Category Archives: Jonathan Wilson

Bendtner heroics the latest surprise in Arsenal’s unlikely title charge

“Perhaps now Arsenal has to be taken seriously as a title contender. Arsene Wenger had been scathing earlier in the week of the “experts” who said his side lacked the squad to maintain their challenge, but after an 11th win in 13 league matches, it stands four points clear of the pack and, notably, 12 points clear of the champions Manchester United. A 2-0 victory over Hull City may have been little more than a procession, and is unlikely to live long in the memory, but it was significant in as much as it was achieved while resting a number of players.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Football becomes mother to Syria’s traumatised child refugees

Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan
“Bassam used to be a striker for Izra, an amateur team in Daraa, southern Syria. He is 31, but his slight stoop and the lines around his eyes give him the look of a much older man. In early April, rebels seized a government air base on the outskirts of Daraa, the army counterattacked and the area has been the scene of fierce fighting ever since.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

England 3-6 Hungary: 60 years on from the game that stunned a nation

Nandor Hidegkuti scores Hungary's final goal in their 6-3 win against England at Wembley in 1953
“Hungary’s 6-3 victory at Wembley 60 years ago resonates like no other in the history of English football. It wasn’t just that this was a first home defeat to non-British or Irish opposition, the magnitude of the scoreline or the brilliance of the Hungarian display: it was the sense of shock. Over the course of one game – one hour even, given Hungary pretty much eased off in the final third – the complacency and the insularity of the English game were exposed. After 25 November 1953, none of the old certainties were certain any more.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

England v Hungary 60 years on: What lessons have been learned?
“You can normally count on a Scotsman to cut to the chase when it comes to English football’s failings. After all, they have been pointing them out ever since 11 Englishmen went north on 30 November, 1872, for the first ever international match. That game ended 0-0, but the Scots would win nine of the first 13 matches between the teams, and 27 of the first 50. England would trail in the head-to-head series until 1983. Losing to more skilful opponents from a country called Scotland was not that shocking for most of English football’s history.” BBC

World Cup 2014: from Spain to Algeria via England – ranking the 32 finalists

World Rankings
“Uruguay become the 32nd and last team to qualify for the 2014 World Cup late on Wednesday night, so we asked Jonathan Wilson and Michael Cox to rate the finalists with only 15 days to go before the draw in Bahia. They both ranked the qualifying teams and gave them a score from 32 to 1. Here is their combined list (where teams have been given the same amount of points the team with the highest single vote will be given the highest ranking).Will Spain really claim a fourth consecutive title – in South America? Are France better than Belgium? And are Australia really not better than 27th?” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson and Michael Cox

Uruguay’s band of brothers closes in on the World Cup

Jordan v Uruguay
“When he took the field for the playoff against Jordan, goalkeeper Martin Silva became the 28th player Uruguay have used in their World Cup qualification campaign. All of the other South American teams used more. Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez is fiercely loyal to his group of players, many of whom have been together since the 2007 Copa America. But sticking with the same players does not necessarily mean sticking with the same strategy. Uruguay can switch formations — from a back three to a back four, for example — and change approaches, sometimes with the same starting lineup.” ESPN – Tim Vickery

Jordan panic after Maxi Pereira goal sets up emphatic Uruguay victory
“Passion, desire and unity, it turns out, can carry you only so far. This was the biggest game in Jordan’s football history, but they were undone by a Uruguay side who remained admirably unfazed by a raucous crowd and had the quality to take the chances that came their way. This was a comfortable victory and next week’s second leg should be no more than a formality at which Uruguay will book their place at the World Cup, where they will be one of the eight seeds.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Uruguay makes South American statement in demolishing Jordan
“It was a good 10 minutes after the final whistle had blown that Uruguay’s players, having celebrated in front of their fans, finally left the pitch. They were applauded off by the few thousand Jordanian fans who had remained, a sporting gesture but one that seemed rather to sum up the gulf between the sides. Before the game, a number of Jordan’s fans had insisted that Kalil Baniateyah and Ahmed Ibrahim would outshine Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, but the sense had been that mainly they were excited to have players of that stature playing in their country.” <a href=”http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20131113/jonathan-wilson-uruguay-jordan-playoff/#ixzz2kkJuHvxjSI

Oscar Tabarez More Important Than Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani for Uruguay

“AMMAN, JORDAN–Oscar Washington Tabarez is beginning to look his age now. Four years ago, at the World Cup, with his neat navy blazers and striped ties, the carefully parted steel-grey hair and the benignly intelligent eyes, he looked like the precinct chief in a host of 70s and 80s cop shows. Now, with his limp ever more pronounced, and the skin of his face a little softer than it was, he has become the retired veteran the mavericks on the street go to when they need some friendly but unsparing advice. He remains one of the most thoughtful and astute coaches in the world game.” bleacher report – Jonathan Wilson

Time for Man United’s Moyes to start showing signs of progress

“Certain debates in soccer rapidly turn into meta-debates, as people stop discussing the point at hand and instead rehearse familiar arguments about the terms of the debate. The England national team is one: Anybody who has ever written anything about a recent game knows that within minutes the comments section will be full of predictable rants, most trying to take some half-baked historical theme and turn it into a panacea. That’s the problem with subjects on which everybody has an opinion: People usually stick to the same one and then repeat it.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

The Question: do football formations tell the whole story?

Niko Kovac was crucial to Croatia's success under Slaven Bilic
“It is rare that a month goes by without somebody emailing me or tweeting me to point out that John Giles has said on television that it’s not the formation that matters but the players. Many seem to offer the line aggressively, as though the assertion somehow invalidates the notion of tactics in football. To draw that conclusion, though, is to misunderstand what tactics and formations are, to fall into the trap of thinking that players can somehow be separated from the tactical framework. Nobody ever played a game of football without both players and tactics. It’s simply not possible: as soon as there is more than one player, there is necessarily a relationship between them and, however little thought goes into that, that is tactical. But that doesn’t mean, as some appear to think, that the formation outweighs the players whose distribution it describes.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

‘And now he has gone, far too soon’

“Last week, the internationals having opened up a little time, I sorted through some old photographs. I came upon a stack from the African Cup of Nations in 2002, in the days when I still fancied myself as somebody who could take a picture, and lugged an SLR camera with me wherever I went. There were shots of the mobilettes that lined the streets outside the main stadium in Bamako, of Taribo West singing at George Weah’s retirement party and, poignantly, of Bruno Metsu, looking fresh and eager in the garden behind the Senegal team hotel.” The National – Jonathan Wilson

