If you are a fan of both American football and proper futbol, today may be a tough day of decisions as the NFL season kicks off. If you're loyalty and preference lies with the beautiful game, you will have more than enough options to watch good action today.
U.S. national team fans will surely be interested in watching today's Everton-Fulham clash, with Tim Howard squaring off against Clint Dempsey. Those of you who have been waiting for La Liga to be shown on ESPN2 will see your wait end today as well, although the Sporting Gijon-Almeria match probably isn't one you would have picked to watch.
There are other quality matches to watch, from Genoa-Napoli to Freddy Adu's debut for Belenenses against the club that still owns his rights, Benfica. You also have today's MLS Cup preview between the Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo.
If you will be watching any of today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's soccer TV schedule is after the jump):
SUNDAY'S SOCCER ON TV
11am– ESPN Classic/ESPN Deportes- Sporting Gijon vs. Almeria
11:15am– FSC- Fulham vs. Everton
11:30am– GolTV- Cologne vs. Schalke 04
12:55pm– UNAM Pumas vs. Pachuca
1pm– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360- Real Valladolid vs. Valencia
1pm– ESPN360.com- Belenenses vs. Benfica
2:30pm– FSC- Genoa vs. Napoli
3pm– GolTV- Xerez vs. Athletic Bilbao
3pm– Telefutura- Chivas USA vs. New England Revolution
3pm– Setanta Sports USA- AS Monaco vs. Paris St. Germain
3pm- Azteca America- Morelia vs. Tigres UANL (Delayed)
5pm– Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. Houston Dynamo
5pm– Univision- Santos Laguna vs. Queretaro
5pm– FSC- Louisville vs. Illinois-Chicago
5pm– Setanta Sports USA- Birmingham City vs. Aston Villa
6pm– Telefutura- America vs. Tecos
Go ahead and give the Crew the supp. shield. They deserve it. Blowing by everyone with games in hand.
wow Seattle conquered DC again – in DC! ha! Wicks got *OWNED* by Montero.
Montero is awesome! such a wicked right foot.
DeRO also has amazing goals. I’d like to see Montero vs. DeRo in a shootout.
MONTERO ROCKS!
i don’t think i’d say american football fans “chucked the NFL for international soccer”, but there certainly are more people viewing soccer. i’ve had a theory for a few years that soccer will become much more popular in America when ESPN realizes that it has too much money invested in the sport to not make it popular. ESPN has that type of stranglehold on the sports world, and with WC 2010 rolling around, they may be ready to fire up the juggernaut.
NFL tv viewership and tv ratings have been in decline per Nielsen for 25 years. So i assume there are plenty of soccer fans who have chucked the NFL for international soccer.
Dynamo v. Crew was a tough one. Thought the ref had a good match until the PK call. Moreno is a diver and pulled his usual stuff. There was a tug but to call that in stoppage time was bull. Esp when he made a point to dismiss the rest of the diving that GBS and the Crew were trying to pass off today. Thought the Dynamo outplayed the Crew on their field and to have the match taken away by the PK was sad to watch.
well said gene, basically summarizes exactly what is happening. my point above was that the problem isn’t dempsey and his workrate or whatnot. it is the entire team of nats.
Crew win a game with a sloppy defensive effort and some unnecessary pushing and shoving, and finally put away Houston on PK in stoppage time. 2-1 Canaries. GO MASSIVE!
I don’t understand complaints about Bradley’s personnel management. Maybe we’ve had some tactical problems, but which players that deserve a look haven’t got one? And which ones consistently start that shouldn’t? With the exception of D.B at the beginning of the Confederations’Cup, I can’t really think of anyone.
Dempsey had a much better game today than he did vs. T&T. I see several reasons for why he usually has more success at Fulham than at USMNT. Well, the difference is relative, the guy scored some key goals for the national team. So, the gripe is not some much lack of offensive production, but that he is not running on offense AND defense like he’s got an acute case of hemmorhoids:)
But his role with Fulham is different. The difference is not so much on what side he is playing, but what he is expected to do. In most games, he is not the designated striker – Johnson and Zamora have that role. His role is to work for the ball in the midfield, make good passes, help out the defenders, and IF HE CAN, join up the attack. For the national team, we expect him to be in the more offensive role. It is impossible to go 90 minutes full tilt on both ends, and be effective.
Also, as someone pointed out in the comments, some of his passes go astray for the national team because players do not always make the needed runs in the space.
I do think he tries to do too much, both for Fulham and for the national team. Today, on one play, he made a very good run, but elected to do stepovers and take a difficult shot from a distance, rather than pass the ball to Johnson who made the run. Perhaps with the nats, he feels pressure, real or imaginary, to do something spectacular on every play. Hopefully, as he matures, he’ll learn how to play more within himself.
