Favorite line of the day from ESPN anchor Brett Musburger during today's half-time show: "And folks, when you take a look at Dortmund, see how tight the fans are to the field." Obviously Musburger has never seen a Premiership match where the fans are right up against the touchline. The stadium in Dortmund, while fantastic has the fans separated quite a bit from the pitch -- especially behind each goal.

If you can't get enough of the World Cup, check out the latest EPL Talk Podcast and listen to a fantastic interview with Seamus Malin, the most legendary soccer commentator in the US. Malin discusses the World Cup, the ESPN/ABC coverage, his favorite Premiership side, and memories of working with the New York Cosmos. Listen to the great interview right now at http://epltalk.libsyn.com

The daggers are out here in the States. Reuters yesterday ran an article about how the World Cup is a big yawn for the soccer-hating US. Read the article here. I have a lot of problems about this article: 1) It's carried by Reuters, which means that newspapers nationwide will publish the article in their local newspapers (rather than it being one article that appears just in, say, the Boston Herald). 2) The article is slanted against soccer. Rather than take pleasure in the significant improvements in TV ratings (and the writer didn't even mention the huge ratings jumps for Univision, which has tripled), he instead tries to put the ratings into context and compare them against the Superbowl, American Idol and Academy Awards. These are American institutions that are a major part of the tapestry of the US. You can't expect soccer to be watched by everyone overnight. At the end of the day, there are some cold, hard facts in here which are impossible to ignore such as how many people in America don't know where the World Cup is being played or have no interest in the tournament. That's a fact. But I've said it before on my blog, and I'll say it again. I don't really care about American media as long as channels such as Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV and Setanta exist, and as long as the Internet doesn't blow up. In those worlds, soccer is king and I can choose what I want to watch, whenever I want. I'll stop there. In the meantime, you can contact the writer, Steve James, and let him know what you thought of the article by e-mailing him at steve.james.reuters.com@reuters.net

Newsday has written a story about Eric Wynalda and his World Cup analysis. Check it out here. It's pretty much a fluff piece -- i.e. no consenting opinions, and everyone interviewed in the article is going to say positive things about the former MLS and US national team player. What are your thoughts about Wynalda's work on World Cup Live?

The criticism surrounding ABC/ESPN's coverage of the World Cup is building. ESPN has publicly responded to the complaints. Meanwhile, I interviewed Seamus Malin tonight and he shared his views on the commentating thus far. The response from ESPN can be found on my blog at http://eplleague.blogspot.com. The interview with Seamus Malin, meanwhile, will be released this Sunday night on the EPL Talk Podcast, the only soccer interview show on the Internet. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or from the EPL Talk Podcast page at http://epltalk.libsyn.com. If you can't wait until Sunday, you can get more insight into the interview by reading my blog.