Football in Belarus and a tale of false promise

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“It’s easy to forget that the all-conquering magicians of Europe Bayern Munich began their romp to the continental crown last season as the victims of a remarkable conjuring act. A startling result, which saw the grand masters beaten 3-1 in the former Soviet province of Borisov by a team who had never before tasted victory at Europe’s top table, might for all the world have been an illusion mechanised by Belarusian champions BATE for the benefit and bemusement of the world’s press. Not so much a rabbit out of a hat as a tractor, the likes of which are produced at the Borisov Auto Electric plant from where the club draws its name, bursting from the toe of a delicately stitched Bavarian stocking.” World Soccer

Heroes of the Neighborhood

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“Klaus Störtebeker was not his real name. Any self-respecting pirate of the late 14th century picked his own nom de guerre, and Klaus of Wismar gave himself a moniker that means ’empties the mug in a single gulp.’ According to the legend, the mug in question would be about equal to four liters today. After a few years of wreaking havoc on the Northern European coast, Störtebeker was betrayed, captured, and brought to Hamburg for trial. He was beheaded along with 70 or so of his pirate brethren. When a Hamburg senator asked if the executioner was tired after all of this chopping, the executioner said he’d happily behead the whole senate as well. So a second executioner was brought in to behead the first. Störtebeker left a trail of blood (and gold: the core of his ship’s mast was full of it) in his wake.” Roads and Kingdoms

Manchester United 0-1 Everton: Tactical Analysis

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“David Moyes faced his former club, Everton, since making the switch to Manchester United in the summer, at Old Trafford. Moyes has been highly regarded among the Everton faithful, up until his move to Manchester. The Scot, however, failed to record a single away win against the traditional (and now defunct) ‘big four’. Roberto Martinez has managed to better Moyes’ record in his first attempt. Everton, who have lost just 1 league game all season, proved to be more than just a match for the Red Devils, claiming their first win at the stadium since 1992. While Martinez has continued his good start to the season, his predecessor has found it increasingly difficult to live up to expectations at the top of the table, and finds himself under pressure once again.” Outside of the Boot

The Perfect World Cup

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“In Bahia on Friday, the draw for Brazil 2014 represents a crucial stage in the incubation period of World Cup fever. For the next six months, symptoms may include fractured metatarsals, a fixation with Brazilian hotel facilities and cravings for football nostalgia. Much like Second Season Syndrome, there is no known cure, but it is treatable. The 19 previous tournaments have each provided their own iconic moments, images and (possibly apocryphal) tales. Looking back over the competition’s history – and with logistical and ethical fears surrounding the 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions – just what would a perfect World Cup be like?” Football Clichés

Who is the best full-back in the Premier League?

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Ashley Cole
“In modern football there are increasingly few specialists, with advances in conditioning and analysis playing a pivotal role. Nowadays the majority of players are expected to be multi-fictional, able to impact a match in various phases of play. The role on the pitch that has perhaps adapted the most in this sense is that of the full-back.” ESPN

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

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“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

Haringey Borough FC vs Greenhouse – a visit, a match, and a conversation

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“I’ve been living in the London Borough of Haringey for over four years now. Though I’ve been writing about football for only the last few months, my interest in and passion for the game has obviously been around for a lot longer. It is, therefore, with something bordering shame that I have to admit that my visit this Tuesday to Haringey Borough Football Club was my first ever. It will not be my last.” Put Niels In Goal

Fifa World Cup 2014: All you need to know about the draw

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“The 2014 Fifa World Cup takes place in Brazil, starting on 12 June and finishing on 13 July. It will be the 20th time the tournament has been held and the first to take place in Brazil since 1950, when the host nation lost to Uruguay in the final. This Friday will go some way to determining the prospects of the 32 participating nations when the draw for the group stage takes place.” BBC (Video)

Tottenham 2-2 Manchester United: Villas-Boas uses a much more cautious system

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“Tottenham went ahead twice, but mistakes allowed Manchester United back into the game. Andre Villas-Boas brought back Vlad Chiriches in defence, Mousa Dembele in midfield, plus Aaron Lennon and Nacer Chadli on the flanks. David Moyes was still without Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick – Tom Cleverley partnered Phil Jones in the middle, despite the option of £27.5m signing Marouane Fellaini. There was no major theme throughout this game, aside from its openness, but there were a variety of interesting tactical points.” Zonal Marking

