Pardew & Adam Charged, Scribes, U.S. & Ukraine?, Holden Hurt, More Gooch, Podcast, USA '94

Good Morning. Gosh. Let's just bust out with The Podcast. Word on the street? It's a whopper: It's a whopper of a Football Weekly we've got in store for you today, with the world's worst boyband - James Richardson, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Kevin Kilbane - looking back on Manchester City's triumph in the Carling Cup final and all the shenanigans in the Premier League. And what shenanigans! There was Arsenal's collapse do Stoke's roughhouse tactics, Liverpool's 3-0 win at Southampton and, er, that's about it. Apart from Alan Pardew nutting David Meyler during Newcastle's 4-1 win at Hull. Oh, Alan, how could you? Also in the podcast, we hear from Sid Lowe about the Madrid derby, gaze ahead to the midweek internationalzzzz, and discover more of Phil Brown's motivational secrets.

What else is up on this fine Tuesday? Sadly, there's some bad news for Stuart Holden. Again. Poor guy. He's got loads of talent and it would be wonderful to see him healthy and playing regularly again. Sticking with Yanks, we've got Gooch, Gooch, and Gooch. Can't get us enough Gooch. He's back in camp and gunning for a trip to Brazil. Feeling patriotic? You want a hotlist of Yanks? Done.

Politics and Football. Inseparable, some would say. That's certainly the case when Ukraine is involved these days. The U.S. will play the Ukes (?) on Wednesday. In Cyprus.

Charlie Adam stomped on Giroud. He's been charged by the FA. Alan Pardew head-butted Meyler. He's been charged by the FA.

Yes, cocaine is known to have that effect on people...

Right. So, it's 100 days until the World Cup kicks off in Brazil. The BBC has graciously thrown together their experts to analyze England's group. The Group of "D", as it were.

Tuesday = Scribes. A closer look at the weekend action and beyond by those who know and write best:

Where? Spain. Who? Sid Lowe. What? Atlético take heart from derby

Where? Spain. Who? Graham Hunter. What? Derby delivers despite high stakes

Where? Italy. Who? Paolo Bandini. What? Roma get no favors from Milan

Where? Germany. Who? Raphael Honigstein. What? Schalke go from bad to worse

Where? Germany. Who? Uli Hesse. What? Transferring Loyalties

Yes, cocaine is known...

1994. 20 years ago. SSN's Editor was heavily ensconced in Buenos Aires, hoping a coked-up Maradona, a died-blond Caniggia, and a certain Gabriel Omar Batistuta could bring glory to the Argentines. While it was not to be, the USA more than made up for it with a tournament to remember. Roger Bennett is taking a look back. Here's his intro: In the first of a four-part series, Roger Bennett winds the clock back 20 years to the eve of the 1994 World Cup and talks to members of the United States squad, who were preparing to represent their country on home soil.

That'll do for today.

Onward!!

-SSN