Innehållsförteckning för March 2017 från World Soccer

WAYNE ROONEY Set a new club scoring record for Manchester United with his 250th first-team goal for the side in a 1-1 draw away at Stoke City in the Premier League. MARCO SILVA The credentials of the Portuguese coach were questioned by some English pundits but he led Hull City to a series of impressive results during his first month in charge. LILLE The French club offered women free entry to their Ligue 1 fixture against Lorient after sexist banners were displayed in their game away to Lyon. During Lille’s 2-1 win, two signs were held up in the Parc Olympique Lyonnais home crowd, showing a woman above the word “kitchen” and a man above the word “stadium”. ESSAM EL HADARY At 44 years and two days, Egypt’s goalkeeper became…

Ceferin rings the changes at UEFA Aleksander Ceferin has cracked a joke – which is something of an event. The still-new president of UEFA is perfectly and humanly relaxed off-stage, but placed in front of a camera he displays all the excited animation of a decommissioned Dalek. Hence his humorous aside during a monotone exposition of the decisions of his executive committee passed entirely unnoticed. The European federation’s governing board had agreed a string of reforms which are expected to be approved unanimously by UEFA Congress in Helsinki, Finland, on April 5. These included a decision that all UEFA events and tournaments should be awarded only after a formal bidding process. Ceferin used the word “transparent” but maybe without appreciating that this is taken to mean precisely the opposite. “So,”…

The sinister perils of the “marketing men” I see the UK parliament is getting ready to take over the English Football Association. Something like that. That the FA needs to move – or, by this scenario, to be dragged – into the 21st century is no doubt true. It does not show up at all well when questions are asked about its approach to key modern concerns such as gender and ethnic diversity. A 122-member council, its decision-making body, that has only eight women (that’s 6.5 per cent) and four “minority” members (3.3 per cent)? That has 92 over-60s (75 per cent), that has 12 members over 80? You cannot be serious, as one of those noisy American tennis players used to say. So we can agree it’s definitely time…

Is there something rotten in the state of Italian football? That is the question that will be asked over the next two months by a parliamentary anti-mafia commission looking into the attempted infiltration of organised crime into the domestic game. The commission will hold a series of hearings during February and March with mafia-investigating magistrates from Catania, Naples and Turin, and it will also meet the heads of the Italian Football Federation and football leagues. Furthermore, the Italian Footballers’ Association and the chief of the federation’s own federal court will testify to the commission. This is not new territory for the commission. In July last year, referring essentially to lower-division Italian football, the commission concluded: “The ever greater desire of individuals linked to organised crime to become part of club…

I’ll say it again: Wenger’s time is surely up Arsene Wenger has lately been under substantial pressure as Arsenal have misfired in the Premier League, with dire defeats at home by Watford, who hadn’t won for weeks, and Chelsea, plus a far from convincing home win against a Hull City side who were unlucky to lose. And all that was before the 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich. With Mesut Ozil a fading figure in midfield, it seems a bigger error than ever to allow Jack Wilshere to go out on loan to Bournemouth, where he has received the lavish praise of none other than Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, who would clearly like to buy him. Wilshere is that precious rarity, an Arsenal player who, from boyhood, has been developed…

With 64 goals in 32 games, this was the second-lowest scoring African Nations Cup since the tournament switched to a 16-team format in 2000. Only Mali, in 2002, with its dry, dusty and dreadfully bobbly pitches denied Gabon 2017 top spot. However, that statistic is a very misleading one. After a decade or so of drab football at the Nations Cup – and, indeed, at international tournament finals in general – this felt more progressive and more open, with better football than at any Nations Cup since Ghana 2008, perhaps even before. There was a sense, for the first time in a long time, of an upswing in the quality of the African game. Such assessments are by their nature subjective, and the fact that this latest tournament felt so…

Four months before the start of the World Cup, the front cover of the March 1966 edition of World Soccer featured a picture of England defender Jack Charlton challenging Gil Reece of Wales. Inside, Brian Glanville enthused about the young talent that was emerging in a position that seemed to have changed somewhat in recent years: the traditional centre-forward “Europe now is full of gifted young centre-forwards,” he remarked. “One of the most brilliant of them is, beyond question, Peter Osgood of Chelsea. “A gorgeous mover and a fine ball player, Osgood is barely 19 years old, yet already he has justified most of the things his manager, Tommy Docherty, was saying about him a year ago. “What one admires about him most of all is his absolute self-possession, whether…

