Stuart Holden's dream season at Bolton will next take him to the Theater of Dreams, old Trafford, as the Trotters take on Manchester United in one of the weekend's top matches on TV.
This weekend is marked by several high-profile matches for Americans Abroad, but also because this weekend marks the full return of Major League Soccer. Expansion sides Portland and Vancouver will be making their MLS debuts this weekend.
Looking for a heated rivalry? Look no further than the Madrid Derby, with Atletico Madrid playing host to Real Madrid in what should be a shoot-out.
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. Manchester United vs. Bolton. Stuart Holden and Bolton face a stiff test against an injury-plagued and potentially vulnerable United.
2. Everton vs. Fulham. Tim Howard vs. Clint Dempsey. Enough said.
3. Colorado Rapids vs. Portland Timbers. The defending champion Rapids take on the expansion Timbers in a match with plenty of special meaning.
4. Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid. Best Derby match of the weekend should give us plenty of goals.
5. Chelsea vs. Manchester City. A billion in soccer talent on display (okay, maybe not a billion, but plenty of cash).
6. New York Red Bulls vs. Seattle Sounders. Plenty of attacking talent on display in what should be an entertaining encounter.
7. Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Toronto FC. The first all-Canada Derby match in MLS is also Vancouver's MLS debut.
8. D.C. United vs. Columbus Crew. Charlie Davies will make his professional first team return to action for the first time since the accident that nearly took his life. How will you miss that?
9. San Jose Earthquakes vs. Real Salt Lake. The best team in MLS (RSL) takes on one of the league's 2010 surprises and the returning Golden Boot winner in Chris Wondolowski.
10. Marseille vs. Paris St. Germain. You need some more European variety in your viewing diet so check out this battle of French clubs with Champions League hopes for next season.
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THIS WEEKEND'S SOCCER ON TV
FRIDAY
5pm- ESPN3.com- Argentina vs. Uruguay (CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship)
7:10pm- ESPN3.com- Peru vs. Bolivia (CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship)
10pm- Galavision- Estudiantes Tecos vs. Tigres UANL
SATURDAY
8:45pm- ESPN2- Tottenham vs. West Ham United
10:30am- GolTV- SC Freiburg vs. Bayern Munich
11am- Fox Soccer Channel- Manchester United vs. Bolton
11am- Fox Soccer Plus- West Bromwich Albion vs. Arsenal
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Aston Villa vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Stoke City vs. Newcastle United
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Wigan vs. Birmingham City
1pm- DirecTV- Mallorca vs. Real Zaragoza
1pm- Fox Soccer Plus- Lazio vs. AC Cesena
1:30pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Everton vs. Fulham
1:30pm- ESPN3.com- Borussia Dortmund vs. Mainz 05
2pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Auxerre vs. Sochaux
2pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Brest vs. Lille
2pm- Fox Soccer.tv- Lorient vs. Saint Etienne
2pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Montpellier vs. Lens
2pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Toulouse vs. Nice
3pm- GolTV- Barcelona vs. Getafe
3:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Palermo vs. AC Milan
5pm- ESPN3.com- Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid
5:30pm- GolTV- Bragantino vs. Santos
6:30pm- Direct Kick- Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Toronto FC
6:55pm- Azteca America- Cruz Azul vs. Toluca
7pm- ESPN3.com- Chile vs. Venezuela (CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship)
7pm- Telemundo- Monterrey vs. Club America
7:30pm- Direct Kick- D.C. United vs. Columbus Crew
7:30pm- MSG- New York Red Bulls vs. Seattle Sounders
7:30pm- GolTV- Atletico Nacional vs. Cucuta
8:30pm- Direct Kick- FC Dallas vs. Chicago Fire
8:30pm- Direct Kick- Houston Dynamo vs. Philadelphia Union
8:55pm- Galavision- Santos Laguna vs. Morelia
9pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Colorado Rapids vs. Portland Timbers
9pm- Telemundo- Chivas Guadalajara vs. Queretaro
9:10pm- ESPN3.com- Brazil vs. Paraguay (CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship)
10:30pm- Direct Kick- Chivas USA vs. Sporting Kansas City
10:30pm- Direct Kick- San Jose Earthquakes vs. Real Salt Lake
11pm- Galavision- San Luis vs. Atlas (Delayed)
11pm- Telefutura- Atlante vs. Jaguares (Delayed)
SUNDAY
7:30am- Fox Soccer Plus- Fiorentina vs. AS Roma
9:30am- Fox Soccer Plus- Sunderland vs. Liverpool
9:30am- ESPN3.com- PSV Eindhoven vs. Utrecht
10am- ESPN3.com- Juventus vs. Brescia
10am- ESPN3.com- Udinese vs. Catania
10am- Fox Soccer Channel- Inter Milan vs. Lecce
10:30am- ESPN3.com- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Schalke 04
Noon- Fox Soccer Channel- Chelsea vs. Manchester City
Noon- DirecTV- Hercules vs. Osasuna
Noon- ESPN3.com- Racing Santander vs. Real Sociedad
Noon- DirecTV- Malaga vs. Espanyol
Noon- ESPN3.com- Deportivo La Coruna vs. Levante
Noon- FoxSoccer.tv- Caen vs. Arles
2pm- GolTV- Athletic Bilbao vs. Villarreal
2pm- Telemundo- UNAM Pumas vs. Pachuca
2pm- Azteca America- Puebla vs. Necaxa
3:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Napoli vs. Cagliari
4pm- GolTV- Valencia vs. Sevilla
4pm- Fox Soccer Plus- Marseille vs. Paris St. Germain
4:15pm- ESPN3.com- FC Porto vs. Academica de Coimbra
8pm- Galavision- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. New England Revolution
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Which matches are you most looking forward to watching? Glad to have MLS back on the schedule? Planning to attend any matches in person?