Uruguay under Oscar Washington Tabárez can claw way to World Cup

Oscar Washington Tabárez returned for second spell as manager of the Uruguay national team in 2006
Uruguay – Oscar Washington Tabárez
“Rationally, football teams should not have personalities. There is no reason why certain clubs or countries should not be able to change the way they play, or why the same pattern should keep repeating itself, and yet they do. Why do England keep losing on penalties? Some would argue it is to do with basic technique – and yet Holland’s record is almost as bad. Why did Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams score so regularly in the final minutes of games? Given how Roy Keane briefly transferred the habit to Sunderland, it cannot surely only have been fitness?” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Champs League offers reason for hope for Man United, none for City

“It was very close to being a very good night indeed for David Moyes, but even though Taison struck with 14 minutes remaining to prevent Moyes’ Manchester United side from becoming the first English team ever to win in Donetsk, there was satisfaction and encouragement both in a valuable away point and in the level of performance. There were rather fewer positives to draw for the other Manchester cub, as City was outpassed and outplayed by Bayern Munich — and, perhaps even more frustratingly, again ended up the victim of defensive and goalkeeping errors.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United must be wary of Shakhtar Donetsk’s boys from Brazil

“Shakhtar Donetsk should win the championship this season, but it says something for the changes in the Ukrainian league that the verb is ‘should’ rather than ‘will’. The shakiness of Manchester United’s start to the campaign may be more obvious – while United lie 12th in the Premier League table, Shakhtar are third in the Premier Liha – but this has been a sobering couple of months for Mircea Lucescu’s side.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Seeds of doubt starting to sprout in Mourinho’s second Chelsea term

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Toward the end of last season, as it became increasingly clear that Jose Mourinho would be leaving Real Madrid, Chelsea fans began chanting his name. He was seen as the messiah, the coach whose second coming would end the chaos around Chelsea and restore them to the kind of success they enjoyed in his first spell at the club. That may yet happen, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that glory is not inevitable.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Barcelona v Ajax and a philosophical line that stretches back to 1872

“In 1872 a decision was taken that changed football forever, and that would have a major bearing on Wednesday’s Champions League meeting between Barcelona and Ajax. The Scotland team, all of whom were drawn from the Queen’s Park club, looked at the England side they were about to meet in the first ever football international and, realising their opponents were on average over a stone a man heavier than they were, resolved not to engage in the dribbling and charging game that had been prevalent until then, but to pass the ball and keep it away from the English. The tactic was a resounding success: Scotland had the better of a goalless draw and the possession game was born.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Team Focus: Chelsea Wobble Not Yet Reason to Worry

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“Defeats happen. It’s the nature of football, far more of which than we often like to imagine is rooted in luck. In Chris Anderson and David Sally’s book The Numbers Game, they estimate that the result of any individual game is based roughly 50% in luck: talent tends to win out over the course of a season, but there is a significant random factor over the course of 90 minutes. So good teams sometimes lose to bad teams. There are set backs that are down to nothing more than the bounce of the ball. Nobody should ever panic on the basis of one result.” Who Scored? – Jonathan Wilson

World Cup qualifiers: Italy and Netherlands qualify for Brazil 2014

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“Robin van Persie scored twice as the Dutch beat Andorra 2-0, and Turkey’s 2-0 win in Romania ensured they could not be overtaken at the top of Group D. Italy just needed to beat the Czech Republic to qualify, and goals from Giorgio Chiellini and Mario Balotelli overturned an early Libor Kozak strike. Belgium, Germany and Switzerland need two points to secure a place in Brazil. Germany guaranteed at least a play-off spot with a 3-0 victory in the Faroe Islands thanks to goal from Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil and a third from Thomas Muller. Bosnia-Hercegovina and Greece both secured at least a spot in the play-offs in Group G, while France are likely to be in the play-offs after their 4-2 win in Belarus put them level on points with Group I leaders Spain, who have a game in hand.” BBC

World Cup qualifiers: who’s in, out and who has their fingers crossed
“Uefa. Italy came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 and Holland beat Andorra 2-0 to secure their places in Brazil next summer, both leaving fascinating battles for second in their groups and the possibility of a play-off (only the best eight runners-up from the nine groups play off). In Group D, Hungary, having surrendered the initiative with their 3-0 defeat to Romania on Friday, seized it back by thrashing Estonia 5-1, while Romania lost 2-0 at home to Turkey. …” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Tactical Analysis: How must England modernize their tactics for success?

England's manager Roy Hodgson talks with Frank Lampard and Gary Cahill during a soccer training session in London Colney
“With all of the talk of FA Chairman Greg Dyke and the targets for the England national team over the past week, it seems many have already written off the team’s chances of success at the coming world cup in Brazil 2014. There also seems to be an acceptance that England will find it difficult to qualify, and with this mood of doubt and discontent there is arguably a perspective whereby many fans would not be surprised if England were to fail to qualify, or at least not directly progress. Once again England fans have been put through a stuttering and inconsistent qualification campaign, with many unconvincing individual and team displays leaving many questions to be answered.” Think Football

Why do Premier League stars keep looking disjointed in English shirts?
“It wasn’t good, but it was good enough. England scrapped and ground its way to a 0-0 draw against a strangely subdued Ukraine to clamber over the toughest remaining obstacle between it and qualification for the World Cup, but it’s debatable how much credit it can draw from a stodgy performance. In a sense, this was typical England, technically substandard but sufficiently determined to drag itself through. In terms of spirit and defensive resolve — if not necessarily defensive shape — there was much to commend; in terms of ball retention and chance creation virtually nothing.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Mykhaylo Fomenko’s forward thinking gives Ukraine hope for the future

