12 h. ago Cult of celebrity feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game

The individual walk-ons at Club World Cup underline Fifa’s failure to understand that football is a team sport – just ask PSGIt is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn’t really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes.Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino’s style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams. Continue reading...

Events

12 h. ago Fifa’s embrace of cult of celebrity reveals a fundamental tension at the heart of the game | Jonathan Wilson

The individual walk-ons at Club World Cup underline Fifa’s failure to understand that football is a team sport – just ask PSGIt is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn’t really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes.Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino’s style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams. Continue reading...

Sport

5 d. ago No kings, few fans: USA’s year of World Cups gets off to a flat start

Fifa’s much-hyped Club World Cup and Concacaf’s Gold Cup opened to crowds far short of what organizers might have hopedSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereThat the two events should coincide was so perfect as to almost feel heavy-handed. Donald Trump’s comically underattended military parade lurched through Washington DC at the exact same time on Saturday as the overwrought opening ceremony unspooled for Fifa’s beleaguered Club World Cup, in a definitely-not-full Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.Trump’s jingoistic birthday bust contrasted painfully with the multimillion-strong turnout at the “No Kings” anti-Trump rallies that gathered all over the country. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, meanwhile – or “Johnny”, as Trump pronounces the name of one of his favorite allies in the sports world – had promised the opening match of the swollen tournament he forced down the soccer world’s throat would be sold out. Instead, attendance between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, a fitting 0-0 st...

Politics

9 d. ago Thomas Frank is just what Tottenham need but will he be given time to prove it? | Jonathan Wilson

Manager is flexible but a slow starter with limited experience in Europe, and arrives as the love still lingers for former managerBrøndby appointed Thomas Frank as manager in June 2013 and did not win any of their first eight games of the 2013-14 season. Brentford appointed Frank as manager in October 2018 and lost eight of their following 10 games. So nobody should panic if Frank begins slowly at Tottenham.In reality, though, the first couple of months will be a major challenge for the Dane. These are not easy circumstances for anybody to take the Spurs job. Usually a manager takes over after a run of poor form, with fans and players ready for a change and a regression to the mean in the offing. Spurs have been on a run of poor form: one win in 12 league games over the final three months of the season, but in that time they also won the Europa League, which means everything is seen in a different light. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago England v Senegal: men’s international football friendly – live

Updates from the 7.45pm BST kick-off at the City GroundLive scores | Read today’s Football Daily | And mail RobThis is a good piece from Jonathan Wilson on why Thomas Tuchell is so keen to have Jordan Henderson aroundThe details of Henderson’s performance against Andorra are largely irrelevant. Some players thrive against minnows, some struggle in a game very different from the high-level fixtures with which they are more familiar. How you play against Andorra is not going to determine whether you have a part in a potential World Cup-winning side. But one recovery run to stymie an Andorra counter after Dan Burn had lost possession caught the eye; Henderson, at least, was switched on. And it was after he was substituted after 63 minutes that England slipped into the individualism that so annoyed Tuchel.Henderson is a professional, the non-commissioned officer maintaining discipline and morale, ensuring the plan is followed and standards maintained. He has captained a team that won th...

Society

1 week ago Platense who? Club World Cup is another step on the road to a global super league | Jonathan Wilson

Fifa’s huge prize money risks making a handful of clubs almost infinitely wealthier than their domestic rivalsLast Sunday, in the northern Argentinian city of Santiago del Estero, Platense beat Huracán 1-0 to win Argentina’s Apertura, the decisive goal a beautiful dipping effort struck at the top of the bounce by Guido Mainero. It was the first title in the club’s 120‑year history and provoked scenes of extraordinary emotion.Platense are one of Argentina’s quirkier clubs. They are nicknamed the Squid because their original ground was built on a marsh and the story grew that they played better in wet conditions when, as the journalist Antonio Palacio Zino put it, “the boys moved like squid in their ink”. The boggy conditions are also supposedly why they wear brown after an early director thought it would help to hide mud stains; the real reason is probably that their first members agreed to wear the colours of a jockey who won a particular race. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago When will a team from North America, Asia or Africa win the men’s World Cup?

