Jonathan Wilson on Victor Piturca the Romania national team coach.

The Canadian Soccer Association faces a massive law suit from the man that was to be their CEO ….or was it COO…or Executive Director. What the piece does not allude to it whether or not the CSA may have a case against the individual or individuals who may have exceeded the limits of their authority in offering Mr. Nykamp the position. A mess that will get worse before it gets better.

Mark your day-timer – November 25 is the draw for the rest of the World Cup qualifying groups.

After international action it is back to domestic competition and there are some cracking games in prospect. Scotland has the first Old Firm derby of the year with what has become normal – an early kick off time. Celtic is struggling with a number of their players – in particular full backs – on the hobble.

Gordon Strachan will likely have to play someone out of position at right back and at the moment former Hibs defender – and normally a centre back – Gary Caldwell appears to be favourite to fill the hole. Caldwell is just returning from injury and so Walter Smith might be looking to pick on Caldwell in the early going.

Celtic’s defense has not travelled well for some time and you have to go back to October 1 of last season (at Falkirk) to find the last time that Celtic maintained a clean sheet away from Parkhead in a SPL match. As far as goals are concerned the responsibility is likely to fall to Aussie Scott McDonald who has five SPL goals already as well as the winner against Milan. McDonald was signed from Motherwell in the summer after scoring 41 SPL goals in the previous three seasons.

Rangers US international DaMarcus Beasley picked up an ankle knock against Switzerland in midweek and is a doubtful starter. Rangers won the final two confrontations of last season 2-0 and 1-0 and with home advantage they are likely to be the bookies favourites.

Villarreal has beaten Barcelona four of the last five times that the Catalan side has visited El Madrigal on league business. They get a chance to extend that fine record this weekend but they can also expect to face a rampant Barcelona side. Barcelona are looking for a fifth consecutive win in La Liga and a seventh straight in all competitions. Lionel Messi has been on target in all the wins and he currently leads all scorers with six goals. Giuseppe Rossi with five goals in seven games has settled in beautifully at Villarreal but after picking up an injury while on duty with Italy’s under-21 side he will miss this one. 

Even though Roma (one win in three) and Napoli (two losses) have suffered some setbacks in the last few weeks their match in Serie A is still one that stands out. Francesco Totti notched goals 156 and 157 in a 3-0 win at Parma two weeks ago. That puts him 14th in the Serie A all-time scorers list and just one behind the legendary Luigi Riva and Roberto Mancini.

Napoli’s record away to Roma is poor with only 8 wins in 60 visits but the rivalry is intense. So intense that the game will be restricted to season ticket holders only.  Roberto Sosa of Napoli got himself involved in a bit of training field punch-up this week but it is unlikely to affect his starting spot on the bench. It is role that he has proved very effective in to date with three goals from four substitute appearances.

MLS regular season concludes this weekend with some things settled (Chivas, Houston, Dallas, DC United, NER and NYRB in the play offs; Toronto, RSL, the Crew out of the play offs) and much still to be decided (final positions at the top of the western conference with Chivas hosting Houston; the final two play-off positions).

At the time of writing David Beckham has been ruled fit to for the match against the Red Bulls but he has started the match on the bench – in other words he has been ruled fit to sit on the bench but not fit enough to start a game! It sounds as if the Galaxy has not learned a lesson from the first go round of his he fit to play or not. (At the time of posting it is 1-1 at half time).

Avoiding defeat against the Red Bulls will mean that the final game between the Galaxy and the Chicago Fire will help decide who will grab the last two play-off spots. Kansas City (away to Dallas) and Colorado (at home to rivals Rea Salt Lake) are also very much in contention and there are a good number of possible permutations. The best idea is to go the MLS website and I am sure that the possibilities will be laid out for all to see.

And finally to the Premiership. We started with a look at the Old Firm derby in Scotland and the first Merseyside derby of the season also goes this weekend. Liverpool lost this fixture last season 3-0 in a game that consisted of a catalogue of errors for them.

Andy Johnson grabbed a pair last season and Australian Tim Cahill chipped in with a single. The midfielder has yet to make an appearance this season for Everton and his 22 goals in 83 appearances have been missed. Cahill is back training after reinjuring his foot in the pre-season and could make the squad. However, if he is to appear it will almost certainly be off the bench.

Despite last season’s set back and the fact that Liverpool failed to score against Everton last season the red side of Merseyside has a very good record at Goodison having lost only three times on their last 12 Premiership visits. One “record” might last the day. Both clubs enter the game having collected the lowest number of yellow cards in the Premiership to date – Everton (8) and Liverpool (10). The last two Merseyside derbies have been relatively tame with only seven yellow cards handed out. In the four prior derbies there were 23 yellows and five cards.

Bolton arrives at Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal. Archie Knox has been handed temporary control after Sammy Lee left by mutual agreement (“mutual agreement?” you are fired –OK). Conventional wisdom has it that Bolton are a bogey side for Arsenal. However, Bolton have never been beaten Arsenal in a home Premier League fixture. Old boy Nicolas Anelka certainly enjoys scoring against Arsenal in the Premiership but his goals have not produced much in the way of wins.

Anelka – who is doubtful for the match – has scored six times in 8 appearances against Arsenal but only finished on the winning side once. Another game was drawn and the other six lost.

Manchester United and Aston Villa are both looking to extend impressive league streaks. Villa have won their last four home games in the Premiership while United have won six straight all without conceding a goal. But Manchester United is the last team Villa wants to face considering their record against them.

For starters Villa have lost 21 times to Manchester United in the Premier League and that is more than to any other club. United have won their last nine Premiership matches against Villa and they have kept the Midlands club off the score sheet on the last five occasions. It gets worse. In their last 11 Premiership visits to Villa Park United have won 8, drawn three, scored 15 and conceded only two.

Stop Press - The European Union has agreed on a treaty that includes an exemption for sport in relation to the general economic principles under which the EU operates. It does not go as far as Sepp Blatter wanted - "autonomy" - but it accepts the "specific nature of sport."

This is going to become very important in years to come and is a major blow to the G14 clubs. It leaves to door open for FIFA/UEFA to sit down with European bureaucrats and politicians and to suggest solutions to problems facing soccer in Europe without being limited to conformance with the economic rules of the EU.

In theory, it could even lead to salary caps - I stress in theory. The EU has not given up their power to ultimately regulate sport but there is an acknowledgement that sport is different than business and that solutions, rules and regulations that run counter to their general economic rules, might be applicable and helpful to sport.  

FIFA/UEFA, after finally wakening up to the EU reality, has managed to catch G14 offside and the G14 has now been largely isolated. Up to now the EU rulings have generally been favourable to the big clubs; that is now going to change.

Except some G14 bluster but this might be their swansong. In will take a few years for this to fully play out but in years to come we will be refering to the treaty in the same may that we refer to the Bosman ruling.