A clean FIFA is still a long way off
I never thought I would be saying it, but I feel a bit sorry for Mohamed Bin Hammam.Banned for life from football and with all his friends now deserting him. A few months ago it had all looked so rosy as he dreamed of handing the 2022 World Cup over to...
Running numbers
A dozen footballing figures which caught my eye this week...0 - The number of times Bolivia were caught offside in this month's Copa America.3 - The number of Zinedine Zidane's sons enrolled in Real Madrid's academy.7 - The goals netted by the 2014 Wor...
2012 Olympic Soccer – mark your diaries
If the Womens World Cup whetted your appetite, make a date for the 2012 Olympic Games here in London.As I said, the football has not sold out and once the global ticketing machine returns its spares, there should be seats available next summer, particu...
Why did the US lose, exactly?
The US women and Brazilian men both exited big tournaments yesterday on penalties.And if you thought missing three spot-kicks was abject enough, the seleçao fluffed four in their Copa America clash with Paraguay (Elano, Thiago Silva, Andre Santos and Fred all failed). Not that that makes yesterday's loss in Germany feel any better."You need more...
Meanwhile, in Argentina…
The 2011 Copa America has reached the knock-out stages.Sat 16th: COLOMBIA v PERU 16:00, ARGENTINA v URUGUAY 19:15Sun 17th: BRAZIL v PARAGUAY 16:00, CHILE v VENEZUELA 19:15I never quite know what to make of the South American Championship. Because there...
Up for the Copa
It's Copa America time again, with hosts Argentina kicking-off in La Plata against Bolivia at 20:45 EST.Brazil are seeking a hat-trick of Copas, having beaten La Albiceleste in the final of 2004 and again, devsatatingly, in 2007:Argentina will be hopin...
Bob Bradley – so much to answer for?
An English take on the American dilemmaBob Bradley might be fired tomorrow and if he is I cannot say I would be wholly surprised following that embarrassing surrender in the Rose Bowl. US Soccer has lofty ambitions, which is noble, but Rome was not bui...
Warner has gone, but FIFA is still a house of thieves
Jack Warner: A Life in Crime 1966-2011We should be happy that Jack Warner is finally out of football, but his long-overdue exit still leaves a bad taste.I was on my way back from Euro U21 in Denmark when I heard the news. Part of me wanted to rejoice, ...
Among the starlets
I'm in Denmark watching Europe's "stars of today, superstars of tomorrow" as UEFA bills their biennial Under-21 Championship.
Two years ago I saw Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and friends announce themselves before going on to star for Germany at the World Cup. As UEFA keeps reminding us, this tournament has previously showcased the likes of Eric...
Teflon Sepp the last clown standing
It's business as usual as Sepp Blatter was re-elected as FIFA President with 186 votes and 17 abstentions.As the stressed-looking General Secretary Jérôme Valcke called each nation's representative to the polling booth, I was reminded how FIFA works ...
You couldn’t make it up
In case you missed these nuggets from the FIFA scandal...*This was literally one of the kickbacks at the heart of the current firestorm at FIFA, delivered by Mohammed Bin-Hammam to Caribbean Football Union members, and sealed with a kiss from a nice Mr...
CONCACAFs at war…with itself
Having just digested the shock news that Chuck Blazer had been stripped of CONCACAF's General Secretary role, I logged on the organization's website expecting to read nothing about the shenanigans in Switzerland, and look what it says...."UNAUTHORIZED ACTION TAKEN VERSUS CONCACAF GENERAL SECRETARY; BLAZER CONTINUES AS CONCACAF GENERAL SECRETARYToday an unauthorized declaration was made by...
