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For English-speakers, the headline is “Whose fault is it that Mou left?” If I have to explain to you why this is ironic, you should not be reading this site. Go watch cat videos on YouTube.
IMAGE: Marca
BYOC&C (Bring Your Own Cape & Costume)
Original Image: US Soccer
Going by Amazon publication date, this is actually a case of the much feared “deflation” (ie, a drop in prices for goods). On December 18, a Surreal Football magazine was worth $8. Two days later, the price dropped to $2.99. Obviously, deflation of more than 50% is a terrifying prospect for the global economy. Luckily, there’s a technical explanation – the SF crew only recently published the first magazine to Amazon, but it’s been around for awhile.
As for the second one – ‘zine, grab it while it’s hot. Yes, $8 is a bit pricy. My own (cough cough) eBooks are and will cost around six dollars. Think of that additional $2 as a “spite premium.” And snag your copy here.
In other news, I penned some thoughts on the Sporting KC stadium renaming. That’s right – Sporting KC shall no longer live strong. To catch up on local political gossip and a bit of an anti-corporate rant, click here.
I also wrote for TheClassical about the Real Madrid man you love to hate to love: Pepe. Check it out here.
In a moment of desperation, Chelsea turned to Rafa Benitez. Yes, Rafa Benitez. The former manager of Liverpool. The eternal ill-speaker of club owners (and employers). The colossal failure at Inter. Why? Well, few mid-season options were available. When you promote your assistant coach to coach as a mid-season replacement, it really complicates the following season when you fire your current coach. Thus, Benitez.
For his part, Rafa’s Chelsea started with two draws and a loss, but has now won two consecutive games. More importantly, Benitez has started to mold Chelsea in his image. The man loves zonal marking on set pieces. However, his zonal schemes just may push Chelsea’s veterans over the edge. Continue reading “Rafa Remakes Chelsea in his Own Zonal Way” »
The Podolski puzzle. For almost a decade, the German has shined for his national team and enjoyed a few good seasons in the Bundesliga at now-relegated club Cologne. However, doubts lingered. Criticisms circled. Why did Lukas struggle and leave Bayern Munich? Was it his mentality? Is he only good as a big fish in a little pond? Was he played out of position? What, exactly is his position? And therein lies the dilemma.
A dilemma which Arsene Wenger must now face. Continue reading “Tactics: Does Lukas Podolski Stretch or Expand Arsenal?” »
MLS diehards remember the days of cavernous, empty NFL stadiums. For pitchsnobs, we suffer acid reflux at a single memory: NFL chalk lines defacing an otherwise glorious grass field. A few years ago, I dumped on Pizza Hut Park for defiling a soccer-specific field with the accursed white chalk numbers of throwball (American football).
Sadly, things have not changed. Continue reading “MLS Soccerspecific Stadia: the Broken Promised Land?” »
Remember when to talk about soccer, you just needed to know the words: (1) Goal, (2) Ball, (3) Goalie, (4), Defender, (5) Midfielder, (6) Forward, and (7) Il Divino Codino? No longer. Now we have tactics-speak. We also learn financial terms to understand just how underwater are our beloved clubs. Today’s “word of the day” (which is not going to become an actual daily post, tsk tsk), is “depreciation.” It goes very well with Ricardo Kaka.
Let me explain. Continue reading “Soccer Speak Word of the Day: Depreciation” »
Real Madrid UTTERLY DOMINATED POSSESSION during the game’s opening stages. Granted, I couldn’t see the massacre because I was at work, but wow. 71% possession?! Versus Barcelona?! Obviously, statistics tell the entire story. Always. Each time. Every time. In fact, even later statistics cannot refute earlier statistics because statistics show that primacy is determined by chronology. Earlier = better. Therefore, any other possession statistics, like, say, for the entire game and recorded at the end of the game, are statistically insignificant. At least statistically speaking.
And we all know the first two minutes of soccer are the most important block of time.
IMAGE: Julia Blankenship
H/T – Luigi
IMAGE: Julia Blankenship