Soccer By Ives

The last full EPL Matchday of the year: Your running commentary

Good morning folks. Today marks the final fulll day of soccer of the season and the English Premier League has been kind enough not to take this weekend off.

Instead, we have a robust schedule of matches, all of which can be seen either on Fox Soccer Channel or Setanta Sports USA. I will be busy attending to non-soccer matters today so I figured the least I could do was give you folks a post where you could add your comments on today's matches.

Whether you're home lounging, or at work for some reason, feel free to follow along here as everyone shares their comments below.

Enjoy the action.

Meet Fulham's new manager: Roy Hodgson

Fulham has named its permanent replacement for fired coach Lawrie Sanchez on Friday, choosing veteran manager Roy Hodgson to take over. Hodgson will be on the sidelines for Fulham's match against Birmingham.

What will this mean for the Americans? It shouldn't mean a thing for Clint Dempsey, who is a first-choice player no matter who is the coach, but it will be interesting to see what becomes of Carlos Bocanegra. The Fulham defense has been a wreck and it will be interesting to see what Hodgson does to fix the back-line.

What do you think of this hire? Do you think Dempsey and company will benefit from learning from such an experienced manager? Do you foresee an overhaul of players that could claim Bocanegra? Share your thoughts below.

This weekend's soccer on TV

It's all England, all the time this weekend. With the other leagues on Europe on a winter break, we will be forced to live on a steady diet of EPL action this weekend.

If the EPL isn't your cup of tea then you might consider watching GolTV, which will have several replays of some of the year's best games, from the Colombia-Argentina World Cup qualifier to a good Spain-Sweden Euro qualifier.

If you prefer the live stuff, and prefer the EPL, then you'll have some quality choices. Actually, if you have Setanta Sports and Fox Soccer Channel you will have access to all 10 EPL games this weekend.

And here they are, all 10 EPL games on TV this weekend. Enjoy:

Morning Ticker: Olympic Qualifying Sked set, ManU in first, Fronaldo heads home and trouble for a former MLS player

 

Good morning everybody. Let me start by apologizing for the low number of posts recently. I can assure you that the action will pick up after New Year's Day. For now, I will try to keep you updates on the goings on in the American and international soccer world.

Before we get into the day's events, I must make another request for SBI readers to take part in the SBI reader roll call. If you haven't already taken part, please do so. Your input is going to go a long way toward helping me shape and set a direction for SBI as we head into 2008.

Secondly, I have not forgotten about the most recent Q&A session. I am working on it and am hoping to have it done for tomorrow. It will be done by Monday at the latest.

Now, onto the news. Here are some recent tidbits you may or may not have heard:

U.S. Olympic qualifying games set. The U.S. Under-23 national team learned the path it will take to Olympic qualifying yesterday as the match schedule for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying was announced. The Americans will face Cuba (March 11), Panama (March 13) and Honduras (March 15), with all matches being played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. There will be tripleheaders played each of these days, with the U.S. team's game serving as the nightcap on each occasion.

The top two teams in the group will join the top two teams in Group B (Mexico, Canada, Haiti, Guatemala) in the semifinals and final, which take place in Memphis Nashville on March 20 and 23.

I was going to point out that the Americans should have little trouble qualifying, but you know what happened the last time around. That said, this Olympic team should qualify and this qualifying tournament should give us a good glimpse at what Peter Nowak has planned for the Olympics.

Americans Abroad: Boxing Day Rewind

American soccer players had a busy Boxing Day in England on Wednesday, with 10 of them playing at least a half and nine earning starts (That's including Watford's Jay DeMerit and Millwall's Zak Whitbread.)

There were mixed results, from Tim Howard posting yet another shutout for Everton to Carlos Bocanegra watching his Fulham defense be torn to shreds yet again. There were even two goal-scorers on the day, with usual suspect Clint Dempsey being joined by DeMerit.

Before I get to the rundown, I wanted to talk about Benny Feilhaber's performance for Derby County against Liverpool. It had its ups and downs, but his effort, or lack thereof, late in the match could hurt his chances for more playing time in the future.

