After the huge success of the Women’s World Cup, there may not be a better time to bid for the biggest event on the planet After the huge success of the Women’s World Cup, there may not be a better time for Australia to bid for the biggest event on the planet – the men’s edition. This time however, help will be needed and not just from New Zealand and not just because there would be 48 teams instead of 32 and more stadiums required. South-east Asia is the key and having the continent involved and onside means that there should be no need for animated kangaroos in last-ditch pitch videos.It is often forgotten that, in football terms, Australia is...
From bloated World Cups to dull club competitions excess is everywhere, but who will stand up against the exploitation?It’s worth asking before launching into a jeremiad where you would have stood on major disruptions of the past. Have I become the old man who yells at clouds and is simply opposed to everything new? Would I have been against professionalism, the 1925 change in the offside law, the advent of European football, the foundation of the Premier League? Is this just the conservative creep of age? Perhaps. But, equally, it’s hard to look at football and where it may be headed and not feel fearful.In some ways, football has rarely had it so good. The Premier League this season offers...
The displays that brought worldwide affection came in a tournament that has a mythic place in the collective memoryFootball is rarely just football and footballers are rarely just footballers. Pelé was a brilliant forward, a player of grace and imagination, of explosive pace and extraordinary balance, but that is not why his death on Thursday caused such a widespread sense of loss. Nor is it the three World Cups or the two Copa Libertadores he won. To respond to the question of why Pelé mattered with a list of attributes or medals is to miss the point: he mattered because of what he represented.But to define what he represented is almost impossible, not least because, particularly once his playing career...
Usually there’s a month off for players to reset but this time it’s just days for those coming off Qatar’s highs and lowsIt is late at night when the four hobbits arrive at the Brandywine Bridge. They are shocked to find it barred and they have to plead with the Shirriffs to let them in. The Shire has changed since they went away, trees chopped down, old buildings swept aside, the inns closed. Sandyman’s Mill has been replaced by an ugly new building, full of noisy machinery that pollutes the air and the river. This is not the homecoming they have dreamed of.Merry blows the horn given him by Éowyn of Rohan and they raise the Shire then scour it...
Argentina deserved to win the World Cup and it was lovely to see Morocco do well but the world’s governing body must learn from the lessonsSo this is it. Qatar 2022 has been and gone and there is a lot to reflect on. In terms of the football it was a great tournament with a great final. Argentina were deserved winners for the way they dominated a large part of the final against France. One could see they were up for it from the start, with their body language, their tackles, their transitions and the way they used the crowd to create energy.And so Lionel Messi got to crown his career with the one trophy he did not have, the...