Wenger ready to drop Cole

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=376177&cc=5901

Cole in line to start for Arsenal

Oh, good grief...

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=Ap9Rukwj.Z8ZXEU.SEmrU0Mmw7YF?slug=afp-fblengprarsenalcole&prov=afp&type=lgns

EPL Opening Weekend Previews

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=376135&cc=5901

Gabriele Marcotti column

Marcotti discusses the latest slew of international friendlies...

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=cnnsi-exerciseinfutil&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns

British bookies fearing Kirkland 'copy-cat' bets

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=afp-fblengprwigankirklandbetting&prov=afp&type=lgns

Bundesliga: Diego the focus as Werder host Leverkusen

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=376101&cc=5901

Comment: Are The Good Times Back At Spurs?

http://goal.com/en-us/articolo.aspx?contenutoId=111332

Nick Webster's EPL Preview

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5878186

EPL Team Profiles: Liverpool - Wigan

Whew! Here it is - the lowdown on the rest of the English Premier League representatives. Anyone else agree that 2,000 - 1 on Watford is pretty generous? -Sanford

Liverpool:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841469,00.html

Manchester City:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841474,00.html

Manchester United:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841490,00.html

Middlesbrough:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841499,00.html

Newcastle United:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841504,00.html

Portsmouth:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841515,00.html

Reading:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841523,00.html

Sheffield United:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841529,00.html

Tottenham Hotspur:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841534,00.html

Watford:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841542,00.html

West Ham United:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841550,00.html

Wigan Athletic:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841556,00.html

Lawro's Season Predictions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/4795963.stm

Friday's rumours

http://football.guardian.co.uk/rumourmill/index/0,,1853217,00.html

Moritz Volz: The Fun-loving German

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1852624,00.html

Classic report: 10 Years Since Beckham's 50-Yard Strike

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1840634,00.html

OK, OK...Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUndGHEf6P4

Changes to how we Americans watch the English Premier League

There has been a lot of talk about this recently. Now that http://soccertv.com/ (the Bible) has announced it, I'm confident enough to post it. Basically, if you were relying on FSC for your EPL, you're losing a few matches per week to Setanta. And no more PPV...

As always, special thanks to http://soccertv.com/

2006-2007 English Premier League (EPL)
Updated August 4, 2005
http://soccertv.com/

FOX Sports International (FSI) has sublicensed US and Canadian TV rights to an average of approximately 4 2006-2007 English Premier League (EPL) matches each week to Setanta Sports North America.

In the United States, FOX Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports USA will divide the 2006-2007 EPL season as follows:

Saturdays at 7:30am ET: Setanta Sports USA

Saturdays at 10am ET: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st and 3rd picks, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd and 4th picks

Saturdays at 12noon ET: FOX Soccer Channel

Sundays at 8:30am ET: Setanta Sports USA

Sundays at 11am ET: FOX Soccer Channel

Mondays at 3pm ET: FOX Soccer Channel

Tuesdays-Fridays: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st pick, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd pick
The EPL will no longer air via pay-per-view in the US.

Setanta Sports USA Channel:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE UEFA Champions League, AFC Champions League, French Ligue 1, Dutch Eredivisie, Greek League, Scottish Premier League, English Football League Championship, English League Cup, MUTV, Chelsea TV, International Friendlies, and much more. Available to bars, pubs, restaurants, and residential households.

Now available on DIRECTV and GlobeCast: $11.99/month residential rate.

Visit http://soccertv.com/redirset.cfm for more information on Setanta Sports USA Channel.

Italy beaten but big wins for Germany, England and Dutch

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-europefriendlies&prov=reuters&type=lgns

World champions third team not good enough for Croats

Seems like a wonderful excuse for a racist and sectarian party. The bloody World Cup just ended - can we at least have a few months off before the onset of meaningless friendlies again? Kudos to the Croats for the human swastika -- nice work...I'm sure it took a lot of organizational skills. -Sanford

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=afp-fblitacro&prov=afp&type=lgns

Owen Could Miss The Whole Season

The Boy Wonder is just too fragile these days. You have to wonder if he'll ever retun to providing consistent goals. I must admit, I do feel sorry for the Newcastle fans out there... -Sanford

http://goal.com/en-US/articolo.aspx?contenutoId=111836

And for those of you who never saw it or care to revisit the pain, here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj8Bf3NktB8&mode=related&search=

Drei American Captains In Duetschland

Although this says there are three American captains now in the Bundesliga, it ain't true. Berhalter is captain of 1860 Munich, which is in Bundesliga 2. This is an official release from U.S. Soccer. Nice work, guys.

http://www.soccer365.com/US_NEWS/Americans_Abroad/page_93_125457.shtml

So, who are going to be this season's Wigan Athletic?

