, and Tottenham heading up to Old Trafford.
Here is a rundown of this weekend's soccer on TV, as well as SBI's Top Ten Matches to Watch:
SBI's Top Ten Matches to Watch
1. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC. A must-watch matchup, as the Galaxy take the trip to Qwest Field and open up the playoff series with the Sounders. An inspired Qwest Field crowd will hopefully be matched by an equally as entertaining performance on the field.
2. Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas. This could be the best playoff matchup of the weekend, as Real Salt Lake visits Dallas. Both sides play a fairly entertaining possession style game, and if they decide to open things up it'll be fun to watch.
3. New York Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes. The Chris Wondolowski show has been one of the stories of the season. He now has a chance to show what he can do in the playoffs, and stake the Earthquakes to a valuable lead over the injury plagued Red Bulls.
4. AC Milan vs. Juventus. Milan's high-powered offense looks to hold off a recovering Juventus side.
5. Barcelona vs. Sevilla. FCB has encounted a few bumps early on in La Liga, and will be tested by Sevilla.
6. Aston Villa vs. Birmingham City. North England derbies have the ability to produce some fireworks, both on and off the pitch, and the Birmingham derby pits two clubs jostling for position in the middle of the Premier League standings.
7. Marseille vs. Rennes. OM splashed the cash this summer, and it's paid dividends to this point, as the club sits in second behind Rennes. Can the Ligue 1 leaders avenge last week's home defeat at the Velodrome?
8. Manchester United vs. Tottenham. A trip to Old Trafford gives Tottenham a chance to leapfrog United in the standings, while the Red Devils aim to keep up with Chelsea and keep the Rooney saga at a distance.
9. Mainz vs. Borussia Dortmund. The surprise first place team in Bundesliga, Mainz, looks to prove they belong at the top when they host Mainz on Sunday.
10. Stade Brest vs. St. Etienne. Another top four clash in France, Carlos Bocanegra and St. Etienne travel to face Brest and maintain pressure on Marseille and Rennes above them. Brest is one of the big surprises, currently in fourth place after earning promotion to Ligue one at the end of the 2009-10 season.
FRIDAY
2:30pm– GolTV- Bayern Munich vs. SV Freiburg
2:45pm– ESPN3.com/Fox Soccer Plus- Genoa vs. Inter Milan
8:00pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Evansville vs. Eastern Illinois
11:00pm– Fox Soccer Channel- UCLA vs. Washington
SATURDAY
9:30am– GolTV- Wolfsburg vs. Stuttgart
10:00am– Fox Soccer Channel- Arsenal vs. West Ham
10:00am– ESPN2/ESPN3.com- Chelsea vs. Blackburn
10:00am– FoxSoccer.tv- Everton vs. Stoke City
10:00am– FoxSoccer.tv- Fulham vs. Wigan Athletic
10:00am– Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Wolverhampton Wolves vs. Manchester City
12:00pm– Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Roma vs. Lecce
12:00pm– ESPN3.com- Valencia vs. Real Zaragoza
12:20pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Barnsley vs. Hull City
12:30pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Tottenham vs. Manchester United
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Auxerre vs. Nice
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Brest vs. St. Etienne
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Caen vs. Nancy
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Lorient vs. Arles
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Lyon vs. Sochaux
1:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Toulouse vs. Lens
2:00pm– GolTV- Hercules vs. Real Madrid
2:30pm– Fox Soccer Channel- AC Milan vs. Juventus
2:45pm– ESPN3.com- PSV vs. Twente
3:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Marseille vs. Rennes
4:00pm– ESPN3.com- Barcelona vs. Sevilla
4:15pm– ESPN3.com- Academica de Coimbra vs. FC Porto
5:00pm– Fox Soccer Channel- FC Dallas vs. Real Salt Lake
6:00pm– GolTV- Internacional vs. Santos (Delayed)
8:00pm– GolTV- La Equidad Bogota vs. Millonarios Bogota
9:00pm– Telemundo- Tigres UANL vs. Jaguares
8:00pm– Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. Guadalajara
8:00pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Fulham vs. Wigan Athletic (Delayed)
10:00pm– Telefutura- San Jose Earthquakes vs. New York Red Bulls
10:45pm– Telemundo- Atlas vs. Pachuca
SUNDAY
3:00am– Fox Soccer Channel- North Queensland Fury vs. Gold Coast United
7:30am– ESPN3.com/Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Palermo vs. Lazio
8:00am– FoxSoccer.tv- Aston Villa vs. Birmingham City
9:30am– Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Newcastle United vs. Sunderland
10:00am– ESPN3.com- Brescia vs. Napoli
10:30am– ESPN3.com- Mainz 05 vs. Borussia Dortmund
12:00pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Bolton vs. Liverpool
12:00pm– GolTV- Sporting Gijon vs. Villareal
12:00pm– DirecTV- Malaga vs. Real Sociedad
12:00pm– ESPN3.com- Deportivo La Coruna vs. Espanyol
12:00pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Monaco vs. Bordeaux
2:00pm– Telemundo- Toluca vs. San Luis
2:00pm– Fox Deportes- Morelia vs. Monterrey
2:00pm– GolTV- Athletico Madrid vs. Almeria
3:45pm– ESPN3.com- Catania vs. Fiorentina
4:00pm– DirecTV- Athletic Bilbao vs. Getafe
4:00pm– GolTV- Hannover vs. Hoffenheim (Delayed)
4:00pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Montpellier vs. PSG
8:00pm– ESPN2/ESPN3.com- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders FC
——————–
What matches are you looking the most forward to?
