You may have noticed. Iran played Cambodia on Thursday and it got ugly real fast, real bad. That left me at a curious crossroads — on the one hand, the game made for a feel-good story since it was opened to female spectators; on the other hand, Cambodia's struggles made for too cheap a punchline for many. So here it goes — my awkwardly timed attempt to write Cambodia a feel-good story of their own making...
Let's say I'd ask you to give me one Asian nation that's currently living through the golden years of its entire history, or at least the modern era. A couple of you would waste no time in shouting "Vietnam" in my face. Some would maybe suggest Tajikistan. Thailand or Syria might get a shout, too. And then there's Taiwan. Tell me honestly: Do you ever think about Taiwan?
That's right, it's official. I'm getting desperate and tweaking the format of these rankings all I can to keep the series alive. This time, it's indeed not performers, but performances, meaning we'll have a double appearance from someone here and there...
Our rankings of the best 20 young performers in Round 2 of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations have arrived! And contrary to the initially outlined plans, we won't complicate things and won't be doing an update of the Round 1 rankings. Instead, we'll simply consider the Round 2 performances in isolation...
If there’s two things we can safely infer from what kind of articles appear on the internet, and in what numbers, it’s that people absolutely dig any sort of rankings coupled with stuff other people have learnt from stuff. Now, I am arguably not smug enough to assume people would jump at an opportunity to learn what I’ve learnt, but I definitely think I can do my own rankings...
Well, that was exhausting. But here is my not-at-all-sober account of what happened in U-20 World Cup quarter-finals to three Asian and African teams...
I've got to admit, I might be dealing with a virtually insatiable passion for these early stages of World Cup/Asian Cup qualifiers. They always deliver. There are seemingly no exceptions. This year included...
Shoot Like Odil 