The football blog for fans of all clubs
Bayer Leverkusen: What was that? “Leverkusen will challenge for the title” – “Leverkusen are dead certains for Champions League qualification”. Both of these were predictions you heard prior to this season. And they did seem logical. They just finished Third after a great RĂĽckrunde, didn’t lose any notable players and added some quality in Volland, […]
Money makes the world go round. And in the eyes of many people it is the demon that sits on the shoulders of footballers. The one club players are now few and far between. Those that remain loyal to clubs are from a different generation of player. Youngsters moving through the game now are paid […]
Michael O’Neill’s squad make the journey to the Land of Fire for Saturday’s fixture as they look to cement their position as 2nd in Group C of FIFA World Cup Qualification. Northern Ireland are without a raft of senior players as Craig Cathcart joins Paddy McNair, Corry Evans, Chris Baird, Jamie Ward and Luke McCullough on […]
NYC FC 2-2 New England Revolution The Revolution grabbed a late equaliser as they gained a precious draw away from home against NYC. Jack Harrison opened the scoring on 16 minutes after David Villa had drove his way into the box before cutting the ball back for Harrison to tap home. The leveller came on 24 […]
Like many of you, I watched the Champions League final with intense interest to see what promised to be a fascinating tactical battle. Like most of you, I was rather surprised with the ease in which Real Madrid dispatched of a Juventus side that had conceded three goals in their entire Champions League campaign. In the […]
In the summer of 2013, Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic hung up his boots, calling time on a trophy laden 18 year career. During these years, he won titles at his three clubs, Red Star Belgrade, Lazio and Inter Milan, as well as raking up over 103 international appearances. Stankovic also holds the unique record of […]
8. Bremen: Second half rise At the start of the season it looked like the old Bremen again: Conceding goals left, right and centre, not having a clear concept and generally not signing good players in the defensive areas. All of that lead to Viktor Skripnik being sacked and he was replaced by Alexander Nouri […]
Friday, June 2 We started round 27 off in Junin, where Sarmiento were hosting Defensa y Justicia. Sarmiento just edged Defensa y Justicia in a 1-0 win. A bit of a surprise given the form of the visitors, but all three points stayed in Junin. Godoy Cruz were also surprised as they lost 0-2 at […]
This weekend we had the 4th round of the Brazilian Championship. Of the 10 matches, we hit 8 of our predictions!!! Below is a summary of the main matches of the round: Coritiba 1-0 Atletico PR In the state of Parana derby, Coritiba got the better of Atletico as they won at home. The match had […]
All great players face the same barrier in their careers. Time. It usually robs them first of their most physical attributes. Pace, strength, fitness. But in very few cases – the mind. For most, the mind remains razor sharp. For some it becomes even sharper. Examples include great players who go on to become great […]
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos billed Saturday’s Champions League final in Cardiff as a “date with history” and, following Madrid’s 4-1 win over Juventus, the achievement will certainly be etched into the history of European club football. Real’s victory meant they became the first team to defend the title in the 25-year UEFA Champions League […]
Under a closed roof, the floodlights of the Principality Stadium lit up the biggest stage of them all – the Champions League Final between two of the finest sides in world football. 65,000 fans created an atmosphere fitting of the occasion, with the Juventus end displaying a clear message, “The Time is Now”. A complete […]
It was all about Cork City’s Seanie Maguire last weekend in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division. During the week there were calls for him to be called up for the Irish National Squad and then under the watchful eyes of both Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane he scored a hat-trick in the top of […]
It was reported by German news outlet Bild on Sunday that Ajax manager Peter Bosz will be making a move to Borussia Dortmund to take over as their new manager. This news came as somewhat of a surprise to Dutch football followers because of Bosz’s immediate success with Ajax, having just been appointed at the […]
A summary of the Brazilian football week, and a preview of the 4th round of the Brazilian Championship, written by a native, for the public outside the country of football… BRAZIL’S CUP We defined the round of 16 this week. We had 6 matches that we can see below a brief summary of each match. […]
As Marco Asensio’s first season as a Real Madrid player concludes, we take the time to analyse the massive impact he has had on the team, and how Zidane has gotten enormous performances out of the young Canary boy. What impresses the most, perhaps, is not how good he performs, but how versatile his performances […]
5. Köln: Solidity pays off After missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga in the 2012/13 season, Köln employed Peter Stöger – the man who is still the Head Coach today, and Jörg Schmadtke – the man who is still director of football. Together, the duo comfortably won promotion to the Bundesliga in the next […]
Vincenzo Grifo to Borussia Mönchengladbach At a very shrewd price of just €6.5 million, this is a brilliant bit of business from Mönchengladbach. Vincenzo Grifo was one of, if not the best players for Freiburg last year, contributing 6 goals and 8 assists in a campaign that saw them finish in 7th place and in […]
3. Dortmund: It’s a Rollcercoaster! After Dortmund just finished second in Tuchel’s first season they had to sell three of their Key Players with GĂĽndogan, Mkhitaryan and Mats Hummels. Instead of doing what a lot of big clubs would try to do – replace these players like for like with other players approaching their prime […]