Watching Chivas vs NE this afternoon. I’ve heard a lot of people on this website call NE thuggish, though I’ve never heard an explanation. I don’t see it, and today I have to seriously question it. 1st half done, and there have been 6 yellow-cardable offenses. 5 by Chivas, 1 by NE. End of the half, 1 yellow, for New England, of course. Even more ironic, it wasn’t the play that should have been carded. That play went unpunished.
There’s also been a word or two about whining as well. I’m not complaining in the slightest about the score. This game should be 4-0 Chivas by now. We’re lucky we’re still in the game.
I get pretty exasperated with people who think Bradley should be replaced. The defensive commitment by the MNT under Bradley’s watch is clearly excellent. To me that’s evidence that the players buy into what he’s doing.
BB made a decision to have a “man up” talk to Dempsey during the confed. cup and Dempsey came through with huge goals.
And Bradley used the Gold Cup to make sure many more players in the pool got some experience. Based on those games, Holden was identified as a player who could contribute and consequently has been given some time recently. Other than that, I’m not sure that there are these magical better personnel choices available right now that Bradley is failing to pick. Personally I hope that Edu is able to make it back on the field and Torres continues to push for time.
Tactically Bradley’s made some clear choices, ie. to play more direct when the opportunity is available and accept that there will be some incompletions on those passes, to emphasize the crossing ball not just from the corners but also from where Spector hit his that led to a Dempsey finish against Brazil. I guess the point I’m making is there’s a clear style now established in the way the US plays– defend, including a high work rate in midfield, frightening on counter attacks, aggressive service into the box.
Overall, I look for signs of development, and I see them.
“Demsey had a great game today.
He almost always seems to play better for Fulham than USA…”
Alot of the plays he makes with fulham would be giveaways with the USA because of a lack of movement off the ball, good runs, and understanding.
http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/match?id=281408&league=POR.1&cc=5739
according to espn freddy played
im pretty sure he goes by just fredy for belenenses
(SBI-Belenenses already had a player who goes by Fredy. Adu didn’t play today.)
All the Europe based players face jet-lag problems. Some adjust faster than others. Jet-lag may explain Dempsey’s sub-par performances when traveling.
I hope Mikey didn’t dress because of his minutes in the qualifiers. I’d hate for that blowup with his coach to take away his playing time long term… because you KNOW that Coach Dad isn’t going to bench his son for not getting first team football.
Reasons for Dempsey looking better with club than country (which I still don’t really buy because he has had some very good games for the USA):
Coaching experience. Roy H. is a top quality coach who has been with some great programs in the toughest leagues. Bob Bradley is an interim coach with only MLS experience who has a handful of good results. He is only the coach because the US has no better options.
Tactics. Fulham play a similar formation, but a different system. The SMFs in their system play two ways and are encouraged to cut inside to open up the flanks for the fullbacks who play almost like wingbacks. In Bradley’s 4-4-2 the SMFs are asked to play two ways, but are encouraged to play 1-2s on the flanks and help cover for their fullbacks who play more like traditional fullbacks.
Team structure and competition. With Fulham, Dempsey has 3 or 4 guys eager to take his spot, and he knows that if he doesn’t give 100% he is going to be riding the bench. With the USA, Dempsey knows Bradley will stick with him despite runs of very poor form. That’s not to say that Clint is “lazy” when he plays for the US, but he does not seem to play with as much urgency.
For the record, I never once called for the head of BB. Conversely, I actually stated and believe that he will get us to the World Cup and only he should be responsible for our squad. I even said I would be more than happy to eat crow if I am proved wrong (which I would do happily with horseradish sauce over grilled veggies). You can go back and read my previous posts if you’re in doubt.
I guess I am just worried about BB’s ability to get the most out of our players. Do we have the quality to play with the best in the world? The Confed cup would seem to indicate so. Then why have the past few qualifiers (away AND home) been so subpar (compared to the confed cup)?
Regardless of the individual players’ excuses (fatigue, disinterest, swine flu), it’s up to the manager to adjust accordingly.
If we had to face brazil in the world cup tomorrow, based on current form for our team I’d go with:
Davies-Altidore
Donovan-Feilhaber-Bradley-Holden
Boca-DeMerit-Gooch-Spector
Howard
Subs:
Torres, Clark, Dempsey, Cooper, Dolo, Marshall, Guzan
“Could it be he is better motivated by a more experienced coach?”
Good god, everything is Bradley’s fault, isn’t it?
Gooch: Didn’t dress. 🙁 I’m not surprised! Maybe it’s true what euro people are saying,.. euro teams are just signing U.S players so they can rot on the bench and do poorly in the W.C 2010!lol Hmmmm…
MB: Didn’t dress either. He is officially a bench reserved player.
