“There is a painkilling drug in football that is described as ‘Evil’. It is feared within the game, and can be highly addictive. It will be added to the banned substance list, leaving many players in a race against time to wean themselves off it. This is the story of Tramadol’s use in football. Written by Daniel Taylor. Illustrated by Marco Bevilacqua.”
YouTube
“Hamburg’s Daniel Heuer Fernandes might be the most watchable goalkeeper in Europe. Those who have seen him know why. For those who have not, the best way to describe him is as two separate players: the goalkeeper and the footballer. Heuer Fernandes, 31, is an excellent shot-stopper. He is nimble and agile and has made some brilliant saves over the past few years. But he is really Hamburg’s 11th outfield player, too, and not in the cliched, ’keeper-who-is-good-with-his-feet sense. He can actually play. …”
The Athletic
W – Daniel Heuer Fernandes
“The Copa America returns to the U.S. for its 2024 edition and there is a little more than half a year until it gets underway. The USMNT were one of the teams to confirm their place at the tournament during the most recent international break, leaving just two more of the 16 participants to be decided. Before those remaining spots are filled, the draw for the tournament’s group stage will be made in Miami. Here is everything you need to know. …”
The Athletic
W – 2024 Copa América
“Manchester United and Chelsea share a problem they cannot hope to run away from. Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge might be able to narrate storied chapters of the Premier League’s history, but neither can project a compelling future. At least not in their current states. The famous homes of Manchester United and Chelsea have become weights that threaten to hold back their owners. They are not fit for an elite long-term purpose. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“… Eighth-tier side Ramsgate (from the Isthmian League South East Division) beat 5th division/National League side Woking, 2-1, at Ramsgate’s ground, Southwood Stadium, in Ramsgate, on the northeast coast of Kent. There was a packed crowd of 3,000 there, which exceeded the ground’s capacity by 500. Woking took an early lead, with a goal in the 13th minute. But Ramsgate equalised in the 40th minute, when Canterbury, Kent-born GK Tom Hadler boomed a long 70-yard goal-kick that London-born MF Tijan Jadama deftly trapped, on the fly, then bundled in {see photos and captions below.} Ramsgate took the lead for good in the 72nd minute, when former Man Utd MF Lee Robert Martin scored, on a nicely played set piece from a corner kick. …”
billsportsmaps
W – FA Cup
“A sign of champions, the theory has it, is winning ugly. No side can be at their very best all the time and so, over the course of a season, there will be occasions when a team that is going to win the league has to gut it out, to keep going with their plans, to keep believing, whether that means withstanding pressure or burgling a late goal. Not all points are won with beauty; some have to be fought for or stolen. In a title race, character matters as much as ability. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“On the eve of this season’s first Derby d’Italia, both managers insisted they would not “sign for a draw”. Simone Inzaghi was pragmatic, claiming he would never do that ‘unless it’s the second leg [of a knockout game] and you already won the first.’ Massimiliano Allegri found a way to be even more so, saying: ‘No. We need to play the match that starts at 8.45pm.’ Those replies were as inevitable as the question being posed. Neither manager could pre-declare a willingness to settle for a point in a game against their most likely rival for the Serie A title. Yet it was reasonable to think that outcome might suit them both. …”
Guardian
“Walking down Goodison Road can feel like stepping back to a time a world away from the steel-and-glass office-block conformity of the modern Premier League landscape. On one side of the road are terraced houses as well as the Blue Dragon Chinese takeaway, the Goodison Cafe and The Winslow Hotel. On the other side, the faded grandeur of one of England’s most historic football grounds. …”
The Athletic
“It is often trite to describe a particular goal as the turning point of a season. Especially with late goals, we have the tendency to let the emotion describe them, as if they are more important than they actually might be. Divorcing events from emotion has never been a speciality of Union Berlin, however. This is a club and a fanbase that feels everything. The club whose supporters literally gave their own blood to raise funds to fill empty coffers, who rebuilt a crumbling stadium with their own hands – and who, on the back of a horrendous run of 12 successive defeats which turned what should have been a dream season into an unfolding nightmare, chanted not for their head coach to be sacked, but emptied their lungs with the gospel that he was still a FußballGott to them. …”
Guardian
“Lille have regained their stride. Until Sunday night, November had been a frustrating month for Paulo Fonseca’s team. They had been held in Marseille, dropped points carelessly at home to Toulouse and, in between, failed to beat Slovan Bratislava in the Europa Conference League. But Lille ended the month well, proving too sophisticated for Lyon at the Groupama Stadium. They produced a stylish attacking performance to move up to fourth in Ligue 1 and the 2-0 win also offered a reminder of how watchable their head coach’s brand of football can be. …”
The Athletic
“So many players cite Marcelo Bielsa as having had a transformational impact on their career: Gabriel Batistuta, Mauricio Pochettino, Diego Simeone, Alexis Sanchez, Ander Herrera and Kalvin Phillips, to name just a few. Argentine coach Bielsa’s ability to craft and tweak systems and tactical plans to maximise individual strengths, as well as notice the tiniest details to raise a player’s level, are legendary. Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez can be added to the above list. …”
The Athletic
“Every season, Ligue 1 has a surprise package. This season, it is Nice. A plucky underdog story? Not exactly. They are bankrolled by INEOS, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company, who took over in 2019, and are playing their 22nd consecutive Ligue 1 campaign. Nice have recorded top-half finishes for eight years in a row but never truly challenged for the title or had any European success. …”
The Athletic
“Football loves new ideas. Novel tactical trends, unusual players, and changes in coaching approach. But what are the ideas going out of fashion? Which tactics are heading for extinction? Duncan Alexander and Nick Miller write. Craig Silcock illustrates.”
