Steve Kean resigns; fans to return to Ewood?

The speculation about Steve Kean's future with Blackburn had been rife in the days since Rovers first loss of the season against Middlesbrough, but, as seen last season at various intervals, such speculations had hardly meant that there was anything in the offing with regards to a managerial change, much to the dismay of the Rovers faithful.

With that in mind, one could then understand the collective surprise of Blackburn fans when the news first broke of Steve Kean's resignation (a resignation Kean alleges was forced) yesterday, though the surprise could hardly be traced to Blackburn's decent start to this season. Rather, the astonishment had everything to do with feelings, and perhaps reasonably founded feelings, that owners Venky's hadn't a clue of what they were doing with the club and would in turn continue employing such a unanimously disliked manager.

United States 1, Jamaica 0: A sigh of relief

USA fans have perhaps grown rather accustomed to this stage of World Cup qualifying being little more than a formality over the years, but this confidence was to be unfortunately cast into some doubt, along with a nation's prospects of qualifying for Brazil 2014, as a result of the unforeseen road bump that took the form of Jamaica's landmark win over the Americans in Kingston only a few days prior. A first minute Clint Dempsey goal was hardly the opening of the floodgates on that humid Jamaican night, and an uninspiringly tepid performance from Klinsmann's men in tandem with two free kick goals from Rodolph Austin and Luton Shelton respectively put the bow on a poor, poor night.

With that recent result in mind and the USA's ascendancy in the group cast aside, one could forgive American fans for viewing this most recent game with a trepidation that was hardly to be felt a few days prior. Anything less than three points out of Crew Stadium would have made the road to the final hexagonal stage of CONCACAF qualifying a tough one indeed, but mercifully when contrasted with the midfield selections we saw from the USA in Jamaica, the inclusions of Jose Torres and Graham Zusi served to show that the gravity and urgency of the situation at hand were not lost on Jürgen Klinsmann this time around.