Thursday marks the first day of August, a time that in North America is second only to July as the least compelling month for the sports fan. NBA and NHL free agency have came and went, it is still early to get interested in the MLB playoff race especially with their bogus new Wild Card system killing off the last of the excitement in the late summer pennant race. NFL Football preseason and the NCAA preseason get things started, but the real glory for pigskin's kickoff begins in September. Also don't try to tell me August in the CFL is interesting when 90 per cent of the league's teams end up making the playoffs that now start later and later each year. It is a dull time to be a sports fan in Canada and the United States in non-Olympic/World Cup summers.
For the rest of the world however, August is a time of newfound hope in neighborhoods and cities across Europe and South America as another soccer season unfolds in various leagues in various countries across the world.
2013/14 marks to be an interesting and storyline filled season for the beautiful game. Throw in regime changes at several powerhouse clubs that are steeped in tradition, suspensions of 50 million Euro players to start the season, and political and supporter unrest in World Cup host Brazil and you have what could be a season to remember across the pond.
The season officially went underway on Saturday actually when the German Bundesliga held its annual Super Cup between the winners of the league cup and the season title to kick off the season. With Bayern Munich winning the 2012/13 Bundesliga as well as the Pokal (League Cup) the second spot in the Super Cup would go to Borussia Dortmund in what would be a rematch of one of the more memorable Champions League Finals to date last May when Bayern killed their championship demons and won their 5th CL title in their club's history after near misses in two of the past three finals prior.
On Saturday with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola taking over in Munich amidst the hardest follow up task of all time in replacing a beloved German manager who set the Bundesliga season points record as well as winning the first ever German treble of winning the Champions League title as well as both German titles in the same season, the rarest feat in sport. With the burgeoning Munich-Dortmund Klassiker rivalry reaching a fever pitch this season after three years of a power struggle in Germany between upstarts Dortmund, who rattled off two shocking Bundesliga titles, and Bayern, the team dubbed "FC Hollywood" by Germans in a New York Yankee like fashion, the match was bound to be one of the best sporting events of the summer and it lived up to the hype.
Dortmund got revenge on their rivals in a thrilling 4-2 victory that showed just how far the Bundesliga has came in terms of quality in the past five years. With some of the best players in the world on the pitch, Dortmund stole a 4-2 win, ending any early hopes that Bayern could somehow top last year by going undefeated in the first installment of a rivalry that is quickly becoming one of the best game's of the year in all of sport.
The power struggle in Germany is nothing to the chaos unfolding in the world's most popular league in the EPL as the English league is seeing regime changes at three of the top four clubs in the league last season. David Moyes replaces the best manager of all time in Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford for Manchester United, Manuel Pellegrini takes over at United rivals Manchester City, and Jose Mourinho returns from Real Madrid to try to recapture his former English glory in a prodigal son revival with Chelsea.
The coaching changes are also coupled with the emerging transfer saga of Gareth Bale, who despite being a total non factor in this summer's World Cup as he is Wales born, is the most talked about player of the moment as Real Madrid is inching closer and closer to paying 120 million Euros to move the star from North London to Spain before the end of the transfer window in August. Bale can at least breathe easy knowing he won't be suspended wherever he goes. Rumoured 50 million Euro man Luis Suarez is going to be left out of the start of the season after a lengthy ban to end last year for the most recent of several incidents of poor taste on the pitch.
With the World Cup 2014 in Brazil looming, 2013/14 may just be soccer's biggest season yet. With the growing popularity of foreign league's in North America including NBC picking up EPL rights from ESPN/FOX Sports for a record amount, there is no more denying that the global game is here to stay. I suggest you join the party, you might be missing out on the funnest one yet if you don't.
