SoccerBlogs

The retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson last week and the subsequent extensive coverage reminded me just how far soccer has come here in the States. Since I began following soccer as a teenager some eight years ago, the sport wasn't anywhere near the consciousness of the typical sports fan. Other than myself, there were only a few kids who played FIFA or even knew who someone like Alex Ferguson was.

In addition to FOX Soccer bidding us goodbye today after 15 years of Premier League coverage, it was the final day for ESPN's Ian Darke and Steve McManaman bringing us their Premier League matches.

Here's a video they did to say goodbye, which includes funny outtakes.

Darke and Macca will continue on at ESPN but will also work for BT Sport.

ESPN is launching its own daily 30-minute news and highlights soccer show beginning August 11 entitled ESPN FC. The program will air Sunday through Friday, primarily on ESPN2, beginning August 11.

"Soccer's popularity is at an all-time high in the United States as fans are now more familiar with the world's top players, marquee clubs and national teams," said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN senior vice president for programming.

If you live in the United States, here's the TV and Internet schedule for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup to be staged in Brazil from June 15-30, 2013.

MORE — ESPN Announces Coverage Plans For 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup On US Television and Internet

All times eastern

Saturday, June 15
Brazil vs Japan, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Sunday, June 16
Mexico vs Italy, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN
Spain vs Uruguay, 5:45pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Monday, June 17
Tahiti vs Nigeria, 2:45pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Wednesday, June 19
Brazil vs Mexico, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN
Italy vs Japan, 5:45pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Thursday, June 20
Spain vs Tahiti, 2:45pm, ESPN/WatchESPN
Nigeria vs Uruguay, 5:45pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Saturday, June 22
Japan vs Mexico, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN
Italy vs Brazil, 2:30pm, ESPNEWS/WatchESPN

Sunday, June 23
Nigeria vs Spain, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN
Uruguay vs Tahiti, 2:30pm, ESPN2/WatchESPN

Wednesday, June 26
Semi-final A1 vs B2, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Thursday, June 27
Semi-final B1 vs A2, 2:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Sunday, June 30
Third place game, 11:45am, ESPN2/WatchESPN
Final, 5:30pm, ESPN/WatchESPN

Post your questions about the schedule in the comments section below!

ESPN has announced that all 16 matches from this summer's FIFA Confederations Cup will be shown live on US television and Internet. The tournament, which will be held June 15-30 in six cities in Brazil, will be televised across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, WatchESPN and ESPN3.com.

Live match coverage will begin on Saturday, June 15, on ESPN and WatchESPN with the tournament's opening match – host country Brazil vs.

The two highly-anticipated friendlies between Chelsea and Manchester City, to be played on US soil after the 2012-13 season ends, will be televised live on US television by FOX Soccer and ESPN.

Both Premier League sides are heading to the United States immediately after their season ends to prepare for two friendlies.

Ian Darke and Steve McManaman were announced this morning as two of the talents that BT Sport has hired to bring its Premier League coverage to viewers in the United Kingdom beginning with the 2013-14 season.

Darke and Darren Fletcher will commentate matches for BT Sport with co-commentator Michael Owen.

By DAN KARELL

The popularity of soccer in the United States has been noticed by ESPN, and it seems like they are finally catching up with the times.

The sports media giant announced on Tuesday the creation of a daily soccer studio show called ESPNFC on TV, set to begin on August 11 and shown on ESPN2.

By IVES GALARCEP

The U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team is facing a tough task at this summer's Under-20 World Cup, but that challenge could get much easier if John Anthony Brooks is in a U.S. uniform.

U.S. Under-20 national team head coach Tab Ramos told ESPN recently that Brooks is leaning toward playing for the United States, and that he could play with the team at the Toulon Tournament later this month, an event that will serve as the U.

By IVES GALARCEP

The U.S. Men's National Team's scoreless draw vs. Mexico in World Cup qualifying action Tuesday shattered TV ratings records on both networks that showed the match in the United States on Tuesday night.

ESPN announced on Wednesday afternoon that Tuesday's qualifier doubled the highest previous rating for a World Cup qualifier, registering a 1.

It's USA vs Mexico on Tuesday. Late start on ESPN, 9:15 pm broadcast. For those not worrying about school night responsibilities, the American Outlaw Chapter in Springfield is holding a watch party at RyMac's downtown. There's a free keg of beer to start in celebration of their recently becoming an official chapter.

MLS commissioner Don Garber thinks there's too much of his sport on American television. Way too much. And no, he's not being sarcastic.

He made the poorly phrased claim while speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors and to avoid headlines like the one above, it probably should've come out a bit different.

Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe are expected to be announced in the next few weeks as the latest additions to the NBC Sports team that will bring the English Premier League into millions of homes beginning this summer.

Rebecca Lowe has already been revealed as the host/presenter of NBC's EPL coverage.

By DAN KARELL

Inter-city rivalries rule the day, with two massive showdowns on Monday in England and Italy.

Manchester United stand 15 points clear of rivals Manchester City but are unlikely to take it easy against their hated rivals when the two meet in Old Trafford (2:30pm, ESPN).

