NEW YORK – – NBC Sports Group will broadcast three soccer games this weekend including NBC’s Saturday coverage of the Seattle Sounders against the Portland Timbers at 3:30 p.m. ET, the first MLS game on network television in four years. NBC will also feature the gold medal-winning Team USA Women’s Soccer Team in a friendly against Australia from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., on Sun. at 12:30 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Network will air an Eastern Conference showdown on Friday when the #3 Houston Dynamo head to Kansas City to take on the #1 Sporting Kansas City at 8:30 p.m. ET.

COMMENTATORS:

Sporting Kansas City vs. Houston

J.P. Dellacamera (play-by-play), Brian Dunseth (analyst) and Rob Simmelkjaer (studio host).

Team USA Women vs. Australia

Arlo White (play-by-play), Kyle Martino (“Between the Benches” analyst), Russ Thaler (studio host),Kate Markgraf (studio analyst).

Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders

Arlo White (play-by-play), Kyle Martino (“Between the Benches” analyst), Russ Thaler (studio host).

MARTINO ON TEAM USA: “The Golden Girls continue their tour against a tough Australian team. With eight goals scored on the tour already you don’t want to miss the fireworks.”

WHITE ON THE ATMOSPHERE IN PORTLAND: “The atmosphere at Jeld Wen Field will be raucous, exuberant and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Portland and Seattle have an antipathy for each other unmatched in Major League Soccer, and their supporters create an experience that would not be out of place anywhere in the soccer-playing world. The Timbers have been felled too often this season, but victory over the playoff bound Sounders will secure the Cascadia Cup title, which would be a much celebrated silver lining.”

MLS 36: NBC Sports Network’s next episode of MLS 36 will feature Dwayne DeRosario, a star midfielder for D.C. United, and follow him in the 36 hours ahead of the team’s face-off against the New England Revolution. The episode premieres on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. The Canadian native is also representing his country in recent CONCACAF World Cup qualifying games.

UPCOMING MLS GAMES: (All Times ET, Home Team Listed First)

Sat., Sept. 22, Salt Lake vs. Portland, 8 p.m. (NBC Sports Network)

Fri., Sept. 28, Kansas City vs. Chicago, 8:30 p.m. (NBC Sports Network)

Sat., Sept. 29, Vancouver vs. Seattle, 9 p.m. (NBC Sports Network)

For the full NBC Sports Group 2012 MLS Schedule visit www.NBCSports.com. Viewers can also follow all the action on Twitter @MLSonNBCSports.

ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com: Steve Davis (@SteveDavis90), a respected soccer journalist for more than two decades, is the featured writer for ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com. Davis, who has covered Major League Soccer, since its inception in 1996 contributes regular posts and will provide video reports to NBCSports.com, and is expected to be an occasional guest on NBC SportsTalk, the daily hour-long news and information show on NBC Sports Network.

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Last August, Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group announced a three-year media rights agreement that calls for 46 MLS games and four U.S. National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This agreement was the first rights deal for the new NBC Sports Network. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage.

–NBC Sports Group–