This weekend's soccer on TV

Twenty-eight games. That is how many soccer games you will be able to watch on TV this weekend if you are lucky enough to have Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, Setanta Sports USA, Telefutura and HDNet. Now I'm sure there are plenty of matches I'm not listing, but ask your self, isn't 28 enough?

For those of you who can do the math, that's enough soccer for every hour of the weekend. Then again, if you are a TIVO junkie like I am you know that you can plow through a full game in 80 minutes by skipping halftime stuff and zooming through injuries, goalkeeper time-wasting and other dead moments in play.

I wouldn't advise that anyone watch THAT much soccer, unless you just happen to have two broken legs and are going to be laying in bed anyway, but you should enjoy some of the great games on display this weekend.

Here is SBI's choice for the top five games of the weekend:

• Liverpool at Arsenal- Could you really miss round two of this three-game 'series'?
• Villarreal at Sevilla- Two teams that love to attack should make for a fun 90 minutes.
• Cardiff City at Barnsley- Yep, this is really an FA Cup semifinal, can you really skip it? NOO
• FC Dallas at Houston- Take a good rivalry and let Telefutura announcers make it fun.
• Lyon at Marseille- Not a French league fan? So what, there is plenty of talent in this game.

If these games don't do it for you, there are plenty more to choose from. Here is the remainder of the weekend's soccer on TV.

SATURDAY

*7:30am- Setanta USA- Liverpool at Arsenal

9:30am- GolTV- Hertha Berlin at Werder Bremen

10am- Setanta USA- Chelsea at Manchester City

10am- FSC- Reading at Newcastle

11:30am- GolTV- Hamburg at Stuttgart

Noon- FSC- Bolton at Aston Villa

2pm- GolTV- Recreativo Huelva at Osasuna

2:30pm- FSC- Cagliari at AC Milan

4pm- GolTV- Real Madrid at Mallorca

4:30pm- FSC- Genoa at AS Roma

6pm- Setanta USA- Sunderland at Fulham

7:15pm- GolTV- Deportivo Cali at Independiente Santa Fe

7:30pm- FSC- Columbus Crew at Red Bulls

7:45pm- Setanta USA- Tottenham at Blackburn

10:30pm- HDNet- Real Salt Lake at Chivas USA

SUNDAY

8:30am- Setanta USA- Manchester United at Middlesbrough

9am- FSC- Reggina at Fiorentina

*11am- FSC- Cardiff City at Barnsley (FA Cup Semifinal)

11am- GolTV- VFL Bochum at Bayern Munich

*1pm- GolTV- Villarreal at Sevilla

2:30pm- FSC- Juventus at Palermo

*2:45pm- Setanta USA- Lyon at Marseille

*3pm- Telefutura- FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo

3pm- GolTV- Getafe at Barcelona

4:30pm- FSC- Derby at Everton

5pm- GolTV- Almeria at Atletico Madrid

7pm- GolTV- Independiente Medellin at Once Caldas

11pm- FSC- River Plate at Lanus

Comments

[Mario in SJ]

28 games. There can be no better indication of just how far soccer has come. In the seventies we had nothing more than 'Soccer Made in Germany' for one hour on Saturdays.

30 years or so and we can enjoy more soccer games than available baseball games. Who'd have thunk it!

[eric]

This weekend, the Setanta subscribers get more of my jealousy than the GolTV'ers.

Lots of games on FSC, but not a lot of compelling matchups, lots of mediocrity in the EPL, and the top Serie A teams are playing pretty dull opponents. Good weekend to have a life.

Out of what I can watch in my own home, the 2 MLS games are tops, and I'm pumped for another season of the Babe Cam on Telefutura!

[Fuego Fanatico]

Marseille has done a good job of digging themselves out of their early season funk.

Besides Juventus, when was the last G-14 team to be relegated? PSG is only 1 point clear of teams 18 and 19 in Lique 1.

What would really be nifty is if PSG can win both the Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France and still be relegated out of Lique 1.

[JH]

I'm interested to see how the loss of Carlos Ruiz will affect the passion and emotion of the FCD/Dynamo game on Sunday.

He always seemed to be the common denominator in each incidence of bad blood between the two years the past couple of years.

In any case, good riddance to him.

[Empshel]

The Tivo advice is good (and necessary when multiple games are on), but throw in the ability to watch a game on Tivo while you watch another game or two on Setanta Broadband or ESPN 360 and watching 28 games over a weekend becomes a much less daunting task.

I need a life . . .

[A.S.]

For those of us who only get FSC, this looks like a good weekend to not watch TV and go do something else instead.

[stencom1]

LIVE: La Liga!! Saturday, 4/5/2008 @ 4PM ET Mallorca v Real Madrid on world sport HD (dish)

[Scott]

I recall that "Soccer Made in Germany" was on Wednesday nights in Denver. Mario was living large in SJ.

[Pete]

I'm getting really sick of FSC showing an additional mediocre premiership game on Sunday afternoons while relegating the Argentine league game to 11pm. I'm sorry, but an already relegated Derby side against Everton, which has almost no chance of champions league qualification, does not make for must-see television. The obsession with the English league in this country is so ridiculously overblown. Give me the Apertura champions against the current second-place squad over the stomach-churning mid-table premiership teams any day.

[bg]

if you can get mls direct kick, i highly recommend it - $79

[pjdinho]

Can't wait for the first Brian "Ching!" of 2008 from Telefutura.

[Empshel]

Pete -

I hear you, though you appear to be a little more upset about it than I am.

If it's an option for you, the Argentine game of the week is usually (and is this week) available live at 3pm on Fox Sports Espanol.

[David Berger]

"For those of you who can do the match"
math. The spelling police is here!

[KLB]

Only one of the FA Cup ties? Disappointing.

[Aquaman]

If you don't have setanta USA and you want to watch the Lyon-Marseille game, is there somewhere that you can watch it online? Just a general question about these online streams of games: Do you have to watch them as they are happening live, or can you watch them later on in the day?

[Simona]

A lot of good stuff this wekeend. Arsenal for the win! & you are definitely right about the talent in Lyon vs. Marseille.

[Brant]

Yep, I'm gonna say it:
C'mon Newcastle!

(Sorry Marcus/Bobby, a guy's gotta cheer for his favorite team...)