Today's game between Manchester United and Manchester City will be shown live on US television, Internet and available as live audio.

Here's where you'll be able to find it on TV, Internet and online today:

• ESPN — The network will begin coverage at 2:30pm ET, while the game will kick off at 3pm ET.

Monday's derby between Manchester United and Manchester City will be shown live on ESPN in the United States.

The match kicks off at 3pm ET and will be shown on the flagship ESPN network instead of ESPN2. Plus, the game will be televised live on ESPN Deportes and via the WatchESPN app.

Ian Darke and Steve McManaman will be the commentators for a game between two of the biggest teams in the Premier League.

After a grueling week, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will be glad by his team's performance Sunday against Chelsea, and admits that his side have not given up on the title. Judging by today's performance, he's absolutely correct. The only stumbling block is Manchester United who haven't given up yet and look unstoppable at the moment.

Arsene Wenger will received the dreaded vote of confidence from American billionaire and majority Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke Thursday when the American meets in London for a board meeting, reports Guardian writer David Hytner.

As we reported recently, Arsenal is supposedly going to give Wenger a £70m war chest this summer to buy new players.

The Telegraph are all over the Arsenal story as if they're taking some sort of pleasure in his demise. Hot on the heels of Arsenal's loss to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup, the newspaper has published a graphic showing the diminishing returns under Wenger from 1996 to present.

To be fair to Wenger, the competition has gotten better over the years.

After losing their first match of the final round of World Cup qualifying to Honduras, the US need a win against Costa Rica to improve moral and banish grumblings of discontent within the team. That task was complicated a bit by the weather conditions in Colorado though, as a snow storm hit before the match that covered the pitch in white powder.

World Cup Soccer Watch Party USA vs Algeria

The Mexico-USA telecast will feature a one-hour pre-game show originating live from Mexico City, marking the first time ESPN is airing a one-hour pre-game preceding a World Cup qualifying match.

Freddy Adu's contract situation was quite one sided, in favor of the Philadelphia Union's front office, until the player spoke out through Alexi Lalas on ESPN's broadcast of the Portland Timbers-New York Red Bull. Through a statement released to ESPN, Adu detailed, tersely, his desire to return to the field and play in MLS, whether with the Union or a different team.

During last night's Portland Timbers 2013 home opener against the New York Red Bulls half time, ESPN analysts Taylor Twellman and Alexi Lalas had a lightning round segment where the former asked questions and the latter answered them.

Lalas discussed Chivas USA's controversial player acquisition and transfer plans, Portland's defense and other topics, including Freddy Adu.

Photo Credit: ESPN / Matthius Clamer

The United States women's national team forward Alex Morgan took to the pages of the ESPN Magazine "Music Issue" along with several other athletes to re-create some famous covers from music history. Morgan posed as Katy Perry marrying our two favorite things IN ALL OF THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.

You might not think that a man with a powerful beard and his own vineyard like Andrea Pirlo would have any time for video games, but you would be very, very wrong. The 33-year-old Juventus midfielder has a new biography out now entitled "I think therefore I play" and James Horncastle wrote an excellent piece for ESPN on a section in the book about Pep Guardiola, who tried to buy Pirlo from Milan when he was still at Barcelona.

The numbers are simply astounding. The Mexico/USA World Cup Qualifier managed a remarkable 7.2 million viewers in the United States. 2.4 million of those viewers were on ESPN with the balance watching in Spanish on UniMas. In terms of ratings, the game drew a 1.6 overnight on ESPN, more than double the previous best for a qualifier on the World Wide Leader.

Recently rebranded station UniMas (formerly Telefutura) grabbed huge numbers (4.8 Million average viewers) for the United States at Mexico World Cup Qualifier. ESPN put up its largest number ever (2.4 Million average viewers) for a World Cup Qualifier, essentially doubling its past record. Both of those numbers give an indication that the strength of American soccer viewership is built upon two things.

Feb. 6, 2013: Mexico 0, Jamaica 0

March 22, 2013: Mexico 2, Honduras 2The United States Men's National Team will be trying to make history while the Mexican National Team will try and feed off of their home crowd as both look for a win in tonight's biggest World Cup qualifying match. In two matches thus far, the U.

El día de hoy se dio a conocer una noticia sobre la posible renovación con Televisa de los derechos de transmisión de los juegos del Monterrey.

Hace 3 años fue la ultima renovación de este contrato el cual causo mucha controversia no solo en la ciudad, si no que en todo el país.

Aquella controversia había sido provocada por la pelea entre el Club de Fútbol Monterrey y Televisa, al haber tenido inconformidades en las negociaciones, ya que la televisora no accedía a transmitir los partidos a las 19:00 horas como lo deseaba el Monterrey, además que no ofrecían la cantidad económica que el club quería.

FC Dallas announced to their season ticket holders that for 2013 the club has partnered with Time Warner Cable for TV Broadcasts.

Here are the highlights of the announcements:

- HD Coverage
- Road game traveling talent and productions (as opposed to doing it from the studio as sometimes in the past)
- Game will also be carried outside of the Dallas market.