They’ll be plenty of subplots tomorrow in what promises to be the most nerve wracking match in the last 40 years for Man City fans.  The biggest sub plot of all is that Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes was dismissed by Man City a few years back and his dismissal was handled by Man City in a way that left a bad taste in Hughes’ mouth.   Now Hughes finds himself with the rather delicious irony that he can deny a rare championship to a Man City club that he believes treated him poorly.   More importantly QPR need exactly 1 point to avoid the disaster of relegation.

Anybody who believes that Man City will have an easy time tomorrow may have a surprise coming.  Look for QPR to play Italian style football, in other words a physical, defensive minded game that has a 0-0 tie as it’s goal.   QPR will be very conservative, using tactical fouls all game long to avoid any mismatches.   Hughes will play what I jokingly call the 0-0-10 formation, that is he will have his midfield and even his forwards focused on helping out on defense and consuming time.  QPR surely will play not to lose and this is an incredibly hard strategy to overcome.

Roberto Mancini’s troops must find a way to score early to put the pressure on QPR to attack.  Man City should have its hands full in what promises to be great match.  The longer this matches goes without a score, the more that the pressure will rain down upon the shoulders of Man City players.   Should be fun!

Man City prevails in this epic match.

The English Premier League did not crown a new champion Monday night, but it sure felt like it.

Manchester City’s 1-0 triumph over Manchester United could not have been sweeter for the blue half of this city and took the club to within touching distance of a title that would soothe the pain of decades of suffering in the shadows.

Vincent Kompany’s headed goal in the waning moments of the first half was the difference, but this was the night that City stood tall and dominated a showdown billed as the most important clash in EPL history.

Anything other than a City win would have effectively handed the crown to United, which went into the game three points clear. Now, with the teams level at the top, City’s superior goal difference means that it will almost certainly become champion if it can get past Newcastle and Queens Park Rangers in its final two games.

Let’s see if they can close it out.

This one is a shocker.

The United States beat Italy for the first time in 11 games over 78 years, a 1-0 victory in an exhibition Wednesday night on Clint Dempsey’s goal in the 55th minute.

Dempsey took a short pass from Jozy Altidore following Michael Bradley’s cross and put a right-footed shot from just inside the penalty area just past an outstretched hand of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. It was his 25th goal in 83 international appearances.

A native of Nacogdoches, Texas, who turns 29 on March 9, Dempsey has had the most accomplished season by a U.S. attacking player in European soccer. He’s scored 16 goals this season for Fulham, becoming the American career scoring leader in England’s Premier League with 43 goals.

The loss was particularly deflating for Italy, a four-time World Cup champion preparing for the start of the European Championship in June. The Americans, who are getting ready for their opening qualifier for the 2014 World Cup in June, had been 0-7-3 against Italy and had been outscored 32-4.

Italy dominated for stretches but the American defense held and the Azzurri were called for offsides nine times.

The Italians had been playing well, but forwards Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano were out with injuries. Also, Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli was “left off the squad because of his temper and unpredictability” according to this ESPN article. He’s a well-known hot head so this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Lionel Messi might be the best soccer players in the world. He’s also a low-key superstar. Check out this recent interview of Messi.

Journalists are evenly split on whether or not they should interview their personal heroes: some say you shouldn’t because you’ll find your idol has feet of clay, others argue the opportunity is too good to miss. For me, it was a no-brainer. Lionel Messi is not only the shining star of my favorite team, FC Barcelona, (although among my sentimental favorites, he ranks behind stalwarts Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández and Andres Iniesta) he’s also a highly unusual sporting icon. In an era when many sports celebrities swagger extravagantly, on and off the field, Messi is something of a throwback: a well-behaved young man who keeps his nose scrupulously clean.

On the field, he shows little of the petulance and amateur dramatics of so many soccer players, including one or two in Barcelona colors. When he scores, he always raises two forefingers to the sky, dedicating the goal to his late grandmother. When he’s fouled, he rarely — rarely — exaggerates his pain: he’s too much in a hurry to get the ball back at his feet. Off the field, he lives a quiet life, with his father in the Barcelona suburb of Castelldefels. Unlike many top players (including some of his recent teammates), he’s rarely seen in the city’s bars and discos, with a supermodel on his arm.

