Welcome to the second edition of the top soccer reads of the week. It's the calm before the storm, with most of the European leagues starting in the next few weeks. Until then, we'll have to content ourselves with preseason banter between coaches, looks back into history and the like.
1. Grantland's Brian Phillips on either Eden Hazard and Cristiano Ronaldo or "the troubling ineffable way in which sports debates blur into lived experience."
2. ESPN's Chris Jones on Steven Gerrard's arrival in LA and his attitude toward soccer.
3. ESPN with a very revealing interview with Luis Suarez.
4. The Guardian's Graham Parker ruminates on the firing of Miguel Herrera.
5. These Football Times's Matt Gault on the rise and fall of Michael Owen.
6. The Telegraph's Oliver Brown on Jose Mourinho vs. Rafa Benitez's wife.
7. The Guardian's Kevin Rawlinson on the dismaying trend toward "in-house journalists" at football clubs.
8. The Liverpool Echo's Christian Walsh on Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool's best and least-talked-about striker.
9. Sports Illustrated's oral history of the first MLS season.
10. Louis van Gaal gave a great interview to The Guardian's Jamie Jackson.
Bonus: This New York Times short documentary about a soccer team made up of ebola survivors deserves a watch.
Plus, a little shameless self-promotion:
Harry Kane's life is very different than ours, as we found out at Tottenham Hotspur's MLS All-Star Practice.
Harry Also had a run-in with one Nick Rimando.
We round-up the latest MLS transfer news.
Mats Hummels's battles overeating.
Jesus Corona is the future of Mexico.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
