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Jerrad Peters
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World Cup trial run kicks off today
It says something about just how monstrous the FIFA World Cup has become that they have to stage a trial run for the competition a year before the first ball is kicked. The Confederations Cup, as the dress rehearsal is known, begins today in Brazil with the host nation entertaining Asian champions Japan at the glittering new Man© Garrincha Stadium in Braslia (1:30 p.m., CBC).View Full Column | 06/15/2013 3:24 AM | 0
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It's cool hipsters vs. Bayern bankers
Forget El Clasico. Der Klassiker is the match everyone wants to see these days -- a showdown between hipster-cool Borussia Dortmund and a Bayern Munich outfit that embodies the growing clout, both competitive and financial, of the German club game. One is about skinny ties, thick-rimmed glasses and some of the trendiest soccer being played in Europe; the other is an expression of the shifting power balance that became apparent with their 7-0 aggregate trouncing of Barcelona some weeks ago.View Full Column | 05/25/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Beckham a true pro from start to finish, detractors be danged
"David Beckham is Britain's finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent, but because he practices with a relentless application that the vast majority of less-gifted players wouldn't contemplate" -- Sir Alex FergusonView Full Column | 05/18/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Man U facing life without Fergie
"However long we live, we never forget the time when we were young." -- Pel© Young people experience the world in a manner unique to them.View Full Column | 05/11/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Barca's collapse signifies end of era
It's a strange thing to watch, the changing of the guard. So often in sports, as in life, we become accustomed to, and even comfortable with, certain long-established truths.View Full Column | 05/4/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Magnificent Messi trumps all else
Friday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw produced four fascinating ties, three of which would seem to have an overwhelming favourite and another that includes the runaway leaders of the Bundesliga and Serie A -- the glamour matchup of the round. As far as the event itself is concerned, it was far less a spectacle than the tedious, drawn-out affair that has become the Group Stage draw, something that no doubt pleased a North American audience that got up as early as 4 a.m. to watch it.View Full Column | 03/16/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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$occer's titans face off in battle Real
They are the two most valuable clubs in soccer, and on Wednesday they'll go head to head in the first leg of this season's most glamorous Champions League Round of 16 tie. Manchester United, who last month became the first sports club to be valued at more than $3 billion by Forbes, has been atop the ranking in each of the six years the data has been published, and on all six occasions Real Madrid -- worth approximately $1.9 billion according to 2012 estimates -- has come in second.View Full Column | 02/9/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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A must-win situation for City, Liverpool
By the time Manchester City and Liverpool kick off at Eastlands on Sunday (10 a.m., Sportsnet World), City, the reigning Premier League champions, could be 10 points adrift of current leaders Manchester United while Liverpool, in seventh place coming into the weekend, may well find themselves six points back of Arsenal, nine in arrears of Everton and 10 behind Tottenham Hotspur and the final Champions League spot. It's only the start of February, but matches in England's top flight are starting to take on some extra meaning as the table sorts itself out and the 20 clubs in the competition weigh their start-of-the-season expectations against the reality of their positions. And this contest is no exception.View Full Column | 02/2/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Manaus stadium lone concern in Brazil
The Brazilian Minister of Sport says his government and the 2014 World Cup organizing committee will be keeping a "close watch" on preparations in the northeastern city of Manaus, which have been hampered by construction delays and labour strife ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup. In an exclusive wide-ranging interview with the Free Press (conducted apart from a conference call with international reporters), Aldo Rebelo addressed stadium preparedness, his relationship with FIFA, security concerns and the tournament's legacy, saying a successfully staged World Cup would "show the world a country that is highly qualified to host the biggest events on the planet."View Full Column | 01/26/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Messi start to year and Messi finish
I always think it a valuable exercise to take a good, honest look at the past 12 months during the week between Christmas and New Year's. I believe an understanding of context is required to truly appreciate both the present and the future and that taking a section of the past, spreading it out on a plain and examining it is a helpful practice in life as well as in sports. Soccer, which is always being played somewhere in the world at any given time, provides a better opportunity for this than other seasonal sports, which take up only a portion of the calendar. There is always something happening in soccer. Rest your eyes for a second and you'll be certain to miss something -- another reason why end-of-the-year reflection is important.View Full Column | 12/29/2012 3:23 AM | 0
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When giants collide
Two of the biggest names in world football will collide mid-February in one of the most highly anticipated Champions League matchups in recent times. If you guessed Manchester United and Real Madrid, you’re only partly right. In just under two months United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will shake hands with Madrid boss José Mourinho ahead of the first leg of what is easily the most compelling tie to have come out of Thursday’s Round of 16 draw in Nyon, Switzerland.View Full Column | 12/21/2012 8:39 PM | 0
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Chelsea 2.0 taking shape
In early November Chelsea Football Club announced a profit of about $2.2 million for the fiscal year ending last June. A few weeks later Paris Saint-Germain let slip that Blues' left-back Ashley Cole would be moving to the French capital in the summer, and on Wednesday midfielder Frank Lampard admitted he may be leaving the London side in a few months as well. That same day David Luiz, typically a defender, played in the centre of the park against Monterrey in the Club World Cup.View Full Column | 12/15/2012 2:41 PM | 0
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Man versus Man should be dogfight
