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This Weekend’s Soccer on TV

DiMatteo (ISIphotos)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The FA Cup has been littered with surprises, and the three biggest remaining clubs will look to avoid that upset bug as the quarterfinals commence this weekend.

Chelsea looks to stay hot under Roberto Di Matteo when it hosts Leicester City, Tottenham faces relegation-threatened Bolton and Liverpool takes on Stoke City in three of the quarterfinal fixtures. The other one is a bit more even, as Everton and Sunderland — level on 37 points in the middle of the Premier League table — meet at Goodison Park.

This weekend also marks the beginning of Fox Soccer's coverage of the Scottish Premier League, with fans being able to catch a glimpse of the American trio at Rangers, when the club mired in a financial crisis takes on Dundee United.

There are also a number of intriguing games in MLS this weekend, as Montreal gets set for its first home game as an MLS franchise, Real Salt Lake clashes with the New York Red Bulls and Seattle and Toronto FC open their league campaigns against each other after sitting out First Kick weekend.

Here is this weekend's soccer on TV:

THIS WEEKEND'S SOCCER ON TV

FRIDAY

3 p.m. – ESPN3.com – Nacional Funchal vs. Porto

3:30 p.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Hoffenheim vs. Stuttgart

10 p.m. – Galavision – Estudiantes Tecos vs. Morelia

SATURDAY

8:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Dundee United vs. Rangers

8:45 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Everton vs. Sunderland

10:30 a.m. – GOLTV – Borussia Dortmund vs. Werder Bremen

11 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Wigan Athletic vs. West Brom

11 a.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Fulham vs. Swansea City

11 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Leeds United vs. West Ham

1 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com – Parma vs. AC Milan

1 p.m. – DirecTV – Granada vs. Sporting Gijon

1 p.m. – GOLTV – Real Zaragoza vs. Osasuna

1 p.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Getafe vs. Real Sociedad

1:30 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Tottenham vs. Bolton

1:30 p.m. – ESPN3.com – Hertha Berlin vs. Bayern Munich

2 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick/TSN – Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Auxerre vs. Evian Thonon Gaillard

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Bordeaux vs. Ajaccio

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Caen vs. Paris-St. Germain

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Lorient vs. Brest

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Marseille vs. Dijon

2 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Nancy vs. Montpellier

3 p.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Sevilla vs. Barcelona

3:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Fiorentina vs. Juventus

4 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – St. Etienne vs. Lyon

5 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick – San Jose Earthquakes vs. Houston Dynamo

5 p.m. – DirecTV – Rayo Vallecano vs. Real Betis

5:15 p.m. – GOLTV – River Plate vs. Deportivo Merlo

7 p.m. – Telefutura – Queretaro vs. Chivas de Guadalajara

7 p.m. – Azteca America – Cruz Azul vs. Santos Laguna

8:30 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick – Sporting Kansas City vs. New England

8:30 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick – FC Dallas vs. Portland Timbers

9 p.m. – Telefutura – Pachuca vs. Atlante

9 p.m. – Galavision – Tigres UANL vs. Tijuana

10 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick – Real Salt Lake vs. New York Red Bulls

10 p.m. – MLS Live/Direct Kick – Seattle Sounders vs. Toronto FC

11 p.m. – Galavision – Atlas vs. Jaguares

SUNDAY

3:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Gold Coast United vs. Perth Glory

8 a.m. – Fox Socer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Heart of Midlothian vs. Hibernian

9:30 a.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Wolverhampton vs. Manchester United

9:30 a.m. – ESPN3.com – FC Twente vs. Feyenoord

10 a.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Chelsea vs. Leicester City

10 a.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/ESPN3.com – Inter Milan vs. Atalanta

10:30 a.m. – GOLTV – Kaiserslautern vs. Schalke

11 a.m. – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Mallorca vs. Atletico Madrid

12 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Liverpool vs. Stoke City

12 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Newcastle vs. Norwich City

12 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Sochaux vs. Nice

12 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Stade Rennes vs. Toulouse

1 p.m. – GOLTV – Athletic Bilbao vs. Valencia

2 p.m. – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America – Puebla vs. San Luis

2 p.m. – Univision – Toluca vs. Monterrey

3:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Udinese vs. Napoli

4 p.m. – NBC Sports Network – Philadelphia Union vs. Colorado Rapids

4 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv – Lille vs. Valenciennes

4:30 p.m. – GOLTV – Real Madrid vs. Malaga

6 p.m. – Telefutura – America vs. Pumas UNAM

7 p.m. – Galavision – Los Angeles Galaxy vs. D.C. United

Comments

  1. cajun and Erik,

    I don’t have a problem with the recent influx of players from Germany. They have passports and to me they are therefore as American as hot dogs, apple pie, the Second Amendment, reality shows and high cholesterol levels.

