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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

  LuisSuarez1 (Getty)

Chelsea and Liverpool began the current season with hopes of challenge for the English Premier League title, and while both teams saw their league campaigns turn into disappointments, both have enjoyed considerable success in cup competitions.

Now the Blues and Reds are set to face off today in the FA Cup Final (12:15pm, Fox Soccer Channel), with Chelsea hoping to add the trophy to its collection ahead of the UEFA Champions League Final, and with Liverpool looking to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup the club has already won this season.

The Premier League hasn't taken the day completely off for the FA Cup, with Arsenal kicking the day off against Norwich City in a match the Gunners need to win to maintain third place in the Premier League. The match is also Arsene Wenger's 900th in charge, and will also be the final match for long-serving Arsenal assistant Pat Rice.

In Mexico, the playoffs are in full swing and several Americans will be in action today, with Jose Torres and Pachuca facing Club America, and Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza leading Club Tijuana against mighty Monterrey.

In Germany, Borussia Dortmund will be playing its first match since clinching the Bundesliga title, and today's tilt against Freiburg could be an opportunity for U.S. national team striker Terrence Boyd to make his Bundesliga debut.

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

7:45 a.m. - ESPN Deportes/ESPN2/ESPN3.com - Arsenal vs. Norwich City

7:45 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go - Rangers vs. Motherwell

9:30 a.m. – ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com - Borussia Dortmund vs. SC Freiburg

9:30 a.m. - GolTV - FC Cologne vs. Bayern Munich

11:30 a.m. - GolTV - Mainz vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach (Delayed)

12 p.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go - Lecce vs. Fiorentina

12 p.m. - ESPN Deportes - Werder Bremen vs. Schalke 04

12:15 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes - Liverpool vs. Chelsea

2:45 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel/ESPN3.com - Roma vs. Catania

3 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Atletico Madrid vs. Malaga

3 p.m. - GolTV - Granada vs. Real Madrid

3 p.m. - DirecTV - Sporting Gijon vs. Real Betis

3:30 p.m. - ESPN3.com - FC Porto vs. Sporting CP

4:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick - Toronto FC vs. D.C. United

4:30 p.m. - NBC Sports - Seattle Sounders vs. Philadelphia Union

5 p.m. - ESPN Deportes - Atletico Madrid vs. Malaga (Delayed)

5:15 p.m. - GolTV - River Plate vs. Gimnasia Jujuy

7 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick - Vancouver Whitecaps vs. San Jose Earthquakes

7 p.m. - Telefutura - America vs. Pachuca

7 p.m. – USLLive.com - Rochestor Rhinos vs. Charlotte Eagles

7:30 p.m. - USLLive.com - Dayton Dutch Lions vs. Richmond Kickers

7:30 p.m. - USLLive.com - Orlando City vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

8 p.m. - ESPN/ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com - Los Angeles Galaxy vs. New York Red Bulls

8:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick - Sporting Kansas City vs. Montreal Impact

9 p.m. – Azteca America - Monterrey vs. Tijuana

10:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick - Portland Timbers vs. Columbus Crew


 

Comments

  1. The whole world is tweeting that the last goals-in-a-season record to fall to Messi is an American’s. Archie Stark of Bethlehem Steel in Philadelphia, 1924-25, 70 goals.

    Not sure how Archie got gifted another 3 goals from that 1924-25 season.

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  2. Here is a link to an excellent video of how the Koln-Bayern match ended, with players fleeing field for the dressing room. The player in back in white is Lukas Podolski, a fan favorite who took his time getting off the field for his last game before moving to Arsenal and is reported to anguished by the whole thing. Same thing happened last year in Frankfurt, with ultras rushing on to the field and taking over the field after Frankfurt lost and ended up going to the 2nd Bundesliga. Police learned from those mistakes and were ready this year.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEYvUNyuov4

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  3. 71 goals!

    A second consecutive hat trick. He’s now 9 goals above the La Liga all-time record and 4 goals above the all-time top flight record.

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  4. Messi with his 69th goal. With every goal he’s stretching his new La Liga record and new European top flight record.

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  5. Yeah I was wrong. They moved to GD this year. Either have to keep par @ 3 points back and beat Braga by 4 goals or make up 1 point today in some way.

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  6. I don’t think it’s happening. There’s about a 5% chance I calculated based on the relevant teams’ records.

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  7. confirming that you meant “*un*like some CB’s in the National Pool.” That is a good point. The German national team and top German teams like Bayern, you see their defenders, like Boateng and Badstuber, regularly moving forward toward the half-field line or even beyond and then passing off. I did confirm that Jones played central defender and was thought to have done a good job back there. I wonder whether it was a one-shot deal or a try-out. But yeah, this could have huge implications for the USMNT, as Klinsmann likes to push defenders forward, as we saw Gooch do against—darn, which team was that, a South American team. In any case, Gooch made it almost to the penalty box and I don’t think he ever did that under the previous regime, did he?

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  8. Sporting Lisbon playing @ already-crowned Porto on espn3, if Gooch can pull off a win OR get the same result Braga gets against an easier opponent(e.g. tie and tie, loss and loss), then all they would need is a win against Braga in the last match by any score that isn’t a one goal win of 3-2 or more(e.g. 1-0, 3-1, etc.) That would get Gooch in the CL next year, something that would have been crazy even a month and a half ago.

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  9. Glad they didn’t give that goal. Mata’s obviously shouldn’t have been given in the semis, and this attempt also wasn’t definitively over the line. More good ammunition for proponents of goal-line technology.

    Reply

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