“The four national teams of the United Kingdom are supposedly England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each with its own FIFA affiliated side, these nations have spanned generations and produced some wonderful footballers, and in the case of England have even won the FIFA World Cup, triumphing by a margin of 4-2 over West Germany in 1966 – a fond memory to those who witnessed that historic match.” Football Pink
“‘Sport is very authoritarian,’ said the Brazilian marine engineer Ivo Herzog. ‘And it mobilises millions of people. Apparently, sport attracts a certain kind of human being: men who used to work inside totalitarian forms of government, who are products of non-free environments, who can’t handle a democratic reality. They appear to feel comfortable inside sports administrations, in a way they don’t out in the real world.’ For a couple of years, Herzog has been running a campaign to remove José Maria Marin from his positions as president of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) and head of the local organising committee for the World Cup.” The Blizzard
” For many years Fulham enjoyed a great deal of success. Funded by substantial investment from their then owner Mohamed Al Fayed, the club rose from the third tier of English football to reach the top flight and then became an established Premier League club. They finished as high as 7th one season, followed by a memorable run to the Europa League final, where they were narrowly defeated by Atletico Madrid after extra time. As Al Fayed noted, the breathtaking 4-1 victory over the mighty Juventus en route to that final was ‘probably the greatest game ever seen at Craven Cottage.’” The Swiss Ramble
“A whirlwind. That would be one way to describe Hertha Berlin’s season. They teetered on the edge of relegation twice in the middle of the season and were in the conversation for the calamity that was the last few match days. Even if their chance was slim to get relegated, they didn’t help themselves by posting the league’s third worst form in the second half of the season with 4 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses. The DFB Pokal didn’t go so well either, as they were one of Arminia Bielefeld’s victims amid the 3.Liga sides’ impressive run. The Berliners didn’t have the season they’d hoped, but in looking at it and their position on the table, it could have been much worse.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“Another ‘Derby de la capitale’, another win for Roma. The fight for the Champions League spot is what made this clash even more special as Roma were before this game on 2nd place with 67 points and Lazio 3rd with 66, meaning that the winner of this game was able to secure a ticket for the Champions League 15/16.” Outside of the Boot
“When Danny joined Zenit St Petersburg from Dynamo Moscow for €30m in 2008, he was greeted with widespread scepticism. This was, after all, a Zenit team that, inspired by Andrey Arshavin and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, had just won the Uefa Cup. Did they really need to spend that much on a player from one of their bitterest rivals? Seven years on, Danny leaves Zenit as a club legend: a draw at FC Ufa nine days ago enough to secure him his third league title with the club.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“An exciting Ligue 1 season came to an end with a bit of an anti-climax. After Lyon & Marseille both held their own as potential challengers to Paris Saint-Germain’s domination in France, the capital club showed their experience and retained their title, now making it three successive championship wins having gone 18 years without one. For manager Laurent Blanc, it was a fantastic response to all his critics, with an impressive showing in Europe as well and also the possibility of winning a domestic treble, something never done in France earlier. But he isn’t the only one to have impressed both domestically and in Europe, with a few others deserving as much credit as French domestic football begins to set itself up on the footballing map.” Outside of the Boot
“In August 2011 it looked like a new dawn was breaking at Queens Park Rangers, who had just been promoted to England’s top flight for the first time in 15 years. Moreover the Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes had bought a majority 66% shareholding in the West London club from the previous shareholders, who included the Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and team principal Flavio Briatore. Compared to his flamboyant predecessors, the affable founder of Air Asia seemed far more level-headed and was certainly much more communicative with the fans. Furthermore the remaining 33% of the club was owned by the family of Lakshmi Mittal, one of the wealthiest men in Britain, whose son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, is on the board.” The Swiss Ramble
“He’s made a name for himself as a Football Manager fiction writer, but here on PNIG, Chris Darwen turns his hand to how stats can be used in the game. Friday, 8 May 2015. 20:28. This is what happens when a story-teller starts to try and understand the game a little more. This is what happens when I start to read a book and try and apply it to the real world of FM. This is what happens when all the little things that I have thought about for the last 20 years of football management gaming all falls into place.” Put Niels In Goal
