By MICHAEL KLINE
This weekend features more international action, with ESPN hosting multiple excellent international matches for your viewing pleasure.
The European Under-21 Championships will progress to the semi-finals on Saturday, with Spain taking on Norway and Italy facing the Netherlands.
Norway are massive underdogs against the defending champs, and Spain will look to progress to the finals in an attempt to continue their international dominance across all age groups. Spain will have Real Madrid striker, and tournament leading goalscorer, Alvaro Morata on their side, however, the Norwegian lads have been more proficient thus far in the tournament, a slight advantage over the Spaniards.
On Sunday, ESPN will show the opening round of the Confederations over a span of five consecutive hours.
Brazil get Group A underway on Saturday, when they face Japan in the opening match of the tournament. Mexico will meet Italy on Sunday in another Group A matchup, with Spain and Uruguay following an hour later.
Here is a rundown of This Weekend’s Soccer on TV:
THIS WEEKEND’S SOCCER ON TV
FRIDAY
10pm – GolTV – Guatemala vs. Argentina
SATURDAY
11:30am – ESPN3 – Spain vs. Norway – U21
2:30pm – ESPN3 – Italy vs. Netherlands – U21
3pm – ESPN – Brazil vs. Japan
5pm – ESPN – Portland Timbers vs. Dallas FC
7pm – MLS Direct Kick – DC United vs. Toronto FC
7pm – ESPN3 – United States vs. South Korea – Women’s
7:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Columbus Crew vs. Montreal Impact
9pm – MLS Direct Kick – Colorado Rapids vs. San Jose Earthquakes
10pm – MLS Direct Kick – Vancouver Whitecaps vs. New England Revolution
SUNDAY
3pm – ESPN – Mexico vs. Italy – Confederations Cup
6pm – ESPN – Spain vs. Uruguay – Confederations Cup
I can never root for Mexico. Also if memory serves, USMNT made the finals in last Confed Cup. Lets see how far Mexico goes.
That was an incredible run, probably the highest level the USA has ever reached. Still can’t believe that we went through the group stage with 3 points and had a losing record(2 wins, 3 losses). I doubt Mexico cares how far they go; they’re getting a new coach plus they won a Confed Cup already.
Of course it would be awesome to have the US in the confed cup, hoping to make a improbable run like last time. But in a weird way, I am kind of glad they can focus on Honduras and try to get a real stranglehold on the Hex
While the US prepares to play a WCQ against the big H (honduras), Mexican fans will be reminding the Yanks they’re the ones in Confed Cup not the US. But let’s talking about reality.
Italy is hungry after coming up short against Spain in Euros. Brazil won’t let another nation win any tournament in their country. Japan is sneaky good and has some real stars on their team.
Recent form doesn’t bode well and Mexico will go out in this group along with Japan. And this will make 99.9% of US fans muy feliz.
The Confederations Cup is important because it is the best dress rehearsal you can get for the World Cup. You get to play in the same stadiums and climate and you get better competition than you would in the Gold Cup.
Ironically, the only problem is there is a real possibility Mexico won’t be there to take advantage of the preparation, not if they keep playing the same way.
It’s Alvaro Morata, not Morado. Morado means purple brah
Looking forward to the Confed Cup. I wish USA was in it, but I will have to settle for rooting for Mexico. I say that with mixed feelings of course. I hate Mexico’s national team, but I want them to represent CONCACAF well in international tournaments.
I’ll literally never understand this mentality and would love to discuss but I’ve given up after countless times.
To each their own but I’d never wish my enemy well.
Our region will never get the respect it deserves in reputation, rankings or otherwise. Even so, depending on this is a defeatist mentality.
Make the World Cup. Handle your business, the rest will take care of itself…rankings are obviously irrelevant.
1: USA
2: England
3: Slovenia
4: Algeria
How high was England ranked above us at the start of the World Cup? That’s right, it didn’t matter.
Not railing on you specifically, DC Josh, but I hate that mentality with a passion. Go watch some Mexico matches and their fans/players to remind yourself why rooting for them is beyond reason.
Are you under the impression Mexican fans would return the favor?
Never, never, never root for Mexico. C’mon bro. No self-respecting US fan can do such a thing. Please re-think this. It’s bad enough I have to pull for Chichirito when he plays for United but cheer for the Mexican national team? You’re talking about fans that throw urine and feces at our players when they come in and out of the tunnel. Think about that.
