By SBI SOCCER
If you are dreading a two-week absence of European club soccer with the international break looming, there is a silver lining. Sunday will offer enough high-profile matches to help tide you over until the European leagues return.
Key rivalries all across the continent will headline today’s stacked card of matches, starting in England, where Arsenal and Manchester United renew their contentious rivalry. Also, Tim Howard and Everton face Liverpool in the latest installment of the Merseyside Derby.
In Germany, reigning champion Bayern Munich take on an impressive-looking Borussia Dortmund side that has aspirations of knocking off the Munich powerhouse.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the Madrid Derby will grab the headlines as Diego Simeone look to continue their success against Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest of the Galacticos.
MLS helps close things out, with reigning MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy taking on familiar foe Seattle Sounders in what should be an entertaining encounter.
If you will be watching today’s action, please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Click here for today’s soccer TV schedule):
SOCCER SUNDAY
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
8:30 a.m. — NBCSN/NBC Sports Live Extra — Everton vs. Liverpool
11 a.m. — NBCSN/NBC Sports Live Extra/Telemundo — Arsenal vs. Manchester United
11 a.m. — NBC Sports Live Extra — Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur
SPANISH LA LIGA
6 a.m. — beIN Sports Connect — Rayo Vallecano vs. Real Betis
10 a.m. — beIN Sports en Español — Athletic Bilbao vs. Valencia
12:15 p.m. — beIN Sports en Español — Levante vs. Villarreal
2:30 p.m. — beIN Sports USA/beIN Sports en Español — Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid
GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
9:30 a.m. — Fox Sports 1/Fox Soccer 2Go — Schalke 04 vs. Cologne
11:30 a.m. — Fox Sports 2/Fox Soccer 2Go — Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund
11:30 a.m. — Fox Soccer 2Go — Bayer Leverkusen vs. Augsburg
ITALIAN SERIE A
9 a.m. — beIN Sports USA — Sampdoria vs. Inter
Noon — beIN Sports USA — Juventus vs. Bologna
FRENCH LIGUE 1
3 p.m. — beIN Sports Connect — Paris Saint-Germain vs. Marseille
OLYMPIC QUALIFYING
4:30 p.m. — Telemundo/NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra — Costa Rica vs. Honduras
7 p.m. — NBC Universo/NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra — Haiti vs. Mexico
MEXICAN LIGA MX
1 p.m. — Univision/Univision Deportes — Pumas UNAM vs. Guadalajara
6 p.m. — Univision Deportes — Puebla vs. Morelia
ENGLISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
7 a.m. — beIN Sports USA — Charlton Athletic vs. Fulham
MLS
5 p.m. — ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN — FC Dallas vs. Houston Dynamo
7 p.m. — Fox Sports 1/Fox Soccer 2Go — Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake
9:30 p.m. — Fox Sports 1/Fox Soccer 2Go — Seattle Sounders vs. LA Galaxy
NASL
3 p.m. — ESPN3/WatchESPN — Ottawa Fury vs. Edmonton
5 p.m. — ESPN3/WatchESPN/One World Sports — New York Cosmos vs. Atlanta Silverbacks
NCAA MEN
1 p.m. — ESPN3 — Notre Dame vs. NC State
1 p.m. — Big Ten Network — Michigan State vs. Ohio State
2 p.m. — ESPN3 — Virginia Tech vs. Duke
7 p.m. — Pac-12 Network — California vs. Stanford
10 p.m. — Pac-12 Network — Washington vs. UCLA
NCAA WOMEN
2 p.m. — Pac-12 Network — Arizona vs. Stanford
3 p.m. — Big Ten Network — Maryland vs. Michigan State
You debate the quality of the players, pro / rel, playoffs and the refs However you can’t debate the presentation and when your playing on a NFL field it a joke. Even in Seattle where people turn up in larger numbers then anywhere else, it buys them zero respect.
wow, that field for a game like this at this point of the season points out how far things have come–55k at the game–and how far we have to go; I mean, that field is dynamically poor for representing MLS and soccer in general. A German friend of mine told me that you can see all MLS games in Germany now, which is incredible to me, but those folks must spew their beer when this shows up on TV there…maybe in the variety portion of a news broadcast or talk show….
This field in the sounders galaxy game is embarassing
Honestly just play it a star fire or where ever they open cup matches. That field is the biggest black on the league.
I had to turn it off. You can’t even see what’s going on with all of the white line static. Too bad, because this really should be a good game.
Where would you guys rank tim Howard amongst the elite goalkeepers like Neuer, Casillas, Buffon, De Gea
How does he and Friedel rank in PL history? Surely in the top 15 keepers
I would rank them as insignificant to the history of the EPL.
They are 2 of only 14 goalkeepers with over 100 clean sheets
Freidel currently 8th all time and Howard 10th
Yeti is a Mexico fan.
Friedel is more highly regarded, but both are considered as good, quality keepers. That being said, neither crack the the top 10 in have played in 130 years of the English 1st Division/EPL. Friedel might crack the top 10 of EPL history (past 23 years), though.
EPL history is shorter, as that rebranding only occurred bout 23 years ago versus English top flight. The clean sheets stat that Jack cites is misleading because it ignores English soccer history before 1992
He said PL history, so I figured that’s what he meant
lewandowski or suarez or Ibra or Aguero????
