Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2015 i FourFourTwo UK

Neymar once told FourFourTwo he wants to be the new David Beckham. He confessed the aim to us during our first interview with him in June 2011, when he was a 19-year-old Santos forward with only three Brazil caps to his name (and three goals, already). At the time he was being compared to everyone from Pele to Romario to Ronaldo, while we billed him as the new Ronaldinho. No pressure, then. Neymar had other ideas, though, claiming the former England captain was his idol. The teenager’s father, who was sat by his side during our chat, even claimed his son copied everything Becks did: “Not just in football, but the image of Beckham.” It was conceivable at the time that Neymar, who had already scored…

1 Old Big ’Ead vs the old ball and chain Behind every good man is a better woman, so the old saying goes, which is probably why Nottingham Forest striker Ian Storey-Moore wanted an easy life when choosing a new club in 1972. “I don’t get involved in Ian’s football at all,” said his wife after she persuaded the goalsmith to reject the advances of Derby manager Brian Clough in favour of Manchester United, “but he clearly wasn’t given the chance to think carefully about his future.” Clough later chuckled: “She should’ve gone into football management.” 2 Batty’s trike trials Owning up to having an injury can be tough, but admitting you knackered your Achilles tendon because your son ran over your foot with his tricycle isn’t something you want…

Thomas Anthony Guerriero is reeling off facts and figures that FFT has long since given up attempting to follow. “We’ve just completed our Masters Degree Program in Sports Management. It’s going to be huge,” says Guerriero on a crystal-clear phone line from Florida – thereby eradicating the possibility that FFT is simply hearing things. “When we have a deal in place with an accredited university and start taking on students, we feel confident that we’ll get around 10,000 students and a tuition fee that’s very fair at $9,900. You’re talking about $99m a year just from one degree program.” Given that Guerriero, the president of Conference North side Oxford City since April 2013, goes on to say the company is planning to roll that out across…

On an elevated platform, with a ball at our feet, surrounded by a sea of expectant Frenchmen, FFT is sweating. We’re at the Foire de Paris, a huge, commercial expo that dates back more than 100 years and annually takes in some 600,000 Parisians hunting bargains, gadgets or beer... and we’re playing Snookball. We’re down to the black: FFT against Aurelien Deshayes, who is, the game’s co-creator Samuel Dreher tells us, “probably the best Snookball player in the world”. Admittedly, this isn’t hard – after all, he invented the ruddy thing. A crowd gathers. It’s our shot. Suddenly, from a neighbouring stall displaying kids’ toys, the Mission: Impossible theme tune kicks in. No pressure then… destined to become the next pub craze, this is it. The…

You’ve just led your team to victory and you feel like Bobby Moore holding the World Cup. All you need is to capture the moment in all its glory. And an HTC Fives tournament was the perfect opportunity to put the HTC One M9’s picture power to the test. This sleek, innovative phone is the official smartphone of the UEFA Champions League – but you don’t have to be a superstar to look good through its lens. The M9 lets you remember all the goals, the bicycle-kicks and the in-off-the-crossbar triumphs (plus the muddy faceplants) in ultra-natural detail with its 20MP main camera – while HTC’s unique UltraPixel tech in the wide-angle front camera lets you take low-light touchline selfies without losing detail… and without using a daft selfie stick.…

HOME KIT 2007-08 This strip was outrageous. It’s not amber and black for a start – that’s what Barnet are known for, if nothing else! That beige colour was last seen on a 1970s’ Ford Cortina. The fit was really baggy, too. The next season’s efforts weren’t any better – they didn’t even have vertical stripes! STYLE RATING HOME KIT 2014-15 This is a much better effort. Anything with stripes automatically gets a decent mark! It’s immense compared to the ’07-08 nightmare. This season we’ve had a different manufacturer, and the quality of the material is much improved. It’s a tighter fit and looks good. Happy days! STYLE RATING…

Hi Ramon. You sound cheerful. I’m always happy, mate! I’ve just come into the office and there are some naughty magazines and doughnuts – it’s fantastic. Living the dream. Talking of which: you used to share a flat with David Ginola, didn’t you? Did he spend the whole time in his pants, flirting with your sister? Pretty much. Our door was always open. We were young, single guys – it was a good time. David was a great flatmate, although he was very, very messy. He never did the washing up or tidied up the place. I bet he stole your yoghurt out of the fridge too, the swine… No, we had our own food. David had his stinky French cheese, and I had my Swiss cheese with holes in…