I’ve also echo’d those sentiments but the moderation bug is holding my post hostage.
eesh. that’s like cheering for nyrb to win emirates cup or whatever they got.
i would rather the rest of world think concacaf is worse than the afc if it meant that mexico lost every game.
It is amazing how much I appreciate the country of Mexico: the place, the culture, and the people. I love the language, it’s entwined, complicated relationship with the US, and I even am fascinated by the political and social complexities. I worry about their violence and I hope for their future.
But seriously. Their soccer team can go F themselves…hard.
I date a damn Mexican woman but you’d never guess it with my posts.
Jeez, how do WCQ’s go around the Old School house?
She’s second generation, so her family are deeply pro-Mexican.
It’s a blast, to be honest and as heated as it is, there’s always a beer after. With that said, I’d never root for them or wish them well.
I’ll try and repost it, just to see if it shows.
Nope.
Utterly tired of the moderation. It’s becoming bothersome to the point of avoiding posting.
My wife is halfmexican and my son could play for el tri (I think?) but I still can’t root for them even when I try.. haha
Well said!
DC, I don’t want to pile on but come on my man!
Original SBI Mafia, that is something to think about, but just one of the reasons it’s like Old School said, we need to take care of our own business to earn respect and screw what they do
Cheers Mig 😉
Does Fox Soccer Channel broadcast games anymore, or are they now the Fox Shamwow! Channel?
They’re becoming Fox Sports 1 soon, I believe.
i.e. Cancel it from your sports package, if you can.
August 17th is when the new network debuts
Fox Soccer will become a new entertainment channel called FXX and I believe SPEED will be rebranded as Fox Sports 1.
The Gold Cup will be mostly on Fox Soccer with 3 games on Fox.
They have the Guiness Beer Cup (or something like that) too! YAY!
yeah, the first confed cup game is actually brasil-japan, which you have listed. notable because they’re the only two teams who have qualified for the world cup so far.
“Mexico will kick the tournament off when they face Italy in a Group A matchup”
The Brazil match tomorrow doesn’t count?
Of course not.
Perhaps they’re literally implying a Mexican player or fan will be kicking someone?
I spit my coffee lol
Right!? Lol, jokes about Mexicans.
I see the wounds from the last Gold Cup final match haven’t healed..LOL
Odd numbered matches at the Confederations cup are listed as International Friendlies as stated in the FIFA Rule Book, page 287, Paragraph 4.
Um, I think that sentence means Mexico will kick off the tournament for themselves.
Fernando Torres:
-Spanish: as a result, has a positive stigma
-Contradiction: Continues to get worse as he gets older
Clint Dempsey:
-American: as a result has a negative stigma
-Contradiction: Continues to gets better as he gets older
A couple of years ago, the Torres observation was true. While injuries, overuse at Liverpool, underuse/misuse at Chelsea, and then subsequent loss of confidence ruined a few years for Torres, he scored more goals last year than he has for the last 4 and frankly looks a lot better than he has in 4-5 years. I don’t know how long he will keep up his good play but by any measure, he is on the upswing.
I like Clint, but this is kind of silly. Fernando Torres was the best striker on the planet from 2007-2010 before the injuries. He hit rock bottom in the 10-11 season for Chelsea. Since then he’s been good to great and making quite the comeback.
He just won Euro Cup last year as the tournaments leading scorer.
He had 10 more goals than Dempsey last season.
So I’m not sure how he’s continuing to get worse given that he’s continuing to get better while Dempsey’s numbers dropped significantly for his club.
For starters, you’re cherry picking a viewpoint that ignores reality by citing things in the past. Your post is all over the place.
On one hand, you acknowledge Torres previous form/ability and on the other, you complete neglect to acknowledge the current status of his career.
I don’t recall saying he wasn’t at one point an unbelievable player. I do recall saying: “Continues to get worse as he gets older.”
Are you really going to refute that? Ok, go right ahead.
On the other hand, you reference THIS year for Clint’s club form, disregard his National Team form, while ignoring reality that his decline in stats for club was due to; injuries, more competition for a roster spot.
I don’t recall “club” being the only criteria. After all, we ARE in a thread about national teams playing….i.e. for country.
Are you really going to refute Dempsey’s accession for country (and frankly, club given his form at Fulham last year landing him on a better club)?
Like I said, your post was all over the place for a very, very simply post on my part. Don’t make it overly complex.
Dempsey is going up.
Torres continues to go down.
There’s zero argument, debate or confusion.