In this mailbag edition of Jonathan Wilson’s newsletter, he answers questions about inverted wingers, favorite jerseys and moreSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereWe’re now a year-ish from the World Cup. The tournament is still dominated by European and South American teams. But which continent without a winner (Asia, Africa, Central and North America and, I guess, Oceania) has the best chance of lifting the trophy first?– Stacey Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Jordan Henderson showed the attitude his England teammates were lacking | Jonathan Wilson

It was after the substitution of the former Liverpool captain that Thomas Tuchel’s side slipped in to individualismThe tendency is always to gloom. How could it not be? Nobody could have sat through England’s 1-0 win over Andorra on Saturday and not felt a profound sense of frustration. Six million years of human evolution has culminated in this? When the England manager shrugs and says he can’t blame the fans for booing, you know it was bad.Thomas Tuchel was a short-term appointment. He’s not in the post for pathways or development or creating a culture. He’s here to win the World Cup next summer. In the boozy, drowsy somnolence of the RCDE Stadium, that felt a preposterous ambition. Look at England’s rivals. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Bilbao was a glorious blip for Spurs – and that’s why Levy had to sack Postecoglou | Jonathan Wilson

Tottenham chair was not blinded by silverware and decided finishing fourth-bottom of the Premier League was not enoughIn football, there is always a lot of light and noise. There is always a lot of emotion. That is both its appeal and why it is so difficult for those in the game to make decisions. Ange Postecoglou gave Tottenham one of the great nights in the club’s history when they won the Europa League in Bilbao.A first trophy in 17 years. A first European trophy in 41. It’s easy to understand why the instinct is gratitude, to hope that somehow victory can be self-replicating, that silverware begets silverware and something fundamental in Tottenham’s being was transformed at San Mamés. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago England were dismal against minnows Andorra but it really doesn’t matter | Jonathan Wilson

Tuchel’s target is to win the World Cup and a scintillating performance would not have made lifting the prize in New Jersey any more likelyHow bad was it? Bad enough to be England’s worst result in seven games against Andorra. Bad enough for players used to operating at the highest of levels for the best clubs in the world to find themselves unable to weight simple passes or deliver crosses with precision. Bad enough that Andorra’s 37-year-old left-back Marc García nutmegged Noni Madueke in injury time. But, beyond the potential problems it may cause with goal difference, it doesn’t matter at all in terms of the main issue: the winning of the World Cup next summer.England could have played scintillating football and beaten Andorra 10-0 and it wouldn’t have made them any more likely to be lifting the prize in New Jersey next July. That’s not to excuse a dismal performance, just to say it’s irrelevant. The game was won, the box ticked, and Thomas Tuchel hopefully learned something fro...

Politics

2 w. ago PSG’s Champions League win was thrilling. It was still sportswashing | Jonathan Wilson

After years as a directionless collection of celebrity footballers, PSG are a true team now. But they still represent one of the sport’s darkest trendsSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereParis Saint-Germain’s success in the Champions League final on Saturday was a victory for youth and adventure. It was a victory for a team built with a coherent vision, and a rebuke to those who believe the game is just about collecting the biggest names. It was a victory for Luis Enrique, a very fine coach who has suffered dreadful personal tragedy. It was a victory for forward-thinking, progressive, fluent football.But it was also a victory for sportswashing. Continue reading...

Sport

3 w. ago Aston Villa’s Champions League miss wasn’t just about one bad call | Jonathan Wilson

Unai Emery’s team will have to make do with the Europa League next season but they were culpable for many of the steps that led them thereSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereA season reduced to a single moment – in Aston Villa’s case, perhaps even more than a season. The Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir slid out to gather the ball. He fumbled, slightly, allowing Morgan Rogers to poke the ball away from him. The referee Thomas Bramall thought Bayindir had had the ball under control and blew for a free-kick just before Rogers knocked the ball into the empty net. Replays showed decisively that Bayindir never had the ball under control. But because Bramall had stopped the game before Rogers put the ball over the line, the goal could not be given by the video assistant referee.Three minutes later, Amad Diallo put United ahead, his team went on to win, and Villa finished sixth in the Premier League, meaning they are out of next season’s Champions League. Given how close...

Sport

3 w. ago Premier League reaches final day, Postecoglou future still unclear – matchday live

Arsenal’s WCL glory | Sunderland up | Dons win CupLive scores | Fixtures | Tables | And get in touch“Every team from Newcastle in fourth down to Crystal Palace in 12th have had games they will remember fondly and would be more than worthy English representatives in European competition next season.”Jonathan Wilson on the Premier League’s burgeoning middle class: Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Premier League reaches final day; Real Madrid appoint Xabi Alonso – matchday live

Arsenal’s WCL glory | Sunderland up | Dons win CupLive scores | Fixtures | Tables | And get in touch“Every team from Newcastle in fourth down to Crystal Palace in 12th have had games they will remember fondly and would be more than worthy English representatives in European competition next season.”Jonathan Wilson on the Premier League’s burgeoning middle class: Continue reading...

Politics