If I were starting now, I'd probably pick Liverpool to follow. They're on top of the EPL so coming back to former glory, and they have tradition, especially in the Champions League. Google "ACMilan Liverpool 2005" and watch one of the YouTube vids that has a soundtrack of "You'll Never Walk Alone." They even choke me, a Milan follower, up.
Because my beloved AC Milan aren't on TV much anymore because of the fall of the the Club and of Serie A from dominance, I'll probably follow Liverpool for the remainder of the season.
Bundesliga could jump on top this year, depending on the outcome of the Champions League if Munich defeats Real Madrid and then Atletico Madrid.
"Champions League" is really a year-long tournament in which the top clubs in the top leagues in each country of Europe play off with a combination of home and away knock out matches and groups of four in which the top two qualify for the next round.
In the next two weeks, you should be able to see a couple of great matches in the Champions League, which is on Fox Sports: Bayern Munich v Real Madrid. Fox Sports 2:45 eastern Wednesday April 23--set your DVR if you have to work. Fox used to show constant replays of Champs League but doesn't anymore That one should be the final, but it's only the semifinal but there are two of them (the other will be April 29 same time). The other semifinal, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, (same channel, same time, April 22 and 30) doesn't promise as much but should be interesting.
April 27--Liverpool v Chelsea in the English Premier League. Liverpool currently lead Chelsea by two points so this is big. NBC is showing Premier League this year. This will be on NBC sports April 27 at 9:05 a.m. eastern.
I'm an AC Milan fan, and the Milano Derby between AC Milan and Internazionale is coming up soon. Problem with that is that there may not be US coverage at all and if there is, it is on a niche network and not in HD. It may be on Bein sport or Bein sport in Espanyol.
And of course World Cup is coming up this summer.
I would just watch for a while, then choose a club to follow. European soccer is quite a bit above the MLS, but unless you really like the English style (and I don't), it isn't easy to catch without a subscription to Spanish language TV (over thirty channels avaiable on Comcast for around $10 or so a month, about five of which show little but soccer, but others include hot women in telenovelas and videos as well as ridiculous humor if you speak a little Spanish). Champs League is the best introduction as the leveal of play is generally high.
There are a lot of websites. So once you pick your club, do a search. For example, for AC Milan, I follow rossoneri blog and Milan Obsession, and look at ESPN Socccernet every day to get a general sense of what's going on. Fox Soccer is also pretty good. Most soccer sites are taken up with rumors. wishful thinking, and full blown lies so you have to be careful.
The Simplest Game by John Gardner is the first soccer book I bought and probably the best. Read it before World Cup. It's generally interesting but the last part is taken up with what I found to be a boring recital of just about every World Cup match ever played. But it is good for a general history.
Go to FIFA.com and link to the "Laws of the Game" (which are the rules). There are not many and for the most part they're pretty simple. I found the best way to learn is to turn the sound off and watch the matches, turning the sound back on only when something happens that you don't understand. At this stage, don't worry about "offside"--it's complicated, few people understand it, they change it every few years, and it's like holding in American football--it's offside if it's called.
One other thing--tactics are very difficult to understand. Best explanation I've heard is "Get the ball into the other guy's goal and keep it out of your own." Despite decades of reading about and watching the game, that's about as far as I've gotten.
It's already having a big effect on Milan, which is in the best financial shape of any in Italy but loses tens of million of Euro every year.. It will also affect many other teams in Europe. Yesterday Milan reported selling two of their biggest and most popular players to save about $180 million over the next two years. No surprise after seeing what their (our) financial condition is and what it needs to be to continue to play in the Champions League where big money is made. BTW--read that article when it was first posted. Swiss Ramble is one of my "go to" websites on soccer football.
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If I were starting now, I'd probably pick Liverpool to follow. They're on top of the EPL so coming back to former glory, and they have tradition, especially in the Champions League. Google "ACMilan Liverpool 2005" and watch one of the YouTube vids that has a soundtrack of "You'll Never Walk Alone." They even choke me, a Milan follower, up.
Because my beloved AC Milan aren't on TV much anymore because of the fall of the the Club and of Serie A from dominance, I'll probably follow Liverpool for the remainder of the season.
Forza Milan.
Right now, I'd rank them:
La Liga
Bundesliga
EPL
Serie A.
Bundesliga could jump on top this year, depending on the outcome of the Champions League if Munich defeats Real Madrid and then Atletico Madrid.
"Champions League" is really a year-long tournament in which the top clubs in the top leagues in each country of Europe play off with a combination of home and away knock out matches and groups of four in which the top two qualify for the next round.
In the next two weeks, you should be able to see a couple of great matches in the Champions League, which is on Fox Sports: Bayern Munich v Real Madrid. Fox Sports 2:45 eastern Wednesday April 23--set your DVR if you have to work. Fox used to show constant replays of Champs League but doesn't anymore That one should be the final, but it's only the semifinal but there are two of them (the other will be April 29 same time). The other semifinal, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, (same channel, same time, April 22 and 30) doesn't promise as much but should be interesting.
April 27--Liverpool v Chelsea in the English Premier League. Liverpool currently lead Chelsea by two points so this is big. NBC is showing Premier League this year. This will be on NBC sports April 27 at 9:05 a.m. eastern.
I'm an AC Milan fan, and the Milano Derby between AC Milan and Internazionale is coming up soon. Problem with that is that there may not be US coverage at all and if there is, it is on a niche network and not in HD. It may be on Bein sport or Bein sport in Espanyol.
And of course World Cup is coming up this summer.
I would just watch for a while, then choose a club to follow. European soccer is quite a bit above the MLS, but unless you really like the English style (and I don't), it isn't easy to catch without a subscription to Spanish language TV (over thirty channels avaiable on Comcast for around $10 or so a month, about five of which show little but soccer, but others include hot women in telenovelas and videos as well as ridiculous humor if you speak a little Spanish). Champs League is the best introduction as the leveal of play is generally high.
There are a lot of websites. So once you pick your club, do a search. For example, for AC Milan, I follow rossoneri blog and Milan Obsession, and look at ESPN Socccernet every day to get a general sense of what's going on. Fox Soccer is also pretty good. Most soccer sites are taken up with rumors. wishful thinking, and full blown lies so you have to be careful.
The Simplest Game by John Gardner is the first soccer book I bought and probably the best. Read it before World Cup. It's generally interesting but the last part is taken up with what I found to be a boring recital of just about every World Cup match ever played. But it is good for a general history.
Go to FIFA.com and link to the "Laws of the Game" (which are the rules). There are not many and for the most part they're pretty simple. I found the best way to learn is to turn the sound off and watch the matches, turning the sound back on only when something happens that you don't understand. At this stage, don't worry about "offside"--it's complicated, few people understand it, they change it every few years, and it's like holding in American football--it's offside if it's called.
One other thing--tactics are very difficult to understand. Best explanation I've heard is "Get the ball into the other guy's goal and keep it out of your own." Despite decades of reading about and watching the game, that's about as far as I've gotten.
It's already having a big effect on Milan, which is in the best financial shape of any in Italy but loses tens of million of Euro every year.. It will also affect many other teams in Europe. Yesterday Milan reported selling two of their biggest and most popular players to save about $180 million over the next two years. No surprise after seeing what their (our) financial condition is and what it needs to be to continue to play in the Champions League where big money is made. BTW--read that article when it was first posted. Swiss Ramble is one of my "go to" websites on soccer football.
Will be very surprised if one of the above two don't win it, given the venue. Argentina would be my third choice.