Soccer on TV: Spain-Italy, England-Denmark in Euro semifinals

Tuesday, 3 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN+, Univision, TUDN)

The most-played matchup in European Championship history is this year’s first semifinal. It’s the seventh all-time meeting in the tournament between the nations and amazingly the fourth straight tournament in which they’ve crossed paths.

Italy has been one of the outstanding teams of this summer, playing a wonderfully vibrant style of soccer with a young and stylish team. Spain has run hot and cold, but when hot, La Roja have been dominant. If both teams play to their potential, this could be the highest-quality game of the Euros.

» READ MORE: ESPN's coverage plans for the Euro semifinals)

Tuesday 4:30 p.m. (FS2, PrendeTV)

A triple-header of Gold Cup qualifying playoff deciders in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., kicks off with a Trinidad & Tobago team that had a disastrous flameout in World Cup qualifying. The Soca Warriors failed to get out of the group stage before the playoffs to reach the final round, never mind actually reaching the final round.

Getting to the Gold Cup group stage won’t make up for that, but at least it will be a step in the right direction.

The other qualifying games Tuesday are Haiti vs. Bermuda (7 p.m.), and Guatemala vs. Guadeloupe (9:30 p.m.), both on FS2 and PrendeTV. Haiti and Guatemala are favored to advance.

» READ MORE: Quinn Sullivan’s bicycle-kick goal in his first MLS start was a dream moment for one of Philly soccer’s most famous families

Tuesday, 9 p.m. (FS1, Univision, TUDN)

The teams that were originally supposed to cohost the Copa América meet in a semifinal for the right to play Brazil in the final. Lionel Messi knows better than anyone how big a moment this is as he seeks the first national team tournament title of his career.

Colombia is the underdog but knows Argentina’s biggest weakness is the weight of the pressure to win a title for Messi. A Brazil-Argentina final at Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Maracanã Stadium would be epic. Will we get it?

Wednesday, 1 p.m. (Paramount+)

Though European league seasons don’t kick off for another month, the qualifying playoffs for the UEFA men’s Champions League and new Europa Conference League are already under way. Paramount+ has a handful of games this week, including this one with an American player, Maccabi goalkeeper Josh Cohen. Maccabi won the Israeli Premier League title last season, with Cohen playing 40 games.

Cohen was born in the Bay Area, played college soccer at Division II UC-San Diego, and played professionally in the USL Championship for a few years before moving to Israel. He also had a brief tryout with the Union in 2014.

Kairat Almaty is a team from Kazakhstan, where the soccer league is played in the summer because of the cold winter weather. It won the domestic league title in 2020.

Wednesday, 3 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN+, Univision, TUDN)

“Football’s coming home,” says the song that England fans have sung through decades of dreaming of a first title since 1966. It already has in a way as London’s Wembley Stadium will host the Euros’ semifinals and final.

Can Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, and the Three Lions ride home-field advantage to the title? Their momentum will run into the tournament’s best story, a Denmark team that has played pretty and inspired soccer after Christian Eriken’s cardiac arrest scare.

Wednesday, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Toronto fired manager Chris Armas on Sunday after a 7-1 loss at D.C. United on Saturday capped off a woeful 1-8-2 start to the season. Armas wasn’t favored to win this year’s MLS Sack Race, but he beat candidates including Chicago’s Raphael Wicky to the dishonor of being the first coach dismissed this season.

Interim manager Javier Pérez’s first game in charge is as tough as it gets, a visit to the Eastern Conference’s best team. New England should be in an ornery mood after a 2-2 tie at Columbus that featured a comical own goal off a miscommunication between goalkeeper Matt Turner and defender Andrew Farrell.

» READ MORE: The rest of this week's MLS schedule