By MARC SERBER
As many as 400 million pairs of eyes will be on the Camp Nou on Saturday when Real Madrid visit La Liga leading Barcelona.
The two clubs are meeting for the first El Clasico of the season, and the game is already being billed as the most expensive game on earth, with the total transfer value of the players expected to take the pitch in excess of £417 million ($674 million). If Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t enough for viewers, the added bonus of new recruits Neymar vs. Gareth Bale should have everyone strapped in for a wild game.
Other games to watch for this weekend include second-place Chelsea visiting fourth-place Manchester City on Sunday in a thrilling English Premier League encounter. Jose Mourinho evaded suspension despite his charge of improper conduct and his Chelsea side have scored 14 goals in their last four games in all competitions. Man City are no slouch however, with eight goals in their last three games in all competitions and more than enough talent to compete with Chelsea all over the field.
Elsewhere, Schalke 04 take on bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma look to keep their perfect run in Serie A alive with a trip to Udinese without Francesco Totti or Gervinho, and AS Monaco host Lyon in a battle of French powers.
Here’s a rundown of this weekend’s Soccer on TV:
FRIDAY
2:25pm – beIN Sport USA – FC Nantes vs Lille
2:30pm – GolTV USA – Stuttgart vs Nurnberg
2:45pm – beIN Sport – Middlesborough FC vs Doncaster Rovers FC
3pm – beIN Sport en Español – Rayo Vallecano vs Real Valladolid
6:30pm – GolTV USA – Defensor Sporting vs Danubio
8:30pm – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/Azteca America- Morelia vs Guadalajara
10:30pm – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America – Club Tijuana vs Tigres UANL
SATURDAY
4:45am – Fox Sports Plus – Sydney FC vs. Western Sydney Wanderers
7:45am – NBC Sports Network – Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
9:30am – Gol TV USA – Schalke 04 vs Borussia Dortmund
10am – beIN Sport Play – Burnley vs. Queens Park Rangers
10am – NBC Sports Network – Manchester United vs Stoke City
10am – NBC Sports Live Extra – Aston Villa vs Everton
10am – NBC Sports Live Extra – Liverpool vs West Brom
10am – NBC Sports Live Extra – Norwich City vs Cardiff City
11am – Univision Deportes – Marseille vs Stade de Reims
12pm – beIN Sport/beIN Sport en Español – Barcelona vs Real Madrid
12:30pm – NBC Sports Network – Southampton vs Fulham
2:45pm – beIn Sport USA – Inter Milan vs Hellas Verona
2:45pm – GolTV USA – Ajax vs RKC
3pm – NBC Sports Network – Philadelphia Union vs Sporting Kansas City
4pm – MLS Direct Kick/Univision Deportes/TSN – Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact
4pm – beIN Sport en Español – Levante vs. Espanyol
4:30pm – GolTV USA – Cruzeiro vs Criciuma
5:30pm – NBC Sports Network – San Jose Earthquakes vs FC Dallas
7pm – Univision – Club America vs Puebla
9pm – Univision Deportes – Pachuca vs Cruz Azul
9pm – UniMas – Monterrey vs Chiapas
9pm – Galavision – Atlante vs Santos Laguna
9:05pm – Telemundo – Club Leon vs. Toluca
10pm – Univision Deportes – Atlas vs Queretaro
10:30pm – MLS Direct Kick – Chivas USA vs Portland Timbers
SUNDAY
7:30am – beIN Sport USA – Napoli vs Torino
9:30am – NBC Sports Network – Sunderland vs Newcastle
10am – beIN Sport en Español – Juventus vs. Genoa
10am – beIN Sport USA – Udinese vs Roma
10am – beIN Sport Play – Parma vs. AC Milan
12pm – NBC Sports Network – Chelsea v. Manchester City
12pm – NBC Sports Live Extra – Swansea City vs West Ham United
12pm – NBC Sports Live Extra – Tottenham vs Hull City
12pm – beIN Sport USA – Monaco vs Lyon
12pm – beIN Sport en Español – Villarreal vs Valencia
12:30pm – GolTV – Borussia Monchengladbach vs Eintracht Frankfurt
1pm – ESPN Deportes – Corinthians vs Santos
1:30pm – NBC – D.C. United vs Houston Dynamo
1:30pm – Univision – Pumas vs Veracruz
2pm – beIN Sport en Español – Real Sociedad vs Almeria
3pm – GolTV Cerro Porteño vs. Peñarol (Uruguay)
4pm – beIN Sport USA – Saint-Etienne vs Paris Saint-Germain
4pm – beIN Sport en Español- Atletico Madrid vs Real Betis
4pm – MLS Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. New England Revolution
5pm – UniMas – New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire
8pm – MLS Direct Kick – Vancouver Whitecaps vs Colorado Rapids
9pm – ESPN/ESPN Deportes- Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy
I’m not eating, sleeping, drinking, fornicating, crapping, breathing, until 5 pm on Sunday. OK, maybe drinking.