Tutankhamun’s Pleasurehouse, Egypt “Best holiday ever! Abbey and I enjoyed the zip slide direct to the breakfasting thrones, where Raymond Blanc catapulted tangerine segments into our mouths. And I can’t believe the legroom in the cinema room! “I’m stretching out!” I told Abbey. We both laughed before removing our silk kimonos and making love.” “Yeah, OK, the rooms here are 20,000 sq ft, you get carried round in a sedan chair and it’s the nicest resort I’ve been to so far, but it’s not about that, right? I just want to be at the best hotel that I can possibly be at, and I couldn’t help but think that the other place in the brochure might be better. I ended up forcing Raymond Blanc to wear a Brendan Rodgers mask,…

REAL PLAYERS Pierre van Hooijdonk @pierrevh17 If you are lucky to take it to penalties and you take penalties like electric boogie dance, then you don’t deserve to go through. Mikael Forssell @MikaelForssell Always great to get a selfie with a goat at a parade #goat #selfie Alan Shearer @alanshearer Everyone’s down on poor John Carver but I’ve got a lot to thank him for... he’s making me look like Bob Paisley THE FAKES Brendan Rodgers @DeludedBrendan Always nice to return to Stamford Bridge but I wasn’t expecting a guard of honour. Humbled. Kevin Keegan @GalacticKeegan I can over-react. At City, I saw loads of 1-1-8 adverts around the stadium. “We’ve just given away my formation to the opposition!” I cried. FOURFOURTWO Wilko Wilkes @WilkoWilkes Met Andrea Pirlo in Rome…

HEROES Norberto Mendez (Argentina) The Argentines were incredibly strong at the Copa America during the World Cup-less 1940s, winning three in a row in ’45, ’46 and ’47. Mendez was a member of all three sides and scored 17 goals along the way, a tally yet to be surpassed by any player since. Hugo Sotil (Peru) The 1975 Copa America was played across three months and Sotil’s club, Barcelona, weren’t willing to let him travel back and forth across the Atlantic, so he was only permitted to play in the final against Colombia. He arrived at the stadium as his team-mates were warming up, but still scored the only goal of the game, sealing Peru’s second title. Ivan Cordoba (Colombia) The centre-back led his country to their only Copa America…

FANS GIVE WORLD CHAMPS THE BIRD Having won the World Cup in 1986, Argentina hosted the Copa America 12 months later, with fans getting the chance to pack out stadiums up and down the country in order to support their heroes. But Argentina lost in the semi-finals to Uruguay and the team very quickly came under fire – not even Maradona was safe from the abuse. “The truth is that we are never congratulated for anything, but we faced a bunch of killers that had nothing to do with football; kicking, pushing and wasting time. This tournament leaves nothing to the sport. I should have gone on holiday.” So sobbed Diego after Argentina had lost the third-place play-off to Colombia at a near-empty Monumental. FANS PREVENT BOLIVIA FROM FREEZING As…

GERMANY HOW THEY GOT HERE Germany finished their qualifying group top and unbeaten after eight matches. The only occasions on which they dropped points, in Montenegro and Romania, coach Horst Hrubesch was missing from the bench through illness (his assistant, Thomas Norenberg, stepped in). In the play-offs, Germany beat Ukraine twice, winning 5-0 on aggregate. THE COACH Hrubesch has a superb track record with German youth teams. In 2008, he led a side featuring Omer Toprak and the Bender twins (Lars and Sven) to Euro Under-19 glory; then, 12 months later, he managed Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Mesut Özil & Co. to an U21 triumph in Sweden. PLAYER MOST LIKELY TO… FALL OUT WITH ONE OF HIS TEAMMATES The German national team are no strangers to goalkeeping rivalries, but the…

JOHN HERDMAN NATION CANADA POSITION COACH THE CREATOR SOPHIE SCHMIDT “We have really high hopes for Sophie in this World Cup. She has been threatening to break into the ranks of world-class footballers and we’ve told her that this really is a golden opportunity to show everyone what she’s capable of. She can see a pass and get into the penalty box in the same kind of style as Frank Lampard. She could really step up, and there’s a lot of excitement around her.” THE STAR CHRISTINE SINCLAIR “She’s a superstar over here; she has been one of the leading goalscorers internationally for the last decade and now she’s here playing in a home World Cup. It’s a dream come true for her, especially with the final taking place in…

