Alright, so I've just about recovered from my trip to Nevada Smiths for the first game of the English Premiership season. Adorned in my 2006/2007 Tottenham Hotspur jersey, I set out with my friend Fuz at 6 AM. We arrived without incident, walking into the bar just after the start of the Arsenal-West Bromwich Albion game. I realized quickly that I'd miscalculated in my choice of wardrobe and our arrival time. Nevada Smiths at the time was filled entirely with Arsenal fans, and I do mean entirely. There Fuz and I were, he in his Manchester United jersey and me in my Tottenham Hotspur jersey, in a bar filled with Arsenal supporters. The unspoken hostility was palpable. We stayed until halftime, whereupon the fatigue that comes with five hours sleep and a trip into the City hit us. We made our way out of the bar and spent the next forty-five minutes recovering on a stoop around the corner. When we returned, we found a much more diverse crowd for the next round of games. We settled in for the Spurs-Middlesbrough game. No, I don't want to talk about it. After the game, we again made our way outside. There we met a Liverpudlian Everton supporter who I can only describe as a thirty-year-old Harry Potter if he drank and smoked. After confessing to smoking a significant amount of marijuana before coming to Nevadas, he showed us an impressive scar that ran the length of the underside of his arm. Naturally, I asked him how he managed that. He confessed that he had gotten it in an altercation with Liverpool supporters back in England. A box cutter appeared and with it came a fourteen-inch gash. Interspersed throughout our conversation, he told any and all Liverpool supporters entering the bar to 'fuck off'. Truly a memorable character. We stayed for the Liverpool-Sunderland game out of a masochistic desire to see Robbie Keane playing for Liverpool. It was as painful as could be expected. He hasn't clicked with Torres the way he did with Berbatov and who knows if they will. Their partnership was truly something special. Our hunger for English football satiated, we found our way to Amore Pizza, just around the corner from Nevadas, where we satiated a different kind of hunger. We somehow wound up on a subway train to Queens, which is, unfortunately, in the opposite direction of our New Jersey homes, not realizing our mistake for several stops. We managed to rectify our error and found our way back to Hoboken and an NJ Transit train for home.

My Final Table Prediction
1 - Chelsea
2 - Manchester United
3 - Liverpool
4 - Arsenal
5 - Aston Villa
6 - Tottenham
7 - Everton
8 - Newcastle
9 - Man City
10 - Middlesbrough
11 - Portsmouth
12 - Sunderland
13 - West Ham
14 - Blackburn
15 - Bolton
16 - Wigan
17 - West Bromwich Albion
18 - Fulham
19 - Hull City
20 - Stoke City

I'd like to start by saying that the Netherlands didn't deserve it. The US played them off the pitch. The US created better chances. The US possessed the ball better. Holland was reduced to playing counter-attacking soccer. That's Holland. Birthplace of Total Football and Johan Cruyff, the should-have-been champions of the 1976 World Cup, the actual champions of Euro 1988. Outplayed by the United States. Outplayed, but not outscored. I knew it was going in from the second the camera pulled back for the wide shot.

The US goes from being about fifteen seconds away from automatic qualification to a much less assured position. Instead of looking at an essentially meaningless game against Nigeria, it's now certainly a must-tie, if not a must-win. Oh, and they'll have to do it without Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley. So, instead of guaranteed qualification the US now faces a must-win game against a solid Nigerian side. This with two of America's best players suspended due to yellow card accumulation. In case you were wondering, Adu's second yellow card was indeed dubious.

When's Team Handball on?

I made up for my failure to make it to Steve Nash's Charity game a few weeks back by heading into Central Park today to watch the likes of Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, Samuel Eto'o, and Carles Puyol...stretch. There were no soccer balls involved and I made it there after they ran, I assume. Still, being so close to the players of that caliber, people I watch do spectacular things week in and week out, was pretty cool. I took a few pictures.

-The Barca Squad doing some abdominal work.

- I was very excited.

-Carles Puyol speaking to some trainers. Samuel Eto'o behind him.

-Rafa Marquez.

-I'm not sure who this guy was, he seemed pretty popular, though.

