http://www.theoffside.com League Football, Soccer News and Views from Around the World Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:55:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/david-villa-broken-champeen.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/david-villa-broken-champeen.html#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:01:21 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/david-villa-broken-champeen.html Warning: not for the squeamish. Mr. Illa Illa Illa, Villa Maravilla went and broke his leg in the Club World Cup semis, which should go a long way in making the competition’s injury lists look like those of international friendlies in the near future – lots of muscle pulls and 24 hour illnesses. You can clearly [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/david-villa-broken-champeen.html/feed 0 http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/photo-taking-the-club-world-cup-seriously.html http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/photo-taking-the-club-world-cup-seriously.html#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:35:23 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/photo-taking-the-club-world-cup-seriously.html Dani Alves may not qualify. Meanwhile, Andres Iniesta’s ghostly spirit rides the Tokyo underground. The man couldn’t tan on Mercury – he’d probably do really well as an actor in the Asian horror movie scene. ]]> http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/photo-taking-the-club-world-cup-seriously.html/feed 0 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-tp-mazembe-vs-internazionale.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-tp-mazembe-vs-internazionale.html#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:30:48 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-tp-mazembe-vs-internazionale.html TP Mazembe v Inter Saturday, 2100 local, 1800 CET, 1200 EST Despite the ‘puncher’s chance’ and ample proof that TP Mazembe is for real, Inter is not Inter. Or Internacional is not Internazionale, at least. Apples and mangoes, if you will, and this is firmly, even more so than the semifinal, David v Goliath. Maybe if David [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-tp-mazembe-vs-internazionale.html/feed 0 http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/tp-mazembe-the-oakland-raiders-of-africa.html http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/tp-mazembe-the-oakland-raiders-of-africa.html#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:22:01 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/tp-mazembe-the-oakland-raiders-of-africa.html If you’ve ever watched American football (throwball) and caught a glimpse of an Oakland Raiders home game, it can be a very frightening sight. It’s a phenomenon called Raider Nation, comprised mostly of large gentlemen – your most upstanding community members, surely – dressed up in black and silver like it’s Halloween-meets-bondage several Sundays out [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/tp-mazembe-the-oakland-raiders-of-africa.html/feed 3 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-tp-mazembe-stuns-inter-the-south-american-one.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-tp-mazembe-stuns-inter-the-south-american-one.html#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:35:58 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-tp-mazembe-stuns-inter-the-south-american-one.html Admit it: you know nothing about TP Mazembe. Naming one of their players without the aid of Wikipedia would be a minor miracle for most hardcore football fans. Well they shocked, stunned and stupefied the world today in that quasi-competition known as the Club World Cup by downing an Inter – the South American one [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-tp-mazembe-stuns-inter-the-south-american-one.html/feed 3 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup.html#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:30:22 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup.html It’s that time of year again, and you know you care. You know you do. Maybe… Probably not… Alright, so what if the only ones who care are the fans of those involved? And Pep Guardiola. FIFA, that nasty four letter word (sort of) constantly being lambasted as football’s great evil, says it’s so. And if they say [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup.html/feed 1 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/lionel-messi-takes-his-spectating-very-very-seriously.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/lionel-messi-takes-his-spectating-very-very-seriously.html#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:30:13 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/lionel-messi-takes-his-spectating-very-very-seriously.html Decent weekend for Lionel Messi. But it wasn’t all fun and games, as he was forced into scouting the third-placed game between Pohang Steelers and Atlante during the Club World Cup. Two teams he will likely never face again, if percentages are any sort of indication. That didn’t stop him from giving a swift slap in [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/lionel-messi-takes-his-spectating-very-very-seriously.html/feed 1 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-will-be-barcelona-vs-estudiantes.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-will-be-barcelona-vs-estudiantes.html#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:15:06 +0000 Daryl http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-will-be-barcelona-vs-estudiantes.html I know. You’re shocked, right? Who could possibly have guessed that the Club World Cup Final would be contested by the team from Europe and the team from South America? But enough with the sarcastic complaining. The semi-finals actually provided some decent footballing entertainment, and weren’t particularly easy for either Barcelona or Estudiantes. Highlights and quick [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-final-will-be-barcelona-vs-estudiantes.html/feed 12 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/imagining-a-proper-32-team-club-world-cup.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/imagining-a-proper-32-team-club-world-cup.html#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:30:39 +0000 Daryl http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/imagining-a-proper-32-team-club-world-cup.html The Club World Cup is about to get interesting. I Promise. The two semi-finals happen over the next two days, with Estudiantes vs Pohang Steelers on Tuesday December 15th and Barcelona vs Atlante on Wednesday the 16th. But as Gabriele Marcotti quite rightly points out in this Times article, the tournament struggles to hold our [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/imagining-a-proper-32-team-club-world-cup.html/feed 11 http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-schedule-released-does-anyone-care.html http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-schedule-released-does-anyone-care.html#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:30:17 +0000 chris http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-schedule-released-does-anyone-care.html I’ll be frank: I don’t. I think it’s a ridiculous competition with nice ideals, but one which falls short due to that which has felled many a great idea in history: theory does not always translate well to practice. Such as it promotes itself as a legitimate competition with integrity and meaning – the club [...]]]> http://www.theoffside.com/tournaments/club-world-cup/club-world-cup-schedule-released-does-anyone-care.html/feed 13