Comparing his very ordinary current under-20 team with the highly promising version he had two years ago, Coach Tab Ramos says that the new team is "more dynamic, and we have speed on this team."

From Saturday's FA Cup game in England: Leicester's Andrej Kramaric gets clean through the Tottenham defense, ball at his feet, only goalkeeper Michel Vorm to beat. As Kramaric tries to dribble around him, Vorm makes a slide tackle. Something goalkeepers are not very good at (if you doubt that, take a look at the video of Manuel Neuer's recent attempt -- this one from a keeper who is widely hailed as the best in the world).

I see we're being told that 2014 was a great year for soccer etc, etc, etc. Familiar news, no? Maybe there's always a tendency to look back and paint a rosy-tinted view of the past ... and why not? It seems a pretty spontaneous, natural, human thing to do, a weakness perhaps, but an understandable and an enjoyable one.