Video of the Week - Stankovic buries Milan

Unbelievable goal this weekend from Dejan Stankovic. With the game already out of reach for AC Milan, the Serbian threw another dagger into the very corner of the right side.

Inter look like they've rebounded from a poor draw last weekend, while Milan are still struggling this year without Kaka.

Video of the Week: Burnley's wondergoal shocks United

I didn't enjoy this week's video too much, but I at least appreciated it. Robbie Blake sent a laser past Ben Foster on Wednesday to hand United their first loss of the season, 1-0 at Turf Moor. Judging by the subsequent 1-0 win over Everton, Burnley are looking like a tough side to beat at home.

Ready for a crazy Premiership season?

(I wrote this article early last week, in preparation for a busy week moving back in to school. My apologies if some statements seem outdated, since obviously the first week of the Premiership was crazy. I'll be back next week, with updated thoughts on the opening weeks of the season.)

As fun as hearing 20,000 stories about David Villa and Franck Ribery has been all summer, it's about time that the Premiership's opening weekend kicked some life into the soccer world. Every season promises something fresh and exciting, but 2009-10 is multiply intriguing, as both the build-up to a World Cup and the beginning of possible mayhem at the top of the table.

Since Manchester City spent their billions in the off-season, the traditional order in the table is under threat. There are now at least five legitimate threats for the four Champions League spots, so inevitably, one club will be disappointed in the return on their investment. As a result, the threat of losing all that European cash will make the competition much more ruthless at the top of the table. In all likelihood, this competition will trickle down through the rest of the league as well, so it’s bound to be a heated year in the Premiership.

And so, this is my prediction for the final table of the upcoming Premiership season. I’ll be the first to admit that these exercises are long and stupid, since all the upheaval in the offseason makes nothing predictable, plus managers and players get fired and injured unexpectedly during the season. It’s still fun to look back at our perspectives once the season ends though, and if you don’t want to read my blabbering now, you can always skip to the end for a predicted table.

So, in reverse order:

It Was Fun While It Lasted

20. Hull City

They ended last season on the worst run of form I've ever seen that didn't end in relegation. They've lost two players, and brought in two “unproven” replacements, despite the increasingly heated competition at the bottom. And despite those signings, it looks like nobody’s first choice to play for Phil Brown ever since his ridiculous antics at Manchester City. How could they not be the biggest impending disaster in the Premiership?

19. Portsmouth

…However, Portsmouth doesn’t look too far behind in that column. The club has to sell before they buy, and they lost Glen Johnson while only bringing in an aging Steve Finnan and unproven Frenchman Frederic Piquionne. Everything could change if their sale to Sulaiman al-Fahim goes through, but if that doesn’t happen before the end of the transfer period, Portsmouth will have trouble in the first half, and that'll prove fatal.

18. Wolverhampton Wanderers

The last relegation spot looks like it’ll be a dogfight, and I don’t expect Wolves to have enough firepower to carry them through. They’ve added a couple players to a good squad, including Kevin Doyle and Marcus Hahnemann, but they just don’t have enough Premiership experience. Much will depend on the contributions of club fixture Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

Fighting the Downward Tide

17. Birmingham City

Birmingham could finally end their yo-yo between the Premiership and Championship. Barry Ferguson was a great addition to a team that has narrowly missed staying up before. They’ll still have to fight off a strong challenge from Wolves though.

16. Blackburn Rovers

Last year’s side finished 15th, and despite signing Franco di Santo on a short-term loan, I don’t think they’ve made enough improvements to do any better. Sam Allardyce will struggle to keep this team up.

15. Stoke City

Tony Pulis’ side has lost nobody of huge importance from last year’s strongarm side, and they’ve added experienced midfielder Dean Whitehead. A workmanlike side that frustrated Liverpool and Arsenal last year should continue their relative success in the Premiership.

14. Burnley

Owen Coyle’s Burnley is the perfect example of how to promote a team the right way. He’s placed his faith in young players to get the team up, and new signings Richard Eckersley and David Edgar have the same drive to make a statement in the Premiership. Hard work will make up for whatever gulf in talent they suffer from as a newly promoted side.

Stuck in the Middle:

13. Bolton

Has any coaching change been less beneficial to both parties than Sam Allardyce leaving Bolton in 2007? Since those European days, Allardyce has suffered disaster at Newcastle and now struggles to keep Blackburn afloat, while Bolton is stuck in Premiership purgatory, neither threatened by relegation nor tempted by Europe. They play possibly the least attractive soccer of any team in the Premier League, but as they have proved over the last many years, that’ll probably keep them floating along this year.