YouTube
Supporters of Malmo, the Swedish soccer team, set off so many flares during the season finale against Elfsborg this month that the match had to be stopped for 30 minutes.
“The warning sounded over and over, first in Swedish and then in English. A fire had been detected. Please evacuate the stadium. The players left the field. Outside, fire crews were arriving. But in the stands, as a thick cloud of smoke wreathed and coiled in the floodlights, nobody moved. The fans were going to make the game happen by sheer force of will. It was a game they had been anticipating for some time. The top two teams in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s elite league, had gone into the final day of the season separated by just three points. …”
NY Times
Spain-Morocco match, Group B, 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“This week on the African Five-a-side podcast, we have a two editions of the African Football Roundup, adding a special extra episode as we preview the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Africa and recap the handful of matches that have already been played. Matchday 1 will resume next week! Throughout the history of the FIFA World Cup, Africa has often found itself underrepresented. In 1966, the African continent boycotted the World Cup in England to send a message to FIFA that it demanded a guaranteed place at the tournament, which it subsequently secured in 1970. …”
Africa Is a Country (Audio)
“Time and time again, radio football commentary has engaged me in the game like no other medium. My infatuation with it was actually born from my environment rather than personal interest. I will never forget the long family car journeys as a kid—my brothers and I crammed into the back of our car, fighting for leg space as we endured the hours of motorway to some random holiday destination. More often than not, my dad would tune the radio into whatever football match was being broadcast on local or national radio to pass the time, and to most likely have some relief from the jam-packed, overfilled, and usually too hot or cold family car. Looking back now, I realise that I would also use the football commentary as an escape through the commentator’s words. …”
Football Paradise
“… Then suddenly something clicked, England started posting scores of 350+ as standard and began beating the best sides in the world. Just as the thought began to crystallise that in a World Cup on home soil they might not actually just be genuine contenders but perhaps even favourites, an astonishing generational talent became available to them in Jofra Archer. …”
Guardian
“This is the third in a series about the 16 triumphant teams in the European Championship, ahead of the 17th edition in Germany next year. So far, we’ve looked at the USSR in 1960 and Spain in 1964. This time, it’s the turn of Italy. The point of this series is to redress the balance — the history of the World Cup is incredibly storied and famous, while the history of the European Championship feels entirely unknown to many. And there’s no better example of that than Italy’s triumph in the European Championship of 1968, which seems entirely forgotten by almost everyone. …”
The Athletic
“This is the second in a series about the 16 triumphant teams in the European Championship ahead of the 17th edition in Germany next year. Last time, the focus was the USSR in 1960. Four years on, Spain are victorious. The previous edition of the European Nations Cup featured the USSR receiving a bye at the quarter-final stage because General Franco was so afraid of them beating Spain on home soil that he ordered the Spanish side to withdraw. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“… Those might have been his final remarks as manager of the Partenopei. Napoli lost 1-0 and the club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, imposed a press silence at full-time. He was understood to be exploring his options to replace Garcia on Monday, a decision that some fans might celebrate even more enthusiastically than a win. …”
Guardian
“How to turn a football team around 180 degrees, parts one and two. Even after Bayer Leverkusen made the 4,000km journey back from Thursday night Europa League duty in Baku, and even after Union Berlin stopped their losing streak by picking up a point in Diego Maradona’s back garden, this could not have run more faithfully to current script. At this time last year, Leverkusen and Union were polar opposites. Or almost. To be more precise at this exact point 12 months ago, the former were in 13th and the latter sitting up in second. The weeks immediately preceding that, even, had been the first evidence of the Xabi Alonso effect. …”
Guardian
Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, at the 2022 World Cup.
