Sunday’s 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup final live on ESPN from Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa, - a 3-2 victory for Brazil over the United States - was the most-watched non-FIFA World Cup match featuring the U.S. Men’s Soccer National Team on the network, with an average of 3.945 million viewers.  The telecast, aired Sunday, June 28, at 2 p.m. ET, was seen by an average of 2.556 million television homes, based on a 2.6 rating.

The match, in which Brazil, No. 5 in the FIFA World Rankings, overcame a 2-0 deficit in the first half to defeat the 14th ranked U.S. Team, also delivered the third largest audience for a U.S. Men’s National Team match on ESPN, trailing two World Cup matches - June 21, 2002, Germany vs. U.S., seen by 5.335 million viewers, and June 22, 1994, U.S. vs. Colombia, seen by 4.810 million viewers.

The five most-viewed U.S. Men’s Team matches:

June 21, 2002
2002 World Cup-Qtr-final
Germany vs. U.S.
5,335,000

June 22, 1994
1994 World Cup-1st RD
U.S. vs. Colombia
4,810,000

June 28, 2009
FIFA Confed Cup-Final
U.S. vs. Brazil
3,945,000

June 22, 2006
2006 World Cup-1st RD
Ghana vs. U.S.
3,819,000

June 16, 2002
2002 World Cup-2nd RD
Mexico vs. U.S.
2,935,000

U.S. National Team’s 2-0 Upset Victory Over No. 1-Ranked Spain an “Instant Classic” on ESPN2 at 11 p.m. ET

ESPN2 will present an “Instant Classic” re-air of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s 2-0 FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal victory over Spain tonight at 11 p.m. ET.  The match, played in Bloemfontein, South Africa, ranks as one of the biggest upsets in U.S. Soccer history - rivaling previous victories versus Columbia in the 1994 World Cup, Brazil in the 1998 Gold Cup and Portugal in the 2002 World Cup

With the victory, the U.S. Team, No. 15 in FIFA World Rankings, ended No. 1 Spain’s world-record winning streak at 15 and its 2 1/2-year unbeaten run at 35.  The U.S. Team will play the winner of Thursday’s Brazil vs. South Africa semifinal match (2:25 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV) in Sunday’s title match in Johannesburg.  Sunday’s match (2:25 p.m. on ESPN2, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV) will be the first appearance for a U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team in the title match of a major FIFA event.

Group A of the Confederation’s Cup has concluded it’s games leaving it’s first 2 victims in Iraq and New Zealand.  Hosts South African advance and so does the record breaking Spanish team (now with 15 straight wins).

The final standing like this for Group A Confederations Cup:

FIFA Confederations Cup - Groups & Standings

Group A Table Standings

            Team    MP W D L GF GA Pts

* 1. Spain        3  3  0  0  7  0  9

* 2. South Africa 2  1  1  1  2  1  4

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 3. Iraq         3  0  2  1  0  1  2

 4. New Zealand  2  0  1  2  0  7  1

These teams await today’s exciting matches between Brazil v Italy and USA v Egypt both scheduled for 2:30 pm this afternoon and available on ESPN & ESPN2 respectively.

The semi-finals are scheduled for June 24th (wednesday) at 2:30 pm. Spain won the group and will face the 2nd place team of Group B. South Africa will face the first place team in Group B.

Semi-final #1 - FIFA Confederations Cup Live:

Spain vs Group B - 2nd Place

Semi-final #2 - FIFA Confederations Cup Live:

Groub B - 1st Place vs South Africa

Here are the likely Scenarios for the Semi-Final teams based on todays possible results:

Likely Scenario 1 - If Brazil win and Egypt win:

Group B Table Standings

            Team               W D L Pts

* 1. Brazil       3  0  0  9

* 2. Egypt        2  0  1  6

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 3. Italy         1  0  2  3

 3. USA           0  0  3  3

We’d then have the following Semi-Final matches ups

Spain vs Egypt

Brazil vs South Africa

Likely Scenario 2 - If Italy win and Egypt win:

Group B Table Standings

            Team               W D L Pts

 1. Brazil       2  0  1  9

 2. Egypt        2  0  1  6

 3. Italy        2  0  1  6

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 3. USA           0  0  3  3

We’d then have a situation where goal differential for each nation would determine who advances.

Brazil will get eliminated from the FIFA Confederations Cup if they lose to italy by two or more goals and an Egypt win by three goals against the United States.

Egypt will get eliminated form the FIFA Confederations cup if Brazil beats Italy by a goal and if USA beats Egypt,

Italy can get eliminated even if they win Brazil.. this scenario would take place if Italy beat Brazil by one goal and Egypt wins the USA by 3 goals, creating the 3 way tie as per above table. Goal differential in this situation would be Brasil 3, Egypt 3, Italy 2.

USA will most likely be eliminated unless the following happens. They must win Egypt on Sunday. And Italy must lose to Brazil.  As well the USA will need to beef up their goal differential which currently stands at -5.

Likely Scenario 3 - If Brazil & Italy Tie and Egypt Win:

Group B Table Standings

            Team               W D L Pts

* 1. Brazil       2  1  0  7

* 2. Egypt        2  0  1  6

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 3. Italy         1  1  1  4

 3. USA           0  0  3  3

We’d then have an Italy elimination from the FIFA Confederation Cup and the following Semi-Final matches ups

Spain vs Egypt

Brazil vs South Africa

This is football.. with numerous outcomes and a wave of emotions that occur inside the 90 minute match. Today’s group B matches will bring millions of football fans around the world excitement and nail biting action right up to the last minute of extra time. It’s quite possible that we could have one of the following scenarios for the FIFA Confederations Cup Semi-final

• Spain vs Egypt
  Spain vs Brazil
  Spain vs Italy
  Spain vs USA
• Brazil vs South Africa
  Egypt vs South Africa
  Italy vs South Africa

So if you have nothing planned for this Sunday afternoon.. get ready to watch some exciting international football. If you do have something else planned.. then as a football fan i urge you to tune into one of the following matches and get stuck in mate!

