WHEN YOU THINK of Los Angeles, what do you think of? Most would probably name Hollywood, celebrities, and a sense of how the other half live. Los Angeles carries a glamorous reputation…
Month: January 2018
GEORGE WEAH IS UNDOUBTEDLY one Africa’s all-time greatest footballers. In a glittering 13-year spell in Europe, he played for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Chelsea, winning Ligue 1 titles,…
THE DIVISIVE FOOTBALL nomad from Glasgow is back in the Premier League. After a slow and steady building job at Everton, it seemed like David Moyes’ managerial career has nosedived after taking…
When Kazuyoshi Miura made his professional debut, Diego Maradona had just lifted the World Cup and Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister
The psychology behind what motivates us as humans is as varied as it is complex. Circumstance is generally the precursor for what sets our needs and wants, shaping our paths in life…
As pioneers in football go, few rank higher than Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Influencing the game’s greatest managers long after he began his 30-year odyssey on the touchline, his success with Dynamo Kyiv –…
MONACO’S EXHILARATING RUN to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017 was as thrilling as it was tinged by a shade of sadness, given Leonardo Jardim’s brilliant team looked certain to be pulled…
MANY FOOTBALLERS would give up everything to have a CV even remotely resembling that of 33-year-old defender Nilla Fischer. Apart from the fact that Fischer has just surpassed the rather impressive landmark…
The strength of Bilbao is in its unity. Yeray Álvarez knows this all too well, as it’s been his city which has helped him through the worst of his cancer
THE NAME LUIS ESCOBAR stimulates discussion and inspires nostalgia all over his native Peru. He has reached near-mythical status, with stories of his legendary talent having been passed down by generations of…
AS MODERN FOOTBALL transitions into ever-increasing levels of physicality and tactical fluidity, the ‘fox in the box’ striker is a dying breed close to extinction. Throughout the history of the game this…
When I was 15 I moved from my wealthy suburban club to play for a Croatian side in the city of Chicago. Not only was the creative style of play more suited…
As featured on Guardian Sport As a football fan living in the United States, it blows my mind how many games are available on television these days. I’m 33 now and can…
THERE IS NO TELLING how and when the Brazil national football team would have been formed if it hadn’t been for Exeter City Football Club. It was July 1914, just two weeks before…
In 2013,Readers Digest confirmed what everybody already knew. In 16 cities across the globe, they arranged for a stooge to drop their wallet in a crowded space, somewhere it was bound to be…
FOURTEEN MINUTES INTO EXTRA-TIME, after he opened the scoring for Argentina and Dick Nanninga equalised for the Netherlands, Mario Kempes burst into the box. He charged past two Dutch defenders and bundled…
IT SITS THERE, almost like an unexpected guest. Mount Fuji impressively intrudes on a Sunday morning flight between Nagasaki and Tokyo. The peak of the iconic mountain is so high that it…
Liverpool star Alan Kennedy was a man of phenomenal deeds who lands somewhere between unlikely legend and joyous cult hero in football history