Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
The first weekend of 2014 is kicked off with an exciting three days of soccer action across the globe, including the return of Serie A, the FA Cup, and Liga MX.
Weary English Premier League clubs head into their fifth game in two weeks as the world’s oldest cup competition begins it’s third round, with plenty of the lower league teams hoping to take out an EPL side. Headlining the round is the classic North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham on Saturday while Manchester United host Swansea City on Sunday.
In Italy, Serie A resumes with a top-of-the-table clash that could determine who wins this season’s Scudetto. Once leaders AS Roma travel north to face three-time defending champions Juventus on Sunday and fans will be able to see both team’s veteran leaders play. Roma have their ace Francesco Totti back to full fitness as do Juventus with Andrea Pirlo. With five points standing in between Juventus and Roma, a win for the Bianconeri could set themselves up for a fourth straight Serie A title.
Finally, Liga MX returns this weekend with the start of the Clausura campaign, just 19 days after Club Leon won the Apertura title. Club America, who lost in the final, enter the season as favorites to win, as does Leon and Morelia. The biggest test in the first match of the year though goes to America, who host Tigres UANL.
Here’s a rundown of this weekend’s soccer on TV:
FRIDAY
8:30pm – Morelia vs. Querétaro – ESPN Deportes/Azteca America
10:30pm – Santos Laguna vs. Chivas de Guadalajara – Univision Deportes
SATURDAY
1:30am – Newcastle Jets vs. Perth Glory – Fox Soccer Plus
3:45am – Melbourne Victory vs. Brisbane Roar – One World Sports
7:45am – Motherwell vs. Inverness CT – Fox Soccer Plus
7:45am – Blackburn vs. Manchester City – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes
10am – Malaga vs. Atletico Madrid – beIN Sport en Español
10am – Rochdale vs. Leeds United – Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes
10am – Grimsby Town vs. Huddersfield Town – Fox Sports 2
10am – Macclesfield Town vs. Sheffield Wednesday – Fox Soccer Plus
12pm – Real Valladolid vs. Real Betis – beIN Sport en Español
12:15pm – Arsenal vs. Tottenham – Fox
2pm – Valencia vs. Levante – beIN Sport USA
2pm – Rennes vs. Valenciennes – Univision Deportes
4pm – Almeria vs. Granada – beIN Sport USA
6pm – Club America vs. Tigres UANL – Univision
8pm – Monterrey vs. Cruz Azul – UniMas
8pm – Pachuca vs. Toluca – Univision Deportes
10pm – Atlas vs. Club Tijuana – Univision Deportes
10pm – Chiapas vs. Veracruz – Univision Deportes 2
SUNDAY
1am – Central Coast Mariners vs. Melbourne Heart – Fox Sports 2
7am – Nottingham Forest vs. West Ham United – Fox Sports 2/Fox Deportes
7:45am – St. Mirren vs. Celtic – Fox Soccer Plus
9:15am – Derby County vs. Chelsea – Fox Sports 1
10am – Barcelona vs. Elche – beIN Sport USA
11:30am – Manchester United vs. Swansea City – Fox Sports 1
12pm – Fiorentina vs. Livorno – beIN Sport USA
12pm – Osasuna vs. Espanyol – beIN Sport en Español
1pm – Pumas vs. Puebla – Univision
2pm – Real Sociedad vs. Athletic Bilbao – beIN Sport en Español
2:45pm – Juventus vs. Roma – beIN Sport USA
6pm – Atlante vs. Club Leon – Univision Deportes
I have AT&T UVERSE, and the last EPL games I saw during the weekend of the 14th did happen to have all the 9am games through NBC sports extra there must have been 5 games going on simultaneously. It is part of the alternate channels. Just like BE IN Sport during the Conmebol qualifying where I was able to watch 3 to 4 games simultaneously. UVERSE is your best option.
Yes!! For the first time ever, I will get to watch my beloved Nottingham Forrest team which I adopted through Football Manager!! Happy day!!
