A documentary film that shows five diverse Britons on a road trip across the Americas to visit Maradona is the cinema’s best offering about the game in ages, in the view of Taylor Parkes

Perhaps the reason In the Hands of the Gods is the first enjoyable film about football for many, many years is that it’s not really “about football”. The cinema has never come close to capturing the atmosphere of a match, for players or supporters, and has only ever dealt with the mental/emotional/character-based aspects of the game in terms of cliche. We’ve all seen at least one of these efforts – Yesterday’s Hero, When Saturday Comes, Goal! – and been sick in a cup. This is different: a plot-driven documentary that doesn’t flinch, a cinéma vérité account of five freestylers busking their way across the Americas, ball-juggling for money, in the hope of reaching Buenos Aires and meeting their idol, Diego Maradona.

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Ed Upright looks back on the season Hereford were promoted and Palace weren't thanks to Cup distractions

The long-term significance
At the end of this season goal difference replaced goal average, under which system teams level on points were separated by goals scored divided by goals conceded. Goal difference made standings much easier to calculate, but the rival systems could also reach different conclusions. Huddersfield won the 1923-24 title on account of their 1.818 goal average, fractionally better than Cardiff’s 1.794. Had goal difference been in place the title would have gone to Wales for the only time – equal on a goal difference of 27, Cardiff had scored 61 goals to Huddersfield’s 60.
The 1975 Safety of Sports Grounds Act set new standards on crush barriers, access routes, lighting and surfacing. In an era of dilapidated stadiums, rising costs and no thought of ground relocation, this meant huge expenditure. The League created a mutually beneficial deal with the pools promoters – spot-the-ball competitions would remain untaxed in return for a percentage of profits going to a new body to help clubs, the Football Grounds Improvement Trust.

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Madrid’s fourth team have become Madrid’s third team in recent years – but manager Bernd Schuster could be stepping up even further. At least if he goes, Getafe fans can look back on a first major final. Andy Brassell was there

What makes a cup competition special? The FA Cup was always meant to be far above any of its counterparts around Europe or the world. Of all the changes in the game over the last ten to 15 years, the FA Cup being reduced to virtually a private contest between the top four has shaken the faith more than most.

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In 1970, the boot was on the other foot as Gigi Riva led Cagliari to the Serie A title. Jon Spurling examines the team’s achievement

In the last 40 years of Italian football, only Diego Maradona’s partial deification in Naples can rival the status granted by Cagliari fans to striker Gigi Riva. Thirty-seven years after his Herculean goalscoring feats (21 goals in 30 games) helped the Sardinian side win their only Serie A title, his presence can still be felt around the island. In Cagliari’s Bar Marius, where fans gather before matches, a life-size statue of Riva continues to draw adoring glances. In other bars and cafes on Sardinia, posters of Riva, aka Rombo di tuono (Sound of thunder) continue to adorn the walls, and 46-year-old Danilo Piroddi still claims to be able to “dine out” on the story of how, during a Cagliari training session in 1970, a Riva thunderbolt, estimated at 120 kilometres an hour, broke his arm. “Despite the agony I was in, the doctors still treated me with reverence when I told them how I’d sustained the injury,” Piroddi claims.

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When David Beckham starts playing for Los Angeles Galaxy, a surge in interest in US soccer is expected. Yet there is already a sizeable British presence in the game there and, as Gavin Willacy explains, it’s not just the MLS that is attracting attention among clubs from this side of the Atlantic

Crystal Palace have recovered from a dodgy start to climb to mid-table, poised for a play-off push. Sadly, only 257 turned up for a recent home win in their 30,000-seat stadium. Fortunately for Simon Jordan, they were rattling around in the Navy Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, and we are talking Crystal Palace USA.

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