Tuesday Backpasses: Some Bitter With Your Sweet

Maryam Majd…something witty (or not)

With yesterday in the States having been a celebration of freedom, it seems somewhat fitting to begin the evening with a story about one who has lost hers. Maryam Majd, a photo journalist who was planning to cover the Women’s World Cup this summer, was likely detained by Iranian authorities before she could catch her flight to Germany. She hasn’t been heard from since.

Majd, known to Iranian leaders as being a bit of a rabble rouser for deigning to protest the ban on women from attending a football match in the country, was to have flown to Duesseldorf from Tehran to snap photos and cover the biggest sporting event in women’s football.

Right, that was a bit of a downer, but in this, a Women’s World Cup summer, it is most likely to become a story that picks up steam the closer we get to the end and the longer we move away from the last time someone saw Majd. Sadly, it’s not about bewbs all the time. Back to previously scheduled linking. 

It looks like The Sh*t One is considered just that back in Portugal. [WSC]

They all seem teeny tiny don’t they? The smallest & the tallest in the Copa [Best Eleven]

Making the case that world football just makes sense when a faux-hawked lad is on his game. The case for Neymar. [LBitCR]

Bigger problem in the MLS–poor referee decisions this season or the number of draws each match day? I sense some Old School NASL love in that points recommendation. [NYT Goal]

Speaking of MLS, if you watched last night’s snooze fest between LA & Seattle, you might have noticed those kits. No, not the eye-searingly awful Seattle ones–that new LA 3rd kit. Here’s the runway pick, complete with ABE’s best feature apparently. [LA Soccer News]

And finally, some additional congratulations are in order for blogger The Swiss Ramble. While many of you enjoy his less-than-rambling ramblings on football and finance, so to do the high and mighty.

If you follow his twitter account, you might have noticed he received a big plug by John Henry–yes, the same John Henry who is the figurehead of Liverpool FC’s ownership group. The humble blogger received this message from Mr. Henry earlier in the day:

“@SwissRamble: Consistently remarkable, excellent analyses on the business of football” with a link to his site that was broadcast to the over 1.1 million followers of Mr. Henry’s account. For even further validation of how much Swiss Ramble’s blogging is respected by the Anfield head–he’s only one of 9 people Henry follows on his personal account.

But has that gone to Mr. Ramble’s head? Doesn’t look to be the case, as he spent the entire evening replying to everyone on Twitter that congratulated him for his recognition. And so do we–massive respect to a football blogger who puts out quality footy posts on a regular basis.