World Cup US TV Schedule: June 17

THURSDAY, JUNE 17

Argentina vs. South Korea
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Greece vs. Nigeria
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

France vs. Mexico
2:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN 2

World Cup US TV Schedule: June 16

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16

Honduras vs. Chile
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Spain vs. Switzerland
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

South Africa vs. Uruguay
2:30 p.m. EDIT, ESPN

World Cup US TV Schedule: June 15

TUESDAY, JUNE 15:

New Zealand vs. Slovakia
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Ivory Coast vs. Portugal
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Brazil vs. North Korea
2:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN

World Cup US TV Schedule: June 14

MONDAY, JUNE 14:

Netherlands vs. Denmark
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Japan vs. Cameroon
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Italy vs. Paraguay
2:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN

US v. England Reaction: Draw Bears More Fizzle Than Pop

Source: Getty Images

The United States and England fought to what may best be described as a draw only a mother could love today in their first group match of the 2010 World Cup. After 90 minutes of play contained primarily in the midfield, the two sides emerged with a 1-1 draw, granting each team one point towards qualification for the knock-out rounds of the tournament.

While US soccer fans everywhere were (for the most part) enthused with the result - my local pub in suburban Detroit was filled with fans cheering on Team USA - some of the more casual observers of the game were left slightly bewildered. If this match was in fact the biggest in the history of U.S. soccer, why would it end in a tie? Hell, how could it end in a tie? What does a tie even mean?

What do you think? Was the result one step forward for the U.S. team but two steps backward for the sport's popularity in America? Or is the maelstrom of negativity surrounding the match only a result of the increased exposure of the tournament? Is it accurate to assume that the bigger soccer gets in the United States, the louder its haters will yell?

I'll just say that thank God it wasn't a scoreless draw (I'm looking at you, France and Uruguay).

World Cup US TV Schedule: June 12 & June 13

SATURDAY, JUNE 12

South Korea vs. Greece
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Argentina vs. Nigeria
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

England vs. USA
10 a.m. EDT, ABC


SUNDAY, JUNE 13

Algeria vs. Slovenia
7:30 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Serbia vs. Ghana
10 a.m. EDT, ESPN

Germany vs. Australia
2:30 p.m. EDT, ABC

Contributing Blogger - Meet MsFootyNut

Hello Blogosphere, I’m so pleased that Mr. FootyNut has invited me to blog with him. He thinks my perspective as an "outsider" may be amusing. I think he's barking, but if you bear with me, you can be the judge.


To give you some background, I was never a huge fan of soccer. I played in elementary school, sure. I spent many semesters and summers in the UK as a young adult and thought I would very much like to understand soccer, but I never made the effort. Then when Mr. FootyNut revealed he was a fanboy, I knew it was all about to change. I can’t really call myself a huge fan now, but I watch the important games and I cheer when a team scores, and yell when they get fouled or robbed of what was obviously going to be the most spectacular shot evar!! And I try really hard to understand the idiosyncrasies of the off-side rule.


As Mr. FootyNut previously wrote, his head exploded on June 5th when the USA met Australia. While I too have a mushy place in my heart for that continent "down under", my head stayed intact. It was just a friendly after all. However, this will all change tomorrow when the US meets England.


I guestimate that more than half of my heart lies with England. In 2006, ROOTS had a sale of all the World Cup stuff (after it was all over) and I bought an England t-shirt. I don't even remember if they had a USA one made! And this year, when purchasing some fan gear in preparation for this little tourney, I chose an England scarf over the US scarf – if only 40% because it was easier to find!


Don’t get me wrong, I really want the US to do well in this race. I really want to show our country that soccer does matter!! But on the other hand, England deserves to win again. It's been a long time, and they're more likely to go all the way to the finals than anyone else in C group – did I also mention I'm of Arab heritage and am secretly routing for Algeria too? I'm a complicated woman. Slovenia, you’re on your own.


Anyway, this ain’t no friendly game of footie here!! This counts towards that shiny gold thing Morgan Freeman is so fond of! So on Saturday afternoon I may be the only one in our pub supporting the "limeys" over the "yanks" and I'll just have to be ok with that.

Cheers.