Share your thoughts below.
Yeah, after they saw one of, if not their absolute, best players stretchered off the field with what could very well be a serious injury.
One man up or not, that’s a hard thing to shake off–and it’s not like they were dominating the play before the injury.
Damn…and Bolton gives up a goal with 1 man advantage.
Yeah… looks like Holden’s dream season may be over. Terrible tackle.
hope holden is okay. nasty challenge =(
Old Firm may be the best match of the weekend!
Dynamo never replaced Holden, De Ro, or Clark and the stadium is still a season away…
Hope the weather is decent for the Quakes game tomorrow. Regardless, I’m really excited to see us kick off. Ives (or anyone else in the know), is the kid on loan from Tottenham available to play tomorrow?
That explain why mls teams don’t fill there stadium. It’s more fun to watch mls games on tv than live because there boring. Gottha buddie.
+1
Hallelujah- MLS is back. now i can stop wasting my time watching european football on tv. this game is meant to watch in person. GO QUAKES!
He’s mentioned that a couple of times in interviews. He played it for the year he had off when he broke his leg in high school and has apparently been trying to delete it off of his Wikipedia page ever since :).
Elaborate please?..
United wins 3-0 my predictions.
Just ordered MLS DK, FTW!!!
Monterrey vs Club America should be good!
proof?
Its raining HARD right now, and is supposed to be very wet the rest of the weekend.
I’ll be watching on TV myself.
Lee
Fun fact about Stu Holden: he used to be a professional Counter-Strike player for one of the best “clans” in the world. Back in his high school days mostly. I used to play against him from time to time. Great to see him focusing on soccer and now becoming a star on an EPL Team, but I just think seeing him progress from an incredible online gamer to a dominant national soccer player is very interesting, to say the last.
How so? Will the games just show up on the assigned channels from my cable service?
Direct Kick is free this weekend.
This may be completely lazy on my part, but would be great to see the channel/time listed in the top 10 games as well. May be redundant… but helpful.
It seems I will miss a lot of great games this weekend because I don’t have FSP or Direct Kick. I know I can add Direct Kick for $79 and I’m seriously considering it. Unfortunately, FSP is not carried by my cable provider, Comcast.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Mainz 05 looks like a good one to me. Will Dortmund extend their lead over Leverkusen? Can Mainz keep pace with Bayern Munich?
I notice there’s not a lot of Bundesliga coverage on SBI. I’ve been following the league more closely this season. It’s fun to see a team other than Bayern Munich at the top of the table.
Is Direct Kick free this weekend?
Yanks Abroad PARTY on saturday morning! It’s going to be a great day I think. And then MLS is back at night?! Love this time of year.
I really need to get a DVR. Looking forward to seeing the Quakes in action. I’m thinking of going to the game, but it has been raining in San Francisco, so I’m not sure how Santa Clara will be.
I’m really happy to see Davies back in action. I actually haven’t watched him play since the Conferdeations Cup final against Brazil.
Word is that both DirectTV and Dish are doing the free preview weekend, along with some cable providers. Should be a good time.
are either of the satelite dish companies doing a free preview of MLS direct kick this weekend?
Love the Premiership matchups, but MLS First Kick should get top billing here…It has been a long time without our league
(SBI-MLS gets its own preview shortly.)