Though the game is being played while much of the United States is still asleep, the Club World Cup Final between Barcelona and Santos is promising to be must-see football.
The battle between the reigning European and South American champions will feature some serious star power, with Lionel Messi and Neymar grabbing most of the headlines. The match will be much more than a compilation of stars, but rather tough match for both sides as they look to be crowned world champions.
If waking up that early wasn't in your plans, there is still plenty of other soccer to choose from on this Sunday. Manchester City takes on Arsenal in a marquee Premier League battle as red-hot Robin Van Persie looks to hand City their second straight loss. You also have American goalkeeper Brad Guzan leading Aston Villa against Liverpool.
In Italy, a pair of high-profile clashes will be worth tuning in to as Napoli takes on Roma and Lazio faces first-place Udinese. France also offers a compelling marquee battle as Paris St. Germain takes on defending champions Lille.
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
5:30 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Barcelona vs. Santos
7 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Queens Park Rangers vs. Manchester United
8 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Portsmouth vs. Southampton
8:30 a.m. - ESPN3.com - Feyenoord vs. FC Twente
9 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Cesena vs. Inter Milan
9 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Aston Villa vs. Liverpool
9 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com - Juventus vs. Novara
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Tottenham vs. Sunderland
10 a.m. - DirecTV - Granada vs. Levante
11 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Ajaccio vs. Stade Rennes
11 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Bordeaux vs. Sochaux
11:10 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Manchester City vs. Arsenal
11:30 a.m. - GOLTV - Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Mainz 05
12 p.m. - DirecTV - Osasuna vs. Villarreal
1:45 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Racing Santander vs. Real Sociedad
2:45 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Napoli vs. Roma
2:45 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Lazio vs. Udinese
3 p.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Paris St. Germain vs. Lille
3:30 p.m. - GOLTV - Valencia vs. Malaga
“I’ve seen Pele highlights”
What was I thinking, of course that makes you an expert.
Spurs are 5 points up on Arsenal with a game in hand. Me like.
Madrid? City? There are plenty of teams better than Santos. And Pele was the greatest… but those comments do make him look like a clown.
pssssh you are joking, right? I’ve seen Pele highlights, and he was up against MLS reserve side quality defenders, at best. Messi is the best player to have played the game, and he’s still only 24!
Everyone needs to stop sniffing Pele’s Glue. Pele’s just a bitter, ancient @sshole who needs to shut up before he loses everyone’s respect. “Not fit to tie Neymar’s shoe laces,” what an incredibly immature, disrespectful thing to say to.
38 league goals in 163 league matches. Those are Dempsey’s stats with Fulham in just under 5 years of play. Remember for his first season he was pretty much a sub. And remember he’s a winger but has also played as a striker. That’s a goal every 4 matches. Not bad for a player on a small team like Fulham
yeah i’m curious as well. perhaps he’s a time traveler
“I don’t think I will see anything like this in my lifetime.”
Are you dead???
Walcott was a non factor the entire time he was on, then arshavin was even worse after coming on. dear lord he was wretched. fairly good performance from arsenal, losing 1-0 at city isnt a terrible result. the toughest of their schedule is behind them, second half they get all the best teams at home.
Seriously. I thought Arsenal had a goal in them until that sub
“Second best team in the world? Neymar and Pele are clowns. And to think that Pele said Messi wasn’t a complete player who wasn’t fit to tie Neymar’s shoe laces. ”
Who is the second best team in the world then?
I guess you never saw Pele play.
“Neymar to move in the summer window. His stock will drop after today not because of his abilities but rather because Santos–and the Brazilian league–are being exposed right now.”
When Barca blew out Real Madrid 5-0 last year did that cause C. Ronaldo’s stock to drop? This game proved that Barca can beat Santos; that is all it proved.
This isn’t a Brazil league vs. Europe thing.
Barca have done this to the best teams in Europe. They can do it to anyone.
Neymar is a head case and his value was always going to fluctuate depending on who was buying.
For a neutral, Arsenal v. Man City very entertaining. Joe Hart with a great save on Vermaelen to preserve the victory. Yes, Arsenal doesn’t have any fullbacks playing, but, IMO the D line looked shaky on most City attacking sequences. Still Arsenal had chances put on frame and didn’t convert.
Vermealen just wide! great effort in extra time, Hart was prbably beaten too
Gotta disagree. They’ve held up pretty well for missing their top 4 fullbacks.
They’ve panicked after going down a goal and have reverted to “run and gun.” Too early…imho.
Arshavin needs to be dropped…has done nothing for a good 12 months. Ox had better make the bench ahead of this bum going forward.
Arshavin’s first touch after entering is to miss Ramsey in front of goal on his pass while he’ was unmarked, yuck
Reading the Post, came across Ian Harkes (son of John Harkes) in the “All Met” section, a Jr. middy.
Arsenal’s defense is like a sieve, jeez.
Agreed. Barca is a level above even the most elite teams. Heck that Real Madrid team right now is a great team but they still aren’t in Barca’s class.
Not a Barca fan but their domination is truly remarkable.
