Tag Archives: NY Times

Beckham Grabs the Scarf, but Not the Reins, of Protest

“It was a highly significant game in the Champions League knockout match between Manchester United and AC Milan last night and Wayne Rooney continued his devastating form with two more goals in what is a 30-goal season so far. Nani made one of the assists of the tournament to set up his second, curling the ball into Rooney’s path with the outside of his foot. The 4-0 defeat exposed AC Milan as an aging, blunt shadow of their former selves, increasingly reliant on Ronaldinho’s capricious flashes of brilliance. But guess who stole the show?” (NYT)

Arsenal Saunters While Bayern Survives

“As Muhammad Ali demonstrated, sports fans will warm to a braggart provided he lives up to his boasts. Followers of Arsenal have waited a long, long time for Nicklas Bendtner to deliver his prophesied knockout performance. ‘Trust me,’ he had said last autumn, ‘it will happen. I look around at other players, I see my own ability, and I can’t see anything that tells me I won’t be among the best strikers in the world.'” (NYT)

Which Side of Fiorentina Will Play Tuesday?

“There are two sides of Fiorentina. There is the inconsistent Italian Serie A team that has won only three of its eleven games in 2010. And there is the European Champions League contender that won five of six games to finish top of Group E and qualify for the Round of 16. Which group of purple-clad soccer players will take the field in Florence on Tuesday against Bundesliga juggernaut Bayern Munich remains to be seen, but Coach Cesare Prandelli is boisterously optimistic.” (NYT)

Rejection of Technologies Won’t End Debate

“World soccer’s governing body moved from consideration to decisiveness Saturday, abandoning experiments with technology and firmly ruling out the use of video review or goal-line sensors. The International Football Association Board said Saturday: ‘The question posed to the members of the IFAB was simple: should we introduce technology in football or not? The answer from the majority of members was no, even if was not unanimous.’” (NYT)

Spain’s Royalty Reasserts Its Claim

“A year ago, before Real Madrid went to the banks to borrow money at what seemed a reckless rate, there was no comparison between it and the other Spanish monolith, Barcelona. Barça was on its way to a historic clean sweep of six trophies, including the Spanish, European and World club titles. More than that, its soccer was so stylish, so uninhibited, that no team on earth could touch it.” (NYT)

Some Wannabes Seize Stage in Rehearsals

“Rehearsals are not everyone’s cup of tea. The Germans and Italians, for example, seldom show up in body and soul for them. Yet this is World Cup year, and on Wednesday their people paid top dollar to see those nationals teams, and others, go through the motions. It didn’t always have the desired effect. More than 60,000 people in Algiers saw their heroes, who are going to the World Cup, succumb, 3-0, to Serbia, which is also playing in the finals.” (NYT)

Mourinho Stretches a Record and Our Patience

José Mourinho
“There might never have been a coach more intent on turning his teams into a sideshow to his own performance than José Mourinho. Yet he is not the pretty sight he imagines. On Saturday night in the San Siro, his Inter Milan was reduced by foul play and gamesmanship to nine men before halftime for the second match running. No matter, Mourinho applauded them, mocked the referee, and boasted that a team of his would have to be reduced to six players to lose a home game. He is a bitter and twisted man — and a successful one.” (NYT)

At 20, a Dane Prepares for Biggest Stage

Simon Kjaer
“Even attired in the soft pink tones of the Palermo uniform, Simon Kjaer cuts an intimidating figure on a soccer field. The sturdy 6-foot-2 frame of Kjaer, a Danish central defender, doubles as a canvas for a collection of tattoos (one likely to grow, he says) and is topped by a mop of platinum hair, which flops about as he patrols the ground and air around his team’s goal.” (NYT)

Hijinks and Low Comedy in Champions League

“The coincidences during Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League games were simply too delicious to go without notice. At Porto’s Dragão Stadium in Portugal, the referee from the game that featured Thierry Henry’s infamous Hand of Gaul goal, Martin Hansson, was excoriated by Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger for a call that led directly to Porto’s game-winning goal. Henry, of course, is a former star at Arsenal. Hansson’s vapor lock during France’s playoff victory over Ireland last year sent the French to South Africa and the Irish into conniptions.” (NYT)

United in Italy; Real in Trouble

“Few people would confuse Wayne Rooney with a rocket scientist, but the increasingly deadly and dangerous Manchester United striker used his head not once, but twice, as the Red Devils nearly crushed A.C. Milan’s hopes of advancing in the UEFA Champions League with a 3-2 win in the first leg of their home-and-home, total-goals series at the San Siro on Tuesday.” (NYT)

