Top Stories

This Weekend’s Soccer on TV (and SBI’s Top Ten Matches to Watch)

  Chicharito (Getty Images)

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Clint Dempsey are arguably the two best CONCACAF players in the world right now and they'll face each other in one of the weekend's best match-ups.

Hernandez and Manchester United are rolling, coming off a mid-week UEFA Champions League win against Chelsea. The Red Devils will be heavily favored to beat the Cottagers, but Dempsey and Fulham have been known to deliver surprising performances and could provide a good challenge at Old Trafford.

There aren't many marquee match-ups in Europe this weekend, but MLS has some very good match-ups on the schedule, including the I-95 Derby between the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls, and the 2010 MLS Cup rematch between FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids.

Here is a rundown of SBI's Top Ten Matches to Watch, and This Weekend's Soccer on TV:

SBI’S Top Ten Matches to Watch

1. Manchester United vs. Fulham. Javier Hernandez and Clint Dempsey, arguably the two best CONCACAF players in the world, square off as United looks to keep its hold on first place in the Premier League.

2. Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls. The I-95 rivalry resumes with the two teams playing with first place in the MLS Eastern Conference on the line.

3. Valencia vs. Villarreal. Barcelona and Real Madrid aren’t the only good teams in Spain. This battle of the Vs should produce plenty of quality, with red-hot Giuseppe Rossi one to watch.

4. FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids. Don’t let FC Dallas’ winless record fool you. This MLS Cup rematch is going to be a real battle and could produce a goal-fest.

5. Argentina vs. Brazil (Under-17 CONMEBOL Championships). Why should you care about a bunch of kids you probably never heard of? Well, because the next generation of South American superstars could emerge from these teams and this is your chance to catch a first glimpse.

6. D.C. United vs. Los Angeles Galaxy. Bruce Arena takes on Ben Olsen in this D.C. reunion match. LA may not have Landon Donovan, which could give D.C. the edge at RFK Stadium.

7. Chivas Guadalajara vs. Club America. Chivas is struggling, but this rivalry is still one of the best around.

8. Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire. The Fire is off to a surprisingly good start while the Sounders are struggling. Why watch? This match-up should tell us a lot about where these teams really stand.

9. Blackpool vs. Arsenal. If the Gunners are to really have a chance of catching Manchester United, they’ll need all three points against a Blackpool side that is very tough at home.

10. Fiorentina vs. AC Milan. Milan looks poised to cruise to a Serie A title, but a won on the road against the Viola won’t be easy. This road match should be a good chance for the likes of Pato and Robinho to show they’re serious about lifting the Scudetto.

This Weekend’s Soccer on TV

FRIDAY

2:30pm- ESPN3. com– Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Werder Bremen

9pm- Fox Soccer Channel– FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids

9:10pm- Galavision– Estudiantes Tecos vs. Queretaro

SATURDAY

7:45am- ESPN2– Wolverhampton vs. Everton

10am- Fox Soccer Channel– Manchester United vs. Fulham

10am- Fox Soccer Plus– Chelsea vs. Wigan

10am- FoxSoccer.tv– Sunderland vs. West Bromwich Albion

10am- FoxSoccer.tv– Tottenham vs. Stoke City

10am- FoxSoccer.tv– Blackburn vs. Birmingham

10am- FoxSoccer.tv– Bolton vs. West Ham United

Noon- Fox Soccer Channel– Inter Milan vs. Chievo Verona

Noon- ESPN3.com– Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid

12:20pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Swansea City vs. Norwich City

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Auxerre vs. Saint Etienne

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Bordeaux vs. Arles

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Caen vs. Paris St. Germain

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Lorient vs. Sochaux

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Monaco vs. Lille

1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Valenciennes vs. Nancy

2pm- GolTV– Barcelona vs. Almeria

2pm- Fox Soccer Plus– Swansea City vs. Norwich City (Delayed)

2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel– Udinese vs. Roma

3pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Brest vs. Stade Rennes

4pm- GolTV– Mallorca vs. Sevilla

4pm- Direct Kick– Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire

4:4pm- ESPN3.com– Paraguay vs. Colombia (CONMEBOL U-17 Championships)

7pm- ESPN2– Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls

7pm- ESPN3.com– Ecuador vs. Uruguay (CONMEBOL U-17 Championships)

7:15pm- GolTV– Boyaca Chico vs. Nacional de Medellin

7:30pm- Direct Kick– D.C. United vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

7:30pm- Direct Kick– New England Revolution vs. Real Salt Lake

8pm- Galavision– Pachuca vs. Jaguares

9pm- ESPN3.com– Argentina vs. Brazil (CONMEBOL U-17 Championships)