Yes, Robbie Keane's back in England. Liverpool, specifically. Anfield, even more specifically. The transfer of Mr. Spurs to Liverpool is on the verge of completion. The deal appears to be just about done, with Keane agreeing to personal terms up at Anfield. Reports indicate a transfer fee of between £18 and £20 million.

I'm not going to beat around the bush, you can get the details of the transfer at any one of a billion news sites. This transfer sucks. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a big fan of Robbie Keane. I earlier espoused my doubt that Keane would leave Tottenham Hotspur. It didn't make sense to me. Especially after Keane had professed his love for the club and desire to finish his career at Spurs. Look, he actually said it: “There’s always speculation that I’m going here, there and everywhere but I’m very content with my life and with my time at Spurs, I will continue to play there for as long as I am happy and for as long as I am wanted. It’s good to have a summer off but then I look forward to going back to Spurs next season.” Way back on May 28th. My, how things have changed. We as fans tend to forget that football is a business and as much as we'd like to believe our club's players have the same dedication to the badge that we do, they quite simply do not. Robbie Keane made the mistake of leading Tottenham Hotspur's fans to believe he cared just as much as we did. As a result, it seems there are large elements of Spurs' fan base who want to vilify and demonize a player who gave Tottenham six seasons of faithful service. I'm sorry, but I can't bring myself to do that. Instead, I'll remember the goals he scored and the way he'd hurtle around the pitch, refusing to give up. Keane went from being a third-choice striker at the club to an unquestioned starter and team leader. He was eventually given the job of Vice-Captain and wore the armband during Ledley King's frequent and lengthy trips to the Physio's table. Then, after achieving such a prominent position at the club, he leaves for greener pastures. Hmm. Keane's departure is a symptom of a larger problem in English football. Namely, the domination of the big four clubs. As I mentioned, playing football professionally is a job. Just as regular people would, in most cases, jump ship if a more successful company offering more money came calling, so too will professional footballers. Though Liverpool haven't won the league in eighteen years, they've won it eighteen times before that. Which is, approximately, sixteen more times than Tottenham Hotspur. In those eighteen years since their last league championship, however, Liverpool have been far from unsuccessful. They've won three FA Cups, three League Cups, and in just the last four years have made it to the Champions League Final twice and the semi-finals once. In that same time, Tottenham have won the League Cup twice, the FA Cup once, and have failed to make much noise in the UEFA Cup. To an employee without much attachment to his employers, the former certainly seems the more tempting option. I'd also like to make note of the caveat Keane added to his declaration of loyalty. Keane said, "I will continue to play there (Tottenham) for as long as I am happy and for as long as I am wanted." I think we may have to recognize the very real possibility that Robbie Keane was simply not a big part of Juande Ramos' plans at Tottenham Hotspur. It seems increasingly likely, given his pursuit of just about every young winger I can think of, that Ramos is looking to implement a five man midfield with with an emphasis on attacking with width. Robbie Keane cannot play as a lone striker. He just doesn't have the skillset. He wouldn't be a particularly effective wide midfielder, either as, 2006 embarrassment of Khalid Boulahrouz aside, he lacks the pace to make consistent forays down opponent's flanks. He would inevitably drift inside, failing to provide the width necessary for Ramos' system to be effective. There's simply no place for Keane in the system I believe Ramos is trying to bring to White Hart Lane. He wasn't wanted anymore.

Yes, he's gone. However, I won't minimize the impact he's had at Tottenham Hotspur. He was a tremendous player and leader at White Hart Lane and that's what we should remember about him. On the bright side of things, it appears that we've gotten the fee for Robbie Keane. A very nice one, at that.

I hate everything.

"I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.

"Irrespective of the outcome and futures of Robbie and Dimitar, we are continuing to seek to bring in quality, talented players for the future, who want to play in a Spurs shirt."

-Daniel Levy, Spurs Chairman

I hate penalties. I hate how arbitrarily a winner is chosen. I hate the way penalties discard everything that came in the previous one-hundred and twenty minutes. I hate how they place the burden of winning or losing on one player. Soccer's not about the individual. Teams rise or fall collectively. They train together, they play together, they should win and lose together. But penalties don't work that way. Penalties isolate a player. Suddenly he finds himself alone. There's nothing but the ball, the goal, and, unfortunately, the other team's goalkeeper. If you miss, your team is out. The pressure is mounting. Your teammates have all made their spot-kick and now you need to make yours. If you don't, your team is out and it's your fault. Penalties just aren't in the spirit of the game.

