The 2010 World Cup clash between USA and England drew a 9.0 overnight TV rating for the 2:30pm ET kick-off which was shown on ABC this past Saturday.

To put it into perspective, Saturday's U.S.-England also drew the fifth-best overnight ever for a World Cup game. In addition to ranking behind the 1994 Romania-U.

The 2010 World Cup clash between USA and England drew a 9.0 overnight TV rating for the 2:30pm ET kick-off which was shown on ABC this past Saturday.

To put it into perspective, Saturday's U.S.-England also drew the fifth-best overnight ever for a World Cup game. In addition to ranking behind the 1994 Romania-U.

ESPN has unveiled their TV commercial for the England versus USA game which will be televised live on ABC to an audience of millions in the United States.

Not surprisingly, the video features sounds and images that are very patriotic. While it's not as good as some of the earlier ads that ESPN has created to drum up interest in the World Cup, it definitely gives me goosebumps and prepares me for the biggest soccer match of the decade.

ESPN has revealed the commentator assignments for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup.

The big one, the match that everyone is talking about featuring England against the United States of America, will include Martin Tyler as the lead commentator and John Harkes as the co-commentator (June 12, 2:30pm ET, ABC).

The 2010 world cup in South Africa looks promising to be the best yet. There's huge quantities of talent spread out across the Groups. In addition to the football being played on the pitch, here are five reasons this summer's world cup will be the best yet for the fans.

1.

Aresnal players and WAG's talk of their ABC Charity Fundraiser.

LD will be making an appearance tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The show airs on ABC at 12:05am. Set your DVR or stay up late to watch.

And can I just say that I don't know how the man has time to train with all of the midweek media appearances he makes. I wonder if he enjoys that aspect of his career, or if he merely tolerates it.

The 2010 World Cup has exploded on US television with record ratings. During the first weekend, the audience numbers for the first five games for the 2010 World Cup on ESPN were twice as high as those from four years ago during the 2006 World Cup. And now, during the second weekend, Univision is reporting that their broadcast of Mexico against France was the largest audience for a World Cup match on its network.

Clint Dempsey is out-jumped by Atletico's Alvaro Dominguez in today's Europa Cup final (AP Photo).

Clint Dempsey made history by becoming the first American to play in a European club cup final today, but England's Fulham went down to Spain's Athletico Madrid in the Europa Cup.

Game story.

Via MFUSA on Twitter, the overnight TV audience for the UEFA Champions League final has come in, and it's nothing special: a 1.1 rating on US television, equivalent to around a million homes.

That's up from last year, when it received a 1.0 share, but the game should have benefited from a move to the FOX network and a shift to Saturday afternoon, American time.

The Major League Soccer Players Union has released the 2010 salary information today.

Click here for the download by club, or in ABC order.

I won't spend any time right away on this matter. Maybe later this week I'll bring you the all-cheap team and the all-overpaid team. We'll see.

The 2010 World Cup Final set a new record for the most watched soccer game in U.S. history Sunday when 24.3 million people watched the Spain versus Netherlands game on ABC and Univision, according to Nielsen.

Univision drew 8.821 million viewers, while ABC drew 15.45 million viewers according to Nielsen fast-nationals.

Hi all! Happy New Year etc etc.
dN
Just 2 things to report, and they are both interesting items:
Stuart Holden has accepted a deal for a tryout at Burnley in England. Curious that he could not just get a straight out deal even on a free transfer. Fox Houston talks to Dynamo COO Chris Canetti who confirms it.

Apparently the USMNT v. Mexico friendly/World Cup warmup fell through over some TV rights dispute.
So Bob B. and Sunil G. turned to the next best thing.
Not really.
It's El Salvador.

World Cup preparation games confirmed so far by the U.S. are: vs. Honduras Jan.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will provide wall-to-wall coverage of this summer's World Cup in South Africa, with all 64 matches to be shown live and in HD.

ABC will air the highly anticipated Group C opener between the U.S. and England at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12, the final at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11, and eight other matches.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will provide wall-to-wall coverage of this summer's World Cup in South Africa, with all 64 matches to be shown live and in HD.

