Clint Dempsey will look to build on his two-goal performance from last week against a familiar face who won't make finding another goal easy.
Dempsey and Fulham take on Brad Friedel and Aston Villa in a battle of mid-table Premier League clubs. Both teams are on 12 points coming into the match. Dempsey has four goals in his past six matches, but he takes on a Villa side which, led by Friedel, has allowed just one goal in three matches.
Friedel isn't the only American goalkeeper with a tough assignment today, with Tim Howard's Everton taking on upstart Blackpool in a battle of clubs on 13 points and Marcus Hahnemann and Wolves trying to slow down red-hot Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez.
The MLS playoffs resume today, with Colorado facing Columbus and Real Salt Lake taking on FC Dallas (SBI will have live commentaries on both matches so stay tuned for those).
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 TV SCHEDULE
10:30am– ESPN3.com- Borussia Moenchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich
11am– Fox Soccer Channel- Manchester United vs. Wolverhampton
11am– Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Fulham vs. Aston Villa
11am– FoxSoccer.tv- Birmingham City vs. West Ham United
11am– FoxSoccer.tv- Blackburn vs. Wigan
11am– FoxSoccer.tv- Blackpool vs. Everton
11am– FoxSoccer.tv- Sunderland vs. Stoke City
1pm– Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Bologna vs. Lecce
1pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Sunderland vs. Stoke City (Delayed)
1:20pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Derby County vs. Portsmouth
2pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Sochaux vs. Auxerre
2pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Arles vs. Caen
2pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Bordeaux vs. Valenciennes
2pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Saint Etienne vs. Lorient
3pm– GolTV- Real Sociedad vs. Racing Santander
3pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Derby County vs. Portsmouth (Delayed)
3:45pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Inter Milan vs. Brescia
4pm– FoxSoccer.tv- Stade Rennes vs. Lyon
4pm– Telefutura- Columbus Crew vs. Colorado Rapids
5pm– DirecTV- Espanyol vs. Malaga
5pm– Fox Soccer Plus- Blackpool vs. Everton (Delayed)
6pm– Fox Soccer Channel- AFC Wimbledon vs. Ebbsfleet United (FA Cup, Delayed)
6:30pm– Azteca America- Jaguares vs. Atlas
7pm– Telefutura- San Luis vs. Santos Laguna
7:30pm– GolTV- Once Caldas vs. America de Cali
9pm- Telemundo- Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Cruz Azul
9pm– Telefutura- Pachuca vs. Queretaro
9:30pm– GolTV- Millonarios vs. Deportes Tolima
10pm– Fox Soccer Channel- Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas
11pm– Telemundo- Atlante vs. Club America
1am– Fox Soccer Channel- Sydney FC vs. Newcastle Jets
Celtic up 9-0 on Aberdeen
Ah, the Diving Little Pea….Great call by the ref on that dive!
What a horrible horrible dive from Chicarito, and he is booked for it.
Geez, poor West Ham. Go up 2-0 on the road and then…..well, yeah.
Fulham is putting on some pressure, but they don’t seem to have that final touch. I think Villa will win
Freidel just made a huge save on Andy Johnson!
Wolves just choked away the most golden opportunity.
Gahhhh, Fletcher could have taken a lot more time.
Brent or anyone else…is Fulham getting anything going?
Yeah, it certainly isn’t high on common sense. What made it worse was that it was entirely unprovoked.
United-Wolves and Fulhan-Villa look like they’re both going to have some real exciting finishes
His position in the middle of that mess that is ‘Gladbach requires an epic amount of running. I don’t think it was aimless as much as covering areas. For instance on Lahm’s goal, he had to cover for an out of position defender, then close down the ball above the box, DID that, and the aimless ball played in bounced off a defender and fell to Lahm. It seems to me that ‘Gladbach’s probs are due to formation.
The official should really call this game fair for Wolves. What’s a foul on one end should be a foul on the other.
don’t be ridiculous. he’s going to Nike for training.
Wolves back level! Good job!
