The soccer gods didn’t come together on this one to make the schedule more convenient. Nevertheless, we have three brilliant spectacles this afternoon for you to follow along with — everything from the Olympic women’s final between the United States of America against Japan (live on NBC Sports Network and NBCOlympics.com at 2:45pm ET), to the Europa League qualifier between Liverpool and FC Gomel (live on FOX Soccer at 3pm ET), and the friendly between Valencia and Tottenham Hotspur (live on beINSPORT.tv at 3.55pm ET).
With Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers will walk his team out at Anfield for the first time in a match where they have an 1-0 aggregate lead so far thanks to Stewart Downing’s wonderful goal in Eastern Europe last week. A win or draw is vital for Liverpool to progress to the next round. Perhaps even more important is that Liverpool puts on a good display to convince the Anfield faithful that the club is heading in the right direction.
Over on new soccer channel beINSPORT, they’ll be showing a free stream of the friendly between Valencia vs Tottenham. Arguably, it’ll be Tottenham’s toughest contest of their summer preseason, so it’ll be a good opportunity to see if the Lilywhites are as good as they looked on their US tour.
Last, but not least, is the final for the gold medal between the US women’s soccer team and Japan. It’ll be hard to beat the entertainment factor of the Olympic semi-final between USA and Canada, but if it’s anything close, we’ll be in for a match to remember. Japan is on song right now, so it’s quite possible that the Asian nation may follow up their 2011 Women’s World Cup Final trophy with an Olympic gold. Or, is it time for the US women’s team to mount a rematch?
Before, during and after today’s matches, post your rants, raves, questions and observations in the comments section below. Go USA!
