Dallas Tornado, West Ham Thrashed (Again), More On Hitzlsperger, Statistical Review, Michael Bradley to Toronto?, ESPN Name Darke to do World Cup

Oh, dear. Dear, dear, dear. Poor West Ham. In their last two matches they scored zero and their opposition scored 11. Yesterday it was Manchester City doing the damage and all but ending any doubt that they'll be playing for the Capital One Cup at Wembley next month. To be fair, Big Sam had to work with a patched-up side, but come on! Geez. Phil McNulty says there is no defense for Allardyce at this point. Here are Five Talking Points.

Yup. That's Chris Smalling. Yup. That's the costume he
decided to wear to a party.

Here's another Oh, Dear. It would appear that Yank Abroad in Rome Michael Bradley is poised to become Yank Abroad in Toronto Michael Bradley. What bummer. Sure, you're fighting for a spot at Roma and the money would be great in MLS, but come on, lad! You've proved you can succeed in Serie A. Stick with it! Anyway, Grant Wahl's on the case.

Would you care for a dose of cheeky masseurs, wacky names and grade-a flirting? We assumed as much. It's all here in A Year in Brazilian Football.

Infographics! Statistical Review! How have the 20 Premier League teams fared so far? And in the tightest title race in a long time (just two points separate the top three of Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea), Sky examine the title chances of the top seven clubs.

Martin Tyler will not be on your TV in the U.S. this summer. Sniff. Instead, it'll be Ian Darke. We're fine with that. It could be worse.

We like to learn. SSN Staffers are reknown for their learning ability. Today, we learned something about the Dallas Tornado, thanks to The Guardian. If you didn't already, now you know: The forgotten story of...Dallas Tornado's 1967-68 world tour...Dallas' journey saw them cheat death at the hands of Greek-Cypriot terrorists, visit Vietnam amid war and survive an on-pitch riot in Singapore. The football must have felt like a sideshow.

Messi returned from injury. Messi scored twice. Next.

Emmanuel Adebayor. An exercise in frustration. An outcast. A warrior. A sulker. A scorer. An instigator. Rory Smith takes a closer look at the man from Togo.

Raphael Honigstein heard the news about Tomas Hitzlsperger and had to talk to the man himself. He succeeded in his attempt. Here's the interview.

Where ya at, The Mill? Plus One? Done.

Onward!!

-SSN