This weekend's soccer on TV
Admit it. Your diet of European soccer is heavy on the English and Spanish, with a dash of Italian.
Well, this is the weekend to try a little French, some German, and yes, some more Italian.
The best match-up of the weekend isn't Arsenal-Aston Villa, which is a good one, but rather the Ligue 1 clash between perennial French champions Lyon and rising force Bordeaux. You have probably heard of star Lyon striker Karim Benzema (pictured), easily one of the world's best young strikers. You may or may not have heard of Bordeaux midfield magician Yoann Gourcuff, who is fast becoming one of the hottest properties in Europe (who happens to be the property of AC Milan).
If you're not lucky enough to have Setanta Sports to watch Lyon-Bordeaux, you should make sure to catch Bayern Munich-Borussia Moenchengladbach, which could offfer us a chance to see Michael Bradley in a big game against a quality opponent.
If you're more of an MLS person, you can't miss the West final between Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls, which may not have the star power of the East final, but should still be an entertaining and potentially high-scoring encounter.
Here are this weekend's Top matches to watch, along with the complete schedule of soccer on TV:
Top 5 Matches to watch
1. Bordeaux at Lyon. Can Lyon put a hammer lock on first place in France, or will Bordeaux shut down the champs and close the gap.
2. Aston Villa at Arsenal. The Gunner showed great poise and form in topping Man Utd. last week, but Aston Villa
3. New York Red Bulls at Real Salt Lake. A playoff match in front of a packed crowd at a new stadium, with the winner booking a place in MLS Cup? Even Euro-snobs will have to consider tuning in.
4. Manchester City at Hull City. Geovanni takes on his former club as both Hull and Man City look to stop recent slides. The over/under on this match is 5.
5. Roma at Lazio. Roma has had a terrible year, but their trampling of Chelsea recently shows they can still play great soccer. Now they must face an in-form Lazio team in one of Europe's most intense derbies.
This weekend's soccer on TV
SATURDAY
- 7:40am- Setanta- Liverpool at Bolton
- 9:40am- Setanta- Stoke City at Manchester United
- 10am- FSC- Aston Villa at Arsenal
- 11:30am- GolTV- Bayern Munich at Borussia Moenchengladbach
- 12:15pm- Setanta- Ipswich at Doncaster
- 12:30pm- FSC- Chelsea at West Brom
- 2pm- GolTV- Real Madrid at Valladolid
- 2:30pm- FSC- Inter Milan at Palermo
- 2:55pm- Setanta- St. Etienne at Lille
- 4pm- GolTV- Liverpool at Penarol (Uruguay)
- 4:30pm- FSC- Wigan at Newcastle
- 5:55pm- Telemundo- UNAM Pumas vs. Monterrey
- 6:15pm- GolTV- Medellin at Tolima
- 8pm- Telemundo- Indios vs. Chivas de Guadalajara
- 8:30pm- GolTV- Schalke 04 at Bayer Leverkusen
- 9:30pm- FSC/HDNet - New York Red Bulls at Real Salt Lake
SUNDAY
- 8:25am- Setanta- Middlesbrough at Everton
- 9am- FSC- Chievo at AC Milan
- 11am- FSC- Manchester City at Hull City
- 11am- GolTV- Villarreal at Malaga
- 12:55pm- Telemundo- San Luis at Toluca
- 2:30pm- FSC- Lazio at Roma
- 2:45pm- Setanta- Bordeaux at Lyon
- 3pm- GolTV- Barcelona at Recreativo Huelva
- 5pm- GolTV- Santa Fe at Junior
- 5pm- Setanta USA- Club America at Necaxa
- 7pm- Setanta- Nacional at Danubio
Which matches are you looking most forward to? Which individual match-ups do you see being the most entertaining? See any surprises?
Share your thoughts on this weekend's soccer on TV in the comments section below.
Ives Galarcep is an American soccer columnist for ESPNsoccernet.com and creator of SoccerByIves.net.
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go red bulls, beat those kings of salt lake then beat the crew then raise the cup with pride and honor
Posted by: mike from linden | November 14, 2008 at 11:54 PM
o and ives,
i dont think any english men will stay up till 2:30 in the morning to watch some MLS match(they are 5hrs ahead of ud,rite?)
Posted by: mike from linden | November 14, 2008 at 11:56 PM
Mike, he didn't say anything about people living in England, he said Euro-snobs, which there are tons of right here in the good ol' USA.
Posted by: SonicDeathMonkey | November 15, 2008 at 12:06 AM
i hate your snobs, respect the league of your country.
Posted by: doc soccer | November 15, 2008 at 12:15 AM
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8794948/Promising-talent-Subotic-opts-to-play-for-Serbia Reports are saying Subotic has decided to play for Serbia
Posted by: Ryan | November 15, 2008 at 01:34 AM
Subotic has decided to play for Serbia
USSF - > The Gift that keeps giving to rest of the world/
Posted by: yoman | November 15, 2008 at 01:46 AM
Has Bayern played Moenchengladbach before this weekend? It'd be cool to see Landon, if he does sign, against Michael.
Posted by: peteo | November 15, 2008 at 05:38 AM
Going to the Racing-Colon match tonight, but got my heart with the Red Bulls. Hope to see you guys in LA for the MLS Cup!!!!
Posted by: Greg | November 15, 2008 at 06:29 AM
@Peteo, LD isn't on the Bayern roster, he just trained with them. That deal can't happen until the January transfer window opens.
But it would be REALLY cool to see if it does happen.
Posted by: Mig | November 15, 2008 at 08:02 AM
@Mig, yeah, that's what I said..."if he does sign". :)
The two teams played today and tied, with MB scoring the tying goal! The two teams will play again in May.
Posted by: peteo | November 15, 2008 at 11:46 AM