A Quick Rundown of Thoughts

There has been a lot of soccer played recently in various competitions, ranging from internationals friendlies to the African Cup of Nations to league matches to all manner of domestic cup competitions.

So, here's some quick hitting thoughts about all that's been happening.

--Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1 over the weekend, lead by a scintillating performance from Nani and Wayne Rooney as bullish as ever.

Nani may never become the next Ronaldo, and really, the whole talk about "Ronaldo who?" is nonsense, but that was about as close to replicating a Ronaldo performance as you get. Rooney meanwhile scares the daylights out of me because if he keeps this up, I do not want to see a just recovered Oguchi or slow footed Carlos Bocanegra having to contain him. Maybe they can do it, but he's single handedly keeping Man U in the EPL title race.

--Speaking of which, have you tried to keep up with the EPL table lately? I recently looked at the table and was stunned to see Arsenal on top! With all the cup competitions, they top teams haven't been on equal games in some time, but after today's Chelsea-Hill City draw, the top five have all played 24 games. Suddenly Chelsea's big lead is just two over Man U, while Arsenal are four points further back. Arsenal are not a title-worthy team. In the key games of their season, the Blues and Red Devils tore them apart. One of the small pleasures in life is seeing Arsene Wenger slumped over in his seat with that look of a bewildered and disconcerted look on his face.

--Liverpool continues to hang around in fifth place, one point behind Tottenham and tied on points with Man City, who have two games in hand, and one point ahead of Aston Villa, who have a game in hand. Liverpool has had quite the ignominious season so far, and it wouldn't surprise to see them drop out of a European spot altogether if Gerrard and Torres aren't healthy. Rafa Benetiz has long worn out his effectiveness and needs to go...

--...but he shouldn't go to Juventus. Juve has also had a disappointing season. Their campaign was probably doomed from the start by expectations that were far too high. Realistically no one should have expected a title challenge. Yet they too might miss out on Champions League football next year, after being embarrassed on the final match of group play by Bayern at home. Ciro Ferrara is probably a really nice guy, and could be a decent manager in the future, but he doesn't have the experience or gumption to direct a team as demanding as Juventus. It will be interesting to see how the season plays out under Alberto Zaccheroni. I will say that if Rafa comes to Turin, it would something to see him matching wits against Jose Mourinho again.

--Landon Donovan has put in some excellent early displays for Everton. It's always great to see an American so successful abroad, and it bodes well for South Africa this summer. I hope Everton tries to buy him from LA once his loan spell runs out, but we'll see. The Galaxy will probably play hard ball and demand a huge transfer considering his worth to the team. LA without Donovan are suddenly a last place team again, Beckham and a young and improving defense regardless.

--Meanwhile, the Serie A and La Liga have had far less exciting titles race so far. In Italy it's not so much a race between equals as it is all other teams running a Special Olympics race to Inter Milan's Usain Bolt. Their lead is only eight points, but has seemed much more than that. Inter may not inspire much admiration, and it certainly wouldn't surprise to see them lose to Chelsea in the Champions League, but they sure can dominate the boring Serie A. In Spain, Barcelona are still five points up on Real Madrid. I haven't followed it that closely, other than the countless articles that have been written, and will become nothing short of a cottage industry come this summer, about how Messi has shone for club but not country. The real disappointment in Spain is that the third place team is eight points below second place Real Madrid. So much for being more balanced at the top of the table.

--Finally, Egypt won the African Cup of Nations again, despite not qualifying for the World Cup again. That's three African championships in a row while not qualifying for the World Cup since 1990. That's quite amazing. I think that puts them squarely on notice for being huge chokers (they did after all beat Algeria 2-0 during group play only to lose the playoff match four days later). Can you even think of an equivalent? Sucks for them, but I suppose I can only thank them for letting Algeria into the World Cup draw. Just 128 more days...

International Fixtures Are A Coming

Today's draw between top four hopefuls Manchester City and Aston Villa signals an end to the most recent round of European League fixtures and a shift to the crucial final matches of World Cup Qualifying. The draw keeps Villa fourth, tied with Tottenham on points for third and one point ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal. Villa stays seventh, a further two points below 'Pool and Arsenal, while also tied on points with somewhat surprising Sunderland. The top seven were pretty much expected, with the only other team with honest lofty ambitions, Everton, sitting 10th after a slow start. As they continue to get healthy they could continue to move up the table, but I'd be surprised if the current top seven aren't the same come May, if not necessarily the same order. The season may end up a two-horse race between Chelsea and Man U for the title, but the season is shaping up nicely with the annual Big Four monopoly under serious threat this season. It's also very early in the relegation battle, with the bottom seven teams separated by four points. However, Portsmouth can be penciled in for the Championship next year. Done.

