Sorry, your browser is out of date. The content on this site will not work properly as a result.
Upgrade your browser for a faster, better, and safer web experience.

Search: ' Santos'

Stories

Portugal lack finishers as pressure mounts on Ronaldo

Seleção coach Fernando Santos remains defiant ahead of Hungary clash

22 June ~ Before June 8, the Portuguese had generally been a little sceptical about their team’s chances in France. Then they played Estonia at the Luz in the last warm-up match and knocked seven past them in a dazzling display of attacking football, with a seemingly rejuvenated Ricardo Quaresma scoring twice and assisting for another two. His resurgence offered coach Fernando Santos a viable 4-3-3 alternative (with Quaresma joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani up front) to the preferred 4-4-2, and suddenly the European title he’d been promising seemed very doable.

Read more…

Party music

wsc302Jack Lang argues that since his big-money move to Flamengo, which angered his hometown club, Ronaldinho has not profited as expected

“Don’t throw coins at Ronaldinho: he’ll only start collecting them” read one handmade sign. Hundreds of others simply bore the words “crook” and “mercenary”. Some pioneering fans even went to the effort of printing fake R$100 notes with his face on them. This was not the homecoming Ronaldinho had hoped for, but he could have expected nothing less. His return to boyhood team Grêmio in October was always going to be a tense affair, following his decision to snub the club earlier in the year.

Read more…

Corinthian spirit

wsc300 The Brazilian title has just been won by a popular club who are also extending their influence behind the scenes. Robert Shaw reports

Corinthians clinched their fifth Brazilian national championship on a day when one of their former stars departed. Prior to the start of the final day’s fixture against Palmeiras on December 4, the Corinthians team paid homage to Socrates, who died in a São Paulo hospital earlier that day, by clenching fists in his trademark salute. It was a poignant moment for Corintianos but less so for club president Andres Sanchez whose recent stewardship had been slated by the player known as Magrão (the big thin one).

Read more…

Border control

wsc299 Paul Joyce studies how the Berlin Wall divided the city arbitrarily and changed the lives of clubs, players and fans

Although post-war Germany was divided into two states in 1949, football clubs on both sides of the border were determined to maintain sporting relations. Despite political tensions between capitalist West Germany (FRG) and the socialist East (GDR), numerous cross-border friendlies took place on public holidays in the early 1950s. These proved massively popular with supporters on both sides of the divide. In October 1956, 110,000 East German fans filled the new Leipzig Zentralstadion to watch 1.FC Kaiserslautern, whose team contained five players from West Germany’s 1954 World Cup-winning side, beat SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt 5-3.

Read more…

Prodigal sons

The Brazilian tradition of exporting talented footballers to the rest of the world may be changing. Robert Shaw reports

The new season in Brazil kicked off in January with an unusual sight: four of the country’s biggest stars over the last two decades (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho) were playing for local clubs. Admittedly this curious spectacle did not last long. Corinthians’ cataclysmic exit from the Copa Libertadores saw Roberto Carlos fleeing to another big pay day in Russian football and 
Ronaldo bringing forward his retirement.

Read more…

Copyright © 1986 - 2024 When Saturday Comes LTD All Rights Reserved Website Design and Build NaS