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Motherwell 1 Celtic 1: Scott Sinclair saves Celts’ unbeaten record with dramatic late penalty

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“Celtic can take their sequence of successive unbeaten domestic games to 67 – that iconic number for the club – against Motherwell at the weekend after coming within a few minutes of defeat in Lanarkshire, where Mikael Lustig’s own goal put the Steelmen ahead. For the second time in three days against Celtic, the Fir Park outfit were undone by a penalty kick – again involving Scott Sinclair – although this time converted by the winger after Andy Rose had been judged to have fouled Callum McGregor. …” Telegraph

Gute Woche/ Schlechte Woche Matchday 12 Edition

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“It was back to Bundesliga action after yet another international break with nine exciting match-ups for our enjoyment. Jupp Heynckes continued to work his magic at Bayern with another win, Dortmund continued to falter and Köln continued to suffer atrocious luck. Werder Bremen grabbed their first win, while Schalke and Mönchengladbach continued to climb towards the top. Drama, controversy, goals, red cards, the weekend had it all. So, just who were the winners and losers of matchday 12? …” Bundesliga Fanatic

Michael Laudrup: a portrait of an icon

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“The theory of collective intelligence is well-established. The “wisdom of the crowd” principle states that the averaged answer of a group of individuals outweighs that of a single expert on matters of spatial awareness, quantity estimation and general knowledge. It was first mooted by Aristotle, and has been continued by philosophers, statisticians and economists pretty much ever since. It is one good reason why juries and panels exist. Without offending Aristotle, the Marquis de Condorcet and Francis Galton, Michael Laudrup’s lack of international recognition erodes confidence in the principle. Between 1989 and 1996, Denmark’s greatest ever player was European football’s finest footballer. …” Guardian

Tactical Analysis: Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla | Barca’s diamond-esque shape hands them victory

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“Despite being written off by many this season after the loss of Neymar and rivals Real Madrid’s dominance last season, Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona side came into this game at home to Champions League chasing Sevilla in inspired form. 9 wins from their opening 10 games and Lionel Messi in the form of his life had shut up many critics as they cruised towards their 3rd league title in 4 years with a 4 point lead over 2nd place Valencia and 8 points over bookies’ title favourites Real Madrid in 3rd. …” Outside of the Boot

The Illustrated History of Football – Hall of Fame

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“Welcome back to the imitable work of illustrator David Squires.Most football fans can only dream of pulling on the shirt of their favourite team and running out in front of thousands of adoring fans. Pitch invaders aside, few of us get to experience that adrenalin rush. Of those who do make it as a professional footballer, even fewer realise the giddy heights of success. In the Illustrated History of Football- Hall of Fame, cartoonist David Squires returns to celebrate those who straddle the game like giants; those talented, determined souls who were juggling tennis balls in the back streets before they could talk. There’s more than one way to attain football immortality though, and Squires also turns his comic eye to the mavericks, the pioneers, the forgotten legends and the anti-heroes. From Pele to Meazza, Maradona to Socrates, you will be taken on an unforgettable journey through the good, the bad and the Hagi.” boomerangbooks, amazon

Tactical Analysis: River Plate 1-2 Boca Juniors | Organized Boca Punish River On The Counter

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“Both teams started off with fluid 4-3-3 formations. Montiel was the more advanced of the two River full backs while Casco’s attacking contribution was limited due to the fact that he was a right footed player playing on the left. Ponzio was deployed as a deep lying playmaker playing as the deepest of the 3 River midfielders and controlling the tempo. Enzo Perez and Rojas were the two shuttlers who were tasked with providing support to the attack when River had the ball and getting back quickly into shape when they did not. The two inside forwards Fernandez and Martinez were playing very narrow almost as number 10’s in behind Scocco. …” Outside of the Boot

