The third round of the FA Cup is littered with the typical David vs. Goliath matchups that the tournament boasts every year, but there is one matchup featuring a pair of giants that is sure to capture everyone's attention.
Premier League front-runners Manchester City and Manchester United square off in an early-round encounter that has plenty on the line. City, which torched United by a 6-1 scoreline the last time they met, catches United at a rather vulnerable time, as the club is dealing with injuries and uncharacterstic consecutive losses to lesser competition in league play.
Outside of England there's plenty of entertaining games on the slate, too, as Mexico's 2012 Clausura campaign gets underway. As part of the league-wide, season-opening schedule, Herculez Gomez' Santos Laguna takes on Jose Francisco Torres' Pachuca.
League play continues around the Iberian Peninsula after a brief break. In Portugal, Oguchi Onyewu's Sporting Lisbon has a golden chance to close the gap in the Primeira Liga table with its home match against Porto. In Spain, Barcelona will have its hands full with Espanyol in the latest installment of El Derbi Barceloni.
Here is this weekend's soccer on TV:
THIS WEEKEND'S SOCCER ON TV
FRIDAY
8 p.m. – GOLTV – Altamira vs. Toros Neza
9 p.m. – Fox Deportes/Azteca America – Morelia vs. Tijuana
SATURDAY
7:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Birmingham City vs. Wolves
10 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Macclesfield Town vs. Bolton
10 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Fleetwood Town vs. Blackpool
10 a.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Swindon Town vs. Wigan Athletic
12 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/ESPN3.com – Siena vs. Lazio
12 p.m. – ESPN3.com – Levante vs. Mallorca
12 p.m. – DirecTV – Real Sociedad vs. Osasuna
12:30 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Bristol Rovers vs. Aston Villa
2 p.m. – GOLTV – Real Madrid vs. Granada
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Inter Milan vs. Parma
3:15 p.m. – ESPN3.com – Sporting Lisbon vs. Porto
4 p.m. – GOLTV – Malaga vs. Atletico Madrid
6 p.m. – Galavision – Monterrey vs. Jaguares
6 p.m. – Telefutura – Queretaro vs. Club America
6 p.m. – Fox Deportes/Azteca America – Cruz Azul vs. Tigres UANL
8 p.m. – Telefutura – Santos Laguna vs. Pachuca
8 p.m. – Telemundo – Chivas de Guadalajara vs. Atlante
9:45 p.m. – Galavision – San Luis vs. Pumas UNAM
SUNDAY
12 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Sydney FC vs. Central Coast Mariners
6:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus – Udinese vs. Cesena
8 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Manchester City vs. Manchester United
9 a.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com – Atalanta vs. AC Milan
9 a.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com – Lecce vs. Juventus
9 a.m. – ESPN3.com – Bologna vs. Catania
9 a.m. – ESPN3.com – Roma vs. Chievo Verona
9 a.m. – ESPN3.com – Lyon-Duchere vs. Olympique Lyon
10 a.m. – DirecTV – Getafe vs. Athletic Bilbao
10:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Peterborough United vs. Sunderland
11:30 a.m. – ESPN3.com – St. Colomban Locmine vs. Paris-St. Germain
1 p.m. – Univision – Toluca vs. Estudiantes Tecos
1 p.m. – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America – Puebla vs. Atlas
1:45 p.m. – GOLTV – Real Betis vs. Sporting Gijon
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Palermo vs. Napoli
3:30 p.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Espanyol vs. Barcelona
I was wondering why LD wasn’t taking corners at he midweek (just showing my Anglophile chops)
Golazo for Maccas
Alright, that makes two goals for Clint!
any stream?
well an assist is a good start… good day so far for the Yanks in the FA Cup.. playing minnows, but still encouraging.
garza looked intimidated as he came in late….i agree castillo looked surprisingly ok, but corona looked good. the better of the 3….when he moved to the right wing he wasn’t as effective but seemed like the team was constantly trying to get the ball to the colombian striker that had two lead feet and wanted to do nothing more than draw another penalty…
Dempsey couldn’t stop scoring goals if he wanted to. I hope Landon can get in on the act too.
Dempsey with a GOAL against Charlton!
Heitinga heads home a corner taken from Donovan. 1-0 Everton, 4th minute.
its more of an anti-NYRB thing than anything else… thats the only explanation. like look at at all they Henry bashing… its just people who have no idea what they are talking about and think they are somehow signifcant
LD likes to make wild statements to get attention…. I guess its a good tactic when you know absolutely nothing about the sport…. poser.
I love it when people insult Ream yet he has the most interest the most compliments and the most going for him. Yet everyone wants to love the players that very few teams outside of the US care about.
I gotta yell this on the internet real quick, WHOEVER WROTE THIS NEEDS TO ALWAYS WRITE THIS, i always use this as my guide to soccer over the weekend and this one is a lot more detailed than other weekend soccer posts i’ve seen in the past
just sayin
If by “good” you mean nervous, slow, unimpressive on all levels, then yeah. I realize it was his debut but I was not impressed, he is as slow as ever.
Castillo actually looked surprisingly good, though. He needs two things: consistency and confidence.
What if LD is the real Landon Donovan??
Surprisingly, a mediocre Everton team facing fourth division minnows is not a huge television draw…
Who should I believe? LD the random SBI poster or EPL scouts and coaches? This is such a tough decision…
Tim Ream is terrible, not Championship caliber…
Greg garza looked good out on the left wing in front of Castillo.
»Where is the talk of Tim Ream to Bolton for 2.5-3Mil pounds?«
You just said it!
all 3 americans at tijuana saw the field tonite….excellent….
Where is the talk of Tim Ream to Bolton for 2.5-3Mil pounds?
Is that a Lyon derby I see on Sunday???
No Everton with Donovan in the FA Cup?