Saturday
Bristol Rovers - Aston Villa
12pm - Fox Soccer
The FA Cup enters the Third Round proper, with Brad Guzan and Eric Lichaj's Villa getting an away date with League Two club Bristol. Part of the fun of the English cup competitions is seeing stadiums that normally don't appear on US television. Memorial Stadium in Horfield, Bristol is mostly standing areas, since Bristol has never been high enough in the English league system to have to convert to all-seater. Only 2500 seats in a tiny main stand for a stadium listed with a capacity of 12,100.
Birmingham City - Wolverhampton
7:30am - Fox Soccer Plus
Jonathan Spector's Birmingham gets to host a local derby with Wolverhampton the Premier League club and City in the Championship. The Black Country area that includes Birmingham and what Americans would call its suburbs in the West Midlands isn't hurting for high level soccer clubs and it's always nice to have a local rivalry at FA Cup level.
Also in the FA Cup, Fox Soccer has Macclesfield - Bolton at 10am and Fleetwood - Blackpool is on Fox Soccer Plus at 10am. Fleetwood is a Conference National team, the fifth level of English soccer.
Serie A on Fox Soccer Plus: Siena - Lazio at noon and Fox Soccer has Inter Milan - Parma at 2:30pm. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Levante - Mallorca at noon. On GolTV: Real Madrid - Granada at 2pm and Malaga - Atletico Madrid at 4pm.
Mexico's Clausura on Azteca and Fox Deportes: Cruz Azul - Tigres at 6pm. TeleFutura has Queretaro - club America at 6pm and Santos - Pachuca at 8pm. Monterrey - Jaguares is on Galavision at 6pm and San Luis - UNAM Pumas at 9:30pm. Telemundo has Chivas - Atlante at 8pm. All Times Eastern
Sunday
Manchester City - Manchester United
8am - Fox Soccer
Worth getting up for, with the Manchester derby FA Cup version. Though some might've liked to see the potential for this pairing later in the tournament, it speaks to current events. Both teams have recently lost to clubs they should've beaten at Premier League level, and both are getting the pundit treatment in England. That leaves them with something to prove and raises the stakes for the highest profile Third Round game. For United in particular who crashed out of the Carling Cup at home to Championship club Crystal Palace and were badly beaten at home by City, this is an opportunity.
Also in the FA Cup, Fox Soccer Plus has Petersborough United - Sunderland at 10:30am.
Serie A on Fox Soccer Plus: Udinese - Cesena at 6:30am. On Fox Soccer: Atalanta - Milan at 11am and Palermo - Napoli at 2:30pm. La Liga on GolTV: Real Betis - Sporting Gijon at 3pm. ESPN Deportes has Espanyol - Barcelona at 3:30pm.
Clausura on Univision: Toluca - U.A.G. at 1pm and Puebla - Atlas on Azteca and ESPN Deportes also at 1pm. All Times Eastern
Monday
Arsenal - Leeds United
3pm ET - Fox Soccer
A highlight matchup from another era, in the early 1970's an Arsenal - Leeds fixture would've been serious business. Now, it's an opportunity for Leeds to take another step back to respectability as they continue the long climb to try to regain their place as an elite English club.
