Can I ask a really stupid American question, are the pro leagues in Europe as seemingly 'slanted' as the international teams? By that I mean whenever the World Cup comes around there is a small group of standard teams (Brazil, Germany, Italy, a few others) given a legit shot and winning the whole thing while everyone else is either viewed as a serious underdog or a sleeper. Is that the case in the pro leagues? Are there teams that exist seemingly just to give other teams someone else to play? Teams that no matter what happens will never pose a serious threat to winning any championships? It used to be that way with the American sports leagues but in the past fifteen years or so it's been changing and now it seems every year, regardless of the sport, it's literally ANYBODY'S game.

It's not a stupid question. It looks mostly as you said. There is a few good leagues and it would be hard to join to the elite group of european leagues. However in last few years German Bundesliga has overtaken Italian Serie A. The league ranking is based on clubs efficiency in European cups like Champions League and European League. Champions League is the most prestigious, however the second one is some kind of a consolation prize. Italian teams didn't used to threat it seriously because of it's rich football history, they were to proud. However the points for the leagues rank counts similar and thats why Bundesliga is stronger now than Serie A. Does the league rank matters? Well... take a look at Borussia and Bayern and then take a look at Inter, Milan and Juventus - it's definietly better to be higher in that rank (it guarantees more national clubs in Champions League what means more money). There's also Portugal and France with a good leagues and if Italian clubs won't start threating European League seriously they may overtake it in the future as well. As you can see - it's hard to be in the top 3 of leagues but the standings may change.

There is also A LOT of smaller leagues like polish, when the champion can't even play directly in Champions League. It has to start in qualifications and to be honest it's good because difference between polish league football and f.e. english league football is like between NBA and NHL ;). We just don't know how to play football. Honestly - it's something with training because we are rich enough to have at least one medium-class club in European football (something like Anderlecht or Shakhtar).

"Rich enough" is very important statement to answer the second part of your question. There is nothing you can do in football if you don't have money. Ok, you might be a dark horse, you may be a huge surprise, maybe you can even win a trophy once (it happens once in 20-30 years). In every single national league exists a lot of clubs which has absolutely no chance to win a trophy, but, well, it's an idea of the league. And even the clubs which won their national league after all they have the same role in European Cups, because there is Elite, which is a group of best and richest clubs from every country.

Of course sometimes there are small crisises like with Liverpool or Inter in last few years, but they are so big and quite rich, that there is pretty sure they will be back in the nearest future. From the other hand - there is a lot of muslim investors who buy clubs and give them a lot of money - you could hear about PSG or Manchester City in last few years. You can also join the international elite by building your team consequently and with good management - there will be Napoli or Borussia for example. However you just can't create good football team without a huge amount of money.

Maybe the salary cap would be a good solution, but I don't think it would change it for better. There was a theory of some kind financial fair play but it didn't worked.

But you know what? I think in Europe we love that things running that way. We are conservative, we are focused on football brands. There is a HUGE history between the clubs from the top. We love watching new ones trying to break the domination of the european football giants, but it would be much less interesting without having Real, Barcelona, Milan, United, Arsenal, Inter or Bayern right there.

I'd be pleased with us reaching the semis. Got the feeling we will see quite a few big surprises, similar to 2002.

I always thought the sport would interest me if they would shorten the field to the size of a hockey rink.

I think some of the pundits were talking about 3 groups being potential groups of Death this time around.Not just one :D

they were not surprises, it was a corruption

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In 12 games of this season Luis Suarez scored more goals than Fernando Torres for Chelsea in last 3 years :)

He better keep this form up for at least the next 7 months.

If the Brazilian squad plays in the World Cup exactly like they played in the Confederations Cup, there's hardly any doubt on who will win the tournament. I'm not even a diehard fan nor a big patriot or anything, but those easy victories against Spain and Italy (Uruguay is always a pain to beat) made it seem like Brazil is in another league when it plays in its own territory.

People over here are mocking Atletico Mineiro for not beating Raja Casablanca in FIFA Club World Cup this year. Yeah, we do take this tournament seriously, if anything because there are 12 big teams in Brazil (Atletico Mineiro, Botafogo, Corinthians, Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Fluminense, Grêmio, Internacional, Palmeiras, São Paulo, Santos and Vasco) and only some of them have this trophy (Corinthians, Flamengo, Grêmio, Internacional, São Paulo and Santos), although half of them got it while it was still called Intercontinental Cup and it was a single match between a South American Club and an European Club. There are always 11 competitors to try to beat in number of trophies (instead of only 3 or 4 like in most European countries), so Atletico is being ridicularized for not winning this year - though it would only be even worse if they played against Bayern ;) last year Corinthians didn't have a lot of trouble winning against Chelsea, but Bayern is the best team of the world today without a doubt and would simply trash Atletico anyway.

Who's going to watch Inter-Milan tonight?

I've supported Liverpool through the highs and since winning the Champions League with Rafa in 2005, the lows. However, Brendan Rodgers has done a tremendous job this season and Luiz Suarez is unstoppable at the moment. In fact he's scored more goals alone than around 1/2 of the rest of the Prem teams

Man City have a ridiculously brilliant squad, so they have to be favourites to win the league this season.

Finally, I'm delighted the rude and arrogant Mr Furguson has retired.

What a boring game in Milano tonight