Share your thoughts below.
Oops… reading… never my strong suit.
Is it on TV?
About a 20 minute walk from my house
SSFC vs Galaxy
nice
Believe me, I’m just an RSL fan hoping to see a home conference final.
How is Inter-Santos not a top ten match? International is the Copa Libertadores winner. Santos is the Brazil Cup winner and features Neymar. Should be a show. Its also on live on PFC today, which along with Globo Ives never lists for some reason.
going to the Quakes v. RBNY game!!! stoked! rained a bit last night, should make things interesting
tailgating in Lot 4 !!! pre-game!
solid
giggity.
er met.
yea man. sounds like you’ve never played fifa. literally not a single thing you listed is a problem for me. then again, i’m the best fifa player i’ve ev
Try messing around with your controller settings to see if you can get more comfortable with the passing. It helped me.
I just bought FIFA 11 (in fact I bought an Xbox just to play it) and let me just say I’ve been more than frustrated trying to play this thing. Your forwards don’t make smart runs, nobody on offense runs TOWARDS the ball and so the defenders always step up and steal it, slide tackling is useless because you take FOREVER to stand up and so the offensive player (even if he got knocked down) gets the ball back, and the new passing system sucks because you could be trying to pass the ball quickly to a teammate not far from you and instead you pass it really far to a teammate who inevitably does not run back to the ball and so, BAM, ball stolen. I’m starting to wonder, myself, about trying out PES… I haven’t even bothered trying be a pro or the goal keeper thing. I just play the normal manager mode. Being a former EA tester myself, I’ve also seen numerous glitches in the game, including clipping and other visual bugs, and the game as a whole seems not nearly as complete as FIFA 10. Personally FIFA 9 has been my favorite thus far (FIFA 10 was too much ping pong, rapid fire passing for my taste). There are aspects of the game that I like (the new celebrations, the way players fight for the ball, etc), but overall I’ve been a little disappointed with how things have turned out. Maybe EA will put out a patch for it, but I somehow doubt it. Also, I worked at the NATC in Baton Rouge, not the one in Canada that made the game, so don’t blame me 😛
I think the idea is that Dallas has played to alot of draws this season. RSL will most likely play for one to get home. Therefore, two teams playing for a draw. Kinda boring. Seattle NEVER plays for a draw and is at home. LA will most likely play a counter-attack game, but will look for points. They have too many stars to just sit back. Seattle, with their fast wings and LA with their experience up front. Should be a doozy. Add the Qwest field variable and hopefully it will be one for the ages.
It’s all in context. Sure the Serie A games will be better technically, but the MLS games are playoff games. It’s still very early in the European season so those games aren’t as important and therefore exciting as Galaxy vs. Sounders.
hmm? only thing i can figure is that you must think LA and Seattle really attack and don’t play defense making for an open exciting game. I hope you’re right because that would mean a second round playoff exit (at the hands of RSL) by which ever team wins this series.
Its not Euro Footie taste
but too say Sounder vs Galaxy is better than Juve vs Milan?
Go to Euro Basket Bligs and I don`t think I have ever seen Madrid vs Barca(basketball) bigger than Celtic vs Lakers
RSL vs Dallas will be dull. LA vs Seattle should be a roaring time. (Rooting for SSFC!!!)
OT, but I thought it might be worth mentioning for folks who are either in the Atlanta area or nearby; the US Mens U-20 will be playing Colombia and Mexico Thanksgiving weekend. It will be nice to see some of our future Nats up close and personal.
great stuff
Please don’t tell me your a soccer… i mean euro football snob! Sounders vs. Galaxy should be a great game. I mean Match.
sorry to offend you and your Euro football taste.
are u serious Ives? MLS over the European matches?
I’m going to the number one game of the weekend. Driving about 10 miles in all. No plane ride across the Atlantic required.
Tip of the cap to the MLS.
Yes, it should be Wanderers according to the almighty Wikipedia
ESPN’s continued policy of buying figures to Barcelona games and then only putting them up online is unbelievable. I will not stand for this!
“Wolverhampton Wolves vs Manchester City”… I think you mean Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Zing!
oh shooooooot. don’t start this argument! It needs its own post (heck, it needs its own blog!)
Off topic but I need a suggestion. I have been playing FIFA 11 but the Be A Pro gameplay is very very frustrating. Should I trade it in for PES 2011?
Noon Sunday – may have a Jozy sighting on GolTV.
When is Nice-Brest? Talk about a match to watch, am I right?