“To reach the chicest sports spot on Earth in the first week of September of 2013, get the train to Marienplatz. Change to the U6 line and ride north through Odeonsplatz, Dietlinderstr, Studentenstadt and eight other stops. Disembark at Frottmaning, and remember an old sports dynamic: the act of seeing something for real after seeing it only on TV. Remember how Augusta National always seemed to have a castle and a moat and turned out to have, humorously, a boulevard of aggressive ugliness just out front. Lambeau Field exceeded the imagination and wrought a little gasp.” Sports On Earth
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Non-League Football – Give It A Go!

Glantraeth FC
“So world club football comes to a sudden halt as we enter the international break. As the weekend’s Premier League football comes to a close, people begin moaning about the return of international football and begrudging the loss of the ‘real’ football (and I’m sure it’s the same in many parts of the world). I for one love international football, partly because I’m a very proud Welshman who loves watching his beloved home nation play football; if I can enjoy watching Wales (attempt to) play football, then I feel no-one else has any excuses. However, I’m not here to talk about international football or my love of Wales (we’d be here a while), but instead another perk that arises from international football weeks: that perk is National Non-League Day.” Outside of the Boot
Make or break for World Cup hopefuls
“Scheduling pressure on international football from disgruntled clubs has one big positive for fans; the increasing presence of exciting and meaningful double-headers in the space of five days. This week’s raft of World Cup qualification doubles will go some way to deciding the line-up for Brazil next summer, with some new names on the brink of a first participation and some established ones facing the hour where it’s put up or shut up. Here are some of the major plot lines to look out for over the coming days.” ESPN (Video)
Which two crucial World Cup qualifiers do we need to keep an eye out for?
“AFC Fifth Round – Jordan v Uzbekistan. They don’t get much bigger than this. Whoever comes out on top over the two legs will lock horns with the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifying tournament (who as it stands is Uruguay on goal difference) in the intercontinental play-offs. Both Jordan and Uzbekistan finished third in their respective groups in the fourth round thus play each other now. … CAF Second Round – Cameroon v Libya. All World Cup qualifying is grueling but no more so than in Africa. At the beginning of proceedings, over 50 teams battle it out for just five World Cup spots. The second round sees 10 groups. To proceed to the next and final round you must top your respective group which is no mean feat. Ivory Coast, Egypt and Algeria have already secured their place in the third round.” Think Football
The day Harry Redknapp brought a fan on to play for West Ham

“Ever since he was five years old, Steve Davies dreamed of playing for West Ham United. He grew up in the rain-thrashed English working-class town of Rushden, where by birthright he should have supported Rushden Town, or Northampton, or even Coventry City. But after watching West Ham triumph over Fulham in the 1975 FA Cup final, he became a long-distance fan, pledging his allegiance to the claret and blue of the Hammers.” Guardian
Riddled with injuries, England faces two decisive World Cup qualifiers
“Sunday was a grim day for Roy Hodgson. It started badly as the England manager was denied a seat in the directors box at Anfield, seemingly because there were too many sponsors who had to be accommodated. Hodgson initially had to take his place in a section of seats usually reserved for scouts. The day got worse as confirmation came that Wayne Rooney will miss the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with a head injury, and it deteriorated further as Phil Jones and Glen Johnson were forced out of Liverpool’s win over Manchester United with injuries, Daniel Sturridge suffered a groin strain and Jack Wilshere, battling stomach cramps, had to come off before halftime in Arsenal’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
The Recipe For a Great Team?
“At the end of ‘What Are The Ingredients of a Great Team?’, TTT ran a survey to allow subscribers to vote on which players demonstrated each of the ‘elements’ discussed. The number of people completing surveys ranged between 44 for more established players to 28 for less familiar players. An error in the survey meant that Flair was not offered as an option to vote for on a number of players. Thank you to everybody who took part.” Tomkins Times
Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham: Cazorla provides the overloads in midfield, and the through-balls for Giroud and Walcott

