Innehållsförteckning för Jan-2019 från World Soccer

Congratulations to Luka Modric, World Soccer’s World Player of the Year for 2018. And not forgetting Didier Deschamps and France, 2018 World Manager and World Team of the Year. The various international player awards have chopped, changed and re-launched in recent times, but our awards are the oldest and longest-running of their kind. The criticism of individual awards has been that they detract from the collective nature of football as a team game. But Modric was the brilliant orchestrator of Croatia at the World Cup in Russia – an outstanding individual in a team whose performances exceeded all expectations. It was perhaps a surprise that Lionel Messi, a four-times winner, finished no higher than fourth this year despite some outstanding performances for Barcelona this autumn. But in a World Cup…

PABLO ESCOBAR A week before he retired, the 40-year-old scored four goals as The Strongest beat Sport Boys 6-0 to become the first player to score 200 goals for one club in the Bolivian top flight. He narrowly missed out with his previous side, Bolivar, where he scored 198. WATFORD FANS During their Premier League game at Leicester City, the away fans unfurled a banner in memory of the hosts’ late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha – and were rewarded with free food and drink by his son, Aiyawatt. CRISTIANO RONALDO Became the first player to win 100 UEFA Champions League games – which is more than 136 of the 140 clubs who have appeared in the competition, with Manchester United (117), Bayern Munich (132), Barcelona (141) and Real Madrid (155) the…

We need to talk about winter 2022 In less than four years time the focus of the international game will settle on Qatar and the 32 hopefuls at the 2022 World Cup finals. Yet the debate among the cognoscenti still fails to focus on pragmatic issues. For example, signals have yet to emerge from international federations and hundreds of leagues about how they propose to manage the switch to November and December – not in terms of the superstars, but the professional mainstream who keep competitive football turning over and are so beloved of the TV cameras. Firstly, though, to deal with the staging issues… When the Gulf state won the bid to host the World Cup the possibility remained open that, for diplomatic reasons, some matches might be shared…

“I’ve gone to football abroad and at home, for two, three, four, five-day stints…I should be an ambassador for British Airways with all the miles I have clocked up” Sol Campbell on his efforts to get a first managerial job IN EUROPE MICK MCCARTHY was named Republic of Ireland manager for a second time. He will be succeeded after Euro 2020 by Stephen Kenny, who left Dundalk to take charge of the national under-21s. RALPH HASENHUTTL, who left RB Leipzig in the summer, was appointed manager of Premier League strugglers Southampton after they sacked Mark Hughes. Former England defender SOL CAMPBELL, who won 73 caps for his country, was appointed manager of fourth-tier Macclesfield Town. Youth-team boss GAIZKA GARITANO replaced Eduardo Berizzo in charge of La Liga strugglers Athletic Bilbao.…

Raheem Sterling has been in outstanding form for both club and country this season, starring and scoring in the Nations League for England as they won in Spain, while his performances for Manchester City were recognised with an award as the Premier League’s player of the month for November. However, it is events off the pitch that have proved far more significant. After he was racially abused by Chelsea supporters at Stamford Bridge, Sterling used social media to not only highlight the abuse but also to express his concern about the wider portrayal of black players by traditional media, notably tabloid newspapers. The morning after City’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea, he took the unusual step of posting a message to his 4.2million followers on Instagram. He commented on the incident…

Back in May, after fans of Lisbon giants Sporting had viciously assaulted him and several team-mates at the club’s training ground, there seemed little chance of Dutch centre-forward Bas Dost ever playing for the club again. In the wake of a turbulent season of underachievement at Sporting – finishing outside the Champions League qualifying spots and losing to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Europa League – a slew of first-teamers were determined to head for the exit, outraged not only by the violence but also the attitude of ever-belligerent president Bruno De Carvalho, who following the loss to Atletico virulently criticised their commitment to the cause and threatened them with suspension. Dost, left needing hospital treatment for two wounds to his head, accused an ultra of hitting him…

Luiz Felipe Scolari walked into a storm at the end of July when he took charge of Palmeiras for a third time. Coach of the national side when they lost 7-1 to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, he was denounced as a has-been and a backward step for an ambitious club. On his arrival, Palmeiras were sixth in the table, eight points behind the leaders. They did not lose another league game and cruised to the title with an eight-point margin while also reaching the semi-finals of the Brazilian and Libertadores Cups. At his best as a man-manager, where his “father figure, strong man, with a sentimental streak” act goes down best, Palmeiras proved ideal for “Big Phil”. With their impressive new stadium proving a successful source of…

