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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

BradFriedel (Getty)

Brad Friedel has started an English Premier League record 306 straight matches, but after Tottenham's acquisition of star French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris on Friday, that streak looks to be in jeopardy. Friedel will make it 307 starts in a row today as he leads Tottenham against Norwich City in what might be his final Premier League start for some time.

Tottenham took a step toward being the new favorite club of many American soccer fans after the acquisition of Clint Dempsey on Friday, but Dempsey won't play today since he did not transfer to Spurs in time to be eligible for today's match. Two Americans who will be in action are Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu. Cameron is starting and Edu is on the bench for Stoke City today as they take on Wigan Athletic.

If you have been craving some women's soccer action since the Olympics, your wait is over as the U.S. Women's national team takes on Costa Rica in their first friendly since winning Olympic gold in London.

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

9:30am- GolTV– Nuremberg vs. Borussia Dortmund

9:30am– beIN Sport 2- Werder Bremen vs. Hamburger SV

10am- FOX Soccer Channel– Tottenham vs. Norwich City

10am- FOX Soccer Plus– West Bromwich Albion vs. Everton

10am- FOX Soccer2go– Wigan Athletic vs. Stoke City

10am- FOX Soccer2go– Celtic vs. Hibernian

10 ambeIN Sport- Celta de Vigo vs. Osasuna

11am- Univision– Olympique Lyon vs. Valenciennes

Noon- beIN Sport– Torino vs. Pescara

12:30pm- FOX Soccer Channel– Manchester City vs. Queens Park Rangers

12:30pm- GolTV– Fortuna Dusseldorf vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach

2pm- Univision Deportes– Ajaccio vs. Evian TG

2:30pm- NBC– U.S. Women's National Team vs. Costa Rica

2:45pm- beIN Sport– Bologna vs. AC Milan

4:30pm- FOX Soccer Channel– Swansea City vs. Sunderland (tape delay)

6:30pm- beINSport– Sochaux vs. Montpellier

7:30pm- MLS Direct Kick– New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union

7:30pm- MLS Direct Kick– Columbus Crew vs. Montreal Impact

7:55pm- Telefutura– Santos Laguna vs. Tigres

8pm- FOX Soccer Channel– Tottenham vs. Norwich City (tape delay)

8pm- beIN Sport– Deportivo La Coruna vs. Getafe (tape delay)

8pm- Univision Deportes– Monterrey vs. Atlas 

8:30pm- MLS Direct Kick– Sporting Kansas City vs. Toronto FC

9pm- MLS Live/Direct Kick- Real Salt Lake vs. DC United

10pm- MLS Direct Kick– LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

10pm- Univision Deportes– San Luis vs. Leon

Midnight- beIN Sport– Bastia vs. Saint Etienne (tape delay)

———-

 

Comments

  1. Interesting comment. Of course, I don’t have inside information and am just giving my opinion on how it looks. And, your are right, it could be that this is only a little bump in the road. It will be interesting to watch, but my focus now will be much more on Tottenham now.

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  2. Thanks, Mig22. I would be interested in hearing more of the (constructive 🙂 comments on AVB and the Chelsea experience when applicable. I wanna like that guy and now that Clint is there I definitely want him to succeed as coach, but I am concerned.

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  3. With Parker, Modric, and VdV either out or gone the Spurs need to create a new identity soon or I fear the season will be middling for them. Was not impressed by anyone except Dembele and Friedel today. Bale is such a talent and a mystery. He really needs to find an understanding with someone otherwise he’s just another solo artist. Are there any good profiles of AVB online? Doesn’t have to be recent. I just never read much about him at Chelsea and wonder what the conventional wisdom is.

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  4. Well, I don’t really want to ignore your posts but yeah, you clearly have the right to continue to comment on the whole deal. My post was just a suggestion because SO much ‘ink’ has been spent and all the regs here have their opinions and have put them out there.

    I wasn’t actually a Clint criticizer, but I also wasn’t too angry with Jol/Fulham’s take. I was a bit of the middle ground.Except that I was praying he didn’t go to Liverpool. 🙂

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  5. There’s something to be said for looking in less expensive places for talent. Wigan seems to have had a lot of non-Brazil/Argentina Latin Americans over the years.

