A Football Report

In the last week, football in the US has received its fair share of drama – the national team was drawn in a ‘Group of death’ for the 2014 World Cup and we witnessed one of the most dramatic MLS Cup finals in recent memory. Who better to provide analysis than former USMNT international and Kansas defender Jimmy Conrad? Jimmy, who you can enjoy plenty more of on the brilliant Kick TV, told us about the unique experience of playing at a World Cup, as well as identifying the secrets of Sporting Kansas' recent successes on and off the field. That exclusive interview is accompanied by our very own debrief of the highly anticipated World Cup draw, including a look at the chances of the big boys – Brazil, Spain, Holland and Argentina. And, lest we forget, the official ball of the tournament was announced last week – we give our take on the ‘Brazuca’ and reminisce on our favourite World Cup balls. All that plus a Bundesliga round-up, news of a goalkeeper joining WWE and our outrage that Zlatan has been snubbed for the Ballon d’Or shortlist. Keep an ear out for next week’s Christmas Show Special, featuring a hint of cheap champagne, questionable festive jumpers and acclaimed journalist Guillem Balague, who will be discussing his new book, ‘Messi’ – an in-depth and illuminating study of the life of… well, the clue is in the name! This week the #whereisfootball project takes us to the hills and mountainsn of Bhutan, where Yeji Hyun caught these breathtaking shots. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

With the world’s eyes turning to Brazil for this week’s World Cup draw, we’ll be discussing whether the country will in fact be ready to host 32 teams once next Summer comes round. After a series of missed deadlines, a tragic disaster at the stadium that’s due to host the opening match of the tournament, and the country attempting to construct more stadiums than it needs to, how much of a realistic possibility is it that everything won’t be completed in time? Moving back across the Atlantic, we’ll also be profiling Fulham’s new boss (and his somewhat animalistic instincts), take a look at what has been dubbed the Football League’s “Black Monday”, and also check in on Serie A to see why the wheels are starting to come off for Roma, and how 12,000 school children have been putting Juventus’ ultras to shame. This week’s feature interview is with sports and music writer, and AFR contributor, Aniefiok Ekpoudom. He’ll be chatting to us about the curious case of Southampton’s Gaston Ramirez, and telling us why a man who we’ll most likely see playing for Uruguay next Summer at the World Cup just can’t get a start in the Premier League. Aniefiok also has his own blog, which you can check out here. Our favourite #whereisfootball photo this week is courtesy of Saf Hossain, whose sunset shot taken at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road will be adorning our cover art this week. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

The show has cast a spotlight on a huge collection of leagues this season – La Liga, Serie A, MLS and even the top tiers in Afghanistan and Mongolia. This week, we finally uncork our coverage of Ligue 1 by getting a full lowdown from French football expert, AFR contributor and French Football Weekly editor Andrew Gibney. We’ll find out the latest on the hooliganism that recently blighted the league, salivate over Zlatan, hail the unexpected brilliance of Lille and try to make sense of the zero to hero national team. The show’s main debate circles around an increasingly beleaguered Jose Mourinho – is ‘The Special One’ no longer special? Read AFR writer Nicol Hay’s fantastic article to find the spark of the discussion. We’ll also be profiling the dramatic rise of 21-year-old Basle centre-back Fabian Schär – from Swiss banker to one of the most promising defenders in Europe in the space of three years. And if you want to hear all about a very unlikely candidate for the most competitive league on the planet, this is the show to tune in to. The most remarkable #whereisfootball photo to be captured in the last seven days was by friend of AFR and stellar football photographer Ryu Voelkel. He snapped one of the most enduring pictures to be taken from the unforgettable World Cup playoff duel between Sweden and Portugal. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

It’s been a big week of football for a number of European nations, and perhaps none more so than UEFA’s newest member, Gibraltar. After finally having their national team recognised in the International arena, they’ve taken on Slovakia in their first ever game, and only gone and got a draw. We’ll be taking a look at the nation that can currently fit its entire population into their (technically) home stadium, and talk to a good friend of the show and Gibraltarian Stuart Dalmedo about what having an internationally recognised team means, and what his chances are of breaking into the squad. With qualification campaigns around the world gradually coming to an end, we’ll be taking a look at all of those teams from Europe and Africa who have booked their places in Brazil, those who didn’t quite make it, and we’ll be taking a quick peek at the sort of kits that will be on display next Summer. We’ll also be discussing a tournament a bit further down the line – Qatar 2022. With a recent Amnesty International report giving evidence that migrant workers’ rights and welfare are a real issue there, and with world footballing governing bodies seemingly turning a blind eye, what is the solution to the latest, and by far the most serious, issue surrounding the World Cup scheduled for nine years’ time? The finest #whereisfootball photo to be taken this week has been snapped by Instagram user Oilysailor whose Autumnal shot of Oxfordshire will be gracing the pod’s cover art for the next 7 days. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

