BRAZIL CAME TO SWEDEN IN 1958 with a great deal of expectation behind them. It was the sixth incarnation of the World Cup; the Seleção had played in every previous tournament, but…
Tag: world cup
While the fallout and anger at Qatar being awarded the World Cup in 2022 continues unabated, this year marks the 27th anniversary of the altogether more romantic story of another Gulf Sheikdom’s epic…
In what was one of football’s greatest games, France took on West Germany in 1982 in a game that featured legends, assaults and unforgettable football
SOMETIMES YOU HEAR A FACT, notice a name or log a date in your memory in the obscure hope that one day, you’ll be in a pub quiz team, or watching a television…
“SOCCER HAS ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES! And it’s here to stay … just look at the watch parties, full stadiums stateside watching the United States Men’s national team play in the World…
The famous author and journalist Eduardo Galeano once said of Garrincha: “In the entire history of football, no one made more people happy.” That summed up the man who many Brazilians consider as good as Pelé.
If there’s one word that describes Carlos Valderrama – apart from “hair” – it’s toque. Spanish for “touch”, the style was born in Latin America and involves tiring and confusing the opposition by…
It’s a moment most dream of but few ever come close to attaining. For a sport with the global pull of football, only a select number are deemed good enough to play it…
FRIDAY JULY 12, 2013 – Istanbul, Turkey: José María Giménez was 24 hours away from the biggest game of his life to date – the under-20 World Cup final. After a host of…
IN GLOBAL FOOTBALL, THE NARRATIVE NEVER STAYS THE SAME. Success on the pitch is not defined by population density and landmass. Footballing excellence does not grow from dry, unfilled fields left stagnate…
WHEN THE QUALIFICATION ROUND was drawn for the 1954 World Cup, French and German diplomats looked worriedly at each other. At a time when Europe was trying to move on from the calamities…
It was the first match since being comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Fabio Capello’s Milan side in the Champions League final. A star-studded Barcelona showed up at Oosterpark Stadion in Groningen to face the…
FOOTBALL THRIVES ON THE ECCENTRIC CAST OF CHARACTERS in its court. In it, we find rival kings like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo leading their powerful armies armed to the teeth with soldiers…
FOOTBALL IS UNDOUBTEDLY the most feverishly followed sport in Argentina, much like its South American neighbours. However, Argentina is distinctive in that football and politics have remained inextricably linked throughout history and this…
One of the many interesting facets of modern football is how it is at once a fresh, new game as well as being a regurgitation of what we have seen before. As we move through…
DESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS OF MANY, one’s life cannot entirely revolve around football without being affected by the outside world. Pesky issues like friends and a life aside, football fans are incessantly…
Bobby Robson was what is a known as a true football man. True football men are a rare breed. Their names and faces are etched in the memory of football’s illustrious and chaotic history,…
Illustration by Charis Tsevis LONG BEFORE THE MODERN GAME became what it is today, an intrinsic, deep-rooted love for the lifeblood and essence of the sport was the fundamental name of the…