December 12, 2012
Messi’s place in the pantheon of greats is already assured
Perhaps only two other footballers in the modern era can be bracketed together with Leo Messi in terms of breathtaking delicacy of touch: Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho...
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Columnists
Opinions from some of football’s leading voices
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December 12, 2012
Abramovich the puppet master gets what he wants
Well, Rafa Benitez might just as well stay. Stay as what Roberto Di Matteo was for some embarrassing weeks; a temporary manager designated as such.
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December 6, 2012
FIFA reassured as Brazil 2014 is back on track
FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke has cautioned World Cup watchers against trying to compare Brazil’s preparations and staging of the 2014 finals with South Africa 2010.
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December 5, 2012
Crisis at Chelsea? Business as usual for Roman’s empire
Crisis at Chelsea? Send for Avram Grant! Who seems to be seen by the dominant, demanding club owner oligarch Roman Abramovich as a kind of magic talisman.
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November 29, 2012
Brazil 2014: everything might just be alright on the night
After all the years when questions featuring ‘Sao Paulo’ and ‘Opening Match’ in the same sentence would fire Jerome Valcke into the stratosphere, an uneasy peace has been accomplished.
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November 26, 2012
Is the net finally closing in on Jack Warner?
When Jack Warner walked away from football in the summer of 2011 he left a cloud of angry hot air behind him, breathed by critics furious that he had not faced up to charges arising…
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November 23, 2012
Winter World Cup finds new supporter
Prince Ali of Jordan has lined himself with fellow FIFA vice-president Michel Platini in endorsing the idea of staging the Qatar’s 2022 World Cup finals in the northern hemisphere winter.
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November 22, 2012
Women are being encouraged to stand for election in the male-dominated world of FIFA
Votes for women? It’s a semi-hidden issue within FIFA because many of the world’s federations may have missed the significance of a change in the world’s federation’s statutes.
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November 20, 2012
Chelsea flounder as Guardiola waits in the wings
All too sadly predictable. No John Terry in a vulnerable Chelsea defence. No Didier Drogba up front in a flimsy lightweight attack. When Fernando Torres finally came on it was like running up the white…
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November 19, 2012
Teixeira influence continues to cast shadow over Brazil
World football has not heard the last of Ricardo Teixeira, the long-time Brazilian football supreme deposed early this year but still apparently pulling strings from his exile in Miami.
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November 16, 2012
Messi on course to set a new goal standard
Leo Messi has a possible 11 remaining games this year in which to score the 10 goals which would see him overtake Gerd Muller and thus become the most prolific individual marksman in a calendar…