If you missed Dempsey punking Bellamy, it’s in the middle of these highlights… I rather enjoyed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM6P2mxoirA
Love Dempsey.
Despise Bellamy.
Like any good football fan…
If you missed Dempsey punking Bellamy, it’s in the middle of these highlights… I rather enjoyed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM6P2mxoirA
Love Dempsey.
Despise Bellamy.
Like any good football fan…
“The quality and speed of Barca’s play was bewildering at times. “It’s impossible to stop Barcelona,” shrugged Brazil’s teenage sensation Neymar. “They are the best team in the world with fantastic players. But we are the second-best team in the world and for us that is a great reward.”
Second best team in the world? Neymar and Pele are clowns. And to think that Pele said Messi wasn’t a complete player who wasn’t fit to tie Neymar’s shoe laces.
RVP down after another nasty tackle in this one, both sides participating in the give and take
ha ha ha! Barca is better than everyone else right now, by a little bit, eh? until proven otherwise, in whatever league, be it La Liga, CCL or last night’s comp finale
not my favorites but they personify domination as consistently as any team…a Dynasty that’s maybe not even peaked yet? maybe, who knows where this ends up
other teams are intimidated in basically every game I watch Barca play, losing in the parking lot before even suiting up, my opinion
A little surprised to see Nasri over Johnson. Would have thought they could have used his speed against Arsenal’s 4 CBs. And Nasri hasn’t been in great form either.
Cherundolo on the bench again for Hannover and they have used up their 3 subs already. #SMH
If Arsenal win today… the whole title race will be blown wide open.
On a side note, as an Arsenal supporter, I think we can do it. The one weakness today might be the fullbacks – or lack thereof due to injury – but its a much different side than that which got thrashed 8-2 by that other club from Manchester.
cursing is a large part of the english and welsh game, don’t his tattoos allow him to say whatever he wants? 🙂
its part of the game, tebow… relax.
thanks – not looking good for AZ today
Refs aren’t doing there job, one of the things you learn when you are in a ref class is that you don’t have to take any of that and can toss them immediately.
Probably the latter. Jozy’s been playing well and scoring in Holland by all accounts. This is the 2nd or 3rd time he’s come out at half in a game this year, but he did play a considerable amount on time a few days ago.
Craig Bellamy is such a punk. If he was an athlete in any American sport he would get tossed from the contest so quick he wouldn’t know what hit him. I’ve counted him screaming “F*CK OFF” to the ref at least 3 times when calls haven’t gone his way and he hasn’t even been showed a card yet. I have no idea what the refs are thinking, but its just pitiful
Yeah, but he only played for a half. Might have went down with a calf injury, or may just be tired from Thursday’s game.
Is altidore playing today for AZ?
Brad’s not having a very fun game 15 minutes in and already down 2 goals with 4 shots on goal already for Liverpool
Guzan has let in 2 in the first 15 mins vs L’pool. Neither one was his fault. Both came off corners and were the result of pitiful man marking in the box. On the first Guzan actually made a nice save on a Suarez backheel, only for Bellamy to get an easy tap in as he ran in the box freely.
Where was Pele!
I know Messi was there!
DVR’d the game, haven’t seen it yet. This Barca side is the best footballing team in the history of the beautiful game. I don’t think I will see anything like this in my lifetime. Barcelona, this is football!!!
Did you see last year’s CL final? Men against boys. Barcelona also beat Real Madrid 5-0 last year. Not to mention dominated them in Madrid last week.
Spot on. I don’t think Real Madrid or Manchester United would have 23 percent possession, they would put up a much bigger fight. This is more like 5th place or less La Liga opposition here.
Oh…and another goal by the guy who is less complete than Neymar. 4-0. (his backheel pass on the 3rd goal was just as impressive)
Nothing changes. This was already the relative stature of Barcelona and Santos. Barcelona similarly owns Man U and Real Madrid. Against them it’s pretty much bunker or die.
Summer or winter window (I’m in South America right now–got my seasons mixed up)
I think a blowout here (which at 3-0 looks like is going to get worse) is going to have to force Neymar to move in the summer window. His stock will drop after today not because of his abilities but rather because Santos–and the Brazilian league–are being exposed right now. If Santos is smart, they’ll cash in sooner rather than later…even if the Brazil 2014 organizing committee is not too happy.
Santos might as well be Mallorca or Granada.
I love the idea behind the Club World Cup, hopefully in the next few decades North America, Asia, and Africa can get close enough to the level of Europe and South America for it to be a truly great tournament.
Like the announcer said “its traing camp football for them”. The dominance of this team is just ridicoulus, as a FCB supporter this run of trophy collecting has been out of this world. When is it going to stop? ….Not trying to sound cocky but its almost impossible not 2…..Neymar has to be wanting to go over to Europe a little bit quicker at this point.
and Xavi then proceeds to put on a clinic…2-0. This is going to get ugly fast.
The less-complete-player-than-Neymar just scored a nice chip. (Xavi’s move to settle the ball seconds before was just sick)
anyone here watching?