MLS T he fact that there are no bigname signings ahead of the new season does not reveal any MLS weakness. In fact, it demonstrates quite the opposite really, as it suggests the league’s clubs are becoming a lot cannier in their player recruitment. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have both gone back to England after short stints in MLS, where neither exactly sparkled last year and their respective sides, Los Angeles Galaxy and New York City, won nothing So maybe a lesson has been learned. Ageing stars – particularly ageing Brits, it seems – are not what MLS needs. And the comparative failure of Lampard and Gerrard stands in stark contrast to the exploits of the less blazoned Nicolas Lodeiro at Seattle Sounders, for example. For Sounders, 2016 had…

Kelly Smith was eight when it became clear she was going to be a special footballer. That was when she was forced out of the boys’ team she played for by parents of their opponents, unhappy at watching a little girl run rings around their embarrassed sons. Other teams refused to play if she was in the side. There have been plenty of opposition bosses since who would have welcomed that option. Smith, who has announced her retirement after a glittering career, went on to become the greatest female footballer England has produced and one of the very best of her generation globally. Between 2006 and 2009 she was voted into the top five in the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award four years in a row, coming…

Burundi P olitics and football are often inseparable in Africa, and this is epitomised as well as anywhere in Burundi, where the controversial born-again Christian president, Pierre Nkurunziza, famously tours the country in style with his veterans’ team, Haleluya FC, as internal strife tears at the land-locked east African state. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians have fled the country as Nkurunziza clings on to power. Yet in spite of everything there is a real depth of footballing talent in the country, according to German coach Michael Weiss, who worked in Burundi in 2016 and previously coached in Rwanda for four years. In economic terms, Rwanda has far outpaced its unsettled neighbour, but Weiss has no doubt which has the better football prospects, stating: “It’s full of talent. Burundi is the…

Flicking back through old editions of World Soccer, it is noticeable how much space was devoted to great names from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The likes of Dynamo Kiev, Steaua Bucharest and Dinamo Tbilisi were rightly feted as powerhouses of the global game in the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s. Yet today those clubs – the ones that still exist, that is – are shadows of their former selves. The consolidation of wealth in the hands of the continent’s Big Five leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) has left clubs in the East with next to nothing. And, as Steve Menary reports (page 46), the gap is getting bigger. These days, an upset in the Champions League occurs when Barcelona are unexpectedly beaten by Paris Saint-Germain,…

ANGEL MARIA VILLAR LLONA The Spaniard was sacked as president of the FIFA Referees’ Committee and replaced by Italian Pierluigi Collina. ISSA HAYATOU The CAF president is seeking re-election (see page 67). DIEGO MARADONA The 56-year-old Argentinian accepted an invitation from FIFA president Gianni Infantino to become an ambassador for the world governing body. According to FIFA, Maradona – who was banned by FIFA after failing a drugs test at the 1994 World Cup – will work on “relevant development projects”. ZVONIMIR BOBAN The Croatian, who is FIFA’s deputy general secretary, distanced himself from Marco Van Basten’s radical proposals for the game, saying: “Marco should have been more cautious in his statements...his ideas and proposed changes were very revolutionary, but it must be made clear these were personal opinions.” CHUNG…

It is hardly a surprise that the stadiums in Manaus, Cuiaba, Brasilia and Natal have been underused since being built for the 2014 World Cup. That was generally expected. But what has come as a shock is the state of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana, where the 2014 Final was played, following its rebuild at a cost to the taxpayer of some £300million. Rather than proving itself to be a sound investment, the famous stadium in the very heartland of Brazilian football stands idle, deteriorating, with its pitch bare and seats missing. Looted by local residents and in the middle of a political battle, the Maracana symbolises so much of what has gone wrong with Brazil’s cycle of megaevents and with the country in general. State auditors found the construction…

GABON Cameroon defy the odds Indomitable Lions triumph to claim fifth title Cameroon are no strangers to the winners’ podium at the African Nations Cup, but they were not supposed to be standing on it at the end of the 2017 tournament. A team in transition and turmoil going into the event emerged out the other end after three weeks as the new African champions, taking the title against all odds and for a fifth time. Their come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Egypt in the Final, in Libreville, was the culmination of a most unlikely march to the crown, with a squad that was mocked as being a “B team” after a vicious cull of key players in the year leading up to the tournament and then the lastminute defection of…