One of the world’s lowest ranked and most inactive national teams, Montserrat are on the verge of a major finals. While many of the smaller Caribbean islands in CONCACAF’s new Nations Leagues have suffered heavy losses, the tiny British overseas territory have won two of their three games so far. And if Montserrat win away to the Cayman Islands on March 22, qualification for the 2019 Gold Cup finals in the USA could be theirs. For an island with a population of just 5,000 and no functioning league, not to mention a national team that had not played since a 2-2 draw with Curacao two-and-a-half years ago, that’s some performance. “All the players were in a What’s App group and people were asking what’s going on when we didn’t play…

Dodi LUKEBAKIO (Fortuna Dusseldorf) Having scored a hat-trick as Fortuna Dusseldorf drew 3-3 at Bayern Munich, the Belgium under-21 is proof positive of the benefits of the loan system. After joining Watford from Anderlecht in January 2018, the Belgo-Congolese 21-year-old found the going tough at Vicarage Road. But how well he has bounced back since joining Fortuna this season. Within a few months of moving to Germany he became the first Bundesliga marksman to score three against Bayern since Ebbe Sand of Schalke in 2001 and the first player ever to put three past Manuel Neuer in a league game. So what has made the difference? Well, in marked contrast to his experience in England, his Dusseldorf coach Friedhelm Funkel believes in him. Unlike in the Premier League, top-flight bosses…

Dyche’s ‘good honest tackling’ is a sham “It’s embarrassing. I see them all diving…” Here we go again. A wildly exaggerated protest from Burnley manager Sean Dyche, sounding exactly like Tony Pulis a few years back – another English manager who was consumed with the notion that widespread diving was undermining the sport. One of the problems with the Dyche/Pulis view is that there are absolutely no statistics to back up their vision of rampant diving. How frequently does it happen? Say, 10 times in every Premier League game? Oh, come on. Five times, then? Twice? Not that I’ve noticed… Even once per game is doubtful as so many of the diving accusations are themselves doubtful. If you’re looking for diving – and people like Dyche and Pulis are clearly…

Following the departure of Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane after a run of poor results that culminated in the Republic of Ireland’s relegation to the third tier of the UEFA Nations League, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) wasted no time in handing Mick McCarthy a second term in charge of the national side. However, the association’s decision to put Stephen Kenny in charge of the under-21 team surprised a lot of people as the FAI has never before appeared to be making any long-term plans for its managers. Kenny will take charge of the under-21s for the upcoming 2021 European Championship qualifiers and in August 2020 the former Dundalk manager will move up and take over the senior team from McCarthy. The 47-year-old Kenny – who has…

The military machines rolled down the Castella early on Sunday morning, armoured vehicles pulling up on the city’s biggest, most emblematic avenue. Above, helicopters hovered. Police stood, fingers on the triggers of guns, while snipers took up positions on rooftops. People walked down the middle of the road, closed off to cars. As the day went on, more and more of them came, heading towards the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Real Madrid’s home has hosted the Spanish Cup Final – albeit they have refused in recent years, as Barcelona have found their way there – the Champions League Final and the World Cup Final. It was there that Spain won their first European title, defeating the Soviet Union. And every year it hosts the world’s biggest club match, between the planet’s…

FACT FILE Age 33 (09.09.85) Club Real Madrid (Spa) Country Croatia Previous clubs NK Zadar, Dinamo Zagreb, Zrinjski Mostar (Bos, loan), Inter Zapresic (loan), Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) Honours Champions League 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018; Club World Cup 2014, 2016, 2017; European Super Cup 2014, 2016, 2017; Spanish League 2017; Spanish Cup 2014; Croatian League 2006, 2007, 2008; Croatian Cup 2006, 2007 The cover of World Soccer’s March 2017 issue featured Luka Modric with the line “The World’s Best Midfielder?” The Croatian’s performances for European Champions Real Madrid had been crucial to his club’s success, but the media spotlight had all too often fallen upon his more headline-hungry teammates, notably Cristiano Ronaldo. The question mark is no longer needed. Not only has Modric been the world’s best midfielder over the past…

