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, BBC World Football Phone-In’s Tim Vickery, ESPN’s Rebecca Lowe and Tommy Smyth, GolTV’s Phil Schoen 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, This Is American Soccer’s Adam Spangler, 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.

Setanta Ireland’s Paul Dempsey has been a fixture on the channel’s Premier League studio presentation since he moved to the channel from Sky in 2006. This weekend was Paul and Pat Dolan’s last broadcast to the United States, Setanta having lost the U.S. rights to the Premier League. On Friday, Paul joined me to discuss what it has meant to broadcast to the U.S. market. On this episode of the EPL Talk Podcast, we present that interview.

Don’t forget that the EPL Talk Podcast is the only Premier League interview and analysis podcast available for free. In the past few weeks, we’ve interviewed legends of the game such as Dwight Yorke, Andrew Cole, Steve McManaman, Gary O’Reilly and Robbie Earle as well as experts such as Declan Hill, Simon Kuper, Misha Sher, Andy Brassell, Tim Vickery and many others. Why pay $40 a year to rival podcasts when you can subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast for FREE featuring interviews with the biggest names in football?

RTE, the Irish broadcaster, has mocked Setanta Sports with a cheeky video featuring two comedians impersonating Setanta presenters Paul Dempsey and Pat Dolan.

Dempsey is a former Sky Sports reporter who was interviewed by EPL Talk in 2007. Dolan is a former Arsenal reserves footballer who currently manages a team in Ireland.

The skit was aired last night on RTE after the England versus Croatia match.

What are your thoughts about the video? Is it funny or is it RTE taking cheap shots at Setanta?

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The opening day of the new 2008/2009 Premier League season is over, and there was plenty of entertainment in store. We’ll share our opinions of what we saw on the pitch over the next few days. But first, for viewers in the United States, I want to share my thoughts on the coverage from Setanta Sports and Fox Soccer Channel.

Without a doubt, Setanta Sports showed today why they’re a must-see channel for followers of the Premier League in the States. First, they had the exclusive TV rights to the Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion season opener. Despite some technical problems in the first minute, the rest of the TV coverage was flawless.

Second, the network showed live coverage of the two biggest storylines from the day: the sensational performance by Middlesbrough in their throughly deserved 2-1 win against Tottenham, and the surprise 2-1 win by Hull City over Fulham.

Third, the pre-game, half-time and post-match analysis by Setanta Sports is simply better than that offered by Fox Soccer Channel. We’ll discuss that in more detail later in this article.

Fox Soccer Channel, in contrast, showed two matches: Everton’s 3-2 loss against Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Sunderland. The second half of the Everton against Blackburn game was very entertaining with plenty of chances from both sides to win the game including a header by Premier League debutant Jose Baxter, the 16-year-old for Everton. As far as entertainment value, the game wasn’t as good as Middlesbrough against Spurs, but it was definitely watchable and had a stunning finale.

For Fox, the 12:30pm ET/5:30pm GMT kickoff always seems to be cursed. It’s very rare that the match shown in that timeslot entertains, and this was no exception. Apart from one moment of brilliance by Fernando Torres deep in the second half that led to the goal, the game was pretty tense and filled with an avalanche of sloppy mistakes by Liverpool. Sunderland battled hard and deserved to at least get a point out of the game.

But while the Everton match thrilled and the Liverpool match bored, Fox has other issues to worry about. First, if someone already has Setanta Sports, they’re never going to watch the 9:30am ET Fox Soccer Match Day show because the 7:45am ET match doesn’t end until 9:50am ET. Second, the stiffness that Christian Miles and Warren Barton evoke by wearing suits and ties is in direct contrast to the comfortable and laid back banter that Setanta Sports features with Paul Dempsey and Pat Dolan.

The issue with Fox’s show is that hosts Christian Miles and Warren Barton are too polished, too squeaky clean, too scripted and don’t give the viewer many, if any, reasons to watch.

While Fox’s hosts are too nice to each other, Dempsey and Dolan banter back and forth, engage in more spirited arguments and are definitely more watchable.

Other benefits of Setanta’s coverage is that during half-time of the 10am ET/3pm GMT kickoff, the network provides half-time match reports from reporters around the grounds so you get more than just the scores which Fox provides. As an aside, Fox can’t even get the scorelines correct. At half-time, they showed Bolton beating Stoke 1-0 when the half-time score was actually 3-0.

The other challenge for Fox is that at the same time they’re providing previews and analysis between the Noon and 12:30pm ET timeslot in the run-up to the kickoff between Liverpool and Sunderland, Setanta Sports today expanded its coverage and kept the cameras running from their Dublin studio to provide more match analysis, even up to the point of the sides coming out of the tunnel.

When you’re faced between Setanta’s pre-match analysis compared to Fox, you have to go with Setanta each time — which is worrying news for FSC.

One last point and this is something that has upset a lot of Fox Soccer Channel viewers in the past. When Fox shows games live, they need to be shown live. For the Sunderland against Liverpool match, Fox started the kick-off almost two minutes after the game had actually started. For those of you who watch games on DVR, that’s not a problem. But when fans around the world are chatting online or trying to listen to the radio coverage of the game from Sirius Satellite, it’s a massive problem when you know a goal is going to be scored two minutes before you even see it on television!

There’s no excuse why Fox can’t show the games live, or delayed by a few seconds. Fox has 30 minutes to get in as many commercials and previews between Noon and 12:30pm ET, so to show the game delayed by two minutes is absolutely unacceptable.

I’ve finally figured out the biggest difference between Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports. If you’re a passionate follower of the Premier League or one of its 20 teams, the difference between both TV networks is Setanta is meant for die-hard football fans while Fox Soccer Channel is aimed at relative newcomers to the sport or league.

Fox’s coverage is dumbed down, while you usually learn something with what Setanta provides.

What are your thoughts about the opening day coverage from Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports? Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.