I’m on vacation this week in North Carolina, so the quantity of blog postings will dwindle, but I’ll try and write when I get the opportunity. It’s actually a great week to visit the EPL Talk Community where you can read blogs from six EPL Talk readers and participate in the message boards.

While in Durham (North Carolina) last night, I got the opportunity to watch the second half of the Copa America final. Brazil, despite not playing their typical brand of football, outclassed Argentina all over the pitch. In fact, Brazil appeared to play more like Italy at times and it seemed impossible for the Argentinians to crack their defense. The team in yellow packed their penalty box and gave Argentina little time on the ball.

I missed Baptista’s thunderstrike but I witnessed Daniel Alves’s beautiful shot into the corner of the net. Will Alves still be playing in La Liga when the new season begins or will he be England bound? My bet is on the latter.

When you think about it, Brazil began the tournament in disastrous style by losing against Mexico. The Brazilians looked awful in that match but turned things around to go on to win the tournament. I’m curious, though, how many Brazilians are pleased with the style of their play on the pitch. Despite winning the tournament, has the team lost their golden touch?

Speaking of the golden touch, be sure to listen to this week’s episode of the EPL Talk Podcast which was just released. It includes some interesting stories of “golden showers” during football matches (listen to the discussion between myself and EPL Talk Correspondent Kevin Jones for more details). But the feature interview is with none other than Howard Rogers, the co-host of the World Soccer Daily radio show. Listen to the interview via iTunes or here today.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, it’s perfect timing to catch up on the latest in U.S. soccer and MLS by visiting our sister site, Major League Soccer Talk. Be sure to listen to the latest episodes of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast via iTunes or here for interviews with Phil McThomas from Soccer Shout plus interviews with GolTV personalities such as Kelly O’Donnell, Lindsey Dean, Phil Schoen and Hollywood actor Andrew Shue.

Also, don’t forget to check out the other EPL Talk sister sites: Championship Talk, La Liga Talk and Champions League Talk.

I may have the fortune of missing Posh Spice’s show tonight. I’m in Raleigh today and will be driving to the Outer Banks in the next day or so.