“Barcelona wrapped up La Liga with a 1-0 victory at the home of Atletico Madrid, the previous champions. Diego Simeone played his usual formation, but made a few changes from the team which drew 2-2 at Levante last weekend. At the back, Diego Godin returned in place of Miranda. In midfield, Thiago dropped out and Mario Suarez came in. Upfront, Fernando Torres got the nod over Mario Mandzukic.” Zonal Marking
“Last Sunday Zenit St. Petersburg won their fourth Russian Premier League title and their fifth league title in total, 31 years after they won the first in the Soviet Supreme League in 1984. The championship was secured after a 1-1 draw with FC Ufa, making them unreachable for their closest rivals – CSKA Moscow and FC Krasnodar. Zenit’s road to success had already started last season, when André Villas-Boas signed a two year contract on the 18th of March, following a disastrous ending to Luciano Spalletti’s five year reign in St. Petersburg.” Russian Football
“Great trilogies are few and far between but when bitter rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors were pitted against each other in the Copa Libertadores round of 16, just days after their scheduled league clash, hopes were predictably raised for a Superclasico triple header of cinematic proportions. As is often the case, it proved to be a disappointment and was ultimately overshadowed by violence. While the brutality on show may have not been out of place in The Godfather, that’s where any comparisons with Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpieces end.” Outside of the Boot (Video)
Continued South American soccer violence falls on authorities, clubs
“The aphorism ‘let the punishment fit the crime’ is unlikely to be heard much in South American soccer’s corridors of power. Whether it is the week-in, week-out thuggery of Brazil’s torcidas organizadas and Argentina’s barras bravas or the far too frequent tragedies served up in the Copa Libertadores–which in recent years have included the death of 14-year-old Bolivian fan Kevin Espada, struck by a flare fired by Corinthians fans in Oruro in 2013, and last week’s now notorious PepperGate incident at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires–perhaps the only thing more striking than the violence that scars the game across the continent is the inability of the authorities to do anything about the problem.” SI (Video)
“Having stormed past Brentford in the Championship play-off semi-finals, Middlesbrough are tantalisingly close to a return to the Premier League. If they manage to overcome Norwich City in the final, they will be back in the top flight after six long years, which would be a fine reward for owner Steve Gibson, who has been supporting the club (in both senses of the word) for so long. Boro spent eleven consecutive seasons in the top division before relegation in 2009, winning the League Cup and reaching the UEFA Cup Final during this period, but promotion has to date proved elusive.” The Swiss Ramble
“Barnes’ ‘football bible’ has evolved over his 11 years as Sunderland’s match commentato. Behind every great football match is a great commentator, and in front of every commentator is a set of notes. BBC Radio Newcastle’s Nick Barnes and NBC Sports’ Arlo White have some of the best—and most unique—in the business. In this extended issue 05 feature, we present a side of the commentary booth rarely seen. Check back tomorrow for part II, featuring Arlo White, exclusively on The Pitch. All photographs by Henrik Knudsen for Eight by Eight.” 8 by 8, Cheat Sheets II: The Colorful Commentary of NBC’s Arlo White
“‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ The quote by Picasso should tell you that great people don’t just come up with great ideas, but take all the best ideas from the greatest minds and apply them to their own visions. There are many in the game with the opinion that Pep has taken Bayern backwards and is not a great manager – inheriting two great squads. The recent first leg loss to Barcelona may have hurt Guardiola. It would be naïve to call his tactics naïve but they were certainly found out by the pace of Barca’s attack and the sheer class of Lionel Messi. However, the second leg showed more of what Guardiola is about. And, if the team’s defending hadn’t been so sloppy, they may very well have got back into the tie.” Outside of the Boot
“FC Barcelona is on the verge of winning the treble, while Real Madrid will end the year without a major trophy. Last year, Real Madrid was the champion of Europe while Barça was trophy-less. What the hell happened? Why is it that two teams that seemingly play the same exact formation can have such wildly different outcomes? In Spain, there has been a lot of debate about whether Real Madrid’s 4-3-3 formation is feasible. Proponents say something like ‘Look at Barça! It plays the same way and also has three superstars up front, and it makes it work!’” Fusion
“Juventus qualified for the European Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate victory. Carlo Ancelotti surprisingly dropped Pepe and shifted Sergio Ramos back into his favoured centre-back position, after an unsuccessful stint in midfield during the first leg. Upfront, Karim Benzema was fit to return, and otherwise it was Real’s expected side, with Marcelo and Dani Carvajal returning having been rested for the weekend draw with Valencia.” Zonal Marking
