The success and failure of a man’s soccer team is akin to life and death - as the club goes, so he goes. While the World Cup is a quadrennial exercise in nationalism, nothing is more ingrained in the daily lives of billions of males around the globe than their favorite club’s fortunes. Whether it’s England, Germany, Spain, or any of dozens of other nations, wins, losses, and scandals are the stuff that sells tabloids every week.

EA Sports’ FIFA 07 gets off of the world stage and back to the business of championship leagues where the best players all earn their respective keep. While visually similar to this year’s 2006 World Cup, the atmosphere is noticeably less celebratory - in fact, the vibe is a grittier, more serious one. You know, all important-like.

On the pitch, FIFA continues to improve upon its established legacy of soccer sim goodness. There's even more going on under the hood than last year, which may cause some of the more advanced gameplay to seem a bit foreign to long-time FIFA gamers. Over time, though, the experience will be made exponentially sweeter and will demand a laser-like focus from the player at key moments. Winning Eleven loyalists probably consider such statements blasphemy, but we like that series too - and we calls ‘em like we sees ‘em.