Innehållsförteckning för April 2020 från World Soccer

DANIEL BATZ The goalkeeper for South west Regional League team Saarbrucken was the hero of their German Cup win against Fortuna Dusseldorf when he saved a penalty in normal time followed by four more saves in the penalty shoot-out as his side won 7-6 on spot-kicks to reach the semi-finals. SON HEUNG-MIN The South Korean striker fractured his right arm in a first-minute challenge with Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa but played on and scored twice in Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-2 victory. His double saw him become the first Asian player to score 50 goals in the Premier League. NAHUEL GUZMAN The Tigres goalkeeper scored a 94th-minute stoppage-time winner with a header for his club in the CONCACAF Champions League encounter with Alianza of El Salvador to seal a 5-4 aggregate win.…

Football’s concussion problem: time to face the unthinkable There is no convincing reason that explains football’s persistently casual attitude to its concussion problem and any complacency there might have been should have come to a screeching halt in 2002 – the year former West Bromwich Albion centre-forward Jeff Astle died. Astle had been a powerful header of the ball and an inquest found he had suffered brain damage, with the coroner, Dr Andrew Haigh, defining it as an “industrial injury”. This was the moment for football to act, to let the world know it had heard Haigh’s accusation and was doing all it could to ensure the safety of millions of players. But football – in this case the English FA – blew it. Faced with the possibility that one…

After 301 days, Bohemians achieved what no other club in the Czech league had done: they beat Slavia Prague. The reigning Czech champions emerged from the midwinter break with 17 wins and three draws in the first half of the season. Buoyed by Chinese owners and led by coach Jindrich Trpisovsky, Slavia are too good for the rest of the Czech league. Or they were. Shorn of a host of influential players, Slavia struggled to overcome a dogged Bohemians side backed by the usual cacophony of smoke bombs and drums in their crumbling Dolicek stadium. After a goalmouth scramble, Jan Vodhanel stabbed home for a 1-0 win. “We did what Barcelona could not and we scored at home against Slavia,” laughs Martin Kurka, Bohemians’ gregarious supporter liaison officer. Slavia only…

While Europe’s elite challenge for a place at the top table of the Champions League, the Europa League remains the holy grail for smaller clubs and the fallen giants of domestic leagues further down the food chain. This year’s Final will be staged in Gdansk, with the showpiece having previously gone to Baku, Bucharest and Warsaw. In 2022 Budapest will join that list, but before then there is a far more obscure town in Hungary’s north east hoping to be involved in the competition. With recent wins against Debrecen and champions-elect Ferencvaros, Mezokovesd – who are based near the famous wine destination of Eger in the town of the same name – are a team very much in line for a berth in next season’s Europa League. Having only reached…

Hoffenheim benefactor Dietmar Hopp has vowed to keep attending games despite visiting Bayern Munich fans targetting him with abusive banners during a chaotic Bundesliga fixture at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena, which Bayern comfortably won 6-0. For many German football fans, Hopp and Hoffenheim simply embody everything they detest in the modern game: a “plastic club” without tradition, a one-man-band form of ownership. The reason stems from Hoffenheim being granted exemption, in 2015, from the member-majority rules governing the structure of professional clubs in Germany. But Hopp insists he will not be cowed, declaring: “Why shouldn’t I go to the stadium? The people who do this are the ones who should stay away. “If I knew what these idiots wanted from me, it would be all the easier for me to understand.” In…

Just when it looked as if progress was being made in tackling racism in the game, the case of Porto’s Malian striker Moussa Marega brought European football crashing back to reality. Marega walked off midway through his side’s Portuguese league win at Vitoria Guimaraes, protesting that he had been subjected to racist abuse from the home side’s supporters. He began to head towards the dugouts in the 69th minute, nine minutes after scoring what would prove to be the winner in a 2-1 victory that closed the gap on leaders Benfica. Marega had celebrated his goal by pointing to his skin in response to a section of fans who had been targetting him. To make matters worse, he was shown a yellow card for his reaction. As he tried to…

France’s last remaining territory in North America, the tiny island chain of St Pierre & Miquelon, wants to join CONCACAF, despite the islands having a population of less than 6,000 and limited opportunities for the three clubs which have contested the local league since 1976. Junior sides take a boat to compete in Canada’s Newfoundland Cup and a side from the islands did go to Paris to compete in the Overseas Cup, but that ended in 2012. Clubs from other French holdings, from Tahiti to the Caribbean, have played in the Coupe de France for years, but attempts to enter a club from St Pierre & Miquelon had always been rebuffed – until the French Football Federation (FFF) finally relented last season. AS Saint Pierraise beat AS Ilienne Amateurs and…

