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Soccer Sunday: Your Running Commentary

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The early rounds of the FA Cup are always intriguing because of the potential for upsets and the match-ups between English Premier League powers and once-might clubs now struggling in the lower divisions.

Sunday offers just those kind of opportunities, with former EPL side Leeds United taking on Clint Dempsey and Tottenham while Brentford faces Chelsea.

In Spain, Barcelona will look to rebound from their first league loss of the season when they take on Osasuna. All three top teams in Spain are in action, with Atletico Madrid facing Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid taking on Getafe.

In South Africa, the Bafana Bafana will look to secure first place in Group A with a win against a Morocco side that can book their own place in the knockout rounds.

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

5:45am- Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes- Brentford vs. Chelsea

6am- beIN Sport/beIN Sport en Espanol- Real Madrid vs. Getafe

6:30am- RAI- Bologna vs. Roma

8:55am- Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes- Leeds United vs. Tottenham

9am- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Brentford vs. Chelsea (delayed)

9am- beIN Sport- Atalanta vs. AC Milan

9am- beIN Sport en Espanol- Parma vs. Napoli

11am- Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Deportes- Oldham Athletic vs. Liverpool

11am- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Leeds United vs. Tottenham (delayed)

11:30am- GolTV- Stuttgart vs. Bayern Munich

12pm- ESPN3.com- Morocco vs. South Africa

12pm- ESPN3.com- Cape Verde Islands vs. Angola

1pm- FoxSoccer2Go.com- Oldham Athletic vs. Liverpool (delayed)

1pm- beIN Sport/beIN Sport en Espanol- Barcelona vs. Osasuna

1pm- Univision- Toluca vs. Pumas UNAM

2:45pm- RAI- Inter Milan vs. Torino

3pm- beIN Sport- Atletico Bilbao vs. Atletico Madrid

3pm- beIN Sport en Espanol- Real Madrid vs. Getafe (delayed)

5pm- beIN Sport- Real Madrid vs. Getafe (delayed)

7pm- Univision- Atlante vs. Jaguares

Comments

  1. 4 goals for Messi, perhpas a dubious PK one of them, but Barca playing beautifully if you can catch the game. Messi unbeleivable performance today, even for him, making all kinds of other ticky tacky plays across the field all game, and Xav’s vision and distribution with Alves’ flare added in leading the havoce wreaking. offsides calls missed for goals too with Osasuna’s high line trap testing the linesmen routinely. what a display

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      • *unbelievable

        and man Xavi is fun to watch; if he’s pressured the ball is off his feet to safety ticky tack and moving if he must to create the space back to him, OR if given time/space he’s the Keymaker from the Matrix, unlocks any door

  3. As an Arsenal fan that’s the best outcome possible, Dempsey scores but Spurs lose haha. Also Liverpool losing right before we play them is pretty good too.

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  7. On those 2 Oldham crosses and goals, should the Liverpool keeper have come out and grabbed the cross? It looked to me at least the second one, which was very high, he had plenty of time. Not a good day for him.

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  8. Serious ? Does any EPL player this season mean more to their club than Suarez. Liverpool looking shaky today v. Oldham, and Suarez levels it creating space and finishing.

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  9. On another note Davide Somma came on for last 10 min.What a douche he is.Wanting to “destroy the US” for not giving him a chance only to end up losing 1-0.

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  10. Demps put in another shift like man utd last week.When Ade comes back from Afcon he’s gonna have a real fight on his hands for pt.

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    • Why? Deuce was the ONLY Spurs players with any threat on goal today. Except for that one Huddlestone shot in the first half.

      Deuce also showed in the Man United game you just don’t count him out.

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      • I meant Ade is going to have a real fight on his hands.Seeing as Ade was playing more than Demps before he left.

      • Adebayor is a striker, Dempsey is not. No coach will pay almost double for a striker and put him on the bench. Adebayor makes almost twice as Dempsey and Daniel Levy did not make sure he signed him permanently from City after his loan to have him sit in the stands. Get real.

