Euro Report: Expansion Talk and Spanish Breakthrough
By: Ian Rose |
8 Comments
We’re back with another report, now that the quarterfinals of Euro 2008 are over and it’s down to the final four. Daryl Grove joins me once again to discuss how many teams the Euros should start with, as UEFA continues to ponder expansion. And we celebrate the triumphant return of Spain and Sevilla blogger Ryan Knapp, who gives us a Spain fan’s perspective on breaking Italy’s 88-year dominance of La Furia Roja in major tournaments.
We’ll be back with more after the semifinals, but for now, enjoy the episode and let us know if you have any questions you’d like addressed in the next show. We’ll be getting back to club football soon enough, so club questions are fair game too. Thanks for listening.
As always, you can listen on the player below, or go our feed to subscribe. But if you really liked us, you’d come to our Facebook page and be our friend. Cheers.
Category: Weekly Podcast
Euro Report: A Return to Reality
By: Ian Rose | 4 Comments
Hey everybody. Sorry about the wait, but as I explain in the beginning of this week’s show, it’s been a very busy time for us at The Offside and World Cup Blog, and our ambitions for doing two shows a week just didn’t pan out. So we’re back to a more realistic once OR twice a week. That way, when we DO post more often, it will be a nice little surprise. Fancy that.
This week, Daryl and I discuss player performances so far at Euro 2008. Who has shocked us with their quality, and who has been just plain shocking with their lack thereof? We throw out some obvious, and hopefully not so obvious names, and talk individual effort.
We have lost contact with our man in Austria, Stuart Fuller. I’m sure it’s just a temporary interruption, and as soon a we hear from him, we’ll post another live report from the ground at Euro 2008. Thanks, everyone, for listening.
Also, if anyone has questions for Stuart, or for any of us to address on the show, let us know in the comments. That’s what you get with our podcast that the big-box podcasts can’t deliver - the personal touch.
As usual, you can listen on the player below, or go to our feed to subscribe to the show. And, if you want to be even cooler, you can come to our Facebook page and be our friend. Enjoy.
Category: Weekly PodcastEuro Report and Argentina Friendly
By: Ian Rose | 3 Comments
We’re through our first round of Euro 2008 matches, and we check in with recent podcast guest and author Stuart Fuller for a little bit of his insight from being on the ground in SwissAustria. We talk about a few situations they aren’t advertising on ESPN, like failures in planning that are leading to fan backups both inside and outside the grounds. On a brighter note, there’s a pleasant surprise for those intrepid souls that went to the tournament without tickets.
We also hear from Dave Martinez, who was in the stands along with some 78,000 others to watch the U.S. draw with Argentina this week. We talk football, fan culture and Argentine barbeque, and wonder what in the hell has happened to Eddie Johnson. Dave also has an announcement about an upcoming game tournament coming up on his video game blog, so listen up for details on that.
Thanks for listening. As always, you can hear the show on the player below, or visit our feed to subscribe. And check us out on Facebook, if you’re into that Web 2.0 action.
Category: Weekly PodcastEuro 2008 Preview
By: Ian Rose | 1 Comment
Well, it’s here folks. Throughout the European Championships, Daryl, Anne, Inara, Ryan and the rest of the podcast regulars will be checking in twice a week to dissect all the Euro action. We also have a man on the ground, recent interview guest Stuart Fuller, who will be giving us a taste of what it’s like to be at the football event of the summer.
This time, Daryl Grove, Anne Ramzy and myself take a look at each of the Euro 2008 groups and pick our favorites to move on to the quarters.
Stay with us for Euro 2008, and enjoy the first games tomorrow! To subscribe to the show, click here to go to our feed, or listen on the player below. We would also be just thrilled if you came and joined our Facebook group, which you can do by clicking here. Enjoy.
Category: Weekly PodcastThe Missing Episode
By: Ian Rose | 9 Comments
Hey everybody. I’ve got some good news, as they say, and I’ve got some bad news. For those of you who were expecting our 25th episode this week, the news is mostly bad. There have been some major technical issues to work out, and Episode 25, featuring myself, Inara and Christian, has been lost in those glitches. Now you’ll never know what jewels of football analysis once lay in those 30 minutes … or how many times we said “um”. Anyway, we are going to take this week off. My weekend duties on the main page, as well as putting together the Euro 2008 predictor contest, have me pretty busy. You guys should definitely all enter your brackets, if you haven’t already - we have some awesome prizes from our old friends at SoccerPro.com, as well as our new mates at UKSoccerShop.com, and it would be awful if some dirty non-listener won them. Awful.
Anyway, on to the good news. Actually, I guess there’s two pieces of good news. One I already said - contest + prizes = yay. The second bit is that our friendly neighborhood podcast is going to be all over Euro 2008, with podcasts every few days covering the tournament from start to finish. Our man in Britain, Daryl Grove, will join me, along with some of our other regulars and a few special guests, to bring you the latest on the biggest football event of the summer.