Maybe I (or someone else here) will go into detail about an early season review/outlook for the EPL, but it's still early and while some trends are shaping up, there's plenty other more pressing matters to attend to. (One last thing before moving on from European leagues, I can't forget to note Sevilla's nice 2-1 victory over Real Madrid, and though I can't provide any analysis of that match, I have noticed some slight hysteria at how the team performed absent one Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo).

The international date is upon us, with the USA taking on Honduras, who has a perfect record at home in San Pedro Sula, then Costa Rica at RFK Stadium in the Nation's Capital. To bzimzim's delight, as well as many others, it looks like usual starter Clint Dempsey is out for the match after suffering a shoulder injury. This could be a blessing in disguise considering Dempsey's recent form, and the fact that he defends as well as a lampost. Dempsey does not have the workrate needed on the road against a fairly loaded (by CONCACAF standards) Honduras squad, and both Jose Francisco Torres and Benny Feilhaber have shown the ability to possess the ball well. The other easy option is starting Stuart Holden in his place, which provides more energy than Torres or Feilhaber. I don't have an opinion on that yet. Yet.


I'm sure I'll be back later with more previewing the big US games.


There are a bunch of do or die games coming up elsewhere for WCQ. Portugal takes on Hungary, and anyone who is a fan of the game has to be rooting for Portugal to win and for Denmark to either tie or beat Sweden so that Portugal can get into a playoff spot. Who doesn't want Ronaldo at the World Cup? No doubt Ronaldo will be shaking off his ankle injury for this match. In another match of Earth-shattering significance, Armenia will look to build on its upset of Belgium by getting something from already qualified Spain in the great city of Yerevan. France take on minnows Faroe Islands, hoping they can catch first place Serbia, who take on Romania. The question really isn't whether France will win, but how will they look in doing so? They seemingly have a lot of young talent, but Domenech seems to have lost the team. My man Yoann Gourcuff is out due to injury, but Ribery and Benzema alone should beat Faroe Islands with an amateur side. Of course France still only won their first meeting 1-0 away in front of 2,000 people. Not exactly confidence inspiring. In South America, Argentina faces bottom side Peru, while hoping Uruguay can hold Ecuador and allow the Albicelestes to jump Ecuador into the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot. HalaMadrid's Chile is within reach of qualifying, taking on Colombia. Whoever finishes fifth will play the fourth place CONCACAF team, which could be any of the top four teams, including the USA even though they currently sit first. Mexico and Costa Rica host El Salvador and Trinidad respectively, so they have easier matches on paper than the US.

While not related to the international fixtures, still an international issue is the debate amongst the European leagues on how to curtail the outrageous spending by a few teams to the detriment of others. Well MLS commissioner Don Garber will be giving a speech to his European comrades on the benefits of applying the US sports model of a salary cap, revenue sharing, and the players unions and collective bargaining agreements to help level the playing field. Certainly he won't be slipping in slides of how the US model allows the Pittsburgh Pirates to compete with the New York Yankees. One of the interesting facts in support of his claim is that since its inception in 1996, MLS has featured seven different champions (DC United, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose, Houston, Columbus, and Kansas City - note I was actually shocked to learn that KC had actually won a championship!) whereas in the same time frame the EPL has seen only three (Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea). Not noted in that piece is that in that time frame, La Liga has seen four winners (Barca, Real Madrid, Valencia, and Deportivo de La Coruña), the Serie A has had five champions (Juve, Inter, Milan, AS Roma, and Lazio), while the Bundesliga has had six champions (Bayern Munich, Kaiserslautern, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, VfB Stuttgart, and VfL Wolfsburg). So by reasoning of most number of champions means most balanced league, the tally looks like this: Premier League < La Liga < Serie A < Bundesliga < MLS. I've now proved that MLS is the greatest league in the world. It's science.

Meanwhile, the U20 World Cup unglamorously continues with the round of 16. In today's matches, Korea crushed Paraguay 3-0 and Italy beat Spain 3-1 thanks to two goals from Mattia Mustacchio. His cousin Frederico Fumanchu was unavailable for comment.


