Features

*** By Gary Hopkins 2 June 2010 . The occasion was the ‘Boston Soccer Party’ of 1993, otherwise known as the second fixture in the US Cup, a four-nation international tournament hosted by the US Soccer Federation and featuring the USA, Brazil, England and Germany. This particular match featured the USA against England on 9 […]

By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 An analysis of the strikers from Europe’s leading nations heading for South Africa – and their records at domestic level in 2009-10 – proves that Darren Bent is uniquely unfortunate in not being selected to be part of England’s 23-man squad. The 26-year-old Sunderland forward is the only footballer […]

By Brian Sears 1 June 2010 If an African nation is to win the 2010 World Cup in the first edition of the tournament to be staged on African soil, then possibly the Ivory Coast will be the team to do it. The bookmakers make Sven Goran Eriksson’s ‘Les Elephants’ the favourites among the African […]

By Nick Harris 1 June 2010 For an organisation that purports to represent the interests of everyone in the global game, Fifa has a habit of appearing rather elitist at times. Its regulations that the World Cup trophy can be touched only by “heads of state and former winners” hardly speaks of a people’s game, […]

28 May 2010 Can you identify the sporting arena? We take an aerial view of a topical ball park, football stadium, marathon course, golf course, Games venue, race track, iconic arena, athletic theatre (some literally theatres), pitch, park, stretch of water or wherever else sport takes place. And we ask you to identify it with the […]

By Andy Cole 28 May 2010 England’s phoney war of pre-World Cup friendlies has just one more skirmish left – this weekend’s match against Japan – but there are still questions to answer all over the pitch. The most problematic of those in my view is not a new dilemma but one of the oldest: […]

JOHN ROBERTS wrote for the Daily Express, The Guardian, the Daily Mail and The Independent, where he was the tennis correspondent for 20 years. He collaborated with Bill Shankly on the Liverpool manager’s autobiography, ghosted Kevin Keegan’s first book, and has written books on George Best, Manchester United’s Busby Babes (The Team That Wouldn’t Die) […]

By Brian Sears 24 May 2010 . Blackpool are setting new standards for ‘small fish in big ponds’ as they ascend to the Premier League. Their ground capacity will be the smallest of any of the 44 clubs to have been members of that top division, and their average following this season at Bloomfield Road […]

21 May 2010 Can you identify the sporting arena? We take an aerial view of a topical ball park, football stadium, marathon course, golf course, Games venue, race track, iconic arena, athletic theatre (some literally theatres), pitch, park, stretch of water or wherever else sport takes place. And we ask you to identify it with the […]

By Pete Wilson 19 May 2010 The mascots for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games were unveiled today: Wenlock (below left) and Mandeville (below right). A video of their backgrounds can be seen at the link here, and the same film is also available in other languages. Watch in French. Regarder ce en Français. […]