Tactics Board: Rooney work ethic shines through
“There are different ways to play as a lone striker and Roberto Soldado and Wayne Rooney provided a study in contrasts. The Tottenham attacker has been criticised for being a peripheral player who does not get involved enough in the build-up play. Against Manchester United he had 25 touches — three fewer than against Manchester City seven days earlier, although he was substituted with 17 minutes remaining.” ESPN

Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester United: Tactical Analysis | Spurs’ superior deep-lying midfield
“Tottenham Hotspur took on Manchester United at the White Hart Lane, both fresh from disappointing league results. The home side had been absolutely thrashed the previous week by Manchester City, with 6 goals flying past them, while United were held away to Cardiff. Many were calling it a must win for both sides, the home side possibly more so. The result, though fair, didn’t do either side any favours.” Outside of the Boot

Lack of Moyes’ identity to be tested vs. Everton

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“A recent development in our expectations of football managers is the insistence that they boast an overarching managerial ‘philosophy’ or ‘ideology.’ It’s apparently no longer enough to simply pick the correct players and formulate tactics to get the best from them — there’s a need for a grander, long-term, all-encompassing insistence upon a particular playing style. While managerial strategy has been a crucial factor in top-level football for decades, these lofty expectations are relatively new — but it’s already become an entrenched factor whenever a new manager takes charge of an elite club. Seven of the current top nine teams in the Premier League have appointed a new manager over the past 18 months, and in almost every case it was easy to deduce their philosophy upon their appointment.” ESPN – Michael Cox

The Danish Fairy Tale

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“A friend of mine is a fan of F.C. København, the most successful Danish league side of the last 10 years. København have won 7 of the last 10 Danish Superliga titles, but are more famous for being a Cinderella team that beat Manchester United and drew Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League. Remarkably, however, København is not the most successful Cinderella that Denmark has produced. That honor belongs to the Danish team that won Euro 1992 against all odds, which wrote a fairy tale that can rival any work by Hans Christian Andersen.” Soccer Politics

Football becomes mother to Syria’s traumatised child refugees

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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

La Liga: FC Barcelona 0-1 Athletic Bilbao: Player Ratings

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“… Another game without a goal for the Brazilian who squandered many of Barcelona’s best chances en route to this goalless display. However, unlike many others I’m going to side with the former Santos star — criticising someone for missing chances is all well and good, but when that player is the only one intelligent enough to break down the opposition defense, you’re made to look a little foolish. Just imagine how few chances we would have created without Neymar’s movement and skill…” Barca Blaugranes

Brazilian thugs promise “World Cup of terror”

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“Football fans have been warned to expect a ‘World Cup of terror’ at the hands of Brazilian crime gangs. The threat was issued by the First Capital Command (PCC as it is better known in its Portuguese acronym across Brazil) in Sao Paulo, who last year was behind the murder of more than a hundred of the city’s police officers. The gang, the biggest criminal organisation in Brazil, is operated from within the country’s prison system and membership numbers run into the thousands.” Backpage Football

World Cup draw set to reveal unique magic

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“Day after day, reports from the land of the next World Cup send shudders through the soul. A collapsing crane claims the lives of two construction workers at the stadium in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian FA, the CBF, makes the sad announcement that the legendary left-back Nilton Santos has passed away after a lung infection. Concerns rise over local companies fleecing visiting fans over accommodation and internal flights. Anger at socio-economic problems is expressed through protests. The 2014 World Cup is currently associated with many issues, few relating to the promise of an on-field spectacle.” Telegraph – Henry Winter (Video)

El Fantasma helps bitter rivals unite

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“The ghost of 1950 is back to haunt Brazil. With Uruguay snapping up the last place in the 2014 World Cup, the possibility opens up of history repeating itself – of Brazil organising the party only for its tiny southern neighbour to walk off with the prize. In the final game of the 1950 tournament host Brazil needed just a draw to become world champion for the first time. It seemed to have a hand and a half on the trophy when it took the lead early in the second half but Uruguay hit back, silencing a huge crowd in the newly-built Maracana stadium to win 2-1.” The World Game -Tim Vickery (Video)

