Dubai takeover of Liverpool FC: Infrastructural benefits, not team success
Dubai International Capital’s (DIC) takeover does not mean much in terms of Liverpool’s success, although there are undoubtedly infrastructural...
Category: Soccer Culture
Video: Paulino Alcantara: First Asian to play for a European club
Paulino Alcantara, of Phillipino heritage, born in Iloilo City, Phillipines debuted for Barcelona FC in 1912 going onto score...
Premiership drought in goals: Not the stingy defense
Paul Wilson has a post on the decrease in goals seen this season in the Premiership. Of course, the...
The best US soccer export: Goalkeepers
All three US goalkeepers playing this weekend came away as winners with Tim Howard being the pick in Everton’s...
Dubai to buyout Liverpool FC: Reds bosses welcome offer
Liverpool FC has been the interest of foreign government buyouts before, the most picaresque one being Thaksin Shinawatra, the...
Gianluca Vialli: Cheats never prosper? Yeah, right!!
Read The Italian Job and Gianluca Vialli’s take on cheating in football. As he says, Machiavelli is an inspiration,...
Perry Groves: Buy his book for some Christmas cheer
Perry Groves is a lot more fun than Ashley Cole and he did it all for the love of...
Leave South Africa alone: Time for Blatter to step up
Sepp Blatter should step up and show his credentials as FIFA president. It is becoming increasingly distasteful to see...
Guus Hiddink: To Russia with love
The Guus Hiddink magic is well and alive in Russia. They are now in second place in Group E...
Mohammed Abdul Salim: The first Indian to play in a British club
We all know Baichung Bhutia and his debut for Bury in 1999 but more than sixty years ago, Mohammed...
Soccer and Politics: As usual the NYT screws up
The NYT has an article on the PSG fan dying at the hands of a policeman, during a melee...
Video: Alex de Souza compilation
Alex De Souza of Fenerbache, Palmeiras, and Cruzeiro shows of his amazing skills. He is 29 years old and...
Video: Seu Jorge sings Tive Razão
Tive Razão is one of the songs in FIFA 2007. For Wes Anderson lovers, Seu Jorge arranged the music...
Third party ownership: Is the English League ready for it?
Pini Zahavi, agent extra-ordinaire Pini Zahavi is the super agent who has his hands in all the deals involving...
West Ham buyout: Magnusson’s hands are cleaner than MSI
Eggert Magnusson is the new chairman of West Ham and he celebrated with a winning start against Sheffield United,...
Peter Kenyon: Chelsea will be World’s No 1 club
A theme is being played out. Man Utd represents the past and Chelsea the future of English league football....
Saburo Kawabuchi: The man behind Japan’s resurgent football
It seems as if Japan has been playing football all its life. The reality is that organized football is...
Reading vs Fulham: Hahnemann wins his duel with McBride
The Reading vs Fulham game was interesting because it had a reunion of Yanks playing in the Premiership. However,...
Arsenal: Schizophrenic performances perplex fans
Who can understand this year’s Arsenal? Are they sublime or utterly ridiculous? After tearing Liverpool’s heart out, 3-0, they...
What ails Indian football? Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, AIFF chief
Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the present Union Information and Broadcasting Minister is also the president of the All India...
What ails Indian football? Cricket provides an insight
Growing up in India, where cricket was such a huge game, when we formed teams in our neighborhood park,...
Refs under fire
Referees other than Graham Poll are making the news for all the wrong reasons of late.Blackburn and Tottenham are...
FIFPro wins Anti Racism Award
C.E.C.R.A, the Anti Racist Organisation in Spain, have awarded FIFPro an International Award for 2006 for their outstanding work...
The legend that was Puskas: Eduardo Galeano remembers
Eduardo Galeano has a delightful entry on Ferenc Puskas in his immensely readable book Soccer in Sun and Shadow...
What ails Indian football? An overview
It is the state of affairs in Indian sports that when you google ‘What ails Indian football?’ you not...
Ferenc Puskas: A player with a supernatural left foot and an imprudent generosity
El Pais has a beautiful little article on how Real team mates and opponents alike remember Puskas. Gento, Stefano,...
Video: 1954 World Cup, Germany 3 Hungary 2
The Mighty Magyars should have won this finals. An injured Puskas scored the first goal and was denied an...