The game in America has been bubbling with high-stakes games and news stories of late, so we dialled up Andrew Wiebe, from MLSsoccer.com and the ExtraTime Radio Show, to get his views on some eye-catching surprises in the first set of Playoff games, discover whether he thinks David Beckham’s Miami franchise can give the MLS a foothold in the South East, and question what the US MNT can expect to achieve in Brazil. Elsewhere, we get out our calculators to try and assess a truly astonishing outlay of cash by a UK sports channel to secure Champions League rights, and we round up a tournament stage that has considerably less cash thrown at it – the humble and endlessly amiable first round of the FA Cup. All that plus we lick our lips at some rather tasty World Cup qualifying playoff matches set to be served up this week. Forget the headline-hugging teams Portugal, France or Sweden - we’re pushing all of our chips on Iceland to provide a result to remember. Whatever the case, we just can’t wait to finally get up our World Cup 2014 wall chart. The name out of the golden envelope for our #whereisfootball contest this week is Instagram user 4attheback, who captured a stunning shot during Liverpool’s clash with Fulham at Anfield on Saturday. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

This week our feature interview is with May Jeong, a freelance journalist based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She’ll be talking to us about the resurgence of the Afghan national team, and how recent victories against Pakistan and in the South Asian Championship have helped to bring the nation together. She’ll also be telling us how far football in the country has come in the last few years, and how we can start to get excited about the Afghan Premier League. We’ll also be taking a look at the highs and lows of the men between the sticks this week – a striker’s performance for Asmir Begovic, an adolescent performance in Ligue 1, and a knockout performance for Hugo Lloris. Then it’s off Stateside to look at David Beckham’s designs on bringing a football team back to Miami, before getting very confused by pitch markings during this week’s round of MLS play-offs. And before we finish, there’s also time for a quick look at why Jurgen Klopp’s contract extension is good news for fans of heavy metal, and after the roaring success of the inaugural AFR Book Club©, prepare to feast your ears on another literary marvel – the fictional works of Steve Bruce. Thanks to London-based French journalist Olivier Sclavo for his #whereisfootball snap of Deptford Park on Instagram - you can feel free lay claim to our cover art for the next week monsieur. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

This week, we explore the outpost of the Mongolian Premier League and meet the young English manager aiming to put the nation on the football map, Paul Watson. We hear about the challenges of working in sub-zero temperatures, the hunt to find undiscovered talent, and how such an extraordinary opportunity transpired. Elsewhere, we profile the upcoming MLS playoffs and give our take on the short list for the Ballon d’Or – will Messi achieve an incredible 5-year winning streak or can Zlatan Ibrahimovich, who is in the form of his life, pull off a surprise and snaffle the top prize? Talking of the giant Swede, we leaf through his book, as well as the autobiographies of Sir Alex Ferguson and ‘Arry Redknapp for the inaugural outing of AFR Voice Book Club. The Literary event of the year. Our cover art this week is occupied by this stunning shot of Saturday's Clásico at Camp Nou, provided by luisnavidad on Instagram. Keep tagging your pics with #whereisfootball, and you could be the face of AFR Voice too. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here.

After two major knee injuries and the best part of two years on the sidelines, Giuseppe Rossi is back playing - and he’s back in the goals too. This week we’ll be talking to AFR writer William Giles about the striker’s resurgence, which was illustrated in emphatic fashion by a superb hatrick for Fiorentina against Juventus at the weekend, as well as chatting about how far La Viola can go in Serie A this season. We’ll also be taking time to enjoy one of the finer parts of the game – exquisite goals. With the lion’s share of the weekend’s finest strikes being scored in either Paris or South London, we’ll be debating which was our favourite, as well as this week’s most memorable “goal” in the Bundesliga. Then it’s time to talk play-offs. We’ll be looking at the draw for the European World Cup showdowns to be played next month, before trying to get our heads round the permutations that could influence the make-up of the MLS play-offs this weekend (plus why Tim Cahill doesn’t mess about when it comes to getting on the scoresheet). Oh what’s that you say? We’ve got some new cover art? We sure have, and this week it’s been provided by Calgary-based Phillip Meintzer. Keep submitting your #whereisfootball photos on Instagram, and next week it could be you. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here. See you at the book club.