Watch Italy vs Brazil Live at 2:00 PM (est) on ESPN BBC3, CBC, ESPN 360,  Univision and online… June 21, 2009

Watch US vs Egypt Live at 2:30 PM on Telefutura, ESPN2, ESPN 360, GolTV-Canada… June 21, 2009

Many Italians and Brazilians will be tuning in Sunday June 21st at 2:30 PM EST to watch a massive match taking place in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa.

This is the 3rd match in the qualifying group which contains Brazil, Italy, USA and Egypt. The funny thing is that with 2 games played there is a possbility that each team can still qualify or get eliminated.

The standings at this point are: Brazil 6 pts, Italy 3 pts, Egypt 3 pts, USA 0 pts.

Outcome Scenarios:

Brazil v Italy Match - June 21st at 2:30 pm

If Brazil wins Italy - Brazil will have 9 pts and Italy will remain with 3 pts.  Brazil will win the group and most likely avoid Spain in the Semi-Final. Italy will be eliminated.

If Brazil vs Italy results in a Tie - then Brazil will win the group and Italy will remain on 4 pts. If Egypt win their game with the USA then Italy will be eliminated and Egypt will secure second place and be rewarded with a semi-final encounter with Spain.

It Brazil vs Italy results in an Italian victory, then, Italy and Brazil will both have 6 pts.. And goal differential and head to head results will be used to determine who advances.. If Egypt win and also secure 6 pts.  There will be a 3 way tie.. and it will come down to goal differential between these 3 teams.

USA vs Egypt Live Match at June 21, 2:30 pm EST

USA still has a remote mathematical chance of qualifying.. for this to occur, the US Soccer team will need to win the USA vs Egypt match. and will need Brazil to beat Italy. This scenario would leave the group looking like this: Brazil 9 pts, Italy 3 pts, Egypt 3 pts, USA 3 pts. And it will come down to the goal differential of these teams. USA will need to score a massive amount of goals in order to pull out of their negative differential.. right now current with 1 goal scored and 6 suffered leaving them with a -5 goal differential.  Egypt have scored 4 and suffered 4 with a 0 goal differential. The Italians have scored 3 and suffered 2 with a +1 goal differential. So if the USA score 5 goals and italy lose by more than 2 goals.. then they have a chance.. however the way Egypt have been playing i think this will be an unlikely scenario.

This will be one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament.. and the reward for 2nd place will be to face a killer Spain team that has now gone undefeated since Nov of 2006.

Do yourself a favor and tune into these matches on Sunday June 21st for a great afternoon of international footbal.

Watch Brazil v Italy live at 2:30pm June 21st.

Watch USA vs Egypt live at 2:30pm June 21st.

Please Visit http://www.livesoccertv.com/livefooty.html for the Live Soccer Schedule published weekly including the FIFA Confederation Cup 2009, Copa Libertadores & Euro 2009 TV Schedule

The following is a listing of pre-season club friendlies this summer in the US and Canada. Other matches including Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United are also included here: TV Schedules will be made available on day of match.

Saturday, July 18
Seattle Sounders v Chelsea
Malaysian Select XI v Manchester United, Kuala Lumpur

Sunday, July 19
Club America vs. Inter Milan
Stanford Stadium
Palo Alto, California
1 pm EST
Rapid Vienna v Liverpool
Monday, July 20
Indonesia All Star v Manchester United
Ventura County Fusion v Burnley, Los Angeles, California

Tuesday, July 21
Chelsea FC vs. Inter Milan
Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California
5 pm EST

Wednesday, July 22
AC Milan vs. Club America
Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
7 pm EST

Thailand national team v Liverpool, Bangkok, Thailand
TBA: Burnley, Los Angeles, California

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PFC International will show this Saturday, March 13, for the Brazilian community abroad, the friendly match ”Figo All Stars”, a farewell of the Portuguese player, best in the world in 2001, bringing together a great team in Geneva .

In the field, stars such as Ibrahimovic, Seedorf, Chivu, and the Portuguese Pauleta, Maniche, Sá Pinto, Fernando Couto, Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Bruno Alves and Dimas. PFCI is present in the United States , Canada , France , Canada , Nigeria , Mozambique , Angola , Trinidad and Tobago , Uruguay and Chile .

Visit http://www.livesoccertv.com/livefooty.html for the Live Soccer Schedule published weekly including the FIFA Confederation Cup 2009 TV Schedule

ESPN and ESPN2 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Television Commentators
Lead U.S. and MLS Booth Team Joins UEFA Champions League Commentators
Rece Davis Returns as Studio Host with Alexi Lalas as Analyst

A trio of talented commentator teams will call all 16 matches of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup from South Africa June 14-28 on ESPN and ESPN2.  The quadrennial tournament will be presented in high definition when the champions of each of the six FIFA confederations - CONCACAF (USA), UEFA (Spain), CAF (Egypt), CONMEBOL (Brazil), AFC (Iraq) and OFC (New Zealand) - and the upcoming host country (South Africa) and past winner of the FIFA World Cup (Italy) compete against one another one-year leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  All the match and studio commentaries will be from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters.  The commentator teams:

Headlined by FIFA Confederations Cup, June 14-28
and CBC’S SOCCER DAY IN CANADA Saturday, June 20

CBC is heading to soccer pitches across the globe and throughout Canada in June with extensive coverage of the FIFA Confederations Cup, June 14 to 28, and CBC’S SOCCER DAY IN CANADA, Saturday, June 20.

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