Sheriff Tiraspol, the club at the heart of Europe’s forgotten conflict

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“Had Tottenham Hotspur arrived in Moldova’s eastern city of Tiraspol for their recent Europa League fixture by road rather than by air they would have been greeted by an almost unique phenomenon in international diplomacy. Travelling from the Moldovan capital Chisinau to the city that homes league champions Sheriff requires visitors to cross perhaps the only international check-point in the world that brings you out in the same country that you thought you were leaving, at least in any legal sense. The Moldovan dispute with breakaway autonomous region Transnistria, sitting between the Dnistria river and the south-western tip of Ukraine, could well be described as Europe’s forgotten conflict – dormant since 1992 when a brief war over sovereignty that defined the immediate post-Soviet period fizzled out into a polite ceasefire.” World Soccer

Territorial Discrimination in Italy

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“Remember that mom who always went back on her word? The one whose kid would fail his classes, get suspended from school, and then be allowed to go out the next weekend after you thought he’d never see the light of day again. The mom who threatened to ground her kid for the next two months but always caved and never held firm. Well that mom is exactly like the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), an organization whose menacing threats are undermined by a severe lack of enforcement. Specifically, as territorial discrimination by fans in Serie A continues to escalate, the FIGC’s lackadaisical approach hinders the hope of any indelible progress being made.” Soccer Politics (Video)

Inside Meulensteen’s Time at Brøndby

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“Meulensteen was appointed Anzhi coach yesterday to much surprise and fanfare. His last head coaching position was a fairly unsuccessful stint at Danish club Brøndby IF. We get to know a little more about Meulensteen as a head coach through his former player at Brøndby, Per Nielsen, from Nielsen’s recent autobiography. Per Nielsen played his first match for Brøndby IF in June 1993 and between his debut and 2008 he played 548, only eight less than Bjarne Jensen, who holds the club record for most matches played with 556. Nielsen played as a center defender. Per Nielsen has never played for any clubs other than Brøndby, where he won the Danish championship in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2005 and the Danish cup in 1993, 1998, 2003, 2005 and 2008. He also played 10 matches for the Danish national team, earning his first cap in 2004.” Russian Football

Bayern’s Lost Wunderkinds

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“From a Bayern fan’s point a view, a look at the club’s bench against Borussia Dortmund would have been a welcome sight: Bayern, with injuries ravaging their praised depth, gave seats to two highly admired youngsters, Mitchell Weiser and Pierre Emile Højbjerg. It was clear from the start that their place on the bench at the Signal Iduna Park was only to fill gaps left by the injuries of Claudio Pizarro, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xherdan Shaqiri and Franck Ribéry, as a match of Der Klassiker‘s magnitude doesn’t fit the early development of these two young players; however, their absence from lower stake matches – such as UCL matches against Viktoria Plzeň or the Pokal matches, as well as some Bundesliga matches where rotation was possible – must be a cause of concern for any Bayern enthusiast.” Bundesliga Fanatic

The pursuit of Blaise Matuidi and Jeremy Menez is already underway

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“Jeremy Menez and Blaise Matuidi have plenty in common. Current French internationals, they were born within a month of each other in the spring of 1987 and both brought up in the suburbs of Paris. They were both first selected for Les Blues for a friendly against Norway in August 2010 and both signed for Paris Saint-Germain, flush with the noveaux riches of Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s Qatar Investment Authority, on 25th July 2011 and frequent their midfield. As it stands, they also both also look set to leave the club when their contracts expire in the summer, making them the most sought-after free agents in the game.” World Soccer

Stadium tragedy shows peril of World Cup rush

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“RIO DE JANEIRO — There are times when it seems that Brazil’s World Cup was born under a bad sign. On Wednesday, the cascade of bad news just got worse, with the accident at the new Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo killing at least two workers and possibly more. It appears that a crane collapsed onto the structure of the stadium that’s due to host the opening game of the World Cup in less than 200 days’ time. The soil reportedly gave way beneath the crane, perhaps a consequence of the heavy rain that has fallen on the city over the past few days. A key question now needs to be answered.” ESPN – Tim Vickery (Video)

Heroes Of the Neighborhood

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“Klaus Störtebeker was not his real name. Any self-respecting pirate of the late 14th century picked his own nom de guerre, and Klaus of Wismar gave himself a moniker meaning “empties the mug in a single gulp.” According to the legend, the mug in question would be about equal to four liters today. After a few years of wreaking havoc on the Northern European coast, Störtebeker was betrayed, captured, and brought to Hamburg for trial. He was beheaded along with 70 or so of his pirate brethren. When a Hamburg senator asked if the executioner was tired after all of this chopping, the executioner said he’d happily behead the whole senate as well. So a second executioner was brought in to behead the first. Störtebeker left a trail of blood (and gold: the core of his ship’s mast was full of it) in his wake.” SI

Analysis: What has gone wrong with Spurs?