Rovers!
Cancelled sports pkg with fox channels (includes bein etc.) so not much on this weekend!
Urgh me too, but had to do it. None of the channels are worth it now that NFL regular season is over. To be honest, when I was calling to cancel I didn’t realize they had put beIn on there. That was my one hesitation.
I used to get Fox Soccer without having to pay for the sports package. Now I get Fox Sports 1, but Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer plus, Bein, Gol, Univision Deportes are all on the sports package. That leaves very few options outside of BPL games (Which I personally don’t care about). With two young children, I don’t have a lot of time watch games, so it doesn’t make sense to pay the extra money for the sports package, but it would be nice to have a few more options, so when I do get a minute to sit down I can catch at least catch part of a game.
who do you have? FS1, FS2, ESPN, ESPN2, NBC Sports, etc. are all on the same tier for AT&T U-verse. beIN Sport is on the next level along with NFL Network.
Maybe you can help me, Bryan.
I have Comcast (which totally sucks) and I do not get FS2, BeIN Sport USA, or any of the NBCSN Extra channels. I get BeIN Sport Espanol (odd) and NBCSN along with FS1. I seriously pay for all the sports packages I can get…. I don’t want to call them, but if I have to I will. Any insight? I really just want to get BeIN Sport USA and wouldn’t mind FS2 as well.
that is interesting. i have actually never had Comcast though, so i can’t really speak to them. i’ve had Cox, Fios, and now U-verse. for Cox, i had that during early FSC days, Setanta Sport was still available for example.
Fios i had prior to beIN Sport or FS1 and FS2. so i’ll speak strictly on U-verse.
it seems very weird that you get beIN Sport Espanol and not beIN Sport USA. that is really weird. that makes no sense. i get both. you should check that though. as for FS1 and FS2, i COULD see some cable providers putting FS2 on a higher tier than FS1. then, from a greedy business standpoint, they can charge you for the basic sports tier (ESPN, FS1, NBC Sports), then get you to buy the Sports Package (beIN Sport, apparently FS2, NFL Network), and maybe even get you to then pay for FSC+ ($13/month by itself for U-verse).
as for the NBCSN Extra, that is not a channel. it is an app for your phone, tablet, computer, etc. (and hopefully TV & consoles soon). this is FREE with you cable subscription. WatchESPN is ESPN’s equivalent.
beIN Sport and Fox just released their version. for Fox, they now (finally!!!!) offer an app called Fox Sports Go which is FREE with your cable subscription. this is NOT FoxSoccer2Go which was an additional fee. the app is already available for iphone and you can of course go to the actual website. beIN Sport Play is the one for beIN Sport. i have not seen a phone/tablet app yet, but the website works and i’ve stream La Liga games multiple times now to test it.
if you are avoiding the call, use chat. i’m sure Comcast Xfinity offers Live Chat now. Fios, Cox, and U-Verse all do. queue yourself up, do something else until the answer. which is usually much faster.
If you have Direc TV you get the Extra Time games on a series of channels. (think sunday ticket but for premier league)
very cool. i’ve never had satellite so i had no idea.
thanks for all the info Bryan
Dude this is awesome information man thanks so much! I totally forgot I asked about this until today, ha. Glad I remembered and came back to look.
I have Comcast with the sports package, or a sports package anyway. I don’t get Fox Sports 2, which my parents do in a different area with the same package. Fox Soccer was until August available with the sports package only, but with the Fox Sports 1 rebranding it became available with the same cable that gets you NBC Sports. However it’s still the same high channel number (725 for me) that you wouldn’t necessarily flip to by accident. BeIN Sport is still sports package only. I actually don’t get BeIN Sport Espanol, which is probably a weird regional variation.
FYI the NBC ExtraTime for Comcast is On Demand, if you have Comcast that gets you NBC Sports and On Demand you should be able to watch the other games live. They have some replays too, but there’s no rhyme or reason to them I can find.
The On Demand tip is excellent man – can’t thank you enough for the info!