football

Kick around about all things soccer; explore football's storied history, current events in the soccer sphere, the intricacies of the game and more.

How Michael Carrick boosted his manager's CV
Manchester United is having a bad season so far. At times it was so bad that the club's decision-makers decided to sack manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Everybody expected that his staff would be without a job next. How wrong were we …
By Matic Cretnik4 years ago in Cleats
James Massey
James Massey started his football career at Doncaster based football club Denaby United, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday via Doncaster Rovers. He was originally spotted by a club official who, in turn, recommended him to the Sheffield club; the official had been refereeing a game at Loughborough at the time. He persuaded Wednesday to take the 24-year-old on their books and he went straight into the reserve side, which applied their trade in the Yorkshire League. He was a regular in the second string until January 1896 when his first-team break arrived.
By PAUL HOLLAND4 years ago in Cleats
Inter should not quit on Samir Handanović being their no. 1
As a Slovenian, I have watched a ton of football matches that included Samir Handanović. He was and still is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. But he is old (37). And that scares Inter. It shouldn’t.
By Matic Cretnik4 years ago in Cleats
Juventus Ferociously Mangled by Chelsea (A Review & Player Ratings)
11/23/21 It's a horrifying afternoon here in The US where supporters saw McKennie and his Juve being savagely beaten with no remorse. On a long awaited European night with an air of it's usual magic in the wind, this wasn't a playoff round, but there was still much to play for as the clout of a First Place finish and in theory the chance for a "weaker" opponent in the next round hung in the balance. If you have been following Juventus closely this season, you may have seen a scoreline like this coming. I for one expected it in the playoff rounds vs the likes of maybe Bayern Munchen or Liverpool, and actually having it be more brutal. Chelsea showed us some semblance of mercy for the scoreline could have been far worse, a good 5 - 6 - 7 goals to mil, had it been for some more clinical finishing or a good save or two less from Szczesny who was surprisingly on form. For all his hype till this point Manuel Locatelli did little to gel together the midfield and attack with proper ball distribution and visionary passing; and did very little in ball recovery and possession to help create a base in midfield. This is a problem because it allowed Chelsea to run rampant. The only standout performer in midfield for most of the game was Mc Kennie tirelessly chasing down Chelsea players and looking lively throughout the whole match. Next came Arthur (Too little too late) and albeit for the wrong player, while I just finished criticizing Locatelli, Arthur for Locatelli was the wrong move in my opinion, We had a worse midfielder on the pitch in Rabiot, it is he who should have been subbed. Anyways, Arthur came on and did his job well, he held possession and distributed the ball nicely in his 30 min or so on the pitch.
By Gery Quin4 years ago in Cleats
Juventus vs Lazio - Lazio Fades to Black
It was a tense game at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Lazio started the game with an impressive home game record not having lost at home all season … till now. It was an odd game to say the least, Keeping true to the duality of black and white, the game was end to end, yet lacking clear chances from both teams. Despite lacking the clear chances, it was a game you couldn't take your eyes off as a goal felt imminent from both sides with every passing minute. In this match (Szczesny: 6) had very little to do, actually the most pressure he felt all game was when Locatelli put him under pressure with a horrific back pass that could have changed the game with a goal in the first half. From there on out it was in one other instance when the giant Slav Milinkovic-Savic shot a rifle shot of a distance shot only to have it parried. De Ligt: 6.5, Kept good concentration all game and kept Milinkovic-Savic under control when he took on the ST role. Danilo: N/A, Subbed off early due to injury; (15′Sub - Kulusevski: 5) was largely invisible all match, provided very little attacking outlet, he did less for the remainder of the game than what Cuadrado had done in the opening 15'. Rabiot: 5, another player who did nothing all game and you could hardly tell was on the pitch. a game to forget, i would have loved to see Arthur instead. Locatelli: 5.5, good passing distribution throughout the game, did his job well, .. well except for that one play where he dangerously back passed to Szczesny, it didn’t cause a goal, but in any other game it could off, still an error that shouldn't happen; (89′Sub - Bentancur: N/A), not enough time on the pitch to do anything really. McKennie: 6, McKennie looked much improved defensively this game, spent most of it harassing lazio midfielders in the middle, did his job well in gelling oftentimes with Cuadrado/Kulu on the front foot. Cuadrado 6.5, A Classic performance from Cuadrado, defensively solid, and great on the attacking front with his trickery and directness, was more of a threat than Kulu even after having moved to RB. Morata: 5.5, Outside from being the chosen one to eat the tackle that led to a penalty, he didn't do much. Juventus actually looked far more dangerous in the final 18min of the game when Morata got subbed off; (74′Sub - Kean 6), in 18 minutes he managed to do more than Morata all game, why Morata keeps starting ahead of Kean is beyond me, Kean showed pace and strength, and earned himself to scoring opportunities his finishing was off, but that's another story. Chiesa: 6, didn’t play badly, but didn’t play necessarily well either, he more so than not looked frustrated and out of sorts. While Chiesa couldn't influence the game he did come close to something special in the first half where he was alone against the world with 5 defenders around him, and Chiesa looking to pull the trigger towards goal.
