Innehållsförteckning för April 2016 från World Soccer

“He always deployed the same tactics and never took any notice of data analysis. Fortunately, Spaletti is much more open to this sort of thing” Roma president James Pallotta (right) explains why he felt the need to replace coach rudi Garcia with luciano Spaletti early this year Antonio Conte will step down from his position as coach of italy after this summer’s European Championship in France. The 46-year-old former Juventus boss said he missed the day-to-day action of club football and has been heavily linked with the managerial vacancy at Chelsea. “I feel that i must go back to being a coach in a club to have the opportunity of coaching every day,” explained Conte. “At this time, all of our concentration is focused on Euro 2016 where we will…

“If one of my club presidents had said that about me, I would have gone to his house to have it out with him” Ex-Italy striker Christian Vieri (right) takes aim at Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis for claiming his side’s top marksman, Gonzalo Higuain, was overweight In the dog-eat-dog world of modern football, a manager handing in his resignation after a home defeat in the cup to second-tier opponents is nothing unusual. However, Ronnie McFall’s decision to quit Portadown after Lurgan Celtic’s injury-time winner in the Irish Cup quarter-finals brought an end to his remarkable record of 29 years and 76 days in charge of the same club. McFall’s predecessor in the longevity stakes had been Alex Ferguson, whose 26 years in charge of Manchester United he had passed…

“For now, I will not be at PSG next season. But if they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay” Zlatan Ibrahimovic jokes about his future in Paris IN EUROPE RAFA BENITEZ was appointed manager of Newcastle United after they sacked Steve McClaren with 10 Premier League games to go. Former Arsenal and Ivory Coast full-back EMMANUEL EBOUE, who had been without a club since his release by Galatasaray last summer, joined Sunderland. WALTER NOVELLINO became Palermo’s seventh coach of their Serie A campaign, replacing Beppe Iachini, who lasted just three weeks. Ligue 1 strugglers Toulouse named PASCAL DUPRAZ as Dominique Arribage’s replacement after a 2-1 loss to Rennes. JOSE GONZALEZ was appointed coach of La Liga side Granada after Jose Ramon Sandoval was…

In 1960, the late Boca Juniors president Alberto Armando, after whom the world-famous Bombonera stadium is officially named, told Brazilian striker Paulo Valentim upon arrival at the club to “forget about the others, just score against River”. Valentim took note – and no other Boca player has scored more goals against River Plate in the club’s history. This maxim of the need to perform best against the club’s greatest rivals remains true to this day – and this goes as much for the coach as the playing staff. At both Boca and River, seasons are evaluated in absolute terms of success but also in terms of how they fare compared with the club from the other end of the city. Just five games into the new season as coach of…

On Antoine Griezmann’s forearm there is a tattoo in Arabic. It is a quote from a famous French writer who shares a first name with the Atletico Madrid and France striker. Author of world-famous story The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery effortlessly captures life’s awesome wonder. No wonder, then, that Griezmann decided to ink himself with Saint-Exupery’s charming line: “Fais de ta vie un rêve, et fais de ton rêve une réalité”, meaning “make your life a dream, and make your dream a reality”. If that has been Griezmann’s mantra, then so far so good. At the age of 25, most of his dreams have already come true. A leading light in France national coach Didier Deschamps’ squad and a hero in his adopted homeland of Spain, with 1.8million followers…

Facetoface “Sporting dominated in the 1940s and 1950s, Benfica the 1960s and 1970s, Porto since then. Porto’s empire seems to be crumbling. Do you think a new power shift is occurring in Portuguese football? Unfortunately, what you say is true. Sporting had very big teams until the mid sixties. We won seven championships in 10 years, then there was a change and the change was called Eusebio. Porto became very strong in the eighties and remained strong until six or seven years ago. Now we are trying to get Sporting back to the leadership of Portuguese football. And we want to be seen again as a winning team in Europe. But we have to take it step by step, and keep our feet on the ground, and keep focused. It’s…

3 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT CHRISTENSEN • Prior to moving to Gladbach, he played with Chelsea team-mate Eden Hazard, whose younger brother, Thorgan, plays for the German club. • While still at school, he was extensively scouted by the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. • In his adolescent days at Brondby, he mainly played as a striker, proving himself quite a fearsome finisher. Andreas CHRISTENSEN Defender, 19 (10.04.96), Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger, on loan from Chelsea, Eng) & Denmark In a sentence Wonderfully precocious teenager who, since leaving Chelsea last summer for a two-season loan stint with Borussia Monchengladbach, has not only emerged as one of the best centre-backs in the Bundesliga but also looked the part on Champions League battlegrounds. What they say Peter Bonde, former…

