You've waited all summer for European club soccer to come back into full swing and this weekend is that first weekend when all the top leagues are in action.
Not only are all the leagues you love playing, but there are also juicy match-ups galore, from Man Utd-Arsenal to AC Milan-Inter Milan to Bayern Munich Wolfsburg to tonight's MLS showdown between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA.
If you will be watching today's matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Also, if there is a match today that you would like to see a live commentary for, please let me know.
Enjoy the action (Today's TVschedule is after the jump):
Today's soccer on TV
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10am- FSC, FSE- Tottenham vs. Birmingham City
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10am- Setanta Sports- Bolton Wanderers vs. Liverpool
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12pm- ESPN360.com- Bari vs. Bologna
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12:15pm- FSC, FSE- Manchester United vs. Arsenal
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12:30pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Bayern Munich vs. VfL Wolfsburg
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1pm- Setanta Sports- Lens vs. Rennes
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2pm- GolTV- Real Madrid vs. Deportivo La Coruna
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2:45pm- FSC, FSE- AC Milan vs. Inter Milan
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3pm- Setanta Sports- Olympique Lyon vs. Nancy
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4pm- Direct Kick- Seattle Sounders vs. Toronto FC
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4:15pm- ESPN360.com- Naval Primeiro de Maio vs. FC Porto
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5pm- FSC- Sunderland vs. Stoke City (delayed)
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5:30pm- GolTV- Flamengo vs. Santo Andre
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6pm- Telemundo- Monterrey vs. Tecos
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6:45pm- Setanta Sports- Blackburn vs. West Ham (delayed)
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7:30pm- Direct Kick- New England Revolution vs. San Jose Earthquakes
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7:30pm- GolTV- Atletico Nacional vs. Huila
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8pm- Telemundo- Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Pachuca
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8pm- ESPN Deportes- Indios vs. Atlas
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8:30pm- FSC, FSE- Chicago Fire vs. DC United
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8:30pm- Setanta Sports- Bolton Wanderers vs. Liverpool (delayed)
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9:30pm- GolTV- Millonarios vs. Deportivo Pasto
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10pm- Telefutura- San Luis vs. Puebla
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11pm- FSE- AS Bari vs. Bologna (delayed)
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11pm- ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com- LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA
Bayern looked great against Wolfsburg. Good to see them back
Aaron,
My German vocabulary has deteriorated severely since college, but my interpretation is that his manager feels that he is not fit, and not playing with high quality, consistantly. My interpretation was that they may feel that he is “burned out”, due to national team commitments, etc.
@ThaDeuce,
Man I prefer Spector for RB leaving Boca for LB. DeMerit and Gooch are perfect as CB’s. and there’s no way the captain will play if he’s a CB seeing as DeMerit plays way better. And Bob won’t drop the captain. So I see Spector as deputy for Cherundolo.
@wjmooner
Um Torres and Drogba were top scorers a few seasons ago with 20 plus. Last season was very weak for scoring in the PL. Anelka had 19 goals.
i dont think it’s a matter of the cb’s not playing poorly, goals not being their fault etc. The defense in general was poor today. the CBs werent to blame but they didn’t stop the goals, and when your team gets hammered in your derby, changes will be made. Its not always as simple as replace player A with player B. Maybe Gooch works better with another LB/RB that they want to start, as well as being better in the air/cleaning up in front of the goal. I’m not saying he will automatically start, but this game will result in changes and that means hes got a better shot to get some playing time.
Wjmooner, I think both myself and ISAF thought it was 12-16 goals for all competitions. Reading it again, I think you are right and George only meant for EPL. In that case, 12-16 goals from RVP would be great. My bad.
agreed that it was a good day for Gooch to be on the bench….that way he can’t take the blame…although from what I saw you couldn’t blame the central defenders for any of the goals…
Spector played left back today in the EPL, I’m thinking a
Spector-Boca/Demeritt-Gooch-Dolo
backline is making tons of sense for the upcoming fixture.
ISAF–
It’s tough to score goals in soccer, you might have noticed. Leading goal scorer in the EPL last year had 18, so exactly nobody got 20.
I agree, Tinit. It wasn’t really the CB’s fault in this debacle, but then again, that wasn’t really the problem at Newcastle either. The short problem is the midfield & fullbacks. As much as I love Gattuso and Pirlo, I think it’s time to get some new blood in there. The long problem is management. I think Leonardo is good, but he’s definitely in for some on the job training. Also, what’s going on in the locker room? Ancelotti— a popular coach, gets pushed out the door. Maybe the players are rebelling against the upper management. Maybe Berlusconi wanted someone that would be more of a yes-man to his to-the-press lineup musings? Maybe the players see this and don’t like it? Then again Leonardo has his own credibility to protect, so of course he’s not going to follow the suggested direction, but the team gets walloped by Inter. Throw all of this into the mix, and it could look like a bad season. Better for Gooch to sit on the sidelines or at least get his Italian in order.