Read the entire interview. He seems like a classy guy.

It was a good year fro Soccer games, but a bad year for FIFA according to this year in review.

Everyone has been hailing Spain, but England defeated Spain yesterday 1-0.

Just the day before, Theodore Furchtgott wrote that there was no end in sight for Spain’s dominance, but that was also the prevailing view.

Will Italy’s National Team ever be the same?

Here’s a great profile of Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli who also plays on Italy’s National Team.

Here’s an interesting article from The Guardian that highlights some different perspectives.

It was not what Arsenal supporters, or indeed any supporters of Premier League clubs, might have expected to hear in Stan Kroenke’s first interview in England. Kroenke, however, made little attempt to sugar the pill. What had the Glazer family, he wondered, done wrong at Manchester United? In his deep Missouri drawl, the largest shareholder at Arsenal made it sound like they had his admiration.

“What was so tough about the Glazers’ situation?” Kroenke said. “They won. And they have increased revenues by a huge amount. If I was a fan of that club, I would sit there and go, ‘Wow.’ Because how could you do it any better? That’s what I would say.”

It was put to Kroenke that United fans were deeply unhappy at how the American owners had taken money out of the club, following their heavily leveraged takeover. “But they still won,” Kroenke said. “We don’t need to get into an exchange here but I don’t know as a fan … how could you do it much better? They have increased massively. Some of their players have taken money out and maybe they haven’t performed.

“We have a whole different philosophy in the States but I think it’s time, maybe, for everybody to think a little bit and, maybe I’m saying too much but I think they ought to think a little bit about who invests in these clubs. What do you want for the long term?

The entire article is worth reading.

No one in the world feels the least bit sorry for you, Chelski, so enough already. Yes, it was a bit unfortunate that both of your top keepers got injured. It happens, though. There was no conspiracy.

The whole world does hate you. No mistake there. But the entire world knows Roman will just plunk down yet more Russian wonga and supply you with the best keeper that money can buy. There’s no such thing as bad luck for you lot. You just drop more money and the problem is solved.

That’s why you’re hated.

Among several other reasons.

The only dispicable occurance in this situation was when the ref incomprehensibly made the dying Petr Cech crawl off the pitch to be treated. That was a poor sight even for the biggest Chelsea bashers. It must be said, it was bound to happen eventually. The players, with all the overly dramatic diving, make it impossible to discern between a serious injury and an attempt to win a card. Everything comes with a price in the end.

But don’t worry Chelsea frontrunners, Abramovich will pick-up the tab.

The shocking news story of the week was the disclosure that some Premier League managers might actually be taking bungs–that is, taking money for themselves from agents to make transfer deals. This nothing story shouldn’t surprise anyone, except for the lack of any real bombshells. For me, they’re going after the wrong side anyway. It’s the agents that are the evil bastards and need to be stopped–the more painfully the better. They are right on the cusp of doing serious damage to the game. Especially with these new companies owning the rights to players. Agents already have entirely too much power in football and the weight needs to be shifted back. Quickly. It’s going to get very ugly very soon, and it’ll be too late to ever make it right again.

With that backdrop, the season rolls merrily along with a week of coming routs. Most of the big guns have easy matches and they’ll make quick work of their hapless opponents. Sheffield Utd, Fulham, Reading–better luck next week. The match to watch this weekend is Liverpool/Tottenham. Unfortunately, I can’t owing to my vow not to contribute to the Spurs demise by personally witnessing it. Although, it’s beginning to be apparent that they struggle whether I watch them or not. Defoe must play. They miss Carrick. Keane is overrated. But, that team is too good to be as spotty as they’ve been. Liverpool is only slightly less spotty due to Tinker Benitez constantly fiddling with the line-up. Should be an interesting match. Things will start to look very serious for the loser.

But, that’s the great thing about the Premier League. Every match means something. Even the Wigan/Watford match is worth a look.

Ipswich gets to take on Roy Keane’s Sunderland in the Championship. The novelty of that might be better than the match. A match I will be forced to miss due to uncontrollable convolutions of the universe. Good luck Town–I’ll be thinking about you.