Rostov, once the great underdogs of the Russian Premier League, are closing in on their first title, having been saved from relegation last year by Kurban Berdiyev, the coach who once beat Barcelona at Camp Nou. A league victory would mark an extraordinary turnaround in fortunes for the team that is being dubbed, understandably, the Russian Leicester City. After beating CSKA 2-0 at home, Rostov were level on points with the mighty Army team with 10 games to go, but occupied top position thanks to a better head-to-head record, having only lost 1-0 to CSKA in Moscow. Last season Rostov were destroyed 6-0 by CSKA. They also lost 7-3 to Dynamo Moscow and were beaten 5-0 by champions-to-be Zenit. The team were on the verge of quitting the Premier League…

AFRICA CAF SUPER CUP (Champions League holders, TP Mazembe v Confederation Cup holders, Etoile Sahel) Feb 20 - Lubumbashi, DR Congo TP Mazembe (DRC) 2 (Nii Adjei 20, 45+1) Etoile Sahel (Tun) 1 (Msakni 45+3) HT: 2-1. Ref: Nampiandraza (Mad) TP Mazembe: Gbohouo - Chongo, Kimwaki, Coulibaly, Kasusula, Bokadi, Nii Adjei (Singuluma 87), Sinkala, Assale (Meschak 67), Bolingi, Traore (Ulimwengu 78). Etoile Sahel: Mathlouthi - Abderrazak, Jemal, Brigui, Boughattas, Msakni, Ben Amor, Bedoui (Diogo 33), Kom, Lahmar (Drame 65), Akaichi (Tej 85). CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Preliminary round 1st legs - Feb 12-14; 2nd legs - Feb 26-Mar 6 AS Douanes (Sen) v Horoya (Gui) 0-0, 0-4 (agg 0-4); Ashanti Gold (Gha) v MO Bejaia (Alg) 1-0, 1-3 (agg 2-3); Cercle de Joachim (Mrs) v Young Africans (Tan) 0-1, 0-2 (agg…

It’s a funny time of the season for a monthly publication. With the exception of France and Greece, where PSG and Olympiakos have already tied up their respective titles, most European leagues remain delicately poised and hard to call. But there can be no denying the extent of the revival of Borussia Dortmund under Thomas Tuchel (page 70); the exciting developments at Sporting in Portugal (page 56); or the emergence as title contenders of Rostov in Russia (page 88). Similarly, Atletico Madrid’s French youngster Antoine Griezmann (page 46) looks a genuine global star in the making. Until FIFA challenges corruption and mismanagement it will be difficult to deem Infantino’s tenure a success Our deadlines made it difficult to cover the final days of the FIFA election last month, but we…

DWIN VAN DER SAR At the age of 45, the former Holland goalkeeper came out of retirement to play for injury-hit Dutch fourth-tier side Noordwijk. He saved a penalty in their 1-1 draw with Jodan Boys. MARCUS RASHFORD The 18-year-old academy graduate scored twice for Manchester United against Midtjylland after a late call-up for the Europa league tie following a pre-match injury to anthony Martial. the teenager then scored another brace in United’s next match: a 3-2 Premier league win against arsenal  at Old trafford. ADRIANO Scored seven goals in two aFC Champions league games for Seoul. the Brazilian scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win against Sanfrecce Hiroshima and followed that up with four goals in a 6-0 victory over Buriram United. WILLY CABALLERO The Manchester City goalkeeper secured…

“While it’s a difficult one, the Olympic Games are a priority for me. It’s the one title we’ve never one and we’re playing at home” Brazil coach Dunga (left) hints at calling up Neymar for Rio When Roma’s American president James Pallotta landed in Rome recently, there was no doubt that top priority on his busy schedule would concern the club’s ageing icon, Francesco Totti. In essence, what are we going to do with him? Totti will be 40 in September and injury has ruled him out for practically the entire season so far. He has played in just five Serie A games, while a threeminute run-out in the dying moments of a 2-0 loss to Real Madrid was his only Champions League appearance. Has the time come to call…

Wenger should be history by now Once more, after an embarrassing FA Cup defeat by Watford, the cries went up for Arsene Wenger’s departure. There were even reportedly scuffles outside the stadium after the game. My own feeling has been that Wenger should ideally have gone a couple of seasons ago, after a dismal campaign in which the Gunners were heavily defeated by Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool. A disaster which, I wrote at the time, would have had any Serie A manager ejected double quick. In Wenger’s defence, it has to be said the huge cost of the Emirates Stadium seriously limited his freedom in the transfer market, causing the loss of stars such as Robin Van Persie and preventing expensive replacements. Nor can one deny the magnitude of…

