Brad Guzan normally handles Aston Villa's cup competition duties, but fellow American Brad Friedel gets the nod today in FA Cup action against Crystal Palace.
Friedel is the starter for Villa today vs. Crystal Palace in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The Fifth Round of the FA Cup could also offer an opportunity for another American, midfielder Stuart Holden, who could make his first-team debut for Bolton when the Wanderers take on Tottenham (or not).
The quality soccer action will also take us to Italy, where Napoli-Inter and Juventus-Genoa, as well as Argentina, where Estudiantes-Independiente will be South America's top tilt.
If you will be watching today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's TV schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
8:30am– FSC- Bolton vs. Tottenham (FA Cup)
8:30am– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Heracles vs. PSV Eindhoven
9am– FSE/RAI/ESPN360.com- Juventus vs. Genoa
9:30am– ESPN360.com- Schalke 04 vs. Cologne
10am– Setanta USA- Fulham vs. Notts County (FA Cup)
10:30am– FSC- Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa (FA Cup)
11am– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Espanyol vs. Deportivo La Coruna
11am– GolTV- Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund (next day delay)
11am– FSC- Bolton vs. Tottenham (FA Cup) (Delayed)
1pm– ESPN2- La Liga Match TBD
1pm– GolTV- Sevilla vs. Osasuna
1pm– ESPN360.com- Sporting Braga vs. Maritimo
1pm– Telemundo- Pumas UNAM vs. Tecos
1pm– FSE- Puebla vs. Pachuca
1pm– ESPN Deportes- Schalke 04 vs. FC Cologne (Delayed)
2pm– GolTV- Santos FC vs. Rio Claro
2:30pm– FSC/FSE/RAI- Napoli vs. Inter Milan
3pm– ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona
3pm– Setanta USA- Bordeaux vs. St. Etienne
3pm– Azteca America- Puebla vs. Pachuca
5pm– FSC- Juventus vs. Genoa (Delayed)
5pm- FSE- Independiente vs. Estudiantes
5:30pm– Univision- Club America vs. Cruz Azul
6:45pm– Sheffield United vs. Bristol City (Delayed)
7pm– FSC- Independiente vs. Estudiantes (Delayed)
HAHAHA Your only comebacks are BAAHAHAHAH????LOL You know nothing about the game or our national team. Yeah, you go find that FIFA book!
What’s our pool look like again?:)
Hush, you need to put down that cup of shroom tea dude!
Did you watch any of the gold cup? Adu got 1 goal vs Grenada for chrissakes! “Anyone can sprint back on defense” except for Adu…He was absolute lazy garbage in the gold cup, and a tap-in goal for Aris against a horific defense doesn’t punch his ticket to SA.
“Adu is the only American player to have shine in every level in futbol.”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
While I’m looking for that book, I’ll find you a good mental hospital!
What levels has Adu shined on? MLS…maybe, U20’s…yes, Portugal…NO!!!!, Aris…one goal, one assist in 2 starts. Not bad, but we’ll have to see.
Which players are being consider for our pool again??? You need to go buy yourself a futbol book and educate yourself in the game guy.
Messi or Ronaldo???WTF?? Who the hell is comparing Adu to those players?? Learn how to pay attention when reading. We are comparing Adu to the rest of the “MAybes” that might make it to the W.C. roster.
Just HUSH man, you have no idea what the argument is about. Go camp somewhere else bum.
Bedoya?? Rogers???HAHAHAHAHA I can’t believe your bringing these bums into the same converstation.lol You said If the players mention above were playing in the same game as Adu, than they would have done the same?!! WTF??? That is the most stupidiest thing I’ve ever heard. You sound like the Knicks fans in the early 90’s!lol
What has Bedoya done through out his career, please humor the hell out of me?? What has Rogers done in his career or present time in a USMNT jersey??? NOOTHHIINGGGG!! Those guys haven’t done one damn thing to deserve respect. Anyone can sprint back on defense, ANYONE!
DMB is and probably will never be 100% healthy. Adu is the only American player to have shine in every level in futbol. We don’t have anyone like him. PURE FACT.
Your mistaking the U.S team with the Brazilian team guy, we don’t have a big pool.
Laugh??lOl And which players are a better option than Adu, please humor me? What expectations? The kid has always been good for any team he has ever steped on the field with. Monaco?? Check what he did in his only appeareance for that team, PLEASE, check his role in that game. Benfica?? Look at the few games he played for them and tell me he wasn’t productive. Name any player on our might make it w.c roster that is better than ADU? I think you have us confused with the Brazilian national team.
Viva el futlbol cabrones.