Coincidentally enough, all the English speaking sides crashed out of the tournament rather pitifully: England, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Cameroon (English is an official language with French), and the United States. It seems I've stumbled upon a second scientific truth today. Turns out the reason teams like the USA and England can't win the World Cup is because the English language is not proper enough, nay beautiful enough, for the beautiful game. What's that you say, Germany has how many World Cups? Hmm... Actually, two English speaking sides did advance: South Africa and Nigeria. Of course both sides have multiple official languages, of which English is just one, but still.


This US team was particularly pathetic. I've already bemoaned Thomas Rongen once before, and I'll do it again. His tactical choice of a 4-3-3 against Germany and Korea backfired spectacularly. And his team selections were just bizarre. One of the best players for the US was Bryan Arguez, who was only added to the tournament roster as a late injury replacement. Clearly Rongen has an eye for talent. I realize the US at least qualified and other teams like Mexico and Argentina did not, but let's just hope the USA is not relying on any of these players in the 2014 World Cup qualifying the way the current squad relies on players from the previous u20 team.

Serie A Breaking Away, Emulating the Premier League

In rather important news regarding Italian football, Serie A club presidents ratified the split of the Serie A from Serie B. The move is intended to emulate the creation of the Premier League and bring the Italian league back onto par with the EPL and La Liga.

As I noted in my preview/state of the league on the Serie A, Italian football suffers from individual TV contracts that benefit the big teams (Milan, Juve, Inter) and the league also distributes funds to their Serie B counterparts. In England, the old First Division broke away from the English Football League to become the Premier League, while the First Division (now known as the Football League Championship) remained but became what was previously the second division. The Premier League also negotiated collective television rights and corporate sponsors, infusing massive amounts of money to its clubs.

The Serie A will begin its breakaway league in 2010/11 and will no longer pay Serie B clubs. Although collective TV rights have not been negotiated yet, it can only be a matter of time before that happens. It will be interesting to see how that process plays out.

This news is particularly big and will have a very immediate effect on league play this season because relegation and survival have suddenly become much much more important. Serie B teams will also have that much more of an incentive to claim one of the promotion spots. There has been a long and sordid history in Italy regarding shady deals and payoffs at the end of the season when teams are fighting for relegation, survival, and promotion. You would think that the clubs involved this year will be watched closely to ensure a fair end to the season.

This was one of my keys to spurring a revival in the Serie A, and it is certainly a major step forward. Next will be negotiating the the collective TV deal, and finally improving the stadium situations (ownership, atmosphere, violence). I doubt this changes anything dramatically in the near future, particularly because rectifying the issue with stadiums will take a long time, but it certainly is a positive step for fans of Italian football.

Wither the Serie A?

Beginning its 80th season this weekend, the Serie A returns to action, with many questions pertaining to its decline and relevancy. If you want a team-by-team preview, Roberto Gotta covers Atalanta-Juve here and Lazio-Udinese here.

There was once a time when the Serie A could claim to be the best league in the world. While it is still considered one of the big four leagues with La Liga, Premier League, and Bundesliga, it would be hard to argue that the Lega Calcio has not fallen behind La Liga and the EPL.

Could there be a silver lining or a ray of sunshine on the horizon? Italian supporters only need look to their history for a model of hope.

The Serie had its first big match fixing scandal in 1980, the Totonero. This resulted in Milan and Lazio being relegated, as well as five teams being penalized points the following season. Caught up in the scandal was Paolo Rossi, the star striker who broke out for the Azzurri at the 1978 World Cup.

Yet, in the midst of reeling from scandal, in 1982 Italy won its first World Cup title since 1938, led by Rossi and goalkeeping legend Dino Zoff. Building on this victory, the Serie A entered its heyday of the 80s and early 90s, which saw many of the world's top footballers playing in Italy while the Azzurri also challenging regularly for world championships in the international stage.

The early golden period was led by Juventus, as the Old Lady dominated the Serie A in the late 70s and early 80s, culminating with the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup championships in 1984 and the European Cup and Intercontinental Cup triumphs in 1985. These teams were lead by three-time European Footballer of the Year Michel Platini, along with Rossi. Unfortunately the 1985 European Cup was also the Heysel Stadium disaster. That tragedy resulted in English teams being banned from European competition, in many ways aiding the Serie A's ascendancy in European football.