Although there will be no record-setting third successive title for Tunisia’s Esperance after they were eliminated in the CAF Champions League quarter-finals, there is the mouth-watering prospect of an intense derby in the Final. And that could mean either the fabled Cairo clash between Al Ahly and Zamalek, both long dominant forces in the African game, or the Casablanca showdown between Raja and Wydad, after the two Egyptian clubs and two Moroccan sides meet on the first two weekends of May. The reason for the delay is the African Nations Championship in Cameroon, the tournament for quasi-national teams made up of locally based players which has been belatedly slotted into the calendar in April. Zamalek had beaten Esperance 3-1 in the CAF Super Cup a fortnight before the two met…

By the time you read this, Euro 2020 is likely to have been delayed until later this year, or even next year. It will be a major shock if the tournament has been cancelled completely. Cash is king in modern football, and the Euros generate most of UEFA’s disposable income; in contrast, the Champions League may be a money-driven competition, but most of its surplus is channelled back to the competing clubs in prize money and TV “market pool” payments. Many of the smaller member federations of UEFA, who make up a political majority within the organisation, rely heavily on financial support from the continental governing body. Ironically, the format of Euro 2020 was designed to spread football’s wealth more equally around the continent, from Baku to Bucharest. But the…

This Liverpool deserve their place in the history books Every week along the way of Liverpool’s formidable streak of winning matches in the Premier League you could hear Jurgen Klopp say it was of no consequence to him. He was adamant about his indifference and swatted away endless questions with casual disdain. That is the modern psychology: focus only on the next match, never on a target in the distance, never on potential glory, and certainly never on a place in the history books. But Klopp was fooling nobody. Every manager is aware of the numbers in football. Statistics are endlessly dissected and Klopp certainly knew the greatness of the Liverpool figures as each week passed. It slipped out one day when somebody asked him about the long unbeaten run…

JINDRICH TRPISOVSKY In charge of champions Slavia, he is one of the most respected coaches in Eastern Europe. MARTIN MALIK Appointed FA president in December 2017 after Miroslav Pelta stepped down due to a corruption scandal that has still to come to court. JAROSLAV SILHAVY Played a record 465 Czech league games and was Slavia coach before taking the national team job in 2018. TOMAS SOUCEK Player of the season last term with Slavia and on loan for the rest of this season at West Ham. PAVEL NEDVED Juventus vice-chairman, he was instrumental in taking Ronaldo to Turin, but still remains in touch with the Czech game.…

When he was officially presented as a Lazio player in 2016, Ciro Immobile was asked how he thought he compared with previous strikers at the club. Modestly, he said he had seen footage of players such as Beppe Signori and Bruno Giordano but, for the time being, he would not like to draw comparisons with them, adding: “Maybe if you ask me the same question in two or three years time I might give you an answer.” Well, four years have now gone by and the comparisons are hard to avoid. With 27 goals by March for league leaders Lazio, the 30-year-old is not only the leading marksman in Serie A this season he also ranks at number four in Lazio’s all-time scoring chart behind Silvio Piola, Signori and Giorgio…

If there was a prize awarded for the most surprising transfer of 2020, Martin Braithwaite would already be on the winner’s podium, celebrating a hands-down victory. Not only did he leave Liga strugglers Leganes for defending champions Barcelona, he made the move outside of the regular window after Barca were granted special dispensation to sign a forward following a season-ending injury to French starlet Ousmane Dembele. And so it was that a striker who struggled to establish himself during two seasons with Middlesbrough found himself playing in the Clasico against Real Madrid in March after a campaign spent battling against relegation. “It was a surprise, but at the same time not so much because I have always had the ambition to play at this level,” Braithwaite said during his presentation…

One of the observations often made about Atalanta is how coach Gian Piero Gasperini brings out the best in players. Those who looked ordinary elsewhere begin to look like world beaters when they line up for him. Likewise, many of those who leave Atalanta rarely look as good once sold to bigger clubs. The perfect point in case are Argentinian playmaker Alejandro “Papu” Gomez and Slovene attacking midfielder Josip Ilicic. In their previous footballing lives – Gomez at Catania and Ilicic with both Palermo and Fiorentina – both looked good Serie A players if not inspirational match winners. Under Gasperini’s attack-minded coaching they have become the double cherry on the Atalanta cake. If Gomez sets them up, Ilicic puts them away – as underlined by his five goals in the…

