Marcelo Balboa May Now Be Available In Your Household On August 12 After All

We are just 1 week away from perhaps the biggest game the U.S. soccer team has played this whole crazy summer and now, we may have the biggest news of all about the game. Remember over a week ago when I posted the story of how the U.S. qualifying game next Wednesday at Estadio Azteca was only going to be available on mun2 and Telemundo with Marcelo Balboa making his return to broadcasting and analyzing (and I use those terms in the broadest sense possible), well, as it turns out, those that have DirecTV (that's me!), Dish Network, and (in some cases) Time Warner, will get their dose of awful announcing after all! How is that possible, you ask? Well, it has been decided that a "Free Preview" of mun2 is needed, and what better day for a free preview then on August 12, 2009, the same day that the United States is scheduled to take on Mexico in the World Cup qualifying game on mun2! Via Big Soccer.com

Various sources (not to be confused with Various Styles) are reporting this morning that on August 12, the day of the United States - Mexico game, Telemundo Soccer News Topics affiliate mun2 (mun dos) will be offering a "Free Preview" of their channel.

According to NBC Soccer News Topics Universal, mun2 has already received commitments from programming distributors that almost double their current 31 million household subscriber base.

DirecTV and Dish Network will both provide mun2 to their entire subscriber base that day free of charge.

Time Warner Soccer News Topics distributors will apparently make the decision on a case-by-case basis, so you might consider calling your local office and acting like a raving lunatic.

Furthermore, while mun2 is a Spanish language channel, for this game an English language "overlay" will be available through the SAP option on your TV. You now have one week to figure out how that works.

While I am excited that I won't have to scratch and claw for an online stream to see this game in any language, I am now somewhat disappointed that I will voluntarily subject myself to Marcelo Balboa's analysis (Phil Shoen will be working PbP). As much as I criticized NBC Universal et. al. for putting this game on mun2, a channel which most people in this country don't receive, I applaud them for giving some a free preview on the day of the game. Now if only they can somehow put it on Comcast as well, aside from the fact that they are actually paying Marcelo Balboa, there may not be too many complaints about this move. I know I'm excited.

USA! USA! USA!

(Big Time Hat Tip To James Craven!)