Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från FourFourTwo UK

“IT SET THE WHEELS IN MOTION FOR CHELSEA TO BECOME THE SUCCESSFUL CLUB THEY ARE TODAY” Charlton 1-0 Everton May 2, 2005 FA Cup final “I’ll never forget the first time I won the FA Cup and lifted the famous trophy. I’d joined Charlton from Birmingham in January 2004 and was a substitute in the FA Cup final later that season as a 17-year-old, when we lost to Arsenal at Loftus Road. Twelve months on we faced Everton in the final at Upton Park, and I scored the only goal of the game just before the hour mark. That was the moment I thought to myself, ‘All right, I can do this, I’m a pretty good player, I can carry a team on my back and win a final’. That…

Shortly before Germany travelled to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, a photographer had a bright idea. Or rather, a totally mental idea. South Africa is usually associated with the wild, so the squad were asked if they wouldn’t mind donning full body paint, pretending to be animals and making themselves look completely ridiculous. Somehow, they agreed, so Miroslav Klose was styled to look like a tiger and midfield master Toni Kroos was given a terrifying makeover as a python – then asked if he’d hold a real one for good measure. Rather you than us, Toni. If that wasn’t enough, Mesut Ozil was transformed into a lion, back-up goalkeeper Rene Adler became an eagle (holding another eagle), while Sami Khedira (bottom left – yes, that is Sami Khedira)…

The shrill blast of a referee’s whistle echoes all around Chile’s Estadio Monumental, signalling the end of a match. The stadium, in the southeastern suburbs of capital Santiago, is less than one-quarter full, as the embers of COVID-19 still flicker. Brazil have just won their seventh straight 2022 World Cup qualifier. Yet after this gritty 1-0 victory in September 2021, Neymar is subjected to the sort of criticism he’s never faced in his career to this point. For the first time, he’s the target of claims that he’s overweight. He reacts the same way he usually does, via social media. “Did we play well? No! Did we win? Yes! So f**k it, we continue,” he wrote. “Note: the jersey was a large, I’m already at my normal weight. Next game…

They were ships passing in the night at England youth level (Jude being two years younger than Brennan), but both Bellingham and Johnson excelled in the EFL and neither has started a major tournament match at any age group. That’s expected to change in Qatar this winter, definitely in the case of England’s Bellingham whose transition from Championship to Bundesliga was more seamless than Johnson’s Premier League graduation. Different leagues, different positions, sure, but 19-year-old Jude already has 17 full international caps to his name, compared to Johnson’s 14. The latter is on a different path, while Bellingham’s trajectory has been vertigo inducing. He’s a generational midfield talent. In terms of Champions League goals scored by a teenager, the Stourbridge starlet has somehow wedged himself in the middle of an…

Where was the ultimate football place to be back in December 2001? The Galactico-era Bernabeu? Highbury under Invincible-building Arsene? Neil Warnock’s Bramall Lane? All good shouts, but the real dream ticket was a gloomy hangar on the outskirts of Rome. Over three intense weeks, two dozen of the world’s greatest footballers arrived to make the most ambitious football commercial ever. Not all at the same time, admittedly, nor did some teams even meet, and at least one player didn’t kick a ball. But where else would you find Patrick Vieira and Ruud van Nistelrooy teaming up, a Rio Ferdinand/Fabio Cannavaro back two or Thierry Henry plotting with Francesco Totti, plus Eric Cantona atop a hot cage roof, loads of freakishly familiar freestylers and a grumpy film director? “It was unprecedented,…

Bolton Wanderers forward Jon Dadi Bodvarsson will be turning out in League One during Qatar 2022, so he will be on the pitch himself while the games are on – which means changing the habit of a lifetime. “It’ll feel weird that the World Cup is going on while I’m still playing football,” the 30-year-old tells FFT. “Since I was a kid, it’s always been a habit of mine to watch the majority of the games, so it’ll be strange to be playing for my club at the same time. I won’t have time to sit back at home for the games as I normally do.” Bodvarsson is one of two players who appeared at the previous World Cup but will be playing in the Football League throughout November and…

In 1971, you became Sir Matt Busby’s final Manchester United signing – what was he like as a person? An absolute gentleman. He knew the game inside out and his manner about the club was unbelievable. He knew everybody from the kit ladies to the groundsmen by their first name and made them feel at home. I came over to Manchester very young from Belfast, felt quite homesick, and Sir Matt and all the staff did everything they could to make me feel better. He led from the very top and it was such a great honour to be signed by him. You made your debut in a 3-3 Manchester derby and even scored: did you ever play in a more exciting game? That was an amazing game, yes, one…

