ASK A FOOTBALL EXPERT about the powerhouses of Asian football and the answers would be familiar: Australia, South Korea, Iran and Japan. Uzbekistan may not be on that list, but its history…
Tag: spotlight
In 2007, David Beckham left Real Madrid. He had regained his place in Fabio Capello’s starting line-up and played an integral part in Los Blancos’ return to the pinnacle of Spanish Football,…
After Luis Enrique announced his seemingly inevitable resignation as Barcelona coach, he made a poignant statement: “The reason clearly had to do with the way of life I need to have in this…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 Vincenzo Montella is not entirely dissimilar to Roberto Mancini. Like the former Inter and Manchester City manager, Montella exudes effortless charisma and…
This feature is part of Diego Maradona: the World Cup diaries Diego Maradona played in four World Cups; in each one he left a different indelible imprint around the globe, none more…
From Messi and Batistuta to Bielsa and Menotti, few cities in the world of football have given us more talent than the Argentine metropolis of Rosario
RUI COSTA’S footballing life can be summed up by one goal and the few moments that followed it. In August 1996 in Lisbon’s Estádio da Luz, Benfica lined up against Fiorentina for…
WHEN FABIO CAPELLO TOOK OVER AS ENGLAND MANAGER in succession to Steve McClaren in 2008, he largely refrained from making the sweeping changes many people felt he should have been drawn towards.…
When the conversation topic turns to footballing legends, those that spring to mind are generally the quintessential one-club men – Francesco Totti, Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard, for example. None of these players had…
THREE EVENTS OCCURRED in perfect synchronicity in order to facilitate Florentino Pérez’s second attempt at managing the global superpower that is Real Madrid. The first was on 10 March 2009 as Real Madrid…
This feature is part of The Masterminds: 10 Under 45 If Italy is the great training ground for great European coaches, Argentina must be considered its equal in the pressure cooker of…
After defeats against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa, Jorge Sampaoli prepared his Sevilla players for their first La Liga game of the season, against…
It was not the most popular of appointments. When Antonio Conte departed his post as Juventus manager on the eve of pre-season in the summer of 2014, the Italian champions turned to…
THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL DEFENDER throughout history has almost always focused on the idea of restricting the opposition from attacking through the dangerous central areas of the field. In this time,…
There’s a wonderful simplicity that characterises Jermain Defoe’s career: a love of playing and a love of scoring goals. It sounds faintly ludicrous – a Premier League striker driven by the desire…
As featured on Guardian Sport As Real Madrid’s Isco squeezed the ball through a helpless Tom Heaton’s legs, Spain did the unthinkable and completed a stupendous comeback to steal a draw after…
“Dortmund stands for attacking football. That’s what I feel comfortable with. We will defend a lot and attack a lot. I enjoy that and the fans enjoy that,” Thomas Tuchel said at…