Platini Played For Kuwait

Christmas is a time for family, friends, food and…the giving and receivng of video games and consoles. In that spirit, for our first podcast of the year, we looked at football in the virtual world and discussed those games, teams and players that have enchanted us in the 2D and 3D realms over the years.

Matt and Marc’s Choices

1. FIFA International Soccer
2. Tommy Svindal Larsen on Championship Manager 97/98
3. Football-endorsed games
4. AS Roma on Championship Manager 01/02
5. The Pro Evolution Soccer Master League team
6. FIFA 10/FIFA 11

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

One of football's most glorious failures? They were certainly a glorious team whichever way you look at it. On this episode, we looked back on that incredible Bayer Leverkusen team that came agonisingly close to a Treble, but came away empty-handed. We were lucky to be joined by Gareth and Joe of The England B Team podcast to talk about a manager that started Leverkusen's late 90s/early 00s rise, the key games around their cruel 2001/2002 season and the characters on the pitch who made this such a great team.

The England B Team's Choices

1. Christophe Daum
2. Michael Ballack
3. Ulf Kirsten

Matt and Marc's Choices

1. Leverkusen's 2002 Champions League Campaign
2. Hamburg 1-1 Leverkusen
3. Hans-Jörg Butt

You can follow the England B Team on Twitter and Instagram at @EnglandBTeamPod. 

You can check out their podcast here:  https://open.spotify.com/show/3xIpLBRIEcL8jhNsusKTqp?si=c0bf05e271a544ec&nd=1&dlsi=3377a65565054fb5 

And check out their YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@EnglandBTeamPod 

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

For this episode we are going green and looking at those clubs who adorn themselves green shirts or house themselves in green stadiums. Joining us to discuss all things green-shirted was Yeovil supporter Alex Ashmore, co-host of the excellent Malaga fan podcast, Guiricast, and currently studying with Real Madrid.

Alex's Choices

1. Yeovil's season in the Championship
2. Celtic 2-1 Barcelona in 2012/2013
3. Betis winning the 2022 Copa del Rey

Matt and Marc's Choices

1. Rapid Vienna's Allianz Stadion
2. Grafite and Dzeko at Wolfsburg
3. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

You can find Alex on Twitter at @AlexHAshmore and on the excellent Guiricast podcast @GuiricastPod

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

Overhad kicks. Scopion kicks. Scissor kicks. We celebrated those goals that have seen players take to the air and soar and score.

Matt's Choices

1. Laurent Robert v Fulham https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GxmOlqwsULc 
2. Wayne Routledge v WBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-RMV5wjaRU
3. Morten Nordstrand v FC Copenhagen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqJ6qvWk91M

Marc's Choices

1. Mauro Bressan v Barcelona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g515yEVE7lU 
2. Wayne Rooney v Manchester City
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZV9UWY5wwY
3. Nguyen Quang Hai v Ceres Negros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ussDB6VQ5pQ

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

For this episode, we discussed the adventures of Welsh clubs in Europe. From the first clubs to venture onto the continent through to some of the most iconic wins in the history of Welsh football.

Matt's Choices

1. Borough United v Sliema Wanderers
2. Barry Town v Porto
3. Swansea City v Malmo

Marc's Choices

1. Bangor City v Napoli
2. Cardiff City v Real Madrid
3. Merthyr Tydfil v Atalanta

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

With the Netlix Beckham documentary being a streaming hit this week, we thought we’d jump on the Beckham bandwagon too and do an episode devoted to one of football’s greatest icons - on and off the pitch. We discussed some of his greatest goals and assists, as well as some of the great shirts he wore on the pitch and how we all came to learn the word ‘metarsal’ because of him.

Matt’s Choices

1. Beckham’s lobbed goal v West Ham in 2002
2. Beckham’s 2006/2007 La Liga winning season
3. LA Galaxy shirts

Marc’s Choices

1. The halfway line goal against Wimbledon
2. Beckham’s metatarsal injury
3. Beckham’s assist to Ronaldo in Copa dely Rey semi-final in 2006

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

On this episode, we looked back at those footballers who have found a final lease life of life in their careers in the most unlikeliest of places. From a 35-year-old going on a 5 trophy haul in the space of 6 months to a French striker going on to be possibly the best striker in the history of Mexican football, these are some of football's best Indian Summers.

Matt's Choices

1. Christophe Dugarry at Birmingham City
2. Clarence Seedorf at Botafogo
3. Andre Gignac at Tigres

Marc's Choices

1. Beppe Bergomi at the 1998 World Cup
2. Gary McAllister at Liverpool
3. Luca Toni at Verona

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

For the first episode after our summer break, we decided to celebrate one of the great teams of the late 90s/early 00s: Valencia CF. We looked back on how Claudio Ranieri kicked things off with the 1999 Copa del Rey winning team, how Héctor Cúper then took them to two consecutive Champions League finals, before Rafa Benitez made Valencia Spanish champions twice in the space of three years, as well as winning the UEFA Cup.

To talk all things 'Los Che', we were delighted to be joined by football writer and podcaster Chris Lee - the host of the excellent Outside Write podcast and author of 'Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World' and 'The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism'.

Chris' choices:

1. Claudio Ranieri and Valencia
2. Champions League final losses in 2000 and 2001
3. Rafa Benitez and Valencia

Matt and Marc's Choices

1. Mestalla
2. Gaizka Mendieta's goal v Atletico Madrid in the 1999 Copa del Rey final
3. Pablo Aimar

You can find Chris and his podcast on Twitter at @OutsideWrite.

You can also find Chris' two books here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Lee/e/B091D5C6LB?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1694447421&sr=8-1 

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

For our final episode before our summer break, we went all reflective and made this episode’s topic a simple one: we looked back out our own 20022/2023 seasons. We looked at some of our highlights and some of the more interesting things we encountered on our football travels  this season - from Kuwait in the Middle-East to Portugal in the very west of Europe,

Matt’s Choices

1. Kevin Medina at Gil Vicente
2. Villarreal CF’s Estadi de la Ceràmica
3.  Pablo Hernández at Castellon

Marc’s Choices

1. Al Arabi 2-2 Salmiya
2. Women’s football at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Emirates Stadium
3. Wales 2-4 Armenia

You can check out Matt's articles about Kevin and Pablo Hernández (plus a couple of other little Málaga bits) here: https://www.otbfootball.net/author/matt-harrison/

You can also find his fundraising page for his camino from Lisbon to San Sebastian here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-harrison-1687092527985?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=one_pa

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig

For our latest club focus, we headed to Brazil and to the big boys of Brazil - to club some consider to have the biggest fanbase in the world: CR Flamengo. We went right back to the origins and their first real superstar all the way up to their recent success; of course we went through their history via some cult heroes, cult games and some of the greatest players of all-time. Joining us to talk all Mengão was football writer and podcast Stephen Brandt, whose latest book, Flamengo: Winning All The Cups, is to be published next month.

Stephen’s choices

1. Manuel Fleitas Solich
2. Zico
3. Santos 5-4 Flamengo July 2011 - Neymar v Ronaldinho

Matt and Marc’s choices

1. Leônidas
2. Dejan Petkovic and other Europeans at Flamengo
3. Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa and recent successes

You can find Stephen on Twitter at @StephenCBrandt.

You can pre-order Stephen’s book Flamengo: Winning All the Cups here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flamengo-Winning-Cups-Stephen-Brandt/dp/1801504539/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=flamengo+winning+all+the+cups&qid=1686770078&sprefix=flamengo+winning%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1 

You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo.

And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait.

If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a friend about us. Also please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

Music: Chimez by Dan Henig