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“At the start of the Premier League season, most felt that Tottenham Hotspurs might just mount a title challenge. Despite finishing in 5th place last season, there were noticeable signs of improvement under AVB, as the team gathered the highest ever points total for a 5th placed side. The summer saw a 100 million sale, and a lot of recruitment too, with the Lilywhites signing some fantastic talent across the pitch with the aim of breaking into the top 4. Many pointed out the lack of variety in attack for the Spurs last season, as they were constantly Bale-d out of trouble. The likes of Soldado, Eriksen and Lamela were signed for big money, and teamed with players like Townsend, Lennon and Sigurdsson to create what looked like a fearsome attacking side. However, all has not gone as planned. Spurs have defended very well to concede just 6 goals, but they’ve been impotent going forward, scoring just 9. What has gone wrong with Spurs?” Outside of the Boot

Group of Death goes down to the wire, more Champions League drama

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“It was yet another dramatic night in the Champions League as Barcelona lost its first game of the season while Chelsea was beaten at FC Basel. The tightest group of all, Group F, promises to bring mathematical headaches to all fans, while FC Porto squandered a great opportunity to take control of its own fate. Here’s what caught our eye in a fascinating round of action…” SI

Dortmund 0-3 Bayern: superior squad proves crucial as Bayern extend their lead

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“Pep Guardiola demonstrated Bayern’s tactical flexibility in the second half, introducing Mario Gotze and Thiago Alcantara to great effect. Jurgen Klopp had severe injury problems for this contest – as well as the continued absence of Ilkay Gundogan, his entire first-choice back four were out injured. 34-year-old Manuel Friedrich, previously without a club, was drafted in to play at centre-back. Guardiola was without Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger, however, and used Phillip Lahm in midfield. The scoreline exaggerates Bayern’s dominance – for long periods Dortmund competed well, but Bayern simply had greater strength in depth.” Zonal Marking

Confusion reigns at White Hart Lane

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“Following Andre Villas-Boas’ most difficult week as Tottenham coach, he would probably have wished for simpler opponents than the champions, Manchester United, this Sunday. It’s worth remembering, however, that when he faced United for the first time as Spurs coach last season, his side recorded a famous victory — their first at Old Trafford since 1991 — to kick-start his White Hart Lane reign.” ESPN – Michael Cox

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

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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

Could this be a make-or-break year for Arsenal’s Theo Walcott?

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“Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Southampton was comfortable but forgettable. The Gunners’ goals came from a crazy goalkeeping error and a penalty, while the team’s flair players like Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil were far from their best. In terms of long-term positives, Arsenal fans can point to three things: another clean sheet, Olivier Giroud ending his four-match goalless streak with two simple goals and the return of Theo Walcott.” ESPN – Michael Cox (Video)

West Bromwich Albion 2 Aston Villa 2: match report

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“With one decision, Paul Lambert changed the destiny of this thunderous West Midlands derby. With one bold move, a triple substitution after 57 minutes, Lambert re-energised Aston Villa, seizing the initiative back from a West Bromwich Albion side who had been magnificent until then. Lambert had had to act. Albion were leading 2-0 and should have been over the horizon. Shane Long was so good, almost unplayable at times. He scored two fine goals, the first full of power, the second full of deftness.” Telegraph – Henry Winter

Everton 3-3 Liverpool: amazingly open game, and goals from set-pieces

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“Positive tactics and awful defending combined to create a goalfest at Goodison Park. This is Roberto Martinez’s first-choice XI at the moment, with Leon Osman only on the bench. Brendan Rodgers switched to a cautious 4-3-3 system, with doubts over Daniel Sturridge’s fitness meaning Luis Suarez played alone upfront. Joe Allen came into the midfield, with Jordan Henderson moving right. Jon Flanagan made a rare start at left-back. This was quite a contest – and while the defending was often terrible, there were also some interesting tactical decisions from both coaches.” Zonal Marking

