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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

Chances are, by the time you wake up, the champion of the Club World Cup will have been crowned, as Chelsea takes on Corinthians in Yokohama, Japan. Corinthians is looking for their second title, as they have returned to the tournament for the first time since winning the first Club World Cup in 2000.

Meanwhile, Chelsea looks to put a bow on an up-and-down 2012. After winning their first Champions’ League title earlier in the year, the team has stumbled over the past two months in Premier League action, resulting in the firing of coach Roberto di Matteo. Now Rafa Benitez will lead the Blues as they look to become just the second British club to win the tournament.

The defending tournament champion, Barcelona, will also be in action later today, as they will look to improve upon their lead in the La Liga standings over second place Atletico Madrid. With a six point advantage, Barcelona can enter the new year with one hand on the La Liga Trophy if they are to leave Camp Nou with a win.

Third-place Real Madrid takes on Espanyol, as they will hope to remain in contention after a slow start to the season. With three losses, more than Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have together, Real Madrid sits eleven points behind the top spot.

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

2:30am- Fox Soccer Channel– Al Ahly vs. Monterrey (Club World Cup Third-Place Match)

5:30am- Fox Soccer Channel– Corinthians vs. Chelsea

8am- Univision Deportes– Nancy vs. Bordeaux

8:30am- Fox Soccer Channel– Tottenham vs. Swansea City

9am- beIN Sport– Juventus vs. Atalanta

9am- beIN Sport Espanol– AC Milan vs. Pescara

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

11am- Fox Soccer Channel– West Bromwich Albion vs. West Ham United

11am- beIN Sport Espanol– Valencia vs. Rayo Vallecano

11:30am- GolTV– Werder Bremen vs. Nuremburg

1pm- beIN Sport– Real Madrid vs. Espanyol

3pm- Univision Deportes– Paris St. Germain vs. Lyon

3pm- beIN Sport– Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid

Comments

  1. Holy Cow. Chievo shocks Roma, winning 1-0. I only saw the last 20 minutes, but during that time Chievo looked decent, played with heart and every player giving 100% effort to get the late winning goal from wild-man Sergio Pellissier. Apparently, Chievo is not lamenting the departure of MB and is doing fine without him.

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    • Reus blew right by Fabian to set up that goal. But the move started with a terrible play by Hoffenheim’s defensive midfielder Tobias Weis, who looked wretched throughout what I saw of the second half, then got pulled in the 70th minute. I’ve never seen Danny Williams look that bad.

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  2. Hoffenheim tied with Dortmund, but no Danny Williams in the team (card accumulation?). For Hoffenheim to get a point in this match would be an excellent result for them.

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      • Didn’t see the game, unfortunately. You act like I have been rooting against him, which has never been the case and you could not find a single comment by me that suggests as much. I have simply been pointing out that since mid-September he has been in poor form–and in a number of games outright awful.

        Did you watch the game? Were the goals well taken? Did he look like he was back in form? Or did PEC Zwolle look like a team with the third fewest points in the league and a -12 goal differential? If the latter, time will tell whether indeed Jozy is back in form, but if I were you I might wait and see how he looks next week against FC Twenter, or the week after that against Vitesse.

  3. Just tuned in the Chievo-Roma game after Tottenham-Swansea, and it so foggy can hardly see the players. 0-0 at 74 minutes and Michael Bradley already subbed out against his old team. Looks like Chievo coach Di Carlo is gone and new coach there. I sort of got to like Chievo last year and thought Di Carlo was not so bad, did well with what he had.

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  4. MB just subbed out for De Rossi in the 66th minute. Only saw the second half and there wasn’t much action to speak of, but the announcers suggested he had an off day.

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    • He was missing his passes again — was better in the second half; would have had an assist but for the fact that the #9 broke off his run too soon (reminiscent of Jozy in the first Guatemala game).

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      • That makes sense, I only saw his 20 minutes in the second half and he looked pretty solid. Announcers thought he was perhaps a bit too geeked up against his old squad. Either way it was probably a bad move to pull him. He always looks strongest in the last fifteen or twenty minutes.

    • it would look that way at this point, they look like the best team outside of Manchester, but predicting anything this season in the Premier League has been impossible.

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  5. I don’t want to be a homer, but I’m not a fan of subbing out Dempsey – thought he played really well. I would have taken off Ade – he’s looked lethargic as of late. And on cue, Ade is hurt.

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  6. Deuce along with the rest of Spurs midfield dominating the run of play but Defoe and Adebayor not finishing or making consistently good runs. Their spacing and positioning has been nothing short of pathetic. On one occasion, Deuce came into the middle and made a great tackle above the top of the box and Defoe, instead of making an overlapping run or attempting to create space, runs up Clint’s heels and STEALS the ball from him! One of the dumbest and most selfish plays I’ve seen in a long time.

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  7. Spurs had possession without a lot of dangerous shots. Swansea was no threat at all though. At one point FSC put up a graphic that Swansea had 51% of possession yet they had barely even touched the ball. Ha.

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  8. Walker hit that ball right at the keeper from 35 yards and the keeper didn’t even have time to get his hands up. It hit the keeper right in the chest. It was one of the hardest shots I’ve ever seen.

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  9. Dempsey is looking more dangerous in the attack now. Finally coming into form, and having an understanding with his team. At this point, I’d say that he is likely to score as any other Spurs attacking player. I’m not typically a fan of Tottenham, but will support the fellow Texan if he plays with the cojones that he is known for.

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    • Agreed. Dempsey looking strong and confident today. But personally, I would rather not see Defoe and Adebeyor paired up top. I think Tottenham is stronger when playing only one or the other (and not both at the same time), preferably Defoe.

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  10. Schalke fired Coach Huub Stevens today. IMO, totally unjustified and unfair. In any case, would love to see Hoffenheim, who is still searching for a replacement for Markus Babel, hire Stevens. I think would be good for Fabian Johnson and Danny Williams.

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  11. you guys think Dempsey will retire at Spurs or move to another club after the WC? I wonder which. Maybe the Spanish or Italian league but at 31 he might be too old. I could see him getting a year or 2 extension to his current deal which expires in 2015. what u guys think? Maybe he should have lwft fir anither league?

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  12. chelsea looked flat until they fell behind. glad they lost, maybe they will get rid of benitez as fast as they brought him in.

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  13. Both teams had a lot of chances in the first half, with Cassio (Corinthians keeper) making some huge saves to keep it 0-0. Should be a good second half.

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