England v Ukraine
“For a long time football in Ukraine has been backward looking but that is beginning to change at last. For the first decade after Soviet fragmentation everything revolved round Valeriy Lobanovskyi and for the decade after his death everything revolved round Andriy Shevchenko, whom Lobanovskyi had hailed as being closest to his ideal of the ‘universal player’ and who revered the Colonel and his ideas. Lobanovskyi’s genius had been to keep evolving. He stayed at the top of the game for 35 years because of his ability to adapt but his legacy was stasis. Everything came back to his way of doing things; his philosophy became a religion that had to be obeyed.”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Mykhaylo Fomenko reignites Ukraine’s World Cup qualifying campaign
“Out of chaos has come hope. When Oleh Blokhin quit as national coach of Ukraine after the 1-1 draw against England at Wembley to take charge of Dynamo Kyiv, there were three schools of thought. One thought it an outrage that anybody should abandon what was perceived as a patriotic duty; one accepted that, having spent 17 years as a player at Dynamo, the emotional pull was too strong to resist; the other breathed a sigh of relief at the deposition of a cranky and authoritarian manager whose teams had played crabby, bad-tempered football. As Dynamo’s slow decline continues – they lie sixth in the table after eight games and, as Metalist Kharkiv and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk grow, are arguably not even Ukraine’s second side (after Shakhtar Donetsk) any longer – it is the third school that seems most reasonable.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Roy Hodgson and England keen to make a point in Ukraine
“Ever since he unwisely admitted to thoroughly enjoying the dull scoreless draw between Manchester United and Chelsea last month, Roy Hodgson has been castigated for his innate conservatism. The England manager sets his sides up not to be beaten, it has been said, values a draw almost as much as a win and rarely attacks with sufficient aggression to deliver a knockout.” Guardian

Riddled with injuries, England faces two decisive World Cup qualifiers

“Sunday was a grim day for Roy Hodgson. It started badly as the England manager was denied a seat in the directors box at Anfield, seemingly because there were too many sponsors who had to be accommodated. Hodgson initially had to take his place in a section of seats usually reserved for scouts. The day got worse as confirmation came that Wayne Rooney will miss the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with a head injury, and it deteriorated further as Phil Jones and Glen Johnson were forced out of Liverpool’s win over Manchester United with injuries, Daniel Sturridge suffered a groin strain and Jack Wilshere, battling stomach cramps, had to come off before halftime in Arsenal’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Africa comes to the boil with seven play-off places still up for grabs

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Michael Essien – Ghana
“You can tell a World Cup is approaching because Kevin Prince-Boateng has suddenly decided he feels like playing international football again. The attacking midfielder retired from international football in 2011, but has ended his exile to come into the Ghana squad for Friday’s final World Cup qualifier in which Ghana need only to avoid defeat against Zambia to secure a place in the play-off round for World Cup qualifying. The structure of the African preliminaries may be nonsensical, but they do guarantee drama: 10 groups of four, with the top sides going forward to two-leg play-offs, with the winners going on to Brazil.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Tactics: a bumpy ride for Bayern

“As coach of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola demonstrated a healthily idiosyncratic streak within the parameters of the club’s prevailing philosophy. And, as the new season begins in western Europe, the most pressing tactical question this term is what will he do at Bayern Munich? How will he react to a club that is not so steeped in those principles – and one that won almost everything there was to win last season, much of it in record-breaking style?” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United, Chelsea play to a defensive stalemate

“After a couple of years of harum-scarum goalfests between the big sides, Monday’s meeting between Manchester United and Chelsea was a return to attrition. It’s dangerous always to read too much into one game, but the indications are that defending is back at the top level of the English game — and it may be that that leads to improved performances in the Champions League. Many will suggest that is the influence of the return of Jose Mourinho, and it is true that he has no qualms about playing reactive football, but the stalemate at Old Trafford was just as much to do with the approach of David Moyes.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea- Tactical Analysis
“A game between United and Chelsea is always monumental. This particular fixture, the first big game of the season, was further intensifying, as it marked David Moyes debut as United boss at the Old Trafford. Mourinho returned to the scene of some of his greatest successes, and with all the speculation surrounding Wayne Rooney (involving the two clubs), the game was further spiced up. The final score of Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea seemed a fair result, a scoreline that both sides played for and will be content with. Neither would particularly like to drop too many points this early in the Premier League season.” Outside of the Boot

Kolo Touré shows signs of recovery at Liverpool after decline

Kolo Toure
“Usually when players decline it is a process so slow that at first it is almost imperceptible: a fraction slow to react here, slightly late to a challenge there, occasionally outmuscled or outpaced in a way they never used to be. Sometimes it is to do with age, sometimes with injury, sometimes form and confidence is eroded and never returns. With Kolo Touré, though, you can pinpoint the moment of crisis absolutely.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester City’s tactical shifts make for a brilliant performance

“Holistic has been the buzzword at Manchester City since Roberto Mancini was dismissed as manager at the end of last season. It was much derided at the time, but City’s 4-0 demolition of Newcastle United on Monday evening was a demonstration of what holistic football can look like. If City continues to play as well as it did in its Premier League opener, new manager Manuel Pellegrini won’t have to worry about his job security. The statement City probably regretted releasing when showing Mancini the door referred, of course, to more than just team selection and style of play, but it was evident from City’s four signings this summer than there was a clear system of play in mind, with at least one alternative.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Not Afraid Of Repetition: David Peace’s Red Or Dead Reviewed

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“David Peace is not afraid of repetition. Repetition underpins and underscores all of his work: names and phrases, sentence constructions, entire paragraphs, they loop and swirl, come back and back and back again. It is repetition that gives his books their staccato rhythms, their hypnotic, insistent force. He uses repetition better than any other writer currently at work. But in the wake of The Damned Utd – Peace’s bestselling novel, and later successful film, of Brian Clough’s catastrophic time as manager of Leeds United Football Club – Red or Dead could seem a repetition in itself. It is, after all, another novel about football. It is another novel set in that nostalgia honey-trap between the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-eighties. And it is another novel to focus on an iconic football manager – Bill Shankly, a figure perhaps even more beloved than the mercurial Clough.” The Quietus

Red or Dead by David Peace: From football to the battle against age, the war against death
“Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. They’re the first three words of Red or Dead and repetition is soon established as both a theme and a style. The first scene depicts an unnamed man entering an office and confessing to ‘a voice from the shadows’ that ‘the strain had proved too much’. In context, it seems clear that the man is Phil Taylor, the manager whose resignation in 1959 led to the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager of Liverpool and the transformation of the football club over the next 15 years from second-flight also-rans into giants. Yet the archetypal nature of the description suggests that this is something universal, that as one man feels the strain another rises to take his place, that the cycle turns as inevitably as one season follows another.” New Statesman – Jonathan Wilson

