Innehållsförteckning för July 2016 från World Soccer

GURPREET SINGH SANDHU The Punjab-born goalkeeper became the first Indian to start a league game in a topflight European league – and marked the occasion by keeping a clean sheet as Stabaek beat Start 5-0 in Norway. FRANCESCO TOTTI The 39-year-old Roma forward signed a new 12-month contract with the Serie A club. PELILEO SPORTING CLUB The Ecuadorian third-tier side beat rivals Indi Native 44-1, with winger Ronny Medina scoring 18 goals. The only game to have finished with a higher scoreline was AS Adema’s 149-0 victory over SO I’Emyrne, in Madagascar in 2002, although every goal was scored by the losing side in protest over refereeing decisions. CLAUDIO RANIERI The 64-year-old Italian won the first title of his career – and plenty of new admirers – after guiding Leicester…

Highlights from some of our regular on-line contributions Weekly notes from Brazil, Spain, Germany and Italy at worldsoccer.com “I always get excited ahead of the tournament, even though it might not seem so” Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque COPA AMERICA Perhaps the standout image from the first three days of the Copa came when the whistle blew on Peru’s 1-0 win over Haiti. Deep in second-half stoppage time Haiti won a free-kick. Jeff Louis dinked the ball behind the Peruvian line and sub Kevin Fils Belfort, three yards from goal, looked certain to equalise. But he tried to make a little too sure of beating the keeper and, when it seemed easier to score, he glanced his header just wide. It was Haiti’s best chance of the game. In fact,…

THE INSIDER UEFA contenders line up bids to succeed Platini Ever since he became president of UEFA in 2007, Michel Platini had looked forward to the day when he would sit back in his plush place in the VIP box and lord it over the finals of the European Championship in his native France. It was to be his crowning glory. Instead, Spain’s Angel Maria Villar, a longtime political player but no lover of the highprofile, media-attended foreground, had to step up as an unofficial interim head of the European federation, courtesy of his status as senior vice-president. Villar will be presiding in September, in Athens, when the newly expanded band of European FAs – now standing at 55, after the grudging welcome offered to Kosovo at congress in Budapest…

Having taken part in the third season of the Champions Cup, in 1957, Sevilla have been competing in European competition far longer than most clubs. And it is a pedigree that was, perhaps, overlooked by many observers as they won a third successive Europa League to make it five Europa League/UEFA Cup titles in total. Liverpool brought their own history to the occasion – as well as the emotion generated by the recent vindication of the Hillsborough inquest and the force of nature that is their manager, Jurgen Klopp, who arrived in England seven months ago. Unai Emery’s Sevilla enjoyed a little fortune in the first half, when they might have trailed by two goals rather than one, but they demonstrated enough nerve and confidence in their own game to…

Like a dog tenaciously hanging onto a bone, Pep Guardiola’s critics will never let him forget his failure to deliver the Champions League to Bayern Munich and the three consecutive semi-final defeats. But by no stretch of the imagination was 2015-16 an annus horribilis for Pep and his Allianz-Arena All Stars. For virtually the entire season, Bayern’s panache-laced football was a thing of beauty. And on the home front, they could do no wrong, claiming yet another domestic double and making history as the first German side to win four consecutive Bundesliga titles. The Bayern tale of the top-flight tape says it all. Victorious in 28 of their 34 league games, they lost just twice and set a clutch of new records, including best start to a campaign (10 consecutive…

A jubilant Brian Laudrup of Denmark lifting the European Championship trophy was featured on the cover of World Soccer’s July 1992 edition. The Danes had shocked the football world by winning the tournament despite being late entrants following the withdrawal of Yugoslavia due to political problems. “Rockets crashed and thundered up out of the Ullevi stadium and into the twilight zone as Denmark celebrated a unique victory over Germany’s world champions,” began Keir Radnedge’s report. “But the greater explosion had already been detonated. Euro 92 will not be remembered as a classical feast of football, but it will never be forgotten. “That is all to the credit not of the flawed giants of Germany and Holland, or the selfdeluding also-rans from France and England, but to the nation which, within…