Tactical Analysis: Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia | Valencia’s counter attacks and Real’s positional play
“The last clash between the teams ended in a 2-1 win for Valencia. This time in the Santiago Bernabeu, things didn’t quite turn out the way Ancelotti would have want them too either, as Real were down by 0-2 after just 30 minutes of the game. Thanks to a much better performance in the 2nd half, Real managed a draw courtesy a stunner from Isco, which was also the last goal to be scored ending the game at 2-2.” Outside of the Boot
“It is 11 years since I visited Dnipropetrovsk. It may have changed, but back then it was a bracingly industrial city, the river thick with green sludge. Amid the factories and the endless brick there was one oasis: Dnipro’s impressive training base, a block of immaculate, manicured pitches surrounded by trees. ‘Dnipro always had a good school,’ said their then coach, Yevhen Kucherevskyi. He is dead now, killed in a car crash in August 2006, but the academy remains a cornerstone of the club: 12 of the first-team squad are home-grown. On Thursday Dnipro face Napoli in Kiev in the second-leg of their Europa League semi-final.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Things move quickly at Real Madrid. One day you’re on top of the world, celebrating La Décima, and then before you know it, a year has gone by and suddenly everybody’s (probably) looking for a new job. Technically, Real Madrid are still alive in the La Liga title race, but with a four-point gap and two games to play, it’s doubtful they’ll chase down Barcelona. After yesterday’s 3-2 aggregate loss to Juventus in the Champions League semifinals, the Madridistas are staring down a season without a single trophy,1 and at a club where the only constant is change even when things are going well, nobody’s job is safe — unless you’re a certain Portuguese superstar.” Grantland
On verge of treble, winning proves to be Barcelona’s elixir after turmoil
“In January, Barcelona was in crisis. The vaunted front three hadn’t gelled, Lionel Messi was out of sorts and furious at being left out for the first game after the winter break (even though he had been in each of the two previous seasons as well) and Luis Enrique appeared to be a dead man walking. And that’s without even mentioning the off-field problems–the transfer ban, the boardroom wrangling, the allegations surrounding the Neymar transfer and the general sense that the club had tarnished its good name with some of its commercial deals. Four months on, Barca is three games from the treble.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“Just five years ago Crystal Palace were in administration and the South London club’s prospects looked bleak before they were rescued by a consortium of wealthy businessmen, known as CPFC 2010 and fronted by Steve Parish. They purchased the club and, importantly, also managed to convince the bank to sell them the freehold of the ground. Since those troubling times, which included a deduction of 10 points, the club has prospered, gaining promotion from the Championship only three years after its rebirth and enjoying two seasons in England’s top flight. The journey has not been completely smooth, as Palace have had to replace their manager three times in the Premier League, though even these changes proved very timely.” The Swiss Ramble
“On June 24, 2003, two days after winning La Liga, Real Madrid held a press conference led by former player, manager, and then-sporting director Jorge Valdano. He sat alongside Enrique Sánchez, spokesman for a board presided over by president Florentino Pérez. Two days after winning the league, the club announced that it was firing its manager, Vicente Del Bosque, and letting go of captain Fernando Hierro. The decision came on the heels of a very tense title celebration where many of the players expressed their disgust at the way Pérez ran the club.” Soccer Gods
“If you’re reading this, you don’t need to be informed of the magnitude of the Barcelona – Bayern Munich Champions League semi-final. There were all kinds of storylines and sub-plots to the actual game. Most of them involved Pep Guardiola. It was Pep versus Messi, Pep versus his old club and his old teammate Luis Enrique, then you had Pep versus the machine he had created and every other storyline in between. That was why it was no suprise that Pep started the game in what might be described as an altenative style of play against a team like Barcelona. Guardiola is considered a visionary and the high intensity press that Bayern started with was emblametic of Pep’s thinking. It didn’t work though.” Outside of the Boot
Guardiola’s gambles put Bayern in hole in nightmare Camp Nou return