TOP-FLIGHT DEBUTANTS Franck KESSIE Age 20 (19.12.96), Atalanta (Ita) & Ivory Coast In a sentence The box-to-box powerhouse is one of the hottest properties in European football and being chased by virtually every top Premier League outfit, a clutch of Serie A big-hitters, plus Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund. What they say Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini: “As soon as I saw him in action in our pre-season training camp, I was struck by his great qualities. He has been exceptional for us this term.” Cesena director of sport Rino Foschi: “When he was with us, Juventus were always coming to watch. They used to often ask about his character. If I was asked for my opinion, I’d advise him to go to Juve.” “He has been exceptional for us…

African Nations Cup GROUP A Nervous starts from African Nations Cup finals hosts are nothing new and Gabon, by their own admission, were awful in the first half against minnows Guinea- Bissau. It took Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sliding in at the back post to set them on their way to a presumed victory in the opening match in Libreville. But they did not reckon on the newcomers’ plucky determination and Juary rose to head home an equaliser in stoppage time that provided the tournament with a dramatic start. Guinea-Bissau were leading Cameroon at halftime of their next game and threatening more shocks before Sebastien Siani and Michael Ngadeu turned matters around and secured a 2-1 win. Gabon limped along with a 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso, which meant they needed to…

ATLANTA UNITED Coach: Gerardo Martino Main arrivals: Greg Garza (D, Tijuana, Mex), Leandro Gonzalez Pirez (D, Estudiantes, Arg), Michael Parkhurst (D, Columbus Crew), Anton Walkes (D, Tottenham H, Eng), Miguel Almiron (M, Lanus, Arg), Yamil Asad (M, Velez Sarsfield, Arg), Jeff Larentowicz (M, LA Galaxy), Chris McCann (M, Wigan Athletic, Eng), Hector Villalba (M, San Lorenzo, Arg), Kenwyne Jones (F, Cardiff City, Eng), Josef Martinez (F, Torino, Ita), Brandon Vazquez (F, Tijuana, Mex). CHICAGO FIRE Coach: Veljko Paunovic Arrivals: Jorge Rodrigo Bava (G, Atletico Bucaramanga, Col), Juninho (M, Tijuana, Mex), Dax McCarty (M, New York Red Bulls), Nemanja Nikolic (F, Legia Warsaw, Pol). COLORADO RAPIDS Coach: Pablo Mastroeni Arrivals: Bismark Adjei- Boateng (M, Manchester City, Eng), Alan Gordon (F, LA Galaxy). COLUMBUS CREW Coach: Greg Berhalter Arrivals: Jonathan Mensah (D,…

Japan L eague champions, Emperor’s Cup winners and runners-up in the Club World Cup, Kashima Antlers certainly ended last year with a bang. And with the J.League now restored to a conventional, season-long format, this term’s title race is set to be the most intense for years. Having finished 15 points behind Urawa Red Diamonds in 2016’s overall table, Antlers had an extraordinary December, during which they lifted their eighth J.League crown and then beat the champions of Oceania, Africa and South America to become the first Asian side to reach the Club World Cup Final, where two quality strikes from Gaku Shibasaki took Real Madrid to extra time. Shibasaki has since gone on loan to Spanish second-tier side Tenerife in Spain, but Antlers have plenty of other young talent…

3min Renato Cappellini’s cross is met by the head of Sandro Mazzola for Inter but the ball ricochets off keeper Ronnie Simpson to safety. 5min A looping header from Jimmy Johnstone is tipped over the bar by Inter goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti. 7min Cappellini is fouled in the penalty area by Jim Craig. Mazzola despatches the spot-kick. 0-1 11min Bertie Auld breaks through the Inter defence but his shot comes back off the crossbar. 34min A right-foot volley from Tommy Gemmell just inside the penalty area is palmed away by Sarti. 47min Inter scramble the ball away from an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area, but a shot by Gemmell is saved on the line by Sarti. 63min From a pass by Craig on the edge of the penalty area, Gemmell…

Mark Clattenburg hopes to introduce more professional refereeing standards to Saudi Arabia after quitting the Premier League to take up a position with the Middle East federation on a reported tax-free salary of half-a-million pounds. Clattenburg, who took charge of the 2016 Champions League and European Championship Finals, relinquished his role as one of English football’s international officials with immediate effect. “This is an important move forward,” he said. “We have professional referees in the country that I am leaving, which has been a big positive. One thing I’d like to do is work with the refereeing team and the president to make this happen so that it will be successful for many, many years to come.” A controversial figure who took charge of his first league game at the…