    The tenuous connection I was referring to is the rather liberal FIFA regulations regarding “nationality” which are far less stringent than the regs governing those who can get a US passport.

    Getting a US passport is exceedingly hard.

    So if Jones, Williams, Johnson et. al. have one they have them on merit.

    “What you miss is in the US (and other western democracies) citizenship is to a large degree volitional.”

    I’m not sure what you mean.

    Being born in circumstances that result in you having the right to an American passport is not volitional. You had no choice in the matter.

    If you want to disavow the US and change national affiliations that is volitional.

    “but in the end, fans respond to a players desire and commitment. And success at a national level often needs those things, since there are so many more limitations and restrictions than at a club level.”

    At the World Cup level if you are on a team and do not have desire and commitment, you will rapidly be exposed. So even if you don’t give a damm about the country you are playing for no professional wants to be humiliated on the field in such high profile circumstances.

    Follow the money. If you can’t get it up enough to play hard for the team then you are risking a lot by stepping on the field.

    World Cups are extremely lucrative opportunities for professionals.

    Reply
  2. To clarify, Williams played as a defensive/holding mid on the right side in a 4-2-3-1 and had a solid game, excluding a foolish encounter which could’ve resulted in a booking. Johnson was dangerous coming forward but struggled with his positioning on the defensive end.

    On the topic of US eligibility, Stuttgart’s LB, Sakai, was born in NYC and lived there for 2 years before moving to Japan. He has played for Under sides in Japan but never with the senior side. He is also eligible to play for Germany (German mother).

    Reply
  3. “Middlesbrough central defender Seb Hines, 23, indicates he would be willing to play for the United States”

    interesting.

    Reply
  4. To call a direct decendent, one directly responsible for your own being, a “tenuous connection” is absurd. I don’t care if they’re from Timbuktu or Antactica. Ours just happen to be from America and I, for one, accept them as such just as much as anyone here with parents born abroad accept that nationality. It’s not their fault and doesn’t make them less “American”.

    Reply
  5. They are technically as American as anyone with an American passport but all things considered, they are pretty much German.

    Reply
  6. How is the Montreal game not on US TV?

    They are going to have the largest crowd in the history of our league.

    ESPN should have picked this one up.

    MLS drops the scheduling ball once again.

    Reply
  7. It’s really not that strange. The children of American servicemen and servicewomen are as American as anyone from New York or Ohio or Texas, and should be accepted as such.

    Reply
  8. What you miss is in the US (and other western democracies) citizenship is to a large degree volitional. Therefore it’s easier to embrace a foreign national who chooses your country. Cynically, we can all understand the aspect of opportunism, but in the end, fans respond to a players desire and commitment. And success at a national level often needs those things, since there are so many more limitations and restrictions than at a club level.

    Reply
  9. ” A bit strange that the guy who played college soccer in the US is not on the US national team but two guys who never lived in the US are…”

    He was never eligible to play for the the US. He was only here for about 4 years.

    Ringers, or as they are more commonly known, players who never lived in a country or have a tenuous connection to it yet now represent it on the field are not unusual.

    Chris Birchall, formerly of the Galaxy, played for T & T in the 2006 World Cup because his mother was born there. I’m not sure he was ever in the country before he played for them.

    Danny Wellbeck (and probably CJ Sapong) could play for Ghana if they they really wanted to (and were asked). This even though both have played for England and the US, respectively, in friendlies. I’m not sure either of them have ever been to Ghana.

    And let’s not even get into the Olympic games.

    International football is something of a lucrative, benign fraud put on for your pleasure and it appeals to your nationalism to make money for people like Dan Flynn.

    The USMNT are not a top flight team but I remain a fan because they are an interesting story. I certainly don’t take the nationalistic aspects of the team very seriously.

    Reply
  10. Hoffenheim lose 2-1, Johnson started at LB, Williams at RM (not in the winger-type role Klinsmann keeps trying him at even though he’s a d-mid).

    Vedad Ibisevic with both goals in his return to the Hoff. Fabian Johnson drew the penalty that got Hoffenheim within one. A bit strange that the guy who played college soccer in the US is not on the US national team but two guys who never lived in the US are…

    Reply
  11. I really hope Gary Preston isn’t calling the Bayern Munich/Hertha Berlin match. With BM’s form of late, I have little interest in listening to someone openly cheer a team as it decimates a team featuring a NAT again.

    Reply

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