• Part 2: Soccer in the Balance
    by Paul Gardner on Sep 18, 5:34 AM
    Of all the groups involved in soccer, I would rank referees as the group with the highest IQ.
      28 Comments
  • Soccer in the Balance (Part 1)
    by Paul Gardner on Sep 14, 1:20 PM
    Soccer is, and should be, a fluid sport played in many different ways and styles.
      15 Comments
  • An extraordinary refereeing oversight
    by Paul Gardner on Jul 26, 10:35 PM
    A rather unpleasant article popped up on the website run by PRO, which oversees referees engaged in pro soccer in the USA.
      10 Comments
  • LAFC's moves cast the shadow of the dreaded elephants graveyard
    by Paul Gardner on Jul 9, 12:23 PM
    Total bafflement. That pretty much sums up my response to LAFC's recent activities in the transfer market.
      12 Comments
  • The tragedy of Scott Vermillion must not be ignored or allowed to fade away
    by Paul Gardner on Jul 5, 2:40 PM
    The early end to his life, the agonies he went through, the wretched suffering of his loved ones, are now all a matter of record.
      9 Comments
  • More subs means better soccer? Don't bet on it.
    by Paul Gardner on Jun 24, 12:27 PM
    You will remember the famous Anatoliy Puzach ... No? ... Ukrainian-born forward for Dynamo Kiev and the USSR?
      15 Comments
  • MLS goes wildly off the rails for 90 disgraceful seconds
    by Paul Gardner on Jun 13, 3:46 PM
    I have been enjoying MLS games so far this season: plenty of good, varied attacking play, plenty of individual brilliance.
      8 Comments
  • Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois: goalkeeping as it should be
    by Paul Gardner on Jun 2, 2:57 PM
    It takes us back many, many years, to 1878 when the sport's rules first recognized the goalkeeper as a special player.
      8 Comments
  • Another new World Cup ball means more ballderdash
    by Paul Gardner on Apr 13, 3:35 PM
    Here they come ... the astounding, amazing, unprecedented, truly wondrous details of the new astounding, amazing etc Al Rihla, the new WORLD CUP BALL.
      10 Comments
  • A second try for Carlos Cordeiro? No way.
    by Paul Gardner on Feb 28, 7:17 PM
    When Carlos Cordeiro appeared on the U.S. soccer scene, I dubbed him the Phantom President.
      18 Comments
  • Yet again -- another protocol farce, this one from Leeds
    by Paul Gardner on Feb 22, 10:15 PM
    Leeds United's Robin Koch suffered a nasty head injury in last week's game against Manchester United.
      6 Comments
  • To face the crisis of its heading problem, soccer must consider changing its rules. A ban on long goal kicks is an obvious option.
    by Paul Gardner on Jan 31, 12:57 AM
    We now know so much about the long-term effects -- particularly the behavioral problems -- that head injuries can cause.
      10 Comments
  • Part 2: Learning about soccer -- from jazz, and from the words of a great poet
    by Paul Gardner on Dec 24, 5:21 PM
    Does this complication of soccer improve the game, make it more entertaining, more worth watching?
      7 Comments
  • Learning about soccer -- from jazz, and from the words of a great poet (Part 1)
    by Paul Gardner on Dec 8, 3:16 PM
    This starts way back, way, way back, during the 1940s when I was a teenager in England. The war had just ended
      8 Comments
  • Small-town Spennymoor FC at tiny Brewery Field hosts a major moment for world soccer
    by Paul Gardner on Oct 25, 3:02 AM
    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.
      5 Comments
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