“That was what Guardiola had said of Lionel Messi before Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal between Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but to suggest the match simply bore that out would be too simplistic. To begin with, there was that extraordinary first 16 minutes when Guardiola played a man-marking back three against Neymar, Luis Suarez and Messi. It was perhaps the boldest, most startling defensive gambit in the history of the Champions League, and it may have consequences for Guardiola.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“This season’s Champions League semifinals don’t feature the four most outstanding goalkeepers, defenders, wingers or strikers in the world, but it’s difficult to argue with the selection of deep-lying midfielders. In Sergio Busquets, Andrea Pirlo, Xabi Alonso and Toni Kroos, we’re being treated to an exhibition of probably the world’s four most revered footballers in that role. Between them, the quartet have won the last three World Cups and seven of the last 12 Champions League titles. More crucially, in different ways, they’ve helped redefine the nature of their position.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“Three-quarters of the way into the opening leg of their Champions’ League semifinal in Barcelona, FC Bayern looked good to take a decent result with them to Bavaria. All seemed well as Pep Guardiola’s side had kept out everything their opponent could throw at them as the clock ticked past the seventy-five minute mark. Then . . . two crushing blows in the space of three minutes turned the tie on its head, with a crippling – and completely avoidable – third goal coming in injury time. In truth, all three goals were avoidable in a game that had looked so good until the wheels came dramatically spinning off on what was a warm, late-spring evening on the Mediterranean coast.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“In the past two weeks, we’ve updated our Talent Radar player rankings in the Goalkeepers, Defenders and Midfielders section. We’re now left with this season’s final issue of the Forward Rankings. It’s common tendency that players playing up front attract the most attention, from both fans and clubs. Many of the names on this list will be the subject of transfer speculation in the coming months. We’re going to leave any kind of speculation surrounding these players out of this and give you an unbiased judgement of how the players have done this past season to let you know the reason for the hype around them.” Outside of the Boot
“For almost any other team, the past 10 years would have been considered a period of startling success: five league titles, three League Cups, one Champions League trophy and two other trips to the finals. But while 10 years of the Glazer family at Manchester United have provided some of the finest soccer Old Trafford’s ever seen, they’ve also served up a decade of mismanagement – decline, panic and glory. Taken out of context, those successes ignore the club’s extensive, perhaps more significant failures. For every near miss Manchester United endured, different management could have pushed for another trophy, and while trophies are not the only symbol of merit for a club, they are one of the most important for a club of United’s powers.” Fusion (Video)
“It was quite predictable that Stoke, a team with a reputation for tough play, should be able to roll over a typically soft-centered Tottenham side and so they did. Usually, I might just point out a few issues surrounding the dismal performance and proffer a positive solution but this week happens to coincide with a bit of research I carried out which paints a dismal picture of where Tottenham are with regard their inability to prevent chances. Amongst analytic types, this is not a new theory, i’m reminded of Colin Trainor and Paul Riley respectively highlighting and dryly remonstrating with Tottenham’s defensive issues. This plight has been a bit of an elephant in my room: I knew it was there, but tried to ignore it. Hugo Lloris has had a great season? Well, you only get that kind of swift analysis when a keeper is busy, and he sure has been.” Stats Bomb
“Around 3-4 years ago, the 4-4-2 system was considered extinct, because of the ease by which this system could be dominated by a system comprising 3 central midfielders (e.g. Mourinho’s 3 midfielder system as a prominent example). However, in last couple seasons, the 4-4-2 formation has had a bit of a renaissance with teams such as Simeone’s Atlético and Schmidt’s Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen (B04) deploying this formation. Since the 4-4-2 formation heavily emphasizes horizontal compaction, the midfield players rarely lose their battles, while the 4-4-2’s narrow shape means that the midfield can be supported by the attacking line, wide players, and full backs.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“In the build-up to Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, Jonathan Wilson analyses how Bayern Munich and Barcelona have changed since they last met in 2013; how Pep Guardiola might set up his team and who will he play up front if Robert Lewandowski doesn’t make it; and how Barcelona have evolved under Luis Enrique from the team that Pep built” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“The biggest event on the footballing calendar is drawing close, and we’re at the last stop on the road to Berlin. With excitement coming close to fever pitch, we at Outside of the Boot decided to get a closer look at the challenges and opportunities each team will face at this stage. Here are the opinions of one of our writers.” Outside of the Boot