That was some real quick production off the bench.
Great first touch, and then the nutmeg on Van De Saar.
are the rumors of Rooney to Portland true? Football transfer record broken as Wayne Rooney decided to be a DP with the new MLS club. Transfer estimated to be 200 million dollars.
btw what’s the news on Spector and Clark? Can they find a role with their squads or go on loan?
Bradley was quite good. Kept pushing forward into the game. He’s 1 of the few BMG players that can actually score a goal and yeah their defense is horrendous. They need a new fullback and centerback. Maybe also a striker.
what happened to Rob Friend?
Mixed play by Bradley in the last 15 min. One bad turnover there but he has covered miles of grass.
I haven’t been impressed with Bradley’s performance. Too much aimless running around and too many giveaways
that’s interesting. amazing that players think they can get away with that these days with all the cameras and whatnot. about the only thing you can get punished for after the fact!
Well, you’re right in one way but that ball just bounced funny and fell onto Lamm’s foot.
Manchester United has become one of the most boring teams in the EPL.
Gladbach just don’t know how to hold a lead.
He stomped on Elmander’s midsection.
Huddlestone was jumping around Elmander’s tackle, looked down, and stomped out at Elmander on the ground. Hit him somewhere in the midsection and just walked off. It was clearly intentional, considering that he kicked out a good foot or two from where his feet were landing.
Ian Darke’s first words were, “he will be banned by the FA”.
3-2 still, 77th
wow, those crowd shots at the Gladbach game were hilarious!
what’s the score now? can’t read the banner on my crappy feed
Clumsy foul there by Levels. Announcer says he’s having a great game though? GACM, what don’t you like about him (I know very little about him)?
what’d he do?
Danny Williams with the start for Freiburg. I wonder what’s going on with his passport.
Tobias Levels is terrible. I know he’s young, but he doesn’t look like he has a bright future.
Well, gee….maybe I should just not bother watching. 😉
Gladbach are such experts at blowing leads that I can virtually guarantee they will end up losing this game.
And ahead they go. NOW Bradley needs to boss that midfield a bit.
Good work from ‘gladbach in the second half so far to tie Bayern. They have pushed MB forward to marshall the attack. He’s done well
some nice little stats for ya here: This is Brad Freidel’s 100th start with Villa and his 400th in English League Football. Cheers, Brad!
The ESPN guys were good this morning, you’re right. Ian Darke, I believe.
morning Mig. thanks for the update. glad to hear Stu had another good game. think i’m gonna watch the Fulham/Villa match
that was an amazing pass for the Villa goal. nothing Salcido could do really
Sorry to hear that. The Englishmen doing the Tottenham-Bolton game this morning on ESPN were marvelous. Made me realize what we miss when we have to listen to Dellacameran (sp?) and Harkes whiny voices
n/m – 1-0 Villa! Albrighton with a fantastic touch from a cross-field 40yd pass.. 2 touches and goal.
Fulham-Villa has had a very entertaining 1st half. No goals yet, but lots of attacking, few fouls, and a spirited crowd.
Deuce starting and getting some great play, hasn’t gotten it past Freidel yet, though!
Morning Brent. Missed a corker of a game with Bolton doubling Tottenham 4-2. Stu was sharp. Nothing much in the ManU game yet but Wolves are playing as well as they can.
Reason #638 to detest English soccer announcers: Vidic makes a sweet block in the box and it deflects wide. The color-man’s take was that Vidic came inches from scoring an own goal.
Typically negative, suck-the-joy-out-of-the-game commentary.
It was a good block.
aaghghhh, where’s my coffee, did i miss anything? lol. that photo of deuce is niiiiceeee. here we go
Bebe is really really fast.
Good day for Holden, played very well today vs. Spurs.
MB is playing a lot better today vs. Bayern. He has held some possession in the first half. The defense on ‘Gladbach is so bad it’s amazing.
Tom Huddlestone should be suspended for a minimum of 3 games. That was absolutely disgraceful. It was unprovoked, and extremely vicious.