The Archive

The head of the Argentine FA is in trouble after spoiling a good record of tackling anti-semitism. But other abuse goes unchecked and unremarked, writes Martin Gambarotta

In Argentina, a bankrupt nation of 36 million people, everybody knows more than they say they know. Journalists, for example, have a habit of gathering news, usually in the form of gossip, which they rarely use in stories and often only divulge to mates at an asado, the traditional barbecue still common des­pite the economic col­lapse. Football journalists are espec­ially aware that not all the news they have is fit to print.

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Former Brazil coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has been convicted of not paying his dues, as Robert Shaw  relates. You’d never have a dodgy national coach over here, of course

Is former national team coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo the Jeffrey Archer of Brazilian football? Both have received popular acclaim, been rumbled through du­bious assignations with women and been economical with the truth when it came to documenting their lives – in the coach’s case, taking three years off his age.

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David Beckham wasn’t England’s only footballing export this summer. Neville Hadsley looks at why Jay Bothroyd has attracted both scorn at Coventry and a transfer to Perugia

When Jay Bothroyd left Coventry City for Serie A side Perugia, he was, perhaps understandably, magnanimous. “I will miss Coventry,” he wrote on his personal website. “I hope the club get promoted this season because the Coventry fans really deserve Prem­iership football. The support at the club both home and away is fantastic.”

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Snubbed again. Months after FIFA granted Oceania an automatic place in the World Cup, they have reversed the decision. Matthew Hall writes from a very angry continent

After FIFA’s Oceania World Cup backflip, neither Sepp Blatter nor UEFA’s Lennart Johansson should consider taking holidays in the South Pacific for the next few years. The two Europeans would normally receive excellent hospitality from south­ern hemisphere hosts, but, as figurehead and architect of FIFA’s turnaround on Oceania’s direct entry to World Cup finals, those days are gone.

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A well written, well presented and witty US website on football is neither a contradiction in terms nor something dedicated to fat men in pads and helmets, Ian Plenderleith avers in this month’s review

There has rarely been an online fanzine as densely but superbly presented as The Glo­bal Game, the monthly brainchild of Georgia-based American journalist John Turnbull. Available in browser or Adobe Acro­bat format, the four-page journal combines excellent wri­ting and anecdotal wit to present new angles on the game, and thoroughly re­searched links to places you would never otherwise find.

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