The time is 12.04pm, and Micah Richards is apologising profusely. He really doesn’t need to. Over the years, FourFourTwo has been kept waiting by many a footballer – on one occasion, we sat at a training ground for three hours past the scheduled interview time, most of it spent staring at a door in case our interviewee walked through it at any moment. Today, the delay is a mere four minutes: no drama whatsoever, but enough for Richards to tell us, “I’m never late – I’m so sorry!” We tell him not to worry; after all, he’s a busy man. When he isn’t winding up Roy Keane on Sky Sports, he’s entertaining fans on Match of the Day or Five Live, jetting to Singapore to drive cars around an F1…

01 Rene Higuita, one of the stars of Italia 90 thanks to his eccentric goalkeeping, represented which South American country? 02 Spain and Portugal are sharing a bid to host the 2030 World Cup with which other nation? 03 Which famous actor delivered a jaw-droppingly inspirational speech to Wales’ squad on TV ahead of this year’s World Cup? 04 How many World Cup goals did Wayne Rooney score during his England career? 05 Who collected the Golden Ball for being the best player at the 2018 World Cup? 06 The original World Cup trophy paid tribute to the Frenchman who created the tournament. What was his name? 07 Which ex-Italy shot-stopper is still the oldest person to feature in a World Cup final, at the age of 40 in 1982? 08 Which former Argentina midfield…

What was the first game that you ever attended? It was Merthyr against Chesham in the FA Cup in 1979. We parked near my grandfather’s house, walked down the hill to the ground and heard a cheer. My father said, “We must have scored.” By the time we got in it was 1-1. We lost 3-1, but that didn’t put me off. Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them? Merthyr were one of the best teams in non-league and had a glorious trip into Europe after winning the Welsh Cup in 1987. One of the great players was Kevin Rogers, who went to my school, then played for Aston Villa, Birmingham and Wrexham. He came back to his home town, playing way below his level, and…

What had you done with your life by the time you’d turned 27? Whatever it was, it’s unlikely to have had less material impact on society than the vertiginous art of putting one word in front of another, so you’re already one rung further up the ladder than FourFourTwo. If you’re Joshua Kimmich, however, you’re seven games away from completing the set. This month, Germany’s midfield metronome heads to Qatar desperate to lift the trophy that would mean more than any other in a glittering career comprising seven straight Bundesliga titles, three German Cups and the Champions League. A reminder, he’s 27. For all that domination with the domestic juggernaut that is Bayern Munich, Kimmich is yet to win a major trophy with his country, assuming you’re not counting the…

Herve Renard enjoys a challenge. From coaching Cambridge United in League Two with an English dictionary in his back pocket, to masterminding one of football’s most remarkable underdog stories with Zambia, a sense of adventure and willingness to take risks underpins the Frenchman’s career. At the 2022 World Cup he faces one of his sternest tests yet: ensuring Saudi Arabia return from neighbouring Qatar with national pride intact. “Through qualifying the supporters were saying to me, ‘We have to be at the World Cup’,” Renard tells FourFourTwo. “Now they say they want to be qualified for the second round.” The 54-year-old has barely put a foot wrong since being named Green Falcons manager three years ago. Saudi Arabia topped both their second and third AFC World Cup qualifying groups, defeating…

XI BEST: Michael Cooper, Marc Patterson, Krisztian Timar, Graham Coughlan, Onismor Bhasera, Lilian Nalis, David Friio, Peter Halmosi, Graham Carey, Mickey Evans, Tommy Tynan. WORST: Nicky Hammond, Taribo West, Peter Swan, Robbie Williams, Tafari Moore, Luke Daley, Neil Illman, Richard Flash, Steve MacLean, Sam Shilton, Nadir Ciftci. PLAYER B: Peter Halmosi [right] didn’t play long but he had the most ability with a ball of anyone to ever wear the green shirt. W: Nicky Hammond dropped the ball into his own net twice in three games. It still haunts me. MOMENT B: David Friio’s goal against QPR to secure promotion to the Championship: the culmination of a long slog from the depths of the Football League. We’d watched some utter dross in the preceding years, making that moment extra sweet.…

