MLS Weekend: How to Watch in Week 3

Three Big Storylines:

1. The Friday night game on UniMas featuring Philadelphia Union hosting FC Dallas was postponed because of snow.  Will we see the Yellow Ball out today?  Early reports are that the weather has cleared and the pitch will be playable, just cold.  As soon as the game was postponed on Friday it was reported (not really) that Costa Rica immediately lodged another protest against the Snow Clasico.
2. New York Red Bulls host their home opener Sunday at 2 PM Pacific Time. There is considerable unrest between NYRB and their supporter’s groups as to the unceremonious way that Mike Petke was fired last year. The long time Metro Star/Red Bull was a local product that led the team to their first ever trophy in the 2013 Supporter’s Shield but was replaced by Jesse Marsch in the off season in a big shakeup with the Red Bulls organization on and off the field after Thierry Henry retired. It will be interesting to see how much protestation there is in the stands and how the national TV acknowledges said protest.
3. San Jose Earthquakes open their new stadium on Sunday on National TV, the Fox Sports 1 game. The Earthquakes boast America’s Largest Outdoor Bar in Avaya Stadium. This is a fancy way of saying that they made the open section of the stadium, there are stands on only three sides, into an outdoor bar. The Earthquakes host the Chicago Fire lead by former Quakes manager Frank Yallop. The Fire have not started the season well in two losses and San Jose is expecting a win in their inaugural home match. Avaya Stadium capacity is reportedly 18,000.

From a Sounders Point of View:

From a Sounders point of view, FC Dallas is the Sounders next opponent so you will want to watch how they do in Philly and adjust after the game was postponed from Friday to Saturday.  FC Dallas is the only team on six points early in the season so a result for the Union would be a desirable result.

Sporting KC host the Portland Timbers in a battle of Western Conference foes.  The Timbers managed two draws in their initial two home matches while Sporting only have one point from two played.  The loser of this match will start to hear the whispers about early season struggles intensify.

National TV Listings:

FC Dallas at Philadelphia Union
Saturday, 1 PM Pacific, Univision Deportes
*note, this is the match that was moved from Friday to Saturday and changed from UniMas to Univision Deportes.  The SAP button is reported to be available for this match just like on UniMas.
http://deportes.univision.com/

DC United at New York Red Bulls
Sunday, 2 PM Pacific, ESPN2
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/

Chicago Fire at San Jose Earthquakes
Sunday 4 PM Pacific, Fox Sports 1
http://www.foxsports.com/foxsportsgo/