Almost a year since one of the region’s most devastating earthquakes, piles of rubble still litter many of the streets of Kathmandu. The fragile buildings in Nepal’s capital were no match for the quake that struck in April 2015, killing more than 8,000 and injuring another 21,000. However, the people are of such strong character in these parts that any visitor would struggle to gauge the difficulty of the rebuilding effort through the smiles on the locals’ faces. The fear returns to the fore, though, whenever an aftershock occurs – such as the one in January which measured 5.8 on the Richter Scale. Football, which so usually provides great joy and escapism from dire straits around the world, is not so easily the go-to distraction here. When asked what effect…

Two incidents highlight the arrogance that still hangs around English football and has prevented the national side from playing to its maximum. The first came at Wembley, in 2011, in Fabio Capello’s second-last game. Facing world champions Spain, the Italian fielded a 4-5-1 with Scott Parker deployed just in front of the back four, and Phil Jones and Frank Lampard used to press from central midfield. The plan worked. Spain never found their rhythm and, while it could be argued they were a little unfortunate, the visitors were beaten 1-0. Capello, however, was condemned by a significant numbers of journalists and fans for having adopted such a negative approach. The second was in Kiev, two years later. Roy Hodgson bounded into the post-match press conference, having seen his side frustrate…

In this issue of World Soccer, Eric Batty reported on the end of an era for two of the game’s most respected coaches. He commented: “Sepp Herberger finally announced his intention to quit international football, and more specifically his job as selector, trainer and manager of the West German national team. “His resignation was no surprise for, before the World Cup in Chile, he had declared that this would be his last tilt at the game’s top honour. “And if the new boss was to consolidate his position and establish a new team ready for 1966, it was clear that ‘Uncle Sepp’ could not hang on too long. “This left Switzerland boss Karl Rappan, the only long-serving manager in the international arena. “But hardly had the Herberger headlines dried before…

“Football-wise it’s not the same without Karim. The goal for the Euros is to have the best team, and for that you need the best players” France coach Didier Deschamps The chances of France’s main striker Karim Benzema playing on home soil at this summer’s Euro finals improved considerably after a court of appeal at Versailles lifted a ban on the 28-year-old having any contact with his international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena. In November last year a judge ruled there should be absolutely no interaction between the two after Benzema became implicated in an attempted “sex tape” blackmailing of Valbuena. The Real Madrid forward was held by police overnight before being officially placed under investigation for “complicity in an attempt to blackmail, and of criminal association with persons preparing to commit…

Just weeks before Nigeria’s crucial African Nations Cup double-header with Egypt, Sunday Oliseh’s short but tempestuous tenure as national coach ended when he resigned, citing “contract violations, unpaid wages and lack of support” as the reason for his departure. The former Borussia Dortmund and Juventus midfielder took over from Stephen Keshi in July 2015 but was soon under pressure after Nigeria failed to get past the group stage at this year’s African Nations Championship in Rwanda. Despite a lack of managerial experience, the eloquent Oliseh’s appointment had been widely applauded in his homeland. A UEFA Pro Licence holder who had impressed with his appearances as a TV pundit in the region, his arrival was greeted on live TV by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick boldly declaring that the…

FRIENDLIES Wednesday, February 17 Feb 17 - Panama City Panama 1 (M Gomez 76) El Salvador 0 HT: 0-0. Ref: Davila (Nic) Panama: A Rodriguez - Patrick, Miller, M Gomez, Escobar, Vargas, Sanchez (Yau 62), Nunez (Gonzalez 62), Cooper (Martinez 78), Macea (Cordoba 57), Clarke (Small 67). El Salvador: Arroyo - Garcia, Romero (J Barahona 82), Flores Jaco (I Barahona 84), Mendoza, Jimenez (Moran 46), Mayen (Lemus 46), Sagastizado (Renderos 46), Rugamas, Ortiz (Dominguez 71), Larin. Sunday, February 21 Feb 21 - Providence Guyana 2 (G Richardson 19, 74) Surinam 0 HT: 1-0. Ref: Johnson (Guy) Guyana: Murray - Austin, Browne, Nelson (Bobb 69), Grant (Manning 46), K Jacobs, Alleyne (Millington 60), Peters (Lanferman 85), Mills (Wilson 60), G Richardson (Lindie 85), Adams. Surinam: Kohinor - Darson, Adenie, Nibte, Kwasie,…

