Coming off of a decisive 3-1 victory over last year’s Premier League runners up Liverpool, Manchester City will look to continue their perfect start to the early season with a lineup that will feature only a couple of changes. The most likely changes will be at fullback with Sagna in line to make his first appearance in sky blue and Alexander Kolorov rotating in for Gael Clichy. It is also possible that Fernando might be replaced by Fernandinho as the Brazilian is nearing full fitness, after a mentally and physically taxing World Cup in Brazil.

The front four largely picks itself with Silva, Nasri, and Toure all in fine early season form. Stevan Jovetic has been a revelation over the course of pre-season and early days in the league. The striker spot will likely be occupied by either Sergio Aguero, who picked up a knock in training today, or Edin Dzeko, who took a nasty stud to the thigh Monday night. If you’re Manuel Pellegrini you really can’t go wrong picking either Aguero – scored two goals in less than 30 minutes of playing time this season – or his teammate Dzeko who appears to be in inspired form. His goals will come, as they always do, but his creativity and passing so far has been an added dimension.

City will look to score early and draw Stoke out of what will likely be a nine or even ten men behind the ball approach. An early goal at home usually means that City are on their way to three or four or more. When they have trouble scoring early they often play much tighter and with far more nervousness than when things are flowing freely and the goals are going in early and with regularity. The home match against Crystal Palace last season will be a blueprint for their opponents to analyse and try to replicate, despite City claiming a slender 1-0 victory.

On the other side of the pitch former City manager Mark Hughes is still trying to find what his best lineup is. A groin injury to the in demand American international Geoff Cameron and the arrival of Chelsea loanee Victor Moses means that Hughes will have some more tinkering to do. He’ll likely start Moses and Krkic on the wings. with England’s favorite gangly robot Peter Crouch as the lone striker up front. Charlie Adam may not regain a place with the more dogged Glenn Whelan in a midfield that will contain essentially three holding midfielders that will try to stifle a lethal City attack.

Stoke’s best hope for a result will come from packing the middle and forcing the ball out wide. If you’re a Stoke fan you’d probably prefer it go out wide to Samir Nasri rather than David Silva. With a solid amount of Stoke grit and determination, coupled with perfect defensive organization, the Potters may be able to hold City scoreless if the Citizens are having an off day. At the other end of the field perhaps a well-timed cross could find the forehead of Peter Crouch and then the back of Joe Hart’s net.

MANCHESTER CITY 

STOKE CITY

Now that the World Cup is over, you may be wondering where you can watch the best players in the world for the next four years.

Here’s our guide to the leagues that had the most number of players at the World Cup:

1. Premier League (England and Wales) — 105 World Cup players

US TV coverage: NBC Sports

Stars include Tim Howard (USA), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Andre Schurrle (Germany), Per Mertesacker (Germany), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Vincent Kompany (Belgium), Daniel Sturridge (England), Oscar (Brazil), Alexis Sanchez (Chile), Steven Gerrard (England), Oliver Giroud (France), Ramires (Brazil), Willian (Brazil), Patrice Evra (France), Joel Campbell (Costa Rica) and Bryan Ruiz (Costa Rica).

2. Serie A (Italy) — 81 players

US TV coverage: beIN SPORTS

Stars include Paul Pogba (France), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Daniel De Rossi (Italy), Mario Yepes (Colombia), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Miroslav Klose (Germany), and Nigel De Jong (Netherlands).

3. Bundesliga (Germany) — 73 players

US TV coverage: GolTV

Stars include Philipp Lahm (Germany), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Dante (Brazil), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Mats Hummels (Germany), Toni Kroos (Germany), Luiz Gustavo (Brazil) and Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Netherlands).

4. La Liga (Spain) — 62 players

US TV coverage: beIN SPORTS

Stars include Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), Gerard Pique (Spain), Marcelo (Brazil), Angel Di Maria (Argentina) and Neymar (Brazil).

5. Ligue Un (France) — 47 players 

US TV coverage: beIN SPORTS

Stars include Thiago Silva (Brazil), David Luiz (Brazil), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Argentina) and Maxwell (Brazil).

6. MLS (USA) — 22 players

US TV coverage: ESPN, NBCSN and regional sports networks

Stars include Tim Cahill (Australia), DeAndre Yedlin (USA), Michael Bradley (USA), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Kyle Beckerman (USA), Clint Dempsey (USA) and Giancarlo Gonzalez (Costa Rica).

