In the summer of 2012, sometime between Italy's 4-0 loss to Spain in the final of the European
Championship and the start of Juventus' preseason friendlies, Andrea Pirlo retreated from the
putrid society of man. He rose above the murders and deceit, the wars and corruption. He sacrificed
all of his worldly possessions and took up residence in a fortified bunker high up in the Alps with
just his axe, his wits and his beard for comfort.
Goodbye Gattuso: End of a Milan love affair is a post from: Just Football
by Christopher Akinrele
Gennaro Gattuso is to leave AC Milan when his contract expires in June. After a weekend in
which AC Milan said goodbye to yet another era of loyal servants, a unique place was reserved in
the fans' affections for the Rossoneri fighter who has finally hung up his gloves.
Post London 2012, far too much has been written about the great Olympic spirit on show and how
it shows up the greed and downright common behaviour of the Premier League's football players. This
lazy comparison spewed out by writers who, more than likely, won't cover (or even feign interest
in) another rowing or taekwando event for another four years, totally missed the point about the
tribal (and bloody popular) nature of football in comparison to the totally different Olympic
atmosphere and its plethora of minority sports.
The concept of the "close season" is becoming a rapidly fading memory. This summer has seen the
European Championships pass seamlessly into the first round of friendly matches which will fill the
schedules now until the middle of next month, when the league season finally begins. These matches
serve an obvious function for clubs.
West Brom reduce season ticket prices to help fans attend more games - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
On the back of a successful season that saw them achieve their highest ever Premier League
finish, West Brom have reduced ticket prices in a bid to help the local community afford to watch
live football matches and to encourage families and young fans to attend more games.
Roy Keane has claimed that after playing for Sir Alex Ferguson and then going in to manager, he
struggled to adjust his mindset from one of winning all the time to one that has to put up with
defeat.
"I think when you are playing under a manager like that and winning lots of games, part of
your mindset is that it is going to be easy," said Keane.
There aren't many more embarrassing situations at football matches than celebrating a goal that you
think has gone in, only to realise a second later that the ball in fact went wide and rippled the
side netting. The joy is snatched away from you, only to be replaced by the relieved catcalls from
opposition fans, [.
Why do football journalists love their jobs? They get paid to write about football, they get paid
to go to watch football matches and, most importantly, they get free beer. Like greedy kids
visiting a Pizza Hut ice cream factory for the first time, the journos at this Euro 2012 media
centre couldn't believe their [.
A pig and an elephant with a PR-savvy penchant for predicting football matches will be putting
their skills to the test during Euro 2012. Following in the footsteps of the late, great Paul the
Octopus and last week's match-predicting llama, both host nations will be able to avail of the
services of psychic animals to [.
VICE.com have been up in Glasgow filming a documentary 'Rivals: Rangers &
Celtic' on the complexities of the relationship between the two Old Firm clubs and what the future
would hold for both sets of fans if Rangers' financial woes force them down the pan in the near
future.
South Korea's Park Jong-Woo has been denied his bronze medal for the crime of holding aloft a
political banner after his country's 2-0 victory in the Olympic third-place play-off game against
Japan.
The banner reads "Dokdo is our Territory," referring to a group of largely uninhabited islands
(known as 'Dokdo' in Korea and 'Takeshima' in Japan) which lie in an area of rich fishing grounds
and natural gas deposits and over which both countries claim sovereignty.
We're only a few days into the London Olympics and the Games have already served as an
all-consuming distraction for a large portion of the planet. One group that has not been distracted
from their primary focus, even while attending Olympic football matches, is that of Blackburn fans
(and their chickens) who really, really want the club's manager, Steve Kean, and ownership group,
Venky's, as far away from their club as humanly possible.
This year the greatest show on earth, the London 2012 Olympic Games, comes to the UK. If you are
based in Manchester, you have a unique opportunity to watch a major Olympic sport right here! Old
Trafford will be hosting nine Olympic football matches between 26th July and 7th August. The
matches include a men's semi-final, a women's semi-final and the first appearance by the Great
Britan men's
We at BFZ have decided that till the start of the season we will be really random and continue
the really random posts. So today I bring to you all the happenings from the Olympics, the transfer
market and a bit of club football courtesy our globetrotting friends.
The Olympic football matches are like the MLS matches.
Just when we all started to think that things were going to settle down after the Euros, there
is some good news for us all. We have another new writer for the Arsenal Offside! Some of you may
know me from the comments section over the past few seasons, but for those of you who don't, I will
try and fill in the gaps.
Would you believe it. A week or so ago, while I was staying in Antwerp with Walter, we sat down
together to look at an article which would outline just how one would go about fixing football
matches. There was no allegation that match fixing was taking place, but rather, if you [.