A matter of life and death
“Here is David Peace, on his publisher’s website, explaining why he wrote his new novel Red or Dead: ‘I have written about corruption, I’ve written about crime, I’ve written about bad men and I’ve written about the demons. But now I’ve had enough of the bad men and the demons. Now I want to write about a good man. And a saint. A Red Saint. Bill Shankly was not just a great football manager. Bill Shankly was one of the greatest men who ever lived.’ This fictional biography, written in that same repetitive prose for more than 700 pages, does indeed portray the legendary Liverpool manager as a saint. More’s the pity for the long-suffering reader. … Red or Dead seems intended as his magnum opus – the kind of big book a big novelist produces mid-career. It tackles a great figure, Shankly, who has been fading into myth.” FT – Simon Kuper

Review: Red or Dead, By David Peace
“Every time I finish a David Peace novel I feel like I’ve gone a few rounds in the ring with a title contender. I can’t think of another British novelist who writes with as much conviction, dedication and sheer bloody-mindedness as Peace, whether it’s the Red Riding Quartet based on the Yorkshire Ripper, his miners’ strike novel GB84, his Japan-set fiction, or his best known work, The Damned United, detailing Brian Clough’s time at Leeds United.” Independent

amazon: Red or Dead, David Peace

Channel4: Peace on Shankly’s ‘love affair’ with Liverpool (Video)

YouTube: Red or Dead by David Peace – An extract

New man, new strategies

“In a world in which the rich are getting even richer and success seems increasingly the preserve of a select handful of clubs, this season’s Premier League promises a rare openness, with the big three of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all changing manager. It is an instability that could just open the door for Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and, with a couple more signings, perhaps Liverpool.” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson

Anzhi chaos could send Samuel Eto’o falling into José Mourinho’s arms

“There were two big stories in Belarus in the last week of July. On the plus side, their premier, Alexander Lukashenko caught a catfish bigger than the pike Vladimir Putin had landed in Siberia a few days earlier. More difficult to comprehend, though, was the news that Uralkali, a Russian firm run by Suleiman Kerimov, had broken off a business agreement with a Belarusian company that effectively fixed global potash prices. It’s hard to say precisely what the consequences will be, but pressure has already been placed on the Belarusian rouble, while a surge in the supply of potash should lead to a decrease in the cost of fertiliser (and thus perhaps food). It could also lead to the sale of Samuel Eto’o to Chelsea.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The sad truth the Luis Suarez saga reveals about modern soccer

“This has been the two-speed summer. At the start there were the deals done smoothly and swiftly — Fernandinho joining Manchester City, Simon Mignolet going to Liverpool, Emanuele Giaccherini signing for Sunderland — and now, with a little under four weeks of the transfer window still to go, there are the deals that feel as though they have already been going on for ever: the eternal and increasingly tedious trinity of Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Transfer window comes second best to controversy in eastern Europe

“The interminable transfer sagas of Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, Luis Suárez and Robert Lewandowski are dominating the headlines around western Europe but there is also plenty going on in the east of the continent.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

New Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino’s tactics fit Barca’s style

“All events depend, to an extent, on chance, on a thousand, a million circumstances coinciding. It may be that Gerardo Martino is ousted from Barcelona at the end of the season having finished second in the league and having failed to take them to a seventh successive Champions League semi-final and his appointment will be seen as a regrettable short-term move necessitated by the dreadful news that Tito Vilanova requires further treatment for cancer. Or it may be that he achieves glory, a new dynasty is begun, and the world looks on the turbulent events of this summer and reflects on what a peculiar business appointing a manager can be.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Ronaldinho joins select club after Atlético’s debut Libertadores crown

“As Matías Giménez stepped up to take Olimpia’s fifth penalty, Cuca, the Atlético Mineiro coach, knelt on the touchline. Clad in jeans and a T-shirt, he rocked back and forth, head bowed, arms crossed over the sequined pattern on his chest. He didn’t look as Giménez’s shot struck the top of the post. The noise of the crowd told him the kick had been missed and he pitched forward, to lie still for a second or two before being engulfed by his celebrating coaches: Atlético, after another unlikely comeback, were Libertadores champions for the first time.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino’s ideology shaped by Old Boys’ network

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“For three days nobody saw Marcelo Bielsa. He was in his room at the Conquistador Hotel in Santa Fe but he had not emerged since arriving, chewed up by the 6-0 home defeat Newell’s Old Boys had suffered against San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores earlier that week. His project, his great plan, was falling apart and El Loco was suffering a crisis of faith. Newell’s had won the Apertura championship in 1990-91, playing brilliant, vibrant football but, exhausted, they had stuttered badly in the Clausura championship and were even worse in the Apertura in 1991-92.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Martino planning for Messi and Neymar
“Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said he will have failed in his role as new Barcelona coach if he is unable to get Lionel Messi and recently signed Brazilian star Neymar to play to the best of their ability in his starting lineup. Martino, speaking at a news conference to announce his arrival at the Camp Nou on a two-year contract, has the task of accommodating two of world football’s biggest stars next season — one of them from his hometown of Rosario, Argentina. But he is certain that Neymar, who arrived this summer on a five-year deal, and four-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi will complement each other perfectly on a Barca team that he believes can go on winning for many years to come.” ESPN

Arsenal fans, players caught up in the transfer window frenzy

“In most walks of life, if you can buy something for less than it’s worth, it’s considered a positive. If you see a painting in a second-hand shop, hand over $10 for it and it looks good in your hallway, you’ve done well; if it turns out to be by a noted artist and you can sell it at a profit, even better. If you find a grocery shop that sells vegetables a little bit cheaper than at the supermarket down the road, you shop there. Cheap is good. But soccer, especially in the transfer window, is a game of bluff and counter-bluff, when image is at least as important as the reality, and value seems something that is only considered long after the fact.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

With bids and bluffs, the EPL transfer season is in full swing

“There is something about the transfer window that is like reading a complex spy thriller. Everywhere there is information and misinformation, unlikely alliances are formed and you never quite know who’s trying to bluff whom. Agents insist their clients are attracting interest from bigger sides to encourage buying clubs to act and to drive up wages. Selling clubs insist other clubs are interested to push up prices and to try to encourage a swift deal. But what’s really interesting is when buying clubs feign an interest in players they have no intention of signing.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Stevan Jovetic: a winning combination of focused professional and big kid

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“The first time I saw Stevan Jovetic was in the austere beigeness of the Hotel Podgorica. It was the day before Montenegro’s first international as an independent country and there was an air of great ceremony about each stage of the process. This was the first pre-match press conference. Men in suits fussed about, the little flags on the press-conference desk were crisp and even the majority of journalists had put on collared shirts. Then, to the side of the stage Jovetic emerged, his Brian May mop lank with sweat, his red and yellow training kit marked with mud and grass stains. Grinning broadly, clearly bored of waiting, he started flicking a ball from foot to foot.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

