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Friday Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links July 15, 2016

The Premier League opener at Everton is only four weeks away, y’all.

West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Psst. Guess what? The Premier League is only four weeks away. Four weeks from tomorrow our beloved Spurs will take the field at Goodison Park to face Ronald Koeman’s Everton on Match Day 1 of the 2016-17 Premier League.

This has me thinking: What’s your favorite Match Day 1 memory with Spurs? I’ve followed the team since the 2009-10 campaign so I don’t have a ton to draw on, but my winner is the 2014-15 opener against West Ham. We had the excitement of the Mauricio Pochettino era starting plus the thrilling late winner from Eric Dier on his Spurs debut:

Interviewer: How’d you find yourself in that position on the pitch, Eric?
Eric: I’m not sure really.

He’s been a favorite of mine ever since.

Since the 09-10 season, most our openers haven’t been that fun. Here’s hoping the team comes to Everton feeling rested (unlikely, unfortunately) and is able to take the game to the Toffees, who will be adjusting to new manager Koeman.

On to the links:

A few early season Premier League matches will air on CNBC in the United States.

Bill Barnwell made the case for why Leicester should have sold Jamie Vardy.

Ecuador club Independiente del Valle continued their fairy tale Libertadores run after going into the Bombonera and beating Boca Juniors 3-2, good enough to secure a 5-3 aggregate victory over the Argentine giants. It sets up a two-legged final with Colombia’s Atletico Nacional. Fun question: When was the last time the Copa Libertadores final did not include a Brazilian or Argentine club? Answer below.

Managing Madrid took a closer look at the magical Luka Modric.

Because we really needed a way to make the Clasico rivalry even more obnoxious and ridiculous: A Catalan TV station is being criticized for photoshopping Ronaldo’s abs.

Trivia Answer: 1991 when Chilean club Colo-Colo met Paraguayan club Olimpia in the final. Colo-Colo won 3-0 on aggregate. To get to the final, Colo-Colo beat a Boca Junios side in the semis that included a young Gabriel Batistuta leading the line.