KICK OFF |
 |
|
WELCOME TO THE LATE RUN
|
|
So this fella Ochocinco was pretty good at American football. But apparently his first real love was soccer (ya know, real football). He heard the word “Maradona” a lot as a kid, and claims he would have loved to have played professionally (he tried and it was a bit of a disaster). Anyway, in his post-playing years, Ochocinco has spread the gospel of the beautiful game, achieving a rare sort of cross-sport appeal by connecting the real football to the one that selfishly stole its name. And he’s throwing it all together in The Late Run, a show with GOAL’s Raheemovic, where the duo talk to some pretty famous people about this sport. With just over 100 days to go until the World Cup, it’s not a bad idea. As part of it, our Ryan Tolmich sat down with the NFL great to talk about the beautiful game…
Ochocinco, to Tolmich: “I think the fact that I was never able to play is why I'm so passionate about it now. I'm more enthusiastic about it than I am about football. I can sit here and talk soccer all day, and I can talk about it way better than I talk about football…I really love the game. I will leave a relationship for it. If you don't have an understanding of why I get up at seven in the morning to watch the Premier League, we can't be together. This is something that I love and is a part of my life.”
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
MLS MAKES NO SENSE - AND THAT’S WHY WE LOVE IT
|
|
So, the first week of MLS has been and gone, what do you need to know? Well, a few things in fact. The first is that Inter Miami might not be very good immediately. They made a bunch of new signings, and not all of them are going to work instantaneously (SHOCKER). The second is that LAFC might actually be very, very good (which is fun). The third is that Michael Bradley is apparently a managerial genius after coaching a young team to a 2-1 win over a middling opponent, and we have no choice but to anoint Bradley as the USMNT coach, THIS SECOND. OK, maybe we’re overreacting a bit there, but it was a chaotic weekend. GOAL broke it all down…
Hindle: “Surely, Inter Miami should start the season with a statement win over LAFC, right? Wrong. OK, but there's no way D.C. United win their opening game, yeah? No - they did it. And it simply must take some time for Nashville's new-look attacking trio to gel? They went and won 4-1 without breaking a sweat. So, sure, there were plenty of surprises. And that's the fun of it all.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
BAILA, VINICIUS
|
|
Sometimes, there is a real cosmic justice in the world. Vinicius Jr. was allegedly horribly racially abused by an opponent last week. The game was stopped, and multiple eyewitnesses vouch, pretty convincingly, that someone said something deplorable to the Brazilian. What ensued was a week of a PR campaign from Benfica to prove that their club is not racist. Lost in all of this vitriol is the fact that Vinicius Jr is playing some of his best football in years at the moment. He proved as such by scoring the winning goal against those who have defended their wrongdoings. And then, he danced. GOAL wrote about a brilliant footballer who should never stop dancing…
Hindle: “Asking Vinicius to simply 'let his game do the talking' devalues the magnitude of the situation, yet ignoring that he is a truly excellent footballer returning to his brilliant best would be a more egregious act of revisionism. Vinicius, in short, is playing his most effective football in a year, and as the games get bigger, his undeniable quality will only become more vital for Los Blancos.”
|
|
|
|
|
THE NOT-SO-NEW CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS A BIT MAD
|
|
The Champions League was welcomingly unhinged this week. The expanded format is a bit silly and involves far too many games, but the play-in fixtures for the Round of 16 yielded some good stuff. Real Madrid did the Real Madrid thing, where they play badly and win. Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt battered Italian leaders Inter Milan. Juventus - where Weston McKennie is currently cooking - went a man down, battled back from what seemed an impossible deficit, and then managed to lose in extra time to Galatasaray. It was a crazy slate, and GOAL's writers debated it…
Tolmich: “Is Juve’s fall off frustrating? Yes, but there's still something to be said about representing Juventus. McKennie, in truth, is one of the few worthy of that honor. He'll hope that the club can put more around him going forward to raise the level back to where it needs to be.”
|
|
|
|
 |
|
WE KNOW ABOUT NWSL FASHION, OK?
|
|
This newsletter writer knows loads about fashion. He is currently sitting here, typing away, in a second-hand crew neck that has a picture of a 90s footballer on. His shoes are tastefully battered. The jeans don’t quite fit. Every now and then, the Brooklynite must come out. Hipsterdom, we swear(!!), is still cool. Turns out there are more qualified people at this publication to talk about fashion, which is indeed pretty good timing because NWSL kits just dropped. And, um, yikes? They are an odd bunch, all crazy patterns and WEIRD colors. But our Celia Balf, better dressed and cooler than most, rates them…
Balf: “In a league built on personality, expression, and a healthy dose of main-character energy, jerseys (as we call them in the U.S.) aren’t just uniforms - they’re vibes, inside jokes, love letters to cities, statements of intent, and occasionally, bold experiments that dare you to just trust the process.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
CLYDE BEST WAS THE PRINCE OF NEW YORK
|
|
Clyde Best had it rough in England. The Bermudan was among the first Black players to appear for an English club, and made a bold decision when he moved from the Caribbean to West Ham at just 17. That was 1968, and Best was subject to all sorts of horrible racist abuse. But he also had a rather wonderful stint in East London. And then, in his mid 20s, he packed it up, moved to America, and became a founding father of soccer in the States, starring for the Tampa Bay Rowdies and making friends with pretty much every football legend you can name. GOAL talked to a seminal figure in soccer about his journey…
Best, to Hindle: “Practically everybody in the professional games that you played against were decent people. And we got on, we were all footballers, and we all wanted to beat one another on the day. Once the game's over, you're back buddies, and you just do what you have to do.”
|
|
|
VIDEO REVIEW |
|
So we’re just gonna act like this is normal?
|
 |
|
|
AROUND THE GROUNDS |
|
A few other things you need to know to impress your pals at the bar, ruin your social feed, or generally be a snob about this sport:
|
|
|
|
|
THE WORLD CUP IS ALMOST HERE! |
 |
|
Want to know where to learn pretty much everything you could possibly need to know about the World Cup? Turns out we’ve provided it with the snappily named World Cup HQ. Enjoy. |
|
|
|
|
CHECKING THE MONITOR |
|
Look at this and tell us that soccer in the States isn’t a big deal… |
 |
|
|
|
POSTMATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
|
Introducing: The Late Run. We got Bert Kreischer to talk about soccer, and it was quite funny…
|
|
|
 |
|
|
MATCHES NOT TO MISS |
-
Feb. 28: Bundesliga, Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund, 12:30 p.m. — ESPN+
-
Feb. 28: MLS, Minnesota United vs. FC Cincinnati, 4:30 p.m. — Apple TV+
-
March 1: Premier League, Man United vs. Crystal Palace, 9 a.m. — Peacock
-
March 1: Premier League, Arsenal vs. Chelsea, 11:30 a.m. — Peacock
- March 1: SheBelieves Cup, USA vs. Argentina, 5 p.m. - TNT
That’s all for this edition of The Rondo. Irritate me directly with questions/comments/insights/incorrect opinions @tom_Hindle_
Cheers for reading! |
|
|
|
|
