If you're suffering from World Cup hangover, watch and listen to this fantastic audio slideshow regarding the World Cup Final as experienced at The Blue Anchor Pub in Delray Beach by J. Gwendolynne Barry from The Palm Beach Post. In the meantime, follow the news about the Premiership and the latest news about Fox Soccer Channel on the blog at http://eplleague.blogspot.com Cheers, The Gaffer

Just when we think that soccer is making progress in America, the mainstream media brings us back down again. In this case, it's an article that appeared this weekend in USA Today entitled "Why the United States doesn't take to soccer." Read the article here. It's an interesting article, one of many in recent weeks that tries to explain why soccer isn't bigger in America. While it's depressing to read, we have to remember that the game is making great inroads in this country and it'll never be a number one or two sport in the U.S. Keep on supporting Fox Soccer Channel and the soccer-centric web sites on the Internet that bring the world of soccer into your home, such as EPL Talk. Cheers, The Gaffer

To celebrate the World Cup, EPL Talk is running a contest where you can win a copy of World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 and/or an EPL Talk T-shirt. All you have to do is listen to the latest episode of the EPL Talk Podcast to learn how. Listen right now at http://epltalk.libsyn.com Cheers, The Gaffer www.EPLTalk.com

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.

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