Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i Australian FourFourTwo

It’s been a helluva year for Australian football and the rollercoaster ride is far from finished now. But it’s not all doom and gloom... A-League crowd and TV ratings might be disappointing this year – but at the halfway stage, the action is not. Sydney are just sensational to watch... and if they can hold this side together to the end of the calendar year, our prediction of the treble at the start of the season might even be pessimistic. They will go into the Asian Champions League fielding easily the strongest side the A-League has ever offered up to face Asia’s best. Where they end up will be a real test of just how good the A-League can be on the continental stage. If they can sustain their domestic…

“I GET A LOT OF REQUESTS TO SAY IT. I’LL TELL PEOPLE: ‘IF YOU WANT IT FOR YOUR RINGTONE, IT’S STILL AVAILABLE’” Hello Martin. One of your most famous moments was the excellent shouting of “AGUEROOOOO!” How close did you come to screaming out “MOTHER OF CHRIST!”, “BIG KICK IN THE NET!” or something else that was much worse? Hi. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head – I could have really messed it up. It was Aguero’s moment, and I was just lucky enough that I’d been sent to cover that match. So the nice thing about it is that I got the right goalscorer and felt history being made in front of our eyes. Luckily, 30 years of experience helped me, and when I said it,…

THE LEAD UP We didn’t have a good start to the season. At that point, we were still just a newish club and you had that underdog tag. Going into any derby game you always felt like the underdog with something to prove. We got smashed 5-2 in the first derby that season and we always wanted to get one over them after that. THE MATCH I don’t think it was a great game of football but we defended really well. I remember being really compact. I remember that game we were just going in for every challenge and just being really physical. Sometimes those games aren’t the best, but you just have to roll up your sleeves, wait for an opportunity and luckily for us, it came at the…

I knew I made it as a player when my family and I came to Melbourne, leaving London on my 15th birthday. I was a Chelsea fan and dreamed of playing for Chelsea. When we got here I played for South Yarra reserves and then got into the Victorian state team. My first professional contract was when I signed at Ringwood City Wilhelmina and it was $20 for a win, $15 for a draw and $10 for a loss. I couldn’t believe someone was paying me to do something I loved – I actually pinched myself. I was happiest when I spent seven years in the National Soccer League at Heidelberg United with some great names. We won more often than we lost. Somehow I always scored against South Melbourne…

NOVEMBER 2015: Steven Lowy succeeds Frank Lowy as FFA chairman. FIFA begins keeping closer eye on governance in Australia NOVEMBER 2016: FIFA raises concerns over FFA congress. Steven Lowy agrees to deliver reform by March 2017. A-League clubs come together to form APFCA FEBRUARY 2017: David Gallop and Steven Lowy visit FIFA in Zurich to ask for extension to March deadline APRIL 2017: Football NSW declares opposition to FFA’s preferred congress model MAY 2017: A-League clubs walk out on meeting with FFA over new annual distributions JULY 2017: FIFA rejects FFA’s 9:3:1 congress model and sets new November 30 deadline for reform AUGUST 2017: FIFA/AFC delegation visits Sydney and watches on as Steven Lowy intervenes twice OCTOBER 11 2017: FFA calls EGM for November 1 OCTOBER 30 2017: FFV informs…

NWANKWO KANU Only Jermain Defoe (23) has scored more Premier League strikes as a sub than Kanu, whose 17 as a replacement put him level with famous super sub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. VICTOR ANICHEBE More than half of his 204 Premier League matches for Everton, West Brom and Sunderland were as a substitute, and so were more than half his goals. Victor’s 14 strikes put him in the division’s top five. JAVIER HERNANDEZ Chicharito never shook the tag of super sub at Man United – he ended up in the Solskjaer role, scoring 14 times in 54 appearances from the bench, to help the club seal two league crowns. EDIN DZEKO The Bosnian bagged 13 goals in 56 matches as a substitute for Man City – none more significant than…