“And Smith must score” – the worst misses are the ones that truly mattered

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“20 November ~ Right, let me do a quick mention of famous televised misses, to make it look as if I’ve seen them all, then we’ll move on to missed chances that mattered, because that’s all I know about. On the screen, nobody missed a more open goal than Ronny Rosenthal, who hit the bar, or Roger Davies of Derby, who went past the keeper at Stamford Bridge, then knocked the ball past the post as he staggered after it. They’re probably on a video with all the others, accompanied by a They Think It’s All Over-type soundtrack. …” WSC (Video)

Italy’s Soccer Apocalypse

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“Is soccer a matter of life and death? ‘It’s much more serious than that,’ the droll Bill Shankly, who managed Liverpool in the club’s glory days, once remarked. But how much more? ‘Us, out of the World Cup?’ Carlo Tavecchio, the head of the Italian Football Federation, said to journalists, after Italy lost a crucial qualifying game in September. ‘It would be the apocalypse.’ What he seemed to be saying was that it would be something so bad that it surely couldn’t happen. But then it did. ‘THE END,’ the enormous headline of the Gazzetta dello Sport confirmed, when, on Monday, contrary to all expectations and pundit wisdom, Italy failed to score against a modest Swedish side and crashed out of the forthcoming tournament in Russia. …” New Yorker

Frank de Boer, Ronald Koeman and the strange decline of Dutch managers

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“Whatever you think of Frank de Boer’s sacking by Crystal Palace, his short stay as manager reminds us of the diminished state of Dutch football. A previously unthinkable gap has opened up between the Netherlands and the top football nations. Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV have all been humiliated in Europe this season. And it’s been decades since the national team were so bad. The players who reached the 2010 World Cup final and came third in 2014 are mostly retired now and Holland’s new normal was exemplified by the 4-0 defeat by France in August. …” WSC

Brazil’s Indicted Soccer Leader Planning to Keep His Job

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“LONDON — As the president of Brazil’s soccer federation, Marco Polo Del Nero should have been here on Tuesday, watching his country’s national team play out a soporific 0-0 tie against England in an exhibition match at Wembley Stadium. Yet instead of exchanging pleasantries with executives from the Football Association in a suite high above the field, Del Nero was almost 6,000 miles away, at home in Brazil. Even there, though, it would have been understandable if his focus was not on the events unfolding under Wembley’s brightly lit arch, but instead on proceedings inside a wood-paneled courtroom in Brooklyn, where three soccer executives — well known to the 76-year-old Del Nero — are standing trial on corruption charges. …” NY Times

Romania 4 Yugoslavia 6: World Cup qualifier, Ghencea Stadium, Bucharest, 13 November 1977

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“In his interview with Dragan Stojković in Issue Two of The Blizzard, Andrew McKirdy asked, “Serbian and Yugoslavian football has a history of drama and highs and lows. Do you think this reflects the Serbian psyche and do you think this is true of you?” Stojković is an intelligent man and a good talker, but his answer missed the point. He spoke about bad organisation, poor leadership, a refusal to take responsibility and the lack of a professional mindset, but he didn’t touch the painful truth. The history of drama and highs and lows derives to a large extent from a confused national psyche that leads it simultaneously to overestimate itself and to have an inferiority complex. …” The Blizzard

Jose Mourinho ready to renew rivalry with Rafa Benitez, the man he hated first

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“The last time that Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez had one of their many flashpoints, back in that odd exchange in the summer of 2015 when the Spaniard was Real Madrid manager and his wife Montse even had comments about how they ‘tidy up his messes’, it wasn’t actually the Portuguese who was most bothered. Mourinho’s loyal long-time assistant Rui Faria seemed to care the most.” Independent

A Night in Belgrade With an Undercover Crowd Monitor: ‘Try to Act Casual’

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“BELGRADE, Serbia — At the appointed hour, the man picked up his phone, sat down on the couch in his hotel, and dialed the number. ‘Yes, hello, I’m calling you on behalf of Fare,’ he said, dropping the name of a network based in London that fights discrimination in world soccer. ‘Just to inform you, I will be the matchday observer tonight in Belgrade. We have done some research. Of course, we all know it’s a high-risk match ….’ The match in question, set to begin a few hours later, was a Europa League contest last Thursday between Partizan Belgrade of Serbia and Skenderbeu of Albania. The person on the other line was the UEFA delegate assigned to supervise proceedings at the stadium. And the so-called risks? …” NY Times (Video)