ABC will air the highly anticipated Group C opener between the U.S. and England at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12, the final at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11, and eight other matches.

WV Hooligan found the TV schedule for the big show. Looks like the games will generally be on at 4 a.m., 6:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Pacific time (eek!).
Both ESPN and ABC have a huge blowout planned for the broadcast. They've already signed Martin Tyler and hinted to 3-D coverage. Games will all be covered live and on site -- unlike last time, where some games were broadcast from the studio.

The TV schedule for the 2010 World Cup has been released for viewers in the United States, and the most highly anticipated match of the opening round featuring England against the United States of America will be televised live on ABC on Saturday, June 12 beginning at 2pm ET.

For the complete TV schedule of all World Cup games, visit our sister site World Cup Buzz.

England legends from yesteryear star in a new World Cup TV commercial. Players such as Peter Shilton, Martin Peters, Stuart Pearce and Viv Anderson are featured and describe what it feels like to represent your national team on the world stage. The legends also describe putting the jersey on, the sound of the fans and what it felt like to have their country cheering them on.

"Jugo de naranja, huevos, pan, condones, yogurt y dos entradas para Grecia vs. Corea del Sur por favor." Eso pudieras estar diciendo en tu proxima visita al supermercado en Sudafrica. Lastima lo que sucede por ahi, todo el mundo sabe de las 500,000 entradas que quedan por vender a dos meses del mundial y ahora el comite mundialista de Sudafrica con FIFA se han decidido por vender entradas para el mundial en los supermercados.

As the USA takes on England in its opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET live on ABC HD and Univision, there will be viewing parties all across the United States. If you haven't been invited to one yet (or are invited to too many and don't want to get any of your friends mad at you), head to one of our Official U.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are aware that the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicked off in South Africa today. Fortunately for soccer fans, ESPN and ABC will stream 54 of the 64 games live on the newly launched ESPN3.com (formerly ESPN360).

Image: FIFA

For those in the US who have an internet service provider that is affliated with ESPN, the ESPN3 streams are free.

The TV ratings for the 23 Games on ABC & ESPN are up 60% vs. the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the digital platforms have also been setting records. Friday morning's USA vs. Slovenia match on ESPN – in which the Americans overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to earn a 2-2 draw – was the most-watched soccer game among households in the history of ESPN networks as almost 4 million viewers tuned in.

By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Jun 25th, 2010) US Soccer Players -- After reaching the Round of 16 on a thrilling, last-gasp dramatic goal by Landon Donovan against Algeria, the energized Americans find themselves up against Ghana on Saturday (2:30pm ET - ABC) in what is expected to be another epic match.

Four years ago the U.S. men's national team had its World Cup dreams ended by Ghana. Today, the Americans have a chance for some revenge, and a chance to keep a dream World Cup run going as they take on the Black Stars in World Cup Round of 16 action in Rustenberg (2:30pm, ABC).

The United States are fresh off the unforgettable last-minute victory against Algeria to reach the Round of 16, while Ghana comes in having finished second in Group D on the strength of a tough defense and a key victory against pre-tournament sleepers Serbia.

Last night it was David Letterman, today it will be ABC's "Good Morning America," CBS's "The Early Show," ABC's "Live with Regis and Kelly," and, the one I look forward to the absolute most, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

Don't worry Galaxy fans Landon Donovan will be back in practice this week and be available for this Sunday's game against the Seattle Sounders FC.

... If you've enjoyed Martin Tyler's PBP work during the 2010 FIFA World Cup for ESPN and ABC, then get used to it, because Soccernet reports Tyler will return in the same role for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
If you haven't enjoyed Tyler, well, then ... sorry for ruining your morning.
In the article, Tyler touched on how he saw his role as not being one to try and convert the non-believers.

Today's World Cup Final between Netherlands and Spain will have an immense impact on the growth of soccer in the United States.

While soccer continues to thrive among the die-hard fans who play the sport and/or watch it on television, the jury is still out regarding whether soccer will become more popular among mainstream America.