In Mario Gomez Fiorentina have seen something the rest of Europe did not

“Mario Gomez scores lots of goals: 75 in 115 league appearances for Bayern Munich, 63 in 121 for Stuttgart and 25 in 58 games for Germany. Even last season, when he had been relegated to second choice behind Mario Mandzukic, Gomez rattled in 12 goals in 11 starts. When he joined Bayern in 2009, he was the most expensive transfer in Bundesliga history. If various add-on clauses end up being triggered, he will surpass Nuno Gomes as Fiorentina’s record signing.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The Neymar problem

“The Cristiano Ronaldo problem has become the Neymar problem. That both are superb players is not in doubt; both are supremely skilful, capable of a sudden and devastating acceleration, and both can turn games in an instant. But they can also be negligent of their defensive duties and allow the opposing full-back to get forward untended.” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson

As opponents adapt, Jordi Alba helping to give Spain a new dimension

“The beauty of this Spain team is that it keeps evolving. After technical skill and the ability to retain possession finally overcame the neurosis of past failure at Euro 2008, there came the years of control in 2010 and 2012, as World Cup and another European Championsip were collected playing safety-first keep-ball. For all the criticism of its supposed negativity in Poland and Ukraine there were signs of another Spain emerging, one that had begun to come to terms with the problem posed by an opponent that sits deep against it.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Carlo Ancelotti will be like a breath of fresh air at Real Madrid

“Perhaps Carlo Ancelotti’s greatest gift as a coach is his affability. He desperately wants to succeed but he recognises there are things in life other than football – such as food, even if he is rather slimmer now than he once was. His years at Milan under Silvio Berlusconi and at Chelsea under Roman Abramovich passed without ructions with owners noted for interfering. He even managed to cool a developing (on one side at least) feud with José Mourinho by suggesting they simply pack it in.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Brazil 2-0 Mexico: Brazil start strongly but fade

“The opening suggested Brazil would win comfortably – but they spent the majority of the second half clinging onto a one-goal lead. Luiz Felipe Scolari kept the same XI that defeated Japan in the opening game. On the right flank, Jose Manuel de la Torre stuck with the duo that ended the defeat to Italy – Gerardo Flores on the wing and Hiram Mier at full-back, with winger Javier Aquino on the bench. Carlos Salcido switched from left-back to the centre of midfield, with Jorge Nilo coming into the side. Brazil started ferociously and pinned Mexico back into their own half, but their overall performance was disappointing.” Zonal Marking

Mexico continues frustrating, sluggish form at Confederations Cup
” There has been good news for Mexico during the Confederations Cup this week, but little of it has come from any of the match outcomes in Brazil. Victories for the USA over Honduras and Costa Rica over Panama have kept Mexico in the third automatic qualifying slot from the Concacaf hexagonal, but the team’s own form continues to frustrate. There is nothing shameful about losing to Italy and Brazil and if that were all there was to it, there’d be little reason for concern. The problem is context. Mexico has now won just one of its last 11 games — admittedly eight draws mean it was unbeaten in nine before the tournament — but the sense of optimism stimulated by its success in last July’s Olympic Games has all but evaporated. The crispness and rhythm of the team’s performance in London last summer has been replaced by sluggishness, despite the fact that six of the players who faced Brazil on Wednesday were in that same Olympic squad.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

“Neymar produced a commanding performance as Brazil secured their place in the Confederations Cup semi-finals with victory at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza. This was not the dominant performance that some had expected but it was Brazil’s first competitive victory over Mexico in nine years and a third successive win under head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.” BBC

Fabio Capello’s Russia show Portugal the benefits of a strict regime

“Managers react to leaving the England job in a number of ways. Glenn Hoddle resumed a club career. Kevin Keegan seemed to give up on football management altogether. Sven-Goran Eriksson became a preposterous playboy, linked with such increasingly outré schemes that it always comes as something of a start to remember he once made IFK Gothenburg one of the leading forces in Europe. Steve McClaren took himself off inter-railing round medium-sized clubs in the Netherlands and Germany. And Fabio Capello set his not inconsiderable jaw at the world, put a not inconsiderate pay cheque in his pocket and set about making Russia at last live up to its potential.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Africa’s big guns are feeling the heat in World Cup 2014 qualifiers

Nigeria celebrate
“The nearer it gets to its denouement, the more you look at the format Africa has chosen for World Cup qualifying and wonder. It is brilliantly absurd, a guaranteed way of generating drama, with the very real possibility that many of the continent’s grandees will miss out. Pre-qualifying whittled it down to 10 groups of four, with the group winners to play off in five two-legged ties for the five qualifying slots. In that the system makes no concessions to vested interests of established powers it is to be applauded, although its wisdom may be questioned if none of the continent’s big guns make it through: one bad day in October could be enough to see any side out.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

The great European Cup teams: Ajax 1971-73

“It’s difficult now, given the city’s reputation for liberalism and excess to imagine Amsterdam in the years following the second world war. It was a dull, staid place where, as Albert Camus wrote in the Fall, published in 1955, ‘for centuries, pipe smokers have been watching the same rain falling on the same canal’.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Bayern Munich 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: Dortmund take control with good pressing, but Robben moves upfront to make the difference

Arjen-Robben-celebrates-scoring-Bayerns-second-goal-with-German-midfielder-Thomas-Mueller-1912253
“Bayern initially struggled to get into the game, but eventually emerged victorious after a strong second half performance. Jupp Heynckes selected Jerome Boateng rather than Daniel van Buyten at the back – the only real selection decision either manager had to make. Jurgen Klopp named his expected XI. Dortmund started the game excellently, pinning Bayern back and attempting six shots before Bayern had managed one – but eventually their pressing dropped, and Bayern continually exploited the space in behind the Dortmund defence.” Zonal Marking