The late 80s saw the rise of Napoli, led by the great Maradona, and the Milan teams. Milan famously built its two all-conquering Dream Teams, the 1989 European Champions with Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni, Ruud Gullit, and Marco van Basten. The 1994 version had one of the most famous European Cup championship victories in the competition's history, crushing Barcelona 4-0. Future world players of the year continued to be found in the Serie A, with Roberto Baggio and George Weah. Baggio also helped lead Italy to the 1994 World Cup final. During the same period, Italian teams dominated the UEFA Cup, with Juve, Inter, Fiorentina, Napoli, Parma, Torino, and Roma all playing at least one final from 1989 to 1995.

However, it was in the late 1990s that things began to slip in the Serie A, even if observers didn't immediately notice it.

By this time, Juventus was once again a European power on the back of the incomparable Zinedine Zidane. However, stadium infrastructure and TV contracts, both in Italy and in England, were beginning to take their toll. Most stadiums in Italy are owned by local city councils, and the clubs pay a percentage of their gate profits for their use. Many stadiums were built for the 1990 World Cup and they lacked the atmosphere and amenities of new, modernized, or renovated stadiums that came during the mid- to late-90s. Many were built with tracks separating the stands from the field, further reducing atmosphere and visibility. The Stadio delle Alpi in Turin is a prime example.

TV contracts were the second major factor reducing competitiveness. Deregulation led to cheap pay-TV, and clubs were able to strike their own deals. Obviously this led to the big clubs like Juve, Inter and Milan, and to a lesser degree Napoli, Lazio, Roma, and Fiorentina, signing contracts worth more than the smaller clubs. Ultimately the Serie became a two league team, with Juve and Milan dominating and Roma and Inter occasionally challenging. The supposed high water mark for the Serie A was the 2003 Champions League final, pitting Milan against Juventus, one of the worst finals ever. Many claimed this was the peak of the Serie A, but all the final did was serve to hide the ultimate collapse that was to come.

In addition to aging stadia, poor stadium and TV contracts, and an extremely top-heavy imbalance in quality, the Serie A's demise was aided by three other important factors: the rise of the Premier League, scandal, and hooliganism.

As just noted, the Serie A's TV contracts put smaller clubs in a severe disadvantage. On the other hand, the Premier League introduced collective and exclusive TV rights, as well as league corporate sponsorship. The dramatic increase in revenue for all teams in the Premier League substantially improved each team's relative ability to improve itself and attract top foreign talent, finally able to compete with the likes of Milan, Juve, Real Madrid, and Barcelona. Add in the influx of rich foreign ownership, and you get Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Liverpool dominating Europe along with Spanish teams during this decade.

Of course, corruption was the final stake in the heart of Serie A prominence. The Calciopoli scandal led to Juventus being relegated and Milan, Lazio, Reggina, and Fiorentina penalized (and I will maintain that after everything, the fact that Milan was not as severely punished as Juve and Inter was not punished at all was the result of corruption itself - Inter was heavily involved in illegal phone tapping and referees testified to Inter's involvement in tampering back to 2002).

The scandal clearly weakened Serie A competitively and certainly left a black eye on its reputation. Afterwards, only one team was left untouched that could be a true representative in Europe, namely Inter. However, Inter was never good enough to grab hold of the imagination, even after raiding Juventus for player reinforcements. Additionally, Roma, who was the next biggest beneficiary of the scandal, failed to take advantage of its new position as the number two team in Italy. With the severe penalties temporarily crippling Milan and Juventus, both teams are still in the midst of rebuilding their teams. Juve is ahead of Milan in this respect.

The final and currently ongoing source of decline in the Serie A is hooliganism, including racism. Much has been made of the right-wing ultras at many teams, especially those at Lazio that have been linked with fascism. Repeated violence in January 2007 threatened to halt the Serie A entirely, and as recently as this February Roma hooligans stabbed four Liverpool fans. In April, Juve fans racially abused Italian-born Mario Balotelli and were forced to play a game behind closed doors, not the first time such a penalty has been forced on an Italian team in recent times.

As for the actual talent on the field, this summer was notable in Italy for the star players leaving rather than joining Serie A clubs, with Kaka joining Real Madrid from Milan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic joining Barcelona from Inter in a swap for Samuel Eto'o.

So, after all that history and an examination of the current problems plaguing the Serie A, where does that leave us? In the wake of a scandal, Italy won the 2006 World Cup, so can the Serie A replicate its post-1982 rise to prominence?

