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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

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A Premier League showdown between Liverpool and Manchester City headlines another action-packed Sunday of soccer across Europe as all five major leagues are now underway.

Defending champions City pulled off an impressive comeback victory last week over Southampton, but they suddenly find themselves six points adrift of league leaders Chelsea, who have won their first three games. Liverpool, on the other hand, are looking to rebound after a disappointing opening-day loss to West Brom.

Elsewhere in England, Arsenal look to pick up their first win of the campaign when they travel to take on Stoke City. American international Geoff Cameron could be in action for Stoke, who also just signed another American in Maurice Edu.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are also in action in Spain as they travel to Getafe and Osasuna, respectively. Barcelona won their first game of the season last week, but Madrid could only muster a draw and are now very much in need of a win on Sunday.

If you're looking for some MLS action, you're in luck as the league's two most expensive teams both have games later tonight. The Los Angeles Galaxy will play host to FC Dallas, while the New York Red Bulls travel to face Sporting Kansas City.

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):

8 a.m. - beIN Sport - Montpellier vs. Marseille

8:30 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Stoke City vs. Arsenal

10:30 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel – Liverpool vs. Manchester City

10:30 a.m. - ESPN3.com - Groningen vs. PSV Eindhoven

11 a.m. - beIN Sport – Paris St.-Germain vs. Bordeaux

11:30 a.m. - GOLTV - Hannover 96 vs. Schalke

1 p.m. - beIN Sport – Osasuna vs. Barcelona

1 p.m. - Univision Deportes - Pumas UNAM vs. Cruz Azul

1:30 p.m. - GOLTV - Cruz Azul Hidalgo vs. Estudiantes Tecos

3 p.m. - beIN Sport - Getafe vs. Real Madrid

3 p.m. - GOLTV - Corinthians vs. Sao Paulo

5 p.m. - beIN Sport - Valencia vs. Deportivo La Coruna

6 p.m. - Telemundo - Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Monterrey

6:15 p.m. - GOLTV - River Plate vs. San Lorenzo

6:30 p.m. - Univision Deportes - Atlante vs. Atlas

7 p.m. - NBC Sports Network - Los Angeles Galaxy vs. FC Dallas

9 p.m. - ESPN2/ESPN3.com - Sporting Kansas City vs. New York Red Bulls 

Comments

  1. Not to rain on your parade, but:

    Bolton was relegated, a few of the results they dropped late in the season were directly on Ream’s shoulders, and Tim hasn’t gotten off the bench this season.

    Meanwhile Cameron’s put in 4 increasingly solid 90′ performances for the USMNT this year while going the full 90′ in every game for Houston up until the transfer fever hit. The news seems to show he put in another solid 90′ today.

    I’m not ragging on Ream, and wish him well. I would love to see Bolton back in the Prem next year.

    The fact is, though, that one player’s stock has risen this year, while at best the other’s has stayed put. Let’s be rational while guessing which is which.

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  2. Well, you don’t really know if there were any real offers from Germany.

    If the current Dempsey soap opera has taught us anything, it should be that we get very few facts when it comes to actual business dealings between clubs and players.

    The short answer to your question though is Owen Coyle. He is fair to his players and he supports them. Look at how he dealt with Holden.

    This highlights one good rule all Yanks Abroad should try to follow which is try to get a manager who is not a f**king pr++ck.

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  3. There was definitely a point where MB was getting minutes with the nats and was not looking good. Also happened to be when he was not getting minutes at BMG or Aston Villa.

    I think any USA fan is happy to see Bradley playing regular minutes again, and the improvement shows in his national team performances.

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  4. I hope you’re right.

    The problem, so it seemed to me, was that a lot of American fans (or fans of the USMNT) did not understand the game well enough to see MB’s value. Goals and assists are only a fraction of the overall picture.

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  5. Fair enough, Todd. I’m with biff in thinking that Arsenal would be a better spot for Dempsey, although they haven’t shown any interest so I think it’s quite unlikely. As a Fulham supporter, I’m just disgusted with this whole episode, and just want it to end. Fulham may not have handled the situation perfectly, but Dempsey has been really disappointing (as has Liverpool, of course, claiming that they signed him without even putting in a bid). By this point I’m just hoping that Fulham can get ten million for Liverpool from him, and that Dempsey enjoys not playing in the Champions League (because ‘pool aren’t likely to qualify any time soon) while simultaneously playing for a much more demanding/critical fanbase.

    Am I bitter? Maybe just a little. But honestly, I think this is a huge mistake for Dempsey. Assuming he lands in Liverpool, he’ll score fewer goals, be under more pressure from a fanbase which isn’t particularly impressed by him (have you guys been reading any Liverpool message boards?), and be no closer to the CL (Fulham and Liverpool finished level last season, with ‘pool ahead on goal difference).

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  6. I’m glad to say that I think the MB hatred you reference seems to be dead or at least dormant. I think Jozy is the current unreasonably hated on whipping boy of choice, though he’s actually ,are it difficult with his excellent performance in the Eridivisie. Who’s next I wonder?

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  7. Agreed. Their back line was shambolic. Anyone know if there is new blood there and how they performed last year? Is this an aberration?

    I was also intrigued by how often MB got forward. If he does well in a more advanced position on the pitch, this will give us options on the MNT level as well. I’ve always thought his ceiling was as a bigger Paul Scholes. Perhaps he could play a Scholes role for the MNT.

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  8. Gotta agree with that. Roma, in general, did not look good against a low mid-level team. Players seemed lifeless and don’t look happy and the coach looked like he was ready to blow a fuse. Maybe simply a case of first-game jitters under a new coach and will get better in coming weeks. But whereas before this game I would have been happy to see Clint Dempsey go to Roma, now it does not seem like it would be a good move for him.

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  9. There was a Stoke defense 2-years-ago-or-so at Stamford Bridge that was F’n EPIC. IIRC Stoke got a lucky goal or equalizer and the las 20-25 minutes was just a massive assault on Stoke City, wave after wave. I think Chelsea finally managed to get one through right before the final whistle.
    For twenty-five or thirty minutes, Stokes scrappy bunkered defense was amazing.

    They were a lot less solid last year.

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  10. Bradley played pretty well today, a couple turnovers, but that was among the least on Roma today, some nice passes and one brilliant on, solid d, and a couple nice interceptions. Roma’s backline looks like a complete mess though. And some players like Marquinho turned the ball over every time they touched it. Overall, not impressed by Roma.

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  11. MB missed a great chance on a nicely timed run, laying it off to a teammate and turning it over in the middle of the box instead of taking the shot himself. He may be trying to play it a bit too fine in his debut instead of making the simple play. He’s also been caught over dribbling a couple times. He is going the full 90 though, which is impressive in and of itself.

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  12. Well I dont think Mikey will be losing his spot to Marquinho anytime soon. I’ve only seen him lose the ball and commit 3-4 fouls and get booked.

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  13. Deep in my heart, Getafe will always be the Burger Kings.

    Higuain again shows that he was one of the most under-appreciated players on world football.

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  14. Mike has look overall really good…looks like he belongs and that he earned the start…glad to see him with a big club and starting out good thus far…wish him all the best…:)

    Reply

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