Mario Balotelli. Those two words have the ability to haunt even the fans of the teams he plays for. Balotelli is the much-maligned, but very skilled, striker for Manchester City. If not for his abilities with a soccer ball, he would have been looking for other work a long time ago. On multiple occasions, he has made a fool of himself but has failed to realize that he comes off as a disgrace to the game.

Balotelli’s on- and off-field antics have become well known; from telling a police officer that he was carrying excess cash because he is rich to having trouble putting a practice bib on to upsetting his teammates and coach when he decides to be fancy on the pitch. Balotelli brought his antics to America last summer when, during the World Football Challenge, City was playing the Los Angeles Galaxy. Balotelli was played through and had a teammate accompany him into the box, but instead he did a fancy spin backheel that went wide. The crowd booed and manager Roberto Manicini immediately took Balotelli out of the game. To make matters worse, Balotelli came to the bench, talked back to his manager, and walked away unapologetically.

Most recently, Balotelli entered City’s match against Tottenham as a substitute and almost immediately created controversy. He received a yellow card for an early tussle with Scott Parker, and then in the last 10 minutes of the match, he took a shot with Parker sliding in. The first foot landed and hit Parker, but that could be dismissed as an accident. The second foot came down and the video shows that Balotelli stomped on Parker’s face, as seen here. Referee Howard Webb seemed to have been right there, but made no call. Even in the instance that Balotelli did not have a prior yellow, this could have been a straight red. But no call was made, and Balotelli remained in the game. Then in the waning moments, Balotelli drew a penalty kick and converted for the winner in a 3-2 thriller.

The Football Association reviewed the video and has suspended the Italian for four matches. There is no question that something needed to be done, but given that he stayed in the game and had such an impact on the final outcome, a four-game suspension seems inconsequential.

The real problem here is that the Balotellis of the world keep getting playing time and attention. At some point, Mancini is going to be forced to decide if he wants to keep playing with fire and risk the antics for the small return of Balotelli’s talent, or save his team and cut ties with the troublesome player. It already happened when the striker played for Inter Milan, and I am sure an ultimatum is going to arise for City.

Soccer is known as the beautiful game, but this notion has been muddied by players embellishing and diving, accusations of racism, fan riots, and awful officiating. Some of these are an easy fix, and some are not. Mario Balotelli is someone who cannot be controlled behaviorally, but if no one gives him a chance to play, only then can he learn to respect the game. Until then, any time he steps on the pitch, we will continue to say to ourselves, “Uh oh, Mario.”

This weekend marks one of the biggest in the English Premier League, as there are matches with the potential to throw the race wide open. Bolton and Liverpool square off to lead a set of intriguing matches on Saturday, but Sunday brings two of the biggest matches of the season. Tottenham visit Manchester City, while Manchester United travel to Arsenal. Both are the second matches between each set of teams, and all four have come a long way since the first go-round. City embarrassed the Spurs 5-1 in their first meeting in August, while United shellacked Arsenal 8-2 on that same fateful day.

Arsenal and Tottenham have actually rebounded quite nicely since. Arsenal were on a roll with only three losses in 15 matches until two road losses in their last two matches. Tottenham may very well be the hottest team in the league with only one loss in 19 matches since. Currently, Tottenham sits only five points out of first place with a chance to become a true title contender come Sunday.

City has slowed down on the goal-scoring tear they were on in the early parts of the season (as predicted by yours truly) and have incurred a couple losses that have created a little doubt in their title aspirations. United have had significant injuries that have caused Paul Scholes to come out of retirement to give some aid to an ailing midfield. Both are still forces to be reckoned with because they still have the payroll, immense fan support, and the ability to make a game-changing move before the end of the January transfer window.

Now, I would love to make predictions for all the matches this weekend, but if you read last week’s article—of course you did—you know that I was only mediocre in my picks (4-5). So, instead of trying to predict all the matches, I am going to focus all of my crystal balling on these pivotal match-ups.

Tottenham at Manchester City—I am very excited for this game. Hotspur are on a roll, to put it lightly, and City have only been showing up every other match, so we will see who shines. If this season has told us anything, it is that home field advantage does not mean as much. As a United fan, I would love to see a hard fought battle that ends as a disappointment for both teams, and I think that is what will occur. 2-2 tie.

Manchester United at Arsenal—After Arsenal’s miserable season in 2010-11, I was a proponent of Arsene Wenger hitting the road. It was not that I thought he is not a good manager, but I thought he had lost his touch to be able to motivate a team that seemed dazed and confused. However, he has, if Arsenal maintain a level of success, earned Manager of the Year honors for bringing this team back into contention. United have dealt with the disappointment of losing in the Champions League, losing captain Nemanja Vidic to injury, and having goalkeeper David de Gea fall out of first team favor. Still, they have done a good job at keeping pace with City and look to take advantage of Arsenal once again. Even with Arsenal’s impressive stretch, I still do not think they have enough to keep pace. 3-2 United.

This Sunday looks to be an intriguing day of football in England and America. These two matchups, no matter the results, will tell us who is ready to make a stretch run toward the title. Though these are by no means the equivalent of the NFL Conference Championship games we will see later in the day, they may eliminate two teams from competition or show that a changing of the guard is occurring.

It started on cool April night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. In the third minute of a match between the defending MLS Cup champions Colorado Rapids and the defending US Open Cup champions Seattle Sounders FC, fate reared its ugly head when Steve Zakuani’s season was put on hold by a ruthless tackle from Brian Mullan, who was immediately sent off. The tackle left Zakuani with both bones in his lower leg broken so severely that surgery was required and he was unable to travel home with the rest of his team. The incident has been compared to the famous Theisman tackle of 1985. Sounders FC fans immediately began hating anything connected to the Colorado Rapids or Brian Mullan. Fredy Montero scored “one for Steve” to beat the Rapids 1-0. Brian Mullan was suspended a league record 10 games and fined $5,000 by the Major League Soccer enforcement committee.

85 days later . . .

The Sounders FC take the pitch in front of 36,434 fans screaming for Brian Mullan’s blood; little do the fans know but the Rapids decided to leave Mullan at home due to “back spasms.” The crowed is silenced early when Wells Thompson nets the first of Colorado’s three goals. Shortly after, the crowd is alive again when Seattle’s Designated Player, Alvaro Fernandez, scores with a Goal of the Week nominee performance. The play was rough from the onset, a skirmish broke out midway through the first half and three yellow cards were handed out in the first 27 minutes, including one to Conor Casey for dissent. With less than 10 minutes left in the first half, Casey went to the turf unassisted. As chants “Let Him Die” rang out from the Seattle faithful, the Colorado fans could hear nothing but their season slowly slipping away; Connor Casey had torn his Achilles tendon and would miss the remainder of the season.

Casey is the team’s leading scorer with six goals, even though he has missed seven games this season due to another injury. The Rapids reach the back of the net twice as often when Casey plays at any point during the game. The defending MLS Cup champions will need someone to step up if they want to even make the playoffs when this season ends.