AC Milan 2-3 Manchester United: 8 Key Observations
“Classic European nights. When we complain about the stifling dominance of the Big Four; when we curse every transfer that sends a promising young player from a lesser club to the Big Four; when we ponder proposals such as debt-to-revenue restrictions, foreign player quotas, and playoffs for European places; when we talk about all these things, we are talking about the promise of classic European nights like Tuesday night at a raucous and roaring San Siro. Some observations…” (EPL Talk)

Bundesliga Keeps Financial House in Order

“The German Bundesliga wants the world to know that even in these trying economic times, it is solvent and competitive — a soccer island in Central Europe that exudes diligence, steady growth and smart management.” (NYT)

The Sweeper: The Bundesliga Model
“The Bundesliga is really getting some attention this week in the English-language press. Yesterday, as we mentioned, it was Patrick Barclay in London’s Daily Telegraph commenting on the German league’s financially sane model, with clubs less in debt and ticket prices affordable. Old news, but in these turbulent times in England, finally making some waves.” (Pitch Invasion)

Last Taboo in English Football: Playing Footsie With Mate’s Mate

Winter, Giuseppe Arcimboldo
“Tiger Woods kept his saucy private life under wraps for years, but the flaws of English soccer superstar John Terry, one of the country’s most prominent athletes, have always been on very public display. In 2001, Mr. Terry drunkenly taunted American tourists in a Heathrow Airport hotel in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. A year later, he was caught on camera urinating in a beer glass, which he then dropped on the floor. In 2008, Mr. Terry was fined for parking his Bentley in a spot for the disabled. Last December, he was secretly filmed by undercover reporters giving unauthorized tours of his team’s training ground to journalists posing as businessmen, allegedly in return for £10,000 (or $15,900) cash. Mr. Terry has denied accepting money for the tour.” (WSJ)

Terry Loses England Captaincy
“It would be naïve to say the drama is over, but the John Terry affair has taken a turn toward a conclusion, of sorts. After almost four years as captain of the England team, Terry was stripped of the armband Friday after a meeting with Manager Fabio Capello in London.” (NYT)

Terry stripped of England captaincy
“Terry’s future as skipper of his country has been the subject of intense speculation ever since allegations emerged that he had an affair with England team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. The Chelsea defender met with England coach Capello at Wembley on Friday to discuss his future as captain in the wake of the allegations. There had been calls for Terry to lose the captaincy from sections of the media as it has been claimed more revelations are set to be exposed at the weekend.” (World Soccer)

South Africa and FIFA Try to Ease Concerns About Power Problems

“Last month, as dozens of people out for the evening scrolled along the boardwalk, a popular area along the Indian Ocean with restaurants, specialty shops and bars here, the city was suddenly enveloped in darkness. Generators kicked in providing some power, but the shutdown brought most activity to a standstill for several hours.” (NYT)

The Iniesta Generation

“Soccer players are reputed to do it for 90 minutes and some fans of Barcelona, inspired by their favorite team, did it … and did it … and did it. It has been nine months since Barcelona, within the span of only a few days, trounced its arch rival Real Madrid, 6-2, in the country’s capital and ran away with the title in Spain’s La Liga.” (NYT)

Media, Death, Life, Change, Business, Blah

“The NY Times has announced a new ‘metered model’ for 2011, showing that Rupert Murdoch is not the only publish magnate struggling to cope with the ‘internet.”’ While the Times has avoided confronting Google, a wise move given the current cooing of this monopolistic privacy shredding behemoth, the ‘metered approach’ brings to mind two things: 1920’s prohibition and the maginot line.” (futfanatico)

Weiss Has the Name and Pedigree to Boost Slovakia

“Vladimir Weiss has the name and pedigree to be a top European soccer player. The 20-year-old Slovakian wing has inherited his father’s and grandfather’s sense for the game and brings his own talent to bear whenever he has the opportunity. Those chances have been few and infrequent at Manchester City, where Weiss came up through the youth ranks. But with an eye on the World Cup in South Africa — Slovakia’s first finals appearance since the Velvet Divorce split Czechoslovakia — Weiss secured a loan deal Friday to move to Bolton where he hopes to boost his game before the quadrennial championship.” (NYT)

In Nottingham, There’s a New Sheriff in Town

“It may be too early for Davies, but well past time for the fans of Nottingham Forest, a provincial club that once breathed the rarefied air at the pinnacle of European soccer when it won back-to-back European Cups (the precursor to the Champions League) in 1979 and 1980 under the legendary manager Brian Clough (who was the subject of a recent film, ‘The Damned Unite’).” (NYT)

Spared From Recession for Now, Soccer Lets Money and Hope Flow

“Soccer seemed to defy financial gravity in 2009. While much of the world buckled into recession, FIFA, the sport’s governing body, declared that each of the 32 nations that qualified for the 2010 World Cup would receive financial rewards 60 percent higher than ever before.” (NYT)