England’s female footballers want to make history. The Lionesses head to Canada this summer seeking an historic win – an achievement that would eclipse recent milestones and which would provide the perfect ending for all those who have worked hard to see England reach the top. Women’s football is on the rise. In 2012, more than 70,000 fans watched current England skipper Steph Houghton score for Team GB at Wembley. Two years later, England played under the arch in front of 45,619. This year, Wembley hosts the women’s FA Cup for the first time, with many of England’s stars set to feature. Meanwhile, the quality of The FA WSL continues to improve. Better players and coaches, more professionalism and more opportunities to play and watch; the game is in rude…

MASTERCLASS Ryan Bertrand Southampton left-back The Saints and England defender explains how to get the better of every opponent, whatever his attributes. OFF-SEASON James Milner England international The Man City midfielder shares his blow-by-blow guide on how to get ahead of the curve over the summer. NUTRITION Ben Coomber Performance nutritionist Performance-enhancing BBQ recipes this month come with an official thumbs-up from a real authority on nutrition. REHAB Jake Austin England U21s physio As FFT hits the injury comeback trail, the experts at St George’s Park put us through our (extremely painful) paces.…

Jason Puncheon Crystal Palace ace “Sometimes I get in trouble for not staying out wide because I like to come inside and link up the play. The important thing is to be adaptable. You learn to sniff out the space as you gain more experience. It does get harder as the game goes on because the opposition know you’re going to want to cut inside on your left foot. You want to be unpredictable so mix it up. Make the defender think twice about what you’re going to do. Look at what the best players in the world do in your position and try to pick up their good habits. Watch how they read the game and use runners off the ball to create space for them to cut inside.…

“Our head of fitness and conditioning, Ryland Morgans, has made a significant difference to the overall physical side of my game. At first everyone thought he was a bit strict, but you see the results being produced and think: ‘He’s great at what he does because he gets the best out of you’. I try to go in the gym – on top of training – three or four times a week. I might do two leg sessions and a few upper body sessions. The aim is to get stronger so that when I come up against difficult opponents I’ve got enough power in my legs to burst past them. We don’t focus on lifting heavy weights – that doesn’t work for football – but stuff that makes us more…

1 ASSESS THE PROBLEM First stop: the treatment room. England Under-21s physio Jake Austin asks FourFourTwo where it hurts. We drop a medical file heavier than Gandalf’s book of spells at his feet. “Knowing a player’s injury history is a vital piece of the puzzle,” he says. After perusing the notes and conducting a series of tests, Austin takes some snaps of FFT in a variety of athletic positions (not like that) to highlight the weaknesses of our dilapidated body. He then transfers his findings to paper, covering an illustration of the human body in red pen. It looks like it has the plague. 2 CONSULT WITH A LEADING EXPERT Austin passes the results on to Perform’s clinical director, Dr Charlotte Cowie, for further assessment. Before she starts her own…

GK DAVID SEAMAN A really commanding goalkeeper gives you confidence. He called himself ‘Safe Hands’, which says it all! The opposition will always get one chance, but we knew David would be ready. RB GARY NEVILLE Sturdy and consistent, he was the best right-back of the last 15 to 20 years. He was great in the dressing room – a real leader – and that strong character was why he was so successful for so long. CB RIO FERDINAND Arguably the best centre-back of his era, up there with players like Paolo Maldini and Fabio Cannavaro. His positional play was incredible and so was his ability on the ball: he drove into midfield to create. CB SOL CAMPBELL Just an out-and-out beast: not the best on the ball, but few…

FACT FILE Full name Gary Winston Lineker Date of birth 30/11/1960 Place of birth Leicester Height 5ft 9in Position Striker Clubs played for 1978-85 Leicester City 216 games (103 goals); 1985-86 Everton 52 (38); 1986-89 Barcelona 138 (52); 1989-92 Tottenham Hotspur 138 (80); 1992-94 Nagoya Grampus Eight 24 (8) Internationals 1984-92 England 80 (48) Club honours Second Division 1980; Copa del Rey 1988; Cup Winners’ Cup 1989; FA Cup 1991 Individual Footballer of the Year 1986, 1992; World Cup Golden Boot 1986 There are few mugs more recognisable to the people of England - football fans or otherwise - than that of Gary Lineker. Scoring a near-record 48 goals for his country, presenting Match of the Day for 16 years and appearing in more quirky advertisements…