12. Wigan

Steve Bruce had this club humming along, and most of the same players and system remain. Antonio Valencia’s departure definitely left a hole to fill, but Scott Sinclair coming in on loan surely provides firepower. Bruce’s scouting will eventually be missed, but for now, Wigan seems stable.

11. Sunderland

Thanks to Steve Bruce’s recruiting power, Sunderland have had a hell of an offseason, with Frazier Campbell, Lorik Cana, and Darren Bent providing some big names and needed talent at the Stadium of Light. They’re certainly a club on the rise, but they don’t play as consistently as the teams chasing Europe. Sunderland might still chase those spots though, if Bruce totally transforms this team’s mentality.

The Hunt for Europe:

10. West Ham

Luis Jimenez is a good signing, but as Craig Bellamy, Diego Tristan, and David di Michele leave, West Ham might have trouble scoring goals. The negatives outweigh the positives for the Hammers this offseason, but not enough to knock them too far down the table.

9. Fulham

It seems like Fulham’s offseason was more about holding onto their players than attracting new names, and in that sense, they did well to keep Brede Hangeland and Andrew Johnson. They’re a great squad that will consistently challenge for Europe, but aren’t quite making a push for the Champions League like the teams above them.

8. Aston Villa

Cued by Gareth Barry’s move to Manchester City, big departures and big signings have marked a new era for Aston Villa. Fabian Delph will take time to make his mark on the Premiership, and Stewart Downing will be out until roughly 2010, so this might be considered a transition year of sorts at Villa Park.

7. Everton

Everton’s biggest boost will be a healthy squad, as Jo, Yakubu, and Mikel Arteta return to strengthen a team that finished 5th and runners-up in the FA Cup without them. Their predicted drop in the standings is more a result of the next two teams making huge strides, while Everton continue their consistent progress.

6. Tottenham Hotspur

Harry Redknapp had this team looking deadly by the end of last season, and I only expect Peter Crouch’s partnership with Jermaine Defoe to make the machine run more smoothly. Finally given some relative stability, this talented squad should find its groove and stop underachieving.

5. Manchester City

Given all of their activity, it might be surprising to see them outside the Champions League, but there’s a reason why ‘World XI’ teams often lose against lesser-skilled teams. You can’t just throw good players together and expect results, because they need time to understand each other, to find an identity. City will beat lots of less talented teams, but it’ll take some struggles in close matches for them to finally realize their full potential. By the end of this season, we’ll see the beginnings of a true force.

Nice To See You Again:

4. Arsenal

I don’t understand why Arsene Wenger hasn’t learned his lesson: selling more talent than he buys isn’t getting him anywhere higher in the table. I’d be convinced that City would kick them out of the Champions League spots for that reason, except that Andrei Arshavin is the Premier League’s next superstar, no questions about it. He’ll need more talent around him though, so Wenger should start spending that Adebayor/Toure cash soon.

3. Liverpool

I had them in second until they sold Xabi Alonso, and I honestly think he would have been the difference maker this season. As is, Alberto Aquilani is good, but it’d be a hell of a debut season to be the heartbeat that Alonso was last year. Glen Johnson isn’t the guy that’s going to make up the difference between Liverpool and Manchester United, and it doesn’t seem like Rafa Benitez has made any effort to find that person, even with all the Arbeloa/Alonso cash. Unless Torres and Gerrard somehow find yet another gear to step up to, Liverpool will be exactly where they have been since 1990: looking up the table.

2. Manchester United

A stellar preseason should eliminate any doubts about United’s ability to adapt post-Ronaldo, especially since they should have beaten Chelsea in the Community Shield. Some questions have yet to be answered about Michael Owen, but Antonio Valencia has shattered expectations with electric displays so far, and Wayne Rooney has proved that he can be the go-to guy on this team. As I wrote earlier this summer, Ronaldo’s departure has cleared the way for the team as a whole to flourish, and these are still great days to be a Red Devil.

1.Chelsea

What an effect a coach can have on a team. As a stellar World Football Challenge proved in the preseason, Carlo Ancelotti has Chelsea playing ruthlessly, and he is maximizing all of the traits that have been lacking at times since Jose Mourinho, Once again, nobody is going to beat them at Stamford Bridge, and once again, Drogba is going to score almost at will. Given Ancelotti’s mastery of the Champions League, this could even be their year to conquer Europe, unless Real Madrid has something to say about that. The Blues will be feared as they earn the title this year.

