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This weekend’s Soccer on TV

Wayne Rooney (Getty IMages)

Can there ever be too much soccer to watch? Okay, probably not, but this weekend's slate of soccer on TV is about as loaded as any weekend a soccer fan could hope for.

The list is enormous, with marquee tilts in England, Italy, France and MLS. Want rivalries? How about Manchester United vs. Manchester City? Want beautiful attacking soccer? How about Barcelona-Atletico Madrid? Want a quality MLS clash? You could do much worse than Columbus vs. Chicago.

Worried that you don't have access to all these matches? Setanta Sports just so happens to be offering a free weekend of viewing for DirecTV subscribers, while ESPN2, yes, ESPN2, will have a La Liga doubleheader on Sunday afternoon including Real Madrid. Ever think you'd see the day?

Whatever your taste, there's something for you. With that in mind, here is a look at the Top 10 matches to watch this weekend, as well as the weekend's full TV schedule:

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Top 10 Matches to Watch

1. Manchester United vs. Manchester City. The Manchester Derby is always a heated affair, but City's loaded squad has dreams of a title and will need to win at Old Trafford to show it is for real. No Adebayor  or Robinho hurts, but not as much as an in-form Wayne Rooney.

2. Chelsea vs. Tottenham. The top teams in London square off as Tottenham looks to rebound from its loss to Manchester United and Chelsea looks to stay perfect.

3. FC Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid. Want some free-flowing, attacking soccer? This is your match of the weekend. Messi vs. Aguero? Ibrahimovic vs. Forlan? Xavi vs. Simao? Can't miss this one.

4. Chicago Fire vs. Columbus Crew. These teams always have great battles, and it should be no different in this meeting at Toyota Park. Will Cuauhtemoc Blanco carry the day, or will Guillermo Barros Schelotto carry the champs to victory?

5. Napoli vs. Udinese. Match of the week in Italy features several top strikers as Napoli looks to rebound from a slow start and Udinese tries to climb toward the top of Serie A.

6. Paris St. Germain vs. Lyon. French League title contenders clash in one of the weekend's more underrated match-ups. 

7. Seattle Sounders vs. Chivas USA. No love lost between these teams as the Sounders look to score first win vs. the Goats.

8. Cruz Azul vs. San Luis.

9. Roma vs. Fiorentina. Yes, Roma is struggling, but there's still too much talent in this clash to leave it off the list.

T10. CSKA Moscow vs. Dinamo Moscow. I know, it's too early in the morning, but if you're up why not watch this Moscow Derby?

T10. Schalke 04 vs. VFL Wolfsburg. Can't miss a chance to see the Wolfsburg strike force of Grafite and Edin Dzeco.

This Weekends Soccer on TV

TODAY

2:30pm- GolTV- Schalke 04 vs. VFL Wolfsburg

7:30pm-MSG/Direct Kick- New England Revolution at New York Red Bulls.

8pm- FSC- Boston University vs. Boston College 

9pm- Galavision- Tecos vs. Morelia

11pm- ESPN2- San Jose Earthquakes vs. Colorado Rapids

11pm- FSC- Vancouver White Caps vs. Cleveland City Stars

SATURDAY

7:45am- ESPN2- Burnley vs. Sunderland

9:25am- ESPN360/ESPN Deportes- Bayern Munich vs. Nurnberg

9:45am- FSC- Arsenal vs. Wigan

10am- FSE- Aston Villa vs. Portsmouth

11:55am- ESPN360/ESPN Deportes- Deportivo La Coruna vs. Espanyol

12pm- FSE- Napoli vs. Udinese

12:15pm- FSC- West Ham United vs. Liverpool

12:55pm- Setanta Sports USA- Nice vs. Monaco

2pm- ESPN360/ESPN Deportes- Osasuna vs. Sevilla

2:45pm- ESPN360- Juventus vs. Livorno

3pm- Setanta Sports USA-Marseille vs. Montpelier

3pm- FSC- Seattle Sounders vs. Chivas USA

4pm- GolTV-Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid

4:15pm- ESPN360- Sporting Braga vs. Porto

5:30pm- FSC-Bolton vs. Stoke City (Delayed)

6pm- Azteca America/ESPN Deportes- Cruz Azul vs. San Luis

6:45pm- Setanta Sports USA- Hull City vs. Birmingham City

7pm- Azteca America- Puebla vs. Pumas

8pm- Telemundo- Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Jaguares

8pm- Telefutura- Pachuca vs. Monterrey

8pm- GolTV- Santa Fe vs. Junior

8:30pm- Direct Kick- Houston Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake

8:30pm- Direct Kick- Kansas City Wizards vs. FC Dallas

10pm- Telemundo- Atlante vs. Santos Laguna

10:15pm- Setanta SPorts USA- Cardiff City vs. Queens Park Rangers

10:30pm- Direct Kick- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Toronto FC

3am- FSC- Brisbane Roar vs. Perth Glory

SUNDAY

6am- Setanta Sports USA- CSKA Moscow vs. Dynamo Moscow

8:30am- ESPN360- Feyenoord vs. PSV Eindhoven

8:30am- ESPN360- VVV Venlo vs. Ajax

8:30am- Setanta Sports USA- Manchester United vs. Manchester City

8:55am- ESPN360- Cagliari vs. Inter Milan

9am- FSC/FSE- AC Milan vs. Bologna

9:30am- ESPN360- Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hamburg SV

10:30am- ESPN Deportes- Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hamburg SV (Delayed)

11am- Setanta Sports USA- Lens vs. Lille

11am- FSC/FSE- Chelsea vs. Tottenham

11am- GolTV- Athletic Bilbao vs. Villarreal

1pm- ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/ESPN360- Real Madrid vs. Xerez

