I am often left transfixed by football's fervent preoccupation with its own history; its continued reverence for a council of champions. At Anfield, the names of former mangers Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley sit embedded in corrugated iron and steel, greeting fans as they make their way to the stadium.
This will be on the exam.
Do defensive teams deserve their results?
Voodoo is surprisingly easy to master.
- Maxi Rodriguez
In the days of my grandfather, men were, well, men. Hands were rough, the whiskey strong, and
the morning walk to work often entailed a three-mile hike through snow to avoid enemy encampments.
Shifts may have been long and the labors exhausting, but as long as a warm meal awaited once the
rain-soaked boots were slipped off, life could be endured, if not savored.
- Maxi Rodriguez
Working for the weekend, just like Loverboy or your local omnipotent deity, implies a rest
period. Which makes it even more absurd that I willingly set my alarm for 4:15 most Saturday and
Sunday mornings in anticipation of European soccer.
- Maxi Rodriguez
Everything unraveled in the 35th minute.
After a volatile season which ebbed between 12-game streaks without conceding, and disastrous
6-nil defeats at the Emirates, my Arsenal side were 55 minutes away from an appearance in the 2012
Champions League final.
- Maxi Rodriguez
With news of Fabio Capello's departure from the England post yesterday came the expected flood
of "experts" speculating on potential replacements based on nothing more than years' old rumors.
With names ranging from the seemingly pre-agreed upon alternate Harry Redknapp, to Ian Holloway,
Stuart Pearce and Guus Hiddink, there was a disturbing trend towards the English manager.
- Maxi Rodriguez
On the eve of one of the most universally celebrated days of the year, the English Football
Association released a stunning 115-page document explaining their decision on the Suarez case.
Within minutes, a legion of the brightest legal minds across the world yet to pursue law as a
profession, took to the internet in a massive orgy of self-righteousness and ignorance, cascading
their uninformed opinions over a technology originally meant for collaboration and academic
study.
- Tom Thomas
Arsène Wenger will be feeling very sad tonight. Not just the sadness you feel when you're
disappointed with yourself, but a certain sadness trailed by the desperation and helplessness of
knowing you're in a corner and you may well have put yourself there.
- Tom Thomas
Arsène Wenger will be feeling very sad tonight. Not just the sadness you feel when you're
disappointed with yourself, but a certain sadness trailed by the desperation and helplessness of
knowing you're in a corner and you may well have put yourself there.
- Tom Thomas
And without a moment to spare, the new Premier League season is upon us with all the hope and
aspirations of millions looking forward to a fresh campaign from their home sides. With a mediocre
level of activity in the transfer markets, we pick up many of the same story lines from the EPL
where we left them at the beginning of the summer.
There was a moment Friday night where it seemed like fate was finally going to submit to
ability.
Receiving a well-weighted pass from Ever Banega on the right side of the pitch, he quickly
turned and touched the ball with his left foot, dodging a rushing challenge. With two defenders
closing in from opposite directions, he burst forward, leaving one trailing while his partner
missed a sliding attempt to derail the procession.
By Tom Thomas
In the modern game its difficult to find legends and heroes. Perhaps that's because such things
are better left for childhood sensibilities and nostalgic ruminations. The men of today often
become the gods of tomorrow, somehow, and that's just the way these things work.
I gave up competitive sports in my mid-teens.
"A victim of the 90s," you might assume, but it wasn't the parents or coaches who turned me
away. I was lucky, to be honest. My parents always supported my efforts with fruit snacks and soft
drinks, the most a ten-year old version of myself could ask.
My earliest memories of football are a bit fuzzy. Not so much because of the fallibility that
comes with age, but rather, because the football was distorted from the start.
Back then, recording and watching a game after its debut was a more complicated process than
setting your Tivo to record a season's worth of games with a single press of a button.
- Maxi Rodriguez
The French Football Federation's racial quotas are such a fascinating topic, in large part
because it's such a unique demonstration of prejudice. Racism, unfortunately, is not an issue alien
to the footballing world. Fascist ultras, shaven-head neo-nazis, and primate imagery are all
familiar territory for football fans.
- Maxi Rodriguez
"When I watch Barcelona, it is art."
-
Football presents us with plenty of 'proper' ways to play the game. The Brazilians
emphasize creativity and rhythm. The English, a direct game based on precedent.
There's only one David Beckham...
On the first day of Christmas, Argentina sent to me....
- Maxi Rodriguez
Amid a din of murmuring, creaking metal stools and an endless rotation of disarming corridos,
the two men sat, mostly unremarkable among the assembled crowd, each focused on the solitary lemon
wedge that had accompanied their Coronas.
- Maxi Rodriguez
As the son of a Mexican father and a blindingly pale Alabaman mother, I was raised on equal
portions of Mexican soccer, pork chops, and mashed potatoes. While the effects of the southern
cuisine were undone by growth spurts in my early teens, my fascination with Mexican soccer has
endured.
- Maxi Rodriguez
Their slogan says it all: Mes que un club.
While the rest of the footballing world revolves around victories and Cup runs, Barcelona occupy
a space raised above the concerns of the bourgeoisie. Cultivated in a Catalonian landscape often
subject to political and footballing persecution from the Spanish capital, Barcelona have never
been so much a football "club," as an expression of Catalonian identity.
- Maxi Rodriguez
38 months later, the effects are still apparent. His pace less explosive than it once was, his
touch a bit less controlled, his overall game more contingent on craft than outright beating his
marker. 38 months later, one-time Arsenal prodigy Eduardo da Silva is thriving in the Ukranian
Premier League, but things could have been different.
- Maxi Rodriguez
It was 2:30 in the afternoon and I was crying.
Mind you, not like the dignified "Crying Indian" who sheds a single tear, or the stereotypical
strong-men of old westerns who cleared their throats and sniffled with a quiet poise.
Should we have to choose between club and country?
 - Nicholas Calta
Sepp Blatter is going to be the president of FIFA for at least four more years.
Technically, he's running for office this year, but as is customary, he's running unopposed.
There are a wide variety of reasons why this is a bad thing, and the problems with Sepp have been
outlined in a variety of places by a variety of people.
Over the next few months, Futbol Intellect will look to the teams that history left behind,
either through economic or sporting mismanagement. Starting with Mexico's Leones Negros, we'll
offer a few stories that you might have heard of, and plenty more that you haven't. We hope you
like it; here's part 1 of Recollections.