Champions League Semi Final: The Bayern Munich perspective Outside of the Boot
“As a rule football clubs that go through a lot of change do not perform very well, but in recent times Southampton have proved to be an exception with significant upheaval at all levels seemingly not impacting their progress. Not only have the Saints had three managers in the last two years, but they have also experienced significant player turnover. Nigel Adkins, the manager who led them to two successive promotions, was unceremoniously sacked after a poor start in the Premier League, paving the way for Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival, before the Argentinian in turn departed for Tottenham last summer, leading to the appointment of the former Dutch international Ronald Koeman in June.” The Swiss Ramble
“Short of confidence, no real impact and without a shot on goal to his name, Gareth Bale cut a disappointing figure during Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat at Juventus. The fit-again 25-year-old Wales forward was eventually substituted after 86 minutes, his performance in the first leg of this Champions League semi-final drawing criticism from both Spanish and British media.” BBC
“The list of achievement is impressive: a penalty decider in the thrilling Pokal shootout against Leverkusen, an away goal in Porto keeping Bayern’s UCL hopes alive, and finally the opener in Bayern’s 6-1 dismantling of FC Porto. These key moments make Thiago Alcantara’s return to Bayern’s starting lineup appear perfect. Doubts about the Spaniard lengthy injury exodus and wider future have quickly disappeared. According to this convention thinking, Thiago’s arrival back on the field has been a combination of perfect timing brilliant football. But a question can be posed, is this conventional thinking true?” Bundesliga Fanatic
“In December, a film critic friend of mine brought me to a private screening of ‘The Water Diviner’, or ‘Elderly Gladiator with a Happy Ending’, as she named it. Apart from the tragically untalented female lead and the need for Russell Crowe to have a love interest, there were some poignant moments that tugged at the heart-strings. Any parent would find it a difficult watch, though when it fully descended into a Turkish-Australian-American circle jerk, the film was already well off the rails. It surprised me that a man with Crowe’s intelligence, experience and depth of knowledge would not see a potential minefield for the ‘epic’. The very people, Turkish Patriots, that he was lauding, also helped perpetrate the first genocide of the 20th century. And worse, the release of the movie coincided with the 100th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide.” backpagefootball
“Dortmund progressed to the DFB-Pokal final on penalties following a 1-1 draw. Pep Guardiola started with a three-man defence, and surprisingly named Rafinha, traditionally a right-back, as the left-sided centre-back. Further forward, Mitchell Weiser was handed the right-sided midfield role for the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions, with Arjen Robben fit enough only for the bench. Thiago Alcantara returned to the head of a midfield triangle, so Mario Gotze was on the bench.” Zonal Marking – Michael Cox
“Maybe – and I speak from a position of curious ignorance – the Australian game is going through one such moment with the successful launch of the A-League, qualification for FIFA World Cups, the move to Asia and hosting of this year’s AFC Asian Cup. Perhaps historians will look back on this time as the vital moment in the development and mass popularisation of an Australian football culture, the time when all the pioneering work of the likes of Les Murray and Johnny Warren really started to bear fruit. In the development of the Brazilian game, it is clear that the 1930s have a magic place. At the start of the decade, Brazil lagged miles behind Uruguay and Argentina as South America’s third force. By the end it was a different story. Third place in the 1938 World Cup in France had opened the planet’s eyes to the rise of the men in (for just over another decade) white shirts.” World Game – Tim Vickery
“Manchester City is teetering on a crisis. Since the new year, when they were tied with Chelsea atop the table , they have struggled, and are now sitting 13 points behind the soon to be champions. Not only that, but the team has looked poor doing it, showing little drive or defensive structure. Manchester City supporters are questioning his leadership and ability to motivate his players. The agent of city’s star midfielder, Yaya Toure, called Pellegrini ‘a good coach, but a weak manager.’” Soccer Politics