The second semifinal of the 2014 World Cup was an opposite of the first. Where the first match had precision, space, and inventiveness the second was tight, tentative, and largely predictable. The first forty five minutes of the first semi final saw five goals in the net, the second semifinal had zero goals in 90 minutes. Where the first semi was not really a contest, the second semi was contested in all areas of the field and even tactically by both managers.

The Dutch started the match very content to cautiously move the ball around midfield. Making the easy pass when possible and experimenting with floated balls toward Van Persie when the moment seemed to present itself. Argentina found repeated success with diagonal balls down the right to Ezekiel Lavezzi, but despite his ease of access he was unable to create any true scoring opportunities. Lionel Messi had a couple of runs down the middle but were ultimately snuffed out by a Dutch defense that had been keying on him since the teams lined up in the tunnel.

The Dutch decision to play Nigel De Jong as an extra central defender when Argentina was in possession left Javier Mascherano free to make long passes. The Dutch decision to play a clearly still ill Robin Van Persie left the Argentine central defense without much to do for the first 90 minutes. Where the decision to bring on Clasie for De Jong early in the second half was a good one, bringing the Dutch forward and keeping the ball on the Argentine side of the field more often than it had in the first half, the decision to start Van Persie meant that a couple of chances were turned into non-chances. Obviously a competitor of the highest order he likely made a strong case to Van Gaal for his inclusion but he looked like he was moving in slow motion and he squandered a few opportunities that he ordinarily does a lot more with.

Toward the end of the first half and through the beginning of extra time the Dutch began to assert themselves more and more from a possession standpoint and Argentina were forced to focus more on defense. The Dutch had a lot of the ball but weren’t doing much with it so Argentina was content to let them knock it around a bit just make sure that nothing got behind them. Messi saw very little of the ball, but then again the same could be said nearly the entire Argentine squad with the possible exception of Romero , the keeper.

Another anonymous figure in this match was the referee. The first twenty minutes of the match sailed by with only a solitary off side call. There was a lot of jersey grabbing and arm and shoulder pull backs but the referee was content to blow his whistle only when absolutely necessary.

Extra time saw a couple of half chances for Argentina. A Palacios header that had no power behind it. A Maxi Rodriguez attempted volley that went straight to the keeper. The Dutch had more possession but were unable to create even half chances. At about the 115 minute mark it seemed that both teams had resigned themselves to the inevitably of penalty kicks.

Having used all their substitutes during the course of the first 120 minutes, the Dutch were unable to bring on their penalty stopper Tim Krul. This was ultimately the deciding factor in the match. Romero made a couple of good guesses and stopped two of the first three. His opposite number, Jasper Cillessen, looked bewildered, nervous, and generally like he’d rather be anywhere other than where he was. The penalty shootout was as one sided as the rest of the match was close. Romero made two saves for Argentina, Cillessen didn’t get a hand or foot to any of the four shots he faced. The Oranje did well to not let Messi beat them but were undone by their keeper’s inability to stop penalties.

At this level the margin of error is razor thin and if FIFA had allowed four substitutions instead of three the result might’ve been different. Either team could say that they deserved to win. The only what-ifs for the Netherlands would be “what if Van Persie was 100%” or “what if we’d started Huntelaar”. Argentina, for their part, will have to put the emotion of this match behind them and do their best to recuperate from the exertion of 120 minutes of tense play. A World Cup final in front of what will likely be a very blue and white crowd awaits only four days from now.

Similar to a parent who knows his or her child is smarter than the C’s on the report card, most soccer fans will be somewhat disappointed with the performance of the Albiceleste today. While they did score three goals they also gave up two goals and could’ve easily found themselves on the losing end in a shock result. An incredible Pablo Zabaleta block in the box in the 78th minute meant Argentina held onto a one goal lead. If he gets that wrong the result could’ve been any combination of a red card, penalty kick, or goal. It shouldn’t come down to moments like that so late in the match, not for a team with the talent of Argentina.

