Wazza Finally Speaks on "I'm on Setanta Sports"

On the newest episode of "I'm on Setanta Sports", Rooney speaks Scouse, the "Voyeur" is caught like a rat, and The Special One is still fantastic.

Tiers of Leagues in Europe

In recent weeks and months, there's been some discussion on two of the sources for soccer news I check routinely -- Clever Football and the World Soccer Daily podcast -- about the tiers of leagues in Europe and where, if at all, MLS would fit in.

Personally, I think that particular debate shouldn't even be had; it's like comparing apples to oranges.

MLS, of course, has a salary cap in place, plays a different schedule than most of the European leagues, and is based in a country where its teams are in cities that aren't really in close geographic proximity. This affects travel time and style of travel, two factors that don't play any role whatsoever in Europe. The style of play, too, is different; MLS is a highly Latin-influenced league that plays at a slower, more possession-oriented tempo. Playing games in the middle of summer and dealing with the oppressive heat that can be found in many MLS cities is another contributing reason to the tempo, and again, that doesn't happen to as large of a degree in Europe.

If all things and variables were equal, which they aren't and likely won't ever be, I'd say that the best MLS teams (New England, Houston, DC United, and Chivas USA) would battle to stay out of the relegation zone in the Premiership, fight for a playoff spot in the Championship, and contend for a UEFA Cup spot in the SPL. The worst teams (Toronto FC, Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy) would struggle to stay afloat in the Championship, and maybe finish mid-table in League One. I am by no means an expert on MLS and to be honest, don't pay much attention to the league until closer to the playoffs, so those are just broad, perhaps slightly misinformed opinions of comparing MLS teams to teams in Britain. Again, all things would be equal in those scenarios.

However, we can have a valid, legitimate discussion about the tiers of leagues in Europe. The prevailing notion is that three leagues -- the Premiership, Serie A, and La Liga -- are by themselves at the top end. Doesn't really take a genius to come up with that.

After "Tier 1", though, things start to get interesting. There are 49 different top domestic leagues recognized by UEFA outside of the three already mentioned, some of them more established than others.

In coming up with the groups that you'll see in a minute, I considered a couple of things:

1. What is the OVERALL STRENGTH of the league? Yes, Rangers and Celtic are solid teams and are capable of making a run in the UEFA Cup and/or Champions League every year. Aside from them, though, the Scottish Premier League really is not much to brag about and I'd go as far as to say that it's a weak league. I want to see leagues that are realistically at least four or five teams deep.

2. How successful are the league's top teams in Europe? I know what I just said about leagues having more than just one or two good teams. If that's the case, though, I want to see those teams progress far in Europe. I want to see relatively lower-level leagues still able to send their champion or runner-up (or third place, however many teams a league gets into Europe) and have those teams do something against their peers on the continent. The French league (Ligue 1) is fine, but it seems like teams like Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and others get bounced out of European competition early every year. How can I take a league seriously if the best they have to offer doesn't stack up against teams of generally equal reputation and stature?

So, here's the rough grouping system of top-flight domestic leagues I came up with, by country. The order in which the country are listed isn't important; that is, I'm not saying that the Premiership is a better league than La Liga, or that La Liga is better than Serie A.

Tier 1: England, Spain, Italy
Tier 2: Germany, Holland, Portugal, France
Tier 3: Russia, Sweden, Turkey, Scotland, Norway, Belgium
Tier 4: Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Israel
Tier 5: Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Wales, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark
Tier 6: Hungary, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Belarus, Poland
Tier 7: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herezgovina, Cyprus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, FYR of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, San Marino

Feel free to disagree..I'm sure you will.

Fulham is Not Done and Dusted Yet

Amazing.

Just last week, I wrote, in effect, that if Fulham didn't beat Sunderland at Craven Cottage, their hopes for retaining a place in the Premiership were finished. Their remaining schedule didn't provide too many opportunities to pick up points, so the Cottagers absolutely needed to get a victory against a team that had been poor on the road all season.

We all know what happened; Sunderland came into London and walked out with a 3-1 victory, despite a great goal from Fulham striker David Healy. At that point, I thought Healy's team was doomed for the drop.

Not so fast. Yesterday's game against Reading was truly, in all senses of the term, a must-win affair. Fulham HAD to have all three points, no if's, and's, or but's. They played like it too, dominating the match for all 90 minutes and in the end, earned a 2-0 victory that could've eaily been 4-0 or 5-0. Brian McBride scored in the 24th minute, and Erik Nevland, one of the Scandinavian players brought in under Roy Hodgson's watch, finished it in second half stoppage time.

Sure, Reading didn't show up, but you have to give Fulham a lot of credit for taking their fate by the scruff of the neck and fighting for survival. Anything else besides a victory and the fans back in West London would've needed to get used to drinking Coca-Cola for at least a season.

Fulham will be a bit disheartened by Bolton's 1-0 win over West Ham, as the Trotters moved themselves to within two points of safety and kept their position in 18th place, two points ahead of Fulham.

With that said, though, 18th isn't Fulham's ultimate goal; 17th is, and they moved two points closer after Birmingham's home draw against Everton. Again, Fulham will feel a bit unlucky because Birmingham equalized in the 83rd minute to snatch a share of the spoils, but making up two points (instead of three) is still huge right now.

Let's take a look at the run-ins for Fulham, Birmingham, and Bolton, and we'll even throw Reading in there as well as Steve Coppell's club is only three points clear of the drop zone. These four teams are likely to fight it out until the last kick of the ball this season; I believe everyone ahead of Reading is safe and obviously Derby County has long been relegated.

Fulham (27 points): Liverpool, @ Manchester City, Birmingham, @ Portsmouth
Bolton (29): @ Middlesbrough, @ Tottenham, Sunderland, @ Chelsea
Birmingham (31): @ Aston Villa, Liverpool, @ Fulham, Blackburn
Reading (32): @ Arsenal, @ Wigan, Tottenham, @ Derby County

Clearly, the biggest game of the 16 shown here is Fulham-Birmingham at Craven Cottage. If Fulham can manage to leapfrog Bolton and, in the process, cut their deficit to two points or less when they host Birmingham on Saturday, May 3, a victory would catapult the London side out of the bottom three.

How do I see things going, you ask?

Well, I can see Fulham taking five points (draw with Liverpool and at City, victory over Birmingham), Bolton taking only one (draw with Sunderland), Birmingham only one (draw with Blackburn), and Reading three (draws at Wigan, with Spurs, and at Derby).

If those predictions stayed true, the final standings would look like this:

16. Reading (35)
T17: Birmingham (32)
Fulham (32)
19. Bolton (30)

Birmingham and Fulham would then have to be sorted out by using goal differential. At this point, it definitely favors Birmingham (-13 to Fulham's -24), but three Birmingham losses, including the one at Fulham, could turn that around. I would still say that Birmingham would win a tiebreaker, but you never know.

The last four games of the season are going to be great. This is a relegation battle that will go down to the last day and for Fulham to even make this a contest after last week's loss to Sunderland is great. As I said, I'm not sure if they climb out, but they're going to keep fighting until the end.