      • So you’re saying Ade will start over Dempsey because he cost more and makes more? Regardless of form.You get real.

      • Yeah well see.Ade will prob get more time to prove himself, like u said he costs more.That being said I doubt Avb won’t bench Ade if Dempsey consistently out performs him.This is top tier pro soccer not ODP.

  16. Ive a feeling Dempsey will be Spurs 2nd highest scorer come end of the season with 18 goald in all competition. He has 8 at the moment.

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    • So where does that put legends Ardiles and Vila? Jeez relax, greats have played at White Hart Lane and I hate the club. Robbie Keane would get a statue first and he is not on a list of getting one at all.

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  23. Spurs are screwed today.Warren Barton said it best.Dempsey can’t run behind you like Defoe, nor can he hold the ball up well like Ade.Hes not a true striker.He needs a real striker to run off and Siggurdson if def not that.Oh never mind Demps scores wit a header.

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    • the real problem was the starting lineup – you’re right that Dempsey plays best with a striker to play off of (he is not a lone striker), but AVB also made poor choices in central midfield and defense today.

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    • Noticed by Man Utd? They had Edwin van Der Saar in goal who was way better and in a different class. Barca have not had a non-catalan goalkeeper in years, do some research.

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      • Altidore 8 million Euros? No club is paying another $10M as Villarreal made a mistake years ago. Plus who are these German clubs: Bayern, Dortmund and which Italian clubs Milan, Inter, Juve and Roma? He can try to bench anyone on those teams in his dreams. Which mid table team will spend that amount on a player when they can develop their in Italy and Germany? No top English club will but him either. Maybe Russia or Turkey.

    • Wow! Really interesting story. Would be so cool to see Jozy paired with a potential US strike partner though you have to think AZ looking at Aron as replacement for Jozy either in this window or summer.

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      • I think he doesn’t dismiss the chance to play for us.That said we better get him into the set up very soon.Seems like he won’t wait too long before choosing Iceland instead.

      • Hernia surgery does not mean you cannot still show up in camp like Jermaine Jones did years ago even when he was injured, just to support the team if you really want to be there.

      • My gut tells me Iceland. Even though they will struggle to ever make the finals of the World Cup or Euros, I think he self-identifies as being an Icelander, not an American, and will choose his team with that in mind.

      • My gut tells me the same. Aron’s gamble seems it will be this:

        Play for the united states and have more potential to play Ina world cup, he a big player for USA, get a nice transfer somewhere etc…

        The flip side is, play for USA, don’t do too well, and not get much of a look in and wallow as a bench reserve player.

        Or…Probably be a guaranteed, GUARANTEED, regular player for iceland and play a lot for them. They may not make it far in competitions but he’ll definitely play

        Basically what I’m thinking is, playing for US is a greater risk/reward scenario for him, whereas Iceland is probably a safer bet.

      • I wouldn’t be so sure about starting for Iceland. There’s a reason he still isn’t getting a proper look from them. Iceland are actually stacked with young strikers plying their trade in tougher leagues. If anything, he looks at our strikers and thinks it’d be easier to break into ours. He sees Jozy who he’ll be playing with now, Boyd who’s in Austria, Agudelo who’s at MLS, Gomez who’s old, and Dempsey. I’d think in his head he could make the bench.

        But we’ll see. Plenty of players have a wonder season then do nothing for the rest of their career.

        I still think he picks Iceland.

      • you hit the nail in the head. Aron didn’t even play for the U23 side, he was part of the team. So, guarantee playing time at the senior level is nowhere close specially when 3 of the current 4 forwards for the senior side are under 25.

      • Sorry guys, I guess I didn’t specify enough: these are my assumptions on what AJ will see his options are…not entirely what will happen or what I believe will happen. Just my best guess at AJ’s mindset.

      • Boy, it sure feels good to hear that we have more than one name for a starting spot at the forward position.

