I love to watch soccer. Especially the MLS. One problem: I don’t have TV. Let me rephrase. I only have streaming TV, and I’m not creative (or sneaky) enough to fool the apps on my TV into thinking I live elsewhere other than Idaho, so I just have to deal. This becomes especially difficult around this time over year. Not only do I have to find a bar in which to watch the MLB playoffs, I have to figure out how to follow the MLS playoffs. Most bars only play soccer if it’s World Cup related. Or there’s nothing else on that day.
I’ve had to get creative to let my fan flag fly, especially during the MLS Cup, because the lovably weird denizens of Portland aren’t the only ones who know who Darlington Nagbe is.
Obviously, I’m a bit of a techie. I like trying out the latest apps for my phone, especially if they’re sports-related. However, I tend to be picky. I have more than the projected 1.4 mobile devices per person. I have three. And there are different ways to watch sports on each of them. Each of my platforms runs a different combo depending on what I want out of my sports tech.
Play-by-Play Action
Since I can’t be at the game in person, I like an app with good play-by-play action. I’ve tried six different apps that have play-by-play for sports events. Four of the six are specific to soccer, and one has been my go-to for sports since I bought my first smartphone. After this experiment, I may be replacing an app or two.
CrowdScores — If you like your soccer-specific play-by-play with little else, this is the app for you. You can follow matches all over the world, not just your beloved Timbers or Sounders. Filter your match preferences by league and even cup. But the only true extra this app has is the ability to start discussions among your fellow fans. Its biggest draw is the clean interface. iOS and Android.
FotMob — Another soccer-specific app, FotMob has a Match Facts feature and a Live Ticker that show fans the details of the action. The app also offers an on-field lineup with larger-than-average photos of the players. This is great if you like to visualize the game. iOS and Android
Stats Galore
There are times when I get really into a match and want to know all about the stats. Here are some apps that specialize in metrics:
365Scores — This app has so much match information, it’s a stat junkie’s dream. However, it has one really annoying feature that made me delete it from my phone almost immediately. I hate notifications, and unless there’s a match I want to watch, I never turn them on — this app has a pop-up that kept telling me to “Watch Out!” every time I tried to do something, like change the settings, etc., because I didn’t have Push Notifications on. Sorry, 365Scores, but you don’t win the stats app game. iOS, Android, Windows
Onefootball — This app’s live ticker is text-based, so if you’re visual and don’t want to spend a lot of time reading your play-by-play, this is the app for you. However, if you’re a stat junkie, this may be the app for you. It won’t pester you with pop-ups like 365Score, and it has side-by-side comparisons of stats like defence, offense, distribution, even disciplinary actions. iOS, Android, Windows.
TLS Soccer — TopLiveStats (TLS) Soccer is similar to Onefootball, but its user experience (UX) isn’t quite as smooth. It has the same side-by-side comparisons of stats like defence, possessions, passing, and attacks, but it is a visually-arresting app. What it does have over Onefootall is that those stats can be broken down into team stats, not just side-by-side. iOS and Android.
Previews, News, and Other Intel
I like to read about sports, too. Obviously. Not all sports news apps are created equal, however, and sometimes the ones that specialize in it are better than those who just have a section:
Team Stream — From the Bleacher Report, Team Stream is a great source for news, plain and simple. And yet not. It was a little difficult to figure out how to configure at the beginning, but once I did? Wow. You can pick your favorite leagues, teams, even players. This is handy for my other favorite sport, baseball, where I prefer to follow favorite players rather than teams. Once you start adding more favorites to your lists, the “My Channel” feature starts filling up with video news and highlights about those teams, leagues, etc. In the main feed, there are ads and trending topics unrelated to your favorites, but it’s a small price to pay for such a rich app, especially when it’s available on iOS, Android, and even Blackberry!
MLS Mobile App — The mobile app from the MLS itself is a great soccer resource. It has everything from video highlights to news features on the teams. Its interface is also very clean and sophisticated, and if you like your apps to be a little pretty, this does the trick. And it has a great section on match statistics. It shows shot accuracy, shots-on-target, and many other side-by-side comparisons. You can even view social media streams for each club based on its hashtags.
Good All-Rounder
I love sports, and I have to have a little more than just stats or play-by-play. It can help if I can have more than one sport in an app as well. Here are some apps that are good at more than one thing:
BS LiveScore — This is my new favorite all-around soccer app. It has information for all the leagues, but you can register via Facebook or your email address. Its live score and math refresh can both be customized. It will even allow you to save as a favorite any cup competitions you wish, including this year’s Audi Cup. How handy is that? There’s also a real-time live ticker that accumulates all the soccer action for all the leagues. Yep. You read that right. It has some footer ads, but that’s the only drawback I’ve found so far. Even its help guides are helpful. iOS, Android, Firefox OS.
theScore — While this app’s play-by-play isn’t great, it has a little bit of everything for the sports fan. It isn’t soccer-specific, and connects to social media. It even shows you the over/under for betting purposes. It does have an issue with accuracy, as the score for the Oct. 25 Timbers game was wrong. But it is infinitely customizable compared to other apps, including the frequency of the score refresh as well as the parallax effect for news scrolling.
Yahoo!Sports Mobile App — Yahoo! Sports Mobile has long been my go-to for all sports tracking, even MLS soccer. It’s a true all-around sports app. For soccer play-by-play, it can’t be beat for its visuals. It has both a visual live ticker and a text-based play-by-play, and its stars are basic, but if you like sports other than soccer, this is a good one to have. iOS and Android
Streaming Action
If you want to spend a little money to get the games live, but you don’t want cable or you don’t want a TV, you can always purchase streaming packages or download a streaming-specific app. WatchESPN streams multiple live sporting events, oftentimes for free. This is how I watched the World Cup last year. Fubotv is a soccer streaming service that gives you 24 hours of free streaming before charging you just $6.99 a month. If you’re a die-hard Timbers or Sounders fan, but you don’t live in either metro area, you can always get an MLS Live subscription. Later in the season, they cost as little as $20.
I now have some rearranging to do on my phone and my iPad, and I may even have to add a separate Sports folder for all the new apps I’ve found that will feed my news addictions and my stats tracking. What are your favorite apps for sports?
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