29.33% Win percentage as Middlesbrough boss SHOES #1 On a pre-season youth team tour, he threw up over the shoes of Crystal Palace’s chairman Ron Noades after drinking too much tequila “WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST BELT IT?” Barbara Southgate’s first words to her son after his Euro 96 penalty miss WHAT SOUTHGATE WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR Football career 1% Managerial career 1% Missing a penalty at Euro 96 28% Making a Pizza Hut advert about missing a penalty at Euro 96 70% 66.67% Win percentage as England U21 boss SHOES #2 Future England left-back Chris Powell used to steal his Hush Puppies and pretend to dance like him to the amusement of Eagles players CHICO TIME Went to Hazelwick School in Crawley with the X Factor ‘legend’. £27.50 First weekly…

Words Richard Edwards In fact, the club’s futsal arm, the Oxford City Lions, have been going great guns under Guerriero. They will play in the FA Futsal Cup finals midway through June and finished third in the Midlands regional league to qualify for the FA’s Super League stage, where they have won seven of their first eight games under Spanish coach Enrique Guillen. “We had discussions with a lot of teams higher up in the game, but most didn’t seem to have any comprehension of how to run a profitable business model,” insists Guerriero. “Most teams are in financial ruin and are looking for someone to bail them out. Bailouts don’t work.” It’s a sentiment with which the club’s long-serving chairman Brian Cox (below left) agreed after Guerriero’s arrival in…

On a bright summer’s day in Gothenburg, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is busily eating a toilet. Close by, Dolly Parton juggles laser swords as Sherlock Holmes licks a puddle of vomit. No, this isn’t the opening to some hideous BBC Three sitcom that never was, but the inner workings of Jonas von Essen’s mind – a man who could legitimately claim to be the cleverest bloke on the planet. The 25-year-old is the reigning World Memory Champion having defended his title in China last December, first winning it in 2013. The trainee teacher came through three gruelling days of insanely complicated memory tests, including recalling lists of words, numbers and the exact order of 26 decks of playing cards inside an hour. We can barely remember our own phone number. En route…

Few perils have consumed the foreign footballer’s consciousness like the fabled wet Wednesday night at Stoke. In eight years with the Potters, Mali-born striker Mamady Sidibe overcame such terror easily enough, but there was one struggle he never surmounted in Staffordshire – where to find a decent French pastry. “When I was a kid, my parents would send me off to a patisserie every morning to buy croissants and bread,” pines Sidibe. “In Paris, where I grew up, there’s one on every corner, but not in England.” So, ‘Big Mama’ did something about it. After retiring in February, the 35-year-old opened the Melice patisserie in a Stoke shopping centre with wife Bineta, selling hand-baked baguettes, crepes, macaroons, croissants and other French delicacies. “It’s something we’d been dreaming about doing for…

I knew I’d made it as a player when I made my first professional appearance, in 1981 for Union Magdalena against Atletico Quindio. It was a great game. My career was like a project that came to life one step at a time. It wasn’t easy, but I followed the dream to a very long career. I was happiest in 1989, during Colombia’s play-off with Israel for the following year’s World Cup. We won the home leg in Barranquilla 1-0, followed by a goalless draw in Tel Aviv. The tournament itself was very good to us – we got out of the group with a win against the United Arab Emirates, a draw with Germany and a defeat to Yugoslavia. We played really well and I enjoyed those days the…

HE’S NOT THE MESSIAH... The love and adoration for Lionel Messi from seemingly this whole country, if not the entire world, is starting to drive me insane. Sure, when he was at the peak of his powers, the media’s fawning over his every move was understandable, but that doesn’t mean there should be some sort of taboo when it comes to criticising him. I’ve been especially annoyed while watching a couple of Barcelona’s away trips this season. In one instance, Messi hit a long-range effort wide, which led the commentator to suggest: “You’re surprised when those don’t find the top corner!” Stats show [as FFT goes to press] that Messi had scored only four goals from outside the box in La Liga this season, from nearly 50 shots. Hardly a…

