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The second participant in the MLS Eastern Conference finals will be decided today when the New England Revolution face the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

That playoff game is just one of the highlighted match-up on this busy Saturday.

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They say that girls can be a lot crueler then boys and it's no lie if you saw the highlights on ESPN of the college women's soccer match between New Mexico and BYU yesterday. Defender Elizabeth Lambert of New Mexico seemed to be playing the wrong sport as she tackled, punched, kicked, slapped, elbowed, and hair pulled opposing players throughout the match.

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ESPN ran a story about a recent match between BYU and New Mexico's women's teams which has become infamous for the elbows-to-the-ribs and ponytail-yank antics of New Mexico player Elizabeth Lambert. Fans of the sport are groaning, because this is what it takes to get a non-Olympics/World Cup/WPS Final into headlines - replays of bitchslap. Click to continue reading...

The top European Leagues are all in action on Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8. These include La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and the SPL. Here are the full TV listings for the United States and United Kingdom.

Spanish Primera Division aka La Liga

Saturday, November 7, 2009

FC Barcelona v Mallorca 14:00 EST, 19:00 GMT GolTV (USA), Sky Sports 2 (UK)

Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid 16:00 EST, 21:00 GMT ESPN Deportes (USA), Sky Sports 2 (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Almeria v Osasuna 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT GolTV (USA)

Valencia v Real Zaragoza 13:00 EST, 18:00 GMT ESPN2 (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK)

Sevilla v Villareal 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT GolTV (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK)

Italian Serie A

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Atalanta v Juventus 14:30 EST, 19:30 GMT Fox Soccer Chanel (USA), ESPN (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Lazio v AC Milan 09:00 EST, 14:00 GMT Fox Soccer Channel (USA)

Inter Milan v Roma 14:30 EST, 19:30 GMT Fox Soccer Channel (USA), ESPN (UK)

German Bundesliga

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg 09:30 EST, 14:30 GMT GolTV (USA)

French Ligue 1

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Paris St-Germain v Nice 13:00 EST, 18:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Sochaux v Lens 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Lille v Bordeaux 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Lyon v Marseille 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Scottish Premier League

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hearts v Hibernian 07:00 EST, 12:00 GMT ESPN (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Falkirk v Celtic 07:45 EST, 12:45 GMT Sky Sports 3 (UK)

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ESPN's coverage of the Elizabeth Lambert has zoomed full on into freakshow/self-parody mode. A partial transcript of the video on this page, which at the moment is linked from the home page:

Unsportsmanlike conduct is a universal penalty, it applies to every sport on every level, and you know it when you see it.

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Sorry futbol fans as I am again a little late with the television listings again this week, but it still is busy for us here in Buenos Aires and as long as we get the listings posted by Friday evening, we feel we're doing pretty well and we hope that everything is here in time to do you some good.

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Soccer can be a tough game and it's especially so in the Mountain West Conference. Footage of the conference semifinal game in Provo, Utah where BYU beat New Mexico 1-0 has been making the rounds and not for the right reasons.

Why is it that the only times women's sports make the nightly news is when they cross the line?

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Elizabeth Lambert's demolition job on BYU's strikeforce is in heavy rotation on the intertubes today:
ESPN's coverage of the event appears to be pretty evenhanded, focusing on "Julie Foudy, tell us in your vast, infinite wisdom: how the fuck wasn't Lambert sent off?" Overall, not too different from ESPN's usual coverage of sports with a niche following - wait until something bizarre like this happens and put it in rotation. Click to continue reading...

Premier League Team News - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetYou can check either the link above or yesterday's The Week Ahead post for a complete listing of those missing through suspension after the Premier League's refs. As I mentioned yesterday, the interesting opportunities that will result from suspensions are O'Shea being a line-up definite and Frazier Campbell deputizing for Click to continue reading...

His Ginger Majesty, Stoner and J Fo preview this weekend's MLS playoff matches from the ESPN mothership in Bristol, CT. Now that Columbus has been knocked off it really seems likes it's anyone's game and anything can happen at this point. I for one have already had to rip up my bracket and we haven't even reached the Conference Finals yet. Click to continue reading...

ESPN is running a college soccer feature this morning.
But before the nice folks in the various BigSoccer forums concerned with such topics get too terribly excited about NCAA womens' soccer finally getting the serious recognition it so richly deserves, they might want to take a look at the segment:
YouTube- Cat fighting gets ugly during BYU vs. Click to continue reading...

Friday 6th November
19:30 Leverkusen v Frankfurt, Bundesliga, ESPN
Leverkusen find themselves one point ahead at the top of the Bundesliga, but they've only beaten Frankfurt once in their last six meetings. Normally stingy in defence, they conceded two goals late on last week against Schalke, so the potential for a further wobble here is considerable. Click to continue reading...

With the confusing TV schedules for La Liga in the United States every week, it is quite difficult to figure out who is playing when and on what channel. Every Friday, I will lay out the TV schedule so that every fan of La Liga has a place to go to see when and where their favorite team will play.

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The English Premier League continues this weekend with another full set of matches. The biggest match of the weekend is Chelsea v Manchester United. They are currently the top two teams in the table and two of the favorites in the UEFA Champions League. Here's a list of predictions, previews, and USA/UK TV listings.

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FIFA vice president Jack Warner got a gift from the England World Cup bid people.
Needless to say, he had to give it back once people found out. Don't make your favoritism in awarding the next World Cup too obvious.
Fair and balanced, eh Jackie?
Now some links:

• Nigerian youth ages quickly.

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Blah blah blah.

