Daily Archives: December 4, 2021

How Soccer Lost America (Then Got It Back) – Brian Phillips

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“A strange feature of American exceptionalism during the 1980s and ’90s was that we wanted to import everything but culture. This is one way to understand the bizarre anxiety and contempt with which much of the American sports media regarded soccer in the late 20th century: It was the wrong kind of product. … American men in Bangladesh-made khakis could, without a whisper of cognitive dissonance, drive their German cars while listening to their Chinese-engineered radio consoles, where they’d spend drivetime deriding soccer as a foreign menace, a cosmopolitan threat to American strength—a ‘game for beret-wearers,’ as Ann Coulter once put it. …”
The Ringer
The Ringer: The Death of the American Soccer Troll – Bryan Curtis (July 2018)

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Aberdeen 4 – 1 St Mirren

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Christian Ramirez scored Aberdeen’s second within the opening ten minutes
“Aberdeen recorded back-to-back wins for only the second time this term and edged into the Scottish Premiership’s top six after ‘doing the simple things better’ in overwhelming St Mirren. Marley Watkins and Christian Ramirez both scored twice – once each in the opening nine minutes, before Watkins completed a first-half brace and Ramirez rounded off the thumping win. Scott Tanser did reply for St Mirren to make it 2-1, only for Watkins’ second to immediately snuff out the Paisley’s side’s hopes. And, when asked if momentum is building around his side, Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass said that ‘it feels like it’….”
BBC

ESPN FC 100: Messi, Lewandowski, Oblak among No. 1s; Premier League has most representatives

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“For the sixth consecutive year, ESPN presents its annual ranking of the best men’s players and coaches in world soccer! Welcome to FC 100. As always, rankings are broken down into Top 10 lists for positions, plus a countdown of managers, in order to present the most meaningful look at talent on the pitch and the sideline. Whereas last year was dominated by Liverpool and Bayern Munich — the clubs combined for eight of the 10 No. 1 spots — the leaders in this year’s edition are spread across six teams, with none having more than two men on top of their respective category. …”
ESPN (Video)
Go to: Goalkeeper | Right-back | Centre-back | Left-back | Central midfield | Attacking midfield | Winger | Forward | Striker | Manager

The rise of Ralf Rangnick, godfather of German coaching, manager of Manchester United

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“This week wasn’t the first time Ralf Rangnick had been interviewed for a job at Manchester United. Or that’s how it felt to him, at least. In the autumn of 2019, United’s football director John Murtough travelled to Leipzig to study the Red Bull football group’s facilities and corporate strategy. A proud Rangnick, eager to show off a Champions League club he had essentially built himself, hosted Murtough for eight hours, at the end of which the German sensed that the real reason for the visit might have been him. His suspicion that he had been sounded out was strengthened when he got word that an unnamed club was conducting background research into his working methods, tapping into his mentor Helmut Gross, a trained structural engineer turned tactical maverick, and Lars Kornetka, a long-time Rangnick collaborator, for insight into his footballing beliefs and his character. …”
The Athletic
W – Ralf Rangnick
YouTube: Brief History Of: Ralf Rangnick