KEVIN DAVIES “Why do you tackle like that?” Patrice Evra once asked. “Because I don’t like you,” Bolton’s man replied. Few defenders relished facing Davies – Gerard Pique described him as “incredible in the air” after a torrid game against the targetman. DUNCAN FERGUSON If one thing intimidates defenders, it’s a forward who was once put in jail for headbutting a player. That came during Dunc’s time in Scotland, though he did get eight red cards in Premier League games. JOHN HARTSON And something else that intimidates centre-backs is a forward who’s kicked a player in the head. OK, John’s ‘altercation’ with Eyal Berkovic happened during training but he’d be aggressive in Premier League matches. Six red cards are testament to it. ANDY CARROLL You can pretty much hear the…

IAN RUSH Liverpool’s all-time top scorer was past his ’80s goal-mad prime as the Premier League kicked off, but he was still the Reds’ main marksman in 1992-93 and helped to hone a young Robbie Fowler, before bit-part roles while with Leeds and Newcastle United. MARK HUGHES Sparky was also in his pomp a decade earlier, bristling with energy at United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but he didn’t win a great deal domestically until the Premier League’s dawn (picking up two titles). ALAN SMITH That Brummie fella off Sky and FIFA could play too: a threat in the air with good feet for a big lad, he was part of the Gunners’ title-winning teams in 1988-89 and 1990-91. Smith retired in 1995 to grab the mic. TONY COTTEE The pocket…

Ryan Giggs swore by yoga for helping him play until he was 40, but for Petr Cech, an unusual ping pong workout is fending off the effects of Father Time. The 35-year-old recently uploaded a video to his Instagram page showing him catching balls fired at him from close range, dropping them into a box and then touching coloured cones sat on poles either side of him. “I’ve been using a table tennis robot which shoots ping pong balls out,” the keeper told a London newspaper. “You catch them with one hand to give you a completely different hand-eye coordination. When you have both hands facing one football, it becomes easier. He continued: “If you are a pro goalkeeper for 20 years and somebody keeps shooting the ball at you,…

“WHEN THE MATCH FINISHED, I PEGGED IT DOWN THE TUNNEL AND ALL THE ARSENAL PLAYERS CHASED AFTER ME, SO I THOUGHT: ‘SOD THIS’ AND GOT IN THE TOILET” CLUBS 1991-94 Norwich 1994-99 Blackburn 1999-2000 Chelsea 2000-06 Celtic 2006 Birmingham 2006-07 Aston Villa COUNTRY 1997 England MANAGER 2009-10 Lincoln Chris Sutton is midway through his FFT photo shoot at the BT Sport studios in Stratford, when Robbie Savage bursts through the door. “What on earth are you doing popping emoji balloons? Pathetic, pathetic man!” Savage shouts, laughing, before exiting as quickly as he’d arrived. Chris resists the temptation to respond to his fellow pundit, briefly smiling before the stern look returns, and he gets back in character to mercilessly destroy some more balloons. It’s clear from meeting…

“I SCORED A GREAT GOAL AND NETTED IN THE SHOOTOUT. IT WAS THE FIRST TROPHY OF WHAT TURNED INTO A TREBLE” Liverpool 5-0 Fulham October 5, 1993 League Cup “This was my first match at Anfield and I was so nervous. I was a snotty-nosed, skinny kid – to get the call that I would be playing, and then to score five goals, was tremendous. I think only about four or five players in the history of Liverpool have ever managed it. But I didn’t go out and celebrate straight after the match. I just went home and had a Chinese...” Liverpool 3-0 Arsenal August 28, 1994 Premier League “It was the biggest game that changed my life. I was up against David Seaman, Nigel Winterburn, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon…

