Theyab Awana became probably the most famous UAE soccer player in history after he scored against Lebanon in July on a backheel penalty. The goal became an internet sensation. As of tonight, his audacious shot appears to have been viewed more than 10 million times on various YouTube entries, such as this one. Theyab Awana […]

[Read more →]

I was aware of this, a bit. I clearly remember, X number of years ago (during that short period when the proudly clueless Dutchman Ruud Gullit was coaching the Galaxy), having this pointed out to me. Gullit was talking to a few of us after a practice session, and he just launched into a Jeremiad […]

[Read more →]

A notion popped into my head while writing a column for The National about how this looks like it could/should be the best season in the history of the UAE’s domestic soccer league: An imbalance exists in many countries between the leagues those nations deserve … and the league that they have. In both directions: […]

[Read more →]

I had never been impressed with Diego Maradona as a coach, which anyone who read my South Africa countdown 2010 blog can attest. This is a guy who can barely function in life … but I’m not even going to broach those issues. It was Maradona the manager who almost achieved the impossible — failing […]

[Read more →]

It’s fair to say that the United States doesn’t get heaps of sympathy, 10 years after 9/11, here in the Gulf. A significant number of people in this region apparently don’t believe the terror attacks on the World Trade Center actually happened. (Rather like an alarming number of Americans.) And then there were those who […]

[Read more →]

If I were put in charge of domestic soccer here in the UAE, a job I somehow doubt will be offered to me, one of the first matters I would attend to? Making sure that big news stories are not allowed to happen on the same day. In the past four months, the UAE twice […]

[Read more →]

The guy who laid me off 3.5 years ago had his own moment with the sharp end of the “consolidation” side of print journalism last week. That is to say, he’s out of newspapers and apparently is unemployed. Here is the typically code-riddled e-mail to the people who worked for him:

[Read more →]

When you are the visiting team in Beirut, you know your night did not go well when some of the local citizens let off a few rounds of celebratory gunfire after the score goes final. It probably also was not a good night when your coach is fired about 90 minutes after the game. Which […]

[Read more →]

For months, it seemed as if Abu Dhabi were slowly emptying out. Day after day, the traffic was a little lighter, the crowds a little less intense. Driving around the town, which often is nightmarish, was easy. It peaked last week, when roads were nearly empty in the middle of the day. But now it’s […]

[Read more →]

I am fascinated by those moments in sports when naive aspirations and expectations collide with reality. These happen on the field of play, when the impressions framed at practice and training intersect with the skill and determination of a superior opponent in a real game. In the U.S., you see this most often with American […]

[Read more →]