Short takes

• It's early season in England, but Tottenham Hotspur seems like it could struggle this year. The London club's stadium is under construction, so it's playing its home games at Wembley Stadium, the England national stadium. Every team naturally will be keyed up to play there, and you have to think that Spurs — so good at home last year — will have more trouble this year. Plus, Tottenham was drawn with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stages and will not be favored to move on to the knockout rounds.

• Sporting Kansas City's Gianluca Busio, just 15 years old, became the second-youngest signing in MLS history this week. Busio will earn comparisons to the league's youngest signing ever, famous flameout Freddy Adu. But don't expect to see Busio on the field for SKC any time soon. This signing is more about KC claiming Busio's rights in case a foreign club decides to chase him in the future.

• We're less than a week from the end of the summer transfer window, but the next saga already is heating up: Lionel Messi, the world's best player, is in the last year of his contract at Barcelona and has not signed a new deal. Expect breathless updates for the next year.