Boxing Day EPL Soccer (Your running commentary)

Good morning folks. It is the day after Christmas, which means you are either heading to work and hating it or you're laying around enjoying another day off.

It also means a full slate of Boxing Day English Premier League matches. I listed today's TV schedule yesterday. Now, you can follow along with the action here. I won't be doing a marathon running commentary like Sunday but I figured I could provide a post for SBI readers to share their thoughts and views on today's matches. Those of you lucky enough to have Setanta or Fox Soccer Channel can feel free to discuss the action, and share it with those folks stuck at work today.

Enjoy the action:

Merry Christmas from SBI (and Boxing Day TV Sked)

 

Good afternoon and Merry Christmas to everybody. I hope your holiday was as enjoyable as mine was (and for those of you who don't observe Christmas, I hope you enjoyed the day off.)

It is around that time when you've unwrapped all the presents, the kids have spent a little time playing with all their new toys (the ones they like anyway), and things are a little slow. It's a good time to relax, watch some TV (and take in some of the TIVO'd action from the weekend if you didn't already get around to watching all of the weekend's great games).

If you are lucky enough to also have tomorrow off then you are in for a nice mid-week treat. It is Boxing Day in England, which means a full slate of EPL matches. Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports USA have us covered, showing eight different games which will give us a chance to see as many as eight Americans play. Yes, I know, I don't normally list Setanta, but I know that enough of you die-hards have already added it to your cable packages (and maybe some of you even got it for Christmas).

So, without further Freddy Adu, here is tomorrow's soccer TV schedule:

Americans in European Soccer: Weekend Rewind

Good afternoon everybody (good morning to the West Coast). As great as the European soccer action was this past weekend, it was also a great weekend for American players.

Why? No, there weren't goals in bunches (though Clint Dempsey scored another clutch goal for Fulham). It was great for American players because most of them started and played good minutes. The number of "did not dress" and "did not play" announcements was the fewest I think it's been all season.

Eddie Lewis and Jonathan Spector both earned starts and Benny Feilhaber made his way onto the field as every healthy American in the English Premier League saw playing time, with Feilhaber being the only one not to start (that's not including young reserve players like Johann Smith and Eric Lichaj of course).

Before we get to how the Americans Abroad did this weekend, I need to make one more reminder for those of you who have yet to take part in the Soccer By Ives Reader Roll Call to please do so. Your input is going to go a long way toward helping me shape and set a direction for SBI as we head into 2008.

Now, back to the action. Here is how the Americans in Europe did this past weekend:

MMCB: The Christmas present that is European soccer

Good morning folks. I know we're short on numbers at this time of year but I figured at least a few of you are stuck working on Christmas Eve and just might be looking to talk soccer.

I will post an Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind before noon and may have a post on the latest candidate to join the race for the Chicago Fire coaching job, so keep an eye out for those things. For now I want to talk about Sunday's amazing slate of European games and what it means on the grander scale.

If you watched Sunday's games you had a chance to see the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Frank Lampard, Sergio Aguero, Ronaldinho, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Carles Puyol, Samuel Eto'o, Robinho and Wesley Snjeider just to name a few.

   

Think about that. Think about how lucky we, as American fans of soccer, are to see these stars playing in key games, and live no less. Imagine what it was like 10 years ago, when trying to see top-quality European soccer was a real chore. In short, I don't think we realize how good we have it.

SUPER SUNDAY: Real Madrid-Barcelona (Running Commentary)

Good morning all. Today is arguably the best day of club soccer action of the year and I have decided to try and take it all in. It is 7am and Man U-Everton is under way. We will have AC Milan-Inter Milan at 9am, Atletico Madrid-Espanyol and Chelsea-Blackburn at 11am and arguably the best of bunch, Barcelona-Real Madrid, at 1pm (all times Eastern).

I have have decided to try and do a running commentary throughout the day, more importantly I've put this post up to give everybody somewhere to post comments on all the action. If you are watching today's games please feel free to share your comments below. Let's make this a full day running commentary.

Enjoy the action.