Football Writers and Books: Simon Kuper and Gabrielle Marcotti or Barcelona and Chelsea

Writers, like teams, have their own style and flair. Barcelona plays with creativity, triangles, and movement. Chelsea on the other hand is strong at the back and emphasizes a more direct, counter-attacking approach. Different styles but excellent teams. Simon Kuper is the Barcelona of writers and Gabrielle Marcotti is Chelsea.Simon Kuper writes for the Financial Times. Kuper's book, Soccer Against the Enemy was my first foray into serious soccer books. His articles in the financial times are as good as his books. Like Barcelona, you are almost entranced by his creativity. Where does he come up with his material and how does he make it look so

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David Beats and Humiliates Goliath in Alcorcon: Alcorcon 4 - 0 Real Madrid

Alcorcon beat Real Madrid on Tuesday in their Copa del Rey match. Most people are probably unfamiliar with Alcorcon. It's a small suburb about 15 miles outside of Madrid. Even if you visited Madrid you probably never went to, or heard of Alcorcon. If you ever had the pleasure of living in the Madrid area for say, a couple of years, Alcorcon is the type of place where you hoped you never had to live. There's nothing wrong with the city per se, but there isn't much "right" with the city either. Some cities in Spain are ripe with history. There is rich spanish culture and history that mixes and blends perfectly with modern spain or society. Alcal

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A Deeper Look at What It Takes to Beat the [Red] Devil

Let me start off with a couple disclaimers: (1) I'm a shameless Liverpool fan, but will try not to be completely biased in this post after a terrific victory for the Reds this weekend; (2) I spent WAY too much time compiling the statistics used in this post, so pardon the data dump. Now for the main course: I wanted to take a closer look at the Liverpool-ManU game this weekend, partly because--like Kent--I've been a little bemused by the Reds up-and-down play this season and wanted to get behind it; and partly because I've always felt that you could get a lot of quality analysis out of a deeper statistical look into the game of football than the curso

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Fernando Torres - "Get off of Me"

So I don't mean to constantly post about Liverpool, but it's hard when the enigma that is Liverpool continues. Just when they appear to be dead in the water, they come back and take a 2-0 win over Manchester United, without Steven Gerrard. Not sure what to make of the team exactly, but Fernando Torres' first goal was a beauty. The pass from Benayoun that split the two defenders to set up the goal was picture perfect. Midfielders earn their paychecks with passes like that. Torres received the pass, took a touch and nailed a rocket into the top of the net. An amazing goal. Not sure if it qualifies as a "golazo" but it was a great goal and did argu

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Musings on the Origin of Golazos

Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. And the phrase is no truer than as applied to the beautiful game. For example, search for "greatest football goals" (on yahoo.uk, by the way--you won't get anything about soccer until page 143 in the U.S. Yahoo! page) and you'll find list upon list of the best goals ever, and every one will be different. So what distinguishes your everyday goal from a true "golazo"? And what makes a given "golazo" one of the greatest goals of all time?Is it the technical skill exhibited by the player, as in these goals by Bergkamp (this one, by the way, is accompanied by maybe my favorite piece of goal-scoring commen

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Nobody's Perfect: Barcelona 1 - 2 FK Rubin Kazan

Barcelona lost at home in the Champions League yesterday to FK Rubin Kazan. Who? Exactly. FK Rubin Kazan. Sounds like the name of a magician, not a professional soccer team. Apparently though, that is them on the left and they are a Russian powerhouse that should be feared. I don't know about feared. They were first promoted to the Soviet Top League in 2003 and won it last year and thus qualified for the Champions League. Not bad for their first appearance.I don't want to take anything away from their win. They did go into the Camp Nou and beat Barcelona on their own turf. Few teams within the past couple of years can boast that accomplishmen

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Transfer Talk

Even though it's still a few months until the transfer window closes, the rumors are already starting to fly. Various sites are reporting that there is discussion of Robinho leaving Manchester City for Barcelona. Other sites are reporting that it's just a rumor and that there are no talks underway. Regardless, Robinho needs to quit crying and sucking his thumb and play some soccer. When he left Real Madrid I blamed Real as I thought management had yet again given up on good, young talent to pursue and overpay another big name star. I still don't doubt that could have been the case with Robinho, but now I am beginning to wonder if it was more Robi

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Africa Dark Horse

Now that we have the South American Teams sorted out. Who is your "African" team for next years World Cup? With the Vuvuzelas (as seen above) blasting, I have a feeling there will be some great African team upsets. The last games aren't until 11/14/09. So it's hard to see which final 3 teams will join the 3 already locked in. I'll list your choices: South Africa.......(Host)Ghana.................(Qualified)Ivory Coast........(Qualified)Cameroon (10 pts) or Gabon (9 pts)Tunisia (11 pts) or Nigeria (9 pts)Algeria (13 pts) or Egypt (10 pts)Can't decide? Maybe just choose your favorite Nickname. Cameroon.............Indomitable Lions - my pickIvory Coast.

