“World Cup isn’t relevant anymore,” a 30-year-old sports editor colleague told me a few years ago. “[Uefa] Champions League is the most important event in football; it’s what everybody wants to see—where all the top players are.” That’s Bobby, pronouncing, now that the Qatar 2022 groups have been more or …
Read More »B&B Ep 14: Shaka Hislop on Tokyo Olympics, European club football, and athletes vs social media
Ex-England Premier League and Trinidad and Tobago World Cup goalkeeper and ESPN analyst Shaka Hislop talks to Burdie and Barney about his takeaways from the Tokyo Olympics, the Soca Warriors (and the Caribbean) at the Concacaf Gold Cup, the Harry Kane transfer saga, Barcelona FC’s fire-sale and athletes versus the …
Read More »Sputnik 2018: Hazard lights up play off, as Belgian joins Modric, Kane, Griezmann and Mbappé in awards chase
Belgium majored in minors at Saint Petersburg today, as they won one of the least meaningful matches in any competition: the third-placed play off. The “Red Devils” defeated England 2-0, which, ironically, was the second time the two teams met in a quasi-competitive fixture at the Russia 2018 World Cup. There was …
Read More »Sputnik 2018: Super Mario spoils England homecoming; Croatia set up revenge match with France
England football fans started the day singing “It’s coming home”; but they will end it crooning “Closing Time.” A predatory finish by Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic in extra time separated the two nations in today’s semifinal and set up a World Cup final date with France on Sunday. The only …
Read More »Sputnik 2018: England vandalise Panama’s Canal, Honda dents Senegal hopes and Colombia join party
Panama’s Canal was left in all sorts of disarray this morning, as England racked up their highest ever goal tally in a 6-1 mauling of the Concacaf minnows at Nizhny Nivgorod in Group G action. Panama coach Hernán Dario Gómez admitted that he was scared at halftime with his team …
Read More »Sputnik 2018: Lukaku has seconds in Sochi, Harry Kanes Sassi Tunisia and Croat sent home for snubbing corbeaux sweat
After three straight days of glorious uncertainties at the Russia 2018 World Cup, Belgium and England sought to restore an air of predictability to the tournament today, albeit in contrasting styles in Group G. Belgium rebounded from a flat first half to spank a physical Panama team 3-0, as giant …
Read More »