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NewsUnited States

USA v Brazil through Brazilian Eyes

August 11, 2010 — by Sean

Last night's friendly gave Brazil fans something to cheer about again. After Dunga's stifling tactics robbed the Canarinha of their usual flair in South Africa, the country demanded the return of joga bonito. TV outlet Globo (the largest commercial television network of Latin America and the third largest in the world) recapped the game with a to-be-expected nationalistic slant. Huge thanks to Mark Gannon, our correspondent on the ground in Brazil, for the translations. For the original article in Portuguese click over to globoesporte. Football is joy!  New Brazil attacks with strength and beats the United States In the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era, the Seleção won 2-0 in New Jersey.  Neymar and Alexandre Pato scored the goals in the win. By Leandro Canônico, Direct from New Jersey (Globo.com) Speed, dribbling, “pedaladas,” joy... the ingredients that were missing from the Seleção are back.  At least in the first friendly of the Mano Menezes era

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Commentary

Bob Bradley to Aston Villa?

August 11, 2010 — by Sean

There's a lot of rumbling about Coach Bob heading to Birmingham to take over at Aston Villa after Martin O'Neill's surprising departure just days before the season starts. It's been a strong side, and O'Neill has done well during his tenure there. His leaving was as sudden as it was mysterious, though most assume he was simply fed up with the transfer pot at his disposal. Bradley has 11/4 odds of being selected, and he was given polite backing by Sir Alex during Man U's tour of the States. Before the Brazil matchup last night, Tim Howard thought better of criticizing the coach: "With his style, I think he'd be accepted by all the players. It's hard to say how he'd do, because the way things happen now with managers in Europe, and certainly England, is pretty damn crazy. But overall I think he'd be accepted. And that's the biggest thing, is

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CommentaryNewsTacticsUnited States

Tonight: USA v Brazil — em Nova Jersey

August 10, 2010 — by Suman

An exciting day here at CultFootball HQ, and more generally in the NYC metro area--if one is a soccer fan, and in particular a fan of the USMNT and/or the Seleção Brasileira, as the two national teams will be facing off this evening em Nova Jersey, i.e., in New Jersey--at the brand spanking New Meadowland Stadium. Yours truly will be heading out soon to make the trip out to NJ for the game, and so I'd been planning to write up some sort of match preview--at the very least to acquaint myself with who's going to be on the pitch tonight, in particular for the Brazilian team.  As has been widely reported, Brazil's new coach Mano Menezes has chosen to bring along only 4 players who were on the squad that went to South Africa for the World Cup (Robinho, Thiago Silva, Ramires and Daniel Alves), and so the remainder

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Dispatches

The last few days, June 27-29

August 10, 2010 — by Larry

[Editor's note: This is the final installment in Coach Larry's account of his trip to South Africa for WC2010.  See his previous SA dispatches here.]
Victoria Market - Durban, South Africa
Poor weather drives us away from the beachfront and up to Umhlanga to the mall for some shopping in the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere.  Disappointingly, I cannot locate the indoor roller coaster, though it does feature a climbing wall and a goodly number of surf shops.  Over and after lunch we see the surprisingly entertaining Germans roll through the English as if every English defender has lost all sense of position.  The evening match and dinner prove not much more exciting, though it does horrifyingly display more inept refereeing.  Alas, we have worse ideas than an early bedtime, as tomorrow brings us Netherlands v Slovakia. We make an early trip to Victoria Market,

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Commentary

RedBulls v Fire: A Few Thoughts

August 9, 2010 — by Sean

Having watched a good portion of last night's Designated Player matchup I am again reminded that while individuals can make an impact in moments, it's the whole team that wins or loses a game. Obvious stuff, but easy to forget when the hype swirl around Henry, Marquez, Angel, Ljungberg and Castillo would have you think we were about to see these 5 guys play between themselves in some sort of Yuen Woo-ping gravity defying super-powered action. Henry left early with a groin strain, not good but probably just being cautious. But he hadn't done a ton before that anyway, though it's not entirely his fault. He had poor service, and Marquez, for as calm as he was interrupting play and delivering the ball to the wings, couldn't quite deliver a 50 yard pass to his striker's foot. There looked to be loads of open space in the middle of the red bulls

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NewsVideo

FA Community Shield: Man Utd defeats Chelsea 3-1

August 9, 2010 — by Suman

"Javier Hernández puts United two up – but there is a hint of fortune about the goal, the ball skewing off Hernández's boot before striking him in the face and flying into the net" (via The Guardian)
Yesterday was the traditional pre-opener to the English season--the FA Community Shield. We watched bits and pieces off the DVR later in the day.  Personally, I was impressed by Antonio Valencia, Man U's newly acquired Ecuadorian winger, as well as (like last season) Nani. Some additional commentary by our man (and Chelsea supporter) Sumit: Saw it on replay. Chelsea looked the better team in terms of ball control and movement for very long periods of time. The attack is just not there; Malouda looks his old lazy French self and Salomon still hasn’t got a f’in Kalou while the defensive communication is poor. Terry’s not fast so they need

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NewsUncategorized

AC Milan v Panathinaikos? In the Pontiac Silverdome? On grass?

August 7, 2010 — by Suman

"Panathinaikos' Sotiris Ninis, front left, and AC Milan's Alexandre Pato fight for this ball in the first half at the Silverdome on Friday. (JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP)"
Doesn't it seem like every club in Europe is somewhere in the United States over these few weeks, playing warmup matches and making odd publicity appearances?  Thierry Henry scoring on Spurs yet again, but this time after "Coming to America" (really MSG?), making a memorable appearance on NY1, and taking the lovely PATH train from Manhattan to Harrison NJ; Sir Alex eating ribs while competing with a gospel choir in Kansas City; Cristian Ronaldo lecturing at UCLA (hat tip for that link to faculty member Steve Lee (although some are pushing him to try out for goalkeer on the 2014 South Korean squad--Be the Reds Steve--literally!)); and hapless Portsmouth on the pre-season tour from hell. Amid all those sides, plus

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CommentaryHistory

A Premier League Preview

August 5, 2010 — by John Lally

The 19th Premier League season begins on August 14th with an exciting round of opening fixtures, including last season's 4th and 5th placed teams, Tottenham vs. Manchester City, and two of the "traditional" big 4 squaring off when Liverpool play Arsenal on Sunday 15th. I say "traditional" because it's good to remember that things weren't always like this. Nowadays, the Premier League is the biggest league in the world with huge television revenues and very little turnover in terms of who competes for the title or finishes in the top 4 spots, which bring with them Champions' League qualification and more money to boot.  But this oligarchic nature of the top flight of English football is a product of the Premier League structure rather than something that has always been in existence.  In its first season, the Premiership looked much different, and was a lot less predictable. [caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="218"

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