SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.
As usual, it's '1' for a home win, 'X' for a draw and '2' for an away win.
Manchester City have announced losses of £121m for the 12 months leading up to 31 May this year, having spent more on wages than their entire turnover.
Premier League champions Chelsea host London rivals Arsenal in a mouth-watering clash at Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere, Manchester United face a potentially tricky trip to Wearside as they meet Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur host Gerard Houllier's Aston Villa off the back of their first UEFA Champions League group win, Manchester City welcome Newcastle United to Eastlands while Liverpool tackle newly-promoted Blackpool.
An inspired Inter Milan host Juventus on Sunday evening looking to pick up where they left off in midweek. If Inter fail to win, Lazio could climb to the top of the standings. The Biancoceleste are level on 10 points with Inter after five games and they host Brescia on Sunday.
Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.
This week, Wayne Rooney is voted the worst dressed player at Manchester United, Cuauhtemoc Blanco makes his acting debut alongside topless Paraguay fan Larissa Riquelme, Arsenal are forced to change by mobile phone light, and we introduce the world's first interactive Super Mario Brothers banner.
Javier Hernandez fired Manchester United to victory, Rafael van der Vaart had an astonishing evening in Tottenham's success and Rangers defeated Bursaspor. Inter Milan are next on the agenda for Harry Redknapp's side and the reigning champions looked in imposing form as they brushed aside Werder Bremen 4-0 courtesy of a Samuel Eto'o hat-trick. Barcelona were forced to settle for a point from their trip to Russia as their Group D clash with Rubin Kazan ended in a 1-1 draw after a tale of two penalties.
Chelsea will be keen to get back to winning ways against Marseille in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, while Arsenal face a tricky trip to Partizan Belgrade. Group G throws up another heavyweight encounter, with former winners Ajax and AC Milan set to lock horns in a glamour encounter in Amsterdam. Real Madrid, who are yet to hit top gear this season, head to France to take on an Auxerre outfit that has endured a torrid start to the campaign.
Millions of people every year move to live in a new country and struggle to make sense of their new surroundings as they deal with a different climate, new language and unfamiliar culture. The fascinating thing about footballers is that they go through this process in public. Everything they do is geared towards their performance on the pitch, where their work (i.e. the success of their adaptation) is viewed and judged by thousands in the stadium and millions watching on television.
Extra interest is added by the fact that footballers have not usually grown up as global citizens. They are frequently drawn from the lower end of the social scale, with little access to cultures outside their own.
Saturday night in San Mames, Sunday night in Anoeta. It's a hard life. I've just come out of the U2 concert in the latter stadium, and left the folks jigging up and down so that I can get on with writing this week's column. I must be getting old, but once they'd done 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' (ahem) I thought I'd better get on home. Besides, the light show was starting to make me feel sea-sick. At a place called vertigo, indeed. Give me a football match any day. Bono did mumble something about the World Cup at one point - something about the Irish not even getting to South Africa, but that 'you' did - by which he meant Spain, I suppose. Hello, hello! And I thought the chap was supposed to be politically aware?