9:30pm- GolTV– Deportivo Cali vs. Deportivo Pereira

10pm- Telefutura– Atlante vs. Atlas

10pm- Galavision– San Luis vs. Necaxa

10:30pm- DirecTV– Chivas USA vs. Columbus Crew

10:30pm- DirecTV– San Jose Earthquakes vs. Toronto FC

SUNDAY

6:30am- Fox Soccer Plus– Juventus vs. Genoa

8:30am- Fox Soccer Channel- Blackpool vs. Arsenal

9am- Fox Soccer Plus– Bologna vs. Napoli

10:30am- ESPN3.com– PSV Eindhoven vs. Heerenveen

11am- Fox Soccer Channel– Aston Villa vs. Newcastle United

11am- DirecTV– Sporting Gijon vs. Osasuna

11am- DirecTV– Hercules vs. Espanyol

11am- ESPN3.com– Racing Santander vs. Levante

11am- FoxSoccer.tv– Montpellier vs. Nice

11:30am- GolTV– Bayer Leverkusen vs. St. Pauli

1pm- ESPN3.com– Atletico Madrid vs. Real Sociedad

1pm- Azteca America– Puebla vs. Toluca

1pm- Telemundo– UNAM Pumas vs. UANL Tigres

1:15pm- ESPN3.com– Portimonense vs. FC Porto

2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel– Fiorentina vs. AC Milan

3pm- GolTV– Valencia vs. Villarreal

3pm- Fox Soccer Plus– Olympique Lyon vs. Lens

5pm- GolTV– Noroeste vs. Sao Paulo

6pm- Fox Soccer Channel– Sky Blue vs. Philadelphia Independence

7pm- Galavision– Houston Dynamo vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

7pm- Telemundo– Chivas Guadalajara vs. Club America

————

What matches are you most looking forward to?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Posting from my iphone is a big mistake! It seems that some sentences didn’t make it to my final post. Sorry if the post doesn’t make any sense to you guys, but you guys get the idea. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Dempsey and Chicharo the two best players in Concacaf?…hhhmmmm.

    I agree that Chicharo has much more talent on the squad, and most of his goals have come from Nani taking 150000 defenders and sliding them in the box so that they could be tap in. Not taking anything away from Chicharo, but most of his goals have come from beautiful servicing. Dempsey on the other hand hasn’t had that luxury through his career. Also Chicharo hasn’t really scored goals against top flight EPL teams just yet, most goals have come against the lower table EPL teams. Ruiz?lol Ooook. He needs to be in the top 4 leagues to be considered to the debate.

    Here is my top Concacaf players overall since 2010. I would have ranked Chicharo two spots higher but because he hasn’t been in Europe long enough to sell me the hypebeast, I will keep him in at 6.

    1. Donovan- poster boy for Concacaf
    2. Howard
    3. Freidel
    4. Dempsey
    5. Jones
    6. Chicharo
    7. Dolo
    8. Palacios

    Reply
  3. Holy cow! the level of ignorance and hate of these two sht4brains is astonishing.

    “Scoring goals is one thing, being a great player is another. Peabrain has alot of goals this year…”

    Idiots, the point of the game is to score goals!!! It is like saying, yes, he scores lots of touchdowns, but he’s not a good player. Or, yes, he hits lots of home runs, but he is not a good baseball player. Or, yes, he swims faster than the rest, but he is not a good swimmer.

    Unbelievable.

    HC

    Reply
  4. Totally disagree. Tap-ins come from and uncanny ability to have killer positioning and anticipation. The former you can teach, the latter you can not. Any coach would take a player who gets you 18 tap-ins a season vs. a “more skilled” player who delivers less goals.

    Reply
  5. Just want to say it’s pretty cool seeing SBI commenting the further you go. Great dedication, guys. Much appreciated.

    Reply
  6. Exactly, put Peabrain in Fulham and he flops, put Dempsey in Braca and he makes Messi look like $***. Anyone can tap goals in, its nothing special, meaning Peabrain is nothing special.

    Reply
  7. You know that Fulham are better than Sunderland, Stoke and Aston Villa right? just wondering because it sounds like you’re saying those teams would be a step up for Dempsey

    Reply
  8. I had a real dislike for Mexico starting 02.. But I like Hernandez. He is straight up a goal scoring bandit. His movement and quickness are what you want on your team whether it be u10 or in the WC. Even his leave for Rooney mid week was brilliant. How many other strikers think only ball and intercept that pass at the poorer angle? Plus he seems like a good kid.

    He is what I was hoping Charlie Davies would become.

    The key in the gold cup will be to cut off his service.. cause no one in our pool will contain him.

    Reply
  9. EPL stats: Dempsey: 141 appearances, 25 goals
    Benayoun: 158 appearances, 27 goals.

    They both tend to play attacking midfielder type roles, Demps doing even more defending, and both have a pretty similar strike rate. They are both very creative players…

    So how are they nothing alike?