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Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Argentina, rich with soccer history, stands in danger of not qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa next year if they do not win today against their heated rivals, Uruguay. Why, might you ask, is this a big deal? Well, you must understand that Argentina always qualifies for the world cup... and qualifies early. In fact, the last time Argentina did not qualify for the World Cup was way back in 1970. Since that time, Argentina has been a powerhouse on the world stage, consistently producing some of the world's most talented players.Think about it... if you have played a soccer video game in the last 25 years, you have always chosen either Brazil

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Most Lethal Weapons

Congrats to Cesc Fabregas, and Lionel Messi. They are the current MLW's.What is this you ask? I am often asked who the current best player in the world is right now. Multiple factors must be considered. How do you rank a player? By his goals? His assists? His armband? So, I put together a little list of great players. Based on current stats, past performances, likability, and personal opinion, here are the finalists:Player..... .........Assists ...........Goals......... Aggregate................ TeamCesc Fabregas .........8 .........................4........................ 12 ........................ArsenalDidier Drogba...........5...................

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Fabio Cannavaro fails drug test

ESPN has reported that Italian sweeper Fabio Cannavaro failed a drug test. They didn't say what type of drug it was. Given that Cannavaro sort of looks like a mix between Vin Diesel and Eminem, has lots of tattoos and his preferred hair style is a shaved, you would think that he would have been busted for crystal meth or cocaine. But it appears its just another random 'cream' substance.I don't really want to dive too much into the steroid discussion with this post. One reason is because it's a little depressing to think that it has infiltrated the beautiful game. One wouldn't think that steroids would be used much by soccer players because as dem

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Serious Trouble for Madrid: Sevilla 2 - Real Madrid 1

On Sunday, Sevilla not only handed Real Madrid their first loss but also completely embarrased Real Madrid and their defense. Sevilla beat Real at their own game. They didn't play for possession, they just came out firing in an all out attack. I didn't think C. Ronaldo meant so much to Real, but they had no spark and were never really a threat on offense. More importantly though, Sevilla completely exposed the terrible back line that call themselves Real Madrid's defense. Talk about unorganized. Marcelo is a joke, as will be shown in the video. Pepe can't organize anyone, and Sergio Ramos is too interested in scoring goals. They are not in syn

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Soccer's Greatest Sound

When the ball hits the back of the net, the sound is like no other. With soccer, you can see a play developing but the outcome is uncertain until it's in. Something about the uncertainty of the play and deveopment of a goal that makes the sound of the fans so much more ecstatic.There are really two different sounds for a goal. When I started following the Champion's League a few years ago I realized that the crowd in Europe sounds different from the crowd in England upon seeing their team score a goal. On the continent they scream "Gol!"In England, it's a massive "Yeah!"That's my favorite sound.

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The Sounds of Soccer

What is the sound of soccer? It's a great sound and there are reasons for it. But first, let's talk about professional sports. When was the last time you attended a sporting event where the fans did not have to be prodded to MAKE SOME NOISE or GET LOUD? When was the last time you remember the fans starting a cheer all on their own without the help of cheerleaders or the public announcer? We went to an Angels game last week and no one in that stadium could be bothered to do much to support the team. When there was a runner in scoring position with one out, a banner rolled across the screen prompting us to 'MAKE SOME NOISE.' We bleated like shee

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No Need to Dethrone the King

The other day SI.com released their world soccer Power Rankings. I know that these rankings don't really mean anything as they are just one person's opinion. If anything they just start conversation and maybe even stir up some controversy, which it has done for me. According to their latest rankings, Real Madrid claims the No. 1 spot, with Barcelona, Man U and Chelsea following as 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Chelsea did have a bad loss to Wigan, but I still wouldn't put Man U before them. Man U also had a bad early loss and doesn't look as strong as Chelsea. But at least there is a justifiable reason for dropping Chelsea below Man U.The biggest iss

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Podcast 3

Another poor quality podcast for listening pleasure. Again, try not too laugh too much. Our technology will improve.

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