Jacobdorman

The last time we checked in with Bayern Munich, the German champions had dominated their first three matches of the Bundesliga campaign and showed no signs of slowing down. Five matches later and they have not only made good on that, they have somehow improved. In both their Bundesliga and Champions League campaigns they have […]

In a 2006 New York Times article, the late David Foster Wallace described something he coined as a “Federer Moment," coined for the now legendary tennis player: “These are times, as you watch the young Swiss play, when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms […]

Unbridled optimism is standard for Bayern Munich. Bayern is one of the rare clubs whose, no matter the circumstances, fans will always see the glass as half full. Even during last year’s capitulation to Barcelona in the Champions League, the sense was that this was an aberration of some kind. Barcelona were not better than […]

Now that we know how to pronounce his name, the more important question regarding Tottenham Hotspur’s recent acquisition of Toby Alderweireld is how they plan to use him. Tottenham’s defense was abysmal during the 2014-2015 campaign, and that may be giving them too much credit. If Tottenham hope to compete for a Champions League spot, […]

Tottenham Hotspur is a team eternally on the precipice. They sit on the precarious razor’s edge between greatness and obsolescence, fame and obscurity, goals and misses, and success and failure. Tottenham is constantly striving forward, trying to play with the big boys while simultaneously being pushed backward. They are swimming upstream. They are running against […]

Today’s Bundesliga vocabulary word is Englische Woche, or English week. It refers to any week where the clubs play multiple matches, a fairly frequent occurrence in English soccer but a relative rarity in Germany. With Bayern losing to Wolfsburg this past Friday and Schalke FC 04 taking all three points from Hanover 96 on Saturday, […]

The beginning of the Rückrunde is perhaps the most exciting time of the Bundesliga season, and is definitely my favorite time of the year. For me, what makes the first couple of matchweeks as the clubs return from their extended winter breaks is the renewed sense of commitment to a singular goal that each team […]

With an injury-cursed Borussia Dortmund floundering at the bottom of the 2014 Bundesliga table and with a typically dominant Bayern Munich sitting pretty at the top, Der Klassiker may have lacked some of the drive that it has had in the past few years, as we have seen it determine the winner of the Bundesliga, […]

This is a disaster. That may sound like hyperbole, but for anyone who has watched Bayern Munich play soccer over the past few months, not to mention the past decade, knows how significant it is for Der FCB to lose captain Philipp Lahm for three months to an ankle injury. Not only is Lahm the […]

In the Bundesliga, there is an inevitable end, and it is dressed in red and blue — Bayern Munich will win the league. This does not make the league any less exciting though, and as we take a breather for the Euro 2016 qualifiers, it is a perfect time to assess where we have been […]

We are just four matches into the Premier League season, so the words sample size must be kept in mind, but Erik Lamela has been a revelation for Maurice Pochettino’s men so far. After a lost season last year under the bumbling management of Andre Villa-Boas and Tim Sherwood, in addition to a difficult transition […]

Before the final whistle had sounded, the brow-furrowing and hand-wringing and calls for Carlo Ancelotti’s head had already begun. Real Madrid, looking less than resplendent in their hot pink away kits, were staring at a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad – a team they beat 9-1 on aggregate last year and a […]

Last season, Swansea proved to be a startlingly brisk team struggling to transcend the crowded middle of the Premier League table. Led by the sure feet of Wilfried Bony and Michu, the Swans consistently proved to be anything but the pushovers one expected they might have been. Manchester United, on the other hand, was the […]

Argentina left it late, but a goal by Angel Di Maria deep into extra time helping the South American team defeat Switzerland to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Argentina certainly seemed to sense that the clouds of doubt were forming as they came storming out of the gate today. Josip […]

After the thrilling finish between Chile and Brazil earlier in the day, it felt as if our collective hearts had just returned to their normal rates when it was time for the second game of the day to begin. Yesterday, the match between Colombia and Uruguay seemed to be for a rather dubious honor: That […]