      • Since he would have to file a one time switch (which takes a couple of months to process), it’s more likely he will stick with Iceland … unless he doesn’t get called in at all and Iceland goes out of WCQ. Players always seem to stall on filing the 1x switch until it’s a sure thing both directions.

      • Iceland has to be in the lead. Even if he would prefer the US, paperwork would make it pretty hard to get him into the squad in time for the 2014 WC, when he could take part in WCQ for Iceland in just a few weeks. He grew up in Iceland, and doubt he feels more American based on a short amount of time in Alabama.

        Plus, Iceland has a pretty talented squad for the fact that they’re such a small country, so they definitely could sneak deep into WCQ or the 2016 Euro. He would also face less competition for a role as forward with them. The US has…

        Dempsey, Altidore, E. Johnson, Boyd, Agudelo, Gomez, Bruin, and others filling that role or knocking on that door. Who knows who else might emerge this MLS season.

      • I guess you didn’t read my comment above. Iceland already has 3 strikers under 25 and one over 25. He is not going to get a guarantee spot if he goes Iceland’s way. Going USA’s way is not much better, he has Herc to contend with and probably Agudelo. Jozy is battling with Boyd. And if JK decided to only use one forward, then you are looking at 1-5 chances. His best chance to crack the starting 11 for us is by being the LW which now is an aging E. Johnson.

      • why would it be hard for him to file papers and be in the squad before WC2014, it only takes almost two months. the WC is at least 17 months from now?

    • Yeah moderation blows. Undoubeltly the worst thing about this fantastic website. Been lobbying since the beginning of SBI’s new format for its removal.

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      • I disagree. As we see every now and then (MLS draft coverage, for a recent example), some of the riff raff tends to creep into this site from time to time.

        One of my favorites aspects of this site is the high quality of the message board posters. The general lack of riff raff is something that few other soccer sites can boast.

        Keep up the moderation, Ives!

      • I think there should be moderation but I don’t understand the new filter on SBI and think it needs fine tuning.

  37. Not sure why there’s even a debate about Deuce starting when Adebayor returns. Deuce out scores him by a significant margin this year, last year AND the previous season as well. You have to go back to 2009/2010 season to find Adebayor on top. If you’re basing decisions on form from 4 years ago, you’ve lost the plot. Note also, that Deuce has done most of this from the midfield spot AND with an inferior club side.

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    • right, but they aren’t the same type of player, really. So it depends on what kind of lineup AVB wants and who the competition is. But yeah, I think his goal-scoring/assist record should help him stay on the field.

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    • Not sure what you’re talking about since Adebayor scored just as many PL goals as Dempsey last season. He also has scored quite a bit more goals than Dempsey through out their EPL careers. It doesn’t really matter what they’ve done in the past since right now they’re playing as strikers for Spurs and Dempsey nor Adebayor have really solidified themselves as starters next to Defoe.

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      • You don’t want to look at the past? Well, let’s look at the present. This season, Deuce has 12 goals across competitions to Adebayor’s 4. BPLgoals, he also leads 6-3.

        Last season Deuce had 27 goals across all competitions to Adebayor’s 18. The season before, Deuce also led across competitions and league goals. I think you are the one living in the past… The very distant past.

      • I dont know where u get your numbers from but according to soccernet he has 5 goals in the league and 2 in the cup for a total of 7 goals this season

      • if you are comparing him to Adebayor then why the hell are you including goals he scored for the USA national team

      • I included Adebayor’s intl goals. Why shouldn’t I include Deuce’s? Use whichever stats you wish. Deuce has scored more goals over a one year, two year or 3 year period whether you are talking about league only or across all competitions, and he’s done it from inferior clubs, often from mf. He’s also a better ball winner and a more physical presence. He’s a better player in almost every way.

      • Yeahh except he didn’t.

        Given the fact that Adebayor was injured for quite a while and Dempsey has been given ample time with the starting XI, five premier league goals to Ade’s two doesn’t bode well for Deuce.

        While you were busy drooling over Tom destroying arguments you completely missed the part where he questioned why anyone would start Ade over Dempsey while erronously touting Dempsey’s scoring record from last year when ultimately, they both scored the same amount of goals in the League.

