Cultured Football #105

The Striker Who Went From KFC to Serie A. And more.

Apr 01, 2023

By Mark Doyle for Goal

Beto is a player you probably don't know much about at the moment, but will hear a lot of come the summer. The physically imposing striker has been shredding defences in the Serie A despite not playing for a top team. That is temporary, however: by the summer he will probably have his choice of big teams to join. Not bad for someone who had to go work at KFC when he football dream seemed to be petering out.

The point and pointlessness of practising penalties

By Chris Nee for High Protein Beef Paste

There are those who refer to penalty shoot-outs as lotteries. And there are then those who take offence at this, arguing that there is enough data out there to make it more scientific. But what is the reality? When it really matters, does it really matter if you practise them?

Malaga: From Champions League to inescapable nightmare in 10 years

By Andy West for BBC Sport

The arrival of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani was supposed to transform Malaga into challengers for Spanish and European titles. Instead the briefest taste of success has been followed by a decade of carnage. And further relegations seem to lie in wait.

Roman Abramovich secretly bankrolled Dutch football club, leaked documents suggest

By David Conn, Simon Lock and Rob Davies for The Guardian

Where' there’s smoke, there’s fire. For a time, Vitesse Arnhem was the Chelsea reserve team in all but name such was the flow of talent sent on loan from London to Holland. Now it has emerged that this wasn’t simply because the two clubs shared a partnership agreement but because that of Vitesse was also owned (again, in all but name) by the then Chelsea owner.

Three Young Stars in LaLiga You Need to Know About

By Jamie Kemp for The Analyst

Earlier this season, I chanced upon a Celta Vigo game and was mesmerised by their mifielder Gabri Veiga. Unsurprisingly, he makes it onto this list. The other two I will have to check out.

After a bit of a hiatus, the fanzine on German football Halb Vier are back with a special on Berlin. From what they’ve shared on Twitter, it promises to be well worth the wait. Pre-orders of Issue 12 are now available now in print and digital format through their store.

Last Week’s Most Read: NXGN 2023: The 50 best wonderkids in football

By Tom Maston for Goal

In recent weeks, Goal have been going through their past lists of most promising players to identify whether these had managed to fulfill expectations or not. Now they’re back with a new list, that of the young players who will be on everyone’s lips for the coming months as being among the most promising in the world.