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That Goal
Posted by Paul Gardner on Jun. 21, 8:02 p.m.
It was Pele who started the "soccer is beauty" theme. He titled his autobiography -- one of them, anyway -- "My Life and the Beautiful Game."
» 33 Comments
Tab Ramos paints a rosy American future in the changing U-20 World Cup -- but a U-18 World Cup would make more sense
Posted by Paul Gardner on Jun. 12, 12:23 p.m.
Tab Ramos has been talking in glowing terms of his team and its adventures at the Under-20 World Cup in the Republic of Korea. Certainly, there is plenty that looks good. Winning its group, getting to the quarterfinal. Listen up: "We built a team with confident players who were there to win the tournament ..." Followed by "We could have ...
» 20 Comments
What's this? A goalkeeper penalized for rough play?
Posted by Paul Gardner on Jun. 2, 12:54 a.m.
Meet Sorin Stoica. Maybe you've seen him in action during MLS games. Not a highly paid or widely acclaimed player, though. A referee. A rather unusual referee, it seems.
» 19 Comments
Scots wha hae! Thoughts on the sad and ominous decline of Scottish soccer
Posted by Paul Gardner on May. 27, 11:35 a.m.
I note, with considerable exasperation tempered by sadness, that Scottish soccer is experimenting with a marvelous new scheme for eliminating diving from their game.
» 16 Comments
Celebrity coaches -- who needs them?
Posted by Paul Gardner on May. 18, 11:25 p.m.
I am still finding it difficult to come to terms with the extraordinary way in which coaches have come to dominate our game. Have hijacked it, in fact.
» 15 Comments
Wenger must stay -- even the stats agree
Posted by Paul Gardner on Apr. 25, 4:39 p.m.
Arsene Wenger should stay. That's what I think. And I think that way because I respect his unflinching devotion to skillful and entertaining soccer.
» 22 Comments
Violent Goalkeeping (Part 2): FIFA must radically rethink the goalkeeper's role
Posted by Paul Gardner on Apr. 20, 7:49 p.m.
Last time, I asked: "What action has soccer taken to at least reduce the incidence of head injuries in the sport?" Well, FIFA -- which should be the body making the moves -- has done nothing. Incredibly, nothing.
» 17 Comments
Violent Goalkeeping (Part 1): Players at risk as soccer ignores its own rules
Posted by Paul Gardner on Apr. 20, 2:46 p.m.
Goalkeepers, we are told, need protection. No doubt we all agree. Up to a point.
» 25 Comments
The triumphant return of Bruce Arena
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 26, 4:56 p.m.
Well, take that Jurgen Klinsmann. Never at any time during his five years in charge of the USA did any of Klinsmann's teams put on a show like the 6-0 destruction of Honduras that marked the return of Bruce Arena.
» 54 Comments
MLS games compare well with EPL but referees in both leagues reluctant to call PKs
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 21, 2:49 p.m.
During this past weekend, I watched -- on television, of course -- 15 games. Well, not really. I watched parts of 15 games. That's television for you, a magic carpet that started in Middlesbrough, England at 8 a.m. on Saturday and ended around 9 p.m. on Sunday in Seattle.
» 10 Comments
Of tattoos and voodoo and science ... and soccer
Posted by Paul Gardner on Mar. 1, 12:19 a.m.
My calendar says March 1. But, quite possibly, global warming has advanced things. The weather is spring-like and there is a hint of April 1 in the air. Or so it seems to me.
» 60 Comments
Suddenly, the sport itself rebels against low-scoring Scrooge soccer
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 23, 2:44 p.m.
We haven't seen anything like this for quite a while. In fact it was beginning to look as though soccer had lost its identity, had shrunk from being the world's most exciting sport, and withered away to tedious 90-minute installments of scoreless running around
» 19 Comments
Pep snubs Kun -- modern soccer at its worst
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 6, 2:10 p.m.
Back in 2005 the word from Argentina was that maybe -- of course maybe -- a new Maradona was appearing. Independiente had a precocious 16-year-old already playing for their first team, already scoring goals.
» 7 Comments
Where soccer fails, the NFL gets it right
Posted by Paul Gardner on Feb. 2, 12:57 p.m.
An impertinent book, this. The title and subtitle tell you succinctly what you are getting: "The Ugly Game -- How football lost its magic and what it could learn from the NFL."
» 19 Comments
More urgent than Van Basten's rule changes: soccer needs a total reversal of referees' negative mindset
Posted by Paul Gardner on Jan. 24, 2:25 p.m.
The problem is this. To praise Marco van Basten for speaking out on a topic that the soccer biggies never deign to address. Or to heap ridicule on him for making such a hash of his welcome declaration.
» 19 Comments
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