Predicted Table

1.Chelsea

2. Manchester United

3. Liverpool

4. Arsenal

--

5. Manchester City

6. Tottenham Hotspur

7. Everton

--

8. Aston Villa

9. Fulham

10. West Ham

11. Sunderland

12. Wigan

13. Bolton

14. Burnley

15. Stoke City

16. Blackburn Rovers

17. Birmingham City

--

18. Wolverhampton Wanderers

19. Portsmouth

20. Hull City

Video of the Week - Drogba saves Chelsea

This week, Drogba scored dramatically in injury time, saving Chelsea from an embarrassing draw with Hull.

Drogba has looked unstoppable in preseason, and judging from this precise shot from a tight angle, he's not going to stop anytime soon. Chelsea fans should hope that he isn't the only one to step up though, since these two teams are likely to finish at exact opposite ends of the table, and 1-1 would not have been a great way to start the season.

The more things change...

Wednesday was just an all-around depressing day for U.S. soccer. The bad news started before kickoff, as most of us abruptly discovered that half of America couldn’t even watch the game. Thanks to Telemundo’s refusal to sell the TV rights to ESPN at any reasonable price, CONCACAF’s biggest World Cup qualifier was broadcast on some monstrosity called “Mun2”, Spanish television’s equivalent of ESPN 8 the Ocho. A soccer-skeptical friend of mine best summarized the result: “The U.S.-Mexico match had me excited for soccer for the first time ever. I eagerly turned on the TV to watch it, only to find out that it wasn't on TV. My opinion stands-- soccer blows a big one.” Score another one for TV politics.

Sitting in the middle of Kentucky, I was in the half of America that didn’t receive everyone’s favorite Telemundo spinoff channel. As such, I turned to the Internet to pirate miserable Spanish-language feeds, changing every 10 minutes as each one was shut down in succession for copyright violation. In short, just watching the damn game was an adventure, and I’m sure that between the terrible broadcast quality and frequent stalling and switching, I missed some important observations. And yet, what I could see made it abundantly clear that nothing has changed lately in the U.S. camp.

Oguchi Onyewu embodied the positives in the American defense, strong in positioning and athleticism. The level of practice he gets in Milan is already lifting his game, and he leads the team naturally

now. Aside from his unlucky reaction that allowed the second goal, he turned in a stellar performance.

The rest of the defense followed his lead, but with more mistakes. The American backline’s work rate is unmatched, but Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra continued the propensity for occasionally awful tackles. Furthermore, Bocanegra gave Israel Castro all the room in the world to unleash his marvelous first goal. Is somebody going to step up and tell them that these mistakes are inexcusable at this level?

Also, a good portion of the team remains largely invisible at times. Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark: I’m looking at you here. Only Bob Bradley knows why Jozy and Jonathan Spector started on the bench, but unless it was a reaction to the conditions at Azteca, we could have used their offensive threat.

Charlie Davies, however, continues to prove that he is the perfect striker for the USA’s counterattack strategy. Landon Donovan gave him a great through ball on the American goal, and he received it brilliantly. With his speed, he’s going to put those away every time, and he was unlucky to be called offsides on a potential winner in the 71st.

On another note, the U.S. continues to suffer from an obvious double standard in yellow cards. Apparently, even commentators noted that directly after DeMerit and Bocanegra earned yellows for bad tackles, the Mexicans got away unpunished for similar ones. I can only assume that bad tackling is a stereotype that referees have of American soccer, since we saw a similar trend in the Confederations Cup. We’re certainly contributing to the perception, but it’s unfair and frustrating that it hurts us in such key matches.

For their part, Mexico continues to epitomize exactly why most Americans hate soccer. On the day, they started a stupid fight, they writhed in pain at every foul as soon as they got the lead, and they delayed play at the end of the game, petulantly dribbling away from Tim Howard. Yes, as an American I’m biased, but I’ve seen enough games on television and in person to objectively decide that this isn’t an isolated incident, it’s a plague. (I’ll leave the swine flu jokes to you.) Watch any SuperLiga game for proof: it always happens, and it’s obnoxious. (Apologies to any offended Mexico fans. For what it’s worth, you also play a more attractive brand of soccer than us.)

Finally, lots of fuss is always made over the Azteca’s smog, heat, altitude, and hatred from the Mexican crowd. But the smog was allegedly not bad on the day, the heat was mild for a summer afternoon, and the players are professionally prepared for the altitude and crowd. We were ready to face all of these problems, and yet the deciding factors weren’t a result of the atmosphere, but of our same stupid tendencies. In other words, let’s stop pretending like it’s a given that “no U.S. teams win in Mexico”, because that excuse is becoming a crutch. We’re better than that.

I feel like I’m writing about the same strengths and flaws over and over again, just replacing the specific instances of each individual game. It really shouldn’t be that hard to correct our problems, and frankly, I’m sick of writing the same thing without seeing change. Let’s fix this already and get to 2010.

