For many years soccer has been played in different styles, expressions of the personality of each people, and the preservation of that diversity is more necessary today than ever before.”11 It is an evocative sentiment, beautifully expressed, but one that is open to misinterpretation. Across the world, there is a powerful belief that foreigners, outsiders, immigrants, often fail to grasp the intricacies and subtleties present in their new league. In England, this credo finds itself crystallized in the “rainy night at Stoke test”; that is, the belief that certain types of players cannot be
...more
