With the Euros and Copa America behind us, it is finally time to dive back into club soccer. I love international play as much as the next soccer-obsessive psycho, but watching the Euros in the morning and Copa in the evening was starting to test the boundaries of my personal relationships.
Besides, while international tournaments uniquely stoke the (sometimes literal) flames of national pride, players and fans spend the majority of the year immersed in the day-to-day drama of club soccer. Ultimately, the summer’s big tournaments were merely a distraction, a bridge, a methadone patch to tide us over until the good stuff is back in stock.