Interesting end of the season for our adopted Premiership team, West Ham.  The Hammers won 1-0 at regular season league champ Manchester United.  The one goal was thanks to our man Carlos Tevez, the Argentine star and the reason we got into West Ham (and the Premiership) in the first place.  The Manchester United squad did not play five of their stars in this meaningless game (to them), but they still tried hard.  They left Cristiano Ronaldo (a fave of ours, as we are fond of the Portugese team, too - Ronaldo, Maniche, et al) out of the game, but they did start Wayne Rooney and Alan Smith, so they weren't exactly throwing the game.  They dominated, too, until the Tevez goal, which came during stoppage time at the end of the 1st half, against three defenders ("he's done it again, the little fellow", followed by undecipherable Scottish mutterings, I believe):

West Ham also got a great effort on the defensive end from Israeli Yossi Benayoun ("The Hebrew Hammer").

Historically I've avoided English soccer for a long, long time, prefering instead to watch Argentina's Boca Juniors squad whenever possible (though, sadly, very rare to catch on TV, though FSN sometimes will show a game here and there).  Most Argentine players are in the Italian and Spaniard leagues; this is the first time I remember a significant player of "El Futbol Lindo" in the Premiership.

It also might make me the only West Ham fan in the States, as they are not that popular (if you believe the comments on this related Deadspin post).  Of course, we won't front like we are a "true" West Ham fan, at least not yet.  We're just on the Tevez bandwagon, and over the last few weeks, with relagation at stake, he has been great.  The Premiership needs the little fellow. 

If you haven't followed the story, Tevez (along with fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano) was brought by West Ham in November.  Apparently they were both part owned by a company named Media Sports Investments (MSI), and the third-party dealings were not totally in compliance with Premiership guidelines.   For more on the details see this BBC article.  Typically a fine, and often a points deduction, would be the penalty.  West Ham got fined (over 5.5 million pounds, or about $11 million dollars), but no points were deducted.  That fine is almost four times larger than any other fine in English soccer history.

Mascherano has since been transferred to Liverpool.  Ironically, Liverpool defeat West Ham last year in the FA Cup Finals on a penalty kick shootout.  Last season was West Ham's first season back up in the Premiership since being relegated down in 2002.  The finished 9th last season, but that is good enough to qualify for the playoffs.  

This season they have struggled, and been at the bottom of the rankings all year long, in danger of relegation.  But thanks to Tevez, who has been brilliant over the past month:  He scored 2 goals and had an assist in the Hammers' 3-1 win over Boltan last week.

Thanks to the 4-game winning streak to end the season (and 6 wins in the last 8 games), West Ham finished with 41 points, good for 15th.  Relegation (#18-20) was tight, as Sheffield United lost the tiebreaker (38 points) with Wigan (who gets stay with their 38 points) along with 16th place Fulham (39 points).  Charlton (34 points) and Watford (28 points) were hopeless.   

Sidenote on Tevez and Mascherano:  Carlos Tevez is the better player, but he also has more at stake in general.  Javier is almost assured the captaincy of the Argentina National soccer team, with former captain Riquelme (he of the amazing corner kicks that bend almost as well as Beckham - see last year's World Cup for more on that) retiring from international competition.  Tevez, on the other hand, is going to have to fight our boy Lionel Messi, and another young phenom on the way up by the name of Sergio Aguero, for the striker position on the National team.  Both of those guys compete in Spain (Messi on Barcelona, Aguero on Athletico Madrid), proving our point about how rare "El Jugo Lindo" is in the U.K.

Anyway, what happens now?  There is a legal battle brewing.  Sheffield United, Wigan, Fulham and Charlton (The Gang of Four) are likely to mount a legal battle against the Premiership and West Ham for not deducting points.  If we get a chance, we'll do our research and see what chance they actually have of winning such a lawsuit.  For now, we leave you with more Carlos Tevez:

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