It is Friday, which means it is time to prepare for non-stop action from Spain with La Liga back in the fray. After an intense week of World Cup qualifying playoffs, the focus turns back to the domestic responsibilities.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DIRECTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

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Get the DVR warmed up, there is lot's of quality action scheduled this weekend. If you're in town, you should plan on attending the NCAA D2 regional playoff games being hosted by #2 nationally-ranked Drury this weekend, with games Friday and Sunday. But for the small screen, many more options:

First, the Missouri State Bears are the #1 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament being played at Drake University this weekend.

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Llegamos dos días antes del Congreso Mundial Del Deporte, el viaje de Monterrey a la Ciudad de México fue de poco más de diez horas en las que hubo de todo: planes, buena charla, buena música (y otra no tanto) y fue un viaje que disfrute junto a Emilio Herrera quien condució y Rodrigo Buentello que fungió como copiloto (cuando estuvo despierto).

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The Major League Soccer Playoffs have reached the Conference Finals (or overall semifinals) with the Los Angeles Galaxy hosting the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference and the Chicago Fire hosting Real Salt Lake in the Eastern Conference. This round is only one leg with the winners of each match advancing to the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at Qwest Field in Seattle.

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As you know, EPL Talk focuses on the Premier League and not the lower leagues of England, but my day didn't start so well when Setanta-i had technical problems which prevented me and all other Setanta-i customers from viewing the Welsh derby featuring the club I've supported all my life, Swansea City, against Cardiff City.

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David Beckham's signing has been finalised, at last, and he is expected to join the club on December 28. I am genuinely excited by this move as I am sure who are aware from my previous post. But this week it came to my attention that when being interviewed this week by Fox Sports, [...] Click to continue reading...

Missouri State Bears
Creighton Blue Jays

Top-seeded and regular-season champ Illinois State will be looking for its first title since 2003 as the Redbirds open with Drake at 3:30 p.m.

Illinois State Redbirds -
Drake Bulldogs

The winners will face each other Sunday at 1:00 pm.

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Missouri State Bears
Creighton Blue Jays

Top-seeded and regular-season champ Illinois State will be looking for its first title since 2003 as the Redbirds open with Drake at 3:30 p.m.

Illinois State Redbirds -
Drake Bulldogs

The winners will face each other Sunday at 1:00 pm.

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Morning all, hopefully you were lucky in the Cup. FP wasn't - he drew Daffodil in the sweepstakes, which turned to be about as effective as a daffodil.
While the Glory boys will be training pretty hard for the remainder of the week, there aren't any scheduled media pressers until Thursday, so either FP will scrape the bottom of the barrel or he'll just make up stuff. Click to continue reading...

The European Champions League is back for Matchday 4 with some great match ups, including AC Milan vs Real Madrid on Tuesday and Lyon vs Liverpool, who are fighting for their life, on Wednesday. The full list of games for Matchday 4 (of 6 in this round) can be found on the UEFA website. The broadcast schedule looks like this:

TUESDAY, Nov.

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If the Galaxy wins tonight we will own first place in the Western Conference, regardless of the outcome of the Chivas vs. Houston match being played tomorrow. How awesome would that be?! I still can't believe the turnaround we've had this year. If only we can be in top form for the playoffs .

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French striker Thierry Henry may leave Barcelona next summer to play for the New York Red Bulls, a Spanish sports daily said on Friday.

Henry, 32, would like to end his career in the same country as his friend and countryman Tony Parker, who plays basketball for the San Antonio Spurs, the daily AS said, without indicating its sources.

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Fox Soccer Channel and the Premier League today announced that Fox Sports International has won the bidding for the rights to show the Premier League on US television for the 2010-2013 seasons. Fox has also won the similar rights for Central and South America to its associated company, Fox Sports Latin America.

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Miles and Barton in the Studio

As Fox Soccer Channel's Nick Webster told me, "Americans have more access to soccer from around the world than in any other country on earth." That is undoubtedly true. On any given weekend, you can flip around the dial and find the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, the MLS, the Bundesliga, the Mexican leagues, French Ligue 1 and an odd assortment of other broadcasts from around the world, not to mention the weekday Champions league games.

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John: Watching the roar wasn't much fun Saturday
Informed Source: I'll bet. They seem to be in a big low.
John: Bob Malcolm caused 2 goals and looked like he wasn't even playing, so did Moore in the 1st 20 mins.
Informed Source: Malcolm may well know that he's unlikely to be part of the main mix from here on in. Click to continue reading...

The mark of an exceptional football commentator is when they add value to a match you're watching on television. Otherwise, if they're not adding anything worthwhile, you're better off watching the game in silence.

Take for example the incident when Dirk Kuyt scored for Liverpool in the first half of Tuesday's Champions League match against Lyon, only for the goal to be disallowed.

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2:45pm, live in the US on Comcast Sports Northeast and MSG. The game is on Fox Sports regional networks. I've got DirecTV, and the game is on channels 630 or 635. And it's in HD! I wish I could be more help to those with cable. At the least, it's delayed on FSC at 10pm.
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 0-1 Sunderland (a); 0-2 Chelsea (a); 0-2 Fiorentina (a)
Lyon: 0-2 Sochaux (h); 2-0 Lens (a); 4-0 Debrecen (a)
Group Stage:
Liverpool: 0-2 Fiorentina (a); 1-0 Debrecen (h)
Lyon: 4-0 Debrecen (a); 1-0 Fiorentina (h)
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (SPA)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Benayoun Gerrard Riera
Kuyt
Yes on Gerrard, No on Torres. Click to continue reading...