A Messi put-back four minutes in, got Argentina off to the start they wanted but an Ahmed Musa equalizer barely a minute later was a sign of things to come. Whereas a team like the Netherlands or France would’ve used an early goal as a platform for a four or five goal blowout win, Argentina allowed Nigeria to hit back immediately and never were able to truly assert their dominance. After the initial flurry, of activity the match settled into a state of Argentina forcing the issue a bit with passes that were a bit too ambitious or just flat out unnecessary. Nigeria meanwhile proceeded with a direct full steam ahead approach that should’ve seen them much more vulnerable to counter attacks than was the case.

As halftime approached Messi curled a right sided free kick toward the top right corner of the goal. Nigeria’s keeper was able to make a great save to force a corner. Three minutes later, with the ball in a very similar spot, Messi was given a second chance. This time shot was so well placed that the keeper couldn’t even dive for it, he could only turn and watch it settle into the net. In the first half Messi was the only true bright spot for Argentina, everyone else was simply playing “ok”.

When Ahmed Musa put in his second goal of the match just two minutes after halftime it briefly relit the fire inside the Argentine players. And sure enough three minutes after Musa’s goal Argentina scored what would turn out to be the match winner on a Marco Rojo header from a corner kick. Instead of putting themselves further in front by bagging several more goals Argentina as a unit seemed to say “that’s enough, let’s just get out of here”. From near the eightieth to around the ninetieth Nigeria continually pushed for an equalizer (and would’ve had in the 78th if not for Zabaleta’s block).

Perhaps Argentina were just coasting a bit, but from a neutral perspective a fan would like to see what a team like this is capable of. Messi and the forwards are certainly capable of moments of magic. Mascherano is capable of hiding the cracks in an otherwise suspect defense. But is that it? Can Argentina’s midfield not dictate the pace and flow of a match? Can its defense really not keep a clean sheet against anyone other than Iran (who it should be noted nearly kept a clean sheet in that match as well)? If I were a fan of La Albiceleste I’d be a bit worried about the knockout stages of this tournament.

For the first half of the match, the Colombia and Ivory Coast players not on the field were just as important as the players on the field.

Colombia played a bit of “route 1” football even though Radamel Falcao is a spectator for this tournament. Had he been fully fit you might’ve expected Colombia to put away one of the several chances that went begging in the first half an hour of the match. For the Ivory Coast their starting striker, Wilfried Bony, is actually much better than what he’s showing in this tournament. Perhaps the Ivory Coast, as a unit, are much more familiar with the style and abilities of Didier Drogba. Bony has similar strength but is not nearly as acrobatic, tactical, or even patient and patience would’ve gone a long way early on. Ivory Coast players seemed to be living by the moniker “when in doubt, shoot” and although they came close once or twice, shooting from 20 or more yards away is not the recipe for success in the World Cup.

For the first 45 minutes the teams were very evenly matched in terms of speed and even strength. The most glaring difference was creativity. Colombia was incisive, threading the ball through to players making diagonal runs, and skipping players with space creating dummies. Ivory Coast were passing to the closest player and making the most obvious plays. Thus, Colombia had several legitimate scoring opportunities. Ivory Coast’s chances were of an arguable quality.

The second half started similar to the first stylistically. As Drogba was being introduced into the match I emailed a colleague telling her “Colombia’s looked pretty good but if they don’t score here Drogba’s probably going to win this match”. Cue the James Rodriguez header. As Drogba was settling into the match Colombia got a stroke of luck with a challenge that could’ve been whistled resulting in a 3 on 2 break that was well finished by Juan Quintero. Seemingly seconds later (the clock says it was 3 minutes) Gervinho receives the ball on the left hand side and proceeds to do things I’ve only seen done in video games, splitting defenders, avoiding challenges that could’ve resulted in a penalty kick, and then firing home to halve the deficit.

The last 15 minutes were study in what not to do if you’re trying to hold on for a win. Colombia continually tried to stretch the field and with every 20 yard pass that needed to be 19 yards they opened themselves up to counter attacks. In the end the steadying yet energizing force of Didier Drogba wasn’t enough to net Les Elephants an equalizer and the Colombians should be questioning how they let themselves get caught up in the moment rather than tactically taking the ball into the corners, milking the clock, and making things much easier on themselves.

Goals: Colombia (Rodriguez ’64 , Quintero ’70) Ivory Coast (Gervinho ’73)
Cards: Yellow – Ivory Coast (Zakora, Tiote)

Watch the match highlights here:

The opening round Group C match between the Ivory Coast and Japan is a very difficult match to predict as both teams are loaded with question marks. Is this going to be the Japanese team that beat Belgium and held the Netherlands to a draw? Or is this the Japanese team that lost to Belarus? Is Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa going to play or will we get Manchester United’s Kagawa?