After an almighty glut of crucial World Cup fixtures, we’ve a whole new set of countries to welcome to a rather large party in Brazil next summer. More ecstatic than most will be Colombia. After 16 years in World Cup exile, they are finally back in the hunt to get their hands on the Jules Rimet trophy. To get a taste of the euphoria and unbridled optimism we rustled up the dialling code for Colombia to speak to Bogota-based football journalist Peter Karl, editor of cracking football blog The Third Kit. You can also read his article on the long-awaited qualification here. The globe-trotting didn’t stop there - we picked out the highlights of the European section of qualifying, which saw England and Spain happily dusting off their speedos for Rio, Bosnia-Herzgovina achieving a place in their first ever World Cup, and Iceland grabbing a well-earned qualifying play-off place. Elsewhere we toasted a sensational result for Ghana against Egypt in the final stages of the African qualifying stages and shook our heads at the magnificent mess that Mexico has got itself into. We’ll explain how only time-travel can save them against a humiliating play-off loss to New Zealand. This week our the pod is lovingly enrobed in a photograph from maxjgri in Sydney, the latest winning submission from the #whereisfootball project on Instagram. Remember, you can get in touch with the team by emailing afrvoice@gmail.com, or on Twitter @AFRvoice. You can also find us on iTunes here. Now, which way to the Copacabana?

This week’s show sees us take a look at Sam Allardyce picking up where Spain left off in the tactical genius department, Zlatan raising his hands to the lasers in France’s Classique, Roma continuing their perfect start to the Serie A season, and asking the big question: if Jose Mourinho really can smell goals, then what do they actually smell like? With Ben out of action on the audio treatment table, this week’s pod sees us get in broadcaster and journalist Olly Greenleaves on an emergency loan, who helps us get the World Cup countdown truly started with an in-depth look at a very attractive looking dark horse for the tournament – Belgium. Olly recently interview national team boss Marc Wilmots, so we’ve got the inside scoop on who’s first on the team sheet, what a very excited Belgian population expects of the team, and just how far they can go in Brazil. We’ll also be enjoying extracts from Harry Redknapp’s upcoming book, go against Gus Poyet’s wishes by comparing him directly to Paolo Di Canio, and put forward a pretty comprehensive case for why you should never try and commit a crime in the vicinity of a Serie A footballer. Our cover art is courtesy of Instagram user Kaanis21, whose snap of Marseille’s Stade Velodrome was our favourite #whereisfootball photo this week. Magnifique. As always, feel free to get in touch with us - tweet @AFRvoice or email afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes here.

It may still be a month until Halloween, but there are already plenty of strange things going on in Europe’s top leagues at the moment. We’ll be looking at Athletico Madrid taking 3 points off their cross-town rivals as they gave Gareth Bale a home debut to forget, Man United slumping to defeat at the hands of West Brom, and we’ll discuss how Liverpool’s women’s team, who have managed to string together two wins in the last two seasons, have somehow turned things around and broken Arsenal’s dominance in the English Women’s Super League. And the theme of early season surprises doesn’t stop there, as this week’s interview sees us chat to senior AFR writer John Ray about Roma, who a few weeks ago didn’t even have the confidence of their own fans, but are now enjoying their best start to a Serie A campaign ever. And we’ll be answering the big question on everybody’s lips – just what did Francesco Totti’s birthday cake look like? This week’s pod cover art is courtesy of @robavis, whose photo of the FA Cup third qualifying round tie between Margate and Dulwich Hamlet was our top #whereisfootball photo this week. Keep uploading them to Instagram – next week it could be you. As always, feel free to get in touch with us - tweet @AFRvoice or email afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes – now go and help Totti eat his cake.

