A Football Report

With Clásico madness nearing its peak, this time around on the A Football Report podcast we pieced apart the battles between Barcelona and Real Madrid from all angles. We also focused on the major happenings going on in Major League Soccer, from the resurgence of Thierry Henry and the New York Red Bulls to the most talked about 18-year-old Juan Agudelo to Real Salt Lake's incredible run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. Contributors in this podcast: Eric Beard (AFR Editor, Barcelona): http://twitter.com/afootballreport Gary Al-Smith (Ghana-based journalist): http://twitter.com/garyalsmith Dan Wiersema (Founder of The Free Beer Movement, Austin, Texas): http://twitter.com/freebeermovemnt

After a two-month period of soul-searching and not having nearly enough time for weekly hour-long recording sessions, the A Football Report podcast is back with a new, fresh format. The podcast, now hoping to be about 25 minutes in length, will focus heavily on interacting with you via Facebook, Twitter, and email. On this podcast Ulysse Pasquier, Oliver Sparrow, and Eric Beard talked about the importance of the Europa League, Manchester United's fantastic season so far, Arsenal's not so fantastic end to their season and recent change in ownership, and the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Oliver Sparrow, Dominic Vieira, and Eric Beard of the AFR Team managed to get the fantastic Real Madrid TV Presenter Kay Murray on the latest A Football Report Podcast. Kay's name has been buzzing around the internet ever since betting companies backed her to become a replacement for Andy Gray and Richard Keys on Sky Sports after her fans were eager to show support for the Middlesbrough native based in the Spanish capital. Why move from a lifestyle of tapas and siestas, although Kay rarely gets the latter due to her busy work schedule, when you truly have a dream job? Kay spoke to us about being able to be in close quarters with massive personalties such as "The Special One" and Cristiano Ronaldo, while still being able to travel to different exotic cities across Europe under Real Madrid's budget. Kay also chatted with us about her passion for football, how she got into the business, and some of her best memories since going into her field as a TV personality for one of the world's biggest football clubs. But don't worry! Kay may ironically deem herself "Football Barbie", but the amount of football-related knowledge stored in her brain would rival even the most committed football pub patron. We finished off with some proper analysis on the state of Spanish fútbol, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the young talent coming through La Liga. You can read Kay's blog at http://footballbarbie.footballunited.com/ or follow her on twitter at http://twitter.com/footballbarbie1

The AFR House was rocking once again, although this time around we couldn't manage to get any of our female writers to join in on the pod. But regardless, we're not raging sexists, so we still managed to have intelligent conversations on the most pressing topics in the beautiful game. AFR was lucky to be joined once again by Andrew Weber of ArsenalFCBlog.com & FootballNomad.com in Berlin. In addition, we had a second guest for this podcast, Mr. Cathal Breathnach of Football-Corner.org. AFR's Ulysse Pasquier and Eric Beard also contributed to the discussion while king Oliver Sparrow kept us in check while professing his love for Eric Cantona. On the podcast we covered three major topics. We started off with the sexism scandal that saw Andy Gray and Richard Keys fired. Then we moved on to the epic revival of the New York Cosmos brand. And then finally after about 25 minutes, we delved into the footy. We talked transfers as well as Ian Holloway and the Premier League title race.

Welcome to another feast of football for your ears. This time on the AFR Podcast were grateful to have Iain Macintosh (UK correspondent for The New Paper) in the figurative AFR house alongside Oliver Sparrow (London), Dominic Vieira (Lancaster), Eric Beard (Boston), and Darshan Joshi (Kuala Lumpur).Topics included an insight on Iain's world of sport journalism, the Kenny Dalglish appointment and Gerrard's red card, contrasting the respective ownerships of Liverpool and Blackburn, Manchester United's debt and Fergie's successor, Cristiano Ronaldo's agent claiming he will be the best player in the history of football, and Messi winning the Ballon d'Or and his fate to be at Barcelona. We also mention Ronaldinho's affection for beer and pies and why the Brazilian would have loved growing up in Wigan, amongst other things. 0-4:00 Intro and immediate reactions to Messi winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or4:00-13:40 Looking at Iain's world of journalism13:40-20:15 Notable teams that have won titles that have not been convincing20:15-27:00 Gerrard's red card and the appointment of Kenny Dalglish27:00-33:00 Contrasting the ownerships at Liverpool and Blackpool33:00-39:00 Manchester United's debt and the successor of Sir Alex Ferguson39:00-51:00 Ronaldo's agent stating he will be the best player in football's history vs. Messi actually being voted the best player in the world as things standYou can follow Iain Macintosh on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iainmacintosh Or have a look at his Wordpress: http://iainmacintosh.wordpress.com/ Subscribe to the A Football Report Podcast on iTunes: itms://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-football-report/id399310152

We were lucky enough to have a fairly enlightening chat with the well-traveled football photographer Ryu Voelkel, originally from Japan but based in Paris. As Ryu points out in the podcast, photography is subjective, however Ryu's unique style seems to capture some sense of universal appreciation in the world of football and beyond. Though Ryu is a freelance photographer regularly flying across Europe to every high-profile stadium imaginable, Nike hired him to be a main photographer in South Africa in their promotion of the World Cup. We talked about what the life of a photographer entails, how he got into the field, and some of his best experiences in his line of work. You can view Ryu's Flickr Page here: http://www.flickr.com/people/ryusha/ Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/toksuede Check out his website: http://www.ryusha.com/