Champion Bayern Munich sets magnificent yet troubling standard
“For Bayern as a whole, this was a story of redemption. For Arjen Robben, in particular, it was a story of redemption. And for Jupp Heynckes it was, a story of vindication, of proving his point so that he can leave, having been forcibly retired, having proved he is a winner and having become only the fourth coach — after Ernst Happel, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jose Mourinho — to win the European Cup with two different teams. Bayern had lost in the final in 2010 and 2012. It had been defeated at the last in 1999. It had lost surprisingly in 1987 and 1982. It had come to look guilty of that least German of attributes: choking. There was a moment at Wembley when it looked as though it might once again falter at the last: after an awkward opening half hour it had dominated and had taken the lead, before conceding an equalizer with a wholly needless penalty.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich: Thomas Müller simply refused to be denied in Champions League final
” On the eve of this visit to Wembley, and reflecting on chastening nights in Madrid and Munich, Müller had observed: “If you lose three finals in four years, you are going to be labelled chokers.’’ Not here. Not on Müller’s watch. He would not let it happen. Bayern would not be called chokers. Müller and his team-mates wanted this too much. They were too fit, a reminder of the exceptional medical conditioning of the celebrated physician Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. Bayern were too hungry, particularly as a compelling game wore on and the lactic acid ganged up on Borussia Dortmund.” Telegraph – Henry Winter

Dortmund 1-2 Bayern- Tactical Analysis
“A full house and an electric atmosphere greeted the two top teams of Germany and Europe in the UEFA Champions League Final. Bayern came into the game as favourites to win the game,and won a wonderful end-to-end contest. A weakened Dortmund team started without their talisman and future Bayern player, Mario Gotze. Weidenfeller started at the back, with the usual back 4 of Pisczcek, Schmelzer, Subotic and Hummels in front of him. In midfield, Bender and Gundogan were the deeper pair, and Grosskreutz, Reus and Kuba were in the advanced roles. Up front, it was the Pole, Robert Lewandowski.” Outside of the Boot

Robben gets redemption as Bayern Munich wins Champions League
“… Arjen Robben, a winger but always in the center of things. We saw by turns the worst, the best, the worst and finally the best again of the brilliant Dutch midfielder. It is ever thus with Robben. In the first half, he had golden chances on two occasions but failed to convert as Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller stoned Robben twice, bringing back memories of similar Robben chances in the 2010 World Cup final.” SI

Premier League report card

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“We kick off our Premier League report card with the top of the table. Click here for our evaluations of the bottom half. How did the season play out for the bottom half of the Premier League table? Our club-by-club reviews below tell the story of clubs that put in a consistent shift and clubs that barely stayed up. And then, of course, there was the train wreck that was QPR. Sorry, ‘Arry.” ESPN

Drama-lacking Premier League season sets up compelling 2013-14
“It was not a vintage season. By the final day, all that remained to be settled was whether Arsenal or Tottenham would finish in the top four and although there was drama at White Hart Lane, with Spurs battering on the Sunderland door for 88 minutes before it found a breakthrough, it was rendered largely irrelevant by the fact that Arsenal was 1-0 up at Newcastle. For the 18th season in a row, Arsenal finished above its north London rivals. Elsewhere, it was a day of goodbyes.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Chelsea’s indomitable will to win nets it another title

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“There has been a lack of logic about Chelsea from the moment in 2003 when Roman Abramovich bought the club. First it had unthinkable amounts of money, and then unthinkable amounts of chaos as manager followed manager and planning became shorter and shorter term. Everybody agrees — probably even Abramovich himself — that it is no way to run a football club, and yet what has emerged amid all the flux is a side with an astonishing spirit, a team that seemingly has the ability at times just to decide it will win and shrug off anything that might prevent that happening. Winning the Europa League may essentially be a consolation prize, but what a consolation.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Rafa Benítez speaks about his time at Chelsea, zonal marking and more
“Chelsea’s remarkably busy 69-game season ends on Sunday against Everton (Fox Soccer Plus, 11 a.m. ET), and you could forgive Chelsea interim manager Rafa Benítez if he’d decided to take a short nap on the couch late Friday afternoon after winning the Europa League title on Wednesday and ensuring that Chelsea will finish in the Premier League top four to qualify for next season’s Champions League.” SI

Sepp Blatter’s World Cup plans show no respect for logic – or football

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter
“Sepp Blatter, it may not come as a complete surprise to learn, talks nonsense at times. He was at it again last week, speaking at the Asian Football Confederation conference in Kuala Lumpur, urging Asia to press for more places at the World Cup. It was wrong, he said, that Europe and Conmebol could have 19 of the 32 slots at the next World Cup. ‘We have to get a better balance,’ he told delegates. ‘You are a powerhouse. You must be aware that you are a powerhouse … If you have the same number of participants from all continents then there is a balance of strength and a balance of forces … There is no chance to kick them [Europeans or South Americans] out before one of them is in the semi-finals.'” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Sunderland, Stokoe, Montgomery: football would never be the same again

“At a little before quarter to five on 5 May 1973, Ken Burns raised his left hand into the air, lifted his whistle to his lips and blew. Across Wearside, there was a scream of relief. At Wembley, Bob Stokoe got uncertainly to his feet, adjusted his trilby on his head and set off on an uneasy jog towards Jim Montgomery. On the terraces, fans who had been whistling desperately for the end for at least 10 minutes could at last celebrate. And amid it all, my dad always said, he felt a shaft of sadness as the realisation struck that football could never be this good again.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Alex Ferguson was as adept at evolving tactically as any manager in history

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“Perhaps Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest gift, certainly the one that has maintained him at the top of the British game for 35 years, has been his ability to evolve. No side he has managed has ever been good enough to satisfy him; he has always been willing to cut and adapt. Probably the most shocking change came in 2000. United had won the Treble the previous season and they were 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League when they met Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. No game since the Premier League came into being has arguably had such tactical ramifications.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

End of an era as Ferguson calls it quits
“One of the most momentous eras in world club football is about to draw to a close with the retirement, in 11 days’ time, of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United. United confirmed his departure – to become a director and club ambassador – after a rush of sudden overnight speculation.” World Soccer

Alex Ferguson retires: Manchester United prepare for life with David Moyes but aura of a ‘mad man’ will remain
” All that drive, all that competitiveness, all those early starts to get on with plotting campaigns and all those late nights to keep on plotting triumphant campaigns. All the teams built and rebuilt, all those rivals seen off and trophies claimed. Ferguson slept little and won loads. Year after year, season after season. And now it is over. English football will seem so different in the post-Ferguson era. It will feel like Trafalgar Square without Nelson. As a manager, Ferguson was inimitable. David Moyes, a sound appointment as his successor, must be himself when assuming control of Manchester United, not seeking to replicate his more illustrious compatriot.” Telegraph – Henry Winter

