Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2020 i World Soccer

What are you going to write about, they asked? With no football being played, what on earth will you do? Hopefully, this edition of World Soccer provides some answers. The global pandemic has confirmed that football is so much more than what happens on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon; that nothing exists in a bubble. A lack of football action in Spain has exposed Barcelona’s never-ending crisis (page 32) for all to see. In Brazil, there’s been the chance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country’s 1970 World Cup victory (page 48) and to challenge the many myths that have arisen around that wonderful team. The federation crisis in Trinidad & Tobago (page 70) has served as a reminder that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is not averse to…

AT THE HEART OF THE GAME American sports offer football a way out of this crisis Alan Hansen, the ball-playing defender for Liverpool and Scotland in the 1980s who later became an intelligent pundit on BBC television, always cut to the heart of the matter when he spoke about football. One of his favourite phrases was “speculate to accumulate”. If you wanted glory that was an essential ingredient. Financial outlay was necessary to deliver sporting reward. You could hardly disagree. Money has clearly bought success in football during the past 25 years. Triumph in the Champions League, for example, has been concentrated among the elite, super-rich few. Look at the major European leagues, too. Juventus have been champions of Serie A for eight years running. Bayern Munich have won the…

Dotted around Africa are a host of football academies. Some of these are altruistic, some are exploitative; some are well intentioned, some are starkly naive. And while some can boast of success, many ought to be shut down. But none have made the dramatic impact of Right to Dream, an academy in Ghana that combines the identification and development of young footballing talent with a precious education that is intended not just to create future professionals but also leaders for society. Such has been its success over the last two decades, founder Tom Vernon has been able to engineer a remarkable role reversal that has seen the academy buy a top-flight club in Denmark. FC Nordsjaelland, based some 20km north west of Copenhagen, have for the last five years been…

The last game Michael Robinson went to was at the place where it had all begun and where he had dreamed of playing, with an anthem that penetrated his heart. On that final visit to Liverpool, standing before the Kop and walking through Stanley Park with the television crew that was his own – people he had found, taught and cared for – he told his story like he had told so many others over 30 years. Then he went and watched his team play, listened to by millions back home. His other home. He didn’t see them win that night – Liverpool were beaten by Atletico Madrid – and he knew that he would probably never see the final edition of the interview. It was 18 months since he…

Resolutions made in football-club offices broadly come in two sizes: the hard choice that requires thorough research and debate, and the blatantly obvious decision. Feyenoord’s call to give veteran coach Dick Advocaat a one-year contract extension was firmly of the latter. When Advocaat replaced Jaap Stam in October the Rotterdam club were in poor shape: mid-table in the Eredivisie, dysfunctional in almost every area and with morale at rock bottom following a 4-0 humiliation at the hands of archrivals Ajax. But the 72-year-old quickly refloated a sinking ship, elevating the side from 12th in the table to third. He also steered them to the Dutch Cup Final before the showpiece was scrapped. Advocaat’s numbers as a Feyenoord firefighter this term are quite remarkable, remaining unbeaten in his 14 Eredivisie games…

One of French football’s most abrasive characters, Lyon’s president has come out all guns blazing following the decision of the French Football League (LFP) to prematurely end the current campaign, thereby delivering a fatal blow to his side’s hopes of playing in Europe next season. Their hand forced by a government edict forbidding sporting events before September, the LFP duly opted to base the final Ligue 1 classification – and European qualifying berths – on a points-per-game ratio. Those calculations placed Lyon seventh in the table, a point shy of the continental cutoff mark, with France’s three Europa League places going to third-placed Lille, surprise packet Reims (fourth) and Patrick Vieira’s Nice (fifth). But Aulas argues that justice has not been served. “We have a league table that is not…