Mexico (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011) In 1993 El Tri joined the US in being the first countries from outside South America to join in the fun. The Mexicans weren’t the politest of guests, however, beating hosts Ecuador en route to the final. They’re yet to win one, though. Ninth time lucky? United States (1993, 1995, 2007) Following their hosting of World Cup 94, the USA headed to the 1995 Copa in Uruguay with a swagger. A 3-0 victory over Argentina in the group stage was followed by a penalty shootout win against Mexico, before, as they had done at the World Cup, Brazil put them out. Costa Rica (1997, 2001, 2004, 2011) Last year’s surprise World Cup quarter-finalists have form at the Copa America, reaching the…

AYA MIYAMA NATION JAPAN POSITION MIDFIELDER CLUB OKAYAMA YUNOGO BELLE CAPS 147 GOALS 36 FIND A SOURCE OF CONFIDENCE In 2011, we didn’t start with much confidence that we could go all the way. But after we beat Germany in the quarter-finals, we started to think we had a great chance. Even when we played the United States in the final, the fact we had beaten Germany – in Germany – really helped. HARNESS TEAM SPIRIT Major tournaments can be draining, but even just looking at the smiles of my team-mates relaxes me. When we’re eating dinner and not training, I enjoy spending time with my team-mates. We relax, have fun; we are like a family, and have shared many great moments. DO IT FOR THE PEOPLE BACK HOME We…

THE RECORD-BREAKER Bradley Wright-Phillips Age 30 Position Striker Club New York Red Bulls “It’s in! Wright-Phillips strikes again!” Those who regularly watched MLS matches last season could be forgiven for thinking they were experiencing deja vu, such was the regularity with which the striker found the net for New York Red Bulls. His 27 goals equalled the MLS regular season record and won him the league’s Golden Boot. For a well-travelled player who, bar a couple of forgettable years at Manchester City, had previously inhabited the Championship and League One exclusively, it has been a particularly vivid late blooming. The path from Brentford’s Griffin Park to the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey is a road less travelled. Indeed, Wright-Phillips’ phenomenal success has prompted cynics to suggest MLS isn’t…

Radja, how do you look back at your most successful season to date? It was full of highlights. Being able to play in the Champions League with Roma was a dream come true. We didn’t survive the group stage against Manchester City and Bayern Munich but we put in some really good performances and can look back with pride. Personally I had a blast. I played six games against some of the world’s best players, did well and stood my ground. I’ve come a long way and worked very hard to get to this stage, so I consider this a personal victory. For a while, it seemed Roma would challenge Juventus for the title, but you fell away after the winter break. What went wrong? We went through a bad…

Take a closer look. Still can’t believe it? Well, that’s the same reaction that fans had while watching Rio Claro face off against against Sao Paulo. It wouldn’t be the first time that supporters cannot comprehend what they’re seeing as they watch a team taking to the pitch with a daring new kit sponsor. But this particular sponsor wasn’t parked on the backs of the players’ shirts, or on the sleeve, or anywhere else you might expect to see it. “At first we thought it wouldn’t make any sense, but then we realised ‘why not?’ and went through with it,” Rio Claro’s marketing director Leandro Fernandes tells FFT. Actually, it makes total sense. The advertising deal was signed with popular Brazilian satirical comedy YouTube channel Porta dos Fundos – which,…

Why all the fuss? Since 1899, when the clubs were founded within three weeks of one another – there’s one-upmanship for you – the ‘Tvillingderbyt’ (Twin Derby) is one of Sweden’s most heated rivalries. Nowadays, Djurgarden and AIK are Stockholm’s most successful clubs, tied on 11 title wins each; neither has won the Allsvenskan since 2009, though. Reasons for aggro Beside geographical proximity and sporting rivalry, class distinction might be a reason for the mutual dislike. While Djurgarden stem from the wealthy borough of Ostermalm, AIK are located in the working-class district of Solna. The enmity is such that the tear-ups even extend to their ice hockey matches. Maddest moment While fans make headlines off the pitch, the Tvillingderbyt of June 2003 will be remembered for its footballing madness. AIK…

LEFT WING Livorno, Italy Cuban flags, calling their team ‘The Union’, ‘happy birthday’ banners for Stalin – Livorno aren’t mucking about. The Italian Communist Party formed in the port city in 1921, fighting Mussolini, and on the terraces Che Guevara’s unshaven mush is waved behind the goalmouth. Meanwhile, one win was dedicated to 400 sacked factory workers. If Livorno moved any further left, they’d be in the Mediterranean. Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel Hapoel’s ultras love holding Marx banners, chanting “workers of the world unite!” and welcoming Arab and Jewish fans alike. Good eggs. St Pauli, Germany The Hamburg-based hipster magnets may do nicely flogging skull-and-crossbones hoodies but they still put their core values first, with tolerance to the fore. They’ve had a gay president, the terraces hold punks, anarchists and…

