Top Stories

Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

Kyle Walker of Tottenham Hotspur and Olivier Giroud of Arsenal

Photo by Joe Toth / ISIPhotos.com

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

The second North London Derby of the season headlines a busy Saturday of FA Cup and domestic league action in the world of soccer.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will take a break from their busy English Premier League schedules to face off in the Third Round of the FA Cup, England’s top cup competition. Both sides will be missing some key players for Saturday’s clash at Emirates Stadium, but that will not deter them from grabbing a huge cup victory over their bitter local rivals and continuing their impressive runs of form.

The day’s action from England will kick off with the Championship’s Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City, which is currently in second place in the EPL. After a slow start in road matches to the season, the high-scoring Citizens are firing on all cylinders ahead of their cup trip to the former Premier League champions.

After the day’s FA Cup action, the opening weekend of the Liga MX Clausura season continues with an impressive slate of Saturday evening matches. After falling to Leon in last season’s final, Club America will look to start another title run when they host Tigres at Estadio Azteca. Later in the evening, Monterrey hosts Cruz Azul and Club Tijuanas visit Atlas.

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

7:45am – Motherwell vs. Inverness CT – Fox Soccer Plus

7:45am – Blackburn vs. Manchester City – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes

10am – Malaga vs. Atletico Madrid – beIN Sport en Español

10am – Rochdale vs. Leeds United – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes

10am – Grimsby Town vs. Huddersfield Town – Fox Sports 2

10am – Macclesfield Town vs. Sheffield Wednesday – Fox Soccer Plus

12pm – Real Valladolid vs. Real Betis – beIN Sport en Español

12:15pm – Arsenal vs. Tottenham – Fox

2pm – Valencia vs. Levante – beIN Sport USA

2pm – Rennes vs. Valenciennes – Univision Deportes

4pm – Almeria vs. Granada – beIN Sport USA

6pm – Club America vs. Tigres UANL – Univision

8pm – Monterrey vs. Cruz Azul – UniMas

8pm – Pachuca vs. Toluca – Univision Deportes

10pm – Atlas vs. Club Tijuana – Univision Deportes

10pm – Chiapas vs. Veracruz – Univision Deportes 2

Comments

  1. Here’s hoping klinsmann was watching the arsenal-spurs tie. We need Diskerud to be a mirror image of Rosicky with how he played today.

    Reply
  2. Of course he did!!!
    He even passed the ball to the guy that passed the ball to the guy that scored.
    You could say that he has an assist to an assist which is easily the most overlooked stat for Americans Abroad.

    Reply
  3. Deuce should be dominating this game right now given who Fulham put out and their competition. Audio feed and Twitter suggest opposite.

    Reply
    • Goal.com’s commentary shows him very lively, and gives him the assist on the goal with an excellent cross after ditching his man.

      Reply
    • this is his first game with a team who, it sounds like, are also pretty new to the competition. i wouldn’t be too quick to judge.

      Reply
    • Mr. chin,

      I guess that means Deuce is done. He should retire right now.

      It’s a shame he was pretty good for a while. Maybe the USSF could bring him as an adviser to his replacementin Brazil , Arriola.

      Reply
      • I stated nothing beyond this game. Dempsey SHOULD be dominating. He didn’t. It was well noted by the commentators.

        This is the difference between American soccer and soccer everywhere else. You don’t get a grace period. You either contribute or you sit.

        Very, very few players are given the luxury of working back into form in the starting XI. Their names are Messi. Messi. and Messi.

      • ‘This is the difference between American soccer and soccer everywhere else. You don’t get a grace period. You either contribute or you sit.’

        that’s totally false. managers (american or not) aren’t robots or computers, and there are a host of things that can account for a very good player taking time to fit in or round into form. it happens all over the world.

      • Mr. Chin,

        F++k the commentators.

        You are way overreacting.

        Dempsey hasn’t played competitive soccer for quite a while and he is coming off an injury.

        If he was a full time Fulham player he would have had a run in the reserves and then they would have stuck him in some cup matches like this. In the greater scheme of things EPL clubs do not give a proverbial rat’s posterior about these games and use them to try stuff out. US fans may give a damn about this game but it’s the league that matters not these cup warm ups.

        Since it is a loan, this is probably his “grace period”.

        Dempsey was not brought in to dominate. Meulensteen is not as stupid as you clearly think he is. Fulham have forwards, like Bent and Berba, who can score but are not, shall we say, real great at the two way thing. Meulensteen seems to think Deuce is a good pro and a better two way team player than most of you think he is. As such he is seen as potentially a good influence on the Fulham forwards. Clint was named the US captain after all.

        I prefer to judge a loan move at the end rather than after the first 90 minutes but hey whatever suits you.

  4. Anyone know whether we have a shot with this Arsenal kid Gedion Zelalem? Born in Berlin, Ethiopian parents, moved to US at age 9. Discovered at Dallas Cup playing for Olney Rangers. Been playing for Germany at the youth level. Same scenario as Fagundes, permanent resident, not a citizen. Wonder if there is any hope.

    Reply
  5. Fulham starting a handful of debutants and fringe players alongside Deuce. Might be their youngest lineup ever. Also, there is a player in the bench named Moussa Dembele, a 17 year old Frenchmen who has been lighting up the youth team scoresheets.

    No stream available.

    Reply
  6. Wish Hughes would clarify Shea’s place on his team as he will not allow him cup tied to another team but hardly has him on his bench

    Reply
    • do we know that it’s because hughes won’t allow brek to be cup-tied? honest question, cause i haven’t seen anything.

      there are other reasons for why brek wouldn’t be playing this game.

      Reply
      • The team said they were asking permission, so we can assume they would like to include him in the roster.

  7. Dempsey starting for Fulham. Shea’s not even on the bench for Barnsley, so I’m assuming he won’t be playing cup games for them.

    Reply
    • Kind of silly to be worried about a player that’s only made the bench for you a couple times being cup tied to another team.

      Reply
      • John,

        silly?

        This is the kind of small detail they pay guys like Hughes to pay attention to.

        If the loan goes well, Stoke can certainly use an in form Shea.

        The FA and League cups , while not big deals are one of the few trophies Stoke can seriously talk about winning, besides being an entrance to Europe.

        So if they are still in them it makes sense to not cup tie Shea.

        And if the loan is just okay for Shea, cup games for Stoke remain an opportunity to give him further playing time once he goes back to Stoke.

Leave a Reply to TomG Cancel reply