As Edison Flores sprinted down the left flank, he had three options. He could either cut inside and shoot, lay it off in the middle and make a run, or pick out a cross for Paolo Guerrero. Thankfully for Flores and his team, he opted for the last option. Guerrero timed his run and just…
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False 9, Regista, Libero; these are all terms that will undoubtedly be familiar to the typical football enthusiast. As indeed will the players associated with them, the likes of Lionel Messi, Andrea Pirlo and Franz Beckenbauer, often considered to be the closest and most successful representations of the roles they occupy, and the tactical implications…
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There are very few modern-day managers who you’d argue have success ingrained into their genetic makeup. Even the most partisan of Pep Guardiola followers, for example, will be happy to admit the Spaniard hasn’t exactly been at his best at Manchester City this season. Similarly, José Mourinho, despite success during his stints at Porto, Inter and Chelsea…
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Reporting for preseason training in the summer of 1971, not many at Bayern Munich recognised Gerd Müller. To those even remotely familiar with the career of Der Bomber, this would seem perplexing. Still aged just 25, Müller had scored 10 goals in six appearances at the 1970 World Cup, been crowned Germany’s first FIFA Ballon…
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This feature is part of The Fleeting Fraternity Imagine being billed as the next superstar of German football. Imagine the sheer immensity of the pressure, the constant spotlight on your every move. Imagine the reams of newspaper inches printed in dedication to a dip in form or a mistake in a game. Imagine, just for one…
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Werder Bremen were in trouble. Viktor Skrypnyk’s side was only one point above the relegation zone entering the winter break during the 2015-16 Bundesliga season. Thankfully, Bremen managed to pick up a win and a draw from their first three matches of the New Year. The storied club was five points away from the bottom…
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André Schürrle embarked on a powerful, driving run down the left wing, and lifted a hopeful ball towards the six-yard box, picking out the awaiting Mario Götze. The substitute immaculately controlled the ball on his chest, before sweetly volleying the ball into the far corner via his left-foot past a hapless Sergio Romero. With less…
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German sporting dominance was often viewed with an air of suspicion on the British Isles, thanks to World War sentimentality, relative economic strength, and historical state-sponsored doping for political gain by the East Germans. Jürgen Klinsmann never represented the East, but he still drew abuse when he first took to British shores to sign for…
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The tenure of Pep Guardiola at German giants Bayern Munich will be remembered for a number of things: the dominance on the ball, the switches in emphasis from central penetration to wing superiority, and the drastic improvement of several players under his watchful eye as they moved towards the world-class bracket. That said, one of the…
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Born to a World Cup-winning father in Mazinho, Thiago and Rafinha Alcántara have been surrounded by football and its culture for as long as they can remember, including growing up with cousin and current Valencia forward, Rodrigo. The two brothers came through the ranks at Barcelona, at the famous La Masia academy, typically calm on…
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Bad timing was in Pepe Reina’s blood. His father, Miguel, while in goal for Atlético Madrid in the 1974 European Cup final, was guilty of perhaps the most ill-fated premature celebration in European football history. With the Spanish side leading 1-0 in extra-time of their final against Bayern Munich, the story goes that Miguel was…
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With the Champions League group stage underway, everyone will have an opinion on who will win this season’s competition. The usual suspects head the betting, with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and defending champions Real Madrid leading the way and a handful of other potential winners among the 32 teams. It’s a great market for providing long-term…
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I once heard a joke involving Owen Hargreaves when the midfielder was a Manchester United player. The joke went along the lines of ‘Hargreaves ruled out for a further 3-4 weeks after injuring himself getting out of the shower this morning’. The joke had a variant, too, centring rather on his treacherous morning walk down…
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One of the great misfortunes of being a professional athlete is that your biggest failures are inevitably caught on camera. The ubiquity of media coverage for modern-day sport is a double-edged sword: it can propel someone to superstardom or it can undo them in an instant; it can capture the essence of triumph and it…
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