The first of the season's Manchester derbies will be played on Sunday at Eastlands (7:30 a.m., Sportsnet World), but you get the feeling the principals in the Premier League title race have squared off 15 times already this term. With reigning champions Manchester City and record title winners Manchester United putting more and more distance between themselves and the rest of the division by the week, the chances of a true contender emerging from outside the city are becoming increasingly small. Only three points separate leaders United from second-place City in the ledger, after which there is a drop of seven points that none of Chelsea, Tottenham and West Bromwich Albion are likely to scale anytime soon.View Full Column | 12/8/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Bye-bye Becks, it's been posh
Today's Major League Soccer finale is an interesting case of déj vu. Twelve months, 323 regular season games and 14 playoff contests since last year's championship and we're right back to where we were when Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo took to the field to dispute the 2011 MLS Cup. The same two sides will play for all the marbles this afternoon in Carson, Calif., where soccer's Super Bowl might be more accurately described as the Here-We-Go-Again Bowl.View Full Column | 12/1/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Fred rises from dead to regain cred
Nov. 11, 2012, Estádio do Pacaembu: Fred slams an accurate cross from the right past Palmeiras goalkeeper Bruno to seal the Brazilian championship for Fluminense. Nov. 21 2012, La Bombonera: Following Jean's desperate strike from outside the area, Fred clips the ball over Argentina's Augustin Orion to give Brazil the temporarily advantage in the Superclásico de las Américas, which they'd end up winning on penalties.View Full Column | 11/24/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Player exits haunt Arsenal
Something Andre Villas-Boas said in his remarks ahead of today's north London derby caught my attention. When asked about the pressure Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was under to deliver a first trophy in seven years, the Tottenham Hotspur boss offered that Wenger "might be paying the price" for the lofty expectations he set during his first few years at the club.View Full Column | 11/17/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Toronto not indicative of MLS quality
‘IT’S hard to believe Toronto FC are in this very same league,” I thought to myself this week while watching a Major League Soccer playoff double-header. The punchline, as many disillusioned followers of Canada’s first MLS club will tell you, is that they’re really not. Now, what follows here will not be another whiny, angst-ridden evaluation of the disaster that has been Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's foray into the soccer business, but I do feel it's important to point out that those who have limited their MLS viewing experience to Toronto and exclusively Toronto have really been missing out on what is not only a fantastic league, but one that, as it matures, is developing a personality as well.View Full Column | 11/10/2012 11:48 AM | 0
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This time, Gunners could carve Reds like jack-o'-lantern
Sir Alex Ferguson is expecting a "hard game" against Arsenal today. In other words, the Manchester United manager foresees the Gunners actually competing at Old Trafford -- something they didn't do when they last visited this ground. That was 14 months ago, and the 8-2 defeat inflicted on Arsene Wenger's injury-ravaged side represented the most lopsided scoreline in the history of this national derby.View Full Column | 11/3/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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New event would be great for Canada
Earlier this week the governing body that oversees soccer in South America met in Buenos Aires to discuss the minutiae of sponsorship deals and pose for a series of sleepy-eyed group photos. They also released a post-meeting story, published on CONMEBOL's official website, which included nothing of interest for most Canadian soccer fans until the very, very bottom.View Full Column | 10/27/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Worth his weight in gold, anywhere
On Wednesday night Santos forward Neymar emerged from the tunnel at the Vila Belmiro wearing the No. 200 jersey and sporting a hairstyle unusually more modest than the mohawk-rooster-mullet thing that's typically perched upon his head. The number -- in recognition of his 200th appearance for the S£o Paulo side. (They do these types of things in Brazil. The same night Chinese attacker Chen Zhizhao was also given the No. 200 shirt, but in this instance it was to honour 200 years of Chinese immigration to Brazil. The hair -- a likely result of travel fatigue.)View Full Column | 10/20/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Canada whips undermanned Cuba
FIFA Law 3, paragraph 16: "A match shall not be considered valid and shall be abandoned by the referee if fewer than seven players remain on either team." In other words, 10 Cuban footballers would have had to defect ahead of Friday's World Cup qualifier against Canada for the 3-0 match to have been called off. As it happened, only five walked across the bridge at Niagara Falls, leaving 11 of their former teammates to face a desperate Canadian side in Toronto.View Full Column | 10/13/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Canadian men's team facing tough task
The next 10 days will be among the most important in the history of Canada's national men's soccer team. Currently third in their World Cup qualification group, they need to move up at least one place if they're to have any hope of making the 2014 event in Brazil. Matches at home to Cuba on Friday and away to Honduras on Oct. 16 will determine their fate, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to suggest they need to take four points from the pair of them.View Full Column | 10/6/2012 11:15 AM | 0
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Qatar World Cup should be played during Canadian winter
It has been a controversial week for the institution of the World Cup. Excuse the poor attempt at a pun, but the world's biggest sporting event has been taking a lot of heat the last few days. UEFA president Michel Platini ignited the firestorm on Tuesday when he reiterated his oft-repeated and quite sensible position that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar take place during the European (and Canadian) winter.View Full Column | 09/29/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Being Liverpool much like being the Blue Bombers
It isn't easy being Liverpool these days. More than a month into the 2012-13 Premier League campaign the venerable club, 18 times the champions, sit fourth from bottom, yet to win a match. In four outings they have managed a paltry three goals -- two of which have been scored by Luis Suarez -- and have conceded eight times, often in the most clumsy, careless manner imaginable.View Full Column | 09/22/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Diabetes can't stop young player
Lianne ADAIR wants to play in the World Cup someday. Like many Canadians she was captivated by the national women's soccer team that lost a heartbreaking semifinal to the United States last month before beating France to claim an Olympic bronze medal. She'd like to play soccer at a similar level in a few years, and there's nothing standing between her and that goal -- not even the Type 1 diabetes she has lived with since she was a toddler.View Full Column | 09/15/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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