OK folks, I know you are all gearing up for the Spain-Holland World Cup final today on ABC, but if you have a few moments this afternoon, give a listen to Episode 18 of the Seeing Red! podcast, featuring rookie sensation Tim Ream and his new hillbilly beard. Keep the player interviews coming fellas!

I know this news trickled down late yesterday but I just now got around to talking about it. The 2010 FIFA World Cup final was the most viewed soccer match in US history. A total of 24.3 million viewers (15.5 million on ABC and 8.8 million on Univisión) tuned in to watch Spain defeat Holland to capture their first ever World Cup.

Everton are bringing in the crowds. 40,000 on Saturday in Sydney. 19,000 tonight mid week in Melbourne.
Cahill has played only the 2nd half in both games and had little impact on the field. But he has made up for this off the field - promoting the games and the A-League - he was great of the ABC Offsiders particularly against Australia's conflicted sports journalist (and parter of the chief of New Corporation in Australia) Rebecca Wilson.

Watch match highlights of England's 4-0 victory against Bulgaria featuring a hat-trick for Jermain Defoe and the first international goal for Adam Johnson.

It was a convincing win for England, but let's hope England doesn't get too overconfident from this one victory when they face a tough Switzerland team on Tuesday.

Una anécdota que está dando que hablar en el país europeo. Tras el clásico de la serie A italiana del Internazionale contra el Milán AC, Materazzi celebró la victoria de su equipo en el derby italiano (2-0) poniéndose una mascara del primer ministro de Italia, Silvio Berlusconi.

Al finalizar el encuentro, jugadores como Maicon corrieron a abrazar a Materazzi, que sorprendió a todos con la careta del 'cavaliere'.

The TV schedule for the 2010 World Cup has been released for viewers in the United States, and the most highly anticipated match of the opening round featuring England against the United States of America will be televised live on ABC on Saturday, June 12 beginning at 2pm ET.

In England's second game of the tournament, the match against Algeria will be shown live on ESPN2 on Friday, June 16 with coverage beginning at 2pm ET.

CHICAGO (Jan. 27, 2009) – The U.S. Men's National Team's highly anticipated match against England in their opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be broadcast live on ABC HD on Saturday, June 12 at 2 p.m. ET from the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg, kicking off coverage of the USA's campaign in South Africa.

Part of me wanted to save this story until June, or at least May, but it came into play last night. Tuesday around 8:45 I ran out to get some dinner -- I live alone and hate cooking. I did a quick check to make sure that "Lost" was set to record, that way by the time I got back home I'd be able to fast forward through the commercials for shitty ABC shows with Christian Slater and amazingly, Baron

It took him a few days (he told me he was waiting to see how MSNBC handled the big hockey games on Sunday), but he finally responded to the points I made last week about NBC's coverage of the Olympics. Here's what he has to say:

It's hard to compare the coverage of an Olympics in a US friendly timezone to those in an unfriendly one (like London) or a really unfriendly one like Sochi or Beijing.

Tuesday morning, Aaron wrote on Twitter:

Thoughts on NBC's Olympic coverage? Every fan of these sports and this event should cheer for ESPN/ABC to win next set of rights.

Although I agree that NBC's coverage can often be frustrating, and it's been well-documented in many places, I asked him why he thought ABC/ESPN could do better and he responded via e-mail.

Alguna vez al alguien se imaginó al jugador del Milán David Beckham con unos dotes muy femeninos desde pasear en bata, cortar flores, realizarse el manicure, llorar en una película, estar en la cama con un hombre, pues que creo que no , pero es posible y no estoy hablando que David realice todas estas actividades en su tiempo libre sino, que fue invitado por la cadena Británica de televisión BBC de Londres a formar parte de un sketch junto con el comediante James Corden.

The National Soccer Hall of Fame announced on Monday that Kyle Rote, Jr has been elected on the Veteran's Ballot for the 2010 class. Rote was the North American Soccer League's leading scorer in 1973, and the first American soccer player to crossover into the mainstream with his successful appearances on ABC's Superstars.