Sportblog | The Guardian — Club World Cup RSS



Behind every noble-sounding idea is the global elite’s desire for more money | Jonathan Wilson

The Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah and the proposed Club World Cup are just more ways of the rich becoming richerTippi Hedren sits on a bench outside the school. Behind her, crows gradually settle on a climbing frame. She smokes, distracted. By the time she finally notices a crow pass above her, it is too late. The frame, the roofs behind, the telegraph pole, the fence are laden with crows and the attack on the children cannot be averted. This is the greatest scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and it is also modern football.Every week, there comes a new detail, stat or report of an initiative. Individually they can be laughed off. What’s the Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli banging...

Continue reading



The December day when the rising sons of Flamengo outshone Liverpool

Thirty-eight years ago in Tokyo the Brazilian side won a famous victory against the English championsBy Joshua Law for Yellow and Green FootballIn each game Flamengo played in the Maracanã during this year’s Copa Libertadores one song rang out louder than any other. “In December 1981,” they chanted, “we ran rings around the English. 3-0 against Liverpool, it went down in history. In Rio there’s no equal, only Flamengo are world champions. And now your people ask for the world again.”Fans were desperate for the continental title and urged their players toward it. Yet with Liverpool confirmed as European champions they could not help but cast their thoughts further ahead. With each passing round they were a step closer to...

Continue reading