THEY SAID: “You are the lucky guys who saw the first game,” said Pep Guardiola after Foden’s first senior appearance in July, a pre-season game against city rivals Manchester United. “It’s a long time since I’ve seen something like this, because his performance was another level.” THE STORY SO FAR: Born in 2000, in Stockport, Foden is a City fan who has been with the Blues since he was eight. A playmaker with a wand for a left foot and an eye for a pass, he shot to fame last in October as the linchpin of England’s Under-17 World Cup triumph, scoring twice in the final against Spain and named player of the tournament. He’s played in two Champions League group games this term, being deployed at left wing-back at…

MATEJA KEZMAN 2004-05 Four dynamite campaigns with PSV – including a 35-goal 2002-03 – meant the Serbian was one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, and Mourinho must have thought he had found the perfect Hasselbaink replacement. But he never got going, scoring only four goals for the Blues. HERNAN CRESPO 2003-06 The Argentina legend found the net wherever he went, from River Plate to Parma and Lazio to both Milan clubs. And while he can’t be deemed a complete flop – he played 49 games and scored 20 – once Didier Drogba had really established himself, poor Hernan was considered expendable by Mourinho. KHALID BOULAHROUZ 2006-07 Not your regular No.9: the Dutchman was a defender, but the digit just happened to be going spare after Crespo left. It…

MATT LE TISSIER A Southampton legend, Le Tiss scored exactly 100 goals in the Premier League, but he couldn’t really be described as a striker. The Guernseyman would often operate in an attacking midfield role, making his achievements all the more notable. Only Alan Shearer scored more times in the first two campaigns of the Premier League. Le Tiss netted 15 in 1992-93 and followed it with a career best 25 in ’93-94. ALEXIS SANCHEZ Sanchez briefly played upfront for the Gunners in the first half of last season, but things were going too well so Olivier Giroud was swiftly restored to the line-up. The Chilean netted 24 times last term – comfortably his best haul despite things going all weird at the end of the campaign – but he…

When Alex Ferguson decided to ditch Ruud van Nistelrooy in the summer of 2006, selling him to Real Madrid, the transfer marked a sea change for Premier League strikers. Van Nistelrooy was the classic poacher: a penalty-box predator, not someone who’d necessarily contribute heavily to Manchester United’s build-up play. In fact, he scored only one Premier League goal from outside the box – the third in a 3-1 victory at Charlton in November 2005. In the early years of the Prem, when pretty much every single team deployed two men up top, there were a host of players able to make a living just from scoring tap-ins. However, things started to change: managers moved to having only a solitary forward in attack, particularly after Didier Drogba’s arrival at Chelsea from…

What are they? If you were given a pair of budget supermarket socks by your dear old Nan on Christmas Day (again) then bad luck. Trusox have been designed specifically for football, to prevent your feet from slipping inside your boots while you glide around the pitch. At FFT we need all the help we can get, so we put some on ready for our next game. How do they work? A series of rubber pads run down the back and along the bottom of the socks, gripping onto the inside of the boot and locking your foot in place. Trusox can be worn over the top of your football socks, or just on their own if you’re taking part in a non-contact training session. FFT gave the socks a…

1 “NURSE, I’M HALLUCINATING ABOUT LEV YASHIN AGAIN!” Russia Moscow FFT knew Lev Yashin was great, but we’ve gained a whole new respect for him after seeing FIFA’s official poster for the 2018 World Cup: showing that footballs were the size of huge great wrecking balls back in the USSR. Confusingly, the pitch is tiny and circular – it’s almost as if they were depicting what a match would look like if viewed while on some sort of drugs. Write your own punchline... 2 WHEN TRUMP MET LIAM  Sweden Stockholm From Stan Collymore letting off a fire extinguisher in La Manga back in the day, to the events of Thailand 2015: squad trips abroad have not always gone well for Leicester City. Thankfully it was more peaceful this time: players…

