first this is mainly for US fans who will want to be watching the CL quarterfinals in two weeks
I checked ESPN2's listings and they are currently planning on showing Benfica vs. Barcelona. As an Arsenal supporter I feel like this is BS. Would any fello American gooners, or any others for that matter, like to join me in petitioning ESPN to show the Arsenal-Juve matchup?

I agree. I am a Barcelona fan but I know that showing this game is not right. They should have shown the Arsenal match, and then the Milan-Lyon match for the 2nd leg.

Not only that the other games will be superior with two world class teams. But the 1st leg of the Barcelona game will be boooooooooooooooorrrrrrrring. We are going to be missing half of our starting lineup and will be looking to play conservative. If they are going to show it they should show the 2nd leg where we wll have a nearly full squad, at the Camp Nou, and will thrash Benfica. There is no point in showing the 1st leg of this matchup. I would prefer not to see what will happen that game.

So what? I'd pick the Barça game even if we fielded a reserve side. I'm not saying that the Arsenal-Juve game won't be more exciting, but as a Barça fan I would still prefer watch our game on live television (instead of streams that might lag, won't work properly, and so on).

I know. I won't petition against it but it is pretty obvious this is the third best matchup compared to the other two giant matchups. I won't complain but it is unfair to the other Americans.

Well, ESPN 2 always has Man U or Madrid, but they are both out, so the idiots that run the broadcast must have paniced, and just picked Barcelona as they are the team that kocked out Chelsea, the other team they would have wanted to show.

I can see why though, they do have Ronaldinho who is fast becoming the most 'wanted' player in the world for audiences around the world. He even had the fans in Milan on their feet in the Albertini good bye match last week.

I think it is more about Ronaldinho then it is about Barcelona vs Benfica.

But don't worry ARsenal fans, you'll get to see Henry plenty next year on ESPN2 when he plays with Ronaldinho !

its about time, its been pissing me off how they never show Benfica live they Benfica vs Liverpool wasn't live so now im happy it will be live on tv nothing to worry about

FORCA BENFICA

What the hell is wrong with ESPN? I can never stand them.

The biggest matches are Arsenal vs. Juve and Lyon vs. Milan but they decide to show EXACTLY the opposite by showing Barca vs. Benfica and Villareal vs. Inter. What are they on?

dont underestimate the number of benfica fans in the US people.
i see so many cars with small flags off the rear view mirrors, scarfs in the back windows, bumperstickers. havent noticed other large european teams supported nearly as much.
hell theres even benfica related graffitti in my neighborhood
glad to see em on espn finally

Luckily here in India ESPN is tied with Star Sports so 1 channel shows
Benfica - Barca while the other shows Arsenal - Juve..

Next day too we get both matches

where in the world do you live in the USA? Little Portugal?

Boston
east Somerville/Cambridge to be exact

Maybe they will show the bigger, ore important matches on the return leg, the one that matters most? Anyone know?

Do you think it may have something to do with the high number of Cape Verdian immigrants in Boston? Would they be inclined to support portuguese teams?

I live in Newark, New Jersey, and there's tens of thousands of portuguese people around this area. But overall in the United States there's hundreds of thousands of portuguese people.

About the topic, really happy they're gonna show the game. At the Luz.

last time i checked they didnt have the listings up for the 2nd legs yet it just says UEFA Champions League then nothing

You have to go to "tv listings" and then there is a little calendar off to the right. CLick on the date.

I checked the other day and they have it listed that they will be showing the Barcelona - Benfica game

eh just shows that this country cant do anything related to soccer
well at least we get every world cup match in HD

How do you make such a petition? I would definately like to participate - while the barca game might me understable, the inter-villareal one is ABSOLUTELY lahghable.

well i dont know i already emailed espn and they immediately wrote me back saying the would send it to a manager who would email me but that was almost a week and a half ago and i still hant heard anything

Will we really get EVERY match it HD? That sounds too good to be true.

That's not surprising .

For viewers in Canada...RDS, TSN, and TLN are showing two different matches each day so you can choose what to watch.

Tuesday:
RDS - Benfica-Barcelona (LIVE)
TSN,TLN - Arsenal-Juventus (LIVE)

Wednesday:
RDS,TLN - Inter-Villarreal (LIVE)
TSN - Lyon-Milan (LIVE)

Don't bother with them. I contacted ESPN about 5 months ago regarding another topic and they sent me an automatic message saying they will try to respond which they never did.

