Wednesday, World Cup Qualifier Picks

Big day for world football on Wednesday, and if you use these picks, it will be a big day for your bankruptcy lawyer. That implicit warning out of the way, here are my picks for today’s six World Cup Qualifying matches:

SPA: Did Coaching Matter This Weekend? This Cycle?

Wednesday, we will see the field for the 2010 World Cup completed, with invitations to be handed-out after the six matches spanning Africa, Europe, South America and (by extension) Central America. Each contest is a rematch of a game played on Saturday, and with the except of the Algeria-Egypt playoff in Khartoum, each is the [...]

Best Names in the Game

This isn’t a deep piece, but more of a frivolity, as I dwelt yesterday on player names. It’s not the first time I have, but when ever I do, I always think about Simão Sabrosa.

That may sound like a Portuguese star of adult movies, but I think it’s a great footballer’s name (not that [...]

SPA: The Obsession with Brazilian Starlets

Over at Set Piece Analysts, I talk about something that’s been on my mind all morning.

After talking to Jon Cotterill for tomorrow’s Inside the Six, I because acutely aware of the contradiction inherent in European football fans fawning over the young domestic talent in Brazil. While that sounds like a natural pursuit for the [...]

Indecisive van Gaal Forcing Decisions from Bayern

The Louis van Gaal-watch is the 48-point-font headline in the Bundesliga, and although mid-week speculation held the Dutch coach needed a win over Schalke to retain his job, Saturday’s 1-1 draw exhibited enough life from his team to keep van Gaal on at Allainz Arena through the international break. With Bayern now sitting in [...]

Beware of False International Footy Idols - My First Twitter Rant

Posted here just because I want to commemorate it. I’ve felt this ever since Euro 2008 but have been deferential. I think the only way I can go on being so (into the future) is to get it out of my system. If it’s not posted somewhere that has some permanency, I [...]

Knee Jerk World Club Rankings

This list was put together before the Europa League matches started, though those will affect the list that’s published tomorrow and World Soccer Reader. I had to put this list together early for the sake of our editorial process, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it.

The list is getting huge, as [...]

UCL Preview, Predictions

We’re half way through the first half in Kazan, and Barcelona had even more possession than they did in Spain. As a counter, Rubin looks even better organized. Some people will think this is anti-football and the match is boring. I find it very intriguing. Both teams looks good (at what [...]

My MLS End-of-Season Awards

Yesterday on Inside the Six, World Soccer Reader MLS correspondents Jared Dubois (Galaxy, and his own blog) and Jordan Wise (Dynamo, that guy with the broken mic) gave my their MLS XIs as well as their awards picks. That segment was their forum. This is mine. Here are my picks for MLS [...]

Knee Jerk World Club Rankings

With the international break, this list is going to be rougher than usual, and since it’s only purpose is conversation fodder, I forced myself to come up with it in ten minutes or less.

Each week at World Soccer Reader, I edit a collaboration, the WSR World Club Top Ten. This is how it starts: [...]