Everton 3 Liverpool 3: In-Depth Tactical Analysis
“Both teams had to make one or two changes to their usual starting eleven. For Everton, the only change was Barkley replacing Osman as the attacking midfielder behind Lukaku. Everyone else remained in their usual positions within Martinez’s usual lopsided 4-2-3-1 formation. The Reds had to make two rather enforced changes. With Enrique missing the next couple of months and Cissokho failing to impress recently, Rodgers opted to use Flanagan as the left-back. It seemed to me that using Johnson there (to deal with the speedy and tricky Mirallas) with Toure on the right (to track Pienaar’s roaming runs) had the better tactical suitability. But as Rodgers hinted in the days before the game (and further verified after it), Flanagan was mainly selected for his ‘mentality’ and ‘understanding’ of what the derby is all about, rather than some specific tactical reason.” Tomkins Times

Yura Movsisyan: “Spartak fans are at a different level, just like the club”

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“It’s been quite the year for Spartak forward, Yura Movsisyan. After making the move to Moscow last winter from another Russian club, FC Krasnodar, Movsisyan has bagged a pair of hat-tricks, scored 22 goals in 32 appearances, and emerged as one of the young guns on a rising Armenia side. Spartak, meanwhile, are 3rd in the league, just three points behind Zenit and Lokomotiv. Though he’ll miss the final two matches of 2013 due to knee surgery, the 26 year old was on fire all autumn, racking up eight goals in his final seven appearances, including strikes against Bulgaria and Italy in World Cup qualifying. After 17 league matches, he’s tied with Artem Dzyuba for top scorer on 12 goals. And assuming he’s fit when play resumes in March, Yura will be raring to help Spartak battle for the league crown after a 13-year drought.” Russian Football

Brazil venues struggle to meet World Cup deadline

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“After a spate of building problems and public protests in Brazil, the governing body of world football, Fifa, repeatedly warned there would be “no compromise” over the delivery of World Cup stadiums. But with Fifa’s end-of-year deadline looming, several stadiums are well behind schedule and one host city, Cuiaba, has told the BBC that not only will be it unable to finish its stadium on time, but there are not even enough hotel rooms for visiting fans.” BBC (Video)

Toni Kroos has earned right to be Bayern’s key

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Toni Kroos
“This summer’s speculation about Pep Guardiola’s probable Bayern Munich system took a simple format, one that fell in line with the standard approach for season previews: They assessed the Bayern side from the previous campaign and then considered where the new signings would fit. It was simple: Thiago Alcantara would probably play at the base of midfield and orchestrate play from deep, while it was widely assumed that Mario Gotze could play as the false nine, effectively in the role where Guardiola had played Lionel Messi on the way to transforming him into one of the world’s greatest players.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Dortmund 0-3 Bayern: Tactical Analysis
“The two big guns of German football met at the Signal Iduna Park. Dortmund were looking to close the gap on the league leaders following a shock defeat to Wolfsburg in the previous game. Bayern on the other hand were looking for revenge over their rivals for the defeat in the German Super Cup. Dortmund haven’t been having a good season, Bayern have been increasing the gap between the two while Leverkusen haven’t made life easy either. Added to that, Dortmund’s Champions League hopes seem to be halting at the group stage after an impressive run last season. To make matters worse, the entire Dortmund back four was injured for this game with most of the contingent out for a prolonged period of time.” Outside of the Boot

Jimmy Hogan: The Englishman who inspired the Magical Magyars

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“You might not expect the ‘Magical Magyars’ of 1953 and former Manchester United managers Ron Atkinson and Tommy Docherty to have much in common, but they were actually all inspired by the same remarkable man. His name was Jimmy Hogan and, although he played, managed and coached on these shores, he is an Englishman better known – and far more celebrated – in mainland Europe.” BBC

Manchester United And Football’s Tony Soprano

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“During one of those team-building days many of us are routinely required to endure, the assembled group I was in was asked to name somebody who they considered embodied the qualities of a hero. Inevitably, there were many calls for Mandela, Churchill and Ghandi – those secular saints of our modern age. When it came to me, I let the words ‘Roy Keane’ pass my lips which prompted an audible gasp amongst my colleagues. “’But isn’t he the one who admitted to ending another player’s career? How can you say you admire somebody like that?’ came one response to my flagrant disregard for the conventional perception of what makes a hero a hero.” Dispatches From A Football Sofa

Everton 3-3 Liverpool: Tactical Analysis

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“As International breaks go, the previous one wasn’t the worst. In addition to a few intriguing friendlies, there were the World Cup playoffs to enjoy and yet the return of league football was welcomed by all. And what better way to start the weekend than the Merseyside derby? A fixture steeped in history and known for its feisty nature. With Everton settling quickly under Roberto Martinez and Liverpool flying high this season, all eyes were on Goodison Park as they locked horns in Saturday’s early kick off.” Outside of the Boot