Video of the Week: "Arshavin... YES!"

In this week's Video, Andrei Arshavin scores an inconceivable goal, and proves that he's one of the best reasons to watch the Premier League this year. He's going to be a superstar, and Gunners fans better thank Arsene Wenger for spending the money to put him in an Arsenal jersey.

When does "loyalty" become unreasonable?

If you had to summarize this offseason in one word, "money" would be a fitting choice. For the last three months, money has set the backdrop of the global economic downturn, and it has created the summer's major sensations, Manchester City and Real Madrid. Naturally, as most of the world become ‘have-nots’, the influx of talent towards the few 'haves' spurs many accusations of greedy betrayal. In many cases we are justified in identifying greed, but as fans, we might want to reconsider how we misguidedly judge loyalty.

It's difficult to fault players like Roque Santa Cruz for advances in both wage and prestige, but other transfer stories from Manchester City have shown that the paycheck is all that matters to some players. Emmanuel Adebayor not only left the club that made him a superstar, but he essentially scorned European competition, leaving a Champions League semifinalist for a club that would be ecstatic at even qualifying. John Terry's potential transfer was higher-profile, and as 'Mr. Chelsea' waited to commit his future to the wildly successful club, we began to wonder what else he could want, other than more money. Even nice-guy Gareth Barry turned out to be disingenuous, since his only stated reason for leaving was a lack of Champions League football, and then left a club that almost achieved those ambitions while moving to one that hasn’t yet proven anything abroad. It's not awful that players want better wages, but it’s disheartening when some totally abandon their loyalty and competitive instinct to achieve it.

However, we've started to unfairly generalize every transfer to 'rich' clubs as motivated by greed. Despite making the same move as Adebayor, shouldn’t Kolo Toure be able to escape a broken relationship with William Gallas? If Carlos Tevez feels like he wasn’t shown enough respect or playing time at Manchester United, can’t he choose to go somewhere else and find playing? Joleon Lescott has been portrayed as jumping the Everton ship, but if he feels that City's goal of the Champions League is something that his current club isn’t working towards, isn't it natural for him to look after his own career? In the end, money isn’t a deciding factor in leaving, only in deciding where to end up.

The David Trezeguet saga perfectly summarizes why these perceptions are flawed. He's a legend in Turin, and yet after their busy transfer season, Juventus told him that he would likely play limited minutes this year. Seeking consistent playing time before the World Cup, he asks for a transfer and finds out that AC Milan might be interested. Juventus, understanding that it’s a bad business decision to equip a rival with a needed resource, refuses to sell him. All of these are sound business decisions, on both sides.

What rings hollow then is Trezeguet’s explanation for staying, that he decided a move would be “a betrayal of the fans". Since he had totally endorsed this exact possibility just days earlier, it seems more likely that this was a gesture to placate the fans upset at his original statement. Which begs the question: why are players frequently berated for looking after their own careers as professionals? “The fans’ passion is irrational” is the obvious answer, but outside the terraces and pubs, nobody ever seems to back the players, even in the media. It’s an issue confounded by the fact that clubs make the same business-like decisions without much criticism. In the end, 

the double-standard creates too much pressure on players to make lame excuses.

Just ask David Beckham, one of the most honorable men in football. He’s caught balancing his World Cup ambitions with the anger from his club’s supporters. His recent ESPN interview is incredibly revealing, as he gives still-happy-to-be-here answers while telling stories about goodwill gestures towards fans. It’s meant to convey that he understands why the fans are angry, and that he wants to make nice. But to see the most revealing response, watch his failed attempt at smiling at the very end of the interview. In that moment, his pain at feeling the fans’ negativity is so open, because he’s giving of himself in spite of his World Cup dream, and yet he’s learning that it will never be enough for them until he completely abandons his personal ambitions.

For better and for worse, soccer has become more corporate in the last 20 years, to the point where another Giggs, Raul, or Maldini will be rare. Beckham doesn’t need to do this juggling act: he’s famous enough that he could decide to abandon America. He would still make millions, and multiple European clubs would still be happy to sign him. Beckham could force a move, and that would certainly help his case for 2010, but he stays because he feels like it’s his duty. As fans, we can’t be so quick to put him, or any other player, in a position where they have to choose so absolutely between the two. From experience in the real world, we know how that will end.

Video of the Week - Ray Hudson

For this Sunday's Video of the Week, take a listen to Ray Hudson, the most entertaining color commentator anywhere. It's great that ESPN now has coverage of La Liga, but if that means we hear less of Ray Hudson on Gol TV, it'll be a shame.