“There was a common theme amongst reactions to the FIFPro World XI: broad agreement for the front three, some minor quibbles in the midfield and an overwhelmingly unpopular back four. Sergio Ramos has certainly earned his place, but Marcelo has never been the most convincing left back, Gerard Pique had a disastrous first half of the calendar year and Daniel Alves has been out of form for the majority of 2012.” ESPN – Michael Cox (Video)
André Ayew
“There is a new mood of militancy about west African football. The buildup to previous Cups of Nations has often been dominated by will-he-won’t-he sagas as big-name players decide whether they really want to take a month out of the league season to go to play for their countries. This year, the coaches have hit back. The Ghana coach, Kwesi Appiah, on Monday omitted Marseille’s André Ayew from his squad after the Marseille winger reportedly turned up late for a squad get-together; he follows Nigeria’s Steve Keshi, who had already refused to select Peter Odemwingie and Shola Ameobi on the grounds they didn’t seem bothered enough about representing their country.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Goalkeepers, to quote the great Brian Glanville, are different, and this is a theory which expands far beyond the mere otherness of their stock in trade. To define the goalkeeper as the sort of person who may – thanks, John Burridge, thanks a lot – may hang a metaphorical “You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps” sign in the netting of their goal covers only one aspect of the lot of their job. Goalkeepers are the only people on the pitch who spend most of their match standing around doing very little apart from shouting and treading down imaginary divots in the grass and they are, of course, the only ones that are legally allowed to use their hands, but we are not concerning ourselves with such trifling matters here. Goalkeepers dress differently, and they have done since an amendment to the laws of the game in 1909 made them wear shirts that were either red or royal blue, with green being added as a third option three years later.” twohundredpercent
“Paul Lambert and Henrik Larsson were in no mood to hang around. After Celtic’s 73rd home game in Europe, they shook a few hands and immediately hurried off the pitch. It was a result that verged on the humiliating: a 0-0 stalemate, just the 12th draw in those 73 games that included 53 wins, against a team they hadn’t given a second thought to swatting aside. The 56,000 home crowd had mostly dispersed as a group of players — most of whom they’d never heard of — sprinted to salute the pocket of 1,500 delirious away fans tucked into a corner of Celtic Park. It was just the second time their team had avoided defeat in an 11-game European history.” In Bed With Maradona
“FC Barcelona were featured in a story in tonight’s episode of the the news magazine television show 60 Minutes. The piece talked about Barcelona’s La Masia (youth training/academy system) and how the club has developed the majority of its first team. It’s a bit unusual for large clubs as most have to rely on buying players from other teams in addition to developing them through an academy. The feature also focused on Lionel Messi with several highlights of goals scored and stating he’s currently the best player in the world. Two of the other players featured in the piece are Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique.” The 90th Minute Soccer Blog (Video)
Congrats to Messi, but Ballon d’Or isn’t sound for soccer
“On Monday, at what convention dictates we describe as a glitzy ceremony in Zurich, Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the fourth year in a row. Which was the right decision. Or the wrong decision. Or just a decision, based on the votes of international coaches, international captains and journalists from around the world, that really doesn’t matter at all, that sums up football’s silly obsession with celebrity. Actually, scrap that last line: that makes it sound as though the award has no significance. It does: it’s a deeply insidious phenomenon that is antithetical both to good football and to the sound running of the game.” <a href=”http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130107/lionel-messi-ballon-dor/#ixzz2HJzaBkyx
“A year ago this month Freiburg were staring relegation right in the face. They were bottom of the table going into the break, conceded the most goals in the league, lost their most important player and looked sure to go down. Then came Christian Streich, who against the odds turned it all around. Only five teams had a better second half of the season than Freiburg last year as they clawed their way back up the table to finish 12th. This year the man who has coached at Freiburg for almost 20 years built on his great work and in a complete 180 has his team sitting in a European spot at the end of the Hinrunde.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“No broadcaster worth his salt would compare a beaten footballer to a sick parrot these days, but the game remains as clichéd as ever. The funny old game with players who could turn on sixpences is gone, but a new breed of football clichés is emerging. Games are no longer comprised of two halves; they now have turning points. These are particularly useful for beaten managers and presenters of TV highlights shows. The biggest turning points of all are those refereeing decisions that prevent turning points – the penalties not given and the corner kicks that should have been goal kicks. These are much sought-after luxuries for frustrated managers who want to deflect attention away from their players.” Guardian
“The 4-2-3-1 seems to be the general formation of choice for a lot of Europe’s top sides, including several Premier League clubs, most notably Chelsea and Manchester City. Neither club has reached their potential this season with several factors behind this, but, the use of the 4-2-3-1 can be scrutinized as one such factor. The 4-2-3-1 was according to this graphic by Whoscored.com one of the most used formations last year…” Think Football
“Twenty-six long years have passed since Hungary last participated in a major footballing tournament. It was the World Cup of 1986 in Mexico and even though confidence was high, the Magyars crashed out in the group stage after disappointing results to France and their bitter foes, the Soviet Union.” World Soccer
After the Curtain Had Fatten
“The domestic football league of the old USSR was a vast, vibrant, and powerful competition, containing as it did clubs such as the Moscow giants Dynamo, Spartak, CSKA – and occasionally Torpedo – as well as influential teams from the republics, like the Dynamos of Kiev, Tbilisi, and Minsk. Evidently, the league would have been exceptionally strong and closely contested – it was so strong, in fact, that it rose to second place in UEFA’s league rankings.” In Bed With Maradona
