Asking a Jew to objectively discuss a fascist is like having a mouse ask the neighborhood cat for help with the cheese in a trap. But let’s be as honest as possible about yesterday’s announcement from Sunderland. Yes, Paolo Di Canio is the new manager of the Black Cats. Yes, he is open about his political leanings, which happen to be of the fascist variety. Most importantly, his most publicized quote, “I’m a fascist, not a racist,” has yet to be proven wrong.

Throughout his playing years in Italy (Lazio, Juve, Napoli, Milan, Cisco Roma), Scotland (Celtic), and England (Sheffield Wed, West Ham and Charlton), Di Canio was a fan’s player. His only incidents were because he was a hot head and a generally intense personality, not because he’s a fascist, or a racist. During these years, he played with countless black players. His fascism didn’t seem to be of issue then. In the interest of the aforementioned honesty, there was a spat with Jonathan Tehoue during his tenure as manager at Swindon. The bottom line is that Di Canio is now Sunderland manager because he was successful with Swindon Town and he was hired for footballing reasons. He is being paid, probably handsomely, for preaching tactics, not politics.

People who identify as fascist are criticized by many because of the ideology’s historical role in horrible death, war, and tragedy. Totally fair. What about the players, managers, owners, or supporters of clubs who lean the opposite direction on the political spectrum? Some forget that socialism as an ideology is responsible for millions upon millions of deaths in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, among others. Why is it that Eric Cantona is revered for having leftist, arguably dangerous views that call for social revolutions, while Di Canio is reviled for having his own personal beliefs?

We’re not going to delve into the changes and evolution of Italian fascism from Mussolini to present day. It’s a topic I’m not well versed in and one that is irrelevant. Di Canio has labeled himself a fascist and he owns it. Until his views or beliefs harm somebody or impede them from living their life as they see fit, he can be whoever the hell he feels works for him. Many have jumped on Di Canio and Sunderland as a whole for appointing someone who doesn’t fit their ideals (I know, it’s hard to believe that individuals who have an outlet feel they can question the motives and morals of a privately owned organization). They seem to be missing the point though. They are fans of a sporting club. Their ideals should be winning, and nothing else. Di Canio’s style was described as “coaching by hand grenade,” and considering the Wearsiders have 7 games to save themselves from relegation, it sounds like exactly what they need.

One is all you need at Azteca. And we got it. Uno pointo.

Sure, it wasn’t the prettiest game ever but the stars and stripes aren’t exactly the world’s sexiest team. Before the match everyone who has ever watched a Mexico v USA game knew what was going to happen, especially when Clarence Goodson picked up a pre-game knock that kept him out.

We were going to defend like the dikens. And we did. It was some real Alamo shit. We had Dos a Cero, now we have Cero a Cero. El partido by el numeros:

2x – increase in ESPN viewership from the network’s previously most watched WCQ game

2 – points the USA has all-time in WCQ at Estadio Azteca

1 – wins all-time for the USA at Estadio Azteca in all competitions

1-0-1 – Jurgen Klinsmann’s record as USA manager at Estadio Azteca

7 – games Jurgen Klinsmann has played or managed vs Mexico

0 – times Jurgen Klinsmann has lost to Mexico

15 – corners for Mexico in the game

19:1 – Mexico shots to USA shots

30 – total combined caps for Brad Guzan, Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler

198 – total combined caps for Chicharito, Giovani dos Santos and Andres Guardado

Former USMNT winger Robbie Rogers, who came out and retired from the game on February 15, has given a pair of public interviews to the Guardian and the New York Times. 

Rogers says he hasn´t completely turned his back on soccer yet, and might even consider asking Bruce Arena if he can train with the LA Galaxy. But in the meantime, the 25 year old has been pursuing numerous opportunities in the fashion industry.

Couldn´t feel better for Robbie. I´ll admit, we´d questioned his ability as a footballer in the past, but these days no one can´t question his courage. Not much else to say that he can´t for himself. Have a listen and a read to his incredible story.

Scotland and Wales have historically found it difficult to qualify for major tournaments, but its not due to a lack of trying, or population power.  The chart above shows the comparative populations of all 6 countries, and other than the huge disparity between Montenegro and England, they are pretty much on par with each other.

It looks to me that it boils down to a difference in quality in the two regions. The EPL is thought of as one of the best league in the world (and England is the birthplace of the game after all), but if I were to choose between The Balkans or the UK, I say take the south Slavs indeed.