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  6. THomas is right, they looked fine without Dempsey and will most likely miss Dembele a bit more. Obviously it will be hard to replace the goals Dempsey brought but his stats were average up until this last season. Regardless of what happens, both parties are moving on.

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  7. What biff does can loosely be termed “projecting”, i.e. he seems to be putting himself in the shoes of the Fulham players and comments on what they must be “feeling” about a given situation.

    Of course, since he couldn’t possibly know what they think the accuracy of what he assumes are their emotions is open to debate.

    He does the same with USMNT players.

    We are all free to do exactly the same thing.

    My guess would be the current Fulham roster is full of professionals who are primarily concerned with their own careers and have little time to worry about what they, most likely, see as business as usual. After all almost everyone involved is better off. Dembele and Dempsey have their moves, Fulham get their money and get to freshen up their roster. It’s all good.

    I’m sure many of the current Fulham players have seen far worse. Anyone who thinks Jol is some kind of evil character hasn’t seen much.

    I know I have seen far worse.

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  8. How was Cameron today? I heard rumblings about a nice pass, but I’m looking for commentary on his overall play. Was he involved in the buildup for any of the goals scored and/or responsible for any of the goals conceded?

    On another note, if Stoke tie every match this season, is 38 pts enough to keep them up?

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  9. Zamora cleans up the rebound from AJ’s shot (which was well taken and required a very good save). More ex Fulham players on the tally sheet today. 🙂

    And Citeh comes back within 2 minutes to go up 2-1

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  10. Hey, Mig22, you obviously have the right to comment as you want (and I do like reading your comments) and I have no problem with you criticizing my comments. But please respect my right also to comment and if anything I am writing is wearing thin my advice to you, not trying to be flippant, would be to simply ignore me. But is interesting that you too want to stop the discussion and move on. If I remember correctly, you were one of the posters who supported Jol after Jol intimated at the press conference that Clint was on strike. I can’t remember your exact wording (I’m too lazy to go back and read that initial thread when the news first came out), but I do remember that you were down on Clint (I remember because I was honestly surprised to hear that from you).

    The point I was trying to make above required that I spell out the background: And my point is that Fulham today in my opinion looked off balance and lethargic and I think that is so not only because they were missing their former two best players, but that they are possibly uncomfortable with the whole drama the past couple of weeks and the way their coach mistreated Clint and that possibly this could pose a problem in coming weeks as the team moves forward. Just my opinion.

    Cheers!

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  11. thanks for the link…I see what you’re saying, and that was a great ball. Tim also made nice saves in this one that made Matchday highlights but I din’t see the game 🙁

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  12. Well really just dembele. They looked good without Dempsey the first two games. They need to put Richardson in center midfield instead of sidwell for some creativity and with the berbanator, Ruiz, duff, petric, rodillega, they have plenty of talent to push on. Diara was a beast today.

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  13. “Why is everyone leaving or want to leave??”

    Is this, indeed, a fact? Does EVERYONE want to leave? What about the players that Jol just brought in. Do they want to leave? The hyperbole around this is just unnecessary now. The saga was tense, but is settled now.

    Fulham and Clint had a long, mutually beneficial relationship. This should be remembered more than how it ended.

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  14. that’s one of the reasons I always thought Bradley made sure to have TWO imposing CBs who could own the air in front of him, then Tim could cover the inside quick stuff which he is awesome at

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  15. seems a weekly happening for Tim unfortunately no matter the league; some one is stronger, faster, better than Tim at some point and he gets beat in a goal scoring sequence.

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  16. I think it would be surprising if Chelsea finished 20 points behind the Manchesters this season. It’s at least a fair bet to expect them to finish within 9 pts.

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  17. Specs had a very good 90 minutes in midfield today. Club rep. Says he has been best player 4 blues this season despite being out for six months. Good to see.

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  18. The problem tends to be flat out getting to the ball as opposed to misreading when to come out or catching issues in my opinion. But, he’s a great shot stopper.

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  19. Didn’t he stomp on someone’s chest or face last year or the year before at midfield? Am I remembering that correctly or am I thinking of someone else?

    Reply

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