Must See TV

It has been requested that I produce a recommended television schedule for those of you that either aren’t terribly familiar with who you should be watching, or don’t have enough time to figure it out. To keep this brief, I won’t do any write-ups of games, but I will break things down into three levels.

Level 1: The best you’ll see at the group stage. This includes matches between two top teams and pretty much every game that Brazil plays.

Level 2: This match has a couple of exciting players in it, but is probably between a power and a big underdog.

Level 3: It’s the World Cup – every game could be great. These matches are the least likely to be great matches, though you just never know. Any game not listed is a Level 3.

I’m working from the assumption that most of you don’t work from home and therefore have seemingly infinite time to watch football matches, so the grading is relatively strict. The England v. Paraguay match is on as I’m typing this, and though boring, would probably be classified a Level 2. All times are in Eastern, and all games in the United States can be found in English on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. If you need more information, check out Soccer TV

Sat June 10
Noon – Sweden v. Trinidad. LEVEL 2
3PM – Argentina v. Ivory Coast LEVEL 1++

Sun June 11
9AM – Serbia v. Netherlands LEVEL 1
Noon – Mexico v. Iran LEVEL 2
3PM – Portugal v. Angola. LEVEL 2

Mon June 12
Noon – U.S v. Czech Republic LEVEL 1
3PM – Italy v. Ghana LEVEL 1++

Tues June 13
Noon – France v. Switzerland LEVEL 1
3PM – Brazil v. Croatia LEVEL 1++

Weds June 14
9AM – Spain vs. Ukraine – LEVEL 1
3PM – Germany vs. Poland LEVEL 2

Thurs June 15
Noon – England vs. Trinidad LEVEL 2
3PM – Sweden vs. Paraguay LEVEL 2

Friday June 16
9AM – Argentina vs. Serbia LEVEL 1
Noon – Netherlands vs. Ivory Coast LEVEL 1++

Sat June 17
9AM – Portugal vs. Iran LEVEL 2
Noon – Czech vs. Ghana LEVEL 1
3PM – Italy vs. USA LEVEL 1

Sun June 18
Noon – Brazil vs. Australia LEVEL 1
3PM – France vs. Korea LEVEL 2

Mon June 19
3PM – Spain vs. Tunisia LEVEL 2

Tues June 20
10AM – Ecuador vs. Germany LEVEL 2 (May decide winner of Group A)
3PM – Sweden vs. England LEVEL 1++

Weds June 21
10AM – Portugal vs. Mexico LEVEL 1
3PM – Netherlands vs. Argentina LEVEL 1++
3PM – Ivory Coast vs. Serbia LEVEL 1

Thurs June 22
10AM – Ghana vs. USA LEVEL 1
10AM – Czech vs. Italy LEVEL 1++
3PM – Japan vs. Brazil LEVEL 1

Friday June 23
10AM – Saudi vs. Spain LEVEL 2
3PM – Togo vs. France LEVEL 2