The Archive

Brazil win again, but are the other sides there just to make up the numbers? Robert Shaw reports

You won’t find the likes of Jorginho, Junior Negão and Benjamin complaining, as Charlton did, that they have to play on a beach. That is because they form part of Brazil’s trium­phant squad that sealed the country’s eighth win at the World Beach Soccer Championship held in Rio this February. And with corporate sponsorship funding them as full-time professionals and an established circuit in Brazil it was little surprise that they took the title by beating Spain 8-2 in the final. In fact the only time that it has eluded Brazil was in 2001 when Portugal recorded a win in the north-eastern state of Bahia.

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Despite their recent victory over England, Australian football is still desperate for reform to enable a more competitive national side. Mike Ticher explains

You could perhaps forgive Remo Nogarotto for a bit of hyperbole in the excitement of Australia’s 3-1 win over England at Upton Park in February. “This is the first chapter in the renaissance of Australian soc­cer,” the chairman of the sport’s governing body enthused. “The team has come of age and so has the sport.”

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Every Saturday three men decide the results of postponed matches. If you don't want to find out why and how, look away now, because Al Needham met them

Whenever I have an argument with anyone about the innate superiority of British football over any oth­er sporting entity in the world, I always keep one killer argument in reserve: the fact that we have a Pools Pan­el. It gives off the impression to foreigners that our game is so important that when matches can’t be play­ed, we actually have a platoon of experts who decide the result for us. Of course, they could counter this fact by pointing out that if every team in the country had the kind of facilities that they should have in the 21st century, there would be no need for a Pools Panel, but I counter that by stating that, even if there was a nuclear holocaust, the Pools Panel are probably on standby to decide entire seasons until civilisation recovered. That shuts them up a treat.

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Belgium's 2002 World Cup captain has unusual plans for his post-football career: he will be in parliament by the summer, as Paul Knott explains

Of all the top players who left the international stage after the 2002 World Cup, none has been as missed in his own corner of planet football as much as the ex-captain of Belgium and national record holder for farm­ing-related nicknames, Marc Wilmots.

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In the first of a series on aspects of how the game is played today, Philip Cornwall considers how the improvement in defensive coaching has taken away much of the sting from corners – unless you're lucky enough to be playing West Ham

My earliest knowledge of the hazards of corners came playing for Maids Moreton C of E, back in the 1976-77 season. After a sound spanking by Pad­bury, Mrs Benson told her primary school charges that rather than pass across the face of our own goal, it would be better to put the ball out for a corner.

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