Daily Archives: April 27, 2010

Battle of ideologies means Inter and Barcelona provide feast for the neutral

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Mathematical Treatise
“After Internazionale had astonished the football world by pummelling Barcelona 3-1 in San Siro last week, a calm José Mourinho pronounced that his team’s chances of reaching the Champions League final had not changed. ‘They are still 50-50,’ he said. ‘We deserved this victory, but we’re a long way from the final. In the second leg in Barcelona we’ll be playing against a team who will be even stronger. Whether we get to the final or not, we’ll come home with our heads held very, very high’.” (Guardian)

Nicolas Otamendi is one of Argentina’s unsung heroes

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“First, because Maradona has made a point of playing friendlies with a squad solely made up of home-based players. Otamendi featured in the first of them, against Panama in May of last year, and was soon plunged straight into the tumultuous World Cup qualification campaign.” (World Soccer – Tim Vickery)

Pakistan Defends Its Soccer Industry

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“This is the city the soccer ball built, a global manufacturing hub in a nation starved for foreign capital and mired in terrorist violence. Nike Inc., the official soccer-ball supplier to Britain’s Premier League, gets soccer balls here. So does Denmark’s Select Sport A/S, which sells to the Danish national league and clubs across Europe. The city exports 30 million balls a year, or about 70% of the global output of hand-stitched soccer balls, and an estimated 40% of the total market. This summer’s World Cup is Sialkot’s latest win. Germany’s Adidas Group, licensed by soccer’s governing body to sell the official World Cup ball, has contracted with a company here to produce the entire supply of mass-market hand-stitched replicas of the ‘Jabulani” World Cup ball.” (WSJ)

Football Weekly: Guts and goals galore in the fight for the title

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“With just two weeks left of the Premier League season, it’s still all to play for at the top. Chelsea went goal crazy (again) to stay in control, but Manchester United put in a gut-wrenching performance – at least for Patrice Evra and Nani – to beat Tottenham Hotspur to stay in the hunt. James Richardson and his Football Weekly chums are here to analyse it all.” (Guardian – James Richardson)

Video: Noel Gallagher on His World Cup Memories

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“English bands have been as important in my life as football has been. Ever since a friend of mine introduced me to The Clash some 15 years ago, the plethora of bands to emerge from the UK that have affected my intellect and overall well being have been staggering. Minus godfathers like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, which, seemingly, everyone grew up with, bands like the Clash, the Smiths, the Jam, Joy Division, the Stone Roses, Radiohead, Oasis, Elbow and the Arctic Monkeys, to name just a few, are bands that are immensely important to me on a personal level.” (EPL Talk)