“As the world reeled from the coronavirus crisis in the fall of 2020, the president of soccer’s global governing body, Gianni Infantino, headed to Rome for an audience with Italy’s prime minister. Wearing masks and bumping elbows, Mr. Infantino, the president of FIFA, and the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, greeted each other in front of journalists before disappearing with the president of the Italian soccer federation into one of the ornate state rooms of the 16th-century Palazzo Chigi, the Italian leader’s official residence. …”
NY Times
“A late penalty from Cole Palmer earned Chelsea a 4-4 draw with Manchester City in a thrilling match at Stamford Bridge. Erling Haaland put the visitors ahead after winning a penalty before Thiago Silva equalised with a header from a corner less than five minutes later. Raheem Sterling tapped in against his former club, only for Manuel Akanji to level things again on the stroke of half-time with a free header. …”
The Athletic
“Celtic put their mauling in Madrid behind them with a symmetrical 6-0 win over abject Aberdeen in their Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park. The home side had been defeated 6-0 by Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Aberdeen exited the Europa Conference League on Thursday despite an impressive 2-2 draw with PAOK in Greece. …”
Guardian
Watching the game from the top of the Jamestown Lighthouse in Acrra, Ghana
“Episode 2 of Matchday 1 of the African-five-a side podcast continues to explore the stories of five African heads of state and their influence on football. This week, we’re introducing our central defender: the intellectual, inspiring, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. As the first head of state of an independent Ghana, Nkrumah quickly understood the power of football as a unifying tool. He appointed Ohene Djan as the director of sports in 1960, and put in place structures to support the success of the national team, sometimes to the detriment of local clubs. Nkrumah’s interest in soccer was so great that he proposed the formation of a model club to offer leadership and inspiration to other clubs in the country. …”
Africa Is a Country (Audio)
“Welcome To Wrexham’s eagerly awaited season two finale hits the screens this week. If the rest of its second series is anything to go by, an episode simply titled Up The Town? is likely to be a cracker as we reach the climax of a thrilling title race that will go down as an all-time classic. Those supporters who lived and breathed every second of last season’s titanic National League title tussle between Wrexham and Notts County will tune in knowing the result. But, that’s unlikely to prevent the myriad of emotions experienced six months ago once again bubbling to the surface, meaning there will be tears as well as cheers in households from Llangollen to Los Angeles. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“This was supposed to be the night that Liverpool secured their Europa League knockout qualification — instead, they delivered one of their worst recent displays under Jurgen Klopp to slump to a shock defeat, and one clouded by controversy. The visitors deservedly trailed at the interval through Aron Donnum’s 36th-minute goal and things did not improve after half-time. …”
The Athletic
BBC – Toulouse 3-2 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp angered by ‘chaotic’ performance – and media conference (Video)
The Athletic: Liverpool’s away form is becoming a problem – so what’s going wrong? (Video)
“There is the adage, made famous by former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, that second place was nowhere. Au contraire, Bill. It is not just second that has become somewhere, but third and fourth, too. And, from the end of this season, we might even start to consider finishing fifth in the 20-team Premier League a cause for celebration. A revamped Champions League has room for more clubs for 2024-25 and beyond, and that means the door could swing open for English football’s fifth-best team to earn their share of a financial windfall. …”
The Athletic
“Barcelona lost the El Clasico last week to Real Madrid but can definitely vouch for the fact that in the biggest game in Spanish football, they certainly deserved more. The most striking thing about Barcelona was how easy they found it to get the ball from defence into attack yielding many promising chances. The Catalan side did hit the woodwork twice. Strangely Madrid approached the game using a high press, whilst the midfield pivot would cut off the passing lanes to Gavi and Ilkay Gundogan. With Madrid’s front two and Bellingham pressing, Barca were able to find a wide centre-back who could find Fermin Lopez down the line to turn and feed either Joao Felix or Ferran Torres. Even with Gavi and Gundogan unable to receive the ball it didn’t matter, Ronald Araujo was able to find Fermin just in behind Madrid’s press and quickly release their forwards. …”
Breaking the Lines