    Reply
  10. wait wait wait, are we talking about the best players or just goal scorers???

    when MLS Start the best goal scorers were

    Diaz arce and Roy lassiter, so are we saying since they scored the most goals that they were better players than?? Jaime Moreno???

    I think anyone in the league would have traded both of them for Moreno in a heartbeat. that is why Moreno was in the league so long, a little to long lol while the others fizzled when they had no service, because they could not create goals

    Scoring goals is one thing, being a great player is another. Peabrain has alot of goals this year, but not one game has he proven to show that he can take over a game ala Wayne rooney, Diego Forlan or even berbatov. Peabrain just taps in all his goals and occasionally has a nice header. I’m not saying Dempsey is better, just wanted to bring people back into reality. especially the ones that try to put peabrain in the world class category.

    Peabrain is a good goal scorer, but not a world class player.

    Dempsey is a good midfielder who scores more than expected

    Donovan takes over a game and makes it his bitch.

    Reply
  11. I agree with a team where he is one of a half dozen threats Clint would be even more dangerous. Opponents know if they knock Clint around at Fulham the team has low odds of scoring. Maybe getting better with Zamora back so there is at least one other serious alternate threat.

    Reply
  12. Chicharito is a young star in the making on a top squad; Dempsey is an established star on a midtable team.

    They have scored almost exactly equal numbers of goals. And they are miles ahead of any CONACAF-originated player in a Euro top league – not named Rossi.

    So yeah a comparison is fair and a compliment to Hernandez that we expect him to continue to do well.

    For those saying hey Donovan is better…not in 2011 he isn’t. Last year maybe.

    Reply
  13. I was really hoping Demps would move to Liverpool during the break…I rate him very similarly with Benayoun, who has bounced around several top 4 clubs and done prety well everywhere. I think Dempsey would thrive on a team w/ top class attacking players that defenses would have to focus on, freeing him up to do his thing.

    Reply
  14. Dempsey HAS scored at about same rate as Chicharito this season. Yeah Clint has more minutes because Hernandez isn’t a guaranteed starter each game what with Rooney and Berbatov.

    But considering Clint doesn’t get service from MU-caliber players either, he is doing – quite well.

    Reply
  15. The United States led by Dempsey and Donovan will defeat your lowly Mexico in the Gold Cup final…if Mexico even makes it that far.

    Reply
  16. argh that’s a good recap…
    Dempsey has a much more well-rounded game then Chich, but he’s also much older. I don’t see Hernandez EVER having the aerial prowess that Demps has however. But Demps will never have the clinical finishing touch either. Ruiz isn’t there yet, super player, but as has been noted, wait for him to get into a top 4 league, and/or do something special on the int’l stage before you put him up there.
    Demps was one of the best players at the last 2 WCs for the US, and though people knock him for his inconsistency, anyone w/ half a brain for this game knows that is bunk, it’s all about who scores the big goals in the big games, and on that front, NO one can question that the Deuce has done that.
    It’s Demps and Chicharito, best 2 in CONCACAF, no question…Donovan, by being a you know what, has simply relegated himself…we all know how good he is but he doesn’t want it…

    Reply
  17. Dempsey would do very well for a mid table club like Sunderland or Stoke or Everton or AV. He can easily get you 8-12 goals a season as a winger/striker. He already has 11 goals in all competitions, 33 matches I believe he’s played. Not bad on a team like Fulham. If he scores 2 more he becomes their leading PL scorer.

    Reply
  18. At the moment it’s all Hernandez. He’s the 3rd striker on arguably 1 of the top 3 teams in the world/. Donovan is a living Legend who flopped in Germany and did well on a short loan in England. He’s the top player in MLS but it doesn’t even compare. If Donovan transfers to the PL and puts up great stats, then everyone will be convinced he’s the best CONCACAF player.

    Bryan Ruiz is a pretty damn good striker. He should definitely move on to Spain or Germany to prove his worth. Same with Dempsey. He’s not as good, but he has more flair when he plays.

    either way Dempsey is a proven success, something Donovan is not when it comes to the guys of Europe.

    Reply
  19. He’s shown he can hang in one of the top four leagues by playing well in the Dutch League?

    A lot of players come from smaller leagues and are expected to be big stars. Then they flop. I’m not saying this will happen to Ruiz, I’m just saying he’s proved nothing, maybe he wouldn’t get off the bench at Fulham

    Reply
  20. When I say he isn’t that good I am referring to the fact that he is not world class. Others have stated he would score as much as Messi or Ronaldo if he played on their respective teams. That just isn’t true….he really is not that good. Is he a decent player for a mid-table club? Absolutely! Just do not see him as one of the top 2 concacaf players right now.

