Coming Soon! The Welsh-Estonian Backe Bull Show!
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 12, 3:18 a.m.
Stand by ... your intrepid columnist is about to go where few dare venture -- and of those who have thus ventured, none has so far survived intact.
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English refs too lenient? Stats say so
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 10, 3:09 a.m.
So no sooner do I tell you that coaches never say anything nasty about their own players -- just 10 days ago -- than up pops Bert van Marwijk, the coach of the Dutch national team, to seriously berate one of his players.
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Rule-makers take us down the rabbit hole
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 8, 12:10 a.m.
It's gratifying to see that the International Board (IFAB) has not let us down. It has shored up its reputation for avoiding serious issues by postponing action on a couple of tricky matters that were included on its agenda for last week's meeting. Both came under the heading "Items for Discussion and Decision."
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Signs of making MLS even more physical
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 5, 5:02 a.m.
What do you suppose clubs and coaches -- and general managers -- look for when they're signing new players? What comes first? It's worth pondering, for the answer may well tell us what sort of soccer a team wants to play. Or conversely, what sort of soccer a team has given up trying to play.
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Goals Galore? Think again
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 3, 3:36 a.m.
I would have thought that it was by now blindingly obvious that goals are, in the soccer sense, an endangered species. They occur much less frequently than they have ever done in the 150-year history of the sport, and the chances of there being a sudden surge in scoring I can confidently predict at absolute zero.
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Another horror tackle and the same old excuses
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 1, 3:05 a.m.
Another horrendous injury to an Arsenal player. At Stoke on Saturday 19-year-old Aaron Ramsey was taken off the field on a stretcher, breathing through an oxygen mask, his right leg broken. The soccer future of one of the most promising -- I would say the most promising -- of British youngsters is now at risk.
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Rugby? In Red Bull Arena - the soccer super-stadium? Afraid so.
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 26, 1:28 a.m.
It is greatly to be hoped that the gala opening of the Red Bull Arena next month does not get upstaged by the ongoing dispute between MLS and the players union.
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To strike or not to strike: The players' no-win option
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 24, 2:22 a.m.
The negotiations -- if that's what they are -- going on between MLS and the players union are, of course, a mess. I'm afraid that's the way it's always been with this owners-players confrontation in American soccer.
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Working on your crosses? Don't bother
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 22, 12:33 a.m.
When David Beckham was flying high with Manchester United 10 years ago, he presented his admirers with something of a problem. Even they could recognize that he was far from being the best player in the world, he wasn't that fast, his heading and tackling were nothing to write home about and he couldn't dribble worth a damn either.
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Gulati on diversity, development and dollars
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 18, 1:47 a.m.
In the second part of Paul Gardner's discussion with Sunil Gulati, the recently re-elected U.S. Soccer President, Gulati answers questions about key issues facing American soccer as he begins his second four-year term.
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Gulati: 2010 very, very important for American soccer
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 17, 2:28 a.m.
The election of Sunil Gulati as President of the United States Soccer Federation four years ago was unquestionably one of the most important events in the history of the sport in this country.
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Rulemakers to give defenders another break?
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 15, 12:37 a.m.
The annual meeting of the International Football Association Board -- IFAB, the group that makes and unmakes soccer's rules -- can hardly be called one of the sport's glamour occasions. But it is a highly important one, for the decisions made are quite likely to have a profound effect, for better or worse, on the game.
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Can Nowak Repeat Success of Bradley and Schmid?
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 12, 12:28 a.m.
When Bob Bradley led the Chicago Fire to the 1998 MLS championship he set down a marker for first-year expansion clubs in the league: they didn't have to be doormats.
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Long-ball game short changes the sport
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 9, 1:30 a.m.
The long-ball game -- banging the ball from the back as far forward as possible -- has long been associated with the English style. But I'd say it is less prevalent now than it used to be. The influx of a huge number of foreign players into the Premier League has altered the picture. The game in England (as distinct ...
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U.S. Coach: No Experience Needed
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 8, 1:00 a.m.
How interesting. Jesse Marsch is to go straight from being an MLS player to being an assistant coach on the national team.
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