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Soccer Wednesday: Your Running Commentary

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A pair of teams featuring Americans will look to take a step closer to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, as RSC Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan) and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Bryan Gerzicich) look to earn favorable road results in the opening legs of their respective final qualifying-round ties. Some of the more notable teams in the qualifying round are in action as well, as Portuguese power Sporting Braga take on Serie A's Udinese, and Malaga meet perennial Greek power Panathinaikos.

There is a Premier League match on the docket also, as defending UCL champion Chelsea look to make it 2-for-2 in the new season in England when taking on newly promoted Reading in their first match at Stamford Bridge since they were crowned champions of Europe.

Here is the viewing schedule for the day's afternoon matches (MLS and CONCACAF Champions League have games later on tonight):

2:45 p.m. – ESPN2/ESPN3.com – Chelsea vs. Reading

2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel/FoxSoccer2Go – Sporting Braga vs. Udinese

2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go – AEL Limassol vs. Anderlecht 

2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer2Go – BATE Borisov vs. Kiryat Shmona

2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer2Go - Malaga vs. Panathinaikos

2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer2Go – Dinamo Zagreb vs. Maribor

If you will be watching any of the action, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the games.

Comments

  1. Exactly. Guzan is no slouch either. He’s competing for the number 1 spot at AV. And those young guys you mentioned, a year or 2 and at least 1 or all will be playing abroad.

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  2. ive honestly no idea what the fuss is about, no matter how many times i watch it, you cant tell for sure. use their distance from the six yard line as your marker, the ball and torres are almost an identical distance from it. its an angled view, not a direct in line sideline view u need to take that into account. its not cut and dry like everyone wants to make it out to be, its extremely close. the replays are deceiving because you cant properly tell the depth of the players who are close and far.

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  3. I mean, more depth is always good but it’s not like the US is hurting for promising young keepers. Hamid, Sean Johnson, and MacMath all have very good futures.

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  4. I’m going to admit flat out that I’m a Reading fan but that was still a garbage call. Torres was at least a yard offside and the ref should have gotten that. We deserved a draw against Chelsea today.

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  5. Interesting rumors article on MLS’ league website suggests USMNT making overtures to Tijuana GK and former Mexican U-23 Cirilo Saucedo regarding joining the senior USMNT GK pool. Mother is supposedly US citizen and he made the short list for best Mexican league GK for the upcoming fall season.

    To me there has been enough erosion in quality in general and lack of PT for some and youth for others in the pool GKs where in theory the 2 and 3 spots behind Howard are probably still in play.

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  6. Reading fan here, that was disheartening. On to the next one, we have a good squad and will do just fine this season. Felt like we deserved a point out of that match.

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  7. watch it again, a lot closer than the bush league announcers would lead u to believe. torres is leaning forward, his feet are close to even with the last defender and he’s also VERY close to being even with the ball when its struck. not as egregious as it looks in real time. its verrrry close, look again.

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  8. Oh no that is not what you want to see. Awful, awful decision from the referee.

    Welcome to the EPL Reading, get screwed against a big four.

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  9. My wife periodically has to work in Reading so we started following them a few years ago. Pretty exciting. I also follow Chelsea lol

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  10. And now it’s suddenly hitting me that although I have Pogrebynak up top for my fantasy team, I also have Cech and Ivanovic in my lineup. I’m feeling rather torn right now…

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  11. VfB Stuttgart was on the front foot for 90 minutes in a 2-0 win vs. Moscow Dinamo in Europa qualifying. Vedad Ibisevic was a huge signing for the German club last winter. Looking forward to the Bundesliga!

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