AUG 2, 2012 Makes his debut for Heerenveen, against Rapid Bucharest in the Europa League. AUG 10, 2012 Appears in the Eredivisie for the first time, as Heerenveen lose 2-0 to NEC. AUG 10, 2013 Scores his first goal for Heerenveen, in a 2-0 win against NAC Breda. AUG 18, 2014 Joins Twente on a three-year contract. OCT 9, 2015 Wins his first cap for Morocco, in a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast. MAY 27, 2016 Gets his first international goals, scoring both as Morocco beat Congo 2-0. AUG 30, 2016 Signs for Ajax on a five-year deal. SEP 15, 2016 Shown a red card against Panathinaikos in the opening group game of the Europa League. SEP 21, 2016 Get his first goal for Ajax, in a 5-0 win against…

When you look at your career journey from Norway to Italy, Spain, England and China, did playing for Manchester United at 30 ever cross your mind? Never. I’ve been a big fan of Man United since I was young. I never thought at my age I would have the opportunity to play for the club. I’ve heard people say dreams do come true. I’m an example because when you put your trust in God things happen in your life that’s beyond the understanding of any man. Do you still pinch yourself sometimes that you’ve been playing for Manchester United? I do sometimes when I’m in my quiet time, sometimes when I lay on the bed and all alone. I picture my career and how it’s turned out. How the move…

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2009-10 Quarter-finals 1st legs Mar 30 Bayern Munich (Ger) 2 (Ribery 76, Olic 90+2) Manchester United (Eng) 1 (Rooney 2) HT: 0-1. Att: 66,000. Ref: De Bleeckere (Blg) Mar 30 Lyon (Fra) 3 (Lopez 10, pen 77, Michel Bastos 32) Bordeaux (Fra) 1 (Chamakh 14) HT: 2-1. Att: 37,859. Ref: Brych (Ger) Mar 31 Arsenal (Eng) 2 (Walcott 69, Fabregas pen 85) Barcelona (Spa) 2 (Ibrahimovic 46, 59) HT: 0-0. Att: 59,572. Ref: Busacca (Swi) Sent off: Puyol (Barcelona) 84 Mar 31 Internazionale (Ita) 1 (Milito 65) CSKA Moscow (Rus) 0 HT: 0-0. Att: 69,398. Ref: Webb (Eng) 2nd legs Apr 6 Barcelona 4 (Messi 21, 37, 42, 88) Arsenal 1 (Bendtner 18) HT: 3-1. Att: 93,330. Ref: Stark (Ger) Barcelona 6-3 on agg Apr 6 CSKA…

“I’m sorry if I gave the impression I’m not taking coronavirus seriously. The reality is the exact opposite. I’m really worried about the people of Africa as health systems aren’t as good there as they are in Germany”Hertha Berlin’s Salomon Kalou apologises after breaking social distancing rules GERMANY Beckenbauer corruption trial ends without a verdict Franz Beckenbauer’s five-year-long trial for corruption charges ended without a verdict after a statute of limitations expired. The trial, which related to allegations of his involvement as the head of the organising committee in two transactions made to FIFA when the 2006 World Cup was awarded to Germany, was suspended due to coronavirus. The World Cup-winning player and coach was accused of paying former FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar £8.4million before…

“It’s a huge blow to us. We’d all have liked him to stay in charge for the play-off game and keep that continuity”Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis on Michael O’Neill “Football has been paralysed for a while and today it has lost its voice” Jorge Valdano on the death of Michael Robinson PEOPLE ON THE MOVE IN EUROPE BRUNO LABBADIA became Hertha Berlin’s fourth coach of the season, replacing interim boss Alexander Nouri who was in charge of the side for just four Bundesliga games. Bottom of the Premier League, Norwich City agreed a pre-contract deal to sign 23-year-old F91 Dudelange striker DANEL SINANI, who was top scorer this season in Luxembourg’s top flight before its suspension. Manchester City will sign right-back KLUIVERTH AGUILAR from Alianza Lima for £1.5m when…

Football in Latvia was reeling from a whole host of problems even before the impact of the coronavirus began to hammer football across the globe. On the pitch, things are so bad with the national side that Latvian ultras have resorted to throwing shoes onto the field in disgust at a team who failed to win a game in the Nations League and scored just three goals as they lost nine of their 10 European Championship qualifiers. Off the field the problems are even worse, with the Latvian Football Federation (LFF) having around 800 unpaid invoices of €1,000 apiece and a €150,000€ 170,000 severance package owing to Slovenian coach Slavisa Stojanovic, who failed to stem the national team’s slump and was dismissed in February. Domestically, a restructuring of the regional…