For Ivory Coast, there are also a lot of questions about who plays and in what form they’ll be. Can a 36 year old Didier Drogba play three matches in nine days? Even if he can, is he an automatic starter over a young, emerging talent like Swansea’s Wilfried Bony? Has Kolo Toure recovered from his bout with malaria? Assuming Yaya Toure is fit (he has yet to even participate in training), will we see the marauding City midifielder or the lethargic uninterested Yaya from the 2013 FA Cup?

One aspect of this match that is not a question mark is that Ivory Coast is a powerful team, filled with strength and talent. If the Ivory Coast attacks are coming through the middle, it’s going to be a long 90 minutes for Japan. Toure and either of the Ivory Coast strikers will be a lot for the Japanese defense to handle. On the defensive side the Ivory Coast’s strength and size will be of the greatest advantage in a match played at a slower tempo. A multitude of Honda and Kagawa counter attacks and the Ivory Coast’s defensive shortcomings will be most evident.

A less than Obvious player to watch is Didier Zokora. As the left sided half of Ivory Coast’s defensive midfield pairing, Zokora will often find himself having to break up potential counter attack 2 on 1s in the form of Japan’s Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda. Not an easy task for anyone. And given Honda’s free kick abilities Zokora’s tackles are going to have to be clean.

Yasuyuki Konno is another player to watch. Of the probable Japanese back four, Konno is the only one not to play in Europe. Will he be able to cope with the physicality of Drogba or Bony? Konno is listed at 5’10”, 161 pounds. Didier Drogba is listed at 6’2” and around 190 pounds.

As Floyd Mayweather would gladly tell you, going toe to toe with your opponent doesn’t always make the most sense. You have to use what you have to your advantage and try to minimize your opponents strengths. Japan can’t afford to try and out muscle the Ivory Coast, the recipe for success for the Blue Samurai will be constant motion in an effort to pull an already suspect Ivory Coast back line out of position. The interplay between Kagawa and Honda will go a long way toward deciding Japan’s fate offensively.

When I was asked to review a book about “Subbuteo,” I thought I had been the victim of some sort of autocorrect. From there, my mind searched for memories of perhaps some Brazilian or Argentine defensive midfielder from the sixties or seventies. Failing to find anything, I simply looked it up. Subbuteo is a table top soccer (or rugby or cricket or hockey) board game.

As an American, I am familiar with foosball, of course, but that was the only table top soccer game that I had ever seen or heard of. Once I had discovered what Subbuteo was, I was reminded of similar games in the 1980s here in the US that simulated the NFL.

In The Box by Tom Groves is a photobook about Subbuteo players who compete at the international level. Players from Italy, Spain and England, and players from all over Europe. Players who aren’t content to simply have a go at their friends in their basements or rec rooms, these are players who travel internationally to compete in professional tournaments.

The book began as a Kickstarter project to reveal “the present-day culture and idiosyncrasies of the largely unseen sporting world of Subbuteo.” The Kickstarter project reached its funding goal, and the photobook has now been published and is available to Subbuteo connoisseurs.

Aside from a foreward by Kaspar Bennett, there is not a lot of text at all. It is intended more as a coffee table book for gazing at photographs and marveling at the intensity shown by grown men and women playing the table soccer game that is popular around the world. The Bennett foreward is wonderfully written and humorously takes the book’s author Mr. Groves to task for being “not a top Subbuteo player….only the third best player on his street when we were kids.” Bennett provides the only background as to the game itself and it would have been a great service to the novice Subbuteo player if he had expanded his writing by at least a few pages.

The photography is the centerpiece to In The Box. And while it wonderfully conveys the passion involved in top level Subbuteo tournaments, without a bit of text to at least provide background, it can only go so far. One of my personal gripes is that most of the pictures lack even a caption to explain who the players are or what tournament they are competing in.

If you’re looking for a written introduction to the game and its creation, history, and current resurgence in popularity, In The Box is not the book for you. However, if you know a bit about Subbuteo already, and especially if it’s a game you know and love, then In The Box is a great collection of photo documentation of players losing themselves in the moment and showing a tremendous amount of passion for their game.