Respectfully,
You have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.
Torres is the current top target for Barcelona. Torres had 22 goals this season, a season he started after winning the golden boot in Euro Cup 2012.
His career is going nowhere but up.
I’ll take the words of Torres, the assessment of many managers over your opinion.
The guy is on the decline and needs a shrink, more than he needs your support.
torres said he’s continuing to get worse, after this season? got a source for that? (i actually wouldn’t be that surprised.)
and i will disagree with your OP–you say that torres has a ‘positive stigma’ because he’s spanish. doesn’t hurt, but i say it’s more because he was, at one point, maybe the best pure striker in the world.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8716469/Fernando-Torres-delighted-with-form-for-Chelsea
Yes, why don’t you take the words of Torres–
“It’s been a good season for me,” Torres told Chelsea TV. “Top scorer in the team, winning a trophy, scoring in the final. Things are becoming normal.”
– May 16, 2013
Sorry, Old School, I love Clint, but to say that Torres is going down is simply ignoring the facts from last year’s season. Did Torres have a bad 18 months at Chelsea? Sure. Those days are behind him, though, and he’s back on the upswing and has added aspects to his game that he didn’t have at Liverpool.
You could even argue that Torres is on a bigger upswing right now that Clint is, with Torres coming off a poor season two years ago and Clint coming off his best one two years ago.
Torres is a striker for one of the best teams in the world and, as such, receives unbelievable service. Dempsey plays mostly midfield for Spurs so their goal totals don’t really tell the story. If Nando isn’t scoring goals, he’s worse than useless as he does not hold up the ball or distribute particularly well. His job is mainly to toe the line and look to make runs all game.
Nando is a huge risk and it would be incredibly foolish for anyone to offer him a big deal at this point. He is a pure speed striker at 29 which is an age that many speed guys begin to slow down. He is coming off of 2 out of 3 seasons of truly awful play and production. He has undergone many injury riddled seasons which have taken a great toll on his 29 year old body and even is he stays healthy and retains his speed, you have to worry about his head which has caused massive problems in the past.
Oppose this with Dempsey, who has less mileage, has always been much healthier, is much less reliant on speed and whose head and heart are virtually unmatched. Torres might be a higher reward proposition but Dempsey is the much, much, much, much safer bet. You’d be much safer taking a young, talented, unproven striker than Torres.
Torres is a striker for one of the best teams in the world and, as such, receives unbelievable service. Dempsey plays mostly midfield for Spurs so their goal totals don’t really tell the story. If Nando isn’t scoring goals, he’s worse than useless as he does not hold up the ball or distribute particularly well. His job is mainly to toe the line and look to make runs all game.
Nando is a huge risk and it would be incredibly foolish for anyone to offer him a big deal at this point. He is a pure speed striker at 29 which is an age that many speed guys begin to slow down. He is coming off of 2 out of 3 seasons of truly awful play and production. He has undergone many injury riddled seasons which have taken a great toll on his 29 year old body and even is he stays healthy and retains his speed, you have to worry about his head which has caused ma$$ive problems in the past.
Oppose this with Dempsey, who has less mileage, has always been much healthier, is much less reliant on speed and whose head and heart are virtually unmatched. Torres might be a higher reward proposition but Dempsey is the much, much, much, much safer bet. You’d be much safer taking a young, talented, unproven striker than Torres.
Also, Nando had exactly one more league goal than Deuce did last year in 3 more games than Clint. The two previous seasons, Deuce blows Nando away. Nando at his age is still a huge, huge risk. He’s not a 23 year old like Jozy who seems to be figuring things out. He’s nearly 30 with a long track record of both physical and psychological fragility who hasn’t scored double digits in the EPL in 4 seasons. That screams risk to me. I wouldn’t touch him unless he wants to take a 1 year contract for 4 million which he won’t.
I’m not sure what everyone is arguing over.
Clint and El Nino are both either just at their peaks (Deuce) or just past them ( Torres) and are both unlikely to be the subject of big money bids ( assuming the bidder has sense) near what they were originally bought for.
If I were responsible for a CL team with a need for a striker this season, depending on how their team was set up, I’d take Clint because he would be cheaper and less of a risk.
7 million euros at this point is small beer and anything near that for Clint would be a bargain.
There’s zero point in discussing this further with someone who doesn’t believe there can be discussion. “There’s zero argument, debate or confusion” says much more about the person posting it than it does about the point he’s trying to make.