Only three players have played more games for Al Ahly but there will be no testimonial-type sent off for the 35-year-old. The versatile full-back – whose 20 major titles include three Africa Cup of Nations crowns, three CAF Champions League winners’ medals and nine Egyptian leagues with Ahly – has made the shock decision to join Pyramids FC at the end of the season. It is the latest instalment in Pyramids’ challenge to a decades-long hegemony in Egyptian football enjoyed by Ahly and their Cairo neighbours Zamalek. Pyramids, who have reached the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals this term, have been shaking up the traditional order thanks to money from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. To entice a player like Fathy is a strong statement of intent for a…

There will be nothing happening, nothing to see and nothing to say, they said. Still less anything for journalists to write about. Not at Barcelona, where even lockdown didn’t stop the show; a bizarre, sometimes surreal soap opera, a crisis unfolding in seemingly endless chapters of intrigue and accusation. Story after story slipped out and almost none of the news on this continuous cycle was good news. At times, it was almost silly. Eventually, even some of the past characters returned, as two old rivals and one even older dived back on the scene. All of which might even make sense, thinking about it. For so long at Barcelona it was the football that protected the club. Without the football, which is now on hold, maybe it was inevitable that…

Can you talk a little about Kosovo’s style of play. You’re not exactly a team that sits back and defends… It’s nothing new for me, that is my match philosophy as a coach, that is my football and it’s the way for me to get the best out of my players. I was a defender but my football has always been positive, very offensive with high pressing and with risk. It’s not about aesthetics, it’s just clear in my mind that it gives me better chances of winning. I observe a lot. I am not young but I am not old fashioned, either. What made you accept the Kosovo job? I studied the potential of the team and it was clear to me they are good football players, typical of…

On April 27, Trinidad & Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace offered what sounded like welcome news to the country’s national coaches. Salaries overdue for some three to four months would finally be paid as FIFA Forward programme funding – due to the twinisland republic since January – was finally on its way. A response came within hours from the “other” head of local football, Robert Hadad, who FIFA had appointed to run its normalisation committee in the country. “We wish to make it abundantly clear that at the present time no other persons are authorised to act on behalf of the TTFA,” said Hadad. Two days later, Wallace fired back: “Having been elected following a democratic election, which incidentally was conducted under the supervision of FIFA and CONCACAF,…

THE INSIDER Football’s impotence Coronavirus has infected much of the planet at a venomous pace. And along the way it has also exposed the impotence of football’s governing bodies when society is in crisis. UEFA has been accused of being slow off the mark as COVID-19 accelerated across Europe. With hindsight, it appears naive merely to have prohibited pre-match handshakes before 90 minutes of physical contact, to permit Atletico Madrid and their fans to fly to Liverpool, and to permit Atalanta to go ahead with their game against Valencia. But no one else knew any better. Consider all the governments that were caught out by the sheer speed of the infectious assault. World football did harbour its own warnings. In February the Asian confederation called an emergency summit as health…

PETER BONETTI (1941-2020) It is unfortunate that Peter Bonetti will be remembered above all for the costly and decisive errors which he made when playing for England in Mexico in the 1970 World Cup. What has largely been overlooked is that he was in an anything but happy and settled state, aware not long before he went on to play in place of Gordon Banks that his marriage was very much under threat. This had produced three daughters and a son, but was by then in a state of disintegration. With his second wife, Kay, he would subsequently have a son. His gifts as a keeper were undeniable and as important a judge as the legendary Brazilian attacker Pele once remarked: “The three greatest goalkeepers I have ever seen are…

How did it all start for you? I was always in love with football and also smart enough to realise I wasn’t any good – a key attribute to go into coaching and scouting early on. I started my coaching badges aged 16, the youngest you could get onto the courses. It was always my passion. Why Africa? Like quite a few Europeans before me who’d seen the potential to take a first step, or get in at a higher level, the African game presented opportunity. I’d been to Africa a couple of times before and loved it and so was looking for an excuse to go back. Ghana hadn’t quite yet announced itself to the world but Tony Yeboah and Abedi Pele had already made an impact. It was…

