Socceroos in Qatar: All Eyes on the Green and Gold
This winter, Australia will make its fifth consecutive appearance on the biggest international stage, having gone through the intercontinental play-offs after failing to qualify for the tournament directly. The Aussies beat both…
A Dreamers Preview to the USMNT at the World Cup
The World Cup is at hand. Today, the biggest theater of dreams in sports opens up its doors and welcomes 32 performers vying for the spotlight and the most coveted trophy in…
Chemtrails Over the Campus Quad: The Charming (and Increasingly Irrelevant) Americana of Men’s College Soccer
Fifteen minutes into the match, a lone North Carolina State attacker collects the ball at the halfway line and charges headlong into a retreating Clemson University back four. Despite his determination, the…
The Fleeting Rise and Melancholic Fall of Michu, the Player the Streets Will Never Forget
There are some footballers you just never forget. Diego Maradona for his flamboyantly gifted dribbling ability and skill. Zinedine Zidane for the way he controlled and bossed the midfield. Roberto Carlos for…
Who Will Win Serie A? Europe’s Multi-Team Title Race
There’s really only one place in Europe right now where you can find a multi-team title race on the cards, and that’s in Italy for the 121st edition of Serie A. While…
The Surprising Names at Risk of Missing the Flight to Qatar 2022
We’re currently 67 days away from the first ball being kicked at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, and as we approach the first ever World Cup to be staged in winter…
The Champions League Final is Damned and Doomed: Part II
Barrie Davies’ journey to the Liverpool-Real Madrid final reaches its zenith as the crew enters Paris. Read Part I of the two-part series here. I don’t know how long I was unconscious…
The Champions League Final is Damned and Doomed: Part I
Barrie Davies’s journey to the Champions League Final takes a turn when he finds a rundown flat, smelly bar, and ‘Magic Messi Milk’ between himself and Paris. Part one of a two-part…
Greek Football Fandom: A Season Preview
As the football season kicks off around Europe, the Greek Super League may fly under the radar for many fans of the game. We explore the history of Greece’s top teams and…
Philippe Coutinho: Revitalisation at Villa Park
When you are not thriving at one place, you try to rediscover yourself by moving to another. Even after winning a Bundesliga and Champions League double in 2020 when on loan at…
The ‘Pasty Pirlo’: Ange Postecoglou’s first Aussie signing at Celtic
Despite the reported strong interest from a couple of English Championship clubs, Aaron Mooy has become Celtic’s latest summer signing, linking up with his former Australia coach Ange Postecoglou at Parkhead. Mooy,…
Jack Kerouac and the Childish Art of Fantasy Football
I have always had an uneasy and uncomfortable relationship with the work of Jack Kerouac. Even when I was what observers would have identified and described as an “impressionable” youth prone to…
Belgium’s Next Noa Lang: Three Breakout Stars
Noa Lang is a sort of commodity who has lit up the league in his stint with the champions of Belgium. He formed dangerous partnerships with the likes of Bas Dost and…
Noussair Mazraoui: Football’s Glorious Nonconformist
Ajax full-back Noussair Mazraoui recently signed with Bayern Munich on a free transfer. He encapsulates everything we love about Ajax: determination against all odds, a pension for highwire-like acts on the sideline,…
A Peek through the Looking Glass: An Alternative Perspective on the Most Dramatic Moment in English Football History
A last-minute goal from Jimmy Glass saved Carlisle United from relegation. But it may have also been the catalyst behind their future struggles.
Graham Arnold and the Socceroos: Match Made in Heaven or Disaster Waiting to Happen?
Over a week ago, the Australian National Football Team managed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, catching the last train to Qatar, after beating Peru in a fairly dull game where…
Arsenal, Dortmund, Holland: Remarks on relatability in a football team
I have a problem. I know what a successful club looks like. The trophies, the glory, the squad full of killers capable of blowing you away 7-0 or grinding out the jammiest…
Kylian Mbappé’s New Residence: Top of the Football World
Kylian Mbappé’s transfer saga, where he played two of Europe’s most prominent clubs off each other, has ended with PSG retaining the French superstar. Rare is the player who passes up a…
Zlatan: Against all Odds, God Wins.
At 38 years old, with over 500 goals on his account, a devastating goal-scoring campaign in the MLS behind him, a recurring Achilles problem to ponder, and no football in over 3…
The Importance of Getting Erling: A Player and a Coach’s Earnest Search for Perfection
Erling Haaland is now a Manchester City boy. After years of “nearly-theres” on the European stage, the club needed a decisive force, and they seem to have found it in a 21-year-old…
Ange Postecoglou: The Man Who’s Revived Celtic
Ange Postecoglou has reinvigorated Celtic football club in the 2021/22 campaign. The Greek-Australian manager was known to few supporters of the club when appointed. However, through the similarities he shares with Celtic’s…
André Kamperveen: Suriname’s Tragic Legend
The small South American country of Suriname has a deep historical connection to the Netherlands and Dutch football. André Kamperveen was its first player to make that trip overseas, and his success…
From Soccer to Football: Jesse Marsch in Yorkshire
For years, cross-Atlantic sporting relations have revolved around the ‘Football’ vs ‘Soccer’ debate. Will Jesse Marsch’s appointment as Leeds United head coach spark the change in Brits’ perception of Americans? In a…
Lies, Deceit, and Illusion: Football in the 21st Century
Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ is the perfect specimen of deception. Teddy Daniels reaches the brink in search of the truth and it ends up taking a breakdown for him to realise that…