Any mention of ‘La Decima’ immediately leads to memories of Real Madrid’s lengthy quest for its long-elusive 10th European Cup, landed in 2014 in one of the most dramatic and emotionally draining…
Tag: brazil
“NO-ONE WANTS TO GROW UP TO BE A GARY NEVILLE.” Jamie Carragher’s remark in the Sky Sports studio may have appeared nothing more than a whimsical jibe directed at fellow pundit Neville, however,…
His team fresh off their fifth consecutive win, this one a thrilling 3-2 nail-biter over cross-city rivals São Paulo FC to keep them unbeaten and top of the table, Corinthians coach Fábio…
The pick of the more amusingfootball anecdotes to emerge in recent times was that relayed by ex-Brazil forward Pato around the time boyhood team Internacional marked the 10th anniversary of its unlikely 2006…
‘SÓ PARA INGLÊS VER’ is a phrase commonly used in Brazil, with roots in the slave trade, pertaining to façade laws and such created ‘only for the English to see’. In a…
Illustration by Charis Tsevis. View more of his work here The collective radar of world football is an enigmatic mechanism at the best of times. Sometimes it unearths tantalising treasures made to entrance…
When Brazilians think of Belo Horizonte, a depressing image and scoreline crosses their mind, especially in recent World Cup memory. But as Dunga’s replacement, Tite, walked across the touchline last November in…
SINCE 1990, Ukraine has often been a politically volatile nation. From becoming an independent nation in 1991 to the current ongoing territorial battle with pro-Russian separatists over the Donbass region, you cannot…
When the transfer window finally reopens on 1 January, fans are always desperate to see new players posing awkwardly with a shirt in the bowels of their new training ground, grimacing towards…
IT WAS AT THE ESTADIO AZTECA with a mesmeric swipe of his right boot that the late Carlos Alberto added the final flourish to the beauty which was Brazil’s coronation as world…
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…
There is nothing new in international teams seeking an edge through claiming talent with even the most tenuous connections to their countries. But Timor Leste’s attempt to fill their squad with Brazilians…
IN BRAZIL, perhaps more than in any other country, football is seen as an expression of national identity. It is a game of the mass of the people, played by all no…
It’s the 84th minute of a helter-skelter contest between Shijiazhuang Ever Bright and Jiangsu Suning when a Colombian striker by the name of Martínez surges into the box and kills the game…
It took an unlikely – and expensive – route for Chelsea and Brazil midfielder Willian to reach the very top of club football in England
Brazil’s fortunes are fading. Since 2014 the economy of the world’s fifth most populous nation has been faltering, leaving millions unemployed, inflation rates soaring and GDP shrinking at unprecedented rates. This economic…
PELÉ, RONALDO, SÓCRATES, GARRINCHA: Brazil has had its fair share of legends, players so great a nickname in Portuguese is enough to identify them the world over. But there’s another who sits as equal…
From South America to Panama to the United States, the Copa América has been inching ever closer to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where the first match of the Copa América Centenario –…