Soccer Blog | Archives | 2022

The Golden Boot down the years

The number of world Cup Golden Boots won by various football playing nations over the years. The boot winners...

Casemiro’s brilliant goal sink obdurate Swiss

Casemiro finally found a hole in the Swiss defence as he lasered a half volley into the far corner...

Cameroon and Serbia give us the best game of Qatar 2022 so far

Germany’s famous 1- 1 draw against Spain has been breaking the news but now there’s a new even more...

Messi magic

Some Messi magic in Qatar at last. Enzo scored a second goal a little while later with some brilliant...

Postcards from Qatar: Argentina 2, Mexico 0

A special report from Argentinian-fan Humberto: Messi is from another planet – he proved it today, again. The moment...

England: Sleepy Lions?

Let’s face it. The English peaked in 1966. They’re lucky to have earned a tie against the US in...

USA proves to be England’s bogey team again

England has never beaten the USA. And on the strength of their showing today, this will likely be the...

Halftime: The USA have come out swinging and England look rattled

It’s not coming home. Not if England play like this. Christian Pulisic just rocked the crossbar and Haji Wright...

A tenner on Enner to score: Netherlands lucky to escape with draw

Enner The Dragon: Valencia now leads 2022 World Cup goalscorers After Cody Gakpo gave Netherlands an early lead with...

The Glazers put Man Utd up for sale

Jim Ratcliffe is amongst the front runners to buy out Man Utd Cristiano Ronaldo leaves. The Glazers put the...

Canada has the raw talent: An impressive display against the Belgians

Move over Wayne Gretsky, you have competition. Just getting ahead of myself. Never mind. I watched Canada with my...

Shame on FIFA: Iranian fans removed for protesting Mahsa Amini’s murder

Yet another example of FIFA’s lip service to human rights while their lips are firmly plastered on the derrieres...

Richarlison’s goal of the 2022 World Cup

Brazil beat Serbia last evening. With the effervescence of those magically gifted Seleccao sides of the 70s and 80s....

Hennessey sent off: Wales on the brink as Iran score two late goals

Wayne Hennessey gets sent off for a martial arts level challenge, the first red card in the 2022 World...

The Messi Ronaldo saga

In Qatar 2022 so far they have both scored one goal each. Both have scored from penalties. Ronaldo became...

More thoughts on: Save Soccer, Quit FIFA

Class acts: MBS, Infantino, and Vlad Putin go out on a limb The great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano said...

Cristiano Ronaldo’s soft penalty difference maker: Portugal scrape win against Ghana

Cristiano Penaldo ahem Ronaldo makes history This was a testy match. And it took a really soft penalty decision...

The Mannschaft stand up for human rights “armband or no armband”

The German starting XI stage stage their we will not be silenced protest before the Japan match Germany might...

How does one pronounce Qatar?

Apart from all the other contentious and controversial issues that swirl around Qatar 2022 here’s another one that is...

Quit FIFA

Is it time to Quit FIFA. Here’s our statement >> After the thug-like behavior of FIFA officials, there are...

Sighting: El Pibe

Here’s a glimpse of Carlos Valderrama in Qatar. And – below – the talent he was:

Takuma Asano, ex-Arsenal and Arsene Wenger signing scores winning goal

Arsene Wenger, very much one with an eye for talent described Takuma Asano as “a talented young striker and...

Japan lift Asian hearts shocking Germany!

Brave. Tenacious. Canny. And when needed to be, absolutely devastating on the counter. They also won the physical part....

Japan beat Germany 2-1

Wow. Another upset. The Germans showed their commitment to human rights in the photo below, but found a way to...

No football, no worries. Andrea Pirlo promotes Qatari tourism

Ever wonder what happened to Andrea Pirlo? “No football, no worries.” That’s the Qatari tourism branding Andrea Pirlo is...

Alex Scott makes a courageous One Love statement

Alex Scott, formerly of Arsenal Women’s (so proud, so proud of my club and her) and BBC presenter shows...

One Love or play football?

One one hand, we doff our hats to the Netherlands and the seven other national sides for signing on...

France missing key players show their potency against game Socceroos

No Karim Benzema. No N’Golo Kante. No Paul Pogba. No problem. The Socceroos took a shock early lead through...

The Qatar Beer map

“I’ve never seen a sober English football fan in my life,” said a 36-year-old fan named Simon, who declined...

Curtains for Cristiano: His Manchester United career is over

By Caravaggio – Self-scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25450745 The inevitable happened. The disgruntled Cristiano Ronaldo will depart Man Utd by...

What a save! Memo Ochoa the hero for Mexico

The talisman for Mexico, Guillermo Ochoa, now in his 5th World Cup and saves Robert Lewandowski’s penalty. Ochoa actually...

Shocker: Saudi Arabia 2, Argentina 1

The curse of Messi continues. The Saudis played their hearts out and came back from behind to win. Argentina...

Iran’s team captain speaks out

Iran team captain: “We are with them and we support them” pic.twitter.com/JIC5NGtQhq — Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) November 21, 2022...

Rainbows to be banned in Qatar following World Cup

Qatar is terrified of this naturally occurring phenomenon Grant Wahl, familiar to those reading his Sports Illustrated articles was...

Abdulrahman Al-Jassim: Welcome to the most officious official

Abdulrahman Al-Jassim brandishes a yellow, one of 6. The list includes (USA): Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest, Tim Ream, Kellyn...

USA fail to impress as second half stalls into disorganization and stagnation against Wales

Gareth Bale wheels around after his successful penalty against the USA earning them a draw One coherent, incisive move...

The glitz and glamour of Qatar 2022

Meanwhile far away from air conditioned stadiums with live action tv set seats,in some dusty village field,in a remote...

England 6, Iran 2

Iran was playing two games at once. One – on the pitch against England, and two – protesting the...

Red Card of the Tournament: Gianni Infantino

Thug. After just two days, Soccerblog.com presents the Red Card of the Tournament – awarded to Gianni Infantino and FIFA....

Netherlands 2, Senegal 0

After holding off the Orange, Senegal finally succumb. Doei!

USA 1, Wales 1

Gareth Bale saves Wales at the end. The USA played well, and the through ball from Pulisic to Weah...

No surprise: FIFA shows lip service for LGBT rights as it goes after One Love armbands

Harry Kane will not be wearing the One Love armband. Neither will the players from the 7 other countries...

Iran’s national players show solidarity with protestors remaining silent during national anthem

Kudos to the national team as they show their support for the protests sweeping Iran against the brutal crackdown...

World Cup 2022 theme emerges: Repressive autocratic regimes 0 Democracies 2

Gianni Infantino enjoys a moment with a repressive autocrat Ecuador destroys Qatar, 2-0 in the opener and this time...

Et tu, Morgan Freeman?

Cry blood! How much were you paid, MF?

How you feeling, Becks?

The sell-out watches the Qatar-disaster… and repeats the mantra that keeps him motivated. Great job, Becks.

Ecuador destroys Qatar 2-0

Enner Valencia teaches Qatar that while you might buy the tournament, you still suck eggs. Qatar becomes the first country in history to...

Oxford maths professor predicts the World Cup winner

Mr Bull,allegedly an Oxford professor of maths,predicts its going to be Brazil. We will have to go with Mr...

“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

And thus spake Gianni Infantino in a jaw dropping diatribe which felt more like a confessional. This on the...