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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

If you are a fan of Serie A and/or La Liga, this is your favorite day of the year.

The Spanish and Italian first divisions are back in action beginning today, and while the defending champions aren't playing today, there are still some fun matches to watch. Udinese takes on Genoa in the curtain-raiser in Italy, while Malaga takes on Valencia in Spain's opener.

If the Premier League is more your speed, Chelsea will look to record a third straight blowout today, while Tottenham tries to become the third straight team to destroy Wigan.

In Seattle, Freddie Ljungberg will return to Qwest Field with the Chicago Fire to face his former team in one of the weekend's top MLS matches.

If you will be watching today's soccer on TV, 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

9:30am– ESPN3.com- Schalke 04 vs. Hannover 96

10am– Fox Soccer Plus- Chelsea vs. Stoke City

10am– Fox Soccer Channel/FSE- Tottenham vs. Wigan

Noon– DirecTV- Hercules vs. Athletic Bilbao

Noon– Fox Soccer Plus- Udinese vs. Genoa

Noon– ESPN Deportes- Schalke 04 vs. Hannover 96 (Delayed)

12:30pm– Fox Soccer Channel/FSE- Manchester United vs. West Ham United

2pm– GolTV- Malaga vs. Valencia

2pm– ESPN Deportes- Blackburn vs. Arsenal (Delayed)

2:45pm– Fox Soccer Channel- AS Roma vs. AC Cesena

4pm– Telefutura- Columbus Crew vs. FC Dallas

4pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Leicester City vs. Reading (Delayed)

4pm– ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com- Levante vs. Sevilla

5:30pm– GolTV- Internacional vs. Botafogo

6pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Wolverhampton vs. Newcastle United (Delayed)

7pm– Direct Kick- Toronto FC vs. Real Salt Lake

7:20pm– GolTV- Once Caldas vs. Nacional

7:30pm– MSG- New York Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes

7:30pm– Direct Kick- New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union

8pm– Telemundo- Monterrey vs. Jaguares

8pm– Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. Atlas

9:30pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo

9:30pm– GolTV- Independiente Medellin vs. Real Cartagena

9:45pm– Telefutura- San Luis vs. Atlante

10:30pm– ESPN- Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire

10:30pm– Direct Kick- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Kansas City Wizards

Comments

  1. Couple of things. One is football related. While I haven’t seen more than three games of his, I have also seen a couple of highlight reels and frankly I think he’s a thug. His tackle today late in the game was a pretty good example…dangerous slide through with his studs pretty high.

    The other is a bit less rational but I am personally not a fan of ‘convenience nationals’. I realize that some players do have a legitimate choice of nations for which to play. Jones’ choice of attempting to play for the USMNT just seemed like a second choice. He gets to be 28, realizes that his only shot to play in a World Cup will be to play for the US. It’s just a thing with me.

    That said, he is a beast of a talent and a damn good passer.

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  2. Announced during the Union broadcast that the USA Colombia friendly will be played at PPL park. At least the national team can grab a win there.

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  3. Why wouldn’t you count Jones? and Holden has looked really good, he’s been one of Boltons highest rated players on sky sports. I don’t know what you’re smoking, but pass it.

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  4. see, you don’t need to go there. Of course we’ve all seen Giggs a million times. We’ll just disagree on whether he is usually much of a threat to take on defenders that way.

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  5. It takes West Hams coach until the 75th minute to change his tactical ways to a 4-4-2!lol Now we see a different Spector and backline. You can’t expect a team to defend 90 minutes for a whole season and expect the players not to look like a bunch of uncaf players:)

    No lo entiendo.

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  6. Spector may be benched all season except for cup matches. He needs to leave WH. They are in another relegation battle and he will be the no1 scapegoat

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  7. As a fan I don’t like this but he needs to get a move away from West Ham. He just has lost all confidence and for some reason he keeps on being given playing time which at this point seems almost like a negative. He needs to go somewhere where he isn’t being terrorized by the best players in the world. Given his past year or so I can’t see West Ham keeping on to him for long.

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  8. I’d say they really traded down with their coaching, but they need better players. One reason why the switch was bad — I don’t think Grant is well-respected among players. Well-liked, maybe…but not respected.

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  9. Well — at least Spector wasn’t really to blame for that second goal…despite a half-arsed challenge at the end. He might have done better, but it was the rest of the defense that was torched.

