The 45th president of the United States could be asked to back the 2026 World Cup bid – perfect for his very particular style of accountabilityIt’s been a predictably hectic first week in office for the president of the US, which he has spent fretting over the size of the attendance at his inauguration while signing bits of paper with all the abandon of a small child with a long stick who has just stumbled across an unsupervised blank canvas of freshly laid cement.In the time it takes most civil servants settling into a job to obtain a security pass and computer log-in, Donald Trump has – among other highlights – signalled his intention to do away with Obamacare, given...
The podders look back on mixed fortunes for Manchester United and Liverpool in the EFL Cup semis as the two prepare to meet at Old Trafford. Plus, Dmitri Payet goes to war with West Ham and Fifa’s plans to expand the World Cup Subscribe and review: iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast & Stitcher.AC Jimbo is back, and he’s joined for this sparkling edition of Football Weekly Extra by James Horncastle, Jacob Steinberg and Paul MacInnes. What could possibly go wrong? Continue reading...
We could be roused by the Fifa president’s claim that ‘football’s back’ – if it wasn’t for his bloated new-look tournament that flies in the face of sporting meritocracyWhat a surprise to find that sporticidal maniac Gianni Infantino has added yet another awards ceremony to football’s calendar. As someone who believes that what the world really lacks is a further glittering night of industrial frottage, I am pleased to see the Fifa president identify the need for the football family to come together in this manner.If only there was a tried and tested way for the footballing elite to measure themselves against each other – perhaps in regular competitions, tournaments, championships, derbies, clásicos, leagues, cups, and various other quaint old ideas...
Fifa’s Gianni Infantino has pushed through his 48-team World Cup but those complaining, mostly from Europe, must know that the modern tournament has always been about commerce and politics as much as football gloryIt is still less than a year since Gianni Infantino stood dazzled by destiny at the Fifa congress, tapping his heart in disbelief at really being the president, and already he has swept in the historic, bulky change of a 48-country World Cup. It comes as no surprise, really, that having made it his pitch for votes to expand the World Cup, as he stepped over the fallen careers of his banned former boss at Uefa, Michel Platini, and Fifa’s Sepp Blatter, Infantino has quickly steered through...
The two countries have learned that for all the styling, the schmaltz and the money, football reserves the right to be stubborn and insistently uncontrolledWith the World Cup in Russia looming ever closer, Euro 2016 has already faded into the familiar post-tournament haze, a flip chart of half-remembered moments. Goals from headers. Happy, well-adjusted Icelandic people. Cristiano Ronaldo close-ups. Roy Hodgson in a blazer looking noble and sad. David Guetta grinning and thrusting about behind his DJ plinth like the kind of uncle you have to keep an eye on at Christmas.This week I was also reminded of the posters of smiling, face-painted fans Uefa slapped up around French city centres: huge disembodied mugshots of supposed football supporters from every...