While new Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre and his merry band of turbo-charged stars are showered with praise for their sensational efforts this season – setting the pace in the Bundesliga and qualifying with ease for the last 16 of the Champions League – it’s all too easy to overlook the sterling work off the ball by general manager Michael Zorc, the man in charge of personnel strategy at the Ruhr outfit. He is the real power behind the throne. Make no mistake, there would be no Dortmund resurgence without Zorc’s eye for talent, extensive contacts book, flair for hardball negotiations and finger on the pulse of the club’s culture. Dortmund from head to toe, he was an outstanding midfielder with the club for 20 years. A former captain and…

More than almost any other international football leader, Aleksander Ceferin represents a new era. He was not even a member of the UEFA executive committee when the old guard decided, reluctantly, in 2016 that they had no option but to seek a replacement as president for banned Michel Platini. The Frenchman may still protest innocence over his acceptance of a decade-delayed $2million payment from FIFA, but few people care any longer. He is history. Ceferin is the new man; the chosen preference of Europe’s middle-rank and minnow federations who saw in the Slovene a break from the power grid of the western European mainstream. Considered initially as a preference of the Russian-influenced east European nations and the Nordic countries, any suggestion that he might be their puppet was quickly dispelled…

1 ARTHUR BARCELONA Outstanding in the 4-2 triumph away to Tottenham Hotspur and the 2-0 home win over Internazionale, the €31million summer signing from Gremio is seen by many as the spiritual heir to Barca’s former playmaking maestro Xavi. The 22-year-old diminutive Brazil midfielder is a metronomic passer of the ball and has double-helpings of awareness and imagination. Not too proud to put in the defensive hard yards either, he simply loves the responsibility of driving the team forward. Club and country colleague Philippe Coutinho calls him “the motor of the side” which is high praise indeed for one still exploring the lay of the land in Europe. It is incredible to recall that less than two years ago he was not even sure of a first-team spot in Brazilian…

The 2019 Asian Cup kicks off on January 5 in Abu Dhabi without the continent’s two biggest stars. But while Son Heung-min will join South Korea for their third group game, the talented Omar Abdulrahman of hosts United Arab Emirates misses the whole tournament through injury. But although their absence may take away a little of the glitz, there is still plenty of variety. The expansion of the competition from 16 to 24 countries has eased the way in for debutants Yemen, Philippines and Kyrgyzstan. And with teams such as Syria, Palestine and India also in the mix, there are going to be plenty of narratives. All have what it takes to reach the second round, given that just eight teams will fail to progress from the group stage, but…

For MLS, 2018 was its most successful year yet, as well as being the most spectacular, with all the excitement centered on the city of Atlanta. Although not usually thought of as a soccer mecca, the season proved just how dramatically the US soccer scene has changed over the past four decades. In 1969 the North American Soccer League was on its last legs. After only two years of existence it was reduced to a mere five teams, including the Atlanta Chiefs. The NASL closed its swanky New York offices and fled to… Atlanta. The league struggled to stay alive but Atlanta had offered a lifeline and the NASL built itself up to 24 teams before a new crisis saw it fold in 1984. But from what was one of…

In a momentous 2018 season, Shanghai SIPG won their first Chinese Super League (CSL) title, foiling Guangzhou Evergrande’s bid for an eighth straight championship and as good as sealing the trophy by winning 5-4 away to the defending champions in early November. Shanghai were propelled to the championship by the goals of Wu Lei, who formed a potent attacking unit along with Brazilian striker Hulk and ex-Chelsea midfielder Oscar, who was ably partnered by strong-running Uzbekistan international Odil Ahmedov. Shanghai SIPG started the year as they meant to go on, demolishing Dalian Yifang 8-0 on the first day of the season. Other key results included a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Beijing Guoan and another victory over Guangzhou Evergrande, this time at home. SIPG also completed a clean sweep in the…