Man City 6-0 Spurs: Tactical Analysis | City press and exploit the space offered

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“Two of the summers’ biggest Premier League spenders went head-t0-head at the Etihad as Manchester City took on Tottenham Hotspur. City came into the game with a 100% home record and 20 goals scored, Spurs on the other hand had conceded just 1 goal in their away games. City were the league’s top scorers as well with 28 while Spurs were struggling, having scored just 9 goals. Sergio Aguero alone had 8 to his name.” Outside of the Boot

The 100,000 Deutsche Mark strike force – How Preußen Münster almost managed to win the German championship

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“The name Josef Oevermann might not sound familiar for anyone born outside Münster. However, the man himself has had his say in German football history. Coming from a wealthy background, Oevermann took over his father’s construction company in 1933. After World War II, Oevermann quickly regained his wealth by being the contractor of a number of large re-building projects after the war. The building baron had also played football for Preußen Münster before the war, and after his team was promoted to the Oberliga West in 1948 (also known as the tram league, because of the close geographical proximity between the teams in the league), Oevermann was infected with the Preußen bug.” Bundesliga Fanatic

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

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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

Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich: Can hosts stop rivals?

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“For Borussia Dortmund fans, it was the ultimate body blow. Just hours before the first leg of their Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid in April, they woke to the gut-wrenching news the 37m euros (£31.5m) release clause of their star player, Mario Gotze, had been triggered by fierce rivals Bayern Munich. Seven months on, the first chance to see Gotze back at Signal Iduna Park, wearing the red of Bayern rather than the yellow of Dortmund, offers an intriguing sub-plot to the latest instalment of Der Klassiker.” BBC

Toni Kroos has earned right to be Bayern’s key
“This summer’s speculation about Pep Guardiola’s probable Bayern Munich system took a simple format, one that fell in line with the standard approach for season previews: They assessed the Bayern side from the previous campaign and then considered where the new signings would fit. It was simple: Thiago Alcantara would probably play at the base of midfield and orchestrate play from deep, while it was widely assumed that Mario Gotze could play as the false nine, effectively in the role where Guardiola had played Lionel Messi on the way to transforming him into one of the world’s greatest players. Along with the existing options from 2012-13 — Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez in midfield, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben on the flanks plus Thomas Muller playing just off Mario Mandzukic — Bayern had become an even more fearsome attacking weapon.” ESPN – Michael Cox

The Long Revolution of the Ultras Ahlawy

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“CAIRO, Egypt — On Sunday, as Ahmed Abdel Zaher turned to celebrate scoring his side’s second goal in the final of the African champions league, he did something strange with his outstretched right hand. He extended his four fingers, and tucked his thumb over his palm. The goal itself was significant—it ensured that Cairo’s mighty Al-Ahly team would beat South Africa’s Orlando Pirates for its eighth champions league title. But in Egypt, it was Abdel Zaher’s celebration that later stole the limelight. For his four-fingered salute has over the past three months become a potent and divisive sign of opposition to the overthrow of Egypt’s former president, Mohamed Morsi. It invokes August’s bloody demolition of an encampment of Morsi’s Islamist supporters outside a mosque called Rabaa al-Adawiya. (Rabaa means ‘fourth’ in Arabic.)” Road and Kingdoms

United States likely to face a treacherous World Cup draw with loaded field

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“Frustrated by the draw that placed his U.S. Olympic team alongside Argentina and Portugal back in 1996, coach Bruce Arena famously lashed out at the ‘nice Americans’ who “don’t cheat” and who are ‘too stupid to fix a draw.’ Arena took some heat for that little rant and sure enough, the host U.S. finished third in its quartet and was eliminated from Olympic competition. Still two years away from taking over the senior U.S. squad, Arena called soccer ‘the biggest cheating sport in the world,’ implying – likely with tongue in cheek — that manipulation of those all-important plastic balls is par for the course at the game’s highest level.” SI

Giancarlo Rinaldi — Interview

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“In our latest interview feature we talk to Fiorentina fan and Italian football expert, Giancarlo Rinaldi. Mr.Rinaldi is the author of Kindle football best-seller, 20 Great Italian Games. He has a wealth of knowledge of the Italian games and shares his thoughts on his Viola, the 2013-14 Serie A season and the Italian national team.” Outside of the Boot