Bob Malcolm and Craig Moore will not play next week. Certainly in the case of Malcolm that is a very good thing. He may be the worse import the A-League has had. Robbie Slater described his work as the worst defending he had seen in the A-League. He caused the first 2 goals. The first bounced off him to the Mariners (2nd time in two weeks) and the 2nd he decided not to tackle. Click to continue reading...

"I wish it hadn't (lost some edge) because it was always good for the game," Rudan said. ....
"It's really been timid and a little bit boring (since), there's not enough characters in the game. "I've been away (overseas) for a couple of years and this season there haven't been any outrageous comments or anything like that to give you a good laugh. Click to continue reading...

An interesting article in the Courier Mail on Monday. The story was that some Roar directors regretted not accepting FFA help at the beginning of the season. The reason given for the regret was that the FFA would have been able to control Frank Farina via a director of football - and stopped poor player behaviour. Click to continue reading...

This is it. The entire world wraps up the group rounds of world cup qualifying. After Wednesday, there will only be 5 slots (4 in UEFA and the CONCACAF-CONMEBOL play off) left to fill. Who will handle the pressure? Who won't? Who will be the shock entrants, and who will shockingly miss out? Click to continue reading...

Los jugadores Ramón Sánchez y Miguel Montes estuvieron de invitados en el programa Fútbol para todos, de Fox Sports. Los periodistas se trasladaron hasta Querétaro para poder estar con el rival de México e incluso jugaron un partido de fútbol tenis con los muchachos, que se emitió por el canal. Click to continue reading...

Behind the scenes at Fox Soccer Channel, there was a significant signing last year when Fox recruited Bhavesh Patel from the NBA to head up the channel's FoxSoccer.com and FoxSoccer.tv websites, among other duties. While so much of the attention is on what happens on the screen at Fox Soccer Channel, we thought it'd be interesting and helpful to our readers to interview Patel and learn more about what's happening with the Fox websites and what the future plans are.

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ESPN and Fox Sports are reporting that the deal for the Matarrese family to sell AS Bari to American real estate magnate Tim Barton has been cancelled. Barton had until yesterday to make an initial payment for the club, which he failed to make. The Matarrese family says it will still sell the club.

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Have a read of this about Jacob Burns over at Fox Sports. The list of his misdemeanours is growing - studs up challenges, penalty box hand balls... Click to continue reading...

We've known about a couple games that would kick off the 2010 season for a couple days now but the rest of the home openers have now been announced by the league as of today. For the second straight season Qwest Field will be home of the first game of the MLS season in 2010 as the Sounders will host the new expansion side Philadelphia Union on ESPN2.

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The only thing left to finish off the national team.

Maradona back on drugs?

His doctor denies that Maradona is in Italy getting treatment for drug addiction.

Fox Sports

Niegan que Maradona haya recaído en drogas

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. El médico personal de Diego Maradona negó que el ex jugador y actual técnico de la selección argentina haya recaído en las drogas y aseguró que su estadía en un spa de Italia estaba planeada desde hace tiempo.

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On this week's edition of The Third Half, Johnathan Starling is joined by Fox Sports very own Jamie Trecker and Own Goal Network's, MLS Talk, and EPL Talk's Kartik Krishnaiyer as we break down the two most recent US World Cup Qualifiers. We also...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! Click to continue reading...

Fox Sports Jamie Trecker and World Soccer Reader's Richard Farley joins us to discuss the following topics.

• US Player Development in the wake of two lackluster qualifying wins
• The state of the US program
• Where the US stacks up against other international sides
• Mexico's re-emergence as a power under Javier Aguirre
• Bob Bradley's team management
• The attitude of Americans fans and press
• Does the US have an issue integrating minority players into its national setup
• Will the US look at a non-American coach anytime in the near future

This and much more on an action packed MLS Talk Podcast brought to you by Audible.

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Our postgame podcast will be taped in a few hours. Guests will be Richard Farley of Inside the Six and World Soccer Reader, along with Jamie Trecker of FOX Sports.

What I plan to address on the pod.

• Officiating at Azteca. Honduras lost on a pk.
• Bob Bradley's job performance: I rate him highly given the USSF's constraints, but I am certain my guests will differ.

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by Usman Azad, Football Perth Editor
RIGHTO, so FP is back again.
Having a cousin over from the 'Mother Country' coupled with writing a couple of articles for various fanzines (more on that later) have left the blog a bit unattended.
But all is well, so lets get into some Perth Glory news. Click to continue reading...

Some Lovely Links Just For You!

Join Our Fantasy Football Game!

Fantasy Football COS Style

Beckham On His Way Back to Man United?!

Fox Sports

An Issue UEFA and FIFA Really Should be Focusing On!

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Ty Duffy, a longtime contributor to our sister site, EPL Talk.com has penned a must read series on US Soccer as we enter the most critical phase of World Cup qualifying. The Big Lead's motto is stubbornly, uncorrupted and unbeholden. This is a masterful series which shows how indepedent and free thinking our press can be, even if they not always are.

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Como suele ser extremista nuestro fútbol, la jornada 7 inició con dos partidos, un infumable Atlas y San Luis que debería obligar a empresas como Sky a plantearse en dar alguna compensación a todos aquellos que contraten su servicio de "Futbol Total" ya que tener como exclusivo un partido tan malo y que alguien pague por eso realmente es lamentable.

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My dad is a big follower of the blog. It's his birthday today.
Any ideas on a good present? Help me out in the comments.
To the links:

• Catching up with Clint Mathis. [SI]
  
• Quotes o' the week. [Sanford's Soccer Net]
  
• Some Luka Modric ad. [Off the Post]
  
• Barca's ESPN ratings.

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