Part of the fun of following Brazilian football is watching stars develop before your eyes. Before Neymar joined Barcelona, he tore it up for Santos, much to the delight of those who followed Brazilian football. With Neymar, and perhaps Douglas Costa, as the sole exceptions, Brazil has struggled to produce world-class talent in the recent years. That’s about to change. Gabriel Barbosa, also known as Gabigol, a 19-year old attacking star, has already played over […]
He is remembered mostly for one moment of brilliance; a flurry of step overs that turned defenders from actors to spectators before he proceeded to fire a ferocious shot into the roof of the net. Amantino Mancini’s goal against Lyon is a natural inclusion whenever a highlights reel of the best goals of the Champions League is compiled and that moment of genius has granted him immortality. That goal, however, is also Mancini’s curse. It […]
12th June, 2014. Brazil opens a World Cup as host for the first time in 64 years with a group match against Croatia. The Brazil team lines up arm in arm as the opening chords of the national anthem whir around Arena Corinthians. Before the opening lyrics are uttered, Neymar is pictured blinking back tears, as are several of his teammates – the emotion of the occasion producing an undevourable lump in their throats. Hulk, […]
This summer, Brazil’s national team will participate in two international competitions deemed to be of utmost importance. First, in June, the full national team will participate in the Copa América Centenario in the United States. Then, in August, Brazil’s u-23 national team, plus three selected overage players, will participate in the Olympic Games football tournament which will be held throughout Brazil in venues that also hosted matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The biggest […]
On Sunday night, all of the Americas footballing elite gathered in New York City to discover their fate for this summer’s special Copa America Centenario in the draw ceremony, held at New York’s historic Hammerstein Ballroom. Though the group seeds were already set coming into the night, there was still plenty of intrigue, with not just group competition at stake, but also the hassle of flying across a country as vast as the United States. […]
The Copa Libertadores gets underway this month, a tournament that mirrors all that is mystifying, hilarious, stupid and fun about South American football. It is not so much the jewel in the crown of the continent’s elite, but more of a zoo in the jungle of southern hemisphere soccer. It will never match the prestige or the quality of the Champions League, but in my opinion, it easily outstrips its continental cousin in the entertainment […]
Countless articles have been written about the make-up of great players but, ultimately, the essential qualities are three. The first, most obvious one, is talent. Regardless of what he has going for him, no player will ever manage to get to the highest level if they cannot play football. This is not necessarily limited to the ability to go past players, which is where thoughts most frequently turn to when the word talent is mentioned, […]
Anyone who has followed the goings on during this transfer window couldn’t have helped but notice the rise of Chinese football in the world scene. This window alone, Chinese sides have signed Jackson Martínez from Atlético Madrid, Fredy Guarín from Inter, Ramires from Chelsea, and Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk. However, it wasn’t just European based players who took the plunge; accepting large swaths of money to move to China. Continuing a trend of […]
The football world’s shortest off-season comes to an end this weekend, when Brazilian clubs return to competitive action with the start of the local state leagues. Just 55 days after Corinthians were crowned Brasileirão champions, the landscape of Brazilian football is vastly different than it was on December 6th. Corinthians have seen their side raided, with players leaving to both China and Europe, while others have invested wisely, including an influx of talented Argentine players […]
Though fiscal buffoonery remains very much part of the Brasileirão’s fabric, it’s fair to say that clubs are economically stronger than they were in the early part of the 2000s (for now). Generally speaking, the league features a mesh of players at either end of their career spectrum. Rising young bucks toil alongside more mature players that have returned home from Europe (or other far flung territories), for one last graze before they are […]