Author Archive
Paul Joyce reflects on the tragic death of German goalkeeper Robert Enke and examines football's poor record when it comes to helping players with mental illness
Unlike many of today's players, people felt like they genuinely knew Robert Enke. An ambassador for children's heart charities and anti-fur campaigns, the German national goalkeeper embodied a new generation who rejected the combative machismo of Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann in favour of an unspectacular integrity. Yet it turned out that no one knew Robert Enke at all, not even his Hannover 96 team-mates. "You learn over time how to trick the media," he once said, tellingly. "You talk a lot, but say nothing."
Ian Plenderleith wonders why World Cup qualifcation is assumed to take precedence over politics in some countries
Now that Honduras have qualified for the World Cup their people can expect to be the beneficiaries of the usual condescending, quadrennial interest that western sports journalists pay all poor nations who qualify for the tournament. Curtly researched columns and reports from now until June will sagely conclude that life is tough for the majority, but football offers a way out of poverty for a lucky, talented few. For the fans, we will be told, football is an escape from reality, dangling hope and maybe even salvation. For the political leaders, it’s the chance to stoke up patriotism and distract from the country’s real problems. Because people in faraway countries are easily duped into forgetting a life of hardship when faced instead with the possibility of winning a football match.
Some major European countries have received help in the 2010 play-offs. Jonathan O'Brien looks at a controversial draw
Would you bother watching a World Cup that didn’t have Cristiano Ronaldo prancing around in it? What about one that didn’t feature the silky skills of Andrei Arshavin? Or Franck Ribéry? Or even – gasp – Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
The Andorra national team faces a number of challenges, from a lack of players to grumpy British pundits. James Calder explains
Andorra’s latest stab at World Cup qualifying was a familiar exercise in damage limitation, the principality’s low expectations largely being met when they failed to pick up a single point in finishing bottom of Group Six.