ASIA is the world’s biggest football stadium, with half the world’s fanbase. The potential of the region is enormous, with a growing middle class and economies that can grow faster than many mature markets. In footballing terms, the game is fast-evolving in China, India, South Korea and Japan, along with other countries, and with the […]
AS IT stands, the Coronavirus may just prove to be disruptive for a short time. Once the world realises this is not “Survivors 1975” things should calm down, but with financial markets doing their customary knee-jerk reaction to crisis, and some institutions capitalising on their derivatives to make money out of a downturn, the angst […]
HOW the Class of 92 must be wishing they bought Bury instead of Salford! Interesting that Phil Neville has been pleading for Bury to be saved, a club that has strong links to his family. Like so many cases, it is only when a crisis comes that people really start to rally behind the stricken […]
JAPAN’S KASHIMA Antlers took a two-goal lead in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final, despite their coach believing they were too cautious against Iran’s Persepolis. The Antlers, playing in their first final, had to thank their two Brazilians, Léo Silva and Serginho for giving them a two-goal advantage on November 3 in […]
DOUBTLESS the euphoria that greeted England’s penalty triumph over a Latin side schooled in the dark arts will have raised expectations beyond the wildest dreams of Gareth Southgate and, indeed, the nation. When England embarked on this “journey” (everyone is on a journey these days), a place in the quarter-finals would have been seen as […]
WHILE most of the attention focuses on the UEFA Champions League, the other continental competitions have been reaching a crucial stage in their 2017 campaigns. This week, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League final’s participants were decided: Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds. Al-Hilal are arguably Asia’s top club at the […]
FOR A city with 14 million people, Tokyo seems a very quiet place. It is a metropolis of great contradictions, indeed Japan as a whole is a nation of great contrasts. Public transport runs on time with immaculate precision, but nobody speaks on the trains. At the same time, escalators talk to you, toilets warm […]
THEY WERE little more than the token host nation representative to keep local interest alive, but Kashima Antlers are now one game away from the FIFA Club World Cup final. The Antlers won their second game in the 2016 competition when they beat Mamelodi Sundowns in the quarter-final game in Osaka. This follows their previous […]