“Then a team are 13 points clear at the top of the table and have been manifestly the best side in the league that season, perhaps it’s only natural that others should look for sticks with which to beat them. In Chelsea’s case, it’s because some apparently consider them boring, a point Arsenal fans made with gusto during last Sunday’s 0-0 draw – you hope, given their past, with at least some semblance of irony. José Mourinho’s riposte this week was magnificent.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“All things considered, Chelsea’s draw vs. Arsenal on Sunday was an archetypal Jose Mourinho way of effectively wrapping up the Premier League title: a goalless draw away at your title rivals, and a couple of digs at the opposition manager after the match, which prompted a debate about what constitutes ‘boring football.’ The consensus, it appears, is that Chelsea have regressed since the start of the campaign, in terms of playing style, at least. Before Christmas, Mourinho’s side played a fluid, attacking, energetic style of football that surprised many as it utilised the assists of Cesc Fabregas, the dribbling of Eden Hazard and the power of Diego Costa.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“Constantine, the eastern capital of Algeria, is situated atop two steep plateaus some eighty kilometres inland of the Mediterranean coast. Seven suspended bridges run over and above the menacing gorge below, connecting the two crags at various points. During the colonial era, Constantine was a roughly divided city. One plateau was generally reserved for Europeans and the other for the indigenous. In a reflective letter addressed to everyone and no one, my paternal grandfather recounts how he managed to find work in Sidi Mabrouk, then a neighbourhood exclusive to European police families in Constantine.” In Bed With Maradina
“What if? It’s a question so often posed in the realm of sports. What if a certain player wasn’t suspended, traded or hurt? What if a controversial call went another way? What if a coach had called a different play? What if a certain matchup had occurred at a different time. That last question, above the others, has piqued our interest. In light of Floyd Mayweather finally facing Manny Pacquiao this Saturday in Las Vegas, years after both boxing greats were widely considered to be at their absolute best, it got us wondering: What if two soccer titans of their era who never got the chance to meet at their peaks actually did? All week in the build-up to Mayweather-Pacquiao, Planet Fútbol will take a historical deep dive into some of the greatest teams in soccer history, why they ultimately never got the chance to meet their equals and what might have happened if they had.” SI – Jonathan Wilson (Video)
“Realistically, even if Arsenal had beaten Chelsea on Sunday, they weren’t going to catch the presumptive champs. A seven-point lead with five matches remaining would’ve required a massive collapse from Chelsea. And as we saw yesterday, ‘collapses’ aren’t José Mourinho’s kind of thing. Still this is Mourinho’s Chelsea and Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal we’re talking about, so even a scoreless draw in a meaningless game can’t keep us from finding things to argue about. Here are the three biggest story lines from yesterday’s match.” Grantland
“Todern football was invented in Barcelona in the mid-90s. Of this season’s Champions League quarter-finalists, four sides are managed by players who turned out for Barça in 1996: Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Julen Lopetegui and Laurent Blanc. Within a couple of years, they had been joined by Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu as well as the coach, Louis van Gaal, and his assistant, Ronald Koeman. In slightly differing ways, the eight are apostles for the Barcelona way – or, more accurately, given the influence of Ajax on that style, the Barçajax way. However, there was another presence there, initially as a translator and then as a coach. In the Barçocracy of modern football, there is a fallen angel.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Javier Hernandez struck in the 178th of the 180 minutes in this European Cup quarter-final, but Real had been the better side throughout. Carlo Ancelotti had a mini-injury crisis, with Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Marcelo all out. This meant Javier Hernandez, Fabio Coentrao and Isco were all recalled, although the replacement for Modric was more surprising – Sergio Ramos was fielded in the middle alongside Toni Kroos, as Ancelotti’s system was more 4-4-2, or 4-2-2-2, than 4-3-3.” Zonal Marking
We Can Play Defense, Too: Real Madrid Bring a Katana to Atlético Madrid’s Knife Fight
“The eighth Madrid derby of the season was not for the faint of heart, but they never are. So what gave? While it took until the 87th minute, Carlo Ancelotti found a way to beat his crosstown rivals for the first time this year. Why was Real Madrid able to win a match that was less a soccer game and more a late ’90s brawl between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat? It probably has something to do with this: Real scrapped their pretty attacking approach and got down and dirty with some defense.” Grantland
“With a click of a remote, the modern soccer fan can flit effortlessly from Chelsea versus Man United in London to Juventus-Lazio in Turin or Bayern against Dortmund in Munich. As stars like Eden Hazard blur into Carlos Tévez then Thomas Müller, we stare groggily at the magnificent, endless, globalized spectacle being played out in front of us in gleaming stadiums by athletes from every continent, trying to remember what game we are watching, or where it is taking place. ‘If it’s Tuesday, it must be Munich,’ we think, our heads throbbing. It wasn’t always like this. No man is an island, wrote John Donne, but with its draughty, brutish terraces, muddy pitches, halftime pies laced with botulism, and Luddite-esque devotion to the long ball game, there was a time, not so long ago, when English soccer felt a world apart from its European cousins. The five-year club ban from European competition in the 1980s and `90s also added to the sense of not so splendid isolation. Even today, the relatively small number of English players keen to ply their trade abroad can give the national team a parochial air.” Fusion
