To The Esteemed Readers of Eleven Devils—

As of today, this blog moves to a new home on the World Wide Wires. Henceforth, you can find my very occasional, under-researched, thought-free dribblings regarding the Beautiful Game at this address:

elevendevils.zachdundas.com.

Please excuse the new site's embryonic state. Click to continue reading...

Love it. From the Department of Tactical Innovations, the Rory Delap throw-in:


How long before the US national team adopts this as an attacking technique the American public can embrace. You use your hands! Click to continue reading...

Crickey—this blog is in worse shape than the Republican Party. Aging. Out of touch. And, of course, white. I promise there will be an almighty shake-up soon, and the kind of renaissance it usually takes Harry Redknapp to pull together.

In the meantime, please observe that the Portland Mercury has prepared an excellent rundown of Portland's current standing in the MLS expansion sweepstakes, complete with the requisite vicious stabs at the Scum up north. Click to continue reading...

Zounds. Run of Play has a hot new look. Click to continue reading...

I think it's fair to say that the Spurs/Liverpool match provided it.

How many times can a side hit the woodwork, rip open the defense only to miss by a fraction, or generally boss the whole pitch only to find that a comedic goalkeeper somehow turns back the tide? Only to see an equalizer off the head of its own iconic defender, followed by a final-minute winner from a Russia guy who was basically just standing there? Click to continue reading...

If it seems like a sort of strange time for an exhaustive retrospective defense of the 1994 World Cup, well, it is. And yet behold. Click to continue reading...

Oh, hell yes. Click to continue reading...

In further gripping news, Eleven Devils now has a sibling blog, wherein deep thoughts on non-football-related matters will bandy themselves about. Any linkage, commentary, etc. greatly appreciated. Click to continue reading...

We heard a lot about Joe the Plumber in tonight's presidential debate. I was very disappointed that we didn't hear more about the views and concerns of Chastity the Exotic Dancer, Sierra the Graphic Designer and Trev, the Construction Worker Who Sells A Little Weed on the Side. Soccer fans will no doubt agree that America also needs to consider the relative positions of:

Landon, the Neurotic Striker
Jens, the Psychotic and Unpleasant Goalkeeper
Freddie, the Ghanian-Born Man-Child
Frankie, the Guy Who Dances Like a Fuckface Every Time He Scores
Thierry, the Washed-Up Supermodel
Ronny, the Brazilian Who Resembles a Horse, If You Want to be Unkind
Oguchi, the Guy Who Will Fuck You Up
Luca, the CRAZY ITALIAN! Click to continue reading...

It seems that Major League Soccer—perhaps taking a cue from the McCain campaign and its strange obsession with beauty queens—will pit seven markets against each other for its next two expansion slots. Will there be a talent portion to the competition? From a strictly parochial perspective, the news comes in twos:

1) Portland, in the form of the Portland Timbers, Merritt Paulson and his father, the powerful Commissar of the People's Industries and the New Central Economic Policy, is on the list, and;

2) Portland would seem not to have a chance in Hades, at least this time around. Click to continue reading...

Self-promotional tidbits from the dark interior world of Eleven Devils:

The Editorial We recently wrapped up work on a series of short video documentaries, undertaken with the good people at Good. Theme: "weird sports." You can few the first four outta six clips in hi-rez grandeur here, but for your convenience, let's embed! Click to continue reading...

I have a love/hate relationship with Tottenham Hotspur. Naturally, as a fan of another Premier League team, I'm hono(u)r-bound to loathe them and wish for their eventual relegation to the Arthurian League. (Which is the coolest league, by the way—what do you make of a circuit that includes a club called "Old Haberdashers"? Click to continue reading...

The Goose, noted political scientist, examines the dialectics of Major League Soccer. Click to continue reading...

A promising new series at A More Splendid Life. Click to continue reading...

Here's an interesting idea from UEFA: ban debt-saddled clubs from the Champions League. Do they really have the guts to do it? Not bloody likely, as a pathetic Anglophile (who? me?) might say. While the CL might be more interesting without Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, it would also suffer a catastrophic loss of popularity in the more casual parts* of the global football market. Click to continue reading...