Today UEFA banned the vuvuzelas. Uefa’s argued that the “buzzing” sound drowned out the crowd’s emotional response to the match. This background “noise” diluted “the culture and tradition of Europe.” And no. The President of UEFA is French and his last name starts with P, but he not Le Pen. Now if you will briefly [...]
It’s that time of the year again. Another major tournament. Another quarterfinal round exit (or earlier) for team anglosaxon. While I was happy with the US performance and thought England put in a strong first half against sprightly Germany, now begins the inquest into the soul of our respective footballing cultures. Some will blame individual [...]
The World Cup group stages is an engineer’s delight. After each game, you can pull out your graphing calculator, whip up an excel spreadsheet, and coherently articulate the goals/points/wins necessary for the teams to advance. However, not all of us who follow the game revel in the hegemony of mathematical summation. Despite a very clear [...]
Theories abounded that this World Cup would favor attacking teams. The cold weather was supposed to lead to superior fitness and, ergo, a goalfest of epic proportions. However, these scientific theories overlooked a very simple fact – we live in the dark ages of soccer. Despite Barcelona’s great season a year ago and Spain’s title [...]
But first, before I make an array of connected and not-so-connected arguments, perhaps an introduction is in order. Elliott and I have spent much time on the field together. He and I are different sides of the US soccer fan coin–I started at age 4 and have spent the last 23 years wandering between disinterest [...]
So, Landon Donovan. He does hysterical commercials. He wins MLS championships. He scores goals on loan in the Premiership. He scores goals against Brazil in championship games. He sets up goals for teammates in international play. He leads the US national team in all-time scoring. Yet, despite this lofty CV and his best years (28-32) [...]
Madrid set the press afire last summer with blockbuster signings. With a few swoops of his mighty pen, Perez sent shock waves through the elite of English football. Debt? Regret? Don’t fret! This summer, the merengues have restarted the notorious coach carousel, pausing for an ever so brief year for Pellegrini to play the role [...]
Only with Real Madrid could this happen. The merengues shadow has cast darkness on this Champion’s League final, and not just because of the Bernabeu. True, Robben and Wesley were cast off this past summer in haste, making way for the trophy less cache of big name signings. And yes, we could reflect on the [...]
Everybody, including me, wants to paint Mourinho as the Dark Lord, the scheming scientist locked in a dungeon in a castle atop a mountain. Due to his playful and sarcastic media mind games, his personality gets depicted in a negative light. Accordingly, we transpose this “abrasive” personality onto his team – if Mourinho is such [...]
Closed-minded pundits point to one simple moment, one single article of clothing, to represent the rise of the Women’s game in the US: the Chastain Sports Bra. This moment encapsulates the twisted history of women’s sports – the double standards and the fleeting big media attention. In a word, I hate and love this moment. [...]