Arriola off in the 76th.
Jose Torres on in the 60th minute. I am probably one of the few people who want him on the roster for Brazil. Not necessarily because he is one of the best 23. He may or may not be. But because he brings a different skill set than the rest of our midfield. I think he’s technical and calm on the ball and can be useful in certain situations. No necessarily as a starter.
Hercules Gomez on in the 61st for Xolos.
Ugh. No. We have other options that are just as technical, just as calm on the ball and much more decisive and dangerous in the final third. I wouldn’t completely give up on him, but he’s small, thin, and he has always lacked the instinct for the killer ball.
Arriola starting at RS and Corona starting at RM.
And Castillo at LB per usual. Torres on the bench for Tigres
What about portland/chivaus?
The Nantes manager said that Bedoya was behind Jordan Veretout in the pecking order. In the attacking mid role. This is a Definite problem for Bedoya because Veretout just happens to be Nantes best player, for sure. His playmaking, hold up play, technical ability is all superb. I could see him seeing a lot of attention in January with offers of upwards of 5 million euros, for sure. Problem though is Nantes probably won’t be inclined to sell, because he’s key to their survival and that leaves Bedoya stuck as a back up still.
The Nantes manager mentioned that he’s aware Bedoya plays for the Nats on the wing, but I’m not sure he sees him as a viable winger option. But In all likelihood, to earn a starting position, I think he’ll just have to force someone out of the wing positions
Worth mentioning Serge Gakpé is their best winger and plays on the right side, Bedoya’s preferred position. I think that there’s a high chance Bedoya could be reduced to spot duty.
Bedoya: 90 minutes on the bench.
US Scouts watching Chandler today! With Klinsmann stating that Cameron is best at CB, RB is up for grabs. There’s Chandler, Evans, Cherundolo… and Lichaj.
I didn’t forget to mention Parkhurst. He’s healthy, but not in the rotation.
Source?
Wish this was posted earlier in the day. Would loved to have recorded the FC Nantes game. Other than that, this is the post I look forward to all week. Can you please post on Thursday?
+1
Looks like you’ve got Seattle-LA listed at local time while the other games are listed at Eastern time. Kickoff for that is 9pm EDT.
Sounder kick off a 6pst
It would be great if somewhere in this post you specified whether the time is eastern, central or pacific
Or mountain, alaskan, hawaiian…
The SKC-PHI game is a 2pm Central (and listed at 3pm here), so I assume the schedule is Eastern.
I agree with you that time zone should always be labeled for clarity, even though the default/habit for authors writing about the US is “always assume it’s Eastern”.
Just because they see the sun first….. Thinking they are all important over there.
I think this has been brought up many times. All times listed on this site are EST. I just always do the math.
Ives has said a thousand times all times are eastern.
Bedoya on the bench for Nantes. Chandler to start.
Bedoya is on the bench for Nantes. Interesting since he scored his first goal for them last week but that was also coming off of the bench.