Sweden 2-3 Portugal: Ibrahimovic 2-3 Ronaldo

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“Cristiano Ronaldo produced an extraordinary performance to win this play-off almost single-handedly. Erik Hamren named an unchanged starting XI from the first leg, which finished in a 1-0 Portugal victory. Paolo Bento’s side had one change – Hugo Almeida had made the difference in the first leg as a substitute, so replaced Helder Postiga upfront. It’s difficult to remember a contest that had been promoted so much beforehand as, essentially, an individual battle between two players. Football isn’t an individual sport, of course, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo lived up to the pre-match hype, and completely dominated their sides. Formation battle.” Zonal Marking – Michael Cox (Video)

Statistical Analysis: Has Petr Cech let his form dip for Chelsea this season?

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“Petr Cech has consistently proven that he is one of the best goal keepers in the Premier League and possibly in the World. Prior to getting his career threatening head injury he was arguably the best keeper in the league. Even in the aftermath, whilst having the odd shaky moment he was generally a very consistent performer for Chelsea. Has he though been below par this season?” Think Football

Nelson Oliveira: Scout Report

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“When Edison Cavani made a move to PSG, and Falcao to Monaco, many assumed that the league’s top scorers will perpetually be the two newbies alongside a certain Swedish teammate of Cavani. However, 12 games in, the French league is benefiting from the exploits of other men too, namely Riviere, Cvitanich, Djordjevic and a certain Benfica loanee to Rennes- Nelson Oliveira.” Outside of the Boot

Kwame Nkrumah’s team are going to the World Cup

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Ghana v Germany: Group D - 2010 FIFA World Cup
“Despite coming in for plenty of criticism from European and American journalists, Africa’s high-stakes, winner-takes-all World Cup qualifying system once again threw up an enthralling set of matches. The most remarkable result was Ghana’s whopping 6-1 win over Egypt, and “BaGhana BaGhana” confirmed their tickets to Brazil yesterday in Cairo. There has always been something special about the Black Stars. What gives football its meaning in England is largely its representative capacity: fans rally around a club, of their city, of their class, seeing the team and the institution as a projection, in many ways, of themselves. This is almost always a regional, not national, phenomenon. Since England was the coloniser rather than the colonised, national representation through football was largely unnecessary. Even today, very few English people identify with the national team. We’ll support them, sure, but we don’t see ourselves in them (thank God).” Africa is A Country

FIFA could have handled Ballon d’Or better

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“There’s nothing quite like FIFA changing the rules and procedures midstream to fuel the conspiracy theories. This time, the powers-that-be have extended the deadline to vote for the FIFA Ballon d’Or by another two weeks. The vote had closed Nov. 15. Now it has been moved to Nov. 29. Ostensibly, this was done because turnout among voters was poor. Not that low turnout hasn’t been an issue before; by my count, nearly one-in-five (18.9 percent) eligible voters didn’t cast their choice last time around.” ESPN (Video)

Akademisk Boldklub vs Brønsøj – a visit, a match, and a conversation

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“This blog is named after a Danish physicist, Nobel laureate, and erstwhile goalkeeper Niels Bohr. Bohr won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1922 for pioneering work on atomic structure, positing that atoms orbiting a nucleus had discrete energetic properties and could jump between orbits. He was also a footballer, though less successful than his brother Harald, who represented Denmark at the 1908 Olympics as a right-back. Niels’ son Ernest was also an Olympian, playing field hockey at the 1948 London Olympics. Both Bohr brothers played together in the University sports club team, known as Akademisk Boldklub, which had teams for cricket, handball, and basketball, as well as football.” Put Niels In Goal

Major League Soccer’s Stadium Revolution

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“This weekend features the second leg of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference Championship, a winner-take-all showdown between the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City. The series is great for fans, not only because of the talented teams involved, but also because it’s being contested in the league’s two newest stadiums, Kansas City’s Sporting Park and Houston’s BBVA Compass Stadium. That may not initially seem significant, but when these two teams met in the Conference Final round just six years ago, they played in Houston’s Robertson Stadium, a decades-old football stadium that has since been demolished. That same year, Kansas City (then the Wizards) played home games at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium, far from the ideal home for an MLS team.” Forbes

Players starting to look for a new home

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Fabian Giefer
“There are over 100 contracts expiring at the end of this Bundesliga season and more than 150 at the end of this Bundesliga 2 season. Some clubs may fancy to sell during the winter in order to generate a transfer fee, other clubs are going to hold onto their players allowing them to move onto the next club on a free transfer. The Bundesliga fanatic has compiled a list of 15 potentially interesting transfer targets to keep an eye on.” Bundesliga Fanatic