OLDER PROS SPOT DUMMIES A selection of novice to semi-pro footballers were shown clips of players dribbling towards them, with the better players more successful at guessing which way the opponent would move. When the clip was stopped, the novices invariably picked the wrong direction to tackle. THE MONEY SHOT Scoring a goal is just like winning cash, according to German researchers. Studies of brain activity and reward stimulation revealed that the same neural response occurs whether hitting the jackpot or hitting the back of the net. TOUCH OF CLASS Perfect your first touch if you want to score more. Research into scoring patterns at Euro 2012 found that players who took one touch after the final pass were most likely to score (64 per cent). Taking two or more…

1 Get all up in their grill Don’t give a trickster time to play “As soon as a skilful player receives a pass into feet you want to be there, right on top of them. Don’t give them time or space to run at you and create danger. Make sure it’s you that is dictating where the play goes, rather than them. Nine times out of 10 the tricky wingers are a bit soft, so you want to get in their face as often as possible. Be physical. Putting pressure on them will disrupt their rhythm. You want them to be worrying more about you.” 2 Give speedsters a yard Steer clear of foot races “Quick players are the ones you have to be wary of. When they get the…

MEAT FEAST 1 Whole suckling pig “Argentines love flaming big pieces of meat,” says Fernando Larroude, master griller at legendary restaurant chain Gaucho. “This is where a suckling pig comes in. I recommend doing them over a fire pit, on a stake, for four or five hours. Use hard wood for the best flavour. Don’t wrap the meat in anything, and don’t let the flames touch it. When you’re cooking, baste with chimichurri – an oily dip with parsley, garlic, vinegar, oil and aji molido chilli flakes – or simple provencale: garlic and parsley. It will come easily off the bones after a slow cook.” 2 Chicken “Spatchcock the chicken and do it open on the coal grill. We marinate it with lemon, garlic and parsley.” 3 Ribeye steak “In…

RECOVERY 13.56km Distance covered by Milner during Manchester City’s win against Stoke – the furthest by a single player in the Premier League this season “With the amount of miles you cover in one week during training and games, your body is aching by the end of the season – so it’s nice to have a two–week period where your body settles down.” THE 6-WEEK SCHEDULE “After a fortnight off, your body stiffens up. You have to get out the WD40 and get the body going again.” 1 The number of daily meals Milner has when the season is over “I’m a bit strange during the off-season – I don’t eat much because I enjoy not having to eat. We play so many games that we’re always forcing food down…

1 Journeyman Ben Smith (Biteback, £12.99) Having trained with Dennis Bergkamp as a youth-teamer, Smith tasted the big time but never realised his potential. The playmaker lifts the lid on lower-league life at Hereford, Crawley and beyond, from managers and missed opportunities to contract talks discussed over a pint. Best quote “I told Steve Evans that we had no divine right to beat any team and he eloquently told me to f**k off.” 2 Football Italia Mark Doidge (Bloomsbury, £50) In this part of the Globalizing Sport Studies series of academic books, Doidge – a lecturer at the University of Brighton – assesses the rise and fall of calcio since Italia 90, placed in the country’s social, political and economic contexts. It’s a long read, but a good one. Best…

Phil Murray 31-year-old sales executive John Stones Everton’s Barnsley-born centre-back, 21 Q: How many FA Cup finals have Everton reached as winners or runners-up? PM: Er, don’t know. 13? That’s a total guess. JS: Er, five? No, wait, I thought you just said as winners! I’ll get caned by the gaffer for this. 1-0 Fan Q: As what were Everton Football Club founded back in 1878? PM: St Domingo’s. No problems there. JS: Oh, come on! I have absolutely no idea. Any chance we skip this bit? Or can I have a quick look on my phone? 2-0 Fan Q: Who scored in John Stones’ Everton debut, a 2-1 League Cup win over Stevenage? PM: Fellaini. I don’t know the other. JS: My debut? Oh… Fellaini scored, and… [long pause]…