So, what do we do about it? Well, nothing mostly. We can complain about it and suggest things FIFA should do, but almost certainly won't. Stephen Colbert (I know, I know) once said that, and I'm paraphrasing, that deciding the World Cup Final on penalties is like deciding the NBA Championship on a game of 'Horse' Despite the fact that the World Cup Final is so beyond the NBA Championship in both scope and importance as to be incomparable, it remains the best case against penalties that I've heard. People may argue that penalties are exciting or that they've become part of the fabric of the game and either point has valid arguments to be made for it. However, I refuse to accept that entire tournaments, international tournaments, events that billions of people watch, should be decided by ten shots from twelve yards away because we've gotten tired of seeing no one score. The very possibility of penalties hurts the game. It allows less talented teams to put ten men behind the ball in an attempt to stifle a superior opponent's offense and take the game to penalties. Once they've done that, their chances are advancing are just as good as their opponent's, despite being played off the park for two hours. Take, for example, the case of Italy against Spain in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008. It can be universally agreed upon that Spain, based on the run of play, deserved to win that game. Italy, however, did what they do the best and employed their patented style of play 'Catenaccio'. For those of you who don't know, catenaccio means 'door-bolt' in Italian and the system calls for highly organized defense with goals scored on counter-attacks. The definition of boring soccer. Yet, Italy could have been said to have an advantage going into the shoot-out. The Azzuri boasted Gianluigi Buffon in goal, widely considered to be the best in the world. Just two games before, Buffon had made an unbelievable penalty save against Romania's Adrian Mutu, keeping Italy's hopes of advancing alive. Spain's eventual victory on penalties doesn't reflect the fact that they could have just as easily been sent home. A cruel reward for actually playing an attacking style based on possession and skill.

But what can we do to prevent teams from employing strategies like catenaccio or the anti-soccer played by Greece in 2004? The best solution that I can think of would be to keep playing. Wait, what? That's your solution? Just...keep on keepin' on? Well, no. There are a couple changes I would make. They are somewhat radical changes, but I believe they're for the benefit of the game. The first thing I would do would be to grant team's another substitution at the end of regulation. Teams would play the first overtime period just as they do right now. The coach can use whatever substitutions still available to him at the end of the game in addition to the added substitution. If, at the end of the first overtime period, the teams are still tied then both teams will remove a player. Now the game's ten versus ten. The coaches are granted another substitute to use at their discretion. The process should continue for as long as is necessary. At the end of each overtime where the game remains tied, add one substitution and take one player off the field. The addition of extra substitutions will keep the players fresh while the removal of players will open up the game and allow teams playing with guile and flair more opportunities at goal and thus more opportunities to win on their own merit. I rather prefer teams advancing on merit rather than the arbitrary and all-too-cruel solution we currently employ.

The BBC is reporting that Tottenham Hotspur is closing in on the signing of Espanyol forward Luis Garcia. To clarify, that's the Luis Garcia pictured above, not the former Liverpool player. He's bagged 24 goals in 79 appearances for the Spanish side and Juande Ramos apparently rates the the striker highly. You can see for yourself why he does here. Garcia's signing will do nothing to quiet rumors of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov departing Tottenham this off-season. While there have been no concrete rumors regarding Berbatov, speculation intensified over Robbie Keane's future after quotes from Rafa Benitez regarding Keane surfaced. Benitez acknowledged Liverpool's interest in Keane after admitting that Liverpool were unlikely to pry David Villa away from Spanish side Valencia. Benitez was quoted as saying, "I said the other day that he is one of the names we had on our list, but I can say at this moment that it is not an option for us...We know Villa is a very good player, we know the price and we know the players we have, so when you consider everything we decided he was one of the names, but at this moment, not our target...Keane is one of the other names and okay we are still working with other names. We were in contact and we will see now."