Good

Copa Sudamericana Cerro Porteno and River Plate Uruguay, through to the semis

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=694236&sec=global&cc=3888

Bad

Warner and the handbags

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/index.php?section=olympic-article-view&title=Jack%20Warner%20handbags%20England%27s%20bid%20to%20host%202018%20World%20Cup&id=46178

Ugly Click to continue reading...

According to ESPN Soccernet, shareholder Stan Kroenke might be consider making a full offer for Arsenal. In order to do so, he has to own 29.99% of the club and he recently purchased more shares to increase his stake to 29.90%.

However the possibility of the team being bought by Kroenke has not affect boss Arsene Wenger.

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Arsene Wenger and Arsenal may soon have a new owner at the club. Stan Kroenke, who already added to his stock of shares in the North London club earlier this week, reportedly bought 200 more shares today to draw his stake in the club to 29.9 percent -- just 0.09 percent away from the limit where Kroenke would have to make a bid for the remaining shares.

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Arsene Wenger and Arsenal may soon have a new owner at the club. Stan Kroenke, who already added to his stock of shares in the North London club earlier this week, reportedly bought 200 more shares today to draw his stake in the club to 29.9 percent -- just 0.09 percent away from the limit where Kroenke would have to make a bid for the remaining shares.

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As I mentioned on Monday with the release of our latest podcast, we are making some exciting changes at MLS Talk. One of these changes will be our new "Legends of MLS" series on both our podcast and website. Often times, MLS History is unknown or hardly written for the new fan. We seek to bridge a gap in understanding and recognition of certain players, coaches and clubs.

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At least Barca drew with Rubin Kazan this time, but in no way did they impress. Something about Champion's League play has the boys from the shore playing snake-bitten...and I think I know what it is.

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Take a look at the crew from Barcelona and answer me one question. Even though they are the reigning European Champions (and have a huge bullseye on their backs) do you think they kind of expect to be in the Final 16?

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UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Andrea Dossena's agent Roberto La Florio played down any rumor that his client is set to join Napoli. He told tuttomercatoweb.it,

"We will wait until the international break to evaluate and talk to Andrea .

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In the intro to every Premier League game that ESPN2 shows on Saturday mornings, they begin with a graphic of the world and then zoom in on England and directly to the home ground where the match is played. It's a brilliant sequence, but they goofed this past Saturday when instead of zooming in on the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club, they zoomed in on the Arsenal Stadium, better known as Highbury.

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• An English intern at German footie magazine 11Freunde talks about German and English football. (11Freunde)
• Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger writes about footballers who suffer/ed from depression. (ESPN Soccernet)
• Bayern have an "on" switch and they have a far more popular "off" switch as well.

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Kickette had this masterpiece last week and I just recently came across its glory. Word is this gal is an ex-WAG, so it's still semi-soccer relevant.
She must be desperate for attention.
Now some other links:

• Mancini a possible Rafa replacement? [Daily Mail]
  
• A new world's top 25.

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According to ESPN Soccernet, the agent of Inter Milan defender Maicon admitted that there is no link between his client and Manchester City. Antonio Caliendo said,

""Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club .

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Attackers Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are both up twice for the AT&T Goal of the Year award. Davy is nominated for his long-range, left-footed bomb in Week 1 and a give-and-go and give-and-go effort in Week 13. Lopez is up for his free kick in Week 10 and his past-the-halfline bomb in Week 19. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
DC United announced that head coach Tom Soehn has resigned, so the team now join New York, Kansas City and Toronto in the hunt for a new leader.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWS
It was great to see that New England had scrubbed their field of all football lines for Sunday's game. Click to continue reading...

Twenty-four college soccer players with ties to Wisconsin were named to CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Click to continue reading...

Rejoice fanatics, rejoice! I thought ESPN might forget about us once the postseason came about but I guessed wrong. Which is a good thing because that means that we get more of the most attractive MLS highlights package around. I still think this would be amazing on ESPN2HD, you know on actual TV, but I guess we'll all just have to be patient little soccer-monks for a while longer before we get that kind of clout. Click to continue reading...

If you haven't heard, some soccer on TV ratings came out yesterday. FSC, America's preeminent all-soccer broadcaster, became Nielsen-rated just about a year ago. Since then, the network's ratings...

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A little lunchtime viewing for you all...Let's begin with ESPN's MLS playoff first leg wrap, just in case you missed some of it.Yesterday we saw the MLS Goal of the Year nominees, and now it's time to run down the Save of the Year candidates.As always, we look back at MOTD2's 2 Good 2 Bad.We got back to ESPN to talk Champions League for two glamour teams in a pickle: Liverpool and Real Click to continue reading...

Got this from over at Hillcrest Road, and figured I'd pass it on cause it's pretty cool. The Wiz(ards) are one of 3 soccer teams nominated in the poll on the ESPN blog, Uni Watch, for the worst soccer uniforms. While the Wiz(ards) have plenty of potential nominees (as seen by the photo below), it's the 96-97 jerseys that are nominated in this competition. Click to continue reading...

So Jozy Altidore was dropped for showing up to a Hull City game late. Then he was fined for tweeting an apology for being late.
Not a good day for the youngster.
Maybe some links will cheer him up.

• Ryan Giggs wants to coach Wales. [UK Press]
  
• A mass brawl in the Bulgarian league.

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The Barclays Premier League may be the most popular sports league in the world, but it is not the most popular football league in the United States. That distinction would fall to the Mexican League. But now, we have empirical data that the EPL is trailing our own top flight domestic league, Major League Soccer in interest, awareness and support.

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