“… Arsenal recorded a narrow victory in the north London derby. Arsene Wenger was still without Mikel Arteta, Lukas Podolski is a new injury blow, while Bacary Sagna was unwell so Carl Jenkinson played at right-back. Andre Villas-Boas was without Gareth Bale ahead of his departure to Real Madrid, while Erik Lamela was only just signed in time and was on the bench, while Christian Eriksen wasn’t yet under consideration. In terms of tactical analysis, this was a remarkably simple game based entire around two concepts (and how those two concepts worked together).” Zonal Marking
Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham: Tactical Analysis
“The second installment of Super Sunday was the North London Derby, to be played at the Emirates. This fixture is always exciting, and carries an edge, but today was a little extra special, as it was a clash of two teams that will surely be gunning for 4th place, and two teams that have had slightly different transfer windows. Arsenal came into the game with a lot of familiar faces in the side. Koscielny was back from suspension and injury, but Sagna was missing and Jenkinson started. Gibbs was on the left hand side of the defence, and ahead of him was Cazorla, who was given a free role. In midfield, Arsenal started Wilshere, Ramsey and Rosicky, who was furthest forward in the triangle. Giroud was the lone man up front, with Walcott looking to use his pace to penetrate from wide areas.” Outside of the Boot
What conclusions can we draw from Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Spurs?
“1) Arsenal are not as bad as some will have you believe. After a poor display against (a strong) Aston Villa side on the opening day of the season, despite having ten men, many people began to write Arsenal off. Arsenal are a team that polarize opinion- many fans feel they can win the title, whilst neutrals often feel they’ll finish in sixth or seventh place. The truth of what Arsenal can achieve is somewhere in the middle. A title bid sounds very premature considering how their rivals have strengthened and the fact that Arsenal have been so far off the pace for many years now, but writing the side off as having no chance of finishing in the top four is ridiculous. …” Think Football
Premier League newcomers: 10 things you didn’t know
“You know the transfer fees and stats, have listened to the media-trained platitudes from the new signings and debated the winners and losers in the transfer window. However, amid the frenzied transfer activity, you may have missed some of the more quirky and curious snippets that have been reported about those players new to the Premier League this season. Here, BBC Sport picks 10 stories that have caught the eye…” BBC
Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United: Tactical Analysis
“The age old rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United is one that needs no introduction. Despite their overall success in recent years, Manchester United have largely struggled in their annual visit to Anfield barring last year of course. Liverpool came into the game on the back of 2 wins and were hoping to make it 3 wins out of 3. United and Moyes on the other hand, were off the back of a 0-0 stalemate against Chelsea, and were hoping to register their 2nd league win of the new era. Eventually it was Daniel Sturridge’s early improvised header which was the difference in what was a tightly contested affair. The match had few clear cut goalscoring chances for either side and as is the case with most games between the 2, the event failed to match the build up.” Outside of the Boot
Africa comes to the boil with seven play-off places still up for grabs

Michael Essien – Ghana
“You can tell a World Cup is approaching because Kevin Prince-Boateng has suddenly decided he feels like playing international football again. The attacking midfielder retired from international football in 2011, but has ended his exile to come into the Ghana squad for Friday’s final World Cup qualifier in which Ghana need only to avoid defeat against Zambia to secure a place in the play-off round for World Cup qualifying. The structure of the African preliminaries may be nonsensical, but they do guarantee drama: 10 groups of four, with the top sides going forward to two-leg play-offs, with the winners going on to Brazil.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
An Idiot’s Guide to Transfer Deadline Day
“You know the cheap thrills that come with looking at box office returns on a Monday to see if a movie was a blockbuster or a flop? You don’t feel particularly proud of it, of course — after all, what does art have to do with money … wait, why are you laughing? — but you do it just the same. Now imagine those box office reports reflected movies that had been shot, edited, and marketed the day before they were to hit theaters. That would be funny. And that’s European football’s transfer deadline days. Incredibly rich football clubs making enormous decisions at the very last minute, buying and selling football players.” Grantland
Savo Milosevic: a hero and a Villain
“There aren’t many bandanas around Birmingham these days but in the summer of 1995 they were all the rage. Aston Villa, their supporters dizzied by the rollercoaster journey already shaping their existence in the new Premier League, had broken their transfer record to bring in one of their most exotic, most mysterious signings yet.” World Soccer
Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge strikes again to sink Manchester United

