By Simone Poliandri
Uruguayan striker Gaston Ramirez scores the second goal in Bologna’s 2-0 victory against Fiorentina in a Serie A match on February 21. Ramirez finishes the cross from teammate Marco Di Vaio with a heel strike that leaves no chance to the “viola” goalkeeper, capping a classic, well-executed fastbreak.
By Simone Poliandri
In the Lebanese Premier League, Al Nejmeh forward Hassan Al Mohammad controls the ball right outside of his team’s box, sprints across the field, and scores the winning goal with a superb long shot from midfield in the 89th minute. Al Ahed goalkeeper can only watch the football flying into the net, settling the score at 3-2, and sending the home fans into a craze. February 15, 2012.
By Simone Poliandri
Alexandre Oliveira of Londrina displays his superb skills scoring the go-ahead goal against Iraty with a state-of-the-art bicycle kick in the Brazilian Campeonato Paranaense, the football league of the state of Paraná. Iraty then tied the game at 1, which was the final score of the game.
By Simone Poliandri
23-year-old forward Erlan Gastón Mealla of the team Nacional de Potosí scores the first of his two goals against Bolivian capital La Paz side The Strongest with a flying back heel volley (or scorpion kick) from outside the box. Nacional de Potosí won the game 2-0 in the first match day of the Bolivian Torneo the Clausura 2012 on Sunday, January 29.
By Andreas Selliaas in Norway (translated by Pelle Kvalsund)
The day after. Sunday 15 January, 2012, I received an email from the former director of FIFA’s international operations, Jerome Champagne. Receiving the e-mail on that particular Sunday was a bit odd since I had been to a champagne party the night before and the desire for something that had to do with champagne was very minimal. Attached to Mr. Champagne’s e-mail were three documents: a 25-page memo on how Champagne wants to reform FIFA, a press release from FIFA in 2010 on Champagne’s departure from FIFA, and a newspaper article from Le Monde the week before where Champagnes outlines the main points in the lengthy memo. The same e-mail was sent to all 208 members of FIFA and people attending the Play the Game conference in Cologne in October 2011. The memo is interesting in several respects.
By Simone Poliandri
Although scored a few months ago, these two jewels by new Brazilian phenom Neymar and old Brazilian magician Ronaldinho scored in the same game deserve a spot in the series. São Paulo team Santos hosted Rio de Janeiro side Flamengo for the twelfth round of the Brasilerão on July 27, 2011 in one of the greatest Brazilian games in recent years. Down 3-0 early in the first half, the red-and-black carioca team led by hat-trick scorer Ronaldinho ended up with an amazing 5-4 comeback victory.
Guest Post by Andrew Guest (drewguest AT hotmail DOT com)
It’s that time again; the biennial opportunity for Africa’s best national teams to compete for the continental championship, and European club management to complain about the audacity of former colonies holding a tournament smack in the middle of the league season — extracting labor in a reverse flow that might promote some useful self-reflection, if not for the blinders fused on most of the professional football world.
It always good fun to watch the machinations, even from a distance — the actual football starts January 21 in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, and ends with the final on February 12 in Libreville, the capital of co-host Gabon. As in 2010 in Angola, most of us will be watching from a distance: the oil-rich states that CAF has recently favored in its hosting decisions are note easy places to get to.