Violence in World Cup Host Country Article #68899

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“It’s not really a World Cup if there’s not at least one or two missed deadlines for stadium construction. It’s also not really a World Cup until major media outlets report on stereotypical ‘problems’ associated with the host country. Before South Africa 2010, folks only wanted to write, read, and hear about witch doctors and goat sacrifices and ‘voodoo.’ And Brazil?” futfanatico

World Cup play-offs and internationals: 10 things we learned

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“1) Individualists ready to break out in Brazil? Is there something in the air? Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both lived up to the hype in Stockholm, spectacularly so, and there’s something that doesn’t happen in overcooked modern football all that often. Their determination to wring every last desperate drop from their talent, in the hope of dragging their team single-handedly to the World Cup finals, was a joy to behold. More of this, please! Could it be that a few of this generation’s great individualists have decided the time is right to break ranks, shake off the tactical shackles, and stamp their name all over the 2014 finals? It’s statistically viable, if nothing else. The last two tournaments have been all about great teamplay, while a harsh observer – sorry Zizou, apologies Original Ronaldo – might argue that there hasn’t been a truly great one-month one-man residency at a finals since Roberto Baggio nearly took Italy all the way in 1994. …” Guardian

Fifa 2014 World Cup: Who is there & who is in the play-offs?

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Roman Zozulya
“With the group stages of qualifying over, the final 11 teams at next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil will be decided this week in the play-offs. Next summer’s tournament will feature 32 teams, with the draw for eight groups of four to take place at the Costa do Sauipe resort in the Brazilian state of Bahia on 6 December. BBC Sport takes a look at the definite qualifiers and the play-off contenders across the six Fifa confederations.” BBC

Chile making mark as a Bielsa team after win over England

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“Alexis Sanchez trod in the footsteps of Marcelo Salas with his two goals to beat England at Wembley on Friday night. Salas scored his Wembley goals – also a 2-0 win – in a warm-up game for France 98, a tournament at which he once more gave evidence of his quality and where Chile had their moments. They made it out of their group but they did not win a single game, going down to Brazil in the second round after three consecutive draws. The current Chile side under Jorge Sampaoli are capable of better things, and not just because the 2014 World Cup is on their home continent.” BBC

Messi: 10 years of Barcelona’s brighter star

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“Lionel Messi has, deservedly, become a household name all over the world thanks to his unbelievable skills on the football pitch and low-key, humble attitude off it. While it was clear that the 16-year-old who made his Barcelona first team debut at the Do Dragao stadium against Porto a decade ago had plenty of potential, the truth is that nobody could have predicted the legendary impact that the tiny Argentinean wizard has made in the club’s history since.” ESPN

Tommy Burns: the man who bridged the Old Firm divide

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“The more-than-a-century old rivalry between Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers is well established in the minds of football fans the world over. The colourful, boisterous, sometimes violent, scenes when the two sides meet are Scottish footballs biggest export, beamed to millions of people in hundreds of places from New York to New Caledonia and beyond.” World Soccer

A Yellow Card

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brazil
“Three points make a trend, but in a World Cup year, two points are good enough. So here’s one: Early on the morning of October 29, 31-year-old Geisa Silva, a social worker with the Brazilian military police, found her husband’s backpack on their front porch in Rio de Janeiro. Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos was a retired professional soccer player, a journeyman who’d spent most of his career knocking around the Brazilian lower leagues; post-retirement, he ran a food shop in the city’s Realengo neighborhood. He hadn’t come home the night before, and Silva had been worried, jumping up at the sound of every car. Before dawn, she got ready to leave for her job with a police unit responsible for conducting an anti-gang crackdown. When she opened the front door, she saw the backpack. It contained her husband’s severed head.” Grantland – Brian Phillips

South American sides to show World Cup credentials

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“Over the next few days South America’s World Cup sides will present their case for the defence. The continent’s sides made a strong showing in South Africa 2010; all five made it out of the group phase, four reached the quarter-finals and Uruguay (who had finished fifth in qualifying) made it into the semis. Naturally, good things are expected next year when the World Cup finally returns to South America. But on the evidence of the 2014 qualifiers, there could be a problem. A common theme of the campaign was teams tended to be better in attack than defence.” BBC