It may not be a crisis yet but it will be if bogey team Chile defeat Argentina – and it will add to the many issues that are affecting the national gameWhatever happens on Thursday, Chile will haunt this generation of Argentinian players for ever. The two sides met in the 2015 Copa América final and the 2016 Copa América Centenario final and on both occasions Chile won on penalties after a 0-0 draw, extending the Argentinian trophy drought that stretches back to 1993. As Argentina face the possibility of failing to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1970, Chile, who have a knack of stopping them from playing, are probably the last team they want...
After almost four years in office Strachan has provided no tangible progress and it is time for Scotland to seek better leadership elsewhereScotland’s followers are in danger of wanting to stop the world before leaping off. In what has curiously grown as a theory relating to the country’s troubled international set-up, some would have us believe the identity of manager is irrelevant because of the pitiful resources he has at his disposal. Shoulders shrug as bad results accumulate.This does a disservice to what Scotland can call upon. It also offers tacit admission of one of Gordon Strachan’s most glaring failings: not maximising what he has at his disposal. Nations who have achieved far more than Scotland in recent times would...
The midfielder’s retirement U-turn when a World Cup 2018 qualifier against England looms increases the pressure on his national managerThe intensely tribal nature of Scotland’s football scene means neutral analysis of Scott Brown is about as forthcoming as peace marches before an Old Firm fixture. The combination of Celtic captain and a confrontational playing style that is viewed as being favourably looked upon by referees means Brown is adored by one club’s supporters whereas rivals view the midfielder as an individual they love to hate. This is not a novel concept, as Barry Ferguson, Graeme Souness and Neil Lennon will confirm.On Friday Brown is expected to step back into the Scotland team after a brief absence that only intensified debate...
Even without the background of Donald Trump as president-elect, Friday night’s World Cup qualifier will be played between two teams in transitionWell, that escalated quickly. The preamble to last year’s USA v Mexico clash, for the right to represent Concacaf at the Confederations Cup, seems impossibly quaint at this moment. To pick out a couple of random phenomena, Fox Soccer were forced on the defensive for a video montage that seemed to make light of Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, while on the Mexican side it was possible to walk through the Rose Bowl parking lots before the game, and see Trump piñatas dotted among the portable BBQs. But it still all seemed like so much carnival posturing on both sides.The...
Brazil prepare to revisit the scene of 2014’s infamous defeat with their team resurgent while their rivals’ embarrassment of attacking riches is providing no remedy for a desperate dependency on Leo MessiIt has been 28 months, but finally Brazil will return to the site of their greatest trauma. Their World Cup qualifier against Argentina on Thursday will be their first game in Belo Horizonte since the 7-1 defeat to Germany in the World Cup semi-final. Nothing will ever erase that horror but a victory over Argentina would make the ghosts loom less menacingly over the Mineirão in future – particularly if it adds to the growing fear in Argentina that the country may not qualify for the next World Cup.“There’s...