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE LEAGUE A Group A1 Nov 16 - Rotterdam Holland 2 (Wijnaldum 44, Depay pen 90+6) France 0 HT: 1-0. Att: 44,366. Ref: Taylor (Eng) Holland: Cillessen - Dumfries, De Ligt, Van Dijk, Blind, De Roon, F De Jong, Bergwijn (Promes 86), Wijnaldum (Vilhena 89), Babel (Ake 90+2), Depay. France: Lloris - Pavard, Varane, Kimpembe, Digne, Kante, Nzonzi (Ndombele 81), Matuidi (Sissoko 65), Griezmann, Giroud (Dembele 65), Mbappe. Nov 19 - Gelsenkirchen Germany 2 (Werner 9, Sane 20) Holland 2 (Promes 85, Van Dijk 90+1) HT: 2-0. Att: 42,186. Ref: Hategan (Rom) Germany: Neuer - Sule, Hummels, Rudiger, Kehrer, Kimmich, Kroos, Schulz, Gnabry (Muller 66), Werner (Reus 63), Sane (Goretzka 80). Holland: Cillessen - Tete, De Ligt, Van Dijk, Blind, De Roon, F De Jong, Promes, Wijnaldum (Vilhena…

Former European champions Milan will be banned from European competition for a season if they do not break even by June 2021 after falling foul of UEFA’s Financial Fairplay (FFP) rules. The decision from Europe’s governing body was taken after Milan successfully appealed against a two-year ban imposed last summer. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld that appeal and asked for a “proportionate disciplinary measure” to be imposed on Milan. The Italian club now has two-and-a-half years to balance its books or face missing European competition in either 2022-23 or 2023-24, should the team qualify. UEFA confirmed that Milan can appeal again to CAS against the new ruling. The UEFA decision was another setback for the seven-time champions of Europe, who crashed out of this season’s Europa…

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 SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season NOVEMBER 2018 GOALKEEPERS Jan OBLAK (Atletico Madrid) 8 EDERSON (Manchester City) 7 Wojciech SZCZESNY (Juventus) 5 Marc-Andre TER STEGEN (Barcelona) 4 Thibaut COURTOIS (Real Madrid) 3 ALISSON (Liverpool) 1 Roman BURKI (Borussia Dortmund) 1 Petr CECH (Arsenal) 1 David DE GEA (Manchester United) 1 Ralf FAHRMANN (Schalke) 1 Hugo LLORIS (Tottenham Hotspur) 1 Mike MAIGNAN (Lille) 1 Jordi MASIP (Real Valladolid) 1 NETO (Valencia) 1 Oier OLAZABAL (Levante) 1 Rui PATRICIO (Wolverhampton Wanderers) 1 Jordan PICKFORD (Everton) 1 DEFENDERS Virgil VAN DIJK (Liverpool) 20…

Ozil, Arsenal’s expensive luxury Do Arsenal need Mesut Ozil? At a staggering £350,000 a week, he seems surplus to requirements at the moment. His manager, Unai Emery, has already said he does not want to use him in away matches. Lately he has not been deployed when fit in home matches. He is an expensive luxury, indeed, who is known to have been incensed when substituted. And now he has been exposed, most embarrassingly, as sprawling about having, like several other first-team players, inhaled so-called “hippy crack” from a balloon with instant physical results. Such indulgence is not in fact illegal, but it hardly caters to the needs of a professional footballer and can reportedly have long-term consequences. Yet watching the Gunners make tedious work of ultimately beating a highly…

Real Madrid have denied captain Sergio Ramos failed a drugs test after the 2017 Champions League Final. A report in German magazine Der Spiegel – released as part of the “Football Leaks” series – claimed Ramos failed to declare he had taken dexamethasone ahead of the Final in Cardiff, in which Real beat Juventus 4-1. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid which is banned under World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines, unless administered with a medical report. It can have anti-inflammatory effects and increase concentration. Der Spiegel claims the Real Madrid team doctor registered betamethasone instead of dexamethasone in his official report. The doctor wrote that Ramos was given betamethasone to help with problems in his shoulder and knee. Real Madrid later admitted reporting the wrong treatment to UEFA, attributing it to “human error”…

The choice of Madrid as the emergency venue of the 2018 Final could hardly have been more politically insensitive, provoking a predictably angry reaction – much of it justified, some of it pure hypocrisy. Veteran Boca striker Carlos Tevez, for example, complained: “We have been robbed of the dream of doing the lap of honour in River’s stadium.” But he is surely well aware that, after the incidents of November 24 in Buenos Aires, had the game taken place at River in front of a crowd, Boca would not have turned up – and justifiably so. The most flagrant breach of the regulations would have been for River Plate to go unpunished. This made it extremely hard to think of a way in which the game could have gone ahead…

