Gibraltar ‘Rocks’ Up to International Football
In the history of international football, there have been more than a few infamous games that have degenerated into some kind of warfare. The ‘Battle of Santiago when English referee Ken Aston vainly strived to officiate a running street brawl between Chile and Italy in the 1962 World Cup comes to mind. Others may cite the ‘Battle of Bern‘ in 1954. This game saw Brazilians and Hungarians carry their feud into the tunnel and reportedly even the dressing rooms. Then of course there was the World Cup qualifying games between Honduras and El Salvador that proved to be the trigger that fired up the simmering tensions between the two countries into the ‘100 hours war’ of 1969. It’s unlikely that Gibraltar’s entry into the world of competitive international football, as they face Poland, will lead to armed conflict, but the colony’s relation with Spain have hardly been improved.
Continue reading… http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/blog/football-blog-gibraltar-rocks-up-to-international-football/
Micah Richards: Past imperfect. Present Possible. Future…?
Micah Richards had the promise to be a star player at City for years to come.
Amongst the furore of the more high profile Deadline Day deals, with Radamel Falcao joining Manchester United and Danny Welbeck shipping out of Old Trafford to join Arsenal, another move involving an England international player may have slipped under the radar, and escaped notice. Whilst Jim White was giving his masterclass performance juggling telephones, social media and outside broadcast reports, Micah Richards was on the move out of the Premier League to join Fiorentina in Serie A.
Seeing a player with a limited future at his existing club, seek new pastures may not be particularly noteworthy, but when Richards followed fellow England international defender Ashley Cole to Serie A, it spoke of a sad situation where a seemingly exciting English prospect has fallen by the wayside.
Fabio Borini plays a waiting game for the right move
Whilst big money transfers kept the hyper-excitable Jim White fed with drama on Sky, there was one deal that even Harry Redknapp could not get over the line. The QPR boss is renowned for his transfer dealings but, although the Hoops had agreed a fee with Liverpool, signing Fabio Borini for the proved beyond even ‘Arry’s negotiating skills. All of this seems very strange on the surface as not only had the clubs come to an agreement, but Reds’ manager Brendan Rodgers had reportedly also made it abundantly clear to the Italian that his chances of playing this season would be severely limited as he was considered fourth choice, at best, for a striker’s position, behind Sturridge, Balotelli and Lambert. Such information however, appeared to do little to persuade the Italian to join the west London club.
Borini was not keen to be rushed into a move to QPR.
Medicals that can save lives: Almunia, Foe, Muamba and more.
When the transfer window is open, we’ve all took the opportunity to peer through it and seen a multi-million pound superstar footballer lying on an hospital bed hooked-up to all kinds of electronic gadgetry monitoring everything from pulse rate to brain waves and all points in between. It’s the pre-transfer medical. Smile on the face and thumbs up signal all is fine and dandy. Tomorrow morning the news is confirmed that your club has a new star player and the season ahead looks there for the taking. Sadly however, sometimes it doesn’t work out quite like that.
Even with an athlete supposedly in peak physical condition, a medical can reveal some kind of deep-rooted injury, or even worse an illness that would make any signing perilous at best, a disaster at worst. The medical is failed. Doctor, rather than computer, says no. The deal is off. Months of work and intricate negotiation are suddenly deposited in the nearest bin. There’s no arguing however. Doctor knows best.
Continue reading… http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/blog/football-blog-medicals-that-can-save-lives-almunia-foe-muamba/
“Have a word!” Why football should reach out a hand to Paul Gascoigne
The eyes have it! Lineker asking sir Bobby Robson to “have a word” as Gascoigne receives the yellow card,
You didn’t need to be a lip-reader to understand the mouthed words. It was a typically overenthusiastic tackle, not malicious but, in fairness, it probably warranted a yellow card. Thomas Berthold certainly didn’t help matters, and why would he? Rolling around on the ground was very much de rigueur during Italia ’90 when a foul had been committed. The Brazilian referee with the English surname, Jose Roberto Wright, brandished the card and, knowing he wouldn’t play in the World Cup Final if England got there, Paul Gascoigne began to cry. Skipper Gary Lineker looked to the side-line at manager Sir Bobby Robson, or plain Bobby as he was then, and nodding at his tearful teammate asked his manager to, “have a word.”