@Joe and NATO
The only issue with that was that the two CB’s, Nesta and Thiago Silva didn’t look that bad. Only way I see this game getting Onyewu more regular time is if Thiago Silva gets put in at right back to try to solve the major issue which is the full backs.
good point Joe B. AC Milan are so very, very old in the midfield. a young pato and flamini alone will not save this team. if they add beckham back its proof that neither the GM or coach have a lick of sense. i wouldn’t want to be a Milan defender this year…
@George,
VanPersie getting you 12-16goals a season? Jesus, you need Adebayor back like pronto. Gerrard easily gets 12 a season. Same does Lampard. Van Persie is your target striker, he should be getting you at least 20 goals a season.
George
The only problem we had 2 seasons ago was Eduardo although I admit it was a huge one. But had Clichy not supidly commited a foul in the last second in the same exact game and Gallas not cry like a little girl after the game which affected the whole dressing room, we probably would have won the league. It was caused by our own mistakes. Same year Champions League, we lose on a ridiculous call vs Liverpool but had Bendtner not blocked Fabregas’ shot that was goal bound the first leg, we would have won. We can rightly blame injuries and the ref because they made a huge difference but we also caused our own problems and at the end of the day, we were not good enough. Last season, we were out of the title race in November so Gallas injury didn’t mean anything.
I understand that we are in debt but winning trophies bring in far more money than saving the money from players we sold. Of course we wouldn’t be able to buy players higher than 25 million pounds but I’m hearing Van Der Vaart is available for 6. Maybe its not the position we need but he could have been useful today adn it is never bad to have depth and Rocisky will never be fit. For DM, Melo was available for around 20 I believe but Wenger didn’t want to spend so Juve snatches him from us. Than there was Cana and Cattermore both for cheap but Wenger didn’t want to spend. For Defender, Hangeland wanted to come to us but Wenger didn’t want to spend. I’m satisfied wiht TV’s performance so I’m not going to bitch about not signing Hangeland but there has to be a good squad defender out there somewhere taht scouts are rating.
Denilson will not be starting once Nasri and Fabregas gets back and those are the type of quality players we need in teh middle of the field. If we don’t sign and Song is gone during the African Cup, god help us. Van Persie better get 12-16 goals this season if he’s playing up top considering the amoutn of opportunites we create and he takes pks.
We will definitley finsih top 4 but I can guarentee you we will finish at least 10 pts off 1st place if we don’t buy.
@Joe
you have a point. Gooch comes out of this looking like ROSES. Cause fans and the media will really want him in from now on
You know what? Things could have been worse for the Gooch. He could have been in that circus of a game and guess which player would’ve taken the lion share of the blame for the loss…
@ Nick
I’ll link you to the rules since you obviously haven’t read them. As Rooney’s touch put the ball out of play, it no longer qualifies as an offense for which a PK can be given. I guess I could have used the official wording, but I assumed you had a basline knowledge…
“A penalty kick is awarded if any of the above ten offences is committed by
a player inside his own penalty area, irrespective of the position of the ball,
provided it is in play.”
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/lawsofthegame.html
@ Japan,
We almost won the league two seasons ago and many things went wrong in the final 1/3 of the season, eduardo’s injury the most notable. Last season we lost Gallas during the Villareal tie, that was a massive loss. I am not listing excuses, we LOST we didn’t win ANYTHING, but to sit and write off this team is crap.
Who do you think we should buy? It’s easy for Arsenal fans like you to say buy buy buy, but none of you have answers.
We still have the Highbury debt burden to look out for, so the likes of Kaka and Benizma at 50 and 30 million are not realistic.
Wenger runs a tidy ship and makes money, yes we need TROPHIES and Cesc may well leave if we don’t get any, but I stand by Wenger who has and is protecting the future of this club.
This club is greater than anyone person and if do lose Cesc it’s okay if we do still finish in the top 4 and get into the quarters and semi-finals for the Champions league.
I know Wenger wants more than that, but we cannot simply mortgage the future of this club to win trophies. I swear, look at the debt trouble Liverpool are in and I swear one day Man United will regret their debt burden if they already haven’t started to.
I believe in this side and I am not going to be a chicken little and cry the sky is falling after one game. We will win Trophies, Wenger has the answers. Yes I think we need some reinforcements at the Center half and the holding midfield position, but I don’t think we need repleacements.
Not to rehash my comments from above, but I will not allow you to disrespect Denilson who has been great this season. We can debate Diaby and Eboue as squad players, but Denilson is a starter and Van Persie still can get us 12-16 goals this season I do believe that.
It was clearly not a dive. Rooneys legs were taken completely out. Almunia didnt get any of the ball.