That's unfortunate. Not too many 19 year olds in history have had their best games versus Real Madrid. Still excited to see him continue to grow into one of the top players in the world, and am thrilled he landed at Atletico as opposed to Barca, Madrid, or god forbid some clueless EPL side.
Phenomenal header too. I feel like they should have put this away earlier, but like every time I watch Napoli Dreis Mertens ends the game with 1-3 less goals to his name than it seems like he should have with his opportunities. Still, a great bounce back win for Napoli after a rough midweek loss to Cagliari with European competition mid-week forcing some squad rotation. Let's hope Roma has a similar result after losing to some assholes from Bergamo.
Yeah, this felt like it should have been over well before the half. Was sad I had to miss it. Hoping Muriel is back soon. He is so dynamic.
Even though João was disappointing and nowhere near his preseason and Benfica form, he was miles better than Eden Hazard. I grabbed the Spanish daily sports paper As (Ace) this morning, they rate players on 0-3 aces for their performances. João got 1 ace I think, Hazard got 0 aces and played more (subbed out around minute 75). All the pregane buildup was about João v Hazard, and Hazard failed to deliver yet again. He was really poor. Best players were Jan Oblak, Thomas Partey, and Sergio Ramos.
Bundesliga moving to ESPN+ in 2020 diluting the Fox Soccer portfolio and Alexi Lalas is now searching for Dave Greeley's phone number. https://www.espn.com/soccer/german-...espn+-gets-bundesliga-rights-starting-in-2020
Hoping that it's not exclusive to ESPN+. But if I'm reading the article right, seems like some games will be in regular ESPN. Just hope it doesn't become the Bayern Munich Channel.
I've been very pleased with ESPN/ESPN+ coverage of Serie A (formerly on BeIN). The games that air on ESPN/ESPN2 are largely games from Juve, Napoli, Inter, Milan, and Roma. I don't think you're going to see Fiorentina & Torino hit the prime network, despite how fun it might be to watch. But, all the matches are available on ESPN+, and they have a weekly league review show and the Serie Awesome podcast on the network too. The bottom line is that if you subscribe to ESPN+, you'll probably be happy with their Bundesliga coverage. If you're just on ESPN, it'll probably be limited to Munich / Dortmund matches.
Fox's production quality has continually been trash. The only network who does it worse is Turner with their Champion's League/ Europa coverage...which is utterly awful.
Oof. First champions league appearance has started with an embarrassment at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb and a loss at the death to Shakhtar. Still having to play Man City twice. Atalanta is gonna need some killer performances and a little help to get out of this hole.
I'm not one for pre and post game shows for any channel or any sport. The only thing that I don't like about ESPN+ is the downtime during halftime of the games they play. You'll get the random stat sheet or some highlights of the first half but that's it. I wish they could show highlights of other games at that time.
I've said it elsewhere and I'm certainly not the first to say it, but Pochettino is a prime example of what happens when you stay somewhere too long. That said, as a Roma fan I can attest that giving up 7 in the UCL is a badge of honor. In other UCL news, good to see Joao Felix and Atletico get back on track after disappointing Kyle a few days ago. Juventus and City take care of business. And it's hard to see Atalanta finding a way back after throwing away a point giving up that 95th minute goal. All eyes today will be on St Peterberg as Benfica absolutely needs a result against Zenit or they are looking at another tragic Champions League campaign. Other less enticing matches today include Inter vs Barcelona and few others.
American coaching icon Jesse Marsch has a big one with Red Bull today, facing some crappy EPL side I think.
Another in an unending string of awful performances for Benfica on the European stage yesterday. Another in an unending string of Conte disappointments in the Champions League. And oh, Virgil van Djik made to look a fool by a bunch of Austrian farmers managed by Jesse Marsch.
And Gladbach goes top of the table this morning!! But a match away with the false Borussia looms next time out--in two weeks.
With Fox losing the Bundesliga to espn+ next year, is it safe to assume that Fox have given up on soccer? Next season they will have to European league rights. As far as I know, all they have is MLS Sunday night games, a share of US internationals, and World Cup 2026. Did they get so badly burned by the US not making the last WC that they just said fvck it and gave up? Sure seems that way.
I just assumed they were freeing up funds to throw at the Champions League. How long is it with Turner?
Turner has the CL for 3 seasons, ending with the 2020 / 2021 season. I’ve heard rumblings that ESPN might be interested in reacquiring the CL as well, putting it on ESPN+, with I’m sure at least a couple games on actual TV each matchday, including semis and final.
BYW, anyone here heard of or use Fanatiz? I just found out about it while I was on vacation in Europe, and haven’t had a chance to try it yet. It gives you streaming authentication for BeIN, GolTV, and some other channels. So that means there is a way to solely stream La Liga, Ligue 1, Liga Nos, Copa Libertadors, and more, in the US. I’m definitely gonna give it a try after the international break, I’m pretty pumped about this. Finally a way to watch La Liga without jumping through a million legally dubious hoops
The Rooney/Vardy fun on twitter today is pretty epic. Have yourself a look. This has been a burden in my life for a few years now and finally I have got to the bottom of it...... pic.twitter.com/0YqJAoXuK1— Coleen Rooney (@ColeenRoo) October 9, 2019