Gruff centre-halves during the ’90s were supposed to run pubs after retiring – not have a boozer named after them. Many ex-stoppers aren’t in with a real chance of leading unfancied Burnley into Europe, though. If Sean Dyche does just that, the local pub has promised to change its name: from The Princess Royal to The Dyche. Originally it’d only offered the Clarets’ manager free shandy. “He said he preferred a pint but he has not been in, so I came up with this,” landlady Justine Lorriman tells FFT. To start off with, the pledge had been a quirky message on an advertising board, but a TV crew “asked him about it”, Justine says. “He joked that if his face was above our door, it’d stop underage drinking.” The pub…

Richard McCormack Sales rep, 41 Craig Burley ’90s midfielder, 46 Q: Who was Chelsea’s first manager in the Premier League? RM: I’ll go with Ian Porterfield – it may be Dave Webb. 3 CB: I think it was Ian Porterfield. 3 1-1 Q: Chelsea reached the 1994 FA Cup Final – which team did they beat in the semi-final? RM: Can’t forget that. We beat Luton 2-0. 3 CB: Luton Town! 3 2-2 Q: From which club did Chelsea sign Gianfranco Zola in November 1996? RM: Definitely Parma. An absolute steal. 3 CB: It was Parma. 3 3-3 Q: What was Chelsea’s highest Premier League finish during the ’90s? RM: I might be being overly optimistic here, but I reckon third? 3 CB: No idea. Fifth? 7 4-3 Fan wins…

When Ciro Immobile was sent off against Torino in December, Lazio’s fans vented their frustration by bombarding a cafe 250 miles away with terrible reviews on TripAdvisor. Cafe Rossetti in Trieste was hit by a sudden spike in reviews branding it a “nightmare”, urging diners to “stay far away”. The reason? The cafe was owned by Piero Giacomelli, the referee who’d given Immobile his marching orders. “The chef decided to send out a meal which was difficult to choke down,” one review complained. “Despite numerous complaints from me and my friends, the chef decided to send us away while still making us pay the large bill. Everything was spoiled by the person unfit to do this job.” None of it actually happened though, and TripAdvisor swiftly removed the bad reviews…

DANNY DE SILVA BREAKS INTO THE SOCCEROOS In 2013, a flashy young kid with bronzed skin and curly brown locks flung himself onto the world stage. It was the U20 World Cup, but he looked like someone’s younger brother. In that tournament with a delightful flick of the toe, 16 year old Danny De Silva became the youngest Aussie to score at an U20 World Cup. Four years on, he now boasts one of the most accomplished technical abilities in the A-League. When De Silva speaks with a West-Australian twang, he’s a kid who grew up on the sun-drenched Perth coast. But when he’s on the pitch, he looks like he spent his youth juggling a ball in a Brazilian favela. He’s a phenomenon who might have played for the…

LUKAS JUTKIEWICZ West Brom’s Markus Rosenberg warned, “I’m not prolific” before going 28 games without a goal but even he can’t match Lukas’ 16 hours and 27 minutes while playing for Everton and Burnley. ERIK MEIJER Liverpool’s ‘Mad Erik’ once said: “They used to call me ‘The Butcher’, as my father worked in a butcher’s.” Fair enough. NILE RANGER The Newcastle striker (left) worried the law but never the scoresheet in his 26 top-flight matches before moving to Swindon in 2013. GRZEGORZ RASIAK “He’s an honest player with a good goalscoring record,” Spurs gaffer Martin Jol said when signing the Pole. But Rasiak failed at Tottenham and also on loan at Bolton. EDER The Portugal forward scored the winner in the Euro 2016 final, but didn’t find the net once…

NIALL QUINN AND KEVIN PHILLIPS The classic little-and-large combo wreaked havoc for Sunderland in 1999-00. Targetman Quinn and finisher Phillips netted 44 during that season. ALAN SHEARER AND CHRIS SUTTON The SAS (left) were formed when Sutton signed for Blackburn in 1994 for $9m, then an English record. In their first year they won the league title – Shearer scoring 34 times, Sutton 15. LUIS SUAREZ AND DANIEL STURRIDGE The pair pinched the SAS nickname for themselves in 2013-14, teaming up to score 52 goals as Liverpool came within a whisker of the title. Suarez scored 31, Sturridge 21. The latter has never been the same since Suarez joined Barcelona. JIMMY FLOYD HASSELBAINK AND EIDUR GUDJOHNSEN Sadly there were no special forces groups called the HAG or GAH, so this…