“Life isn’t fair and cheats often prosper. How unpalatable such statements are doesn’t alter how true they are, and it may be especially galling for the supporters of Mansfield Town that the valiant efforts of their team this afternoon will be overshadowed by a predictable row over the handled goal that eventually won a tumultuous FA Cup Third Round match for Liverpool this afternoon. Having conceded an early goal to debutant Daniel Sturridge, it might have been easy for the Blue Square Bet Premier side to have buckled and folded all together, but they kept their calm and put in a performance that is worthy of greater praise than it is likely to receive. Indeed, had their goal come ten minutes earlier, there is every chance that we would be talking about a replay and asking the question of how Liverpool had managed to fail to beat a non-league side club in the FA Cup.” twohundredpercent
Kevin-Prince Boateng
“FIFA, you have a problem. The player walk-off led by AC Milan’s Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng last week to protest racist abuse during a friendly match against a lower-tier Italian club could mark the beginning of a player revolt against the ineffective anti-racism efforts by soccer‘s international administrators. Until now, players have been required, under threat of cards and suspensions, to take no action in response to racist abuse from the crowd, but instead to leave it the issue to the referee and match officials.” Keeping Score
Attitude, Heroes and Silencing the Loud Minority – 2013: The Year To End Homophobia In Football
“… There are no openly gay professional footballers in the English game at present, and there has not been one for a very long time. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that gay footballers have no ‘heroes’ to inspire them – it just means they have to look a bit closer. We are midway through the 2012/2013 football season and the fight to eradicate homophobia from the game has recently taken a few steps forward. Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard wrote on his Betfair blog that he feels football fans are ‘stuck in a time of intolerance’ when it comes to the game’s supposedly ultimate taboo, and must work to align themselves with the more liberal and tolerant world around them. Coming from such a high-profile player, this simple statement is in itself a notable development – it’s not that Lindegaard’s fellow players disagree, it’s that they don’t say anything at all.” In Bed With Maradona
French hero Thuram working to battle racism in soccer and society
“Five years ago, to illustrate the development of mankind, scientists at the Musée de L’Homme in Paris chose three human skulls: the fossil of a generic Cro-Magnon; the cranium of philosopher René Descartes; and a facsimile of the strikingly active and wide-ranging brain of Lilian Thuram, the Guadeloupe-born defender and longtime captain of the French national soccer team.” SI
“Tottenham were expected to miss Luka Modric this season but the performances of Mousa Dembele have ensured that Andre Villas-Boas’ team are flying high in third place in the Premier League. Adam Bate looks at the statistics and wonders whether the Belgian is the complete midfielder.” skySPORTS
“After enjoying a great season with Arsenal, Alex Song left London to join Barcelona, but as off yet the player is still trying to fit in at Camp Nou. New Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova paid £15 million to aquire the services of the defensive midfielder, in a move that surprise many of the clubs fans and many in the Premier League. Where was Song going to fit in, with a midfield that already consists of Anders Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc Fabregas, Thiago, and one of the bests holding midfielders in world football, Sergio Busquets? The answer is still to be found with the Cameroonian international unable to hold down a starting spot, and making many of his 17 appearances from the bench.” Think Football
“Tottenham Hotspur supporters should be brimming with excitement after it was announced that Schalke’s Lewis Holtby will join the club at the end of the summer. In Holtby, Spurs will get a tremendously versatile and engaged player. His fitness and workrate along with his technical qualities and creativity have allowed him to play a multitude of roles and positions successfully so far in his young career. It’s rare for a young player to be as well equipped and adaptable at such a young age but it speaks to the maturity and quality of the player and the potential ceiling he can reach in his career.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“So much for the World Cup legacy. As South Africa prepares to host the Africa Cup of Nations, it should have been celebrating the fact that it had the infrastructure to step in as host when civil war forced the tournament to be moved from Libya, showing off once again the infrastructure built for 2010. As it is, the South African Football Association is left dealing with a match-fixing scandal whose tentacles stretch across the world and that has forced its president and four other officials to stand down.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“On the 7th of January 2013, the winner of the 2012 Ballon D’or will be announced. Who will win the award? Will it be Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the magical Andres Iniesta or Barcelona super star, Lionel Messi? This compilation is the ultimate precursor to the piece; ‘Camera, Lights……..BALLON D’OR 2012’. In this one, football pundits have their say on who wins the Ballon D’or next week.” Foetbal247
“He sat in the back row of the directors’ box, newly acquired club coat signifying that a £12 million transfer had officially been ratified. Liverpool are trying to right their August wrongs, bolstering a depleted department and Daniel Sturridge had duly deemed his new employers a ‘humongous club’. Yet as he watched the man who may be both accomplice and example at Anfield, he got a taste of what life at Liverpool is like. There is a similarity with his time at Chelsea. Having understudied a former Liverpool striker, in Fernando Torres, at Stamford Bridge, he was immediately overshadowed by the current forward, Luis Suarez.” ESPN
“And with that, the light went out. At the start of the Christmas program it seemed improbable that Queens Park Rangers would survive; three games into it, it seems all but impossible. The gap from QPR to safety is eight points, which is only two more than QPR has managed in 20 games so far, while the brief gleam of hope that emerged after Harry Redknapp had replaced Mark Hughes as manager has now been all but extinguished. So bad are things now that the January transfer window may be less about trying to put together a last-gasp bid for survival than putting contingencies in place for a relegation that seems all but inevitable.” SI
“A decade or so ago, football was facing a crisis of style. Physicality and pace, it seemed, were taking over. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson admitted looking at Arsenal’s midfield and realising there was an overwhelming need to add muscle to his ball players. The result was a series of viscerally thrilling encounters that featured bust-ups in the tunnel, pizza being thrown, the hounding of Jose Antonio Reyes and not a whole lot of football.” World Soccer
Scissors Kick 