Gianni Infantino has been making headlines all his life. When he was only four days old he was on the front page of a Swiss newspaper because he needed a life-saving transfusion. He says: “I needed a blood transfusion at birth which caused a huge problem. They had to make an appeal to the Red Cross for a match and they found one donor in Belgrade and one in Bristol. It was flown to Zurich and brought by road to Brig. “So, as a baby I had to fight for my life and that saved me. It was the first time I made the front pages.” Not the last, of course. On February 27, the day after Infantino won the FIFA presidential election, Swiss papers blasted “FIFantino” across their front…

Sepp Blatter was paid £2.6million by FIFA last year after the world governing body revealed for the first time the salary and benefits paid to its former president and secretary-general. Blatter, 80, whose worldwide ban from football was recently reduced from eight to six years, was paid a total of 3.63m Swiss Francs in 2015. However, previous years’ payments were not disclosed and it is believed Blatter received a susbstantial bonus following the 2014 World Cup. Former secretary-general Jerome Valcke, who in February was banned from football for 12 years, was paid £1.45m in 2015. It was also announced that the Swiss attorney general has opened criminal proceedings against Valcke. FIFA accounts for 2015 revealed a loss of $122m (£84m).…

“I am so pleased, as my heart is half Russian. I have been in Russia for a long time and I love this country” Lokomotiv Moscow’s brazil-born goalkeeper Guilherme after his first call-up to the Russian national squad 1LIONEL MESSI Barcelona v Arsenal Counter-attacking football at its breathtaking best with Barca’s front three of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Messi all combining at pace, before the Argentinian’s sublime first touch gives him time to finish past Petr Cech. 2 JONATHAN OPOKU VVV v NAC Breda Shows fantastic close skills to chip two defenders and the goalkeeper in this Dutch secondtier game. 3 ROMELU LUKAKU Everton v Chelsea An amazing solo goal, reminiscent of Ricky Villa’s for Tottenham Hotspur in the 1981 Final, helps beat Chelsea in the FA Cup. 4 GIANFRANCO…

THE WORLDWIDE VIEW Let me make yet another attempt to bring IFAB up to date. It has failed to notice that, during the 1982 World Cup, there was a horrendous incident involving German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher who smashed into Patrick Battiston of France, knocking him unconscious and sending him to hospital with a variety of serious injuries. It was, by general agreement, one of the most brutal fouls ever. Yet the referee did not give it. And I am quite certain that the IFAB guys were not paying attention. Had they been, they would surely have felt obliged to react, to instigate a rule change that identified such violence and made sure that it would be harshly punished. It was, by general agreement, one of the most brutal fouls ever.…

At the final whistle, the identical Spanish twins who coach Europa surge out of the technical area at the Victoria Stadium to celebrate a 2-0 victory with their team. The crowd roars, mostly in Spanish, as Dimas and David Carrasco, who wear matching clothes, celebrate. Since being revived, Europa had not beaten opponents Lincoln Red Imps, who have won the last 13 Gibraltarian championships. But for many Gibraltarians, Europa represent all that has gone wrong since the British overseas territory was admitted to UEFA after a long-running membership battle in May 2013. Since then, the tiny enclave with a population of just 30,000 has, at the top end at least, become awash with cash. “Before UEFA, no one was paid,” says Europa president Peter Cabezutto. “They got boots or meals,…

5 OF THE BEST BASE LAYERS UNDER ARMOUR ALTER EGO SS HG COMPRESSION BLACK/TAXI (BATMAN) Cheap and cheerful but surprisingly effective. RRP £30. prodirectsoccer.com £21 Long sleeves add to your comfort zone. prodirectsoccer.com £40 Cool colours – tune in to that Borussia Dortmund look. RRP £35. prodirectsoccer.com £21 Stamina star – run longer with less effort. prodirectsoccer.com £700 Lightweight mobility when you’re throwing yourself into challenges. prodirectsoccer.com £40 Cuts down discomfort. prodirectsoccer.com £90…

Football doesn’t exactly take pride of place in Cuba. At least not as far as the country’s cloistered government is concerned. Baseball and boxing are traditionally the sports of choice in the Caribbean’s most populous nation, the communist country ruled by the Castro family since a revolution in 1959. Beat the Americans at their own game, the mantra seems to have been over the years, according to Cuban soccer expert Mario Lara. But things might be changing as football becomes more popular, particularly among the young. And a recent spate of defections by some of the country’s top players while on US and Canadian soil has provided a window onto the latent talent pool that might be lurking behind the country’s gradually peeling Cold War curtain. “Almost every week I…