Freddy Adu: Name to the 20 man roster according to the Belenenses website. I watched the game and saw no signs of him. Bele also got their asses kicked 4-0. The Bele coach made no subs for the team, while Benfica used all 3 subs! Is the Bele bench that bad??
Beasley: Nope, didn’t dress either.
We got PWND this week in Euro.
Demsey had a great game today.
He almost always seems to play better for Fulham than USA….
Could it be he is better motivated by a more experienced coach??
Not sure, but wish he would play for USA with same energy!!
“Every player needs to know he is expendable given their form (see Beasley, sadly) and should have to answer for their performances. BB is incapable of this.”
Doesn’t Beasley prove you wrong? Beasley was essentially dropped at half time against Brazil. Doesn’t Eddie Johnson prove you wrong? See Mastreani getting a lot of starts lately? Has Adu gotten a free pass? Like most things said about Bradley, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Bradley is apparently a believer in second chances. When it works, the reward is a player who is loyal and committed. Whether it is the right approach or not is not the point – but it is an approach and clearly guys have played themselves out of the picture.
Of course, the other issue is that he doesn’t have the replacement parts at his disposal other coaches do. Dempsey can be frustrating. But, barring the continued development of Holden, the drop of to the next level of available players is pretty steep. It’s well and good to say that he should sit Dempsey to send a message about his current effort..but you either introduce an unproven player into the most critical final qualifiers or you weaken more than one position by shuffling around to compensate.
you guys slating dempsey are jackasses. look at the rest of the fulham squad. doing the same thing he is. put 10 other guys with that desire to do well in a Nats shirt, and maybe he won’t be a lost cause in it. everyone was walking against T&T, with the exception of Gooch. BB can’t get the tactics right to get the most out of the squad like RH can.
MemRook
yes,I pleased with your retraction.I got what I was looking for.LOL
having said that though,qualfying can be tricky…Look, Sweden got a 1-0 against Malta this week.Portugal 1-0 against Hungary,Albania Denmark 1-1 and the Italians even need two own goals to get past Georgia.
Brazil has had several 0-0 draws AT HOME against COMNEBOL opponents.Imagine the anger if we were getting nil nil draws?!?!
Qualfying is tricky,that’s the way it is.
Posted by: RM07 | September 13, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Exactly. And though teams like Denmark and Hungary aren’t exactly pushovers, neither are they top class. Looking at Costa Rica and especially Honduras’ roster and the US consistency against teams like this seems pretty damned impressive and comparable to the better teams in Europe. Even lowly TnT has the potential to be a tough game with Kenwyne Jones (and maybe Zamora soon) up top coupled with their strength and athleticism.
BB may not make the choices you as a couch dwelling superfan may like (or even I like), but his choices are completely defensible and have gotten results. To start squawking about him before the WC results are in is premature and hysterical.
alright then, memrook. the world cup final is tomorrow. Who would YOU trot out there hang with Brazil?
Actually, I totally agree with you RMO7 and Judging Amy about the difficulty of qualifying. That’s why I’m so confident we will qualify and why I am quite pleased about our results; especially considering our performances in some of those games, it’s nice to still get the results.
I’m not critiquing the difficulty or ease of qualifying. I’m just merely commenting on BB’s ability to manage his players and the implications that has on their performances for our team. Of course I like getting results, but I also like watching players who give 100% effort every game. And I think that’s up to BB to field those players who will do so accordingly.
I guess Adu did not even make the bench.
Posted by: Jorge
He was one of 20 called up but not in the final 18, perhaps he couldn’t play against Benfica
Posted by: Jose S.
——————-
I don’t think that’s it. Fellipe Bastos is also on loan from Benfica and he made an appearance for Belenenses today.
MemRook
yes,I pleased with your retraction.I got what I was looking for.LOL
having said that though,qualfying can be tricky…Look, Sweden got a 1-0 against Malta this week.Portugal 1-0 against Hungary,Albania Denmark 1-1 and the Italians even need two own goals to get past Georgia.
Brazil has had several 0-0 draws AT HOME against COMNEBOL opponents.Imagine the anger if we were getting nil nil draws?!?!
Qualfying is tricky,that’s the way it is.
sooo, should all nations have a foreign coach for the sake of objectivity? Bradley never worked with bornstein at club level.
I just think people need to temper expectations a little bit. the only teams that would cruise through CONCACAF qualifying unscathed are teams with world class players. The US has 0 of those. We are bound to look poor at times, probably more often than we look good.
Posted by: jig | September 13, 2009 at 02:20 PM
I believe Bradley worked with Bornstein at Chivas USA.
I agree with you about expectations. Even teams with MANY world class players struggle against teams they “should” kill. See portugal, argentina, england in euro 2006, etc…