While a few members the AFR team were caught up studying with final exams or sprinting away from uni faster than Aaron Lennon to get home, Oli Sparrow and Eric Beard were keeping things cozy at the AFR quarters to talk the footy. Because Sepp Blatter wouldn’t approve of two guys hanging out alone together, we were lucky enough to have Jeff Livingstone, the editor of the flourishing new site entitled “In Bed With Maradona”, join us from Newcastle. If you haven’t had a look at the site, do so right away. If possible, listen to this podcast while reading about Juve’s travels to the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. Anyway, on this podcast we started things off with our favourite football adverts thanks to the inspiration of the recent creation that has Iniesta befriending a bear. We then moved on to talk about Jeff’s hometown club Newcastle while contrasting Chris Hughton’s sacking with Big Sam Allardyce’s at Blackburn Rovers. After that we moved on to the Club World Cup taking place in the United Arab Emirates, chatting about the competition itself, the surprise that has been TP Mazembe, and the pressure on Rafa Benitez. We closed things with a quick dialogue on the upcoming transfer window, which included reasons why Iniesta isn’t leaving Barça, why Tevez’s transfer request didn’t help anything, and even why Newcastle just isn’t a likable enough club despite an interest in Landon Donovan.

The AFR House was rocking as we let out of all of our angst and emotion from the mad week that was in the world of football. Oliver Sparrow, Eric Beard, Darshan Joshi, and guest contributor Andrew Weber splashed out the elegiac prose this time around. Andrew is originally from Brisbane, but is living in Berlin and is the editor of ArsenalFCBlog.com and FootballNomad.com. We intentionally did not mention anything about El Clásico because words really cannot do justice to capture the quality in Barcelona’s win. However, we had plenty of choice words for FIFA and we tried to give a balanced analysis on Russia and Qatar, who will surely go on and host wonderful 2018 and 2022 World Cups. With Arsenal apt Andrew on hand we also did an in-depth analysis on the Gooners while breaking down Chelsea’s recent struggles on and off the pitch. And of course we jumped to defend the recently sacked Chris Hughton as he left the helm at Newcastle United. Oh, and doesn't Qatar's plan for 2022 remind you of the world of Avatar? Beginning to 17:30 - World Cup Bid Reflection 17:30 to 28:30 - A complete look at Arsenal 29:00 to End - Inspecting the mini-crisis at Chelsea (and Everton), as well as Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's absurd decision to sack Chris Hughton.

The team got together once again in the figurative AFR house to talk the footy. With contributors Oli Sparrow, Dominic Vieira, Ulysse Pasquier, Eric Beard, and Gordon Fleetwood representing England, Portugal, France, the USA, and Jamaica, the Podcast lent itself to the global melting pot that is the beautiful game. In this podcast topics included our least enjoyable cup final experiences, the best and worst current football managers, a recap and discussion on the point of the recent international break, and a nice little Champions League preview. We also discussed why you would never want Robinho as a soldier in your army...

Eric Beard, Ulysse Pasquier, and Dominic Vieira of the AFR team preview a wonderful weekend for football. From the Liverpool vs. Chelsea to the best matches across Europe to the MLS Playoffs, here's your guide on what to watch and what to expect as the matches get underway.

The AFR team remembers Paul the Octopus, gets nostalgic about post-football careers in reference to Zidane’s recent role in the “Zidane Position” with Real Madrid, talks about the Premier League & the main matches in Spain and Italy, Carlos Tevez’s homesick situation at Man City, Ronaldinho’s recall into the Brazil squad, the Ballon d’Or candidates, and the Major League Soccer Playoffs. Contributors: Oli Sparrow (London), Eric Beard (Emory University, Atlanta), Dominic Vieira (Lancaster University), Ulysse Pasquier (McGill University, Montreal), Darshan Joshi (University of South Wales, Sydney)

The AFR Team convened once again to talk the footy. This week we were lucky enough to be joined by Brentford FC’s David Hunt as we preview his club’s midweek Carling Cup match against Birmingham City. We also talked about Wayne Rooney, the week that was in the Premier League and the Champions League, Barcelona’s recent membership changes, and the recent dark side of football including racism and hooliganism. Contributors: Oliver Sparrow (London), Ulysse Pasquier (McGill University), Eric Beard (Emory University), Amy Quinn (Dublin), Darshan Joshi (University of South Wales), Nick Lichtenberg (Brooklyn), Dominic Vieira (Lancaster University) Special Guest: David Hunt of Brentford FC

AFR Writer Nick Lichtenberg, who works for an American law magazine, breaks down Tom Hicks' $1.6 billion lawsuit against Liverpool in the context of the American legal system.

Oliver Sparrow (London), Eric Beard (Boston), Ulysse Pasquier (Montreal), Darshan Joshi (Sydney), and Nick Lichtenberg (New York City) of the A Football Report team talk about everything in the world of football ranging from the 2018/2022 World cup Bids to the new change in ownership for Liverpool to EURO 2012.