One is a crazed gun wielding American cowboy, the other a crazed hard tackling Italian footballer. Although both are well past their prime, rest assured, these guys still get pretty rowdy. Gattuso is not only playing for Sion in Switzerland, he’s managing them as well. He’s set to retire at the end of the season so he can focus on management full-time. As for Yosemite Sam, I have no idea what he’s up to. Probably because he’s a fictitious character. That makes it a little difficult to track him down but I’m sure he’s snorting cocaine or doing speed somewhere. Seriously, that guy was always fucked up on some sort of upper.

Check out Dirty Tackle’s write-up on Gattuso’s recent return to the San Siro with Sion for a friendly against his old Milan buddies. 

Many fans of the United States men’s national team already read the news. Players are unhappy, and the situation in the American locker room likely reached its boiling point.

An article by Sporting News writer Brian Strauss outlined the major rifts between USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann, several players and other influential members of the side.

Wowzers, what a lovely hat-trick from the little Bradley Cooper look-a-like. Rarely given the option to play up-top, the lad seems to score a decent amount of goals when he does. At 28, he’s no spring chicken but he could certainly still impact the US National Team for the better. He’s creative, he’s extremely athletic, he’s fit and he’s versatile. Raise you hand if you think he’d make a fantastic spark plug from the bench for Jurgen and Co.

The desire of MLS big-whigs to place another franchise in the New York City mega-market has been an open secret. They’ve been both coy and open about the idea, playing the political middle-ground. On one hand, they desperately want the Cosmos brand back in the world’s biggest city and on the other, they don’t want to alienate the likes of Orland, Miami, and Atlanta who are serious contenders for expansion teams. In comments made yesterday during his annual state of the league address, the commissioner, Don Garber, finally offered a concrete time-table for the Cosmos to make progress on a new stadium and future integration into the MLS. About the possibility of a deal being struck to build a stadium in Queens, Garber was frank:

“If we’re not successful we’ll throw our hands up, and it’ll be far sooner than three years we throw our hands up… then we’d take a step back and see if there’s another market. Three years is too long. I don’t want to put a year limit on it. But if it’s not making progress, the time will come. There’s a lot of activity in other markets.”

He did note that it was worth the tough battle and challenge because, well, it’s New York. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also the most prestigious club brand in North American soccer history that the MLS wants to rejuvenate. So is there any way the league would actually be prepared to move on if this project needs four or even five years to take off? The rumors of a new stadium in Orlando are attractive, but not as attractive as the names the Cosmos have brought into the front office: Pele, Eric Cantona, Shep Messing, Cobi Jones and Carlos Alberto.

Perhaps Garber is a little annoyed, evident by the comments he made about the Cosmos joining the NASL:

“They had a choice to make, vie for an MLS New York City team or go into the second division,” he said about the Cosmos. “They decided to go into the second division.”

It’s hard to know what has been said or done behind closed doors. What we do know is that the city of New York has so far been unwilling to provide funding for a new stadium, leaving the league to foot the bill almost entirely. Keeping that in mind, this seems like more smoke and mirrors from Garber rather than an actual ultimatum. Even so, it could be a kick in the Cosmos backside that may result in them being more aggressive about making a Belmont Park (video above) or Corona Park ground a reality.

Do you believe Garber’s ultimatum? Do you think he’s blowing smoke? Have your say below. 

Mario Balotelli is the best. God knows what’s going on in that noggin of his but I love his crazy and I’m not afraid to say it. The dude is a content and story machine. He never ceases to stay out of the news for some sort of controversial or odd action for too long. On Sunday he was caught making insulting gestures to Inter Milan fans in response to racist chants he received. (We can’t blame him for that.) It resulted in a €10,000 fine. Fast forward an entire 48 hours and the dude is back in the news for non-football reasons. He ordered a life-sized statue of himself to be placed at his Brescia home. The Guardian cited the artist he commissioned for the project as saying,

“I presented several drawings but Mario wanted to be immortalised in a pose that shows him having scored a goal, highlighting his muscles and with an expression of defiance.

“I have imagined him as an athlete from ancient times and the statue will be a mix of classical and pop style in platinum and coloured bronze with the eyes made of stones.”

Speculation is that the Italian striker will be immortalized in the pose he struck after scoring against Germany in last summer’s Euro semi-final.

This is far from being the first odd/weird/wtf statue in the football world. Check out the rest after the jump…

This post has been amended from its original form due to inaccuracies. More information at the bottom. 

Map maker, map maker, make me a map.

Boom. Done.

Above, we present to you what we are calling the Match Fixing Map. It shows all the nations that have had domestic league matches involved in match fixing scandals in the last decade (give or take a year). This doesn’t even include speculated fixes in continental or international matches because, well, that’s tricky to highlight. Hopefully this sheds some light on just how epidemic in stature this problem is.