EURO 2020 PLAY-OFFS PREVIEW | PATH A Iceland v Romania ICELAND Three Reasons to be Cheerful 1 Memories still burn bright of their Euro 2016 heroics, particularly the sensational round-of-16 victory over England. Thoughts of more continental glory are bound to fire up the hosts. 2 Coach Erik Hamren puts his side’s chances of victory against the Romanians at 55-45 in Iceland’s favour. Home advantage at a rocking Laugardalsvollur arena could tip the balance even further. 3 Their ability to make goals out of nothing, to live off scraps and then strike, of which Kolbeinn Sigthorsson is a perfect example. Three Fear Factors 1 They are undoubtedly an ageing team and fielded no fewer than seven thirty-somethings in the 1-0 home loss to France in October. No one can defy…

Rio de Janeiro giants Flamengo won the local Taca Guanabara tournament in February, coming from behind to beat humble opponents Boavista 2-1 in the Final, with the decisive goal scored by Gabriel Barbosa. Nothing much of a surprise there as the game went to form and the match winner lived up to his “Gabi-goal” moniker. But there was something very different about Fla’s star striker. Instead of the usual number nine on his back, Barbosa was wearing the number 24 shirt – which until recently would have been unthinkable. The explanation comes with a convoluted history lesson. Back in 1892, when Baron Drummond was thinking of ways to raise funds for his zoo in Rio, he came up with the idea of a lottery in which each number bore a…

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 GOALKEEPERS DEFENDERS MIDFIELDERS FORWARDS ESM – EUROPEAN SPORTS MEDIA The members of ESM are: A Bola (Portugal), Elf Voetbal (Holland), Fanatik (Turkey), Frankfurter Allegmeine Zeitung (Germany), Goal News (Greece), Kicker (Germany), Marca (Spain), Nemzeti Sport (Hungary), So Foot (France), Sport (Belgium), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Holland), TIPSbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). More details of votes at worldsoccer.com/votes…

Virus sends international calendar into meltdown One effect of the coronavirus crisis has been to throw into stark relief the scheduling crisis affecting football at international and domestic level. Swiss Football Association president Dominique Blanc has warned, after a ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people in the country, that medium-sized and small FAs might soon be seeking financial support from both the world and European federations. Meanwhile, ties in the east zone of the AFC Champions League have been postponed, as have regional qualifiers in Asia for the 2022 World Cup. And in Europe questions are being asked about the prospects for this summer’s Euro 2020. Wholesale postponements in Italy, along with and government isolation orders, not only threw the concluding months of Serie A into doubt but…

EUROPE Barcelona signed striker MARTIN BRAITHWAITE from Leganes for €18m under a rule in La Liga that allows clubs to make new signings if a player is out injured for more than five months. WALTER ZENGA replaced Rolando Maran as coach of Serie A side Cagliari. Roma paid €11m to make Barcelona winger CARLES PEREZ’s loan move permanent, while also confirming the signing of Atalanta’s GIANLUCA MANCINI and JORDAN VERETOUT from Fiorentina. Borussia Dortmund activated a purchase option to sign EMRE CAN from Juventus for €25m. Bundesliga strugglers Augsburg appointed HEIKO HERRLICH to replace Martin Schmidt. Ajax signed ANTONY from Sao Paulo for €15.5m, with the Brazilian winger joining the Dutch club in July. Manchester City signed 17-year-old right-back YAN COUTO from Coritiba for an initial €6m plus a further…

BANIK OSTRAVA League winners in 2004, they were bought by Czech millionaire Vaclav Brabec in 2016 after relegation. They returned to the top flight a year later and finished fifth last season. BOHEMIANS 1905 Formed as AFK Vrsovice and league winners in 1983. The only Czech club where the supporters hold a stake, a move that came about following a financial crisis in 2005. DYNAMO CESKE BUDEJOVICE Returned to the top flight this season as second-tier champions. Their chairman is Karel Poborsky, who started his career at the club. FASTAV ZLIN Moravian club who qualified for the Europa League group stage in 2017-18 and celebrated their centenary last year. JABLONEC In the top flight since the 1993-94 season, they have won the domestic cup twice and were fourth in the…

A migratory flight across the Rhine last summer has worked wonders for the former Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder, who recently underlined his importance to German title-chasers RB Leipzig with an incredible four assists in a 5-0 victory away at Schalke. The 22-year-old Nkunku, who was on PSG’s books for almost a decade, rarely went beyond the role of first-team makeweight at Parc des Princes, only being deployed when bigger names were injured, suspended or rested. But how his fortunes have improved since joining Leipzig in a €15million deal; starting regularly in the Bundesliga and Champions League and catching the eye with his dynamism and creativity. By late February he had set up no fewer than 13 goals in the league, which put him third in the Bundesliga assists chart behind…