FIFA President and perennial buffoon Sepp Blatter has revealed that he has spoken to three different Football Associations about the possibility of hosting the 2010 World Cup if South Africa were to fall victim to a 'natural catastrophe'. The Football Associations in question confirmed they would be able to host the tournament on short notice, but would need a year to prepare. Now, everyone realizes that Sepp Blatter isn't talking about a natural catastrophe forcing the tournament out of South Africa. The concern is whether or not South Africa will be able to complete the stadiums and have the infrastructure in place necessary to host an event of the World Cup's magnitude. It has already been revealed that South Africa's Port Elizabeth stadium will not be ready in time for the 2009 Confederations Cup. This failure raises legitimate concerns over South Africa's ability to be fully prepared for the World Cup. These concerns make it necessary for FIFA to have a contingency plan in place, should South Africa not live up to its commitments. There are several countries Blatter could have spoken to about hosting the tournament on a year's notice. These include, but aren't limited to, the United States, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Australia. All of these countries have the stadiums and the infrastructure to host the World Cup. Who do I think Blatter spoke to? I would think he would have approached the United States, England and Spain. The US was home to the 1994 World Cup which, due to America's enormous stadiums, still holds the record for highest average per game attendance. If the US were to host the World Cup in 2010 it would surely shatter all attendance and revenue records due to the fact that the World Cup expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams in 1998, adding an additional twelve games. The fact that the World Cup was in Europe in 2006 will give the US a leg up on its European competitors. England, with its Premier League stadiums and public transportation system, would be able to host the World Cup. The fact that they haven't hosted the tournament since 1966 would also give them an advantage as well. Spain brings the same advantages as England and their recent victory at Euro 2008 will make them an attractive prospect. As for the other three possibilities, I don't think Blatter spoke to them for several reasons. Germany proved itself capable of pulling off a fantastic tournament in 2006, but it's highly unlikely FIFA would give it back to them just four years later. Italy certainly would be capable of hosting the tournament, but recent match-fixing scandals and incidents of fan violence make the home of the Azzuri something of an unattractive destination. Australia hosted the 2000 Olympics, but its far-flung location will hurt it.

In my opinion, however, all speculation on the subject is moot. I believe South Africa will get their act together in time and the World Cup will conquer another continent. Far too much money has been sunk into this endeavor just to abandon it because some FIFA bigwigs feel uncomfortable with South Africa hosting the tournament. If somehow the plug is pulled, I think the 2010 tournament goes to England and the US gets 2018.

In an example of absolutely flabbergasting greed, 30-year-old Frank Lampard has turned down a four-year, £140,000-a-week deal with Chelsea. Lampard claims he will not resign with Chelsea unless the contract is increased to five years, an unreasonable request from a thirty year old. Understandably, Chelsea have no desire to be paying a 35 year old such an exorbitant amount of money. Lampard seems to be posturing for a move to Italian club Inter Milan and a reunion with former manager Jose Mourinho. The new Inter manager is said to have stepped up the pressure on Chelsea to sell Lampard before his contract runs out next year by increasing his offer to £10 million. The situation was exacerbated by Luis Felipe Scolari's claim that Lampard had expressed a desire to remain at Stamford Bridge, even though no such conversation had taken place. Scolari's press conference allegedly led to a heated exchange between Lampard and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon. Chelsea will certainly be tempted to offload Lampard for £10 million now, rather than lose him to Mourinho for nothing next summer. It's likely we'll see Lampard in the blue and black of Inter before long.

A Football League tribunal has settled the dispute between Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace over the transfer fee of sixteen-year-old John Bostock. The dispute began when Tottenham announced the signing of Bostock on the club's official website. Crystal Palace quickly issued a statement denying that any deal had been reached. Palace valued Bostock at around £2 million with the fee rising a further £2.5 million based on appearances for Tottenham. Basically, Crystal Palace were looking for £4.5 million for the player. Tottenham obviously disagreed with the Palace's valuation and the matter was brought before a Football League Tribunal.

Well, the matter has been resolved and Crystal Palace's chairman, Simon Jordan, is rightfully upset. The tribunal has set the fee for Bostock at just £700,000 which could rise to £1.25 million based on appearances. Simon Jordan has described the decision as 'scandalous' and who could blame him? I mean, Chelsea offered Crystal Palace £900,000 for Bostock when the player was 14 and the offer was turned down. Bostock went on to captain England's U-17 team and become the youngest player ever to appear for Crystal Palace. After these accomplishments his value somehow went down? What? That's absolute lunacy.