“It’s an undeniable fact that Ajax has one of the best football academies and youth teams in world football. The Dutch club has had many talented youngsters in the club’s academy who turned out to be some of the best players to graze the surface of the earth: the names of Dennis Bergkamp, Marco Van Basten, Johan Cruyff and many more. One of the recent academy graduates is now considered as an upcoming hot prospect in football. He is the 19 year-old wonderkid, Anwar El Ghazi.” Outside of the Boot
“Bob Marley balancing and bouncing a football on his thighs; dribbling in a spray of dust through some anonymous Jamaican dirt yard; knocking a ball down with his chest, trapping it with his inside foot, hammering it into the net with a flick of the toe. Not the archetypal image of the reggae legend but apt nonetheless. Marley loved music and ganja and Rasta. And he loved football. As a boy in Nine Mile, in the central Jamaican highlands, he was content kicking a dried-up watermelon around the lopsided waste ground scraped out of the hillside. His passion for the game stayed with him throughout his life. Indeed, there were times he seriously considered forgoing a musician’s life for a professional footballer’s.” 8by8
“As Newcastle United’s passionate supporters endure yet another frustrating season, it all seems a far cry from the days when they were known as “The Entertainers”. Mid-table mediocrity appears to be the pinnacle of the club’s ambition, while a cup run is to be frowned on, as it might weaken the chances of remaining in the top flight, where they can continue to benefit from the lucrative Premier League TV deal. Most of the fans’ displeasure is aimed at owner Mike Ashley, a highly successful businessman who has turned around the club financially, but who clearly favours profit over performance. He has made a series of strange choices, such as hiring his mates Dennis Wise and Joe Kinnear, that have slowly drained the supporters’ spirits, leading to widespread protests and even an organised match boycott.’ The Swiss Ramble
“Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was close to landing the Premier League title this time last year, a 3-2 win at Norwich leaving the Reds five points clear at the top of the table with three games remaining. Fast forward 12 months and Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Aston Villa means Rodgers has become the first Anfield boss since the 1950s not to win a trophy in his first three seasons in charge. So why have things gone so poorly after such a spirited challenge for the title last season? And as a result of this season’s labours, will Rodgers still be on Merseyside next season? Here, former Liverpool players, an ex-manager, fans and pundits tell BBC Sport what’s gone wrong – and what should happen next.” BBC
“As we approach the penultimate month of the Premier League season, few would have expected Garry Monk to be in with a shout of collecting the Manager of the Year award when it is all said and done. In fact, the odds on Monk, who was appointed Swansea boss on a permanent basis in July, being one of the first managerial casualties this year stood pretty high. But, amidst all the derision and hindsight 20/20, there was good reason for Monk’s name to be falsely associated with managerial misery.” backpagefootball
“Roberto Soriano was born to Italian parents in the German city of Darmstadt in 1991. Having started out with local amateur teams in the region, his performances quickly attracted attention from scouts representing professional clubs. As is so often the case in Germany, Bayern Munich came out on top and Soriano joined the Bavarians’ youth setup aged 15 in 2006.” FourFourTwo (Video)
“The two teams that met in the one of the most charged local derbies of all time in the Champions League final of last season clashed again on the European stage in the quarter final this time around. Last season was the breakout year for Atletico, as they won La Liga, and went all the way to the Champions League final. That, however, was where it ended for them, with their eternal rivals Real Madrid beating them in heart breaking fashion to lift La Decima. This season was a totally different story though, with the European champions failing to record a single victory over their rivals. Both sides came into the game pretty evenly matched, and left quite the same.” Outside of the Boot