One of football’s most iconic pictures is of you bandaged and bloodied after England’s 0-0 draw against Sweden in 1989. Are you happy to be remembered for that? I wish I had the rights for that photograph! But I’m certainly not embarrassed by the picture. In fact, I’m proud of it. What I would say is that it’s very much ‘of its time’ because no footballer today would be allowed to finish a game looking like that. You featured in three World Cups for the Three Lions. How do you reflect on that? I’m proud. Only one Englishman has played in more World Cup games than me and that’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton. He’s on 17 and I’m on 14, the most by an outfielder alongside Bobbys Charlton and Moore and…

1 “AND NOW, WE COME TO POT TWO” If his time at UEFA was anything to go by, Gianni Infantino loves a draw ceremony – but his trip to Auckland for the Women’s World Cup event nearly went badly wrong. The ex-Champions League drawmeister has been FIFA president for six years, and jetted Down Under to see the shindig for the 2023 female tournament, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand. Before the draw could take place though, Infantino just happened to be strolling along the riverside in a traditional Maori cloak when he dropped his keys and looked up to see a topless warrior bearing down on him, carrying a spear. OK, not really: he was taking part in a Maori challenge called the Wero, where the…

THE TRIGGER Ireland qualify for the 2002 World Cup and decide to visit the random Pacific Ocean island of Saipan – pretty much halfway between Papua New Guinea and Japan – for their pre-tournament camp. Roy Keane isn’t impressed with the facilities – we’re sure he’ll express his thoughts diplomatically, though. THE FEUD Roy gives a not-massively-diplomatic interview (who could have predicted it?), criticising facilities and the Irish setup’s mentality. McCarthy confronts him in a meeting, and Keane explodes – fitting, given they were on a volcanic archipelago. “You’re a f**king w**ker – the only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you’re the manager of my country, you can stick it up your bollocks,” is Keano’s calm, considered opinion, before McCarthy quickly sends him home. THE…

In an El Salvador radio poll, 60 per cent backed their nation to beat Hungary in their first game of the 1982 World Cup – with hindsight, they were probably a touch over-optimistic. Los Cuscatlecos were making only their second outing at a World Cup – losing all three matches in 1970, having edged past Honduras during qualifying in the tie that sparked the five-day Football War. Twelve years later, El Salvador was engulfed in civil war – it didn’t stop them reaching the 1982 World Cup instead of Mexico, but they disintegrated when they got to Spain. A jet-lagged squad arrived just three days prior to their opening game following a convoluted trip via a friendly against Gremio, then flights to Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Madrid and…

Brennan Johnson has been learning quite a lot lately. The 21-year-old Nottingham Forest frontman has learnt that he can find the back of the net at every level, he has learnt that Premier League defenders are made from a different type of granite, and in recent years he’s learnt the words to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the Welsh national anthem that he will belt out with his team-mates at the World Cup. “Yeah, I’ve given that my best and I think I have the words nailed down,” Johnson tells FourFourTwo. “There are a number of lads in the squad who aren’t ‘full Welsh’, and it is encouraged for us all to take that on, learn the song and be part of our national pride. It’s drummed into you about how…

In the summer of ’86, Diego Maradona captivated global audiences with his spellbinding displays as Argentina were crowned world champions in Mexico. El Diego’s dribbling ability, vision and finishing were matched only by his notorious will to win. The full spectrum of Maradona’s gifts was on display as Argentina beat England 2-1 in the quarter-finals. Prior to scoring one of the greatest solo goals of all time, the captain scored one of the most controversial – an act of deception known as the ‘Hand of God’. But England players and fans weren’t the only ones to be deceived that day – Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser awarded the goal despite Three Lions protests. Thirty-six years on, he has flogged the iconic ball with which the Argentine notched both goals. Ahead…

Such was the lack of interest in Charlton’s clash with Huddersfield on December 21, 1957, BBC programme Sports Special decided at the last minute to scrap their scheduled coverage of the Second Division tie. Freezing cold, soaking wet and with Christmas on the doorstep, fewer than 13,000 supporters made the trip to The Valley. They were rewarded, while the Beeb and fair-weather fans would come to regret their snub. “The match turned out to be the most thrilling game in the history of the Football League,” lamented Kenneth Wolthenholme, the man originally chosen to commentate for Sports Special. “What a game to miss!” The fuse was lit when Charlton defender Derek Ufton dislocated his shoulder in the 21st minute and had to be taken to hospital. Substitutions were still eight…