Here’s everything I did this week:

• This week in MLS, I predict the MLS playoffs at Northern Pitch.
• Soccer Insider is looking at Jürgen Klinsmann after the latest step back for his USA team.
• The notes from this week’s column got CONCACAF’d.
• Plus: what to watch! And an insult to Mexico!

Life goal: get job where the first thing I do every day when I get there is read about four or five newspapers.

— Jon Marthaler (@jmarthaler) July 16, 2015

Until that happy day, here’s everything I worked on this week:

• This week’s podcast was kind of fun except when I was getting mocked about soccer.
• I wrote a post about MLS Week 20 at Northern Pitch, except I ran out of time.
• This week’s Soccer Insider can’t understand why politicians love other sports but hate soccer. Plus there’s Yago! notes, and what to watch.

I was out for the last four days for the 2015 edition of the Great Baseball Road Trip – my third, the 16th overall. We went to six games at five parks in four days, in the Chicago area, South Bend, and Toledo. I lobbied hard to replace the Toledo trip with a Chicago Fire-Seattle Sounders game, but was overruled.

Because of the road trip, I was a little short on soccer content for the week. Here, then, is what I did last week:

• July 8: Episode 113 of the podcast is all about Australian Rules Football. Really.
• July 11: Soccer Insider looks at Minnesota United’s box-office success – and their new struggle to turn ticket buyers into fans. The notes focused on Mexico’s coaching situation, the NWSL, the Andrea Pirlo signing for New York City FC, and “Atlanta United FC.” The watch guide was, frankly, sparse; July is a tough month.

Congratulations! Our ladies are the champs! @FIFAWWC FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions 2015…

— Mr. T (@MrT) July 6, 2015

Here’s everything I wrote this week:

• June 30: Three thoughts from the USA’s 2-0 win over Germany, the greatest game the US women have ever played.
• July 4: Soccer Insider previews the USA-Japan World Cup final, while the notes look at the US Men’s National Team, Copa America, Minnesota United’s future signings, and the MLS schedule. Plus the (inaccurate) watch guide.
• July 5: Three thoughts from the World Cup final. It got a little long. It might have been more than three thoughts.

#USWNT system finally looking like a single DM. Brian connected to defenders; Lloyd connected to strikers. pic.twitter.com/nZ0rMeajDN

— Devin Pleuler (@devinpleuler) June 27, 2015

And that goes double for me.

Here’s everything I wrote this week:

• Tuesday: The USA women beat Colombia 2-0, and at Northern Pitch, I had three thoughts.
• Friday: With the Women’s World Cup reaching the quarterfinal stage – i.e., the point at which the games actually start to matter – I wrote a preview of what to watch for in the four quarterfinals for SoccerCentric.
• Saturday: Soccer Insider in the Star Tribune this week looks at Teal Bunbury, the standout Minnesota kid that somehow flies under the local media radar. (Seriously, he’s like the Tyus Jones of soccer. Why he’s barely been covered is beyond me.) Plus some short takes on Women’s World Cup ticket sales, Jonny Steele, Copa America, and the upcoming Gold Cup, and a weekend watch guide.
• Saturday: More thoughts, this time from USA-China, as the USA has now finished the warmup rounds.

Here’s what I worked on this week:

Tuesday: At Northern Pitch, three thoughts on the USA’s 1-0 win over Nigeria at the Women’s World Cup.

Thursday: Episode 110 of The Sportive has a lot of Twins talk, some Timberwolves talk, and a little bit of Wild, harmonicas, and nuts thrown in.

Friday: MLS week 16, and even though it’s midseason I’m still complaining about the CBA.

Saturday: This week’s Soccer Insider looks at the USA women’s national team, and how they’re doing the same thing they always do – plus US Open Cup, Mexico national team, Sporting KC, Kassey Kallman, and what to watch this weekend.

Today is the debut of my weekly “Soccer Insider” column in the Star Tribune. I can hardly believe it, but the paper says it’s true – Page 2 has my byline and my mug shot.

This week, I wrote about Minnesota Kicks star Alan Willey – and how the Kicks’ attack from 1976 to 1981 is similar to United’s strikeforce this year, and why Minnesota isn’t currently duplicating the setup that made Willey a star.

Here’s a few more things I wrote in the past two weeks:

• June 1: At SoccerCentric, a recap of Minnesota United’s difficult week.
• June 4: MLS Week 14 at Northern Pitch, including complaining about another international break that MLS ignored.
• June 6: Guess what I was practicing for with THIS SoccerCentric post.
• June 8: My Northern Pitch guide to faking knowledge of the Women’s World Cup.
• June 8: Three thoughts about the USA’s 3-1 win over Australia in the same.
• June 11: MLS Week 15 at Northern Pitch, where we talk only about Giovinco, for Giovinco is all that matters.

The FIFA scandal has reached “parent” status, in that those of us who are known soccer aficionados have spent the week trying to explain the whole thing to our parents, who have always been a little confused about this strange game.

Here’s what I worked on this week:

• I covered the United game last Saturday for the Star Tribune. Here’s my game recap. I also wrote a much longer postgame post, for Northern Pitch.
• Tuesday, I wrote about how the US Open Cup needed to change its scheduling. Then United went out and lost anyway. Jinx!
• Wednesday, our new close personal friend Liz Welle joined The Sportive, and we talked about nachos, the Twins, nachos, FIFA, and nachos.
• The FIFA scandal was in the news, but the NASL had a pretty bad day Wednesday, too.
• Week 13 in MLS is a good chance to reflect that, for as dumb as MLS is, at least they aren’t FIFA.
• It’s Soccer Saturday today, and a good chance to look at today’s three big Cup Finals, and consider the men in charge.

At Northern Pitch, a look at what LA’s stadium plan means for Minnesota – including a one-act play in which Bill McGuire and Nick Rogers receive a special visitor. Plus, a look at how the NASL is pushing the MLS out of its “chosen league in a chosen land” comfort zone in the Week 12 MLS Preview.

Episode 106 of The Sportive got jubilant over the Timberwolves winning the draft lottery, but sad about the end of Letterman.

At SoccerCentric, I learned to love the Champions League, and wondered why more attention isn’t paid to Liga MX, the USA’s most popular soccer league.

For the first time in podcast history, all four of us physically gathered in one spot. The result was perhaps not our most cohesive podcast – at one point, two people were having two different conversations with other people who were not holding microphones – but it was just a blast to get everyone together.

I haven’t been posting updates here with stuff from the site – we won Best Sports Podcast from the City Pages, did you know? –  but head over to thesportive.com if you’d like more from us.