Cult Football

main

After watching the second half of yesterday's Clasico, I'm beginning to see Mourinho as Salieri to Guardiola's Mozart. When a team of Madrid's caliber gets schooled and forced into errant passes and frantic individual dribbles on offense and desperate tackles on defense, huffing shadow-chasing and hapless outreached hands pleading for offside calls that won't come, the opposition must be touched by the divine; the divine stringing of passes, la pelota always kept just a fleeting inch away from Madrid's lunging cleats, and importantly, the divine total defense, which at one point saw Özil attempting to dribble into the box only to be surrounded by seven (7!!) claret and blue shirts. That is the intensity of Barca's defensive strategy, immediate ganging up on the person with the ball, so that even if an opponent manages to dribble past one, or two, they never have the time to look for the pass

A Decaffeinated Clásico Today?

January 18, 2012 — by Suman — 2

Yet another Clásico--the two Spanish superpowers meet again today, in what will be their 8th battle in the past 9 months (see table below). Real Madrid hosts Barcelona at the majestic Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, for the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie. Kickoff is at a very Spanish 10pm in Madrid, which corresponds to 4pmET/1pmPT here in the US (where ESPN Deportes and GolTV will be televising the match, and ESPN3.com will be streaming it live; see livesoccertv.com for additional TV listings). But the "yet" is telling--after all those intensely anticipated and intensely played matches over the past year, even we have Clásico fatigue. It does seem like the buildup to this one is muted compared to the previous matches, perhaps because it's a Copa del Rey quarterfinal. The domestic cup competition is certainly a distant third in importance to these teams, far behind the Champions League and La Liga titles. It's one thing if these two were

Resurgent Inter claim il derby della Madonnina

January 16, 2012 — by Sean — 3

Atop the tallest spire of Milan's cathedral sits a statue of the virgin Mary, her gaze fixed upon a Po valley split between the supporters of two giants in Italian football: A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. When these teams meet twice a year at the San Siro, the winning players symbolically join la Madonnina at the city's highest point. They, adored by their followers as if sprung from the womb of Christianity's mother themselves, are kings of the city. In a game that showed nearly even odds, the red and black side should have been the favorites. First in the league, officially the "home" side and with exciting young talents like Pato, Boateng, and Emanuelson mixed in with sturdy vetarans, all three points were surely theirs for the taking. Instead, the transfer drama surrounding Pato's possible move to PSG created extra tension before the match (not to mention his dip

U.S. Youth System Fired

January 10, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

We'll keep you posted. More on this at 5. Wait, start from the beginning. Out of seemingly nowhere, the U.S. Soccer Federation has cleared house. Today, the power that be announced U.S. U-17 coach Wilmer Cabrera will leave his post at the end of January. The Colombian, 44, was appointed U-17 coach in 2007, and led the side into the second round at both the 2009 and 2011 World Cups. Not nearly enough, apparently. His dismissal follows that of Thomas Rongen, coach of the U-20 team; Mike Matkovich, manager of the U-18 side; and Jim Barlow of the U-15 team. What the French, toast? Without other info, perhaps it stems from the appointment of former U.S. international Claudio Reyna as youth technical director of the U.S. Soccer Federation in April. If he were queen, we imagine him saying, "We are not amused." Or perhaps it's totally unrelated. Whatever will be, whatever

Sawa Snaps Marta’s Ballon d’Or Streak

January 10, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

If history is anything to go by, expect 2011 Women’s World Cup winner Homare Sawa to be collecting her second Ballon d’Or prize this time next year. At the World Cup, Sawa also won the tournament best player and top scorer trophies. Marta had won five years running as the top female player in the world, but no more. At least not for now. (The Brazilian is considered the best female player ever, after all.) Japanese midfielder Sawa is only the fourth woman to win the award, inaugurated in 2001, because curiously no woman has never won simply once, not to mention consecutively. Mia Hamm won the first two, in 2001 and 2002. Germany’s Birgit Prinz then carried home three between 2003 and 2005, before Marta’s five brought us to the current day. Marta and American striker Abby Wambach were the other two finalists for the award. Oh yeah, and Messi

Spurs to Taste Egg on Face?

January 9, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

Should Tottenham fail to win their gimme game in hand, that hand will be wiping egg off that puffy face.

For those who don’t support Tottenham, the frequently heard refrain of, “we’ve got such and such points, and when we win our game in hand…” got old a long time ago. At long last the fixture lost to the months-ago unpleasantness in London (August riots) will be resolved on Wednesday, and none too soon. Should Tottenham really be expecting a pushover Everton side, though? Not in my opinion. Landon Donovan is back on loan after a successful stint at Merseyside in 2010. Having started in both the loss to Bolton last week and the FA Cup win over Tamworth on Saturday, Donovan should be re-bedded into the team and adds the pace and goal-scoring threat they’ve needed all season. Marouane Fellaini has moments of brilliance in

A Walk in Bahia

January 7, 2012 — by Edhino

Prologue: Salvador, up in northern Brazil, is so unlike Rio and Sao Paulo, the rest of the country refers to Bahiaians rudely as "slow". As I trudged through the late afternoon sun looking for the Newcastle - Man Utd game, it struck me that the heat may have something to do with it.

Africa Commentary

African Academy of Superstars

January 6, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

When Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboué and the brothers Touré convene in Abu Dhabi this month to represent the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations, it will be a high school reunion of sorts. All graduates of the academy of the ASEC Mimosas in the Ivorian capital Abidjan, they have played together for years. (ASEC Mimosas is short for Académie Sportive des Employés de Commerce Mimosas, or “Sporting Academy of Retail Workers Mimosas.” Really rolls off the tongue.) Sven-Goran Eriksson, manager of the Ivory Coast national team in the 2010 World Cup, said to the BBC in 2010, “This is the most successful academy in the world if you look at all the players who started their careers here." He added, "Obviously there is a lot of talent in this country. But this academy is top quality, for Africa and in the world." In 1993, new manager and

Newer Posts Older Posts

main

Commentary Spain

Los Clásicos As Amadeus Redux

Preview Spain

A Decaffeinated Clásico Today?

Italy

Resurgent Inter claim il derby della Madonnina

Commentary News United States

U.S. Youth System Fired

Asia Commentary News

Sawa Snaps Marta’s Ballon d’Or Streak

Commentary England

Spurs to Taste Egg on Face?

Commentary Dispatches England

A Walk in Bahia

Africa Commentary

African Academy of Superstars