When Carlos Cordeiro appeared on the U.S. soccer scene — out of nowhere, it seemed — to win the 2018 presidential election, I dubbed him the Phantom President. I’ll confess, I’d never heard of him. I was quickly told that he had been working for U.S. Soccer for 11 years. Well those were 11 years […]
SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Yet again — another protocol farce, this one from Leeds
Leeds United’s Robin Koch suffered a nasty head injury in last week’s game against Manchester United. Another head clash as opposing players battled to head the ball? No. Heading is not the culprit this time. The ball was at waist height as Koch and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay raced to control it in midfield. The two men […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
To face the crisis of its heading problem, soccer must consider changing its rules. A ban on long goal kicks is an obvious option.
Lately, I have been thinking a great deal about the problems posed in soccer by heading the ball. We now know so much about the long-term effects — particularly the behavioral problems — that head injuries can cause. A vast amount of study has been devoted during the past 20 years to concussions: what causes […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Part 2: Learning about soccer — from jazz, and from the words of a great poet
Greetings. Last time I was singing the praises of the poet — the late poet — Philip Larkin. In 1970 I had belatedly discovered he was a jazz devotee, and that he had written a book on jazz (“All What Jazz”). Which I hastened to read, and was hugely impressed by his Introduction in which […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Learning about soccer — from jazz, and from the words of a great poet (Part 1)
This starts way back, way, way back, during the 1940s when I was a teenager in England. The war had just ended, and I had found two boyish interests — soccer and jazz — that made me happy. Not least because both of them involved parental disapproval. That was my — unaware — contribution to […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Small-town Spennymoor FC at tiny Brewery Field hosts a major moment for world soccer
Maybe, amid the welter of La Liga, Serie A, EPL, Bundesliga, La Ligue and MLS games, you will have noticed that Spennymoor FC took on Team Solan a week or so ago. But probably not. It was not a game that attracted much attention, Only 300 fans turned up at Spennymoor’s tiny Brewery Field (and […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Liverpool and Man City give us a game to remember
I’ll start this by going back three years, almost to the day. It’s October 7, 2018. We’re at Anfield. The game is Liverpool-Manchester City. Two of the best teams in England, maybe in the world. TV pundit Graeme Souness was beside himself: “You can guarantee that you will see goals and a great game of […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
A Goal in a Thousand
One-zero. 1-0. Not my favorite scoreline. If a soccer game’s going to be decided by a single goal, I’d rather see the score at 3-2, or 4-3. One goal in 90 minutes is simply not enough. The leap-out-of-your seat moments just aren’t there. That’s my feeling, and a pretty strong one it is. Lively goalmouth […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Random thoughts on systems, goalkeepers, and referees
I was watching Aston Villa play Everton. It had been a totally insipid first half. A big yawn. TV commentator Lee Dixon summed up: “There’s not been a huge amount of goalmouth action,” — he certainly got that right — “But it’s been an interesting game just to see ‘em both going at each other, trying […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
Good bye Jimmy Greaves, the boy-genius of English soccer
My thoughts and opinions about soccer, a somewhat incoherent bustling jumble, from nearly 80 years of watching the sport, received a jolt on Sunday morning. Jimmy Greaves was dead, at age 81, and the bubbling chaos of those soccer memories was stilled as they found their focus — Jimmy Greaves, the man who was, for […]