Who’s in our pool again? Who else do we have in the “maybe w.c players” pool? You act as if we are a Brazilian or Argetinian squad! We don’t have creative players. If rogers,finley,casey,cooper,cunningham,rolfe,sasha, are your quality players, than you have no idea what a good player should look like.
Those of you watching Mexican league might also be interested to know that Monterrey-Tigres has been moved to 7:25pm tonight, still on Telemundo.
Thanks to Cool Arrow for alerting me to the change in the This Weekend’s TV soccer thread.
Goal Torres! Keeper didn’t even try as he bent it around the wall on a free kick.
Torres….. Can get the spot reserved for the 2nd lb….. And we can go wit one more midfielder
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Rocking sweet use of “parlous” (that is, after looking it up and found out what it meant-“full of danger or risk : hazardous” according to Merriam-Webster. nothing to do with disease as I for some reason thought). But back to your post–I totally agree that in these bailout-ridden times a club or two collapsing after ridiculous overspending could possibly allow a small chink of fiscal sanity into the world of Euro $occer.
If anyone finds a link to the video for the Torres goal, I’d love to see it!
Which is still better than MLS.
the guy is a thousand years old.
Anyone watching Atletico-Barca? Home squad up 2-1 at the half. Could Barca get their first loss? Been a pretty good game thus far.
torres?
Nevermind. I found out that he is.
Anyone know if Michael Hoyos is starting in the Estudiantes game?
Like I said on the other thread, Pachuca & Torres get a red hot Chivas comming to town on Wednesday. Should be a good match to watch. I hope Torres can get the start and keep it going.
ORALE TORRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOLAZO! GOLAZO! GOLAZO!!!!!!!! Now here’s a kid who should be going to the Mundial!!!!!!!!!!!!!
they still need to keep it up though I agree
Johnson needs to score more but If you’ve watched adu he has looked good in every match
Jose Francisco Torres came in at half time and he’s looking like he wants to impress Bob because he’s been stealing the ball like crazy, better than his son ever has and almost like Edu does for Rangers in his good day, just not with the same size and strenght.
He’s been anticiating passing lanes and crossing the field fast and accurately!
Now he scored and amazing Free Kick goal from about 20-25 yards out. Why doesn’t he try the free kicks? Donovan does good on Corners for Everton but in the US games he needs to emulate his Everton conrers and for free kicks where a lefty might have the best angle this kid Torres made a good arguement with this goal, he left Puebla’s goalie just watch
Hercules Gomez hasn’t earned a sure starting spot but is not too bad for future B/C teams, can’t believe that we took some of the scrubs we took to the Gold Cup
Jose Francisco Torres with a beautiful free kick to put Pachuca up 4-3 over Puebla.
Golazo del GRINGO TORRES, yeahhh hes back,,, great celebration also. Cant believe it!!!, this guy is amazing… yeahhh
Peter King is also one of–if not THE–most read sports journalists in the country. Having him reporting on what should be a pretty good US team is great for US soccer.
Hush, take a cue from your screen name. Dude was on about how Freddy has the tools to dominate…in international competition. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if a player dominates international competition, he could be considered one of the world’s elite…such as a messi or ronaldo. That was the implication given above by the content I quoted back to the writer. Pretty clear.
Torres just scored for pachuca
Ask yourself this question, if Holden , Feilhaber, Torres, DMB, Rogers, or Bedoya had been playing Adu’s position for Aris in those highlight games could they have done the same things he did?
Based on what I saw in the highlights, I say yes and those guys all have more to offer in terms of “HELPING” the USMNT than does Adu.
Adu is talented but he is also a sort of one trick pony of questionable reliability. I would prefer to be able to watch the entire game instead of just these highlights to see what else he does for the team. In the absence of that I think you have to see if Cuper is still giving him significant time after another month or two.
Right now Adu is still a very long shot for the World Cup, which is better than “no way” which is where he was a few months ago.
Greece’s best players play abroad.
The top 4 teams in the Greek league are probably very competitive in European terms but there is quite a drop off after that. Aris is currently in 5th place.
If you watch the highlights of EJ and Adu the teams they did well against seem to play shockingly lax defense. It’s good that EJ and Adu seem to be doing well but it’s a real stretch to think they deserve shots at the WC based on what they have done to date.
They need to do more and sustain it.
It’s good to laugh Hush, great for your health. But as someone who’s never dawged Adu I urge you to temper your expectations. Whether because of his youth, fitness, form, or being professionally black-balled, Freddy’s contribution to the sport has been minimal over the last couple of years. Nice to see some good news for a change though.
I love hearing the stadium announcer after Freddy’s goal announce Freddy and the crowd respond with ADU!! Congrats Freddy, keep it up.
The majority of the sports fans in this country are in the same boat, in terms of knowledge about football as Peter King.
