THROWAWAY remarks about future events that eventually come to pass. Well, threaten to come to pass. Odd things they are. You get a self-satisfied hum of contentment that you saw something before anyone else did, but usually for me it’s offset by a dull thud because I...
COMPARE and contrast the following statements. Both were made by managers whose teams finished bottom of their qualifying group at World Cup 2014. Statement A “We feel emotional because the fact is we wanted to do so well in the tournament, to get out of the group. We...
MY earliest meaningful world cup memory is of my beloved Scotland being pitted against Brazil in 1982, in Seville, on a balmy, sweltering Spanish night. Minutes into the tie, the ball dropped into the inside right channel from a knock down from John Wark. The...
by Andi Thomas [A NOTE. For reasons that will soon become apparent, you are essentially reading two pieces here. Everything outside square brackets was written before France beat Honduras 3-0; everything inside after.] Some facts about Honduras. It has a population of...
By Lydia Bleasdale “WHEN DESCRIBING the character of our biggest city, Nigerians always like to tell a wry anecdote about the man who steps off a plane and is greeted with a sign that reads: THIS IS LAGOS. The message offers him nothing in the way of a cheerful...
AUSTRALIA’S 3-1 loss to Chile in their opening Group B game the other night bore out pretty much everything our Aussie correspondents had to tell us about their team in the last few weeks. I asked TAW regular Andy Gargett for his take on things after the game....
By Samantha Mikhailovna. READER, There are those who say I may be asking too much of you here. They would suggest that what follows requires a very niche experience of world literature (link: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36238/36238-h/36238-h.htm#Page_67) and Panini...
By Rob McDonald URUGUAY What We Know: The best bastards about and marshalled by one of the best coaches going in Oscar Tabarez, we know Uruguay well after their strong performances in recent competitions. With, arguably, the most potent attacking threat in the...
WHEN I set about researching the current Aussie team, its manager, and the tactical side of things, it quickly dawned on me how little I knew. There were only four players whose names I recognised (one of them spending the latter part of the season injured at my...
Cover Exclusive Noel Gallagher interview Extracts from a forthcoming book by some of the TAW crew Neil Scott assesses the transformation of Brendan Rodgers Bookie Phil Blundell is back with his tips for the World Cup A teenager’s perspective on the season just...