A Few Thoughts on Ferguson
“We’ve been preoccupied with term papers the last few weeks, but this is important. Alex Ferguson retired this morning, meaning that the long summer we’ve grown accustomed to slipped into Winter before we even had a chance to catch up on Doomsday Preppers. Ferguson, austerity embodied, was never the type to arouse any sort of intense passion. Besides a few Chicharito-induced flirtations, notable for being as fervent as they were fleeting, I had no relationship with Manchester United, nor any practical concern for their well-being. To a certain extent, that’s a result of the indifference that follows unattached fans, but perhaps more so, evidence of my casual disdain for successful clubs.” Futbol Intellect

Sir Alex Ferguson’s highs and lows
“Even when reaching the standards that Sir Alex Ferguson has maintained at Manchester United, there have been moments of crashing disappointment that match the crazed highs. Ferguson, though, has used the failures as fuel to fire his successes.” ESPN (Video)

David Moyes a safe choice for Manchester United but comes with risk
“There is a paradox in the employment market, something anybody who has ever applied for a first job, or tried to step up to the next level in their chosen career will have experienced — and that is the issue of experience. It’s understandable that employers want employees who have experience, but if you haven’t got it, how are you supposed to get it if nobody will give you a job without it?” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Man United Alex Ferguson retiring at end of season
“Alex Ferguson is retiring at the end of the season, bringing a close to a trophy-filled career of more than 26 years at Manchester United that established him as the most successful coach in British football history.” SI (Video)

Barcelona 0-3 Bayern: Bayern untroubled at the back & consistently dangerous down the flanks

“Bayern produced another highly impressive performance to qualify for the Champions League final with ease. Tito Vilanova decided not to risk the half-fit Lionel Messi, so Cesc Fabregas played as the false nine. David Villa replaced Alexis Sanchez, while Alex Song was in for the injured Sergio Busquets, and Adriano for the suspended Jordi Alba. Jupp Heynckes brought back Mario Mandzukic for Mario Gomez, and Daniel van Buyten played rather than Dante. Bayern replicated last week’s second half performance – they pressed before retreating into a solid defensive shape, then counter-attacked expertly.” Zonal Marking

Bayern Munich outclasses Barcelona en route to Champions League final
” Arjen Robben finished the tie off three minutes after halftime at Camp Nou, but in truth, it was finished a week ago at Allianz Arena. Bayern Munich completed the task, a 3-0 win and 7-0 aggregate, with rather less alarm than Borussia Dortmund had against Real Madrid the previous night, and so there will be, as had always seemed likely after the first legs, an all-German Champions League final. The astonishing thing about this Barcelona side is how far it has fallen and how fast. With Lionel Messi consigned to the bench by his hamstring injury, Barca was flat and, essentially, devoid of hope. What was startling in Munich last week was not that it lost; this is, after all, an exceptional Bayern team, but how it lost discipline, how it allowed the tie to be ended in the first leg.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Good outweighs the bad for Liverpool’s biting Luis Suarez

“Seven minutes into the second half of Liverpool’s Premier League match against Chelsea on Sunday, Luis Suarez sent a cross into the path of Daniel Sturridge, who cushioned a volley into the bottom corner of the net to equalize. It was a fine finish but a truly stunning pass — conceived in a fraction of a second and played with an astonishingly precise level of accuracy, in terms of weight, angle and height. It was a moment of extraordinary skill, and yet it will barely be mentioned this week because of what happened 14 minutes later.” SI – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Political football: how Brazil’s military hijacked the beautiful game

Brazil
“As five-time World Cup champion, the Brazilian national team has become known the world over not just for winning, but for winning with a joyous panache that has become synonymous with the beautiful game. However, behind every one of Ronaldinho’s toothy grins and camouflaged by the color-shocked mohawk clinging to Neymar’s head lies an intensely complicated relationship between nation and sport.” World Soccer

“Brazil is a country commonly associated with the highest level of soccer. The world has grown used to Brazil winning, but the Brazilians themselves seem to have an insatiable appetite for world football dominance. Their nation has produced soccer players that have come to represent spontaneity, creativity and skill on the playing field. The bandy-legged Garincha, a walking paradox, the goal scoring machines Friedenreich and Ronaldo, the modern hope Kaká, and, of course, the eternally great Pelé – all these players have left their indelible marks on football’s canon.” Soccer Politics

Zero Dark Thirteen – Brazilian football wallows in the mire of corruption
“If the 2014 World Cup is to signal the arrival of Brazilian football’s brave new world, a desperately needed fresh start for the game in a country where on-field majesty is usually matched by administrative skulduggery, it can’t come soon enough. The year is not yet four months old but it feels, to misquote autocratic former president Getúlio Vargas, as though Brazilian football is standing in a sea of mud. Worse, it often appears as though chaos has become the norm.” Independent

Socrates and the Corinthians’ Democracy
“As the global sporting world faces one corruption scandal after another, former Manchester United star Eric Cantona presents the stories of five football heroes whose social conscience led them to challenge unjust regimes, join opposition movements and lead the fight for democracy and human rights. Football Rebels looks at a side of football that does not always make the headlines.” Aljazeera (Video)

All the President’s Torturers
“Chosen to host both the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games and with abundant natural resources and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, one way or another Brazil is set to become a major player in the affairs of the 21st century. With an ambitious, progressive government, a population of around 193 million, now well established federal democratic structures and apparent political stability, many even see it as a global superpower in the making, perhaps even deserving of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council in the not too distant future. But its solid international reputation has not always been so glossy.” Aljazeera (Video)

The Copa Libertadores and differing stories for Ronaldinho and Riquelme
“The Copa Libertadores this season has been the story of two brilliant players in the twilights of their careers: one having immense fun as though he can’t quite believe he’s still getting away with it, the other grumpily raging against his waning powers. For Ronaldinho and Atlético Mineiro, this has been, so far, a tournament of glee, of great goals and big wins; for Juan Román Riquelme and Boca Juniors, it has been all about suffering. Both will be in the last 16, but their journeys could hardly have been more different. It’s also been the story of the continuing development of Ecuadorean football.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Neymar! Reducing Brazil’s Football ‘Trade Surplus’
“It’s time for another sporting feature since we haven’t had one for quite some time now. Fortunately, there’s interesting stuff courtesy of TIME Magazine about the changing complexion of ‘the beautiful game.’ Even if the Brazilian economy has cooled off markedly in recent times, it has had a strong run-up and most folks remain optimistic about its economy’s future. Contrast its fate with that of the European football powerhouses that traditionally import South American players in droves–especially Portugal, Spain,and the United Kingdom–and you begin to understand the reduced “trade surplus” of Brazil sending away its best footballers time and again…” International Political Economy Zone

