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One of the oldest and fiercest rivals in European soccer resumes today as Manchester United travels down the M6 to take on Liverpool (7:45am, ESPN2) in the latest installment of the North West Derby.
Manchester United is currently in first place in the English Premier League, tied with Manchester City, while Liverpool will try to crack the Top Four with a win. Wayne Rooney will get plenty of attention after his English National Team red card, but the pressure will also be on Liverpool to show it can compete with the big boys.
If the early-morning Man United/Liverpool clash is too early for you, don't worry. There is plenty of other quality action today. Manchester City will take on unbeaten Aston Villa in a tricky match-up for the Citizens, while Barcelona puts its dangerous attack on display against Racing Santander.
If you are interested in the American side of things, the MLS playoff race is heating up and today features some crucial matches. Sporting Kansas City plays host to the New York Red Bulls in the match with the most playoff implications, while D.C. United looks to keep their playoff hopes alive with a win against the Chicago Fire.
Looking to see some Americans Abroad in action? Today is your day. Tim Howard and Everton take on Chelsea, while Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar will take on Ajax in a key Dutch League clash. Red-hot Estudiantes Tecus super sub Herculez Gomez looks to continue his second-half magic when Tecos takes on Chivas Guadalajara. You can also catch a glimpse of potential U.S. national team midfielder Joe Corona when Club Tijuana takes on Pachuca.
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
7:45 a.m. - ESPN2/ESPN3.com - Liverpool vs. Manchester United
9:30 a.m. - ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes - Bayern Munich vs. Hertha Berlin
10 a.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Manchester City vs. Aston Villa
10 a.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv - Norwich City vs. Swansea City
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Queens Park Rangers vs. Blackburn
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Stoke City vs. Fulham
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Wigan Athletic vs. Bolton
10 a.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Derby County vs. Southampton
12 p.m. - Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com - Catania vs. Inter Milan
12 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Mallorca vs. Valencia
12 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Real Madrid vs. Real Betis
12 p.m. - DirecTV - Getafe vs. Villarreal
12:20 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Portsmouth vs. Barnsley
12:30 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Chelsea vs. Everton
12:45 p.m. - ESPN3.com - Ajax vs. AZ Alkmaar
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Auxerre vs. Lille
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Brest vs. Caen
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Lyon vs. Nancy
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Montpellier vs. Dijon
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Toulouse vs. Marseille
1 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Evian Thonon Gaillard vs. St. Etienne
2 p.m. - GOLTV - Barcelona vs. Racing Santander
2:45 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - AC Milan vs. Palermo
3 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv - Nice vs. Bordeaux
4 p.m. - GOLTV - Granada vs. Atletico Madrid
4 p.m. - Telefutura - Sporting Kansas City vs. New York Red Bulls
4 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick/MatchDay Live - Philadelphia Union vs. Toronto FC
6 p.m. - Telemundo - Monterrey vs. Club America
7:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick/MatchDay Live - D.C. United vs. Chicago Fire
7:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick/MatchDay Live - New England Revolution vs. Columbus Crew
8 p.m. - Telemundo - Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Estudiantes Tecos
8 p.m. - Telefutura - Santos Laguna vs. Toluca
8 p.m. - Azteca America - Tijuana vs. Pachuca
8 p.m. - GOLTV - Irapuato vs. Toros Neza
8:30 p.m. - MLS Direct Kick/MatchDay Live - FC Dallas vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
9:45 p.m. - Telefutura - San Luis vs. Cruz Azul
10:30 p.m. - Fox Soccer Channel - Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes
eurodouchy
Damn Thierry…You may have just lost the season for NY…
I dont like the playoffs in soccer at all. But as there is no mls team near Minneapolis i only watch it on occation anyway so ill answer. A best of three aggregate series would be tough because you couldn’t do an away goals rule so the away team would probably park the bus in front of their net. You would see a lot of 1-0 wins and boring soccer and any red card or pk decisions would be catastrophic.
WTF? they played today
No unless there is some physical process i am not aware of.. this comparison was annoying when he was playing in england now it is just incorrect
other than travel time and actual time (extends the postseason 50%), I think this is good. Baseball is considering ways to penalize wild cards as well.
So just throwing this out there…
the general consensus seems to be playoffs=good in other sports because of large sample size(best of 7 series, etc.) and bad in soccer because there is no clear advantage for the higher seed, too small sample size, etc. My question is, why don’t we try meeting in the middle?
People will automatically backlash to this because it’s not ‘european’, but what about a best of three series up until the MLS cup final? It’s not a true best of three series in the American sense because there can be draws, but whoever has the most points after the three games would win the series. If a team won both the first two games, the third wouldn’t be necessary. The higher seeded team gets games 1 and 3, giving them a clear material advantage. If the lower seeded team upsets the higher seeded team in this framework, the chances that it was ‘random’ seem much lower than the status quo.
