From Ian Plenderleith‘sreview (‘Blood and Circuses’ delves into the post-communist chaos of eastern Europeansoccer).Blood and Circuses: A Football Journey Through Europe’s RebelRepublics” by Robert O’Connor (Biteback Publishing) * * * * * * * * * * Soccer America Library Africa The AwayGame: The Epic Search for Soccer’s Next Superstars by Sebastian Abbot Anthology SoccerTalk: […]
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Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
'Blood and Circuses' delves into the post-communist chaos of eastern European soccer
“Blood and Circuses: A Football Journey Through Europe’s Rebel Republics” by Robert O’Connor (Biteback Publishing) * * * * * * * * * * When the Soviet Union, its republics and its satellite states all succumbed to capitalism in the early 1990s, few were sorry to see the back of dictatorship, chronic corruption, environmental […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
SA Library: Photographer Stuart Roy Clarke captures deeper meaning of British soccer
From Scott French’s review (Ahandsome and charming book: ‘The Game’ vividly celebrates British soccer’s glorious tradition): “Stuart Roy Clarke notes that he wants his photos to share ‘thesmells and the sounds of the crowd,’ and his genius is that he finds deeper meaning, something more incisive, while doing so. There’s the swarm of faces in […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Zaur Tedeyev
“It is impossible to talk about positives but the only positive is the players made their debuts in the league, and our dream of having an entire team of academy players was realized.” — Rostov under-20 coach Zaur Tedeyev after Rostov’s Russian Premier League club suffered a 10-1 loss to relegation-threatened Sochi. It was forced […]
Posted inStory, World Cup Watch
The case for … Croatia
In opposing France on Sunday in the World Cup final, Croatia will attempt to emulate what the French team did in1998: win the final in its first appearance. On its way to the world crown, France beat Croatia, 2-1, in the semifinals and became the seventh nation to win the tournament as host bydefeating Brazil, […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
From back in the USSR to 2018 surprise: 10 things to know about Russia
World Cup host Russia, which faces Croatia in the quarterfinals on Saturday, is considered by FIFA as the successor team of the Soviet Union, which split in 1991 when Russia was by far the largestSoviet republic by population and geographically. The USSR’s soccer records were allocated by FIFA to Russia, but not its Olympic medals […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Stanislav Cherchesov
“Had we chosen different tactics, we would not have fared as well.” — Russian national team coach Stanislav Cherchesov after the World Cup hosts beat Spain on penalty kicks after their game ended 1-1. He admitted Spain was better than his team and its only chance was to not risk going forward. (ESPN)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Watch: Oddest own goal of the World Cup
Russia’s Sergei Ignashevich scoring an own goal off the back of his leg while wrestling Spain’s Sergio Ramos to the ground struck us even crazier than Mexico’sEdson Alvarez scoring an own with his hand. Russia rebounded from the 38-year-old defender’s miscue, beating Spain on PKs after a 1-1 tie in the round of 16 clash.
Posted inStory, World Cup Watch
How confederations fared: European teams dominate, but not against South America
One of the greatest appeals of World Cup play is so rarely do teams from the same confederation play each other. In the first round that concluded Thursday, 42 of the 48 games matchednations from different confederations, which provides a fairly large data base from which to compile head-to-head records. As one might expect, the […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
The talk of Russia
“We just didn’t think they would only want beer. There are really a lot of people in Moscow … and they are all drinking. It’s hot, and it’s football.” — Waiter at an upscale Moscowrestaurant who asked not to be identified for fear of scaring off future customers, on the low supply of beer that […]