There has been some encouragement recently for those of us who think the time has come, is really way past due, when there should be some radical changes in soccer's rules, and in the way that those rules are formulated.

It looks pretty bad for referee Hilario Grajeda. His failure to notice the massive encroachment by Chicago's Marco Pappa during the penalty kick taken by teammate Sebastian Grazzini against Dallas was so obvious, so blatant, that it really does look utterly inexcusable.

Chelsea, I'd say, has written its own rules for what it takes to win a tournament. Or what it took to win this season's Champions League.

My congratulations to Juan Agudelo on escaping the soccer confusion that reigns at the Red Bulls. It has been blatantly clear for about a year now that there was no future for Agudelo at the Bulls -- a club that showed no evidence whatever of knowing what to do with a young player with Latin talent.

If you watched the ManCity-QPR game yesterday, you saw one of the most extraordinary games you're ever likely to see.

When people pay money -- plenty of money -- to watch a soccer game, they are entitled to receive in return a genuine soccer game. And the minimum requirement for that, it seems to me, is that they get a contest between two teams of 11 players.

While the relentless search for divers and, now, the newly identified crime of embellishment, proceeds apace, one is left wondering just why so much energy and moral fervor is consumed over this issue ... and so little is devoted to a much more insidious and dangerous aspect of the sport: thuggery.