The Premier League and the race to Rio

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TFN’s Piers Barber on the Premier League players who will be fighting desperately to make it into their national squads before the season is out.

The Spanish contingent

Spain, current defending World champions and winners of the last two European Championships, are extremely strong contenders for the title of Best Team To Have Ever Played Anywhere In The World Ever, or something like that. Their embarrassment of midfield riches has meant they are once again one of the favourites to walk away with football’s biggest prize in Brazil, yet their strength in depth has also laid on a substantial challenge for some of the nation’s most talented players to even make it on to the plane to South America. Juan Mata, who scored in the Euro 2012 final, felt his place in the national squad under such threat that he recently initiated a move from Chelsea to Manchester United in a quest to secure some playing time in the lead up to the tournament. Jesus Navas at Manchester City and Santi Cazorla at Arsenal, meanwhile, will have to ensure they are on top form throughout the rest of the season if they hope to figure in Brazil.

The suffering Man United players

It’s been a calamitous start to 2014 for Manchester United, who have lost five of their nine games since the turn of the year. Their dramatic post-Alex Ferguson slump has not only put the Old Trafford club in serious danger of failing to qualify for European football next year, but has also threatened to jeopardise several of their highest profile players’ international careers. Marouane Fellaini, for instance, desperately needs to find some form if he is to make the starting line-up for highly fancied Belgium, whilst Nani – who, through a combination of bad form and injury, has barely figured throughout 2013/14 – must also improve if he is to feature for Portugal. Elsewhere, whilst an excellent season last year put Michael Carrick in contention for a starting berth for England in Brazil, a dire first half to the current campaign has cast even his spot on the plane in substantial doubt. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #2 – The British Commonwealth

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In our second installment of the Hypothetical XIs series, Pete Starr concocts a Commonwealth side with a few surprises…

At its height the British Empire was the largest ever accumulated, encompassing almost a quarter of the earth’s total area and about 1/5 of the world’s population. We had fingers in pies in every continent on the ruddy planet and when people started to get a bit eggy about the whole thing we created a nice friendly Commonwealth. Continue reading

Match-Fixing and the Balance of Power in Russian Football

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As part of a series of articles on Russian football during the Winter break, False Nine Russian correspondent and debutant contributor, Andy Shenk, pores over the latest scandal in a saga of incidents that have brought match-fixing to the forefront of the squabbling authorities’s attention…

Russian football rumbles often with news of match-fixing, from the lowest to the highest levels. In 2009, Kryliya Sovetov lost 3-2 to Terek in Grozny in a Premier League encounter that reeked of corruption. Though neither team suffered any consequences, Leonid Slutsky, Kryliya manager at the time, commented several years later on the suspiciousness of the match: “I understood that the substance of that history was known at all levels – from Mutko [head of the Russian Football Union then] to the journalists. It’s just that no one’s yet to write the truth of the match in Grozny.” Continue reading

2012-13 Russian Premier League Halfway Point Review: Race for the Title

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False Nine editor, Andrew Belt, assesses the front-runners of the Russian Premier League in the first of three 2012-13 review pieces of the campaign so far as the teams ease into the winter break…

Two weekends ago, the Russian Premier League broke up for the safety of warmth during winter as harsh weather comes to the country. Continue reading

‘The False Nine’ – A Critical Assessment

The False Nine‘s Michael David looks at a formation that is as beguiling as it is controversial and pays homage to it for our appropriately-named website…

One day, approximately four years ago, this writer popped into a WH Smiths before a long train journey, to pick up the customary form of entertainment for such an occasion; ‘FourFourTwo’ magazine. Continue reading

Liverpool vs Anzhi Preview: Russia’s Black Swan Comes to Anfield

False Nine editor, Andrew Belt charts the rapid progression of Anzhi Makhachkala ahead of their away trip to Liverpool in the Europa League. The third and final part of a trilogy previewing the game, comparisons are made between the evolution of the club and the growth of a rare type of swan…

Misanthropic TV critic, Charlie Brooker, blew the whistle on a particularly vulgar American TV programme on his Screenwipe review several years ago. Called The Swan, supposed ‘ugly ducklings’ were transformed into ‘beautiful swans’ via painful plastic surgery. Continue reading

Liverpool vs Anzhi Preview: Samuel Eto’o

False Nine co-editor James Dutton provides the second part of a trilogy previewing Anzhi Makhachkala’s trip to Anfield this week. The subject, the highest paid player in world football…

Samuel Eto’o is enjoying a prolific twilight to his glittering career in the Russian Premier League

Think of Anzhi Makhachkala and the first thing that comes to mind will probably be Samuel Eto’o; the Russian club’s marquee signing during the 2011 summer transfer window has become the poster-boy for one of the most ambitious clubs in European football. In return the iconic Cameroon striker has become the highest paid player in world football, earning a reported £350,000 per week – equating to roughly £16 million over a year. Continue reading