If you are a soccer fan in the United States you might not realize it but this is the time of year many American sports fans dread. The NFL season is over and baseball season is weeks away. The NBA and NHL are in the middle of rather meaningless regular seasons and only college hoops seems to produce decent games.
You DON’T hate this time of year if you’re a soccer fan. There is only a reason to love the world’s sport when you can put on the schedule of games we will see on TV this weekend. Here are the Top Four of a loaded weekend:
- Manchester City at Manchester United. One of the world’s best rivalries is a can’t-miss.
- Barcelona at Sevilla. If you want free-flowing soccer, this thriller will be the one you want to see.
- Liverpool at Chelsea. No Fernando Torres but this match will still be heated and entertaining.
- Werder Bremen at Bayern Munich. First place in the Bundesliga on the line in this thriller.
The best game for U.S. national team fans will be Tim "I headlock Mexican forwards" Howard vs. Marcus "three cans of Red Bull a day" Hahnemann in the battle of bald American goalkeepers on Fox Soccer Channel.
Here is the complete set of games this weekend on TV. Enjoy and share your thoughts on the games below:
SATURDAY
7:30am- Setanta USA- Newcastle at Aston Villa.
9:30am- GolTV- Hamburg at Bayer Leverkusen.
9:45am- Setanta USA- Wigan at Sunderland.
10am- FSC- Reading at Everton.
11:30am- GolTV- Hertha Berlin at Stuttgart.
Noon- FSC- Tottenham at Derby.
12:15pm- Setanta USA- Birmingham at West Ham United.
2pm- GolTV- Villarreal at Murcia.
2:30pm- FSC- Reggina at AS Roma.
*4pm- GolTV- Barcelona at Sevilla.
4:30pm- FSC- Portsmouth at Bolton.
8pm- FSC- Fiorentina at Atalanta.
SUNDAY
6:30am- Setanta USA- Ajax at Roda JC.
*8:30am- Setanta USA- Manchester City at Manchester United.
9am- FSC- Siena at AC Milan.
*11am- GolTV- Werder Bremen at Bayern Munich.
*11am- FSC- Liverpool at Chelsea.
1pm- GolTV- Valladolid at Real Madrid.
2:30pm- FSC- Inter Milan at Catania.
3pm- GolTV- Real Betis at Valencia.
5pm- FSC- Boca Juniors at Rosario Central.
5:30pm- GolTV- Once Caldas at Atletico Nacional.
Why doesn’t some smart network pick up ALL the games played by Fulham and its five American players?
I’d watch every one.
Don’t forget Cameroon vs. Egypt later today!!!
On what channel can you watch Eredivisie matches in the US???
And although I’m a Chelsea supporter, and looking forward to watching the Liverpool match Sunday, the game I’d most like to watch would be the Egypt v Cameroon African Cup of Nations final….*sigh*
I’ll be watching PSV-Heerenveen in the battle of two of the top three teams in the Eredivisie!
Mon the Veen’
Thanks for doing this feature Ives. I really like it. Also, thanks for putting the stars next to the recommended to watch games!
Don’t forget Racing vs. Bahia Blanca on Saturday night!
furia yanqui,
What’s with the “City of God” nickname for Dani Avles? He’s not from Rio and I’m pretty sure he’s not a gangster.
The Manchester Derby is only complelling if you are from Manchester. People keep saying this is a huge game, but i don’t see it.
The Werder-Bayern match however is a big match as its for top spot, should be tops on the list.
Ahh, yes, so many of the US goalkeepers in England are bald… but not Matt Pickens! Maybe they reached quota on hair-challenged shot stoppers, prompting Guzan’s rejection while Pickens slid under the radar.
BTW is it true that Pickens got a work permit bc he married his girlfriend who has citizenship? That’s the rumor I read from a poster on some other blog – I think it was the Red Card (Arroyave, Chi Tribune).
Ives,
What about a calender of upcoming games kind of like the little calender of old posts you have on the left margin? This could be a suppliment to “this weekend…” so that people could still talk about the weekend’s matches but also look forward to future weeks. You could even put matches not on TV and maybe people could post ways they found to stream them online.
-Mike
I get world sportHD through cable (optimum online HD) ch-720. I think La-liga games are one week old, sometimes 2, and sometimes when they are supposed to be on there is yacht racing or some Vietnamese foot volleyball game on. Picture clarity is great whatever the sport..
Guzan is balding too. Maybe he just needs to lose a few more hairs yet before he gets the UK work permit. Forget about caps and national team rankings — we know that the real criteria prioritize baldness. Keep him away from the Hair Club for Men, and he will get the permit on the next application!
By the way, Sevilla may not be playing as well as they did last year, but such things as current form tend to go out the window when you’re talking about heated match-ups in Spain. Last Barca-Sevilla game was a classic. I’d make sure to watch this one. Dani “City of God” Alves is always one to watch.
Does anyone get WorldSportHD? It is on my DISH service, and has La Liga matches in HD. However, their scheduling is wacky. Often the live game scheduled is replaced by a replay from 3 weeks ago, or a CFL game. Or no info is given about what game to expect. Any interest in digging into this one Ives?
I dream of the day when more matches are HD, but that just shows how spoiled we are. I remember watching fuzzy broadcasts of “Soccer Made In Germany” in deep UHF!
You forgot Barcelona vs Sevilla on GolTV Saturday at 4. That will be as good as anything on in England this weekend.
“the battle of bald American goalkeepers”
I thought all American goalkeepers had to be bald to play in England? That’s why Guzan’s work permit was denied.
Posted by: mike | February 08, 2008 at 02:16 PM
LOL! HAhahaha.
I wish I could get Setanta!
“the battle of bald American goalkeepers”
I thought all American goalkeepers had to be bald to play in England? That’s why Guzan’s work permit was denied.
I guess all of our keepers are pretty much bald or going bald… Friedel, Keller, Howard, Hahnemann, Guzan(looks like hair is gonna go).
Ives—whaddya think about adding a soccer-during-the-week lineup, especially with Copa Libertadores coming up?
Those look like some real crackers…these are the times that I’m glad there is TiVo!