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Bundesliga fans getting gouged to watch a foregone conclusion
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, January 25, 2022
How can the Bundesliga keep fans interested when those fans know Baye ...
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How to stall referee abuse in youth soccer
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 24, 2022
Well-meaning campaigns, initiated by the state federation and the referees' association, me ...
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Haaland vs. Hinteregger: when abusive conduct is not properly punished
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 10, 2022
When the pro game legitimizes this kind of conduct, there's a knock- ...
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Infantino's New Year message -- peace, love, unity and a large slice of flam
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 3, 2022
I received a press release from FIFA, headlined President Infantino's New Ye ...
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'Football, She Wrote': A wonderful collection of women's soccer writing on struggle, progress and hope
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Thursday, December 16, 2021
Just as it's heartening to see how far women's soccer has co ...
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How I yearn for 'especially sporting conduct'
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Former U.S. international Timothy Chandler was recently involved in a much-discussed penal ...
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The raging sideline coach is a man out of time
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Wednesday, November 17, 2021
At first I don't recognize the man standing in the door ...
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Wear a flat cap! Dance! Smile! It's only soccer
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 8, 2021
"I will never apologize for always having played soccer with a smi ...
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'The Hard Yards' delivers compelling stories from 'the toughest league' -- a more intriguing playground than the EPL
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Below the over-hyped, self-styled "greatest league in the world" is an engagin ...
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Kimmich and Beckham flout the risks of celebrity activism
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 1, 2021
All celebrities are to a large extent playing roles when they're ...
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The loudmouth moaner -- why does every team have one?
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Sunday, October 31, 2021
For a new player, he was awfully quick to start ordering everyo ...
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So much to dislike about soccer: a critic writes
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, October 4, 2021
Ambrose Bierce defined a critic as "a person who boasts himself ha ...
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FIFA wants your feedback on a biennial World Cup -- let them have it
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, September 28, 2021
A press release from FIFA was headlined "Majority of fans favor mo ...
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'The Barcelona Complex,' starring Cruyff and Messi, details the rise and decline of 'the world's greatest club'
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, September 20, 2021
Barcelona's 3-0 home loss to Bayern Munich in last week's UEFA Champio ...
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Joshua Kimmich deal shows what soccer needs least -- players' agents
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Bayern Munich and Germany's central midfielder Joshua Kimmich extended his contract wi ...
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A chat with Seamus Malin: Part 2 -- the NASL and the evolution of the American fan
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Wednesday, August 18, 2021
'In the 1970s was really when things started to change in t ...
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A Chat with Seamus Malin: Part 1 -- Harvard and UK coaching courses in the 1970s
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, August 9, 2021
Former ABC and ESPN commentator Seamus Malin worked as a radio commentat ...
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Crazy for Football: a documentary about a team with a difference
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, July 27, 2021
A few years ago, psychiatric patients from all over Italy showed ...
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NASL Memories: The fan who caught Pele the night that soccer came of age
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, July 19, 2021
Paul Charles went to the game with his father and younger brothe ...
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The Best of the Euro: Month of magnificence ends with deserving champ, our Best XI, top 10 games, and off-field winners
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, July 12, 2021
Italy, a squad bursting with varied talent, multiple characters and collective spiri ...
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Euro 21, semifinals: And with one final dive, England makes the final!
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Thursday, July 8, 2021
In terms of quality, Spain against Italy on Tuesday saw two ...
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Euro 21, quarterfinals: Weeding out the underdogs
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Sunday, July 4, 2021
The quarterfinals saw the exit of co-favorites Belgium and three teams th ...
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Euro 21, round of 16: Four days when favorites fell, but thick with thrills
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Four days of knockout action brought us eight games that were main ...
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The Euro, round 3: Goals, drama, human rights and the mysteries of VAR
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The final round of group games brought a glut of goals a ...
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The Euro, round 2: Resurgent Germany, faltering France, wasteful Spain
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Sunday, June 20, 2021
The second round of games in the 2021 (nee 2020) European Championshi ...
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The Euro, round 1: Daring Dutch, attacking Italians, dominant Belgians
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Predictions of cagey group games and tired players were quickly erased ...
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European Championship: 24 countries, 11 cities and a lingering pandemic
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Thursday, June 10, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic inevitably looms over the European Championship, kicking off ...
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Hector and Eels expose serial banality of the obligatory interview
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, May 31, 2021
Broadcasters have paid for the right to talk to players who ha ...
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Sunderland still learning to cope with life in the lower tiers
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, May 25, 2021
In the League One promotion playoffs, my hometown team Lincoln City secur ...
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On the Bundesliga coaching carousel, where loyalty counts for nothing
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, May 17, 2021
There are good ways and bad ways of leaving a club a ...