Video: Wembley, 1953 Ferenc Puskas vs Billy Wright: The perfect goal
Brilliant goal and footwork by Puskas. Loses Billy Wright completely.
Video: 10 best Real Madrid goals
Includes two goals from the 1960 European Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt scored by Puskas (# 7) and Alfredo...
Wembley, November 1953: Hungary 6 England 3
Billy Wright (L) Ferenc Puskas (R), Wembley 1953 A match that destroyed the aura of the invincibility and changed...
The Mighty Magyars: A fable as Hungary struggles
With the passing away of Ferenc Puskás, the last of the Mighty Magyars is gone. There is only one...
West Ham’s Tevez and Mascherano are busts: Trade rumours get stronger
Amongst all the brouhaha over West Ham’s signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano signings that shook the football...
North Korea wins the Asian Youth Football Championship
North Korea is in the news for disagreeable reasons, mostly to do with realpolitik and nuclear ambitions, a perennial...
Meanwhile the MLS finals has Scotland talking……..
Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear was born in Glasgow. 35 miles away from Troon, the birthplace of Steve Nicol,...
Video: Kenny Dalglish’s Celtic days
King Kenny, Celtic and Liverpool legend son Paul played for the Dynamo in the MLS finals. Dalglish, Sr. is...
Video: MLS finals 2006: Dynamo win on penalty kicks, 4-3
Jay Heaps misses and its all over for the Revs, who remain winless in three championship games.
Where was the MLS finals coverage in the national media?
Having ABC telecast the 2006 MLS finals maybe a big deal but that is about it. ESPN and PTI...
The Houston Dynamo are the 2006 MLS champions
Congratulations to the Houston Dynamo- 2006 MLS champions! 90 minutes of regular time, 30 minutes of extra time could...
Arsenal destroys Liverpool, 3-0. Flamini! Toure! Gallas!
Flamini! Toure! Gallas! The goalscorers for the Gunners!!! Henry the best defender!!! This was Gunners football at it’s best,...
Meet Paul Dalglish: Football legend’s son finds a home in Texas
Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool and Scotland Paul Dalglish, Houston Dynamo Today as the Houston Dynamo takes on the New England...
Video: MLS goal of the season: Brian Ching
Fantastic bicycle kick by Ching!
Germany: Hooliganism in lower division clubs
Hooliganism is seeing a new outbreak in the lower division clubs and in the past few weekends, fans have...
FIFA bans Kenya: Its sanctions target the vulnerable
FIFA bans Kenya from international football competition, it should have done the same with Italy. Italy’s league always seems...
Video: Man Utd’s gift to Sir Alex’s 20 years of service
Alex Ferguson could not have asked for a better 20 year anniversary gift from Man Utd in their win...
Sheringham scores off the field too: Meet Danielle Lloyd
Teddy Sheringham seems to be having the time of his life. At 40 years he is leading West Ham...
FIFA’s proposal to protect national teams: Should Owen Hargreaves be insulted?
Today FIFA and FIfPro proposed the implementation of a six plus five system, whereby six members of a side...
Andrew Jenning’s FOUL! exposes Sepp Blatter, Jack Warner, and FIFA
Andrew Jennings is in the forefront of exposing corruption in the sporting world. His most famous book translated into...
Neurosciences and Diego Maradona: Why he is the best player
A recent article in Nature Neuroscience (Nature Neuroscience – 9, 1083 – 1084 (2006) doi:10.1038/nn0906-1083) discusses how we pay...
Video: Tiziano Crudeli, the voice of AC Milan
This man is for real. He is not some hack in the Jerry Springer show, paid to ham up...
English Premiership clubs will dominate future European competition
The Champions Cup was first played in 1955- 56. The first winner was Real Madrid who have won the...
South Africa World Cup 2010 costs escalate
The South African government will spend 15.1 billion rands on the World Cup. About 40% of it is on...
Defoe’s bark was worse than his bite: The issue is germane
Mascherano was subjected to a nibble by Defoe but the rest that followed, rolling around, holding his face was...
West Ham: Abdication of responsibility
West Ham lies at the bottom of the Premiership – a scenario hardly contemplated by the likes of Alan...
Video: Johan Cruyff
The sad part of it was that Holland never won a World Cup despite his genius. Instead it was...