France coach Didier Deschamps was the calmest man in the French camp as they made their way to the World Cup Final in Moscow last summer. “I was calm and zen during the competition,” he told Le Parisien. “You want to know why? Because I’ve won this cup [as a player].” “I always slept at ease. Much better than in 2014. I didn’t end up tired. I managed to sleep, even in the worst of situations. I didn’t even have to take any medication to sleep. I managed without biting my nails, even though I’ve been doing it for 45 years. I should have been stressed but I wasn’t.” Deschamps became only the third person – after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany – to have won the…

At 17, Francesca Kirby walked away from football, a sport that had consumed her for 10 years and already brought a debut for Reading. She now knows she was suffering from depression brought on by the grief of her mother’s sudden death three years earlier with a brain haemorrhage. Kirby had been very close to her mother, Denise, who had been the one driving her to matches, standing on the sidelines and washing her kit. Though father Steve took on both roles, changing his shifts as a train driver to become her chauffeur and supporter, amid the many other parenting responsibilities the emotional void was too big to fill. While Kirby had tried to shut out her grief, her football had progressed – she had been called up by England…

Paris in mid-December was a surreal experience. Across the city there were armoured cars, barricades and Molotov cocktails, but on the Ile Seguin the only gilets jaunes on show were video pictures of the yellow-shirted women’s football teams of Brazil and Sweden, Jamaica and South Africa. Outside on the streets, the yellow-vest movement sought to force political revolution; inside La Seine Musicale there were thoughts of more peaceful evolution as the draw for the 2019 Women’s World Cup unfolded. The prospect of a new force in the women’s game was raised at Euro 2017 when previously dominant Germany were beaten by Denmark and replaced by Holland. But in north America, Africa and Asia the old regimes remained entrenched, with the United States, Nigeria and Japan retaining regional championships. The summer…

GROUP A UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Just nine goals in 16 games under Alberto Zaccheroni put the Italian coach close to the sack and lowered expectations. Injury to key playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has only added to the feeling that repeating the Final appearance of 1996 – the last time the tournament was held on UAE soil – would be a major surprise. Key Player Ali Mabkhout THAILAND South-east Asia’s top team have become more defensively organised under their Serbian boss Milovan Rajevac; a bit too much according to some critics. There is still creativity though, with top players performing well in Japan and an increasing strength in depth. They should be good enough for a last-16 spot. Key Player Chanathip Songkrasin INDIA Finished top of their group in qualifying and approach…

Gritty Kawasaki Frontale once again fought back from behind to retain the J.League title with two games to spare and a 12-point lead by the finish. For much of the campaign it looked as if nobody was going to catch early leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima, only for Kawasaki to run away with the championship at the last. “We had a hard time at the start,” said Kawasaki manager Toru Oniki. “But the players never wavered. Our theme this season was to hold our shape and that is exactly what we did all season. “I am relieved and very pleased that our consistency brought this result in the end.” Ever-present veteran Kengo Nakamura was again inspirational in midfield for a Kawasaki side that had the tightest defence in the league. The rapid…

EUROPE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Group A Sep 18 Club Brugge (Blg) 0 Borussia Dortmund (Ger) 1 (Pulisic 85) HT: 0-0. Att: 25,181. Ref: Makkelie (Hol) Monaco (Fra) 1 (Grandsir 18) Atletico Madrid (Spa) 2 (Diego Costa 31, Gimenez 45+1) HT: 1-2. Att: 10,575. Ref: Collum (Sco) Oct 3 Atletico Madrid 3 (Griezmann 28, 67, Koke 90+4) Club Brugge 1 (Groeneveld 39) HT: 1-1. Att: 55,742. Ref: Kruzliak (Slk) Borussia Dortmund 3 (Bruun Larsen 51, Paco Alcacer 72, Reus 90+2) Monaco 0 HT: 0-0. Att: 66,099. Ref: Kulbakov (Bls) Oct 24 Borussia Dortmund 4 (Witsel 38, Raphael Guerreiro 73, 89, Sancho 83) Atletico Madrid 0 HT: 1-0. Att: 66,099. Ref: Taylor (Eng) Club Brugge 1 (Wesley 39) Monaco 1 (Sylla 31) HT: 1-1. Att: 23,957. Ref: Oliver (Eng) Nov 6 Atletico…