“I approached my reading of David Peace’s The Damned Utd with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Widely regarded as one of the most creative novels ever composed on the subject of football, I was excited to get to grips with the book and yet fearful of being disappointed having seen the film version starring Michael Sheen (released three years after the publication of the book in 2009) and been largely impressed.” The Equaliser
“A deflected strike from Jermaine Jones and a cool Clint Dempsey finish put the US into the semi-finals of the Gold Cup. Bob Bradley left out Chris Wondolowski and Landon Donovan, bringing in Sacha Kljestan behind Jozy Altidore, and Alejandro Bedoya on the right. He was dealt an early blow with Altidore’s injury, meaning Juan Agudelo had to replace him upfront.” Zonal Marking
“I’ve identified three problems with the American soccer missionaries. 1. Rarely—so rarely—have they been converted from Our Sports. I’ve never heard anyone talk about how they used to be a football fanatic but have decided soccer is the better game.” Run of Play
José Mourinho
“So in his first season as Real Madrid manager José Mourinho justified his much vaunted reputation as a winning manager, but the problem is that his team only added the Copa del Rey to the trophy cabinet. This was just a consolation prize for the most successful club in Spanish history, especially as their eternal rivals Barcelona won the two competitions that really mattered, namely La Liga (for the third season in a row) and the Champions League, when they out-passed (and out-classed) Manchester United.” Swiss Ramble
“Saturday afternoon, along with hangover I was at probably the highest seat in the Liverpool Echo Arena, but it was a seat that did make for a good view of the whole of pitch at the Merseyside Master. Liverpool lifted the trophy captained by a very round John Barnes. His side included FA Cup winner Stephane Henchoz, Paul Jones the Southampton keeper who only ever played 3 games for Liverpool during an emergency loan spell, alongside him Norwegian Kvarme and the tournaments Golden Boot winner Paul Walsh.” Touchline Shouts
“If you want to cheer for a plucky underdog at this year’s Copa America then Paraguay are your team. Their small population of 6,000,000 (or 6,000 if you believe their most famous female export Larissa Riquelme)*, relatively small land mass in South American terms, and lack of funds (only Bolivia have a smaller GDP per head) will make them perennial underdogs. But this year they can also be considered dark horses, even though their opening game against Ecuador on July 3rd will be their first competitive outing since they were narrowly beaten by Spain in the World Cup quarter-finals. That was the furthest they had ever reached on the world’s biggest stage and it was the third time in their last three World Cup knockout games they were defeated by a team that went on to the final (2002 Germany, 1998 France). Here I assess the reasons why Paraguay are more than just spirited minnows.” In Bed With Maradona
“Ronaldo was (yes, I’m still getting used to talking about him in the past tense too) a great player, of that there is no doubt. The finest striker of his generation, the Brazilian had in abundance the supernatural technique—those abilities that even fellow professionals struggle to fathom—that marks out the game’s true masters.” Run of Play
Scissors Kick 