Tottenham’s defeat of Real Madrid is a warning to Europe’s super-clubs

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“It was one of the greatest nights in Tottenham’s history. It was better than beating Internazionale 3-1, probably the equal of those fraught nights in 1983-84 when Bayern Munich, Austria Vienna, Hajduk Split and Anderlecht were overcome on the way to the Uefa Cup. Almost whatever happens over the next three decades, it is safe to assume that in 2050 Christian Eriksen’s goal will still be included in the pre-match White Hart Lane montage as Danny Blanchflower’s voice, the crackle of time even more pronounced, explains once again that the game is about glory. …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

New Candidate and Palace Intrigue Shake Up U.S. Soccer Election

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“In the surest sign yet that Sunil Gulati, the United States Soccer Federation president for the past 12 years, is in for a bruising re-election fight, his deputy Carlos Cordeiro announced Wednesday night that he would enter the race to replace his longtime friend. The entry of Cordeiro — a former Goldman Sachs executive who currently serves as U.S. Soccer’s executive vice president — into an increasingly crowded field of presidential candidates represents one of the most significant challenges yet to Gulati, whose stewardship of American soccer has been under fire since the United States men’s national team missed out on qualification for the 2018 World Cup last month. …” NY Times

Berlin – Hotbed of football, beer, politics and noise

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“Germany, and especially Berlin, is no stranger to change. Its borders have changed drastically and repeatedly over the last century, and the governments within have been no exception to this rise-and-fall pattern. In many ways the only constant in Germany over the course of the 20th century was football. The Nazi Gauligas ran almost unhindered from 1933 to 1945, and only ceased due to Allied forces occupying most of Germany by that point. Following the fall of the Third Reich it only took until 1948 for the East to start playing again, with the West following a year later by turning semi-pro. The continuity of football was so strong it even outlasted the dissolution of its parent country, with East Germany’s Oberliga continuing as normal for two years after the Berlin Wall fell, and survived the actual reunification of Germany until the Spring of 1991. …” Football Pink

Tactical Analysis: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Real Madrid | Spurs Make A Statement

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“Pochettino looked to take a secure approach of press as Tottenham didn’t always insist on disturbing the early phase of Real’s build-up. Tottenham assigned the pressing work based on a 5-3-2-ish shape, with Christian Eriksen slightly higher than the other two central midfielders. The Dane pressed Casemiro while Harry Kane and Delle Alli kept an eye on Real’s both center halves. The other defensive duty for Tottenham’s 8 was that they also had to maintained good access to Kroos and Modric. …” Outside of the Boot

Tactical Analysis: Roma 3-0 Chelsea | Chelsea’s Possession Play Failed to Tear Down Roma’s Fortress

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“… Roma fielded their usual 4-3-3. Alisson in goal, Florenzi and Kolarov as full backs, and Fazio-Juan Jesus duo in the central area. In midfield, de Rossi in the six space covered the moves of Nainggolan and Strootman, who were initially 8’s but had license to roam into the wide areas and center around 10 and 9. In the last line, Edin Dzeko was flanked by Perotti and El Shaarawy. …” Outside of the Boot

Girona offer Catalans pride after La Liga downing of powerhouse Madrid

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Girona offer Catalans pride after La Liga downing of powerhouse Madrid
“Pablo Machín stood by the table football in the middle of the Montilivi dressing room where two teams lined up rigidly in 3-3-4, one in blue, the other in white, and told his players – the real ones in red – they should be proud. He didn’t speak for long, just a few seconds standing there among the socks, bandages and bottles on the floor, and when he finished there was applause from everyone and for everyone. There was no cava, Girona’s coach said, but there was a celebration and, he admitted, euphoria. …” Guardian

