Staying alive: relegation in the Premier League

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What a Sunday. In the course of two hours, five teams faced relegation from soccer's most prestigious tournament: England's Barclay's Premier League. With West Ham out as of the past couple of weeks, two places remained remained in danger of dropping to the second-tier Championship. It would be Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool. Three would survive.

The day started grim for Blackpool, going down on the scoreboard to Manchester United at Old Trafford (champions since last week). This put them in the drop zone along with Wigan, who was tying Stoke City at the time. Blackburn started off fast by scoring on Wolves early in the game. They would score two more goals in the first half. Wigan was tied at Stoke City. Birmingham was alive due to goal differential.

Luckily for our American compatriot Jermaine Jones, his team would not relinquish its lead and remained in England's top flight. Blackpool had the lead for precious moments at Old Trafford but Man. United returned fire and ended its championship in style by the score of 4-2. Blackpool would return to the second division. At the same time, Birmingham went down 1-0 to Tottenham but tied the match 1-1 to put them back in the Premier League. This was until Wolves scored two goals to level them in goal differential with Birmingham. They had scored more goals, however, so this meant the Blues would have to score another goal. This never occurred. Instead, Roman Pavliuchenko would score again and would win the game for the Spurs. The day ended with more heroics when Martinez's Wigan scored a winner thanks to Rodallega to keep the team in England's top flight.

For anyone that knows soccer beyond the World Cup and MLS, this is what the sport is about. Surviving is not just for making the playoffs or continuing to the final. Surviving is the necessity and requirement for any and all teams to remain in the top league. We know that a losing season is more than just a "rebuilding year" or a "better luck next year." How would it be to have minor league baseball teams attain entry into the major leagues? And weaker teams to play for their lives so they don't lost their place in the league?

In the end it is also about money. Teams in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, receive financial incentives and also profit from the presence of the most profitable players in the world. Smaller teams benefit from having the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Robinho visit their stadiums.

No, we know the MLS won't have this capability. Not for the next 20 or so years. And other American sports? It's not in the cards. Not when even the BCS is still in place. So, for now, let's enjoy how the rest of the world plays. A fight to the finish. A fight to stay on top. Survival. To remain alive.

Americanizing the Premier League

We must admit it. The English Premier League looks more and more Americanized every transfer window and at every position on the pitch. There are honorable mentions in the past decade like Carlos Bocanegra (defender, Fulham), Landon Donovan (forward, Everton), Brian McBride (forward, Fulham), Bobby Convey (midfielder, Reading), Jozy Altidore (forward, Hull City), DeMerrit (defender, Watford).

Today, however, the attacking front of the US national team is nearly-exclusively made up of EPL-based players: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, midfielder/forward), Michael Bradley (Aston Villa, defensive midfielder), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers, defensive midfielder), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers, attacking midfielder). Not to mention three top goalkeepers: Brad Friedel (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves).

For now at least, we can mention Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa, defender) in the EPL group. But what does this all mean? To start, quality. This is the best league in the world and our best players make their trade there. And they don't just sit on the bench, they play and they score. Dempsey is #9 in goals scored in the league with 9 goals. Holden has two this season and was voted for the "best 11" in the first half of the tournament. Jones, recently acquired by Rovers, was an instant starter and has made quite an impression. Bradley steps into a loaded Aston Villa but full of potential and with an impressive repertoire (constant starter, goals for Moenchengladbach, Herenveen, and at the Confederations Cup and World Cup).

We must also credit the MLS for the current stock of players in the EPL. Howard (New York), Dempsey (New England) and Holden (Houston) are great examples of this link. Previously, Donovan (LA Galaxy) and Altidore (New York) also ascended through the MLS system to reach Europe.

It is true, then, that the EPL is becoming more Americanized, and not just with bench-warmers. These are top players that showed their stock at the World Cup (not to mention that they tied England thanks to Clint Dempsey). The American system is clearly working well in the midfield, enough so that the best league in the world is constantly importing their talent. It also acts as an analysis point in terms of strikers and defenders. We aren't quite there yet. But when someone like Dempsey scores repeatedly it is hard to imagine that we don't have our own "Chicharito." We do. He's a bit older, a bit wiser, and plays for a team that allows him to be on the pitch for every match.