So you want to get their take on things and hopefully win them over. If you cared about the long term future of the game in the US you’d realize that.
You are just envious it isn’t you, since you fancy yourself as being more sophisticated than people like King,which makes you very condescending. No big surprise there.
Greece wouldn’t have qualified (especially considering it’s Europe) if most of their players were playing in a third division level league
I agree. In that case, why not add Michael Hoyos?
the Greek league is actually decent better then MLS they consistently have 2-3 teams in the champions league
if he’s one of our top players and has been all along then why is he not able to make our national team roster? let alone actually playing.
Who is talking about Adu being a Messi or Ronaldo?LOL We are simply talking about the “USMNT” roster! We are talking about players who can “HELP” OUR TEAM. We are comparing Adu to the bums on our roster as we speak, not MESSI or Ronaldo. I think your in a whole other world.
i’m with you on that
I’m not really sure what you guys are smoking but Johnson and Adu for the WC??? The only thing these guys have proven is that they can play well in a league only slightly better than the top leagues in the Chicago or St. Louis area.
If you spent more than just watching the highlights, the game is slow and boring because the level of the league is equal to that of division 3 league in England, Germany, or Italy.
Let’s relax and realize that these two players are NOT going to be on the USNT for the WC. Period.
“its not just the fact that he has one goal in greece….. he has all the tools required to dominate he just needs time on the field which he is getting and he needs to produce which he is doing…. a goal and a beautiful assist in 3 games played… two of which were starts…. he needs to keep up this production but yah he should start… Davies is coming back from a serious set of injuries… dempsey as well…. Freddy if he keeps starting should start at the world cup… and if you think Jozy and Charlie’s connection on the field was great just go watch the under-20s for how well Jozy and Freddy link up”
my goodness, would you knuckleheads just chill out? What, seriously, what about his performance leads you to believe adu could “dominate” at a world cup? None of our players are “dominant” buddy, not to slag them, but we dont have a single top 10 in one position internationally with perhaps GK as an exception. Monitor his progress (freddy) and congrats on his goal, but this is ridiculous. He may yet work himself into the picture, but you’re mad if you think he has shown any ability ever to be some ort of ronaldo or messi….wow
I never doubted my BOy ADU! I said it here all day baby! Adu is by far one of our top players when he hits the pitch. The kid steps on the field for the second time or so in 2 freaking years, yet he serves better quality than, Casey,Cooper,Rogers,Finley,etc…. in two games rather than 2 years of MLS futbol!HAHAHA
For those of you that continue to dawg Adu, you know nothing about futbol and the quality of a player.
Someone here said Adu scores one goal in Greece all of a sudden he’s on the W.C roster?hahaha Yeah,.. lets put Finley,Casey,Rogers,Beckerman,Cooper,Holden,Sasha,etc… than a player who every time he steps on the field he causes problems for the opposition. One game in Monaco, he creates the penalty and the only score,.. a dozen games for Benfica, and he was clearly one of the top players on the pitch including scoring late goals. Go back to drawing board guy. When he is on the field he makes his presence clearly. Too bad I can’t say the same of the guys mention above. They simply haven’t done anything in europe to make me horny.:) .. that’s right, their MLS playrs.
Davies,Altidore,Adu is what I would like to see on the field in a competitive international match
Hey guys…
Quick question about Marcus Hahnemann. I hear people talk about Marcus being the 3rd keeper for the Nats. But has he even expressed interest?
I’m in the minority here, but one goal by Adu or Johnson shouldn’t put them on the WC squad…If they continue to play well, sure, but there are others who are playing better than them and deserve the shot more……..Altidore,Davies (Dempsey if need be),Ching, and Findley (yes, he is untested, but Johnson had his shots in November and did not look very good)
idk if you guys hear it when freddy scores the announcer says “FREDDY” and the crowd responds “ADUU” feeling the love for him.
Was that “hey guys…” intro a tribute to Freddy’s tweets?
As opposed to who? Who is better to start in that role than Adu?? let’s be honest?? We need to have Donovan on a wing, (roaming) but predominantly on a wing, dempsey or holdon opposite, and who would partner with Jozy? If we have donovan partner with Jozy, we’ll lose his speed on either edge, and he won’t be making runs inside towards the goal which is what makes him so deadly. So please, you tell me what our are better options to put goals in the net, than a Jozy/Adu pairing.. Jozy/Casey, Jozy/Cunnigham, Jozy/Findley, Jozy/Eddy??? What do you want Jozy Dempsey? Bradley hasn’t done that and I don’t see him taking Dempsey off the right unless Holden starts to dominate… That means Adu would be our best option
THANKS!
Wow. Great video. Gave me chills.