On this week’s edition we delve into the two big managerial talking points raging in the English Premier League: does Manchester United’s 4-1 derby day defeat at the Etihad spell early trouble for David Moyes, and does the sacking of Paolo Di Canio highlight the managerial short-termism that riddles the English leagues? Away from Manchester we track some equally enormous clashes from the weekend — including the Boateng brothers going toe to toe in the Bundesliga, Lazio and Roma locking horns once more in Serie A and the battle of the billionaire clubs, PSG and AS Monaco. We toasted another podcast in the bag by propping our arm on the post, looking to the floor and crossing our legs — otherwise known as ‘Henrying’. AFR supremo Eric Beard spoke to us to explain how the original pose from the Red Bulls striker, and it’s many superb parodies, went viral across social media this week. Our Instagram #whereisfootball winner this week is Angelica Tanneryd in Stockhom, Sweden. Her image will be proudly draped over our Soundcloud, iTunes and Twitter coverart for the next 7 days. As always, feel free to get in touch with us - tweet @AFRvoice or email afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes - now get out of here before we fire you.

It’s that time of year again – the nights are drawing in, you’re wrestling with the decision of whether to turn the heating on or not, and it’s once again acceptable to have a piping-hot soup for lunch. This can only mean one thing – the Champions League is back. In this week’s AFR Voice we’ll be taking a look at the runners and riders, potential dark horses, and favourites for this year’s instalment of Europe’s premier club competition, and why it could be the best Champions League EVER (you heard it here first). We’ll then be discussing the Rainbow Laces Movement, which aims to change attitudes and make football more gay-friendly, as it looks to tackle what is still a huge taboo in the game and gain traction at clubs around the UK this weekend. Then it’s onto World Cup qualification heartbreak for Cape Verde, before speaking to ESPN FC and AFR writer Dermot Corrigan in Madrid about Gareth Bale’s debut, Cristiano Ronaldo’s new deal, and what we can expect from Real Sociedad in Europe this season. As per usual our cover art is made up of our favourite #whereisfootball photo of the week, and this week the honour goes to this sublime snap by Instagram user @aveba in Marseille, France. Don’t forget to get in touch – tweet us at @AFRvoice or fire some electronic mail our way at afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes here.

Whilst World Cup qualifiers for Rio dominated the last few days of football on the pitch, off it there was much more attention on Qatar 2022. With Sepp Blatter regarding the bid decision as a ‘mistake’ and a growing resignation amongst the top clubs that the tournament will be moved to the winter, we try and make sense of the almighty shambles. World Cup 2022 is also on our minds courtesy of new England FA Chairman Greg Dyke. He’s set The Three Lions a target to win the World Cup in Qatar. Idiotic or ambitious? We dish up the implications and shortcomings of his high-profile target, and garnish it with our immediate reaction to England’s ominous bore draw against Ukraine. We top off the show by examining the ever-growing Red Bull football empire. Writer Chris Freestone, who has been exploring the company’s expansion into the beautiful game on AFR this week, explains where, how and why they are amassing such a wide portfolio of clubs that stretch from Europe to Africa. Our #whereisfootball photographer this week is Instagram user @joseph_surposeph whose snap at Ashton United FC will take pride of place on our cover art for the next seven days. Don’t forget to get in touch – tweet us at @AFRvoice or fire some electronic mail our way at afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes here.

As the fax machines power down, the covers get put back on the helipads, and the transfer window slams shut (for another 119 days at least), this week’s AFR Voice is here to sift through all of the contracts, loan deals and botched bids, and somehow try to make sense of what is becoming quite possibly one of the strangest days in the modern game. Just be sure to watch out for any deal-scuppering imposters in the Manchester area. This week we’ll also be talking to journalist and Bundesliga expert Archie Rhind-Tutt about Mesut Özil’s big money move to Arsenal, what fans at The Emirates can expect to see from their record signing, and how the first few weeks of the Bundesliga have panned out. Then we’ll be taking a look at a surprisingly competitive European Super Cup, as the Pep vs. Jose saga begins a new chapter, as well as discussing why the future looks bright for Phillip Cocu’s PSV side, and maybe not so bright for Man City’s expansion projects down under. Top effort from @nikhak who took our favourite #whereisfootball photo of the week at Columbus Crew Stadium, meaning it now adorns the pod’s cover art for the next seven days. Don’t forget to get in touch – tweet us at @AFRvoice or fire some electronic mail our way at afrvoice@gmail.com. You can also find us on iTunes here.