The atmosphere at Wembley for the 134th F.A Cup Final should be looked upon as amazing. Yet the contrast in the two teams, Aston Villa and Arsenal on the sunny warm Saturday evening on the 30th May 2015 is perhaps more tangible and brutal than in recent memory. The Cup hasn’t been fought over in gladiatorial style between the Capital and arguably the second city of England since 2000 and the difference between the two cities in terms of football glory has never been more stark.
Tag Archives: Match Report.
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014. Holland V Argentina. Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine online July 2014.
“On the cusp of glory, frustration and exasperation will find a way to block success…”*
Emotions in Brazil must be heading all over the place as it stands, for the footballing public, the religion of the sport is enough to make anybody even remotely concerned about the final on Sunday wonder just who they are going to cheer on. The industrious Germans who tore their side apart with the consummate ease of a Lion being offered an all you can eat menu whilst picking their main course for dinner on the Serengeti or Argentina, their biggest rivals in World Football, a country that is less than a couple of hours away by airplane, a country that produced more attractive football than Brazil in the last decade…Nobody could surely blame a single person in Brazil if they thought on Sunday afternoon, “I cannot face this, I am going to bed till Monday, roll on 2018.”
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014, Holland V Mexico, Match Report.
Originally published by Ace Magazine online. June 2014.
Holland playing against Mexico, perhaps one in which the purist and the hopeful could both savour the football that was surely to be placed before an awaiting world, or at least that cared about such matters and who weren’t enthralled by the arrival of Dolly Parton at Glastonbury or the more serious topics surrounding the battlegrounds that used to resemble Iraq and Syria and the tension that grumbles on between the European Union, Russia and the Ukraine.
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014. Costa Rica V Greece, Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine, Liverpool online. June 2014.
The land of fantasy is at times such an intriguing place to let your mind wander off to. In the world of fantasy anybody can become a hero; the least likely person can walk into the sunset with their head held high having saved another’s life or the hopes of a nation. Whilst nobody on the pitch in Recife surely thought for a single minute they would be the one to take on the might of established convention, the potency of F.I.F.A.’s tight grip on the game, fantasy became reality as Costa Rica, destroyers of football establishment in the likes of Italy, Uruguay, by then unfancied and England, made the quarter finals of the 2014 World Cup by beating the equally surprised last 16 cohorts Greece.
F.I.F.A. World Cup, 2014: Greece V Ivory Coast, Match Report.
Originally published by Ace Magazine, June 2014.
The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is only the third time the country that gave democracy to the world has qualified for the final stages. There is though something very pleasing in that in their third tournament they upset the form book and make their way into the last 16 thanks to the man who has been a great servant to Celtic the last few seasons. As Georgios Samaras stepped up to take the penalty that would either send his team marching on or see them trip up in the group stages as they did in 1994 and 2010, what emotions must have been going through his head? What emotions must have been going through the mind of Didier Drogba and the Lion of African football, Yaya Touré?
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014: Japan V Columbia, Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine online. June 2014.
If the world of football, and its many critics, were shocked by events in the match involving Uruguay and Italy in the afternoon then surely there would have been many a smile on the same faces a few minutes before the end of the near one sided game involving arguably the best team from South America so far in this tournament and the men from Japan.
F.I.F.A. World Cup 2014: Mexico V Croatia, Match Report.
First published online by Ace Magazine online June 2014.
For a few brief minutes there was real hope in every Mexican heart that they would go and get at least a couple of more goals against Croatia and equal amount of dread that Brazil would somehow slice open the Cameroon defense simply at will in equal response. Such were the margins for error that the Gods of expectancy and the false idols of the disappointed held Damocles’ Sword of all four of the squads in this particular group.
F.I.F.A World Cup 2014: Columbia V Ivory Coast, Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine, June 2014.
There are moments in which a single image can transcend any sport, any encounter and make it almost meaningless but also be seen as the pinnacle of humanity’s endeavour to push ourselves harder and better each time we wake up in the morning. The very human emotion of shedding a tear in front of a watching world, perhaps even letting the floodgates open and letting grief take its natural place in the world, not to let it bottle up inside as you would expect a robot to do. This enduring image was captured by television cameras inside the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha as Ivory Coast midfielder Serey Die showed the world exactly how much a person he was during the national anthems before this open ended, superbly evenly matched game between the Ivory Coast and Columbia.
F.I.F.A World Cup 2014: England V Uruguay, Match Report.
First puiblished by Ace Magazine on line. June 2014.
In the end it came down to two moments in which Luis Suárez, the talisman of Liverpool, shined brighter than anything else on the field. Two moments in which genuine class showed and in which he joined the likes of Beckenbauer, Cruyff and Pele as reasons to admire him as a footballer, even if some of more personal habits leave a sour taste in the mouth.
F.I.F.A World Cup 2014. Columbia V Greece. Match Report.
First published by Ace Magazine online, June 2014
Columbia taking on Greece was never going to be the highlight of the 2014 World Cup; however for the 50,000 plus fans inside the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte the game was surely riveting, colourful and for the first four minutes at least could have gone either way. It was a game in which vindication of 32 teams in the competition presented itself, perhaps for the first time since 1990.