“Newton’s Law says force is equal to mass times acceleration. What it doesn’t say is what a penalty is, but perhaps it should. Rafa Benítez reckons so at least after his team ended another weekend in the relegation zone, fans whistling and waving white hankies while he had a quick flick through Principia on his way to meeting the ladies and gentlemen of the press. Never mind the referee, the assistant referees, the fourth official, the video assistant referee, the assistant to the video assistant referee (two of those), the TV technician, the supervisor and whoever lurks in that side-room at Las Rozas, what we really need is a physicist, the Celta coach told them; time to travel to Nasa to find the best. …”
Guardian
“Borussia Dortmund supporters threw fake money onto the pitch and displayed a banner appearing to criticise UEFAduring Tuesday’s Champions League group stage fixture against Newcastle United, protesting the upcoming competition reforms. After Niclas Fullkrug gave Dortmund the lead in the first half at Signal Iduna Park, the game was interrupted as supporters in the ‘Yellow Wall’ stand threw fake money, gold bars and tennis balls onto the pitch. The restart was briefly delayed as players assisted with efforts to clear the section of the pitch behind Gregor Kobel’s goal. …”
The Athletic
Jürgen Klopp hugs Diogo Jota as he leaves the pitch during Sunday’s game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
“José Mourinho wore many faces as a Premier League manager. Chameleon-like, shifting from rambunctious to cantankerous. If Chelsea’s 2015 Premier League title win had all the hallmarks of a Tom Wambsgans redemption arc, his 2004 to 2007 incarnation was defined by his Logan Roy lead character energy. Every game felt tinged with Mourinho razzmatazz – good or bad. No wonder, then, when Chelsea lost to neighbors Fulham for the first time in 27 years on 20 March 2006, Mourinho preserved his role as chief headline maker. …”
Guardian
“Congratulations to Saudi Arabia, host of the 2034 World Cup after Australia, reading the runes having been given a month to prepare a bid for a tournament 11 years away, decided not to get involved. In theory, of course, the Saudi bid still has to be examined and ratified before a formal decision is announced next year, but Gianni Infantino acknowledged that is a rare and unwelcome vestige of due process at Fifa by announcing the Saudi success on Instagram. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“This is the second in a series about the 16 triumphant teams in the European Championship ahead of the 17th edition in Germany next year. Last time, the focus was the USSR in 1960. Four years on, Spain are victorious. The previous edition of the European Nations Cup featured the USSR receiving a bye at the quarter-final stage because General Franco was so afraid of them beating Spain on home soil that he ordered the Spanish side to withdraw. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox
“Football is changing. You don’t need to be Grampa Simpson shouting at a cloud to realise things are not what they used to be. The top level of the men’s game is widely different from how it was even 10 years ago. Many things are disappearing from football, some of which are slightly intangible — raucous atmospheres, community, the feeling that having so much football available to watch is dulling our senses and making us numb to the excitement of it — but some of them are more measurable. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“There have been few more complete strikers in the modern game than Andriy Shevchenko. A powerful all-rounder who could score from distance or slalom through opposition defences, he was, at his peak, the world’s best striker, winning the Ballon d’Or in 2004 to sit alongside winners’ medals from Serie A and the Champions League. …”
The Athletic (Video)
W – Andriy Shevchenko
“… Henry’s reference to playing style is that he was, and Mbappe is, a right-footer who played off the left, though they share an interpretation of the role as more inside-forward than winger. Across his senior career, Henry registered more than twice as many league goals as assists, while Mbappe’s ratio is three to one. Henry’s trademark became the far-post finish, often curled into the bottom-right corner. Mbappe scores those — in fact, he can score every type of goal — but is increasingly getting goals in a way Henry did not. He is still cutting in from the left but reversing the shot, using the laces or instep to drill a near-post finish, catching the goalkeeper and defender(s) unaware. …”
The Athletic (Video)
“Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham-inspired comeback win at Barcelona on Saturday afternoon was shaped by the strategic decisions of the managers, but was very much won and lost by the players. The goals came from a ricochet falling nicely, a long-range thunderbolt out of nothing, and then a deflected cross dropping for Bellingham to turn home a winner. None of the goals could have been planned on the tactics board. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox
Scissors Kick 