Funny

It’s been 34 days since we last saw a Premier League game and it’s about time it comes back — especially for the sake of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.

Haaland is one of the world's few top players who missed out on qualifying for the World Cup this winter, and boy, has it been a long month for the Norwegian.

Life has been lonely for Haaland in Manchester

In a Sky Sports promo for the restart of the Premier League, we get to see a bit of what a lonely Haaland has been keeping himself busy with while his teammates battle it out in Qatar. 

Tuesday's FIFA World Cup Tonight show put Clint Dempsey, Stu Holden, Maurice Edu and Chad Ochocinco Johnson on the spot by asking if Gregg Berhalter should be USMNT manager at the 2026 World Cup.

Berhalter's contract is over at the end of the year, but negotiations on an extension have begun between U.S. Soccer and the 49-year-old after the team reached the Round of 16 in Qatar. 

The lasting memories of World Cups should be the celebrations of football — the glorious goals, the mesmerizing skills, the feel-good stories. But we also know that there's no joy without suffering and no winners without losers, and sometimes, it's those dramatic failures that really resonate because life's a snitch and then you die. 

Some of this is completely unfair to players who've given us so much over the years and to young guys who've got a lot of ball left to play, but these are the 10 individuals who really let me down in Qatar.  

I feel like England vs. Senegal referee Iván Barton was all of us at home in the 23rd minute of Sunday's Round of 16 match. This was our 52nd match of a 64-game World Cup. We've all experienced a little burnout and grown a little irritable over the last two weeks. We don't have time for this; not now.

So when Senegal came hollering for a penalty on a perceived England handball that didn't exist, the 31-year-old Barton confirmed the call with the VAR and we played on. 

The United States navigated group play admirably, going unbeaten and only conceding once, to advance to the World Cup Round of 16 with the Netherlands awaiting at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET.

The USA vs. Netherlands odds clearly cast Gregg Berhalter's men as the underdogs. After 90 minutes, the Netherlands is 10/11 to win while the United States is at 10/3. The odds for requiring extra time are at 23/10. 

There's no stopping the United States now after a nerve-racking 1-0 win over Iran. With millions of their countryfolk rallying around the U.S. Soccer crest, Tyler Adams and company are ready to teach the purveyors of Total Football a harsh lesson in Berhalter Ball.