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  10. I guess you haven’t been watching Giggs up close all these years. Come next week, stream the Man-u game, I guarantee you will see the same. Whether it’s a pass, one on one, or comiting fouls 25 yards out, Giggs is still the man. Giggs didn’t do anything fancy against Spector, all he did was drive on him, he does that day in and day out. I don’t see why folks are surprise over it.

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  11. Not sure which broadcast you have. The commentators I heard agreed it was foolish, needless foul by Spector, since he had back-up

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  12. Lol are you being serious or sarcastic? Granted, most of FSC’s non-match programming seems dull and low-budget, but Martino’s show is just painful to watch. But hey I’m not complaining cuz they broadcast so many awesome matches 🙂

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  13. But you should see how he hold up play and links up with the midfield. He’s a very good provider for a striker. A huge improvement over Heskey seeing as he can actually bad a few goals and is much bigger.

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  14. I’m not saying the sky is falling, I’m just saying things don’t look good. Dempsey has been playing as a second striker, the same position as the new player. I have watched Holden, and I agree he’s a bright spot. On the other hand, he looked lost at times and one step behind the action. Also, I don’t think anyone on this site saw Jozy, because no one could find a feed. However, the match commentary consistently referred to him as enthusiastic but ineffectual. So there. Any yes, Europa league not UCL, sorry.

    On the other hand, Spector is starting for west ham today, so that’s a good sign.

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  15. I do agree that the West Ham midfield is leaving the fullbacks hanging out to dry. Addtionally, Spector has to deal with Evra and Giggs on that side and appears to be getting no help. IS there even a winger over there?

    That said, Giggs may be a good player but he’s not torching defenders 1v1 anymore. That was a baaaad play by our boy.

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  16. What game are you guys watching? Giggs skools a different person every week. The man is 36yrs old, and still plays for the biggest club in the world. You guys make it sound like Giggs is a chump. Look at how much space Spector has to defend and you tell me if that’s an individual problem. Look at the other end, and see if you see similar problems in Man-u. Like the FSE commentators said, Spector got robbed!

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  17. Spector had a decent half. That bullSh%# of a call is typical Trafford. Funny how the commentators on FSE were saying this is typical of refs giving free penalty kicks when the games are played in Trafford. Spectors foot was clearly no where near Giggs. It was actually buried in the grass. 🙂 Body to Body, no foul to be seen. For GOD sake, this is the EPL, not La Liga!lol

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  18. Many, many inaccuracies riddle your ill-conceived post.

    -Dembélé wasn’t purchased to replace Dempsey, but to supplement Fulham’s thin striker pool and was more of a direct replacement for the constantly injured Andrew Johnson
    -Jozy didn’t play in the UCL, it was the Europa League (did you watch the game or are you just assuming that he played poorly?)
    -Holden has looked pretty good playing centrally for Bolton thus far(I bet you didn’t actually watch the game last week and are just assuming that since he hasn’t scored a goal he must be playing poorly).

    There are certainly some things to be concerned with including Spector’s very poor play, Gooch in limbo at Milan, the possibility of Feilhaber playing in Denmark’s 2nd Division, I just think you are blowing things out of proportion with this “henny penny, the sky is falling” nonsense.

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  19. I kind of feel bad for him. He has not always played this way, but since last January or so, in my opinion he has played very, very poorly. It doesn’t help to be playing for such an atrocious defense, but he seems to be a big part of that bad defense.

    Actually, having watched a lot of his mistakes over the past 8 months, I really do feel bad for him. He does not look confident. I wonder if he has some other stuff going on–physical, mental, off-field.

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  20. A step down is an understatement. I want to hear about what happened over the weekend in EPL, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga and MLS; not some BS. I refuse to watch the show, plus alot of us know more about the game than these clowns.

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  21. you’re comparing benny to clarence goodson? really? first of all, clarence goodson is decent at best. he’s also old enough to where his participation in the next world cup is doubtful.
    feilhaber is still young, and a move to a better league looks imminent. he’s also a very talented and creative attacking midfielder.

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  22. Off topic but why in God’s name is Susan Surandon the guest on “Soccer Talk Live”? That show is a major step down from Fox Football Fone In

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  23. This is pitiful, Spector is without a doubt the worst player on the pitch right now. He cannot even clear the ball correctly.

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  24. From what I’ve seen so far this seaason, West Ham has to be favorites for first team to drop. They’re just awful and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel either. They are gonna have to score five goals a game just to keep up with what they’re gonna ship

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  25. I thought he was good and the West Ham defense terrible. He just got turned by a 36-year-old. Regardless if that was Giggs or not, it is not acceptable.

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