Apologies for the late and brief showing of the Daily Sweeper today, but 16 hours on a bus from Chicago to Kansas City to watch a 0-0 draw grinds on you a little, especially when it’s 90+ degrees and the air conditioning is broken. Anyway. . .

North America

• The Galaxy got another rude wake-up call on the defensive end this week — it seems releasing the corpse of Abel Xavier has done little for them, as they crashed 4-0 to Dallas, with Europe-bound Kenny Cooper leading the way.
• An excellent look at Vancouver’s MLS bid, including the prospect of them playing in renovated BC Place (once home of the NASL’s Vancouver Whitecaps), is in the Vancouver Sun.
• Reflections on US Soccer Imposter Syndrome from Laurie at the Offside.
• Richard Whittall continues his remarkable series on the history of soccer in Toronto, looking at the postwar years, as the game started over.
• The US U-17 WNT won the Concacaf tournament.

Europe

• The Bundesliga is still trying to salvage its lucrative television deal.
• Spanish clubs have racked up an extraordinary €607m in back taxes as of the last financial year; and you thought the Premier League’s finances were a mess….
• Newcastle welcome back Joey Barton with open arms. Stay classy, Joey.

Worldwide

• The Anti-Racism World Cup concluded in Italy, a very positive move by various groups of ultras there, which I’d love to see extended to other places.
• Ewan Macdonald thinks Australia’s A-League needs to focus less on washed up stars and more on developing young talent. Sound familiar, MLS fans?
• The group stages of the African Confederations Cup were determined this weekend, with three Tunisian sides being joined by teams from Angola, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, and Sudan.
• Roundups of the weekend’s results in Brazil, Mexico and Japan are on Fifa.com.
• Another African international contracts malaria, this time it’s Carlos Kemeni. Which reminds me, donate to the Nothing But Nets campaign and save a life.
• Brazil retain the World Beach Soccer title.

Photo Daily
Újpest FC ultras from the Hungarian league.

Photo courtesy of photoreti on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.