By Gery Quin4 years ago in Cleats
One Dollar to Make You Holler
One dollar to make me holler. That's one of my recent posts on Facebook. It included an image of how to do it here on Vocal. Needless the say, the money did not start rolling in. I couldn't sleep so here I am back in front of my keyboard, typing out a quite ironic post. It's kind of funny. But not "Ha-ha" funny. Oh well, I'm still not sleeping anytime soon.
By Adrian R4 years ago in Cleats
NFL week 3 and 4 review
Week 3 Fantasy Football is a joke. Pathetic. Totally waste of time. Completely down to luck. As you might have guessed my team lost this week. I was beaten by Jess. Beaten is nowhere near a strong enough word for the trouncing she gave me. After umming and ahhing all week about which quarterback to put in, I went with Herbert over Tannehill, going against their ‘projected scores’. Turns out that was just about the only thing that went right for me this week. Herbert scored over thirty points, well more than Tannehill. Problem was that was not all that far off being half my whole team’s total. Kelce was reliable as always scoring twenty or so, the rest had a bit of a shocker. The less said about that the better. As it happened Jess’ team had a big week and sored over a hundred and fifty points, so I am not sure if it would have been worse to have wasted a good hundred and forty point week and still getting beat.
By Rob Watson4 years ago in Cleats
Brazil- The Country of football
Although Brazil was eliminated in the first round of the 1930 World Cup, the team's outstanding player, Preguinho, shocked the audience with his bright and exciting style of play. Gradually, football became the passion of the Brazilian people, who often call their country "o Pais do Futebol" (football country). Football is the most popular sport in the country and the Brazilians are very enthusiastic fans.
By Dip Rai4 years ago in Cleats
The Original Invincibles
My first memories of being a Preston North End supporter was watching the 1964 FA Cup Final on television and seeing us lose 3-2 to West Ham , thus engendering an unreasoning extreme dislike for the London club.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 4 years ago in Cleats
Reconciling With Mistakes: A Football Point of View. Top Story - October 2021.
2021 had a lot of football moments. The 2020 Euro Cup alone saw more own goals than the whole history of the tournament. And, in most cases, these own goals led to the defeat of the team. This made me think about the mental health issues faced by the players and the ways in which they deal with their mistakes on the ground.
By A Elizabeth4 years ago in Cleats
San Siro stadium 2021: El Stadio San Siro facts, address, location, capacity, neighborhood, weather
Who plays at the Stadio San Siro in 2021? It’s a well known fact that two of Europe’s biggest football clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan, both share the San Siro stadium - also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The Italy national football team also play often at the San Siro, and the stadium has hosted other international fixtures when Italy has held the FIFA World Cup, European Championships and Nations League tournaments.
By Rob WTJM4 years ago in Cleats
England Vs Germany: Much More Than A Game Of Football
A few months ago, two longstanding epic foes went to war. This time, it wasn't waged in the trenches of Flanders and Somme, nor was it fought in the deserts of Torbruk and El Alamein or in the thick forests of Zamfara and Sambisa. On this occasion, it was in the gentrified, cosmopolitan surroundings of North-West London - Wembley, an erstwhile working class neighbourhood, which has had hundreds of millions of pounds pumped into it, thereby sanitizing it, of its demography, history and identity.
By Adebayo Adeniran4 years ago in Cleats