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Soccer Friday: Your Running Commentary

ArjenRobbenNetherlands1-Estonia2012 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

World Cup qualifying springs back into action on Friday, with no less than 34 matches to be played around the world.

Many of the big powers in European soccer face some of the minnows, including England hosting Moldova, France visiting Georgia, and the Netherlands visiting Estonia. However, there are a few intriguing matchups on tap, with Scotland hosting Belgium, Germany facing their neighbors Austria, and Finland, who drew Spain, 1-1 in Gijon, hosting La Roja.

In South America, Argentina get the matchday off but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good games to watch. AS Monaco duo Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez look to take Colombia joint top of the table when they face Ecuador at home while Luis Suarez plays his first competitive match since the Confederations Cup, due to his suspension with Liverpool.

Later in the evening, CONCACAF draws the spotlight, especially with a crucial match between Mexico and Honduras at Estadio Azteca, with Honduras threatening to become the first team to beat El Tri in a World Cup qualifier in the famous stadium.

Enjoy the action (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):

11am – Russia vs. Luxembourg – ESPN3

12pm – Czech Republic vs. Armenia – ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

12pm – Jordan vs. Uzbekistan – One World Sports

2pm – Macedonia vs. Wales – ESPN3

2pm – Malta vs. Denmark – ESPN3

2pm – Turkey vs. Andorra – ESPN3

2pm – Romania vs. Hungary – ESPN3

2:10pm – Latvia vs. Lithuania – ESPN3

2:15pm – Georgia vs. France – ESPN3

2:15pm – Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Slovakia – ESPN3

2:30pm – Finland vs. Spain – ESPN Deportes/ESPN3

2:30pm – Switzerland vs. Iceland – ESPN3

2:30pm – Slovenia vs. Albania – ESPN3

2:30pm – Estonia vs. Netherlands

2:45pm – Republic of Ireland vs. Sweden – GolTV USA

2:45pm – Germany vs. Austria – Univision Deportes/ESPN3

2:45pm – Liechtenstein vs. Greece – ESPN3

2:45pm – Poland vs. Montenegro – ESPN3

2:45pm – Serbia vs. Croatia – ESPN3

2:45pm – Northern Ireland vs. Portugal – ESPN3

3pm – England vs. Moldova – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes

3pm – Scotland vs. Belgium – ESPN3

4:30pm – Colombia vs. Ecuador – beIN Sport en Español

6:30pm – Paraguay vs. Bolivia – beIN Sport en Español

8:30pm – Chile vs. Venezuela – beIN Sport en Español

8:30pm – Queretaro vs. Puebla – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America

9:30pm – Mexico vs. Honduras – UniMas/ESPN News

10pm – Costa Rica vs. USA – beIN Sport USA

10:30pm – Peru vs. Uruguay – beIN Sport en Español

Comments

  1. Heartbreak form Bulgaria in Palermo today. In a typical fashion, the Italians scored from their only chance on goal and then defended to preserve the lead. Go on youtube and see for yourselves, Buffon made a couple of sick sick sick saves to preserve the 3 points for Italia.

    Now: all hell ensues in this group: with Armenia winning consecutively in Praha and Kopenhagen, Bulgaria has nightmarish last 2 games (assuming we win in Valeta, Malta on Tuesday): in Erevan/Armenia and then v. the Czechs in Sofia.

    4 teams stuck within 1 point as it stands.

    I am devastated about losing to the Italians. Bulgaria deserved at least a point there…

    Reply
    • Playing Italy hurts, it always does. I can guess what kind of game it was. They just chipped and fouled and poked their way until time was out. The good news is.
      Bulgaria’s future is in their hands. Its not easy but you still have control. Winning 3 is hard though.

      Reply
    • Nice to keep the loss off, maybe their heads aren’t really in it now. They are basically qualified at this point but no one wants to lose.

      Reply
  2. Iceland was down 4-1 to Switzerland and came back to tie the game 4-4. Johannsson’s partner at AZ, Gudmundsson, with a hat trick.

    Reply
    • Yup, Germany looks like they have a groove now. Have some issues in the box. Reus keeps getting in close and getting blocked out but then again… he had the assist for Kroos.

      Dirk Nowitzki and Schweinsteiger are sitting together heh.

      Reply
  3. I did not realize that Jamaica replaced their coach in July and brought in a journeyman German, Winfried Schäfer. He has made some major personnel changes to the team, giving pardons to some guys the previous coach had kicked off the team and bringing in some guys who play in England’s second league, who inexplicably the previous coach had not called up. I had basically counted Jamaica out, but who knows. If they would pull of upsets the next two games, this could get very interesting.

    http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2155418/

    Reply
  4. At 2pm EST, there is “FIFA World Cup Whiparound: Quest To Qualify” show on WatchEspn that’s supposed to be similar to the NFL “Red Zone” show. Should be interesting to check out.

    Reply
  5. It is a shame that ESPN3, for whatever reason, is not showing Italia v. Bulgaria from Palermo. This is 1st v. 2nd game. Well, I will watch it on Bulgarian tv…

    Reply
  6. Was looking at the Concacaf WCQ table and saw that something very interesting could happen for the final game in October when the USMNT plays Panama. If Panama collects some points the next three games and Mexico stumbles, it could end up being a situation that going into the last game Panama will be ahead of Mexico on points with the USMNT already safely qualified. That would mean Mexico would be praying for a USMNT victory over Panama in order to qualify for the World Cup. Can you imagine Mexico cheering for the USMNT?

    Reply
  7. I did not realize that Jamaica replaced their coach in July and brought in a journeyman German, Winfried Schäfer. He has made some major personnel changes to the team, giving pardons to some guys the previous coach had kicked off the team and bringing in some guys who play in England’s second league, who inexplicably the previous coach had not called up. I had basically counted Jamaica out, but who knows. If they would pull of upsets the next two games, this could get very interesting.

    http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2155418/

    http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Reggae-Boyz-must-fight-for-Jamaica_15008056

    Reply

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