Juventus and Milan are slowly trying to rise again and both appear entrenched in European competition along with Inter and Roma. Juve made the biggest moves, adding Diego and Felipe Melo to play with young Italians like Giovinco, Chiellini, and Marchisio, and it looks like they could be the team ready to step up and challenge Inter at home and possibly the big boys in Europe. Unfortunately, despite having budding star Alexandre Pato, Milan has been in disarray following Kaka's departure and many of their key players are aging. Milan must be hopeful that Ronaldinho can some how rekindle his former magic (remember how amazing it was to watch him in action at the top of his game for Barca?).

Still, I can't really see the a new renaissance coming right now. Like it or not, big clubs largely influence how a league is perceived. Milan is in transition and Inter simply has never been the type of team with a world following that can bring attention to the Serie A the way Milan and Juve can, or Man U, Liverpool, Barca, Real Madrid, and even Bayern Munich do for their leagues. Even though Inter smartly added Eto'o this summer, who is the first person you think of when you think of Inter? Jose Mourinho, their coach, not any player.

Of course the real test of a league's strength is the second tier of teams. England tries to claim superiority because it can trot out the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham, the new Man City, and Everton. Spain has strong claims due to its deep roster of quality sides that have over the years challenged in Europe, such as Valencia, Villareal, Deportivo, and Sevilla.

But what of the second tier Serie A teams? Fiorentina and Roma will continue to try to play attacking football, and Roma on their day can still produce beautiful displays. But Roma's problem is its huge debt, preventing them from building depth that could push a very strong first 11 to the level of true challenger to Inter and in Europe. Udinese provides the occasional sublime football and had a roster full of up and coming Italians, but losing its fulcrum D'Agostino to Liverpool will be a big blow. Palermo and Genoa also raised the level of play in Serie A last year, but both look poised to be feeder clubs as teams like Inter pick off their best performers. Genoa alone lost Diego Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter. An entertaining and competitive middle third of the Serie A consisting of teams like Udinese, Palermo, Genoa, Sampdoria, and Napoli is vital to the Serie A's health, but these teams have either underperformed in Europe or they get virtually no exposure on TV (at least in the US). And when the games are shown in the US, poor broadcast production and poor atmosphere (or in some cases the broadcast fails to adequately convey the atmosphere) often make the games unwatchable.

Ultimately the only way the Serie A will rise again is by having Milan and Juve reach their former levels, but not at the expense of teams like Inter or Roma, while modernizing competitiveness at the gate and on the airwaves. In positive news, Juve's new stadium is still on schedule for completion in time for the 2011 season despite the economic collapse that has deranged many a development project. With a new stadium and new team, Juventus could be regaining its old luster, and doing so may prove a stimulus that forces other teams to do what's necessary to remain competitive. MLS actually provides a good model for the Serie A. In MLS the main goal of the league has been to get every team eventually into small, soccer-specific and atmospheric stadiums. I understand it's asking a lot to redo both the television and stadium infrastructure of the league, but if the Serie A doesn't do something soon, it will fall further and further behind. As it is, Italy has geographic and other advantages to England (e.g., women and food), so if new stadiums produce new atmospheres and safer crowds, then coming to Italy suddenly becomes much more appealing.

Thank you for bearing with this long post, but as someone with an interest in Juventus and in competitive, beautiful soccer generally, it's sad to see a storied league fall so hard and I can only hope things turn around.

Thoughts on the Bundesliga and EPL Seasons

Things are about to ratchet up in world football, so I'd like to give some thoughts on the upcoming EPL season, as well as the Bundesliga.

First however, I want to start with big news coming after the USA-Mexico match, namely the diagnosis that Landon Donovan has the swine flu, which in part explains why he didn't play up to his recent hot form. I'll take a look at the future state of the US team in a post coming soon.

The big news internationally is the start of the 2009-2010 Premier League season. The Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Eredivisie already kicked off, and the Serie A and La Liga begin next weekend and the weekend thereafter, respectively.

In the Bundesliga, many will hope that last season's tight title race between Wolfsburg, Bayern, and Stuttgart will repeat itself. This is a big year for Bayern. They will need to keep Ribery happy and find time for all the firepower they've added, including the dangerous Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic, who join Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni, Ribery, and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Bayern will be expected to win the title and challenge in Europe.

