By Geoff Reid

The second day of matches kicks off today with some very interesting ties on slate. After the opening round of fixtures we didn't really learn too much, and confirmed what we already know after some of the big boys thrashing a few minnows.

Group E
FC Basel vs Bayern Munich from St.

Soccer By Ives has the details on precisely how urgently stupid CONCACAF is - and not only does this new idiocy plan for World Cup qualifying mean no USA v Mexico, it also means that each of the next tier teams (Costa Rica, Honduras, etc.) will miss playing one of the big boys in the final round. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

European Club Association chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had some harsh words for FIFA ahead of today's Euro qualifying games.

"It is no longer acceptable that we have to give up our players, taking the risk that, in case of injury, we still have to play their salaries," Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, president of the European Clubs' Association (ECA), told reporters.

Apparently this bloke is better suited for the likes of Real Madrid...sure mate.

Saturday 18th Sept.

Aston Villa v Bolton The Villa players will want to impress Gérard Houllier before he takes charge next week, whereas Bolton are without key player Cahill.

I already have a feeling today will be fairly slow from me as I am a bit under the weather here. Plus its another rainy day here in Dallas which makes me want to do next to nothing but lay on the couch and watch re-runs of The Office or Community.

But before I go all lazy on the day I did want to go into a thought that was posted yesterday by SI.

The League Cup is now entering the stage of when the remaining big boys who are flying the flag in Europe enter the fray, and without question the tie of the round is Tottenham vs. Arsenal. Three seasons ago The Gunners visited White Hart Lane and were left humiliated, as they missed out yet again on a cup final appearance by a 5-1 battering.

Well, not HuffPo per se, obviously. But they offer the surest vision of a CPM/CPC-driven New Media future (in caps, natch!). Let's peruse the so-called Huffington Post "Sports" page and tease out the two soccer-related headlines to get a sense of this rosy future where journalists get half of what they used to get to write stories one third of the length but at a minimum of 15 times a week.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

In case you haven't heard by now, CONCACAF is preparing to change its World Cup qualifying format dramatically, doing away with the old Hexagonal final qualifying round in favor of a two-group final round that gives eight teams a chance to battle for the three (or four) automatic World Cup berths the region receives.

Every World Cup cycle we are always ready for our US Men's National Team to improve with new players and challenge the best or what is considered the best teams within the Confederation of CONCACAF. That also includes the trip to Estadio Azteca and of course our rivals coming to the freezer at Columbus Crew Stadium during the final round of qualifying of every World Cup.

The year 2010 has certainly not been a favorite of Carlos Quieroz. Even if some had higher hopes, the World Cup run was met with the expected outcome for many Spain and then done but the rest has seemingly been one mess after another.

There was the shoving match with a journalist at an airport in February, shortly followed by the major saga in which he said mean things to anti-doping officials, who are seemingly the most fragile people on earth.

It was not a good day for many of Europe's big teams on Saturday as a number of them received shocking results that left many of their fans stunned beyond words. From Italy to Spain to Germany and England, the big boys were humbled beyond their wildest imaginations.

One result that really surprised and still makes me laugh is, Cagliari's demolition of AS Roma.

Steven Gerrard is not forceful enough to be the England captain.
That was the verdict of The Sun's Shaun Custis as the Sunday Supplement looked at just who should lead the national side once Rio Ferdinand is fit again.
Gerrard was handed the armband for the first two Euro 2012 qualifiers and was instrumental in England picking up maximum points against Bulgaria and Switzerland.

Ex-Bordeaux Playmaker Yoann Gorcuff Could Be The Man To Put Schalke Out Of Their Misery Tomorrow Night.

Magath's struggling Schalke side will be looking to turn their recent form around against Ligue 1 big boys Olympique Lyon, but it is likely that Schalke will really be up against it in France tomorrow night.

This year's Champions League group stages get underway next week, but Spurs fans have been left in a bit of a pickle. Can they enjoy the experience of seeing their side compete against Europe's elite clubs, or will the desire to win turn it into a nerve racking experience?

With the group stages throwing Spurs right in at the deep end of top level European football, supporters could be forgiven for wanting an easier introduction to the competition.

Little Magician Marko Marin Shines As Werder Bremen Fail To Win.

Bundesliga big-boys Werder Bremen hosted English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, who notoriously broke the ‘Top Four' trend in England last season which had previously consisted of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool consecutive top four league finishes consecutively for the past seven years.

My first order of business in the break is to start cleaning house a bit. Right winger Søren Berg has lost his spot in the starting lineup and isn't happy I didn't let him go earlier in the season. Fine by me; He's 33, on the decline, and takes up $7.5k of our $95k wage bill. I fax his name and an acceptable fee to anybody and everybody, save our rivals.

Lucy Zelic, Paddy Bordier and Eamonn Flanagan discuss all the news from Australian football. 30 minutes of news views opinions and more. Quiz, dedications and we make the hard calls.
Who are the Olyroos who will play for the Socceroos and who are the Olyroos who'll never make it?
We call the Young Socceroos who will make it; and those who'll never play for the Big Boys.

One by one, some of the big boys of English soccer fell by the wayside against lower-tier competition in the third round of Carling Cup action this week.

On Tuesday it was Everton, which was stunned in penalty kicks by League One side Brentford, and Bolton, which fell, 1-0, to Burnley.

Five games in to the Premier League season what have we learned? Chelsea are a class act, Man Utd are inconsistent, Liverpool are out of the race, and David Moyes' Everton are missing a crucial ingredient that they had last term. heading in to the weekend's matchups though, we can be sure that many of them will not go to early season form.

Juan Pablo Angel and New York proved they can hang with the best of the league. (Getty Images)

Color me not surprised by this past weekend. I don't mean to be negative or anything here but this weekend nearly went like I expected it to. Sure I missed plenty of my predictions on Friday but nothing shocked me about the way things played out really.

For the sake of being able to give the most rational opinion (ha!) post-Bolton, I opted to wait until today to hammer out a match report of sorts.

At first glance, the match could be summed up with two sentences:

1) What the [censorin' censors], another away draw? Seriously? Seriously.

Not long ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were horrible. The Devil Rays, as they were called then, were the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Rays fans wished that one day their team could contend with the big boys. But now, even when they are slugging it out with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, Rays fans are nowhere to be found.