        Sure, you can make a case for Deuce since he did so mostly by playing on the wing but as of right now, in the present, both Ade and Dempsey are battling for FORWARD spots on the Spurs starting XI.

      • There’s nothing erroneous about it. I can’t help it if you aren’t reading accurately. You’re the one who is in error. Deuce has 6 league goals now after today, as I have stated repeatedly. You can make all the excuses you want for Adebayor, but the fact is that Deuce has been outscoring Adebayor for 3 years now. Deuce came in late and didn’t train with Spurs at all, yet you don’t see anyone making excuses for him. You don’t think Deuce’s 6 goals in 19 appearances bodes well, yet 2 goals in 14 appearances for Adebayor is better? Wrong again. 1 goal every 3 or so matches is a heck of a lot better than 1 every 7. You’re not making any sense.

      • Your argument lands back on “how many goals” every time, where a quality coach decides based on a players ability to improve the team. Put every stat you want out there, but if the team doesn’t feel better with Duece out there, then he will not gain the starting 11.

        The reality is that this position on spurs will be a shared role. Duece has the ability to play an attacking midfield role as well, so he will get more playing time than Adebayor, especially since Sandro is out. If you’ve watched a few Spurs games, you would have noticed how well Ade links up with the team and makes special plays. This is tough competition for Duece,

        I can see dembele, Duece, Adebayor, and Defoe starting… Parker sub for Duece or Ade. The wings are a lock IMO

        Duece needs to retain better possession and maintain his top work rate to not only score important goals, but create special moments for his teammates.

      • Dempsey also scored a predominant amount of his goals while playing in the midfield/on a worse club.

        To me, that does matter in context.

    • Adebayor is “world class” but is very inconsistent. He finds the way for the team to score. Think of Emile Heskey but way better. Plus hes the highest paid player on Spurs. they have to play him no matter what.

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  44. Spurs fans, is Huddlestone a good player? Is he a preferred starter? I ask because every time I see him play he never impresses me. Quite the opposite actually. He usually looks like a huge liability. Today he is playing quite poorly too.

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    • Huddlestone is fourth choice behind Dembele Parker and Sandro who’s injured.I remember when Huddlestone first came on the scene he was impressive with his passing range n what not.Seems like he hasn’t kicked on since then though.

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    • Huddlestone used to be a very solid player in the middle. Not a preferred starter by any means, but AVB has been getting him some minutes. I would say it Dem, Parker, Sandro, Huddlestone, Gylfi, Livermore is the preferred order.
      He is/was known for smooth passing, some hard tackles, and quite a shot from distance……but mostly his passing.
      He has been in and out for what seems like 3 years with injury. Tottenham kept him over Palacious whatever that tells you.

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    • No, and I agree with you. The usual midfield pairing was Sandro and Dembele but Sandro got hurt and Parker came back from injury so it’s been Dembele and Parker. Personally I think their best is Dembele with Parker or Sandro. In fact any time Dembele isn’t playing I find them underwhelming.

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    • He was a very promising young mf and a regular for the Spurs until he had some disastrous ankle injuries a couple years back and has never really regained his role or his form. He is also not really a fit for AVB’s style and was much rumored for a Stoke transfer ths summer.

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    • Huddlestone is Lazy, with a terrible first-touch on the ball, has no vision, and is the kind of player who disappears for whole matches at a time! Sure he was great at the U-18’s-U-20’s but he just came up to fast and wasn’t allowed to grow. Of course, if we find his birth certificate, we will finally know his real age. But at the very least we know that If his dad wasn’t the coach, he wouldn’t even be in consideration!!
      Just sayin’.

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  45. Well that was a very tame shot by Dempsey. I understand why he took it but maybe he should have held it up and waited for help?

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  50. Dempsey to score today. Also so great to see all the lower league sides knocking out PL teams in both Carling and FA Cups. A semi pro team knocked Norwich out yesterday

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