Back after a week's vacation, Dan Loney and I pick up with Episode 13 of Four At the Back by looking at the US Nats' shocking run to the Confederations Cup final, the potential demise of the Xtreme Soccer League and third-round results in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, plus we talk to soccer historian and author Roger Allaway about his new book, Corner Offices & Corner Kicks.

American critics of the Beautiful Game often complain that it is a foreign sport or it is a new sport, heck I recently heard one person call it a 1970s fad. Next time you come across such a critic, you might wish to educate him on the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, one of the oldest football cups in the world, and the oldest annual team tournament in the United States.

Four At The Back tries and fails to come to terms with the Confederations Cup this week. Well, I shouldn't speak for Kenn in that case. Kenn interviews Tom Wynn of the Milwaukee Wave, and Roger Allaway, author of "Corner Kicks and Corner Offices" "Corner Kicks and Corner Offices"
"Corner Kicks and Corner Offices" - it's Plutarch's "Parallel Lives," except with the Cosmos and Bethlehem Steel.

Colin Jose, the preeminent historian of the sport in North America joins us on the podcast. This show is a must listen for anyone interested in the evolution of the game in North America. Soccer history in the US/Canada did not begin in the late 1980s, and the sport is not a new one in this part of the world, as has been argued by some.