While John Delaney may have done some good things during his 14-year stint as head of the Football Association of Ireland, there is no doubt that the disgraced CEO left the FAI in a financial mess and a managerial quandary. When Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane quit in November 2018, Delaney turned to former international manager Mick McCarthy and Dundalk boss Stephen Kenny. Delaney handed McCarthy an 18-month contract to take charge of the national team for a second time – having been boss from 1996 until 2002 and the infamous row with Keane in Saipan – with the understanding that Kenny would manage the under-21s and replace McCarthy after the Euro 2020 finals. Kenny first got involved in coaching with St Patrick’s Athletic and was just 26…

Passionate, well-informed scribe. Pioneering player agent. Influential club chairman. All-round African trailblazer. Pape Diouf, who passed away aged 68 after contracting coronavirus, was truly a man for all seasons. A Senegalese national and proud long-time resident of Marseille, he did not have just one sporting life, he had three: a much-respected football journalist with La Marseillaise newspaper; the representative of a string of top African and French players; and a five-year term, from 2004 to 2009, calling the shots at Marseille, first as general manager, then as president. His is an incredibly rich legacy, not least in his ability to prove that minorities do have a place in the upper echelons of the game. He was the first African agent to break big internationally and the first black chairman of…

A beacon of devilishly intuitive impulses and unbridled inventiveness, Moroccan marvel Hakim Ziyech has a property portfolio commensurate with his talent. Due to leave Ajax for Chelsea in July, the 27-year-old recently paid €4.4million for a lakeside villa in the swanky resort of Vinkeveen, 20km south of Amsterdam, and what fun Dutch journalists have had commenting on his sprawling pile. A 10-room palatial pad replete with marbled terraces, boathouse, heated swimming pool and games area, it screams sheer luxury in every corner. In estate-agent parlance, Ziyech’s new waterfront home combines “the best of everything” – four words that very much apply to his own high-roller skill set. His expressive left foot, mesmerising dribbling, 20/20 vision, speed, drive and eye for goal have seen him score 48 times for Ajax over…

Sixty years ago, the first edition of World Soccer carried a two-page spread on what the magazine declared was the greatest game ever played: the 1954 World Cup semifinal between Hungary and Uruguay. Yet it is a match that slipped quickly from the game’s collective memory, rapidly eclipsed by the feats of Brazil, who won their first World Cup in 1958. That inaugural World Soccer had remarkably little to say about the reigning world champions; a team that all these years later still have a claim to be considered the best ever and remain the only South American side to win the trophy in Europe. But that 1958 triumph, in Sweden, came before the age of television – which for much of the planet made its World Cup debut in…

Women’s football is in a holding pattern, concerned the sport could be set back years as the economic consequences of a world shuttered by COVID-19 take hold. With most clubs dependent on the backing of men’s teams, and national programmes reliant on the largesse of male-dominated federations, the crisis presents “an almost existential threat” to the sport according to a report by players union FIFPro, with a risk of “mass unemployment and recession”. FIFA responded by confirming that a $1billion investment during 2019-2022 would continue and said the women’s game would also benefit from measures being planned to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. Specifics were, however, thin on the ground. In the meantime, female players fear being cut adrift, with the focus on reviving the men’s game. Lyon’s Norwegian…

The last nation in Africa to be playing in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, football in Burundi was finally called to a halt in April with 2018 champions Le Messenger four points clear of second-place Musongati with three games left to play. However, the actual reason for the country’s Premier League being stopped remains unclear. With only a handful of COVID-19 cases officially reported in Burundi, and with its borders closed early on, matches initially continued as normal. “They prepared before the games,” explains Constantin Mutuma, who is a Burundian football agent. “People washed their hands and tried to keep at least one metre apart. There were spaces between people in the stands.” With no matches from Europe on television, some local fixtures drew crowds of up to 12,000 and…

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