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What does a youth team coach want from the players' parents?
Youth Soccer Insider, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, May 13, 2019
Clear communication, in both directions, is key to the parent-coach relationship. ...
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Pro soccer's pernicious influence on the amateur game
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, May 6, 2019
I gave out five yellow cards -- one for dissent, and four ...
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Domestic trophies no longer enough for Europe's top coaches
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, April 29, 2019
It's arguably justified for a major European club to demand so much ...
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The myth of European soccer's supremacy
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, April 9, 2019
European club soccer, it's often reported on both sides of the Atlantic, ...
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Neil Warnock's soul and the importance of soccer
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, April 1, 2019
Sport is important. It keeps us fit, it keeps us connected, it ...
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Nourishing a Youth Sublime
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, March 25, 2019
Germany beat the Netherlands in Amsterdam this past Sunday in a magnificent ...
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Fantastic FIFA and its Win-Win President
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, March 18, 2019
The colossal financial pillars of the European game have started to feel ...
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The soccer world still awaits clarity on the handball rule
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, March 11, 2019
FIFA's rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), earlier this month ...
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In praise of blow-for-blow drama over tactical stalemates
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, March 4, 2019
It seems like a simple question. Would you rather watch a 0-0 ...
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The latter-day cult of the coach needs a rethink
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, February 25, 2019
The goalkeeper on the teenage boys' team that I coach was away ...
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Are Video Refs suffocating soccer?
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, February 18, 2019
"Not just an atmosphere-killer, but a wrong decision too," said SC Freiburg ...
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Instead of moaning, get involved
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, February 11, 2019
The local club where I coach in has signed up to the ...
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What's more important -- soccer or human rights?
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, February 4, 2019
Finland's midfielder Riku Riski last month withdrew from his country's friendly against ...
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How a simple rule change could improve soccer's flow and fair play
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 28, 2019
In short, it nearly always pays to foul in soccer -- momentum ...
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Is this really what a soccer club's like? Assessing the current wave of 'behind-the-scenes' documentaries
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 21, 2019
What is a soccer club like behind the scenes? Apparently, this is ...
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The nonsense of 'sporting values' in the pro game
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 14, 2019
When anyone involved with professional soccer talks about sporting values, we all ...
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What players are having for dinner -- I'd rather not know
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, January 7, 2019
Franck Ribery's meaty tweet provoked voluminous abuse on social media from those ...
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Cheers to the ball artists and the young mavericks they inspire
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, December 31, 2018
I want to see daring and devilry and fans on their feet ...
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Why no one cares who's club champion of the world
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, December 17, 2018
I was 7 years old when I received the first and most ...
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Goalkeepers are different -- but they shouldn't be
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, December 10, 2018
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker his raised right knee hit Joshua King square in ...
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The problem of prejudice still at the heart of Scottish soccer
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, December 3, 2018
Ask a thousand fans why they watch sports and what they get ...
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'How Football (Nearly) Came Home: Adventures in Putin's World Cup' -- a bracing breeze of a book
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 26, 2018
If there's one thing you can love about the World Cup, then ...
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Infantino's scurrilous plan to sell FIFA down the river
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 19, 2018
First of all, I'd like to apologize for my column three weeks ...
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Anger is the new normal, but there's no excuse for abuse
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 12, 2018
While refereeing a youth game this past weekend I sent a player ...
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Glaring errors in the VAR-less EPL prove the value of video referee
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Thursday, November 8, 2018
That goals are such a rare commodity in soccer is arguably one ...
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If Europe's top clubs really want a 'Super League,' let them go
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, November 5, 2018
"They stuff their bellies with tomorrow's ache," the Canadian poet Edmund Vance ...
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Morality, cash and 'the relevance of soccer'
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, October 29, 2018
FIFA President Gianni Infantino again touted his vision of an expanded Club ...
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Bayern Munich's media-bashing backfires on Rummenigge and Hoeness
Soccer America Confidential, Ian Plenderleith - Monday, October 22, 2018
How can such a successful and habitually professional club show itself up ...
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Elite? Premier? Not when the punts are flying
Youth Soccer Insider, Ian Plenderleith - Friday, May 30, 2014
The setting is a "showcase" tournament featuring some of the top youth ...
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Dealing With Lopsided Games
Youth Soccer Insider, Ian Plenderleith - Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The parents of the girls U16 indoor team screamed at every shot ...