The Chinese Super League has ambitions to be one of the biggest and most important in the world, and the path towards becoming an elite competition was eased in the winter as its clubs spent over £200million on foreign talent. In terms of hiring and firing coaches, the CSL is already starting to be up there with the big boys. One week in June saw Mano Menezes and Vanderlei Luxemburgo, two former Brazil national team coaches, and Dan Petrescu all leave the Middle Kingdom. The season started in March; the firing season in May. Serbian boss Slavisa Stojanovic was let go by Changchun Yatai, and in the same month Alberto Zaccheroni was sacked by Beijing Guoan after just nine games of the season. While there were injuries for Zaccheroni to…

It is not rocket science to observe that European club football is increasingly polarised. This season we have the same champions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. And it is not just the major leagues. Titles have been retained by defending champions in Austria, Greece, Holland, Portugal, Scotland and Switzerland. Not to mention in Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. Basle won their 10th Swiss title in 11 years, Olympiakos their 18th in 20 years in Greece. Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, finished a whopping 31 points ahead of Lyon in France. So in an era where money dominates and titles are so often won by the biggest spenders, it makes the achievement of Leicester City all the more remarkable. In this end-of-season review, we report on…

“At United we’ve missed a manager like Mourinho, with the personality and mindset of a winner” Manchester United keeper David De Gea (left) takes a swipe at outgoing boss Louis Van Gaal To see video footage of these goals, and many more that we have selected, scan the QR code using any free QR reader that can be downloaded to your smartphone. You can also see the videos by logging on to http://po.st/njZBw6 1 JESSE LINGARD Manchester United v Crystal Palace Cracking volley from inside the penalty area to win the FA Cup. 2 RAUL MEIRELES Fenerbahce v Sivasspor Tees the ball up before volleying into the far top corner from outside the penalty area. 3 NOAH SONKO SUNDBERG GIF Sundsvall v Ostersunds Spectacular bicycle kick on the edge of…

THE WORLDWIDE VIEW Latino crowds make Copa a big draw in the US How come the 100th edition of South America’s prestigious tournament ended up being played in North America? We could blame colonialism, I suppose. Colonialism that saddled the continent with only 10 countries – which is not enough for a decent tournament. These days, 16 teams are required, though the World Cup (currently at 32 teams) and the Euros (24) have already soared beyond that measly minimum. Sixteen breaks down neatly into groups of four; you get a first round, quarters, semis and then a Final. That’s 32 games – just about enough to make some money on gate receipts. There are actually 13 countries in South America, but Guyana (which used to be British Guiana), Suriname (former…

THE VOICE OF FOOTBALL More questions than answers for Hodgson ahead of Euro campaign At the press conference which followed England’s insipid display against a 10-man Portugal, Roy Hodgson seemed cheerfully optimistic about his side’s chances in the European Championship this summer. But it was hard to imagine why. His selection in that third and last game before the finals made little sense. After the game, I asked him about the exclusion from the squad of Andros Townsend, to which he simply replied that he could take only 23 players to France. Yet excluding Townsend seemed to fly in the face of logic, not least when it is remembered that it was Hodgson who had always encouraged him at international level. Since Tottenham Hotspur and Mauricio Pochettino let him go,…

Dynamo Moscow, the only side from the capital to compete in every national championship, have been relegated for the first time in their 93-year history. Russia’s oldest football club, Dynamo were controlled by the KGB and were the first Soviet champions, in 1936. However, it is 40 years since they won a league title and next season they will be playing such teams as Sibir Novosibirsk and Tyumen. Under the threat of UEFA fairplay sanctions, the club got rid of several big-name players, with French international Mathieu Valbuena going home to Lyon last summer, and domestic stars Yuri Zhirkov and Aleksandr Kokorin joining Zenit in January. As a result, Dynamo had to turn to a group of 18-year-olds who, although they had topped the reserves’ league, were unable to make…

From Hector Rial’s two goals in 1956, Paco Gento’s extra-time winner in 1958, and Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas’ demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960; to Pedja Mijatovic’s piercing of Juventus in 1998, Zinedine Zidane’s momentous volley in 2002 against Bayer Leverkusen and Sergio Ramos’ late, late leveller in Lisbon in 2014: Real Madrid’s greatest successes have always offered a platform for individual brilliance. And so it was that their recordextending 11th victory in the European Cup/Champions League was secured with Cristiano Ronaldo’s decisive penalty. The experience for the losers, Atletico Madrid, could not have been more bitter, having lost in their two previous Finals in a replay (to Bayern Munich in 1974) and in extra-time (to Real in 2014). This latest failure, in a penalty shoot-out, was even…