Keita Baldé is slowly helping Monaco forget about Kylian Mbappé

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“Keita Baldé Diao, the Senegalese forward who joined Monaco from Lazio this summer for €30m, was prepared to be compared with Kylian Mbappé. ‘I was expecting it,’ he said recently when asked about Mbappé. ‘We’re both young players. But I’ve come to write my story, to play my game. I don’t want to be compared with anyone. My goal is to play as many matches as possible, to score and provide.’ After his recent performances, Keita may find those comparisons harder to avoid, particularly if Monaco sustain their title challenge into the new year. …” Guardian

Tactical Analysis: Girona 2-1 Real Madrid | Girona’s Pressing Hassles Los Blancos

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“In a shocking turn of events, newly promoted Girona FC thoroughly outplayed and beat Real Madrid 2-1 on the tenth match day of the league season. For Madrid fans, there was reason to be slightly worried from the very beginning of the match. Instead of receding into a defensive shell, Girona came out pressing with intensity. It took 10-15 minutes before Real Madrid could even string a coherent spell of possession together, but they soon threw that level of control away thanks to lethargic giveaways and general complacency. Girona took advantage of this by regaining the impetus and striking two shots off the post. However, one of those attempts off the woodwork sparked a Real Madrid counter that resulted in a goal against the run of play. The scoreline would hold till the break. …” Outside of the Boot (Video)

AJAX 2.0

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“67 minutes into a game in the Eerste Divisie on the 16th September 2016, a young man, barely 16 years old, came off the substitute’s bench at the De Geusselt Stadium, MVV Maastricht’s home ground, to play for Ajax II, the mighty Ajax’s second team. This young man was different, not least because of his reputed talents, which the second-tier of Dutch football was about to witness first-hand for the first time, but because everyone in the relatively empty stadium on this cool, crisp evening had heard his name before. …” In Bed With Maradana

Tactical Analysis: Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur | United Secure An Important 3 Points

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“Against Tottenham’s press, Jose Mourinho’s troops relied on a direct approach build up as one of their approach was to play a lot of deep passes to Lukaku and Rashford in the last line. The aim was simple, access the depth and make quick entries into the box at full speed. …” Outside of the Boot

Paddy Agnew’s Notes from Italy: Napoli playing catch-up in the Champions League

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“As the Champions League moves centre stage again this weekend, it is intriguing to note that of the three Italian clubs involved, it is the league leaders Napoli who may well have most to do to play their way into the second round. In their homeland, Napoli can do no wrong, having won 10 of their 11 Serie A games this season, drawing the other (10 days ago to Inter). …” World Soccer

How Did a Tiny Swiss Company Quietly Secure Valuable World Cup TV Rights?

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“LONDON — Investigations over the last few years by United States and Swiss law enforcement officials into corruption in global soccer have exposed dozens of people and companies that, according to prosecutors, conspired to illegally reap profits from broadcasting and sponsorship deals tied to the sport’s biggest events. One company never named in any of the charging documents, but referred to obliquely, is a little-known entity based in the canton of Zug in Switzerland: Mountrigi Management Group, a three-person operation that illustrates how some of the biggest deals at the top of the world’s most-popular sport were put together. …” NY Times

Italian football must do more than read Anne Frank to tackle fascism problem

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“27 October ~ With 25 points from their first ten games, Lazio have made a superb start to the season. Unfortunately, they may be derailed by events off the field. They have long been notorious for having a fanbase that contains a significant number who are openly nostalgic for fascism. Though they are probably the worst offenders, they share this tendency with several other clubs, most notably Serie B Ascoli, but also Verona and to some extent Inter. …” WSC

Ronald Koeman’s Everton story exposes shortcomings of the post-Cruyffians

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“Long before he was sacked, a criticism of Ronald Koeman at Everton was that he seemed to regard the club as a stepping stone. ‘He called us Everton, he never called us us,’ as the former Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe put it on Monday. Koeman’s ultimate ambition, as he has made clear since he took his first steps in management with Vitesse in 2000, is to manage Barcelona. …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The greatest Irish team that didn’t qualify for the World Cup

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“It was the qualifying campaign for the 1982 World Cup, and Ireland had been drawn in what you could call a ‘tough’ group with the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Cyprus. The world’s media (and even certain sections of the Irish media) gave the footballing minnows no chance of qualification, and to a certain degree, they were right. Ireland would not qualify, but it had very little to do with the perceived lack of quality. …” Football Pink

Is José Mourinho’s negativity a product of his failure to make it as a player?