Wind the clock forward two dozen years, and that same Paul Gascoigne is probably past tears now, having probably shed a million or so in the intervening years. His life, once so full of promise, has turned into the sort of tragic story that seems destined to end in the most tragic way. I’ve seen various opinions of Gascoigne as a player in his pomp. Some have said he was ordinary and over-rated, and of course everyone is entitled to their opinion. For me however, he had that ability to run at pace with the ball at his feet and beat a player on either side, creating problems for opponents at the heart of their defence. Enough of any debate about his talents however, that isn’t really the issue now. Were he a more ordinary type of player the story would not be any less sad. The fact that he appeared so mercurial, and with what the late Sir Bobby described as a, “daft as a brush” mentality means however that Gascoigne’s dilemma is being played out in the full glare of publicity.
Louis van Gaal’s 3-5-2: How the knee of a Roma midfielder shaped Manchester United’s formation for the new season.
Following Holland’s progress in the World Cup deploying the system, it was always likely that Louis van Gaal would consider bringing the 3-5-2 formation to his new club, Manchester United. That the Dutchman is a coach of world-renown, with a trail of trophies and titles behind him in countries across Europe is of course widely accepted. What may be less well appreciated however is that his adoption of the formation was less part of a strategic plan, and more a reaction to the knee injury sustained by a key player.
Louis van Gaal – 3-52 by design or necessity?
Malky Mackay and Thomas Hitzlsperger’s story
Thomas Hitzlsperger
The recent story of Malky Mackay and the infamous text messages, has reignited the way the game views matters of racism, homophobia and misogyny. It reminded me of a short article I wrote at the turn of the year about the former Premier League player and German international midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger who had ‘come out’ as being gay. I wanted to re-post this article not because it tells of any amazing insight into the Mackay issue, but perhaps illustrates just how little attitudes within the game have changed. Continue reading →
Louis van Gaal and the Class of ’97.
Van Gaal at the Camp Nou
If you were asked to produce a list of the managers who have left a major mark on football, who would be on the list? Ferguson? Almost certainly. Wenger? Probably. Mourinho? Ancelotti? Arguably. Some may even reach back a little further in time, and pull out Rinus Michels as a name. There’s a case to be made for all of the above.
Some, such as Michels with his ‘totaal voetball’ have done so with tactical innovation. Others, such as Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger in English football, can claim to have dominated for a while. The likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti have broken barriers with winning Champions League trophies with different clubs, building winning squads again and again. Very few however could lay claim to have influenced so many future high-profile managers, in such a short period of time, as Louis van Gaal did in his spell at Barcelona between 1997 and 2000. Continue reading →
Luzenac: The fairy tale of a village team in Le Championnet
Luzenac: Defying the odds in French football.
It’s a story somewhat reminiscent of Wimbledon Football Club in England. The club from a town better known for a game with racquets, who came from humble non-league beginnings to compete at the highest level of English football. Yes, they fell all the way back down again, but at least they proved that a dream can be achieved. Now, in France, a small Pyrenean village football club – population approximately 650 – are threatening to build a story of their own. That is, however, if the authorities allow them to do so. Continue reading →
Who will be the next England captain? Who cares!
The armband. Is it so important who wears it?
The news that Steven Gerrard had ‘retired’ from international football, and therefore vacated the England captaincy, probably came as no surprise to anyone in particular, given England’s lacklustre performance in the World Cup. The doyens of Fleet Street – or wherever they sit banging away at their keyboards these days – have however probably gone into apoplexy at the thought of a few weeks’ debate over who will inherit the ‘armband’ from Stevie G – once the transfer window is closed, of course. I have to ask a question however. Is it only me, or do any other fans agree, that all of this brouhaha over the England captaincy is so much stuff and nonsense about next to nothing? Continue reading →
Gary Thacker 