DuNord Style

I thought I would link to a few good soccer reads I've come across recently. There is a consistent theme in these two articles, why people hate soccer stars. And they are both funny as well.

It is quite obvious that there is a Donovan-hating contigent in the US soccer fan base. I've always contributed this mostly to Donovan being used as the poster boy for American soccer, the Golden Boy if you will, and yet not quite being able to live up to this standard in some people's minds. Also perhaps those who dislike him fail to notice all the positive little things he sometimes does in games, the detailed stuff that more second-hand soccer fans don't see. From a neutral perspective it's clear that Donovan is the best US soccer player, with speed, skill, and vision that have helped him become the leading US goal scorer of all time. Steve Davis analyzes this phenomenon in an article I found linked to from DuNord.

Christiano Ronaldo is probably the best player in the world right now. There must have been an interesting TV piece on Ronaldo to inspire this column, a column that is more entertaining than insightful. If some British people don't really like Ronaldo, perhaps it is due to his pretty-boy image and his past affinity for diving. Anyways this one's pretty good too.