    Okay how about in their last 39 games one player has 38 goals and 4 assists (only started a dozen or so of these games) the other player has 13 goals and 4 assists (started almost all 39 games). Who is better? Now not all of these goals came with the likes of Rooney, Valencia, Nani starting along side him, but players like Gibson, Carrick, and Park….not world beaters and a dozen or so games was not even with Manchester United. So, it obviously is not just the service that makes Hernandez an overall better player than Dempsey will ever be.

    Let’s take it one step further since you do not like comparing a striker and an attack minded midfielder. Dempsey also has taken 46 more shots than Chicharito….take that for what it is worth.

    Reply
  21. Chicharito is the most exciting player out of CONCACAF right now and Ruiz is not too far behind, however Donovan is more accomplished at this point. I don’t personally rate Dempsey as highly as most here. He is at his peak now but is very inconsistent, sometimes disappears for games at a time then he will pop up with a wonder goal or brace. Reminds me of Berbatov, good stats but not consistent.

    Reply
  22. Don’t tread on the Duece.”Dempsey also plays striker so it is not that crazy of a stretch to compare the two.” Your reaching man, for real. Dempsey is a midfielder, Hernandez is a striker. Get off the haterade and respect what Dempsey is doing on a mid table team.
    “Dempsey just isn’t that good….deal with it. If he was he would have been picked off by a better team.” = EXTREME HATERADE
    when I see things like this I think wow Dempsey sucks…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeL1DXp-PuU
    Come on man you would think that Hernandez is paying you to defend him with your ridiculous statements. “Dempsey just isn’t that good”….. yeah that’s a statement that will make me take you seriously.

    Reply
  23. You do realize that Chicharito is a third choice striker right? He also has not played with Valencia that much if at all really. For the time being he has the best strike rate in premier league history. Chicharito comes ff the bench for the most part while Dempsey starts every game. Dempsey also plays striker so it is not that crazy of a stretch to compare the two. It is not like we are comparing a striker and a defender.

    Dempsey just isn’t that good….deal with it. If he was he would have been picked off by a better team.

    Reply
  24. You do know Dempsey is a midfielder right? And that Hernandez is a striker right? Just had to mention that because you clearly are not looking at that. Dempsey’s goals are arguably more impressive than Hernadez’s given the team he plays for and the service he recieves. Hernandez is gift wrapped goals playing with Rooney, Nani, Valencia,the list goes on. Come on man, a midfielder scoring ten with Fulham is pretty damn impressive.

    Reply
  25. Agree. Ruiz needs to make the jump, hopefully this year it happens. Twente got beat pretty bad by Villareal yesterday, 5-1. I think that reflects the superiority of the top leagues over the Dutch. I think Ruiz has shown he can hang in one of the top four leagues though.

    Reply
  26. If Bryan Ruiz played for Barca, he would be as good as messi….I cant believe the thoughts of some on here.

    jajajajaja

    Reply
  27. Bryan Ruiz and Chicharito are the best CONCACAF players.. Dempsey is not even close.

    (SBI-If you say so, and that’s why I said “arguably”. I’m a big Ruiz fan, but until he’s in a Top Four League doing as well as Dempsey is doing I’m not sure you can say it’s “not even close”.)

    Reply
  28. Wow…..Dempsey is not even on the same planet as Messi or CR7….wow…..smh.

    Hernandez is playing on a team with a mediocre midfield compared to Messi and and CR7, but still has 17 goals on the season. It took Dempsey almost 4 years to get 17 goals with Fulham.

    Clint Dempsey national team performance is also not nearly as strong as Hernandez’s. Granted your coaches do not play Dempsey correctly, but….

    70 caps and 19 goals or
    23 caps and 14 goals

    which one?

    Reply
  29. BS!! LD is in poor form at the moment and while Brad is a complete beast he is just slightly past his prime and Tim Howard is a more consistent KEEPer these days, so he’s the only argument here. Your boy is a great player, this much is obvious, but he happens to have excellent service via one of the best teams in the world. Clint does his thing with a mid table team year after year.

    Reply
  30. I think its fair, you have Dempsey who is surround by mediocre players and is scoring, if he was with Man Utd he would be scoring at the rate Hernandez is with that type of service. The same could be said about Messi and CR7, Dempsey would be scoring by the buckets if he was with Madrid and Barca.

    Reply
  31. Agree that landon is way better than clint, dont agree that landon isnt in the same league as hernandez.Dont get caught in the man u hype donavan has had 2 good world cups and played well on the world stage for the last decade. That to me earns him the rightover someone with 1 good prem season and 1 good world cup. After the gold cup tho this may change.

    Reply
  32. Landon Donovan >> Clint Dempsey

    Also Brad Friedal is a much better concacaf player.

    And it is not even fair to put either of those two (LD,CD) in the same sentence as Hernandez.

    Reply

Leave a Comment