PAOLO DI CANIO A maverick on the pitch, the Italian was by turns a disgrace (shoving a ref over and admitting he’s a fan of fascism), a gent (winning FIFA’s Fair Play medal) and a genius (his Goal of the Season volley vs Wimbledon in 2000). NICKLAS BENDTNER The Danish international was a rarity: a targetman brought to Arsenal under Arsene Wenger. Nicklas’ eccentricity (frolics with a Baroness, pretending to collect the Ballon d’Or), earned ‘Lord Bendtner’ ironic cult status during his time at the Emirates. EL HADJI DIOUF The Senegalese forward turned out for Liverpool, Bolton, Sunderland and Blackburn, but might be better remembered for his mayhem – including spit spats and a brawl in a Manchester nightclub. MARK VIDUKA The Aussie talisman was an infamous whinger (he allegedly…

“The best passer I’ve played against was Gerrard. He could look up and pick someone out from 60-70 yards – straight to feet” Hi, Yohan. Which midfielders did you admire when you were growing up? I used to love watching Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele play for France, as they were amazing together in midfield and controlled everything. I can remember the 2006 World Cup in Germany – they were fantastic in helping France reach the final. It’s very rare that a country is able to produce two great midfielders in the same generation, but France did it – they complemented each other so well. France have got a wealth of midfield talent at the moment – how do they keep finding so many top midfielders? It’s very hard to…

▲ Football Manager The iconic simulation is celebrating 25 years at the top – here’s to the next 25 years of ace gaming. Cheers! ▲ Valencia Los Che have become Barcelona’s main title rivals after a fantastic first half of 2017-18. ▲ Fabian Delph The midfielder’s made a seamless switch to left-back since filling in for crocked French flier Benjamin Mendy. ▼ Prem wages The average salary for a top-flight footballer has reached $86,000 a week – or $12,344 a day. Somebody give these guys a raise, eh? ▼ Milan The San Siro giants are going backwards this season, handing gaffer Vincenzo Montella his P45 after five defeats in eight league games. ▼ Joey Barton The talkback host is proving to be just as controversial behind the mic as he…

Allan Russell Superior Striker elite striker coach “Movement is very important. Don’t stand in front of the defender – you need to make sure you’re out of their line of sight. It will force them to keep switching between looking at you and where the pass is coming from. When it arrives, give them a nudge to knock them off balance. Then you’ll receive the ball in space, facing goal, rather than shielding it with your back to goal, allowing you to get a shot off.”…

CUSTOMBLACKOUTSUK Bootylicious footwear Love traditional black boots? Ogle at hundreds of slick pairs or get some customised by the blackout gurus. Instagram: @customblackoutsuk DAVID POWDERLY Innovative analysis Technical and tactical expertise from the Charlton Athletic academy coach, who is a dab hand with a drone, too. Twitter: @david_powderly SEAN GARNIER Freestyle champion Watch him make a fool of opponents with mind-boggling tricks and flicks – then try to add them to your game. Twitter: @seanfreestyle…

IVAN CAMPO ‘He was an amazing passer of the ball and controlled the tempo of things on the pitch. He was also an amazing guy for the young lads coming through.’ ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO ‘Even at an older age, he still had the class to win games.’ NICOLAS ANELKA ‘He was the most naturally-gifted footballer I’ve ever played with. He had everything.’ THE GAFFER TONY POPOVIC ‘He’s the best manager I’ve ever had. He’s someone who pushes you to places you have never been before, both physically and mentally.’ THE SUBS 01 HARRY KEWELL 02 LUIS GARCIA 03 LIAM MILLER YOUR NEXT FOURFOURTWO IS ON SALE FEBRUARY 15…