Kylian MBAPPE (Monaco) The excitement surrounding the 18-yearold striker continues to grow. In February he hit his first Ligue 1 hat-trick in Monaco’s 5-0 win over Metz as the French league leaders maintained their reputation as the continent’s top-scoring team, having hit a remarkable 75 goals in 25 league matches so far this season. Mbappe become Monaco’s youngest goalscorer last year at the age of 17, breaking a record previously held by Thierry Henry. And the comparisons with Henry intensified when Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted that his attempt to sign Mbappe had been knocked back. Like Henry, Mbappe grew up in the Paris suburbs and is not short on confidence. When celebrating his hat-trick against Metz, television cameras caught the youngster shouting his own name as ran away from…

IN EUROPE Serie A strugglers Palermo made their 11th coaching change in two seasons, hiring Uruguayan DIEGO LOPEZ to replace Eugenio Corini. AIDY BOOTHROYD, who was in charge of England’s last two Euro Under-21 qualifiers, was confirmed as the side’s permanent manager. Former England captain STEVEN GERRARD, who played 710 games for Liverpool before leaving for MLS side LA Galaxy in 2015, returned to the club as a youth coach. Liverpool chief executive IAN AYRE will leave the club at the end of February to join German second-division side 1860 Munich. ASIA ZHANG CHENGDONG moved from Beijing Guoan to Hebei China Fortune for a Chinese domestic record of €20.4million. LUIS MILLA, who guided Spain to the European Under-21 title in 2011, was appointed coach of Indonesia, while German OTTO PFISTER,…

As a rule, 29-year-olds don’t complain that time flies. How do you feel after completing your first year as a coach in the Bundesliga? It’s gone really quickly, the shortest year I’ve ever known. In my daily work, exciting things happen constantly. Issues swiftly crop up and have to be dealt with. There’s no chance of boredom. Has this year changed you as a person ? Whatever I do, I always try to detach myself as an individual from my role. And at the moment, that job is Bundesliga coach. Your profession will influence you a little, though not to a great extent. Are you a different coach compared to how you were in your first year? You are bound to develop. To have new ideas and methods, to refine…

The Confederation of African Football’s long-standing president Issa Hayatou is expected to be handed his eighth term in office and extend his tenure into a fourth decade at the organisation’s congress in Addis Ababa on March 16. Only twice before has the 70-year-old Cameroonian faced a challenge to his presidency and on both occasions his rivals were seen off with consummate ease in one-sided results. He has a new opponent this time, and while Ahmad from Madagascar – who uses just one name – is expected to provide a stiffer challenge, he is not given any realistic chance of winning, despite the high number of new African football associations leaders who have emerged in recent years with little loyalty to the status quo. Ahmad does have the tacit backing of…

Libertadores Cup T he saga of reigning Libertadores champions, Atletico Nacional of Colombia, helps explain why this year’s extended competition will be more unpredictable than ever. Nacional lost players between winning their domestic league title and the start of last year’s Libertadores. They lost players during the six-week pause between quarter and semi-finals. They lost players after they won the trophy. And they have lost some more since the Club World Cup. This constant selling has become the norm – and the price of success – in South American club football. And that is likely to have an even greater impact on this year’s Libertadores, which instead of being squeezed into the opening semester now goes on until the end of November, with the decisive stage taking place after clubs…

HONDURAS J anuary’s Copa Centroamericana win in Panama represented a fourth Central American title for Honduras and a third for coach Jorge Luis Pinto, who led Costa Rica to victory in 2005 and 2013. But after leaving Los Ticos in 2014, it took Pinto some time to find his feet as coach of struggling Honduras. After finishing fifth at the Copa Centroamericana in 2015, his new charges only scraped into that year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup by beating French Guiana 3-0 at home in a play-off after losing the first leg 3-1. Los Catrachos were, however, worthy winners of this year’s regional tournament, even though they were missing some experienced faces due to the competition taking place outside a FIFA international window. After going a goal down against Nicaragua, Pinto’s side…

Republic of Ireland D undalk did Ireland proud last season with their exploits in Europe and they now have their sights set on equalling Shamrock Rovers’ record of four league titles in a row Of last term’s championshipwinning side, Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle have gone to Preston North End, while Ronan Finn and Michael O’Connor joined Shamrock Rovers. But it hasn’t all been one-way traffic and manager Stephen Kenny has been busy in the transfer market. New recruits include Michael Duffy from Celtic, Jamie McGrath and Sean Hoare from St Patrick’s Athletic, Danish-born Niclas Vemmelund from Derry City and former Chelsea and Irish under-21 international Conor Clifford, who arrives from Boreham Wood. Kenny’s side will be helped by a new playing surface at Oriel Park, although once again it…