Sunday's antics at Emirates Stadium threw perennial trouble maker Mario Balotelli back into the
headlines after a red card against Arsenal. Donning a t-shirt reading "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE" to
reveal if he found the net, Balotelli's intentions are clear. He feels it is all about him. Who
else would expose the message "WHY ALWAYS ME?
Two Arsenal fans have been banned from football matches for an altercation with police at the
Emirates which was prompted by the fact they were standing during the game.
It is fair to say there was more to the incident at the home game against Manchester United than
simply the fact that they wouldn't sit down and you can read a full report here.
Two Arsenal fans have been banned from football matches for an altercation with police at the
Emirates which was prompted by the fact they were standing during the game.
It is fair to say there was more to the incident at the home game against Manchester United than
simply the fact that they wouldn't sit down and you can read a full report here.
Allianz Arena - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
The Allianz Arena has held pride of place as a landmark in the north of the Bavarian capital,
Munich, since 2005. The first match was played in June 02, 2005 between the two local clubs FC
Bayern München and TSV 1860 München in the Allianz Arena.
There are a number of excellent ways to choreograph the home section. Having seen only a few, I
can confidently say not one of them has ever been as beneficial to its team.
This showing of support from FC Madgeburg, a regional team which struggles mightily at scoring
goals (and thus at winning football matches in general), is a bit helpful, a bit patronizing and
pretty damn funny.
Having scored seven goals in each of their previous two matches, Bayern Munich continued their
goal binge by beating Hertha Berlin 6-0 on Saturday. Bayern made such easy work of their hosts,
that they resorted to playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would take free kicks just to keep
themselves entertained.
Dog 1-0 Man: How animals changed football is a post from: Just Football
Animals and football have one thing in common, they're loved. However, some animals have interfered in football matches in the past changing the whole course of the match, sometimes in a good way for a certain team and sometimes in a really bad way.
There are some football matches which transcend mere rivalry and tap into something more
deep-seated, as if they tickle a synapse that we may even think that we have evolved away from. Few
of these occur in international football, but when they do, they arrive with a force of personality
that is almost overwhelming.
Thanks to the prevalence of racist incidents at domestic football matches in Poland and Ukraine,
racism has been a hot topic in the build-up to Euro 2012. Italy's Mario Balotelli weighed in on the
issue, saying he would simply walk off the pitch if he were subjected to racist abuse.
UEFA president Michel Platini, however, has insisted that Balotelli would have to stand there
and take his racist abuse, or risk earning a yellow card for leaving the field.
As those of you that have been keeping up to date with this series will already be aware, there
was probably no golden age for football in England when the game was completely free of corruption
and malign influence. We have already looked at the controversial promotion of Arsenal into
Division One of the Football League in 1919, but that year also saw the expulsion of a club that
had been members of the League since a year after its formation in 1904.
It's not often visiting teams get a result in Papua. I have no idea how that can be. Without games
from there being shown live, and even then the coverage ain't always the best and controversial
incidents get overlooked, there is little in the way of openness and transparency. Rumours aplenty
from people in the game who have been involved in games there but nothing more than that.
Falcao will confirm there's nothing like a neck rub to relax you after scoring a very important
goal. Or writing a very important post about the Europa League semi-finals. Hello? Anyone? Image:Â
AP Photo/Paul White.
Were you one of those who mistakenly thought all the madness had left the Europa League with
Mario Balotelli?
Goal line technology is not enough and the repeated mainstreaming of the state of play in the
development of this limited technology every time there is a colossal (and public) travesty of
justice in football is becoming somewhat hackneyed.
The mainstream media are also responsible for the framing of this technology argument - the limited
msm exposure for Wenger's views on video technology across the field of play (as opposed to merely
goal line) being merely the latest example.
The Russian fan who threw a banana at Roberto Carlos back in June -- the second banana incident
involving the Brazilian during his time with Anzhi -- has been aprehended and confessed to the
police, but he claims he didn't do it out of racist intent, just general fury.
From RIA Novosti:
"The person who threw it was arrested with the help of surveillance cameras.
We built a house on Bremner Boulevard...TORONTO VS. LOS ANGELES CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL - 1ST LEG 　 SKYDOME - WEDNESDAY 8PM TV: SPORTSNET (ALL REGIONS)
　 THE KICKABOUT:
Biggest.
Tragic news is coming out of Egypt following today's match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in Port
Said, Egypt. After Al-Masry won the match, 3-1, its fans invaded the pitch, forcing Al-Ahly players
to flee to the locker room, where they became trapped. Apparently, Al-Ahly Ultras took to the pitch
too, and the long, violent history between the two clubs was extended.
