Man United Coming to America, GolTV in HD And More

Manchester United looks very likely to be the opponent in this summer’s MLS All-Star Game, according to press reports. That’s just one of the headlines in the news. Here are the latest Premier League-related stories that are making the news in the past 24 hours:

• GolTV will launch in HD beginning August 1, 2010. GolTV announced Monday that it will launch GolTV HD in August, but no news yet on whether any TV providers will provide it. We all know how that goes.
• Manchester United to play in this summer’s MLS All-Star Game. A British tabloid reported in January that Man United will be touring the United States this summer to play friendlies in Chicago, New York and Toronto. But now an industry publication says that Man United will be playing instead in Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and Houston. The latter city is the host of the 2010 MLS All-Star Game scheduled for late July/early August, which will reportedly feature a MLS all-star team against the Red Devils. No confirmation from Manchester United regarding the news, but an announcement is expected in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are still both rumored to be interested in touring the States this summer.
• Steve McClaren is a contender for the West Ham manager job. That’s according to The Daily Mirror who, despite being a British tabloid, are often spot on more than they’re wrong. However, it looks like the Hammers have given Zola a stay of execution to see if the Italian can rescue the team from the threat of relegation. Even if he does, it looks likely that Zola won’t be around Upton Park that much longer.
• Mike Dean will referee Man United v Chelsea this weekend. When it comes to referees, there’s not one name that could be picked to ref the big clash this weekend that would avoid criticism unless it was Pierluigi Collina — and we know that’s not going to happen. The odds are that Mike Dean will make a controversial mistake in this Saturday’s game. But what English ref wouldn’t?
• DirecTV will launch ESPN’s 3-D channel this summer in time for the World Cup. DirecTV HD customers who subscribe to ESPN will receive ESPN 3D at no additional cost.

Photo credit: DJWudl