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“It is a sad indication of the recent state of Liverpool that over the past couple of weeks they have seemed more significant as a test case for others than in and of themselves. José Mourinho took his Manchester United side to Anfield and, as he waited and waited and waited for the game “to break”, the watching world waited and waited and waited for something vaguely resembling action to break out. It didn’t and the game finished 0-0. Given Liverpool’s vulnerabilities and given Manchester City’s remarkable form, that felt even at the time like two points needlessly squandered. …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

It’s time to stop blaming the game – and the fans – for society’s ills

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“Football can suffer from high visibility. Some ­people see far too much of it for their liking. Others cannot resist the profile it offers. ­Newspapers are always looking for ways to move it from the back pages to the front. Take the case of Douglas Ross, now Tory MP for Moray and an assistant referee (or linesman) at high levels of the sport. National outrage has supposedly been sparked by his engagement at the Nou Camp in Barcelona last week when he could have been abstaining in person at the House of Commons. …” The Scotsman

Tottenham show José Mourinho how counter-attacking game should work

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“Mauricio Pochettino had promised further surprises after his deployment of a 5-3-2 against Real Madrid, but perhaps the biggest surprise was that he kept the shape the same. There were other unusual aspects to the win – Tottenham Hotspur had not been ahead against Liverpool since March 2013, Harry Kane had not previously scored a league goal at Wembley and Spurs, at last, looked at ease in their new home – but none of those particularly came as a shock. Neither, in truth, did Liverpool’s defending. Two goals were conceded to simple balls in behind them, at least two more could have been, and two other goals came from the thoroughly predictable source of half-cleared set-plays. …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Ronald Koeman’s sense of detachment at Everton ensured this was a relationship doomed to fail

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“The vile winds met corrugated steel and it was as if Goodison Park had become an old container ship struggling to navigate in the wilds of the Irish Sea. Five minutes were still left to play against Arsenal and in that time two more goals were scored. Goodison, though, had already given up. So often a “bear pit,” as Frank Lampard once described it, “the most difficult place to play” had sunken to a new eeriness, marked by a sad acquiesce. …” Independent

Vestri – Football in the fjords

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“Isafjordur is an 11-hour round trip (by car) from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, so I decided to fly up instead, to visit the local football club Vestri. The flight itself was an incredible experience as the plane flew over glaciers, vast fjords and some of the most inhospitable terrain Iceland has to offer. The approach landing, to Isafjordur, is not for the faint hearted as the small plane hugs the 1,500-foot snow-capped mountains to combat against the dangerous wind shear, and it’s easy to see why the top aviation websites consider the approach to the town one of the most challenging in the world. …” The Football Pink

Tactical Analysis: Napoli 0-0 Inter Milan | Sarri’s Strong Attack And Counter-Press Against Spaletti’s Deep Block

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“Luciano Spaletti’s initial plan of a low block was securing the 10 (by occupying Napoli’s 6), defended the defensive third using a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 basic formation, and blocking Napoli’s use of the diagonal passing lane from the left half space into the box. Borja Valero, Inter’s number 10, would join the central midfield duo to secure the area around Inter Milan’s midfield line. …” Outside of the Boot

Dieter Hecking’s Unique Defensive System

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“Although man-marking reminds us of the old ‘70s and ‘80s, it has been enjoying rebirth since these days. In fact, man-marking has been reinvented, thanks to zonal coverage. Thus, giving birth to a new marking systems, such as zone-oriented man coverage. So far, zone-oriented man coverage has been used in the Bundesliga by Dieter Hecking both during his time at 1.FC Nürnberg and currently at Borussia Mönchengladbach. In Hecking’s treatment, this system is a compromise between man and zonal defenses. …” Bundesliga Fanatic