The death, from an aggressive brain tumour, of former CAF general secretary Amr Fahmy has brought renewed focus to the fact his whistle-blowing on corruption in the African game has yet to be dealt with by FIFA. It includes long-standing allegations of corruption against CAF president Ahmad and a more recent audit of the confederation’s finances which show dubious spending of millions of dollars. Fahmy, 36, was already being treated for the disease when he was at CAF and reported Ahmad to FIFA’s ethics commission for alleged fraud and corruption. A body of documents detailing false expenses, profligate spending and a dirty-looking deal with a French company belonging to a close friend of Ahmad were sent to FIFA, as well as being widely leaked. “He was hardly capable of replying…

GALATASARAY In February 2019, CAS ruled in favour of the Turkish club, who were found to have had contravened FFP regulations but had reached a settlement with UEFA which limited their squad size and transfer spending and withheld €15m in prize money. But when UEFA subsequently re-opened their investigation, Galatasaray appealed to CAS, who ruled in the Turkish club’s favour because UEFA had failed to meet the timelines set out in its own regulations. PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN In March 2019, PSG’s appeal against a UEFA decision to reopen an investigation into alleged breaches of FFP rules was upheld by CAS. As with the case of Galatasaray, the French champions’ successful appeal was based on a technicality, namely that UEFA had not followed the correct procedures when attempting to re-open its investigation.…

Riqui PUIG Barcelona In a sentence Creative midfielder cut from the Xavi/Andres Iniesta cloth: small of stature yet huge in ability. What they say Sergio Espejo, his coach as a schoolboy at the Unio Jabac club: “What he did when he was young is now being repeated at the Camp Nou. He was not afraid of anything. He was especially daring, a different sort of talent.” Barcelona B boss Xavi Garcia Pimienta: “He has an inborn talent. He’s overflowing with vision and cheek. He doesn’t know fear. He doesn’t care if a tall opponent is towering over him. He believes in himself. He has that Barca DNA.” The story so far Born in August 1999 in Matadepera, a small Catalan town 50km north of Barcelona, he had his first taste…

Alex Scott is now best known as a performer in the hit TV series Strictly Come Dancing and as one of the stars of the first generation of female football pundits on English TV. Prior to that she was a World Cup bronze-medal winning England left-back, earning more than a century of international caps. But Scott has another unique, claim to fame: she is the only player to score for a British club in a women’s European Final. Moreover, her goal against Swedish side Umea in the 2007 UEFA Women’s Cup Final won the precursor to the Women’s Champions League, capping a seasonal quadruple for an Arsenal team that dominated English women’s football in the opening decade of the century. No British club has reached the Final since. In the…

Ever since Asian players started heading to Europe in numbers, Germany’s Bundesliga and the English Premier League have been the destinations of choice. Not many ventured to Spain, and even fewer have had any success in La Liga. Former Iran captain Javad Nekounam had a fairly solid six seasons with Osasuna but the short-lived experiences of Shunsuke Nakamura at Espanyol and Shinji Okazaki at Malaga – who both managed to shine elsewhere in Europe – have been more representative. But things are starting to change. In January 2019, China’s biggest star Wu Lei signed for Espanyol and settled quickly. In January 2020, former South Korea captain Ki Sung-yueng joined Real Mallorca. And while there is plenty of interest back in East Asia as to their exploits, there is even more…

SOUTH AMERICA RECOPA (Libertadores Cup holders, Flamengo v Sudamericana Cup holders, Independiente del Valle) 1st leg Feb19 Independiente del Valle (Ecu) 2 (Murillo 20, Pellerano pen 90+1) Flamengo (Bra) 2 (Bruno Henrique 65, Pedro 85) HT: 1-0. Att: 15,031. Ref: Gonzalez (Uru) Independiente del Valle: Pinos - Sanchez, Schunke, Segovia, Caicedo, Pellerano, Faravelli (Mera 79), Guerrero (Cabeza 61), Franco, Murillo, Torres (Preciado 72). Flamengo: Diego Alves - Rafinha, Rodrigo Caio (Thuler 84), Gustavo Henrique, Filipe Luis, Willian Arao, Gerson, Everton Ribeiro, Diego (Vitinho 46), De Arrascaeta, Bruno Henrique (Pedro 68). 2nd leg Feb 26 Flamengo 3 (Gabriel Barbosa 19, Gerson 62, 89) Independiente del Valle 0 HT: 1-0. Att: 69,986. Ref: Rapallini (Arg) Flamengo 5-2 on agg Flamengo: Diego Alves - Rafinha, Gustavo Henrique, Leo Pereira, Filipe Luis, Everton Ribeiro…