Expect a Rangers win tomorrow and lots of praise for Bocanegra. They’ve seemed to really enjoyed him over the past 2months.
Is Jozy turning into Emile Heskey?
The Da Silva’s were with Fluminense first and while picked up fairly young (just before 18) by United, Rafael never played in the United youth or reserves squads. Evans, though, was a homegrown player.
Jozy’s sub (Charlie Benschop) misses 2 absolute sitters and Ajax scores 10 v 11 to force the draw. Jozy was still going hard and the team probably would have been better served with another 10-15 minutes from him. In Benschop’s defense, he made a nice move around the keeper on his first miss, but the ball just bounced to him on the second.
Game over in the 28th minute to Barcelona. Two great goals… talk about power-header from Xavi
Jozy subbed out?
Messi OMG GOLAZO
Jozy forces a TO at midfield, takes it forward, and the defender picks up his second yellow after running Jozy over.
Nice 1v2 move by Jozy to draw the red card.
Very very nice cross by jozy. He has gotten much better at measuring his defender an getting off good crosses, much like the one he gave to Shea.
Despite his deficiencies he’s a good scorer and draws alot of fouls.
For all the hate that he usually gets on these board about being lazy and not a threat to score Ajax seem to be covering him with a lot of defenders and he seems to be workgin extremely hard considering he hasn’t seen the ball much.
Started watching the AZ game around the 15th min. Jozy seems to be working hard and making runs to at least draw defenders, just not seeing much of the ball. Not playing badly, just hard to look good when you never get the ball and are constantly surrounded by 2 or more defenders.
From the announcer, “jozy Altidore has worked and worked to make things difficult for the central defenders of Ajax but has hardly had a touch here in the first half.”. Ajax defense seems to br keying on Jozy. good to see his work rate improving. This would be a huge win for AZ.
Current 1st team? Cleverly, Welbeck, Rapheal (forgot his twins name)
You could say that about 80% of American players.
Good run by jozy to open up wing for 2nd goal.
His terrible touch on the ball isn’t going to change, not so much of a habit as it is Jozy being Jozy
2-0!
Jozy with a good off-the-ball run to draw away the defenders. Again, not phenomenal play, but solid.
AZ take the early lead on the road! Not Jozy who scored, but good to see Yanks on good teams.
Bad start by jozy. First two passes to put him in he failed to get his body behind the ball and missed both with an extended boot. He still has some bad habits.
Jozy starts for AZ @ Ajax. Game on ESPN3.
Wow, this City game just went to a blow out. Boo
A beauty. He’s definitely one to watch.
Word. That may have been briefly true in the late 90s and beginning of this century, but they are still given credit for developing their own talent rather than spending on transfers, credit they are no longer due.
I guess no one just saw the Balotelli goal?
I said it once and I’ll say it again, Dempsey will be leaving Fulham come summer. Hopefully to a CL team. Italy? France? Germany? Spain?
Foxsoccer.tv seems like a sham service. On multiple occasions I have signed up to use it (and been charged), only not to be able to access the games. The only way to contact customer service is by email, and they are unresponsive. I just want to watch the Fulham game.
That’s funny. I’m a Man U fan so I love him in the red shirt, hate him in the green.
I hate Chicharito. And it’s not just because he’s mexican.
It’s because he’s a mexican soccer player.
Dang! Great effort by Henderson and De Gea responds. Terrific action at the end of full time here.
Captain Amazing? He hit the free kick right at the wall. He better thank Giggs after the match for moving out of the way.
And Chicharito unmarked in the box is not a good tactic for maintaining the lead. Good grief.
Edson Buddle has 5 goals in 11 matches for his club in the 2nd Bundesliga. I have a feeling if they are relegated he has a chance to be picked up by a small Bundesliga club for cheap
Welcome back Captain Amazing. Reds 1 Red Devils 0
Thank you Giggs for stepping away from the wall a wee bit to give Gerrard’s shot a clean path to the back of the net.
Minus Giggs.
Ok, fair play, let me rephrase. I disklike the team. Satisfied? And what talent have they really developed that is a huge part of their first team?
Yeah….talent developed at a young age mixed with shrewd transfer decisions, loyalty to older players and the most stable coaching staff in European football is annoying. Let me guess….you love Real Madrid.
It is one thing if you are not a fan of the team….but the club is excellent.
He made the mistake of pulling it onto his left. He should have just hit it with pace to that near post, from 15 yards out the keeper has to make an unbelievable save to deny you.
What a chance for Suarez, and he blasts it right at De Gea. AHHH!! Why Suarez that should have been automatic for him
I hope Man United get taken advantage off, can’t stand them as a club.
Rooney being left on the bench by SAF, hopefully Liverpool can take advantage.