1 Which was the last country to host the Copa America for the first time in their history? 2 Name the five teams who conceded an own goal at last summer’s World Cup. 3 With which club did departing Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp spend his entire senior playing career? 4 Which team holds the Premier League record for scoring the most goals in a relegation season? 5 Which Scottish league side are based in Coatbridge? 6 Who recorded the most assists in the Championship in 2014-15? 7 Who won the first PFA Players’ Player of the Year award? 8 Which current Premier League player holds the record for having (so far) had the shortest international career for England, in terms of minutes on the pitch? 9 Who were the…

INGREDIENTS 250g of flour, half a litre of milk, four eggs, pre-marinated chicken, tagine sauce, mixed peppers, onion Whisk all of the eggs, then add them to a mixing bowl together with the milk and sieved flour. Mix it all until you have a fine batter. This will be enough to make you 10 crepes. Heat a crepe griddle (or frying pan). Melt a knob of butter on a medium heat, to prevent sticking, and add the mixture. After 30 seconds, lift the base. If golden brown, flip it and cook for 30 seconds. Chop and fry the onion and peppers. Add the chicken and tagine sauce (you can buy both from a supermarket) and stir until cooked. Fold the crepe with the ingredients and serve it while hot.…

I’ve been a devoted subscriber to your magazine for several years, but have always found myself stumped by the Spine Line competition, frequently wondering how on Earth readers can ever crack it. So you can imagine how excited I am to have finally come up with the answer. The teams listed – ‘Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Chelsea, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool… Tottenham?’ [FFT 252] – are those for whom the Premier League’s top goalscorer has played for the last nine years, with Spurs’ Harry Kane, your cover star, possibly taking the prize this year. Lauren McKay, Thurso, Scotland Sergio Aguero may have overtaken Kane for the Golden Boot, Lauren, but you’re absolutely right about our Spine Line. Enjoy the Trusox.…

The disastrous 2002 World Cup wasn’t something Argentina’s fans or players forgot in a hurry. Losing to England, being eliminated at the group stage and – worst of all – watching Brazil lift the trophy for the fifth time made for a pretty traumatic summer. Their first shot at redemption came at the 2004 Copa America in Peru. Marcelo Bielsa was still in charge, but this time he was employing a less robotic formation – one featuring new blood, such as Andres D’Alessandro and Carlos Tevez. The mission was simple: win the Copa America, end the nation’s 11-year trophy drought and give the whole country its mojo back. Their road to the final couldn’t have been smoother: they walloped Ecuador 6-1, Uruguay 4-2 and Colombia 3-0. The only team that…

ALEX SCOTT NATION ENGLAND POSITION DEFENDER CLUB ARSENAL CAPS 106 GOALS 12 Has the introduction of the new Women’s Super League had a big impact on the women’s game in this country? It definitely has. When you talk about professionalism, people think about money, but it’s not about the finances, at least in the women’s game – it’s about setting standards and making sure every girl is training every day and making the most of their potential. It has pushed the game on hugely and you’re seeing that in the title race, which is really close. This will be your third World Cup. What are your memories of 2007 and 2011? Not much was expected of us in 2007; we were all going to our first World Cup and there…

The buzz-saw of Belgium’s midfield, Radja Nainggolan is also kind of a big deal in Indonesia. Son of a Belgian Catholic mother from Antwerp and an Indonesian father of Batak descent, the Roma star’s Indonesian heritage grants him star status in the South East Asian state that, with a population of over 250 million, is the world’s fourth-most populous country. Nainggolan’s father left him and his twin sister when he was a kid, abandoning the family and returning to Indonesia. Nainggolan visited the country for the first time in 2013, and tells FFT: “My father got back in touch and invited me and my twin sister to come and visit him. We decided to give it a go.” But it wasn’t the warmest of homecomings. A special reception in Jakarta…

Besart Berisha Position Striker Age 29 Nationality Albanian Club Melbourne Victory Nutter credentials Horror tackles? Tick. Fighting with team-mates? Tick. Upsetting supporters? Tick, and tick again. Berisha is rarely far from trouble. He was reprimanded earlier this year for grabbing his crotch and flipping the bird at supporters in a Big Blue Derby draw with Sydney FC that ended 3-3, and temporarily shut down his Twitter account to avoid the resulting abuse. The forward has previously invited an opposition player ‘outside’ – with his shirt off, to boot – and he’s even been known to get into fights with his own colleagues: Berisha and James Meyer had to be separated after plenty of finger-jabbing and insult-throwing during a game against the table-topping Central Coast Mariners. And they won that match.…