In their way will be defending champions Wolfsburg, who already started strong by beating Stuttgart. Edin Dzeko and Grafite, who scored a record 54 goals last season, lead a high scoring, entertaining attacking team. If you get the chance, watch this team (in fact, the Bundesliga is an entertaining league that more people should pay attention to). TSG Hoffenheim made a remarkable run from the fifth division to leading the Bundesliga at the halfway point of their first season in the top flight last year, and they will hope Vedad Ibišević returns healthy from his ACL tear to replicate that start.

Schalke will be another team to watch, with Kevin Kuranyi, Jefferson Farfan, Gerald Asamoah, Rafinha, and future US man Jermaine Jones. In addition, they had the best defensive record last season. I'll certainly watch them with interest this year. Werder Bremen are coming off a disappointing season and will likely be in the same boat this season without talisman Diego. Bremen used to be a fun, attacking team, but losing players like Klose and Diego is too much. Much of their attacking threat comes from set pieces with targets like Naldo and Per Mertesacker. Like Schalke, Borussia Dortmund has a solid defense and will challenge for a Europa spot.

Hertha Berlin and Hamburg finished with Europa League spots last season with goal differentials of 7 and 2 respectively, which is needless to say very precarious. Hertha has a decent team, but I wouldn't bet on Hamburg repeating its success, particularly with the additional games in Europe. Unfortunately I can't speak to the Bundesliga relegation battle. Sorry.

As for the Premier League, there are plenty of sites with detailed previews, including ESPN Soccernet and The Guardian to name just two.

There are certainly lots of story lines to look out far and I'll touch on a few briefly:

Can Man U win the title again without Ronaldo? One of the major stories will be how Man U copes without the prolific winger. Will Rooney step into the void to score goals (and the same for Berbatov)? Can Antonio Valencia fill the void on the wing? Will Nani ever begin to fulfill his potential? I think Man U may struggle to find an identity in a few games where Ronaldo would have otherwise stolen the game with individual brilliance, but they will be there at the wire.

At the same time, will someone step up and take the title away from the Red Devils? Chelsea looks poised to have another strong season and could be a danger in both England and Europe under Carlo Ancelotti. Liverpool gave it a good run last year, and will be dangerous anytime Gerrard and Torres are healthy, but will the loss of Xabi Alonso be too devastating?

Will it be the Big Five? The other big story line of course is how big spending and striker heavy Man City will fare. With such an expensive team, they will look to displace Arsenal at least for fourth. It's even possible Man City could challenge Liverpool for third if Gerrard or Torres get injured and if Aquilani proves an inadequate replacement for Alonso.

How will Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham fare in the Europa League? Fulham in particular could fall out of the top ten in the EPL if they get stretched by playing in Europe. Villa's youngsters continue to develop and it will be interesting to see if they will try to mount a challenge on fourth, especially with Man City looming.

Can Tottenham or West Ham challenge for Europa? Tottenham certainly fancies themselves a big club deserving of play in Europe, but the race for those spots will be tougher this season. They will have to hope that Fulham will fade and that Man City or someone else doesn't play up to their potential, otherwise it could be another disappointing season for the Spurs. However, I think they end up above Fulham.

How will the Yanks play? Tim Howard will be a constant, and Dempsey will look to build on another good season. But what about Jozy Altidore? Will he play regularly for Hull, and will he provide the goals necessary to save them from relegation?

Speaking of relegation, who will it be? Hull seems a consensus after barely managing to stay up last season. I say they manage it again. Portsmouth is one team that could be in for a very poor season, having offloaded so much of the team in order to pay its debts. Newly promoted Birmingham City, Burnley, and Wolverhampton will be fighting for their EPL lives, but someone will inevitably stay up, maybe even two. Burnley has the misfortune of facing Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea in its first five games, Birmingham opens at Old Trafford, while Wolves wait until November for such a fixture. How that plays out could determine who stays up. Last year Hull parlayed a strong start into another season with the big boys, and Wolves have a chance to do the same.

My prediction at the top is Chelsea, Man U (I'm torn here, and think they are capable of proving me wrong and beating out Chelsea), Liverpool (I think they win some silverware this year, FA Cup or League Cup maybe), Man City, Arsenal, Villa, Tottenham. That means Everton's thin squad gets too stretched in Europa, finishing just behind Spurs. At the bottom, Portsmouth, Burnley, and Birmingham will be relegated. Agree, disagree? Thoughts?