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1851934,00.html

Prospects for Spanish Primera Liga clubs in 2006-07

Part I:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-spainprospects_part_one&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Part II:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-spainprospects_part_two&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Thursday's rumours

http://football.guardian.co.uk/rumourmill/index/0,,1852112,00.html

Cesc Fabregas: The boy done well

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=376012&cc=5901

Liverpool agree fee for Feyenoord's Kuyt

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=376113&cc=5901

Premiership to axe 'injury break'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/4796269.stm

Q & A with Ben Olsen

http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Interviews/page_123_125505.shtml

EPL Team Info: Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool

Chelsea:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841445,00.html

Everton:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841457,00.html

Fulham:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841463,00.html

Liverpool:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841469,00.html

Nick Bidwell on Dimitar Berbatov

I always enjoyed watching Berbatov in the Bundesliga. He's got excellent poacher instincts and he can also score from outside the area. I think it was an astute purchase by Jol. Spurs now have an extremely potent strikeforce -- they will be fun to watch. -Sanford

p.s. - he's Bulgarian, not Romanian

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=375936&root=england&cc=5901

Norman Hubbard on Arsenal's defensive questions

I've totally given up second-guessing Arsene. The Gunner boss has been correct on players so many times over the years that there is no point even thinking about it: he knows what he's doing. -Sanford

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=375880&root=england&cc=5901

European football's new underclass

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=375887&cc=5901

Thieves steal Van der Meyde's dog

This guy's had a rough few days!! -Sanford

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1845037,00.html

American dreamer: Watford's Jay DeMerit hits the big time

This is fantastic. The last time Watford graced the EPL the only decent thing about watching them was waiting for the cameras to focus on Elton John in the Director's Box (which makes for a nice drinking game, mind you). Now we've got another Yank we can root for in England's top division and that'll make matches like Watford vs. Villa that much more interesting. -Sanford

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1835715,00.html

Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: Curtain raised in Cardiff

Here's what Sanford Soccer Net's Chicago Correspondent Bab Sullivan had to say about the Community Shield. A link to the match report is below. -Sanford

Chelski played basically the same general lineup they did in Chicago and you can see why they may be headed toward the cliff. Essien is wasted in the Makelele role, Ballack doesn't fit the role of wide man in the diamond midfield (Lampard is a disaster in the same role) and Robben can't play centrally at all. Drogba and Shevchenko didn't play with each other at all. They don't really have the players to use the 4-3-3 that worked so well for them last year (at least not right now) but the midfield personnel they have is ill-suited to 4-4-2 as well, at least as presently constituted. Having said that, Shevchenko's goal was fantastic and you can see Chelski bagging at least one like that every game just because of their quality, but I can't see that roster working for them in Europe at all.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375806&cc=5901

Dolce & Gabbana & The Azzuri

I mentioned these to a friend of mine the other day and she had not yet seen them. They were all over Germany and made my buddy Simona in Hamburg very happy. So in case you've not had a chance to gaze at the Italian Stallions, here they are... -Sanford

My worst nightmare: Losing my tickets on the A4...

Special thanks to my pal Bjorn in Hamburg for passing this along... -Sanford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLZWMabiioI

Family car and English lessons for Shevchenko

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-shevchenko_sports_feature&prov=reuters&type=lgns

No Beckham, no Zidane, no Cannavaro as European soccer resumes

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=As6KixM6sLubr06RqSEAiO4mw7YF?slug=ap-europeanpreview&prov=ap&type=lgns

Frank Dell'Apa on Team USA's next coach

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=375834&root=us&cc=5901

Gerrard brands Ronaldo 'a disgrace'

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375787&cc=5901

Richard Williams on Shevchenko

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1843991,00.html

Ellis on way out as Villa agree deal with Lerner

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375835&cc=5901

The tunnel

http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841564,00.html

Bad blood between Mourinho and Benitez

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AhPKG37B7K4FM64FsCdomHsmw7YF?slug=afp-fblengprshieldchelsealiverpool&prov=afp&type=lgns

Keller leads German team to win

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375768&cc=5901

Monday's rumours

http://football.guardian.co.uk/rumourmill/index/0,,1844331,00.html

EPL Team Info: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Charlton

Arsenal:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841301,00.html

Aston Villa:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841340,00.html

Blackburn:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841388,00.html

Bolton:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841406,00.html

Charlton:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/season200607/story/0,,1841442,00.html

Roman squanders and the game is being ruined

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1843665,00.html

Calderón backtracks over election pledge

http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,,1844334,00.html