The most important aspect of this decision, though, is the dangerous precedent it sets for English football as a whole. England currently has a team that failed to qualify for the European Championships and the English Premier League is only made up of something like 35% English players. The teams in the lower leagues develop players like Bostock from scratch only to see them picked off by Premiership sides for bargain basement fees. The players are then put in Premiership reserve sides or loaned out if they're lucky while they could be seeing first-team minutes for their former club. Eventually, English teams are just going to say, "Why bother?" and stop investing in academy systems. I'd be absolutely livid if I were in Simon Jordan's shoes. He and Crystal Palace have been totally hard done by. The English Football Association is always talking about how it's such a problem that the Premier League is so dominated by foreign talent, suggesting ludicrous 'solutions' like English quotas, and then they turn around and make a decision like this. How about they do something productive and make it more difficult for Premiership sides like Tottenham to cherry-pick young, talented players like Bostock only to have them waste away on the reserve side before selling them back to a Championship side a couple years later for a marginal profit.

Generally, when young people do stupid things it's blamed on their youth. But, revealing a potential transfer involving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds on Facebook is just monumentally stupid. His club, Crystal Palace, can't be happy with one of their players broadcasting on the internet that he wants to leave. It's probably a little embarrassing. I'm the same age as the player in question and I have to ask: what on earth was he thinking? Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock didn't take the situation particularly lightly, saying, "We feel it's probably better that he looks elsewhere to further his career." Harsh.

Does anybody else find this unnecessary? If you want to raise the profile of Europe's other tournament, advertise it in the same way the Champions League is advertised. It's not surprising that the action taken targets the presentation of the tournament, rather than its inherent flaws. You don't think the fact that Champions League teams who place third in their groups get an automatic place in the knockout rounds contributes to it's perception as a second-rate tournament? I do. The proposed name is hardly an improvement, either: the UEFA Europa League. Why do they call these European tournaments 'leagues', anyway? The Champions League is not a league. It follows the same format as every major international tournament: Group Stage --> Knockout Stage. Baffling.

My experience with Carlos Queiroz is limited to a mediocre stint in charge of the Metrostars way back in 1996, Major League Soccer's first season. Queiroz inherited the team from Eddie Firmani, who resigned after the first eight games of the season. The Portugese coach went on to post a 12-12 record in the regular season before being dumped out of the playoffs by DC United. DC United have gone on to win four MLS Cups, four Supporters' Shields, one US Open Cup, one CONCACAF Champions Cup, and one InterAmerican Cup. The Metrostars have won no trophies at all. Well, unless you count that friendly tournament they won in, what was it, Norway? I don't know. In any case, Carlos Queiroz is one of a long list of otherwise successful managers who have failed to replicate that success here in New Jersey. The list has grown to include men like Carlos Alberto Parreira, Octavio Zambrano, Bora Mulintinovic, Bob Bradley, and Bruce Arena. It's an otherwise impressive group of coaches, you'll just have to ignore their time at Giants Stadium. Queiroz went on to take the job of Sir Alex Ferguson's right hand man in 2002. Ferguson granted Queiroz quite a bit of freedom and responsibility and the Portugese, has in turn, influenced the way the aging Scot views the game. Ferguson has claimed on numerous occasions that Queiroz would be his choice to take the reins at Manchester United when he retires within the next three years. The assistant coach is also reported to share a special relationship with winger Cristiano Ronaldo. Given his influence at the Theatre of Dreams, it's easy to see why Daniel Taylor of the Guardian feels his potential departure to coach Portugal could have wide-ranging and detrimental effects for the Champions. Ferguson will have to find a new assistant and establish a working relationship with them while the loss of his 'mentor' could make Ronaldo increasingly see his future in Spain.

In one of the biggest moves of the summer, Portugal boss Luis Felipe Scolari has recently taken charge at Chelsea. In his short time in London, Big Phil has already brought in former Barcelona midfielder Deco as he looks to put his mark on the club. You can watch his first press conference here. I don't know about you guys, but I love the way he pronounces Chelsea as Chel-see-uh.