1. “Daniel Rodrigo recalled a recent match when the referee asked him before kickoff whether his team had not traveled to the wrong field. During another match, the referee upset the AEM players by regularly referring to them as “las princesas” — the princesses — while he directed play.”

For the New York Times, Raphael Minder tells the story of a girls’ football team that entered a boys’ league in Spain and won.

2. “Owen Hargreaves is clearly a lovely, educated man… he loves football and he loves those who play it well – this is very much a good thing. To be clear, then, the rest of this article comes from a place of love.

“But love can be a rocky road, especially when it is blighted by enough sickly-sweet superlatives to make your teeth turn to dust. Hargreaves, you see, has such a sunny outlook on life that everything he sees is amazing. In small doses, this is adorable; over the course of 90 minutes, it’s enough to drive a person loopy.”

The Independent’s Jack Lang digs up some hard data on Owen Hargreaves’ terrific use of incredible superlatives.

3. “Good,” says Ted, grinning. At that, Buoniconti unleashes a deep sigh, one so operatic that at first it seems involuntary; but later, after spending hours with him, one comes to know it as his fallback signal of dismay and, quite often, a looming explosion. Linda’s head pivots.”

SL Price seeks out a Miami Dolphins legend ‘ravaged by football‘ for Sports Illustrated.

4. “Out on one of the pitches, the team are doing a light recovery session. The rondos are over and the time has come for some shooting practice. Edwin van der Sar is watching from the touchline and the coach leading the forwards is Dennis Bergkamp. One of the players to catch the eye is Justin Kluivert, a young winger who keeps finding the top corner with eerie calm.”

The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg goes to Amsterdam and finds Peter Bosz guiding a Cruyff-ian approach.

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