So we will talk to you soon. The next podcast will come out Friday, June 6th, as part of our official preview of the tournament. Talk to you then.
Category: Weekly PodcastEpisode 24: Stuart Fuller, France and Copa Libertadores
By: Ian Rose | 10 Comments
This week, we are joined by author Stuart Fuller, who writes a series of books called Fan’s Guide, including the Fan’s Guide to European Football Grounds. We talk about his experiences, his favorite places to watch a game, and his personal account of the mayhem in Manchester last week at the UEFA Cup final.
Also this week, to celebrate (aka mourn) the end of the European club season, Inara is here to talk about the crazy last day of Ligue 1, where Lyon clinching their 7th straight title might have been the least exciting thing that happened. Christian Reyes gets us up to date with the Copa Libertadores, where the “smaller” countries are absolutely tearing through Brazilian and Argentine opposition, to set up what could be one of the most open and unpredictable semifinal rounds in the history of the tournament.
Last but not least, there was a little game in Moscow this week, and a little contest associated with it. We announce the winner of the Adidas Moscow Finale match ball from SoccerPro.com.
Thanks, as always, for listening. You can listen on the player below, or go to our feed to subscribe to the show. We’ll talk to you again soon.
Category: Weekly PodcastEpisode 23: Neil Dunkin and US Soccer Report
By: Ian Rose | 11 Comments
After a number of hurdles, we’re happy to say that we have finally gotten (somewhat) the knack of phone interviews, and so we are thrilled this week to welcome our first featured guest on the show, lifelong Liverpool fan and author Neil Dunkin, whose book “Anfield of Dreams” takes readers through the ups and downs of 50 years following the most successful club in English football. Neil talks to us about some of his favorite moments and players over the years, and I try not to gush too audibly as we talk about Scotland and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, who Neil had the pleasure of seeing in his prime. We also talk about the state of English international play, the 6-5 rule, and various other topics.
Because of the interview, we cut back to three regular podcasters this week, and since we’ve been a bit neglectful of U.S. coverage lately, we dedicate the second part of the show to catching up with the MLS and USL. New York Red Bull Offside blogger Dave Martinez talks about his Bulls’ weekend win over the Galaxy, and the secret to controlling the Landid Beckhovan scoring machine. ESPN’s Anne Ramzy gets us up to date with the USL-1, including the first sputters in the Portland Timbers’ still-undefeated season, the shock rise of the Minnesota Thunder, and more.
As always, you can listen to the show on the player below, or go to our feed to subscribe. And of course, you can get all Web 2.0 on our ass, by joining us on our Facebook page. Thanks for listening.
Category: Weekly PodcastYour MLS / USL questions
By: Ian Rose | 8 Comments
Hello everyone. We have something a little different on this week’s podcast, with our first special guest coming on the show. Neil Dunkin, a lifelong Liverpool fan and author of “Anfield Of Dreams: A Koppite’s Odyssey from the Second Division to Sublime Istanbul” is on to talk about his book, his beloved Reds, and other issues in the English game. Because of the interview, we have a slightly shorter discussion this week, centered on the U.S. side of things, which I know we’ve ignored a bit lately. Anne Ramzy will be on to talk USL (and gloat a little about Manchester United’s title) and Dave Martinez will cover the week’s action in the MLS. (Sorry, Alexa - we’ll get back to Copa Libertadores again next week). If you have any questions or subjects you’d like tackled having to do with the MLS and USL in America, leave them in the comments and we’ll try to get to them. Thanks for listening.
Category: Listener questionsEpisode 22: Superclásico, Ligue 1 and Premiership Roundup
By: Ian Rose | Add Comments
It’s that time of the week again, and after a week of technical glitches that made me very nearly give up on the computer altogether, we are back with Pod episode 22. Joining me for this one are Christian Reyes, who is still licking his wounds a bit from River’s loss to Boca in the Superclásico, as well as Inara to keep us up to date on the French title race (those words still don’t sound right together), and Daryl to talk about both the top and the bottom of the Premier League.
Among the many bumps in the road this week was the cancellation of our interview with Nigel Henderson, but we hope to have him back on soon. We have a few other guests coming up, but in the interest of avoiding any further jinxes, I think I’ll wait a bit to announce them.
Just a month to go until Euro 2008 takes over not only our entire lives, but also our podcast. Look out for announcements about our Euro 2008 coverage, including special podcasts, special guests, and a big giveaway. As always, thanks for listening. You can listen to the show on the player below, or check out our feed, and if you want to be our friend, you’re always more than welcome over at our Facebook group.
Category: Weekly PodcastQuestions for Podcast 22
By: Ian Rose | 12 Comments
Next week’s podcast crew will be Ian, Christian, Dave and Anne. Please leave your questions and subject suggestions here in the comments. Thanks, everybody.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, Nigel Henderson will have to miss the program this week, due to illness, and so it will be just us same old regular podcasters. Thanks for your questions, and we will have him on in the future and get them answered.
Category: Listener questions
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