1pm- Telemundo- Toluca vs. Atlas

1pm- Setanta Sports USA- Wolves vs. Fulham

1pm- GolTV- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Werder Bremen

2:30pm- FSC/FSE- Roma vs. Fiorentina

2:55pm- ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/ESPN360- Valencia vs. Sporting Gijon

3pm- Setanta Sports USA- Paris St. Germain vs. Lyon

3pm- Telefutura- Chicago Fire vs. Columbus Crew

3pm- GolTV- Santo Andre vs. Sao Paulo

5pm- FSC- Boston University vs. Harvard (women's soccer)

5pm- Univision- Queretaro vs. Club America

7pm- FSC- Everton vs. Blackburn (Delayed)

7pm- FSE- San Lorenzo vs. Racing

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What matches are you most looking forward to? Which do you think is the best? Who do you see winning the Manchester and London Derbies?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. GEEZus please post photos of players other than freaking Wayne Rooney. His ugly mug little by little saps my will to live. Thank you.

    (SBI-LMAO. Fair enough. Hey, it’s an upgrade from Ribery photos.)

    Reply
  2. For those of you that have it, AT&T U-verse is giving a free preview of some of the overseas sports channels, including Setanta. Starts today and runs through Sunday night. Enjoy.

    On another point. I get the feeling we got Burnley games for the goals. Granted the goal scoring for Burnley wasn’t there but Liverpool put up a big number and Chelsea did as well. No goals is a big reason soccer hasn’t caught on as well in the US (“The main reason soccer hasn’t caught on here is that Americans can’t tolerate nil-nil ties” –Steve Czaban, personally I don’t buy this arguement as the perfect game for a pitcher [allowing no runs] in baseball is one of the more coveted accomplishments) and with a just promoted team playing the big four practically guarantees goals, which is good for the casual fans.

    Reply
  3. Considering I live in Northwest Ohio where the only NFL games shown at 1 pm are the Browns & Lions. The 1 pm time slot for La Liga is of no problem to me.

    Reply
  4. Free Setenta preview?!?!?

    Does this mean I can watch the Manchester Derby on Comcast cable? Anyone know what channel it will be on in DC?

    PS GolTV is great. Ray Hudson is a golden god!

    (SBI-The free Setanta preview is on DirecTV. Sorry Red Devil.)

    Reply
  5. I don’t know about everywhere else, but FSC has been offering this past week free for pacific northwesterners. Great news for the cheap-o college kids like me who wanna catch the sounders game.

    Reply
  6. FRIDAY NIGHT

    11pm- ESPN2- San Jose Earthquakes vs. Colorado Rapids

    This is the one to watch. The Colorado Rapids have sneaky dreams of winning the cup. San Jose is at home and has something to prove at the bottom of the table. Could be fun if the Quakes show up – they have a few young guns coming on

    (SBI-Yes, you’re right. That game came in at No. 95 on the list.)

    Reply
  7. guys stop complaining about burnley…the schedule was made before espn usa got the package…plus even if it wasnt the epl isnt gonna cater their schedule to what espn usa wants ahead of what sky sports 1st and bbc 2nd want…ANNNDD espn2 is only showing the saturday morning game…so you can check the schedule yourself and get a pretty good idea of what games are coming up on the schedule so its not a shock to the system when you see the likes of burnley again

    Reply
  8. Folks,

    I got a Tweet from Setanta saying that on 9/23, it will showing “the French League Cup between Stade Rennes v Sochaux. Bocanegra vs. Davies.”

    Reply
  9. Lo – ESPN had to broadcast the US Open tennis semifinal last Sunday, so La Liga got bumbed. In reality, who cares, because the game they had was awful.

    That said, I notice that this week’s ESPN2 La Liga game is at 1pm on Sunday. It seems to me that ESPN ought to try to have games in the 11am time slot on Sundays in the fall, not the 1pm time slot. I don’t know how the La Liga games get chosen, but I’m just sayin…

    Reply
  10. Why’d ESPN advertise a la liga game last Sunday only to broadcast f’in drag racing? Did i have the times screwed up? I turn on the TV. I’m excited. The TV guide channel says a Spanish league game will be on ESPN2 and i turn to the channel only to be disappointed. WTF? Hope it doesn’t happen again.

    Reply
  11. lol, My post was also gonna be about Burnley and say They should have this double-header as a regular thing since Burnley is the main ticket these days on Saturday. FSC has been like that older brother/sister Always keeping the best and giving the rest away.

    Reply
  12. Boo to the no live Everton match

    And if you’re going to list MSG as showing the New York v. New England match, you should list TV38 WSBK too.

    Reply
  13. My head is spinning…DCU has some well earned time off and U20’s haven’t started yet so no “must see” games for me, but so much to choose from in the “like to see” category.

    Reply
  14. Yes!

    First! Post!!

    Hah!!! Yeah!

    There’s so many I’d like’ta thank…

    But seriously, a rhetorical question, since I sorta already know the answer: how come the Bundesliga is at best a second level talking point?

    I have no anger or defensiveness, etc., etc. I’m just wondering. Is there any reason beyond the obvious stats: no European cup winners for eight years; few if any teams in Champs League quarters or semis over the past several years; most of the hyper-Q rating superstars are in Spain or England or Italy?

    Just wondering.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  15. What is with ESPN’s obsession with Burnley?

    (SBI-Not sure if it’s ESPN wanting Burnley or ESPN getting stuck with Burnley games on the front end in order to get the deal done. We can only hope the matches get better as the year goes on.)

    Reply

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