Leicester City’s 2015-16 Premier League triumph will be remembered as the greatest underdog victory of English football’s modern era. The 5,000-1 outsiders defied the odds to win the title race by some distance, leaving far wealthier, more accomplished and more experienced sides in their wake. Leicester’s achievement – with a core of players either rejected or overlooked by other clubs – was all the more remarkable given their form of the previous season and the departure of manager Nigel Pearson. At the start of the campaign, Leicester had been many people’s favourites to be relegated. Pearson had been sacked in late June and replaced by Claudio Ranieri, whose most recent employment had been with the Greek national side, where he had been dismissed after four months following a Euro qualifying…

It was fitting that the two most newsworthy moments of the Serie A season finale concerned champions Juventus and Napoli’s Argentinian ace Gonzalo Higuain. While Juve added yet another trophy to their overcrowded sideboard by winning the Italian Cup, Higuain wrote an arguably even more historic page in Italian football history with a hat-rick against Frosinone in Napoli’s last league game of the season. That triple took Higuain’s seasonal tally to 36 and overtook the previous record of Sweden and Milan striker, Gunner Nordhal. In addition, Napoli’s 4-0 defeat of already relegated Frosinone guaranteed the club a place in next season’s Champions League group stage at the expense of third-placed Roma, who will have to undergo the lottery of pre-season qualifying. Higuain’s performances make him arguably the strongest centre-forward to…

In the short-season format, Argentina has seen 11 different champions in the past 10 years and it is roundly agreed that crippling debt has levelled the playing field. And while River Plate and Boca Juniors still culturally dominate coverage of the nation’s number one sport, they no longer transfer that dominance onto the pitch. Of those 11 champions, only Lanus have qualified for international competition every year, allowing the modest club to boast continued high performance levels found at few other clubs. Boca, for example, qualified in just five of those years. Lanus were impressive champions this year in a quick-fire championship designed to facilitate the league’s transition from the aberration of the 30-club division that directors – with the microphone switched off – admit they still fail to fully…

BASED ON NUMBER OF APPEARANCES IN THE ESM TEAM OF THE MONTH HOW IT WORKS Every month, journalists from each member of the European Sports Media group select their first Xl based on the best individual performances from Europe’s top competitions. For details of how each ESM member voted, visit worldsoccer.com/esm11 * Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) and Gianlugi Buffon (Juventus) also had two appearances, but Navas had more individual votes during the season ** Roberto Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Neymar (Barcelona), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) and Paulo Dybala (Juventus) also had two appearances, but Messi had more individual votes during the season ESM – EUROPEAN SPORTS MEDIA The members of ESM are: A Bola (Portugal), Elf (Holland), Fanatik (Turkey), Frankfurter Allegmeine Zeitung (Germany),…

“I was Nigeria’s leader when Stephen Keshi led our team to win AFCON and I testify that we couldn’t have done it without him. Adieu Keshi” Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan (left, with Keshi) Stephen Keshi was always something of a laconic, laid-back figure, a tooth pick or match stick inevitably sticking out the corner of his mouth and a quizzical halfraised eyebrow followed by a smile. But the body language belied a steely determination, a strong will and an intolerance of the fools who sought to stymie his ambitions and plans. Keshi’s primary epitaph is as one of only two men to have won the African Nations Cup as both player and coach, but his achievements also included blazing a trail for African footballers at top clubs in Europe…

“I am only afraid of death” Brazil coach Dunga, when asked if he feared losing his job after his side’s early exit from this year’s Copa America IN EUROPE GIAMPIERO VENTURA stepped down as coach of Torino and will coach Italy at the end of the Euro finals. SINISA MIHAJLOVIC took over at Torino, while Udinese appointed GIUSEPPE IACHINI as Luigi De Canio’s replacement. Out of work since being sacked by Milan at the end of the 2014-15 season, FILIPPO INZAGHI will take charge of Italian third-tier side Venezia next term. JOSE MOURINHO replaced Louis Van Gaal in charge of Manchester United, while RONALD KOEMAN left Southampton after two years to manage Everton. RAFA BENITEZ, who started last season in charge of Real Madrid, agreed a permanent deal to manage…

