UPDATE: After being alerted to their existence, I’ve added the Mexican national team friendlies being shown on Telemundo.
UPDATE #2: Current as of 6/2; new additions are in red.
Most club seasons are over. The World Cup is not here yet, and based on that calendar over there it’s looking like we’re a good three weeks away. That means one thing: Withdrawal.
Okay, fine. Technically, you could watch MLS, especially since there are even some MLS teams playing real teams right now (and beating them; nice work, New York and L.A.). But this is decidedly different from what you’re probably looking for. You want to watch some World Cup tuneup games. You want to watch England go through the motions against Mexico or Portugal fail to score against Cape Verde.
The problem with these games is that they’re scheduled almost randomly. Since club seasons are over, these international teams think they can play whenever they want. Case in point: England played Mexico on a Monday night yesterday. How many of you almost missed that? I know I did. What would be really awesome is if someone who had nothing better to do at work with foresight and caring for their fellow fan sat down, went through the Fox Soccer, GolTV, and ESPN schedules, and came up with a list of international friendlies for you to DVR.
That guide, ladies and gentlemen, is after the jump. Enjoy!
TUESDAY, MAY 25th 2010
2:00 PM EST: Greece v. North Korea (ESPN3)
7:30 PM EST: United States v. Czech Republic (ESPN)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26th 2010
2:00 PM EST: Mexico v. Netherlands (Telemundo)
3:00 PM EST: France v. Costa Rica (ESPN3)
10:00 PM EST: Uruguay v. Israel (GolTV)
THURSDAY, MAY 27th 2010
11:00 PM EST: Turkey v. Czech Republic (Fox Soccer)
**11:00 PM EST: Bosnia-Herzegovinia v. Germany (GolTV)**
SATURDAY, MAY 29th 2010
1:30 PM EST: United States v. Turkey (ESPN2)
3:00 PM EST: Hungary v. Germany (ESPN3)
3:00 PM EST: Spain v. Saudi Arabia (ESPN3)
SUNDAY, MAY 30th 2010
8:00 AM EST: England v. Japan (Fox Soccer)
11:00 AM EST: Mexico v. Gambia (Telemundo)
2:00 PM EST: Paraguay v. Côte d’Ivoire (ESPN3)
4:00 PM EST: Chile v. Northern Ireland (ESPN3)
TUESDAY, JUNE 1st 2010
2:15 PM EST: Switzerland v. Costa Rica (ESPN3)
2:30 PM EST: Netherlands v. Ghana (ESPN3)
2:30 PM EST: Portugal v. Cameroon (GolTV)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2nd 2010
1:00 PM EST: Paraguay v. Greece (ESPN3)
2:30 PM EST: Serbia v. Poland (ESPN3)
THURSDAY, JUNE 3rd 2010
1:00 PM EST: Mexico v. Italy (Telemundo)
3:00 PM EST: Spain v. South Korea (ESPN3)
**9:30 PM EST: Colombia v. Argentina (FSE)**
FRIDAY, JUNE 4th 2010
8:00 AM EST: Japan v. Côte d’Ivoire (ESPN3)
**12:00 PM EST: France v. China (ESPN2)**
SATURDAY, JUNE 5th 2010
8:00 AM EST: Netherlands v. Hungary (ESPN3)
**8:30 AM EST: United States v. Australia (ESPN2)**
TUESDAY, JUNE 8th 2010
2:30 PM EST: Portugal v. Mozambique (ESPN3)
**3:55 PM EST: Poland v. Spain (ESPN2)**
You’ll see a lot of ESPN3 up there, which is good; those matches are usually available anytime after they occur, so if you can’t catch them at their regular time you can always catch them later on. You’ll also notice an almost complete lack of Fox Soccer; while they aren’t showing any friendlies, they ARE showing a bunch of interesting shows, including some on international team rivalries.
Also of note: that final U.S. friendly (on June 5th) isn’t being shown on ESPN or ESPN2; it’s currently only scheduled for ESPN3, so I hope your internet provider has you hooked up with that.
You are officially my favorite person right now. This is awesome! Thanks!
the remaining three friendlies Mexico has scheduled (vs. the Netherlands, Gambia, and Italy, respectively) are mysteriously absent from this list. Telemundo does exist, you know.
Unfortunately, I can’t find an English version of Telemundo’s website to list those friendlies; if you know when they’re showing, however, I’ll gladly add them on the list.Nevermind, I figured it out; thanks for the tip!
Out of curiosity, does Telemundo provide a simultaneous English language feed? I know FSE does. I’m recording today’s Dutch friendly, regardless; it’s likely that listening to the whole game in Spanish is better than listening to John Harkes anyways.
anytime.
to be honest, i have never tried seeing if there’s an SAP function for Telemundo’s football broadcasts, since i speak Spanish. from what i’ve read, though, they did have something of that nature for the qualifiers between Mexico & USA, which makes sense.
not to rant/i know beggars can’t be choosers, but i really hate Telemundo’s broadcasts of any football competition: int’l friendlies, qualifiers, Mexican league, etc. for one, they never put the score AND the game clock at the same time; it’s either one, the other or nothing at all, at their sporadic discretion. and the commentators… blegh. incompetent, really. way too opinionated, demand a foul be “properly” called by pleading the ref (as if he can hear them), and that “goooooooool” gets annoying FAST. i’m just glad that Mexico’s NT games will be broadcast by Univision once the World Cup ends (they, and their sister channels, are broadcasting the WC anyway, so that’s a relief). so yeah, that’s my take. if you see the game on Telemundo, you might walk away with a different opinion, and that’s fine.
side note: as for that “beggars can’t be choosers” thing… well, since i live so close (San Diego) to Mexico, i’m able to get some of their channels on my cable lineup proper. with that, i can catch Spanish-language coverage the way it should be done. too bad it’s not in HD… yet.