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. 

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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.

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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 Barshad

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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/philly2018

-Use promo code DUMMYSENTME to get Howler for just $11 per issue (for those in the US, shipping included) here: fifa.wtf/gethowler

-Dummy is listener supported, and you can join in with as little as $3 per month at fifa.wtf/supportdummy

-If you’d like to send in a question for our "Ask a Dummy" segment, you can do so here: fifa.wtf/askadummy

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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.

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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!

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