Fifty years of hurt for Braga ended on a sunbathed afternoon at the Estadio Nacional in the Jamor sports complex, in Oeiras, near Lisbon. Fifty years to the very day. And in a remarkable coincidence, the club won their second Portuguese Cup at the same venue where, exactly half a century earlier, Argentinian forward Miguel Perrichon had netted the only goal against Vitoria Setubal in the 1966 Final. Braga had made it to the Final four times in the intervening years, losing on each occasion, and their fans must have feared the worst as another coincidence seemed to be playing out in Portugal’s season-ending showpiece event. As had happened the previous year, Braga saw a 2-0 lead wiped out. In 2015, it was Sporting who produced the stunning comeback and…

Nobody has done more than Diego Simeone to take Atletico Madrid away from their loser stereotype. Before the Argentinian became coach, they had been a side that always found a way to lose from nowhere, a team that specialised in failure on the biggest stage – particularly when it came to their city rivals, Real Madrid. Simeone has added toughness and organisation, and made them a combative but skilful team. And yet it turns out that, for all his successes, all he has done is to elevate the stage on which they fail. Twice in three seasons they have come desperately close to beating Real in a Champions League Final. And twice they have lost. Two years ago they surrendered an injury-time equaliser; this time they missed a penalty and…

You’ve won four trophies, you’ve smashed all your domestic rivals to smithereens and you’ve romped away with the league title by a frankly ridiculous 31 points, clinching the championship as early as March, with eight games still to play, and on the back of a thumping 9-0 victory over Troyes. It’s got to be all smiles at Paris Saint-Germain, right? Well, not exactly – and that’s the problem when you’re the biggest of big fish in a relatively small pond. PSG’s Qatari owners now appear to see a domestic clean sweep as nothing more than a minimum requirement, a mere stepping stone on the way to the club’s ultimate and often-stated goal of winning the Champions League. And while domestic success is all very nice, it does seem to be…

The Spanish season didn’t go right down to the wire, but almost. At half-time on the final day Real Madrid withdrew Cristiano Ronaldo at Riazor, having finally admitted defeat. They were 2-0 up and Ronaldo had scored both; the problem was that – a thousand kilometres away in Granada – Luis Suarez had scored twice too, finally putting him out of Ronaldo’s reach and Barcelona out of Madrid’s. La Liga was heading to the Camp Nou, for the sixth time in eight years. When Suarez rolled in his third late in the game, it took him to 40 goals for the season, the first player other than Lionel Messi or Ronaldo to finish as top scorer since fellow Uruguayan Diego Forlan seven years earlier. It also took Barcelona to the…

It seems incredulous that a team could field a suspended player in three qualifying rounds without detection, but that is the embarrassing lot of CAF, who missed the fact Vita Club of DR Congo made it all the way through the preliminary knockout rounds to reach the group phase of the Champions League with Idrissa Traore in their line-up. Traore, who was signed from Stade Malien in December, should have been sidelined with a suspension carried over from last year when he competed in the African Confederation Cup. Uncompleted suspensions in one CAF club competition carries over to another, and so Traore’s appearances against Mafunzo of Zanzibar, Mozambique’s Ferroviario Maputo and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa meant they were disqualified. While Vita Club could possibly be excused the mistake, how…

In this season’s Torneo Clausura, there was a Leicester-style fairy tale with a melancholic Uruguayan twist. Across the River Plate from Buenos Aires, Colonia is a pretty, historic little town which is home to Club Plaza de Deportes Colonia. For decades they were a tiny amateur club, before turning professional and taking part in the country’s second division for the first time in 2000. They quickly won promotion to the top flight, but went back down in 2005, and the following year did not even have enough money to take their place in the competition. Plaza Colonia finally made it back to the first division last year, and staying up was the limit of their ambitions – especially when, in the apertura, they finished 13th out of 16. So when…