”
Costa, Cavani, Falcao, Rooney, rVP are all flops IMO
What is pretty interesting for you young bloods is that over 20 years ago Germany was the league where Yanks would get playing time. Wynalda and Max Moore were regular goal scorers. Lots of our top talent played there.
still not sure why we havent had more than . Few handful of giys in spain and Italy. Maybe its the lack of buying power from the clubs or their preference for non Americans
We lack consistency for goal scoring forwards.
So far we only had McBride and Dempsey with great consistency but at relegation fodder/midtable clubs.
Guys like Joe max moore, clint mathis and Charlie davies start off well but tend to collapse for whatever reason.
Our Yanks are either on top clubs in small leagues or relegation fodder in big leagues. Weird . KNow. but we can compare ourselves to the Australians, koreans, Japanese when it comes to guys in europe
The BL is a lot better now than it was 20 years ago. Our players aren’t.
How can you say that?
Because The BL is a lot better now than it was 20 years ago. Our players aren’t.
Both the BL and USMNT player pool are significantly better than 20 years ago. You have to be kidding me.
magnus,
How many American players actually ever tried to play in Europe every year?
Whatever that number is now , is it more than when McBride and the like were playing?
I’d say it is not , MLS being one factor.
And I would guess that the number of other nationalities trying for jobs in Europe , has, if anything, increased.
So this drought should really not be that surprising.
Plus these things go in cycles. Normally you might have expected guys like Gatt, Gyau, Packwood, and Boyd, to have maybe been making headway in Europe by now but injuries have negatively affected all of them.
Wait a year.
How come Tim ream never gets any love from the fans? Dude has been a straight 90 min a man for fulham in over a month
he’s not german enough or an attacking player
Still our record goal scorer in the Bundesliga after 20 years?
Dempsey is the record scorer in the PL for Yanks with 57 goals. 20 more so than McBride
who has the American record for most goals scored in a season in a ‘top’ Euro league?…
Dempsey has 17 league goals with 23 in his 11-12 season for Fulham
Jozy has 23 league goals with 31 in all competitions in his 2012-13 season for Alkmaar
(lol…i know…)
Juan failed in europe. Jack mac and bruin? Gtfo. Zardes will have his chance
Reasonable question.
Did Juan really flop? Dude could have stayed with his Dutch club where he was a decent success. But sadly no work permit right?
And why hate on Bruin?
He had a permit, but choose not to stay in Netherlands. He seemed really fixated on the EPL, or maybe he just did not like it. He also had interest in Bundesliga, but I had the feeling he was only interested in EPL and La Liga.
Excuse me but honestly we are lacking at yanks abroad.
Why arent Zardes or McInerney or Bruin or Agudelo playing abroad? Maybe they are not PL or Bundesliga level but surely Portugal or France or Holland. They are good enough. Does MLS value them too much?
I have no problem with players staying in MLS if that is the highest level where they can play at the moment. However, for the elite USMNT regulars, I really do believe some of these guys should be playing a t higher level. Some people really over estimate how good (or, vice versa, bad MLS) is. Then again, this is a career and there guys should get the most money while they can (I am looking at you Bradley).
Agudelo screwed the pooch on his own. He could have extended his contract in Netherlands, but was fixated on EPL. He is young still 22/23, but is at the point where he should forcing his way, as a regular, on a good club in an elite league. Zardes will be gone this coming season I think.
These guys don’t make that much (200K/yr), but MLS puts higher transfer value on these players than teams are wiling to pay. Some teams do undervalue players, but some value with risk built and MLS till doesn’t want players to go
But Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been a huge success in France and Italy and real good in spain. Do you guys ever wonder how he might have performed say he joined the PL in recent years? Like at United or City or Chelsea or Arsenal?
he didn’t do good at spain at all and i highly doubt he would do good in the premier league. he lacks the qualities to succeed in england such as speed and link up play.
What do you mean he didn’t do that well in Spain????? He only played one season in Spain, and from what I remembered, he scored over 20 goals. Let me check….yes, I was right. He scored 21 goals (roughly a goal every other match). That is doing REALLY well. He is an egotistical maniac, and didn’t get a long with Pep, but he played very well.
Do people even do a modicum amount of research before posting?
As far as if he will do well in the Premier league is concerned, it is known that not all players’ games translate into the premier league when coming from Spain or Italy. That being said, most of the truly world class players (not very good players, but elite, world class) do well. The real differentiator is speed (of thought, as well as physical speed) and ability to keep up with the physical nature.
You mention his weakness is his speed and link up play. I have to assume tha you have never watched him, but his strengths are his finishing and link up play. However, I would agree that he is not the fastest.
Zlatan would have been awesome anywhere.
What about bob Bradley? Any chance he gets a consideration for Sunderland? They are for sure gonna get relegated but maybe he could work some magic for them
You hate Bob right?
Sunderland is a black hole for managers and right now it is a place for most managers to avoid.
Advocaat out at Sunderland. Hopefully, the interim manager gives Yedlin a chance to continue the bit of positive momentum he created in yesterday’s match.