Savage Enthusiasm: A History of Football Fans

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“Savage Enthusiasm traces the evolution of the football fan from the sport’s earliest origins right up to the present day, exploring how football became the world’s most popular spectator sport, and why it became the undisputed game of the people. The book starts with football’s big bang in 1863 with the creation of Association football. Within ten years, the public was hooked and football was woven into the fabric of if not daily life, then certainly weekend life. Brown posits this rise to football simply being the best sport and supports this with scientific theory published in Nature in 1996 alongside his own rather more plausible explanation that it is its simplicity that accounts for its popularity. …” Football Pink, amazon

Tottenham’s coming of age performance in the Bernabeu proves they are here to stay

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“Perhaps Tottenham were slightly fortunate to get a draw in Madrid on Tuesday night, given that Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post and Hugo Lloris made a barely credible close-range block from Karim Benzema and a spectacular tip-over from Ronaldo. But maybe they weren’t. After all, as Brian Clough always used to say after a performance of particular excellence from Peter Shilton, the goalkeeper is a part of the team. Plus, Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen both had chances to win it, Spurs should have had a penalty for Casemiro’s foul on Fernando Llorente and there was probably a foul in the move leading up to Serge Aurier’s stupid challenge on Toni Kroos that led to the penalty from which Ronaldo equalised. Nobody could realistically argue that Tottenham deserved to win, but it’s easy enough to conceive how they might have done. …” unibet – Jonathan Wilson

Edin Dzeko: ‘I don’t run? I don’t give my best? Come on! That is a joke’

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“Edin Dzeko looks as if he wants to jump up from the chair. He is animated. His cheeks are red and he gesticulates wildly. … It is a moment that encapsulates what the Bosnia-Herzegovina striker is all about. He has been described as being indifferent and cold but when we meet in an empty hotel restaurant on the outskirts of Sarajevo he is neither. Instead he is extremely passionate about the game, more perhaps than any other player I have interviewed, and a man who realises how lucky he is to play football for a living. …” Guardian

TURF WARS: A history of London football

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“The four giant cranes climb strikingly above the north-east London skyline. They are visible from the North Circular Road as Tottenham’s new stadium takes shape – soaring and dynamic symbols of London’s endless football revolution. Spurs new ground will open in 2018 with a capacity of 61,000, which will be 548 more people than they get into Arsenal’s Emirates. The percentage difference is 0.939 per cent, but every little counts in London’s most fierce football turf war. Not as much as winning trophies or league placing, at which Arsenal are so much better than their neighbours. But Spurs have a plan to change all that and the tiny difference in capacity is a part of it. …” London football history: Why our city’s turf war makes it the world capital of football, amazon

Tim Vickery’s Notes from South America: Uruguay fly under the radar en route to Russia

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Uruguay’s Federico Valverde celebrates after scoring against Paraguay during their 2018 World Cup qualifier in Asuncion
“There is almost too much drama to take as South America’s World Cup qualification campaign moves into Tuesday’s final round. Amid the threat of elimination hanging over Argentina, and continental champions Chile, the remarkable resurgence of Paraguay and a crunch game between Peru and Colombia, Uruguay are flying under the radar. Little space has been devoted to the fact that, barring a mathematical miracle, the Uruguayans have already booked their place in Russia. This breaks a pattern. In all of the other campaigns this century Uruguay got underway with a comfortable win at home to Bolivia only to wobble along the way before just managing to clinch the play-off slot in the final round. …” World Soccer – Tim Vickery

Jürgen Klopp eases Liverpool’s pressing game in the search for solidity

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“It is not something you often have to consider but what if José Mourinho was right? What if, on Saturday, there was for once no bluff or manipulation, no attempt to provoke or deflect attention: what if the analysis he gave of Manchester United’s 0-0 draw at Liverpool was straightforward and correct? …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The Real Failure of U.S. Men’s Soccer Sporting – Brian Phillips

