Soccer fans are going to have get up early or stay up late to catch all of the action from ESPN’s and ESPN2’s coverage of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China.
The Disney-owned networks will air all 32 matches of the 16-team tourney live, kicking off Sept. 10 at 7:55 a.m. (EST) with coverage of defending champion Germany taking on Argentina in Shanghai’s Hongkou Football Stadium.
Presented without commercial interruption -- spots run in pregame, postgame and halftime segments -- the fifth FIFA Women’s World Cup concludes with the final at the aforementioned time Sept. 30.
As for the FIFA-top-ranked United States team, led by Kristine Lilly and Amby Wambach, the side opens play in Group B, considered by soccer watchers to be the “group of death,” versus Korea DPR Sept. 11 at 4:55 a.m. on ESPN2, before squaring off against Sweden three days later at that time on ESPN. The United States completes its group work against Nigeria on ESPN at 7:55 a.m. Sept. 18. All of the U.S. matches -- as well as other contests, including both semifinals and the championship game -- will be encored on ESPN Classic and ESPN2.
In addition, 30-minute pre-match and one-hour in-between-match studio shows will be aired on select days.
Broadband service ESPN360 -- now available to some 15 million homes via 20 high-speed affiliates -- will offer live online coverage for the entire quadrennial event.