FA Cup violence unlikely to revive hooliganism

“There will be those who insist the violence that broke out toward the end of Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal between Millwall and Wigan Athletic was an isolated incident; it’s the usual way of downplaying such things. But it wasn’t. I saw three separate scuffles in the Millwall end before the brawl that was shown on T. I saw around 30 men going toe-to-toe, swinging punches at each other and then turning on police when, belatedly, an effort was made to stop them. Other journalists spoke of at least two other incidents, and there had been an unpleasant edge to the atmosphere all day.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City: City’s attackers combine well throughout

“Manchester City produced a fine performance to record a rare victory at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson played two attack-minded wide players, with Ryan Giggs in the centre and Tom Cleverley only on the bench. Phil Jones continued alongside Rio Ferdinand in the centre of defence. Roberto Mancini left out Sergio Aguero, favouring Carlos Tevez as a lone striker with David Silva just behind. City were significantly better here – they dominated the first half, took the lead in the second, and Mancini used his bench better too.” Zonal Marking

Man City has formula for countering powerful Manchester United
“Even if Manchester City wins its seven remaining games this season, Manchester United needs only to take 10 points from its last seven games to clinch a 20th league title. As Roberto Mancini said, “It’s finished.” And yet for all that, there is a strange feeling of City ending the season on a high after winning the Manchester derby 2-1, while United has questions to answer. In a sense, the league this season has almost been so easy for United that it’s hard for it to derive any great satisfaction from its (almost certain) success.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Tottenham 2-2 Everton: Spurs go ahead very early, then equalise very late
“An interesting battle between two sides both without their key attacking player. Gareth Bale was injured – as were Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon. Andre Villas-Boas was forced to select a ‘mezzala’ on either side – Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sigurdsson – in the absence of natural wide players. Jan Vertonghen was at left-back. David Moyes was without Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini. He handed a rare start to Ross Barkley, and used Leon Osman behind Victor Anichebe, rather than selecting two strikers. This was an interesting but disjointed game, where both sides had spells of dominance. There were lots of small tactical features, rather than a clear overall pattern.” Zonal Marking

Tactics: playing the game the “right way”

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“Certain ways of playing have become imbued with moral values, with certain styles becoming accepted as being the ‘right’ way to play, of representing ‘good’ football. For instance, when Oldham Athletic put Liverpool out of the FA Cup in January by playing a direct game based around the raw physicality of their centre-forward Matt Smith, there was much chortling about their robustness and how Liverpool’s delicate, academy-groomed youngsters ‘didn’t like it up ’em’.” World Soccer – Jonathan Wilson

Sinisa Mihajlovic embodies the bonds broken by Balkan wars

Croatia fans
“The wind howls down a bleak street in Croatia’s Borovo Naselje, lashing the rain against the garage door that Sinisa Mihajlovic’s father had to replace every few weeks because of the force with which his son practised his free-kicks against it. It is not just the garage door that has been replaced. The whole house was destroyed during the Yugoslav war. Mihajlovic, wonderful and controversial footballer and now manager of Serbia, is defined by the war, adding another layer of complexity to the already incendiary meeting between Croatia and Serbia in World Cup qualifying on Friday night.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson (Video)

Croatia v Serbia: the sporting rivalry – in pictures
“Ahead of Friday night’s World Cup qualifier between neighbours and long-standing enemies, Croatia and Serbia, Alex Fenton-Thomas reviews some of their most hostile sporting encounters of the past two decades”
Guardian

Croatia beat Serbia in bitter World Cup qualifier between Balkan foes
“Croatia beat Serbia 2-0 in a highly charged 2014 World Cup qualifier on Friday, the first match as independent states between the bitter Balkan foes since their war in the 1990s. Serbian players were greeted with nationalist chants – including ‘Kill, Kill the Serbs’ – from the packed Maksimir stadium, where thousands of riot policemen were deployed to prevent trouble from the home fans.” Guardian

Assassin. War Criminal. Football Club Owner.
“In 2006, FK Obilić Belgrade, the only team to have ever been crowned champions of Serbia that wasn’t Red Star or Partizan, were relegated from the Serbian top flight. Five more relegations over six seasons followed, meaning a team, who at the start of the 1998/99 season drew 1-1 with eventual finalists Bayern Munich in the Champions League qualifiers, kicked off this season playing seventh tier football. All this in a country whose top two divisions are the only two that aren’t regional.” Slavic Football Union

Didier Drogba omission signals end of Ivory Coast golden generation

“Nothing in football is ever entirely definitive but, if there was any doubt that Ivory Coast’s golden generation came to an end in Rustenburg in February during the Africa Cup of Nations, it was removed by the omission of Didier Drogba from the squad to face Gambia on Saturday. Ninety-six games and 60 goals after he made his debut against South Africa in 2002 Drogba will not even be part of the squad, although whether he has been dropped or asked to be left out remains unclear.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Arsenal’s loss the latest setback in EPL’s steady decline

“It was, in the end, heroic failure for Arsenal, undone only on the away goals rule — but failure it was. Bayern Munich was surprisingly sloppy — perhaps precisely because the first leg was so simple for the club — but Arsenal regained a significant amount of self esteem with its performance in a valiant 2-0 win that wasn’t quite enough. And so, for the first time since 1996, there is no Premier League team in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

quo vadis journalism?

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“Is it a bad time to be a journalist? Not to mention becoming one? What are the chances in journalism today? Are there any? It might seem somewhat preposterous a question to ask from a young researcher but having researched almost 50 years of sports journalism in the last 5 years, there is some justification to ask such a question.” Do not mention the war

The Question: is the away-goals rule counterproductive?

Newcastle's Danny Simpson heads the ball during the Europa League first leg against Anzhi
“Imagine that on Tuesday night, rather than playing that late free-kick short so Milan lost possession and conceded a fourth goal, Robinho had hurled it into the box. Imagine Philippe Mexès had jumped for it, the ball had taken the merest brush off his pony-tail and that had been enough to take it past Victor Valdés. That would have made it 3-1 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate and Milan would have beaten Barcelona on the away goals rule.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson