Dummy: Interviews With Smart People About Soccer

New editor Dennie Wendt and founding editor George Quraishi discuss the contents, creative process and—incredibly, and at long last—the completion of Howler 15. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Downie is back to discuss his new book, Doctor Socrates, in more depth.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iceland has been one of the best stories in world soccer over the last few years—a tiny nation that is riding a golden generation to its first ever European Championship and then World Cup in the span of just two years. (We published a big feature on Icelandic soccer by Davis Harper that came out in the first half of 2016—so we were either ahead of the hipsters or super duper hipsters, depending on your point of view.)For this episode, George traveled to Iceland to speak with the technical director and president of the Icelandic FA—plus the president and first lady of the country itself.Next week, Andrew Downie will return to discuss his book Doctor Socrates. Pick up a copy here (Howler gets a small cut when you purchase with this link). And then drop any questions or comments you’d like Andrew to address into this form.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amos Barshad last came on Dummy to discuss his story about a spate of soccer murders in Argentina. Now he's back to talk about his story in last week's New York Times Magazine about the Players' Tribune and where it lives in the modern sports journalism ecosystem.What Happens When Athletes Do the Sports Writing? by Amos BarshadDoctor Socrates is the latest Howler Book Club selection—pick up a copy here (Howler gets a small cut when you purchase with this link). Andrew will be back in about a month for a more expansive conversation about the life of Socrates.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We published a big ol’ package on referees in the latest issue of Howler, and in this episode of Dummy, George speaks with one of the writers about his survey of the academic literature and what it tells us about the psychology of people who are brave enough to become referees. Dive in with us (but not too obviously) to learn more about an under-covered and vital facet of the game.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Downie’s new book Doctor Socrates tells the story of one of the most interesting players in soccer history. Socrates trained as a physician but chose to become a professional footballer, and he was captain of the wonderful Brazil side that was expected to win the 1982 World Cup but fell to Italy, the eventual champion. He was a heavy drinker, smoker, and philanderer who was nonetheless beloved by fans of Botafogo and then Corinthians because of his incomparable abilities as a playmaker and finisher. He also led a movement called Corinthians Democracy that brought a social and political consciousness into the locker room, putting him at odds with the way business was done in Brazilian soccer and eventually with the dictatorship that ran the country. Doctor Socrates is the latest Howler Book Club selection—pick up a copy here (Howler gets a small cut when you purchase with this link). Andrew will be back in about a month for a more expansive conversation about the life of Socrates.Dummy relies on listene

George and Ryan (host of the Dirty Tackle podcast and an occasional writer for the mag) are in London at a big Nike marketing event, and of the many players present—including Alexis Sanchez, Neymar, Christian Pulisic, and Marcus Rashford—they got two very short interviews with Eden Hazard and Tobin Heath. In this episode, a discussion about how commercial events like this one have come to drive so much of the soccer media, a quick look at the very funny piece Ryan wrote for the latest issue of Howler, and, of course, three minutes each with Hazard and Heath.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, George chats with Robert Andrew Powell, who has been writing about Beckham and Miami for Howler for several years. (Read his profile of Beckham’s business partner, the Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure, here.) They discuss the announcement, on Monday, that MLS had accepted the Beckham group’s bid to join the league—outside of the ongoing expansion process. The announcement closely mirrored a similar press conference four years ago: no team name, colors, or locked-down stadium location. What’s new? The addition to the ownership group of the Mas brothers, sons of an iconic Cuban exile who left behind a controversial legacy as one of Miami’s most prominent anti-Castro figures. Read Robert’s latest update for Howler here.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, we hosted a live show with the gentlemen from the Total Soccer Show. Tab Ramos and Alexi Lalas were our special guests, and Brooks Peck of Dirty Tackle made a cameo at the end during the Wikipedia Game.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As president of Soccer United Marketing, Kathy Carter has helped US Soccer earn megaprofits in recent years. Now she is running to be president of the federation. Among the topics she discusses in this episode: potential conflicts of interest (MLS owners also own SUM), how she plans to manage the technical staff, solidarity payments and pro/rel, and why she thinks there are suddenly eight candidates when Gulati ran unopposed in the last three elections.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As chief scout for the USMNT under Bruce Arena, Thomas Rongen was responsible for keeping tabs on potential US internationals, including 18-year-old midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez, who chose this week to represent Mexico instead of the US. In this episode of Dummy, Thomas talks about the process for making contact and building relationships with players who have the option to represent multiple countries, which is something he did during the past year but also as head coach of the US U-20 team from 2006 to 2011. He has helped find and recruit players like John Brooks, Bobby Wood, Julian Green, Mix Diskerud, Terrence Boyd, Jerome Kiesewetter, and others—and his thoughts on why Bobby Wood is still a big part of the national team while Julian Green’s career has stalled are especially interesting.A few notes:-If you think you might like to come to our live event we'll be putting on with the Total Soccer Show on Thursday, January 18th (7pm, Jose Pistolas, Philadelphia), drop your email address here: fifa.wtf/philly2

My scheduled interview fell through, so when my dad stopped by, I made him sit down and answer my questions about how American soccer has changed since he arrived from England in the early 1970s to play college soccer and then in the old NASL. It was a nice reminder that even though we might think we’re in a moment of crisis, things actually seem quite stable and positive to someone who was around back then.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Davis spends 10 hours a week talking in public about American soccer on his Sirius radio show. Now that the field has been narrowed to eight candidates, he and George discuss what could happen, what’s likely to happen, and what they hope will happen. They also discuss what a Wynalda or Carter presidency would mean for Major League Soccer and more broadly for the future of the game in the US.We released the cover of our new issue today. You can save 15% on a subscription (or a gift) with code GIVEAHOWLER at fifa.wtf/gethowler.Support the show for as little as $3 per month and you can send in questions and comments for the new “Ask a Dummy” segment at the end of each episode. fifa.wtf/supportdummy. Thanks!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee decided to ban Russian athletes from participating under their national flag at the 2018 Olympic Games and it banned for life Vitaly Mutko, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversaw the country’s massive, state-run Olympic doping program during the 2014 games in Sochi. Mutko also happens to be the head of Russia’s World Cup organizing committee and a FIFA vice president who sits on the FIFA Council and four other FIFA committees, but there is little chance he will lose any of those positions as a result of this scandal. Here to explain why, and give us more insight into the relationship between Russian sports, politics, and international institutions like FIFA and the IOC, is Manuel Veth, editor-in-chief of futbolgrad.com, who just so happens to have a PhD in the study of Soviet sports.Dummy is listener supported. To help us out for as little as $3 per month, visit fifa.wtf/supportdummy.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, George went down to the Nike Friendlies outside of Bradenton to watch the U-17 U.S. boys lose to the Netherlands by a score of five to one. More successful was the trio of interviews he conducted with people who run various aspects of the USSF’s scouting and development operation. If you want to better understand the current landscape of how our country goes about turning 12 year-old-boys into players for the senior national team, today’s episode is a great place to start. Guests are Aloys Wijnker (director of boys development academy), Tony Lepore (director of talent identification), and Nico Romeijn (director of coaching education).You can become a monthly supporter of the show here. And beginning next week, we will be launching a new segment called Ask a Dummy in which George fields questions and comments from our monthly supporters. Contribute to the show with your thoughts and questions here.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, an uproar by gamers over the new Star Wars video game may have reduced EA Sports’s stock value by $3 billion. The crux of the issue was that in order to unlock certain aspects of the game—characters like Darth Vader, for instance—players would have to spend weeks playing the game or pay thousands of dollars in microtransactions. But microtransactions, also known as “loot boxes,” have been a feature of EA’s FIFA franchise for years, and is credited with boosting the company’s profits by hundreds of millions of dollars. George discusses all of this with Jamin Warren, founder of the excellent video game arts and culture company Kill Screen.You can now support Dummy for as little as $3 per month. Go to fifa.wtf/supportdummy. And thanks!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ken Bensinger of Buzzfeed spent last week in a Brooklyn courtroom observing an absolutely BANANAS case against three senior South American soccer executives who are at the center of the huge FIFA trial. There were tears on the stand. Not one but two death threats IN THE COURTROOM. A suicide in Argentina hours after a huge revelation. And a murder that may be linked to testimony. George and Ken also discuss the possibility that Nike and Fox Sports could become involved as the trial continues.Ken’s Twitter is a great place to go for further reading.Support Dummy at fifa.wtf/supportdummyLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The US men’s national team drew 1–1 with Portugal on Tuesday in the first of many meaningless friendlies in the team’s near future. George and Travis Clark of Top Drawer Soccer discuss some of the young players who are getting their first chances with the national team, including McKennie, Tyler Adams, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Ethan Horvath, Josh Sargent, and (maybe) Jonathan Gonzalez.Thanks to the 29 people who now support Dummy on a monthly basis! If you’d like to join them in supporting the show, please visit fifa.wtf/supportdummy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George speaks with three candidates for U.S. Soccer president—Paul Lapointe, Steve Gans, and Kyle Martino—and dives deep on the answers they supplied to a 13-item questionnaire that we asked all candidates to complete. (We recommend you check that out before listening, but you don’t have to.)Who the Hell Votes in the US Soccer Presidential Election? by Anthony DiCicco Please consider supporting Dummy for less than $1 per episodeLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UCLA law professor Steven Bank is back to discuss today’s hearing in a Brooklyn courtroom as the NASL seeks an injunction against the U.S. Soccer Federation’s decision to re-classify the league as division three. We learned some new things, including details about Soccer United Marketing’s relationship with both MLS and the USSF as well as where the judge might be leaning in this case.Listeners can now support Dummy with as little as $3 per month. If we reach 50 monthly supporters, a generous listener has pledged $1,000 for the year. Help us reach that goal at fifa.wtf/supportdummy.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices