Fox turns to Bundesliga as its soccer anchor

Long before NBC Sports brought every game of the Premier League to American viewers, the idea of regular soccer on stateside TV verged on the preposterous. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the game was rarely broadcast — except for, somewhat unexpectedly, on PBS. There, budding American fans found "Soccer Made In Germany," a weekly hour-long program from German Educational Television that showed highlights of West German league games. Even now, soccer fans of a certain age get wistful when you mention Toby Charles, the commentator whose pinched British accent taught a generation of Americans to correctly pronounce "Borussia Monchengladbach."

This weekend, the Bundesliga makes its debut as a main pillar of Fox's soccer coverage. The network needed something to help replace the hole in the schedule when the Premier League rights, long a Fox property, were bought by NBC. The Bundesliga, which had been relegated to the highest channel numbers in the most obscure satellite packages, gets a chance to find the American spotlight once again.

Despite the longtime difficulty in watching the league, there are more than a few American fans who have long enjoyed the German league as a counterpoint to the glitz and glamour of England. German clubs are required to be majority-owned by members, and to allow the league to examine their accounts for potential financial problems. The combination has made Germany's teams more fan-focused, rather than profit-focused, and has kept out the super-rich owners that have heaped debt upon most of England's big clubs.

For many, the league begins and ends with Bayern Munich, its most famous team. The Yankees of German soccer are going for an unprecedented fourth title, and are the heavy favorites to lift another trophy. Coach Pep Guardiola, though, has the franchise unsettled with his refusal to commit to a contract beyond next summer. That saga, and the team's focus on Champions League success, might be all that can throw Bayern off.

Behind the champions are a group of exciting teams with question marks. VfL Wolfsburg is led by Belgian striker Kevin De Bruyne, but he might soon be off for greener pastures. Borussia Dortmund, after becoming the darlings of the league under talismanic coach Jürgen Klopp, flirted with relegation for most of last year and will start over this season under new manager Thomas Tuchel. Bayer Leverkusen loves to attack, but occasionally forgets to defend.

As for rooting interests, U.S. fans might want to keep an eye on Werder Bremen, which has acquired young American striker Aron Johannsson, or Borussia Monchengladbach, which features fullback Fabian Johnson. Otherwise, if you need some advice, maybe all you need to do is find a longtime American soccer fan. He, and Toby Charles, might be able to put you right.

Short takes

• The U.S. Open Cup fi­nal is set: Sport­ing Kan­sas City will vis­it Phil­a­del­phi­a Union on Sept. 30. Both teams have a his­to­ry of tak­ing the knock­out com­pe­ti­tion se­ri­ous­ly, which you can't say about every MLS team. K.C. last won the Cup in 2012, while the Union is seek­ing its first tro­phy but will have the ex­peri­ence ad­van­tage af­ter reach­ing last year's fi­nal. With the MLS regu­lar sea­son some­what de­valued due to 12 of the 20 teams mak­ing the play­offs, it will be nice to see a mean­ing­ful game in Sep­tem­ber to whet our ap­pe­tites for the MLS Cup later in the fall.

• This week, Stoke City an­nounced it had signed Swiss mid­field­er Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan. If you want an ex­am­ple of how great the fi­nan­cial might of the Pre­mier League has grown, this might be the best one. It was not so long ago that the i­de­a of Stoke, a mid-tier Eng­lish team, sign­ing any play­er from a famed I­tal­ian club like Inter Milan would have been lu­di­crous — nev­er mind a young mid­field­er who has been called Swit­zer­land's an­swer to Li­o­nel Messi.

• France also kicked off its sea­son last week­end, and if pos­si­ble, the league might be even more of a fore­gone con­clu­sion than the Ger­man league. Paris-St. Germain won the league cham­pi­on­ship and all three French cup com­pe­ti­tions last year, and shows no signs of slow­ing down. PSG might trade it all, though, for Champions League glory; the club hasn't even reached the semi­finals for 20 years, and has nev­er won the whole thing.

What to watch this weekend
Women's international: Costa Rica vs. United States in Pittsburgh, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Fox Sports 1. Following their World Cup victory, the U.S. women start their victory tour against a familiar CONCACAF foe. The games will be presented mostly as a celebration of women's soccer — but ultimately, these are the warmup games for next year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

NASL: Minnesota at Ottawa, 6 p.m. Saturday, Ch. 45. Ottawa has won five consecutive matches, is on a 12-game unbeaten streak and has multiple goals in four of its past five games. Minnesota, meanwhile, is mired in a string of disappointing results. Climbing in the standings is one thing; having some indication that United could be a potential championship contender is another. A win in Ottawa would be huge.