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This Weekend’s Soccer on TV

Christian Benteke of Aston Villa

By MICHAEL KLINE

Aston Villa kicks off this weekend’s soccer action, when they host Chelsea at Villa Park in one of the weekend’s most important matches.

Villa are coming off of two consecutive victories in the league, and have two matches left in the season to survive the drop, while Chelsea have two matches left to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Rafa Benitez has hinted that he will be resting a few Chelsea players ahead of next week’s Europa League final against Benfica, something that could come back to haunt the club if three points isn’t achieved against Aston Villa this weekend. Conversely, The Villans cannot afford to lose this match, and will throw all they have at Chelsea. Breakout striker Christian Benteke, whose 13 goals since the start of the new year is highest in the league, will have to be the difference for Paul Lambert’s men if three points are to be earned.

One major piece of silverware is on the line this weekend as Manchester City faces Wigan in the FA Cup Final. Wigan is locked in a do-or-die relegation battle, but they will be looking to pull the upset against a City side trying to win a second FA Cup in three years.

Barcelona visit the Vicente Calderon on Sunday, where they will face Atlético Madrid in an attempt to secure the league title.

Three points against Atlético will be enough to win the league, and Tito Vilanova will likely return Messi to the starting lineup in order to ensure the victory. With second place virtually out of reach and Champions League soccer guaranteed, Atlético seemingly have little to play for Sunday. However, Diego Simeone will put his best squad out there and hope to break Barcelona’s five-match win streak against Los Rojiblancos.

Here is a rundown of This Weekend’s Soccer on TV:

THIS WEEKEND’S SOCCER ON TV

FRIDAY

2:30pm – Univision Deportes – Lille vs. Reims

SATURDAY

7:45am – ESPN2 – Aston Villa vs. Chelsea

9:30am – GolTV – Bayern Munich vs. Augsburg

10am – beIN Sport en Español – Athletic Club vs. Mallorca

12pm – beIN Sport – Juventus vs. Cagliari

12:15pm – FOX – Manchester City vs. Wigan Athletic (FA Cup Final)

1:30pm – NBC Sports Network – Chicago Fire vs. Philadelphia Union

2pm – MLS Direct Kick – Montreal Impact vs. Real Salt Lake

2pm – Univision Deportes – Ajaccio vs. Troyes

3:30pm – ESPN3.com – Porto vs. Benfica

4pm – Univision Deportes – Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes

4pm – beIN Sport – Espanyol vs. Real Madrid

6pm – Univision – América vs. Pumas UNAM

7pm – MLS Direct Kick – Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

7:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls

8pm – UniMás – Tigres UANL vs. Monterrey

8:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – FC Dallas vs. DC United

SUNDAY

8:30am – Fox Soccer Channel – Stoke City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

10am – Fox Soccer Plus – Everton vs. West Ham United

10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Fulham vs. Liverpool

10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Norwich City vs. West Bromwich Albion

10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Queens Park Rangers vs. Newcastle United

10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Sunderland vs. Southampton 

11am – Fox Soccer Channel – Manchester United vs. Swansea City

1pm – beIN Sport – Atlético Madrid vs. Barcelona

2:45pm – beIN Sport en Español – Milan vs. Roma

3pm – beIN Sport – Olympique Lyon vs. Paris St-Germain

5pm – UniMás – Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA

7pm – ESPN2 – Morelia vs. Cruz Azul 

8pm – MLS Direct Kick – Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting KC

9pm – Univision Deportes – Atlas vs. Santos Laguna

Comments

  1. I understand the marketing strategy with ESPN showing some Liga MX games, but how can they choose Morelia vs Cruz Azul over a huge Sporting KC vs Houston in BBVA Compass Stadium? That is a big game for MLS.

    Reply
      • For the life of me, I cannot understand ESPN’s soccer/futbol strategy going forward. For the past season, they have committed a daily half-hour show “ESPNpass” highlighting and promoting the EPL while showing, on the average, one game per week. In other words, they produce 3.5 hours of punditry for every game. And the shows are on late 2-3am Eastern 11;)) pm pacific. The EPL games themselves come on at 4-5am in the midwest/pacific zones. Hardly the time slots that invoke consistent viewership or followings. They produce no other daily shows for the MLS or Liga MX. Next year, they will have no, or little, TV rights to the EPL. What will the ESPNpass do.

        As I have commented on before ESPN is doing next to nothing for the promotion of the MLS, and even US soccer. They refuse to partner with third parties who hold the broadcast rights for Concacaf nations., to show the US away games in some of those countries. Yes, the rights fees are high, but so is the viewership ans sponsorship for those events.

        Let’s hope NBC does a better job in promoting the EPL, the MLS and US Soccer

  2. Roma at the San Siro. I wish I had BeIN, That silly loss to Chievo last week has nearly doomed Roma’s Europa League chances. They need a minor miracle starting with a win on Sunday.

    Reply
    • Agree loss to Chievo was bad (for Roma, great for Chievo). But I think if Roma wins the Cup Final they win automatic entry to the Europa League, just as AZ and Jozy did.

      Reply

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