“We have to be realistic in our thinking,” said Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team interim head coach Angus Eve, as a journalist asked how he would approach tomorrow’s final Concacaf Gold Cup Group A assignment against Guatemala from 10pm in Frisco. “We can’t go hell for leather and …
Read More »B&B Ep 6: Latapy on becoming the ‘Little Magician’, Barbados and the 2006 W/Cup
Trinidad and Tobago football legend Russell ‘The Little Magician’ Latapy discusses his rise in the game from playing small goal football in Laventille, the 1990 and 2006 World Cup campaigns, coaching Barbados, and a string of influential coaches—including Jean Lillywhite, Everald ‘Gally’ Cummings, Bobby Robson, José Mourinho, and Leo Beenhakker. …
Read More »Satirical shorts: Bashing Balotelli, timeless Platini and small-minded Pellegrino
Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli saw something that tickled him during Manchester United’s controversial 5-3 loss to newly promoted Leicester City yesterday and tweeted: “Man Utd… LOL.” Naturally, it was met with an explosive response from sad, little “fans” who saw it as an excuse to abuse the 24-year-old Italian football …
Read More »Mourinho’s last stand: Madrid Copa Del Rey finals live on DIRECTV
Real Madrid coach José Mourinho will aim for a special farewell to his time in the Spanish capital on Friday when Europe’s most glamorous club faces neighbours Atlético Madrid in the Copa Del Rey final at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The Madrid derby kicks off at 3.30 pm and will …
Read More »Mourinho stokes fires ahead of El Clásico
It is a new La Liga season but prepare for the same old José Mourinho. As Real Madrid tries to recover from last Thursday’s 3-2 first leg Spanish Supercopa deficit, the highly successful but equally controversial Portuguese coach returned to one of his old classics by accusing rival Barcelona of …
Read More »Madrid prepares for Barcelona examination
“Are you a football fan?” I asked the taxi-driver, who collected me at the Barajas Madrid Airport. “Yes,” he said. “Real Madrid.” His eyes searched mine through the rear view mirror for a few seconds. It resembled the look of a man who had just shown off his girlfriend and …
Read More »Guardiola’s brilliance was destined to be temporary
When Barcelona’s soon-to-be-ex-coach Pep Guardiola related his “waiting for that eureka moment”, as he described his coaching ideology, many in the football world may have thought it pretentious. The would-be philosopher-coach would find the tactical strategy necessary to overcome any and every team in Barcelona’s path through a flash of …
Read More »Nakhid: Mourinho takes title but Barca keeps crown
In football, more often than not, one plus one does not yield two; never was this more evident than in the most recent Clásico, which was played on Saturday. It’s always something of an anti-climax when you write about an event at a time when all and sundry have had …
Read More »Real evolution for Mourinho’s Madrid
Some 90,000 Catalans bayed for blood in the Nou Camp; Saturday April 21 was the day they expected Barcelona to put the Real Madrid’s Galácticos to death, a slow, merciless death. But they reckoned without the special one himself, José Mourinho. We covered several tactical topics prior to the game …
Read More »Mourinho gets Fenwick’s nod for El Clásico
Spain’s finest and two of the world’s most renowned football clubs, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, go head-to-head in this mouth-watering winner-take-all encounter. To fully appreciate the true value and importance of this championship decider, one must start by identifying the ingredients that have the whole football world on edge …
Read More »Philosophy, El Clásico and Nakhid
Like earlier versions of match-ups between these two high-flying teams, today’s Clásico is shaping to be a contest pitting a particular philosophy against a specific plan for a specific result. After two decades of trial and error, Barcelona’s philosophy, the brainchild of the most cerebral football player of all times, …
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