Well if you all lived in the UK you could have a choice of whatever match you want because Sky Sports broadcasts every single group and knockout stage match live.

....and what does this have to do with ESPN?

yea espn all the matches from the world cup are definately on either ABCHD, ESPNHD or ESPN2HD although i dont actually get espn2hd i think you have to pay extra for it or somehting beacause its not on my cable package

They should definitely show the Arsenal-Juventus and Milan-Lyon games instead. Ok Barcelona is Barcelona, so I understand why they're showing them play. Villareal-Inter? No thanks. Milan and Lyon is defintely the best game of this round, yet they aren't showing it.

Does any one know, if espn2 will have the live coverage of the benfica vs. barca game, on the website it shows it starting at 3( 2:45pm), not sure if those guys know that the time changed in europe?


Can someone help me out with this

Thx

On TSN the game starts at 1:45 Eastern, I guess they are fully aware of the time change in Europe so I am happy.

thanks, but im asking about benfica and barca, tsn will air the aresnal game

Yea I saw that too. I'm gonna wake up an hour earlier just in case.

OOOOO SHIITTTT DUDE I LIVE IN NEWARK TOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE U LIVE MAN???????

Guys dont wake up just in case...MAKE SURE that you wake up by 1.45 pm EST or 10.45 am PST...the time did indeed change in europe and they are one more hour ahead of us since daylight saving ended last weekend for them.

Will do. Oh and one small correction, that should be 10:45 AM PST.

Corrected...thanks

You must be an ironbounder.

I live in that region too. But I checked my TV today. Usually it starts 2:30, with the game starting around 2:45. But the TV says 3:00-5:00. They are moving the game a half hour ahead. What is ESPN doing? Is that the actual time the game starts or are they showing it on delay?

And what sucks is that here on the east coast I can't get home earlier because of school. Either it starts regular time and I miss the 1st 15 minutes or it starts an hour earlier and I get screwed over and miss the game.

I got the exact same problem, the game (due to time change in Europe), starts at 2:45 my time, while I get off school at 3:20 and get home a half hour later. Bummer.

I feel ya. I get out of school at 2:55. If I run real fast I can make it home by 3:05, so I only miss the first twenty minutes. I had the same problem last year. I came home and Barcelona were losing 3-0. If that happens again this year I'll hurrt myself.

At least you won't have that problem anymore this year.

Ironbound dude... this is cool!



Dude you live in Newark too?

I have a easy way to watch the game (in case it starts at 1:45), I'm gonna skip last block. (East Side High School Rulez )

Guys, make it easier on yourselves and just don't go to school. Don't you know that school is a waste of time anyway?

Their teachers won't appreciate that

For me it's no problem, games are normally on at 6:30am, instead they're on at 4:30. It's actually better as normally I have to leave after the first half, where I then proceed to go to my friends house to watch the rest, but if it starts two hours earlier for me then I can take my time

Yeah its good, none of this nerve crap for me this year. All neutral football spectating.

Guys great news, espn's coverage will start @ 1:30pm eastern, they finally updated their website
And I cant believe you guys, who are considering going to class, skip that shit, dude im in my graduating year(college), 4 wks away, and im definitely going to skip

Forca Benfica!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey I live really close to Boston...I know this is but are there any bars in Boston that show soccer games?

Does anyone know if ESPN2 will be showing the second legs on any CL games? I can't seem to find it on their schedule. I remember them saying that they'll show CL games every round after the knockout stages.

Yes, they're scheduled to show the return legs but the teams aren't announced yet.

I hope they at least show the Milan v Lyon 2nd leg. That is after all the most interesting matchup of the quarters. I don't care for the Villarreal v Inter match.

They'd better be showing at least either the Lyon vs. Milan game or the Arsenal vs. Juve game but i think they'll just show the 2nd legs of the games they broadcasted yesterday.

yea it would be nice to see arsenal but i cant see it happening, i think they will show both legs of both semifinals so that will be nice

on a separate point im not sure if their commentators are even at the stadium the game is being played at. i remember earlier in the season i think it was a man utd-villareal game wit rae and tommy smyth announcing and right after they went to ESPN news where surprise surprise they had tommy smyth as a studio gues. how could that happen if he were a continent away?

The Inter vs. Villareal game has been delayed on ESPN2 to 3:00pm EST.