“Bill Shankly’s name reverberated around Anfield before and after a fitting occasion to fall on the eve of what would have been his 100th birthday. The Liverpool performance in between was too backs-to-the-wall to represent a tribute in his image. It did not matter. “If you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing,” Shankly once said, and first always tastes sweeter in these parts at the expense of Manchester United. An early goal from Daniel Sturridge on his 24th birthday maintained Liverpool’s 100% start to the Premier League season, their best since 1994, and preserved David Moyes’s winless record at Anfield in the process.” Guardian
“Liverpool secured their best start to a Premier League season since 1994-95 with victory over champions Manchester United at Anfield. Daniel Sturridge celebrated his 24th birthday with his third successive winner of the season by steering in a close-range header in the third minute. Liverpool deserved their latest single-goal victory, a result that also maintained new United manager David Moyes’ miserable record at Anfield. Moyes hoped for better luck with United after 12 games without victory as Everton manager – but his team came up short despite enjoying plenty of possession in the second half after being outplayed before the break.”
BBC
Moyes suffers Anfield agony again
” The great managers whose finest achievement became apparent after their departure are a rare breed. Perhaps, as in much else, Bill Shankly is unique. As Liverpool celebrated Monday’s 100th anniversary of his birth with typical enthusiasm, it was in part because Shankly was the founder of a great winning dynasty. Another iconoclastic Scot had the same designs. Three games after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, Manchester United are discovering it is not that simple. His handpicked successor, David Moyes, was condemned to a first defeat at the ground where, infamously, he has never won and to the club that, famously, Ferguson knocked off their perch.” ESPN
Manchester United fail to emerge from the wings
“In Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Manchester United, the Premier League champions were out-passed and out-thought in midfield, with Steven Gerrard outstanding for the home side in a deep role, and Philippe Coutinho making a series of dangerous incursions in the inside-left position. As they toiled to excellent effect, one fact became increasingly clear: In the frustrating summer rush to acquire at least one central midfielder, the worrying state of Manchester United’s wingers has not been addressed.” ESPN
Tactics: a bumpy ride for Bayern
“As coach of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola demonstrated a healthily idiosyncratic streak within the parameters of the club’s prevailing philosophy. And, as the new season begins in western Europe, the most pressing tactical question this term is what will he do at Bayern Munich? How will he react to a club that is not so steeped in those principles – and one that won almost everything there was to win last season, much of it in record-breaking style?” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson
The pratfalls of moving abroad
“In a couple of weeks, when Australia travels to meet Brazil, Mile Jedinak may well be locked in midfield battle with Paulinho – just as the two were last Sunday at Selhurst Park. I was in the crowd for the opening weekend of the season clash between newly promoted Crystal Palace and a Tottenham team rebuilt in a bid to make into next year’s Champions League. On his competitive debut Paulinho had a solid enough game as Tottenham won by the only goal. But in an outgunned side, Jedinak was a candidate for man of the match. The Socceroos’ central midfielder had an excellent game shielding the Palace centre backs. He was so quick to spot any danger to his side, allowing him to snuff out any number of Tottenham attacks. In possession he did his best to knit the side together with safe, crisp distribution.” The World Game – Tim Vickery
Qatari Foundations

“A spectre is haunting European football – the spectre of Qatar. No holy alliance has emerged to respond to this rising power; indeed, it has been embraced by both established luminaries (Barcelona, Zidane) and by (hopeful) rising stars, such as the Paris Saint-Germain football club and now, in Belgium, Eupen. Qatar is already acknowledged by European football powers to be itself a power in their midst.” Soccer Politics
Juventus 4-1 Lazio: Tactical Analysis
“It was Juventus’ first home game of the season in the Serie A, with Lazio as their opponents. The home side had emerged victorious a few weeks earlier when the two sides met in the Italian Super Cup. While the scoreline does suggest a sense of domination, the game itself was a well-fought affair; it was a perfect example of how much Italian football has developed since it’s ‘boring football’ tag. The game was anything but a drab affair, quick movement, slick passing, excellent vision, were all witnessed at this fixture. A true modern-day Serie A battle. The final score of Juventus 4-1 Lazio was not necessarily a true representation of the way the match went on.” Outside of the Boot
Transfer deadline day: The anatomy of a modern-day deal
“The world of football transfers is mysterious and murky, rotten and ruthless. Millionaire players, demanding managers, extravagant owners and wily agents all make up the cast of the game’s summer soap opera. Fans find it fascinating and frustrating but are often left angered and confused by the veil of mistruths and rumour that drive the world of transfers. This summer has been a case in point. It has been the summer of the saga, the summer of Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas.” BBC
