It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of a brand-new eBook today entitled What The World Cup Means To Me. The free eBook, published by EPL Talk sister site World Cup Buzz, features stories from some of the top 21 soccer writers and personalities around the world including Soccernomics author Simon Kuper, GolTV’s Phil Schoen, This Is American Soccer’s Adam Spangler, NASL’s Kartik Krishnaiyer, The Offside’s Daryl Grove and many others.

The premise of the book is simple. It features stories about what the World Cup means to each of the contributors. The beauty of the question is that the World Cup means something different for everyone. For many soccer fans, it means their first introduction to the sport. For others, it means much more. Rather than steal anyone’s thunder, I encourage you to download the free eBook, read the 35 pages for yourself and then share your feedback regarding the eBook on World Cup Buzz.

I’m also encouraging you to share your own stories of what the World Cup means to you. Just visit www.WorldCupBuzz.com/sharemystory and share your personal story there.

The World Cup holds a special place in the hearts of soccer fans worldwide. What does it mean to you? What does it mean to people like Misha Sher, BBC’s Tim Vickery, Setanta’s Paul Dempsey, Football 365′s John Nicholson, Peter Lupson (author of Thank God For Football) and the other personalities featured in the eBook. Download it today to find out.

The release of What the World Cup Means to Me marks the beginning of the EPL Talk Network’s coverage of the 2010 World Cup. More details will be released shortly, but we have a lot in store for you over the coming days and weeks and throughout the tournament. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to visit World Cup Buzz on a daily basis moving forward, follow World Cup Buzz on Twitter and visit the World Cup Buzz fan page on Facebook.

Special thanks to all 21 contributors for taking valuable time out of their day to share their stories. And last, but not least, thank you to Aram Gumusyan for designing the eBook and banner.

ESPN generated controversy Thursday when it named its four lead commentators for US TV coverage of the 2010 World Cup. All four are British born, but not one US-born commentator was selected.

Of the four chosen by ESPN, three of them are English (Martin Tyler, Ian Darke and Adrian Healey), while one is Scottish (Derek Rae).

After the news was announced, I came out strongly in expressing my dismay at ESPN’s decision to demote JP Dellacamera from covering the World Cup on television to radio.

I feel so strongly that ESPN should have named a US commentator among its four that I decided to explain why in more detail in this post. But before I do that, I want to say that I think that all of you will agree with me that it’s important for ESPN to deliver a quality production this summer, which means selecting the most qualified commentators available to the network. I also want to say that I’m not married to JP Dellacamera being the US lead commentator. I recognize that he’s not the best, but he does have a long history of covering the U.S. men’s national team, he’s earned his wings and knows the team well.

Whether it’s JP Dellacamera or a different US soccer commentator, here are the reasons why I believe ESPN should have selected a US-born commentator as part of its lead commentator team on TV:

1. Bigger appeal to mainstream. Many sports fans only watch soccer every four years, so having a team of British lead commentators is automatically going to create a “distance” between the viewer and the commentator. An American commentator would be more appropriate for a US viewing audience.
2. Accents are easier to understand. The vast majority of soccer fans are used to listening to British accents and understanding what they’re saying. However, the mainstream in America have a difficulty with foreign accents. If you don’t believe me, watch BBC America and watch how often they feature subtitles when English-speaking people are on television. This includes British television shows and their nightly news show. If the viewing audience for the World Cup can’t understand every word a commentator says, it’s going to decrease their level of interest.
3. American identity. When a US TV network televises the World Cup, you would expect some of the commentators to be American. Sure, the presenters will be American but you would hope that the American voices would carry over to the commentating of the game. For the World Cup to be a completely successful production, you need the tournament to have an American identity. You need something that Americans can relate to. Listening to four Brits leading the commentating will not do that. The co-commentators will help, but why not mix it up and have one US commentator be the lead and have a Brit be the color commentator?
4. Greater knowledge of American game and players. US commentators such as Phil Schoen and JP Dellacamera have lived and breathed the US soccer game for decades. World-class commentators such as Martin Tyler and Ian Darke will study and learn more about the US, but they’re not going to know more than Schoen, Dellacamera or others more familiar with the sport in this country.
5. The need to groom commentators in this country. With ESPN’s reliance on foreign commentators, what is the network (and other soccer networks, too) doing to groom the next generation of US soccer commentators? Are we always going to rely on European commentators to lead the way? What is ESPN’s strategy to ensure that US commentators are groomed to cover the game?
6. The World Cup effect. When a World Cup ends, the number of new soccer fans born is massive – especially in the United States. But when the lead voices of this summer’s World Cup go back to their regular day-to-day work, it’s the Premier League who will profit from the massive interest in the World Cup, not Major League Soccer. After the World Cup ends, soccer fans will find Martin Tyler and Ian Darke commentating on the Premier League. Adrian Healey will continue to present the Premier League coverage on ESPN. And Derek Rae will continue switching between covering the Scottish Premier League in his home country and some matches in the States. Where is Major League Soccer in this equation? What is ESPN saying to the average soccer fan when it’s giving so much preference to the Premier League and British commentators?

I’ve listened to the feedback of many of my readers who have been surprised at my viewpoint regarding this controversial subject. Yes, I am British but I’m also an American citizen and I want the game to succeed in this country. By ESPN not picking a US-born lead commentator, ESPN is saying to me that it’s putting its cards on the Premier League becoming even more popular in the United States while Major League Soccer is a much lesser priority.

In many ways, Phil Schoen is the voice of GolTV. The experienced soccer commentator is one of the most knowledgeable men in the United States on the topic of world soccer.

Kartik Krishnaiyer recently had a chance to sit down with Schoen to ask his opinion on several topics, including:

• what does MLS need to do to address the fact that many younger players are paid more in the USL than MLS,
• is it a better model for MLS to sign players from the CONCACAF region than European players such as Ljungberg and Beckham,
• what does Barcelona and Brightstar need to do differently for soccer to succeed in South Florida, and
• what are the advantages for Miami Barca playing at Florida International University, and his thoughts on the field turf there.

Watch the video interview, broken into four segments, here:

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Recently fellow colleague Kartik Krishnaiyer and I took a trip down to GolTV studios in Miami to interview three of the best football commentators in the United States: Ray Hudson, Phil Schoen and Lindsey Dean.

All this week on Major League Soccer Talk we’ll be bringing you a different exclusive video interview each day as well as a video sneak peek at the future home of Miami FCB at Florida International University. The video interviews will feature Ray Hudson and Phil Schoen.

In this interview with Dean, he discusses:

• where he sees Major League Soccer going regarding signing foreign players and over expansion,
• how the single entity structure has deterred MLS clubs from being successful in the Champions League compared to USL clubs,
• his thoughts on Bob Bradley and how he’s done thus far with the national squad,
• how the fact that less and less US players are playing in Major League Soccer affects the national team, and
• whether more Mexican players playing in the Mexican league and for the US national squad is a growing or not.

Enjoy the interview below and feel free to post your comments.

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American Soccer, GolTV’s weekly news and highlights show, aired its last show tonight, at least in its current incarnation.

The show, which is arguably the best US-produced soccer show on television, is seeking a sponsor. Up until recently, US Navy sponsored the show, but now that their sponsorship has ended, it’s hard to justify the show continuing unless it’s making money for the network.

The shame of the matter is that the show is remarkable and fully deserves a top name sponsor, more so than some of the other soccer-related programs out there that are poorly produced. American Soccer is quality. From the production quality to the hosts (Phil Schoen, Julian Gonzalez and Kelly O’Donnell), the show is enjoyable and informative.

Let’s hope that a sponsor is found soon. Otherwise, what other program is out there that covers U.S. soccer-related news from the World Cup to Major League Soccer to even youth soccer?