“Serhiy Rebrov scored only one goal for West Ham United, the winner in a 3-2 victory over Watford in November 2004. He was wearing an orange sweatband on his wrist when he did so, an indication of his support for the demonstrators who were occupying Independence Square in Kiev, protesting against irregularities in the presidential election run-off that had seen Viktor Yanukovych defeat Viktor Yushchenko. Yushchenko won a re-run election, but Yanukovych returned. A decade on, the demonstrators were back in Independence Square fighting him again, their success precipitating the Russian seizure of Crimea and the war in the Ukrainian east. Rebrov is an ethnic Russian who was born in Horlivka – or Gorlovka, if you prefer the Russian name – about 30 miles north-east of Donetsk.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“‘Luis Suárez did what he does best,’ sighed Edinson Cavani, fresh from watching his Uruguay team-mate score a pair of magnificent goals at the Parc des Princes. The forwards had just experienced wildly contrasting evenings, but even the crestfallen Cavani had to admire the way his international colleague had put FC Barcelona on the brink of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain.” UEFA (Video)
“As the full-time whistle sounded, the fans at Juventus Stadium were happy. Their beloved Bianconeri had just claimed a 1-0 win over Monaco, in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, and as they gazed down from the steep stands to watch their idols shake hands with the opposition, there was a sense that the tie was theirs to lose. And that feeling was justified, too. Juventus probably shaded the contest on home soil, kept a clean sheet and head into the away leg knowing that, despite Monaco’s lofty third-place standing in Ligue 1, the club’s home form is only the ninth-best in France. It’s not a fantastic record, and Monaco’s six wins in 16 appearances at the Stade Louis II will hardly make Max Allegri’s men feel as though they’re visiting a fortress.” Licence to Roam
“Being a Tottenham supporter must be a pretty good test of whether you are a glass half-full or glass half-empty type of person. On the one hand, the club is consistently at the higher end of the Premier League, memorably qualifying for the Champions League in 2010 and only missing out on a technicality two years later (due to Chelsea’s European victory); but on the other hand, it’s often a case of ‘close, but no cigar’.” The Swiss Ramble
“Manchester gathered its two giants once again at Old Trafford; a journey for the Citizens that was found more strenuous owning more to the weight this match held rather than the time spent traveled. Louis Van Gaal’s men had re-created in recent weeks the Manchester United magic of yester years and had gained significant momentum that resulted in plenty of turned heads to take notice. To balance every rise with a fall, we barely had to look beyond the territorial limits of Manchester, as Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City found themselves in a downward spiral ever since the turn of the year. City’s loss last Monday night against Crystal Palace meant that United finally surpassed their cross town rivals in the league.” Outside of the Boot
“… Much of the buzz around American soccer circles lately is about the U.S. men’s national team’s style, or lack thereof, and it’s made me do some thinking. Well, at first I nodded my head in frustrated passion, part of the disgruntled mob. But then Jesse Marsch mentioned the issue, and I calmed down a little. Marsch is a smart guy, so when he made his observation about style out loud to SoccerByIves.com, it turned it from an angry plea to a rational assessment. We use this word all the time, and I’ve never really thought about it actually is. So I started to really think about what it means for a team to have a style, and why, or if, it matters.” Fuion
“Part I: Crumbling Foundations. ‘LT! Did you see last night? Barcelona FOUR to ZERO against AC Milan! Messi with 2, Villa and Alba all scored. Iniesta said they would win and they did!’ This is what my interpreter, Johnny, said after Barcelona’s 4-0 win at the Nou Camp against AC Milan to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit in the 2012-13 edition of the Champions League. Johnny isn’t his real name of course. He’s an Afghan national working for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers in Afghanistan as a linguist. He was assigned to my platoon during my deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom 13. Champions League football can seem very distant from a Forward Operating Base in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, but for Johnny that night, he was in the Nou Camp. For him however, football, and in particular Barcelona, is his escape from the harsh realities of his home. And for many Afghans, the same is true. Football is their oasis.” Outside of the Boot – Part I, Part II, Part III
“With seven games left in the campaign, the English soccer season is effectively over. Chelsea are seven points clear of second-place Arsenal with a game in hand. Manchester City are seven points clear of fifth-place Liverpool. And all the English clubs have been eliminated from the Champions League. Sure, there’s still a relegation battle to be fought, but among the Premier League’s elite, all the excitement has been sucked away less than two weeks into April. Financially, England’s top tier is doing great. Teams up and down the table have become profitable, and a massive new TV deal means the top division has a very bright future. So, with the Premier League in such apparently good shape, why has it become an afterthought as the soccer world heads into its home stretch?” Grantland
Scissors Kick 