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“For around 30 years, from the 1986 World Cup through the night of Tuesday, Oct. 10, the United States men’s national soccer team managed to project at least a pleasing illusion of progress. Maybe it wasn’t always real progress. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of spectacular success enjoyed by the United States women’s team, which has won three World Cups and four Olympic gold medals and galvanized generations of fans. But there was always something you could point to, some piece of evidence to suggest that the men’s game was improving in this country. That the people at the top had a plan. …” NY Times

Winners and losers from Southampton 2-2 Newcastle United

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“Manolo Gabbiadini hit a brace as Southampton twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Newcastle United in an entertaining encounter at St Mary’s this afternoon. Newcastle took the lead in the first half through Isaac Hayden’s first Premier League goal but Southampton equalised early in the second half when Gabbiadini, who has struggled this season, managed to find the net.” Squawka

1903: German Fußball’s First Tournament

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“In 1903, The German Football Association held the first championship in association history. Thirty teams were eligible. Six entered. Move forward to August 2017, I found myself watching the film Leatherheads, a Gridiron Football film starring George Clooney. In Leatherheads, Clooney is a captain of a team in a failing league. His actions rejuvenate gridiron football and turn it into one of the most popular sports in America. As I was watching the film, I began researching the history of our beloved German Football Association. I quickly realized that there simply was not much information on the roots. …” Bundesliga Fanatic

World Cup 2018 power rankings: Germany on top among qualified 23

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“Twenty-three nations have booked their places for the World Cup in Russia, with the holders and Brazil looking in good shape but we rank England in 13th place, below Iceland.” Guardian (Video)

Argentina Savior Messi Enforces His Brilliance When His Nation Needs Him Most

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“Twenty years ago, Lionel Messi, then a 10-year-old playing for a youth team at Newell’s Old Boys, headed into rural Santa Fe for a game against Pujato. These were always difficult, physical matches, and Messi took a kicking. … Messi has been getting the face on a lot recently. With Neymar gone, Ousmane Dembele injured and general chaos at the Camp Nou, it feels as though Barcelona’s perfect start to the season has been the result of him, fired by the ‘bronca’ that used to motivate Diego Maradona, dragging Barcelona forward almost single-handed. …” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Tactical Analysis: Spartak Moscow 1-1 Liverpool | Klopp’s fluid side held

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“Spartak Moscow headed into the match with a lot of injury trouble. Quincy Promes – arguably their best attacker – was confirmed to be unavailable just days before the match. Before the Dutch, Roman Zobnin, Denis Glushakov – the captain -, and Ze Luis had been also confirmed to be out. The injury record and the fact that Spartak are currently ranked 8th, raised the pressure bar on Massimo Carrera. So, the match against Liverpool, for sure, was a real test for Carrera and his troops. …” Outside of the Boot

United States Misses World Cup for First Time Since 1986

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“COUVA, Trinidad and Tobago — There was always a chance that a year would come when the United States again failed to qualify for the World Cup, when the hurdles in the nearly two-year slog of regional qualification — the matches on steamy afternoons and muggy nights, the hard tackles and the coin-throwing fans, the lousy fields and the dubious refereeing — all proved too much. That year is 2017. Trinidad and Tobago, whose World Cup dreams ended months ago, stunned the United States, 2-1, on Tuesday night. The result, combined with just-as-shocking outcomes in two simultaneous games in Honduras and Panama on the final day of qualifying for the Concacaf region, ushered in the unthinkable: The American men, mainstays of the World Cup for more than a generation, are out of next summer’s tournament in Russia. …”
NY Times, How the United States Missed the World Cup, Minute by Minute

Tactical Analysis: Stoke City 0-4 Chelsea | Blues take advantage of individual errors

