SoccerBlogs

Ahead of Japan's Confederations Cup Group A match against Italy, ESPN helpfully highlighted three stand-out players for the Asian Cup winners. Unfortunately, they spelled Shinji Kagawa's name as "Kawawa" in the corresponding graphic. One might think that making 26 appearances for Manchester United last season would be enough to achieve adequate name recognition to avoid such a mix-up, but apparently not.

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.

By IVES GALARCEP

SALT LAKE CITY A perfect June is within grasp for the U.S. Men's National Team as they face Honduras tonight (9pm, ESPN) in the third of three World Cup qualifiers this month.

The U.S. is riding a four-match unbeaten streak in qualifying, including recent wins in Jamaica and vs.

By IVES GALARCEP

CLEVELAND The U.S. Men's National Team kicks off a run of five matches culminating in three key World Cup qualifiers tonight against Belgium in a friendly at FirstEnergy Stadium (8pm, ESPN).

The Americans will be without some key first-team players who are out due to club commitments and injuries, including Michael Bradley, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler and Maurice Edu.

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.

Several national soccer teams are in action tonight as Spain plays Ireland in a friendly at Yankee Stadium (8pm ET, beIN SPORT Play), while Mexico faces Costa Rica (8pm ET, ESPN and ESPN3.com) and USA battles Panama (10pm ET, ESPN and ESPN3.com) in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches.

In addition to those three games, Venezuela plays Uruguay (8pm ET, beIN SPORT), Chile faces Bolivia (8:30pm ET, beIN SPORT en Espanol) and Honduras battles Jamaica (9pm ET, beIN SPORT Play).

Just a quick note looking at television numbers from the last week. SBJ reported that the USA/Panama qualifier drew 1.4 million viewers on ESPN and 1.2 million in Spanish on UniMas. The English language numbers translate into a .8 rating, which is the second highest number for a USA Cup Qualifier.

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.

Live from Cleveland, it's the United States Men's National Team against Belgium in an international friendly. For viewers in the United States, the game will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN3.com at 8pm ET.

USA starting XI:Howard, D. Beasley, Gonzalez, Goodson, Cameron, Jones, Kljestan, Davis, Dempsey, Zusi, Altidore.

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.

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.

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.

As we exclusively revealed last week, FOX Sports has won the US English-speaking media rights to the European qualifiers for Euro 2016 and FIFA World Cup 2018. But in a new development, announced by FOX Sports today, FOX has a sublicense arrangement with ESPN where both networks will split the games 50/50.

Landon Donovan's stoppage time goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup was fateful in many, many ways. One of the most tangible consequences? It kickstarted the Ian Darke phenomenon.

In 2010, Darke was one of UK's lead soccer and boxing announcers. After ESPN's commentary debacle in the 2006 World Cup, featuring Dave O'Brien – the equivalent of Gus Johnson minus the enthusiasm – as the companies' lead announcer, ESPN decided to bring in British announcers to commentate on the World Cup in South Africa.

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.

By MICHAEL KLINE

This weekend features more international action, with ESPN hosting multiple excellent international matches for your viewing pleasure.

The European Under-21 Championships will progress to the semi-finals on Saturday, with Spain taking on Norway and Italy facing the Netherlands.

The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup kicks off Friday with hosts Brazil facing Japan, which will be shown live on ESPN beginning at 2:30pm ET. The complete TV schedule as well as coverage plans are available, and today ESPN announced the talent that will be bringing you the games.

Ian Darke and Stewart Robson have been announced as the lead match commentator team.

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.