Premier League: Swansea City at Chelsea, 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Ch. 11. Chelsea's title defense begins with a tricky game at home with Swansea City. Last year, the Swans shocked everyone by going to Old Trafford and beating Manchester United 2-1 on the first day of the season, but repeating that feat at Stamford Bridge this year against the champions is a tall order.
NASL: FC Edmonton at Minnesota United, 7 p.m. Saturday, Ch. 45. Dating back to May, United has just two wins in nine games. Minnesota's already fallen eight points behind Ottawa in the standings for the fall season, and is in fifth place for the combined fall and spring standings. With the year more than half over, the Loons need to put a winning run together or they'll be in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.
Premier League: Liverpool at Stoke City, 10 a.m. Sunday, NBC Sports. This will be our first glimpse of the new-look Liverpool, which sold star forward Raheem Sterling in the summer and brought in Christian Benteke from Aston Villa to replace him. Stoke likely won't have playmaking midfielder Bojan Krkic back from last year's ACL injury yet, but it'll be looking to continue its easy-to-watch renaissance under Mark Hughes all the same.
MLS: New York City at New York Red Bulls, 6 p.m. Sunday, Fox Sports 1. The Red Bulls have won the first two editions of the New York rivalry game, but since the last one, NYC has added both Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard to its midfield. The MLS will be hoping both teams have all their stars available. The Red Bulls are unbeaten in their past four matches, and are now second in the Eastern Conference.