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“Stoke were knocked out of the League Cup after suffering a 2-0 defeat against Bristol City. They had also lost their last two games in the league, so a good result for them here was crucial. Even though Chelsea drew their last league game against Arsenal, they won 5-1 against Forest in the Cup and managed to rest most of their key players for the match against Stoke. …” Outside of the Boot

Where They Used To Play: Borussia Dortmund and the Stadion Rote Erde

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“The Bundesliga is famed for its impressive, modern stadia- in part a legacy of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany. However, some of the biggest and best sides in the league have a longer tradition and some of their past glories were played out in quite different arenas. In this series we take a look at some of the iconic stadiums of yesteryear and relive history. First up…Borussia Dortmund. …” Bundesliga Fanatic

The Best Soccer Teams in History to Miss Out on Qualifying for the World Cup

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France, 1994
“As World Cup qualification reaches its final stages, a number of major nations find themselves in danger of missing out on Russia 2018. As Argentina, the Netherlands, Chile and Ghana struggle to make it, and with reigning African champion Cameroon already eliminated, we look back at the most shocking failures to qualify in World Cup history. …” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Finding Gabriel Jesus and freeing Neymar – how Tite made Brazil into Brazil again

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“A point would have been a respectable result. Brazil had never won a World Cup qualifier up in Quito, losing two of their last three. Still, with 20 minutes remaining and the game goalless, a new era for Brazilian football was heading for a somewhat underwhelming start. When teenage debutant Gabriel Jesus set off after a lost cause that afternoon, it was mostly an attempt to appear useful after a fairly useless opening 70 minutes. And then everything changed. …” Independent

Odd Man Out

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“In November’s Fifa rankings, Macedonia FYR fell to 155th place, the worst position in the country’s history. Their hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup have all but disappeared, the national team reflecting the desperate state of Macedonian football. Milko Djurovski is a former Yugoslavia international and the brother of the former Macedonia FYR head coach Boško. …” The Blizzard

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City: Guardiola uses his full-backs & wingers to get De Bruyne into space

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“Chelsea came into this game on the back of a midweek victory at Atletico Madrid, probably the tactical performance of the season so far – they showed defensive discipline, midfield control and completely outwitted Diego Simeone’s usually-formidable Atletico. The key was Antonio Conte’s use of 3-5-2, a modification upon the 3-4-3 that won Chelsea the league last season. This 3-5-2 allowed Eden Hazard to play centrally, and means Cesc Fabregas can be used in central midfield without Conte having to sacrifice one of his two disciplined defensive midfielders. Two big advantages. …” Zonal Marking

Emmanuel Adebayor puts Cabinda behind him as Togo go through

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“Togo secured the draw they needed against Tunisia and so made it through to the quarter-final of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in their history. Those are the bald facts, but they don’t begin to tell anything like the full story of an extraordinary night at the Mbombela. It may not have been great football, but it was magnificent drama. …” Guardian

Gareth Southgate should switch England to a three-man defence

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“It’s difficult to imagine a starker contrast between performance and outcome than England’s 1-0 victory over Slovenia at Wembley on Thursday night. The narrow win, sealed by Harry Kane’s last-gasp goal, didn’t really mask an uninspiring performance from manager Gareth Southgate’s side. But ultimately it means England have qualified for next summer’s World Cup. Preparation starts now: The FA immediately announced home friendlies against Germany and Brazil next month, knowing those dates wouldn’t be needed for playoff matches, while Sunday’s trip to Lithuania effectively has become another friendly, a chance for experimentation. And experimentation is crucial if England have any chance of reaching the latter stages in Russia next year. …” ESPN

U.S. National Team Still Controls Its Own World Cup Destiny

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“The easiest route to the World Cup, any national team will tell you, is through the front door. Win your qualifying games and you can’t be left out. No worries. No math. No if-we-do-this-and-they-do-that calculations. Win, and you’re in. This, then, is the most appealing route for the United States national team over the next six days. If Coach Bruce Arena and his players win their final two qualifying games, at home against Panama on Friday and at Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night, they can pack their bags for Russia 2018. …” NY Times