Innehållsförteckning för December 2020 från World Soccer

Great reasons to give a subscription Pay just £39.95 for 13 issues of World Soccer Save 48% off the cover price Never miss an issue – delivered directly to their door THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT! Give a subscription to World Soccer for just £39.95 for 13 issues* Subscribe online at shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC1220 or call 01959 543 747 quote code WSC1220 Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8.30am-5.30pm Monday to Friday. *Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK customers only. You will pay £39.95 for13 issues saving 48%. For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC. Offer closes 31 December 2020. Full UK subscription rate for13 issues is £77.87, USA & EU £91, RoW £98. Here at Kelsey Publishing we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal…

“The message has been lost. It is now not dissimilar to a fancy hashtag or a nice pin badge…Taking the knee will not bring about change in the game – actions will” KAZUYOSHI MIURA The 53-year-old recently became the oldest player in J.League history, starting Yokohama’s 3-2 defeat to Kawasaki Frontale. Sound familiar? That’s because Miura has been breaking records every year since 2017, when he replaced Stanley Matthews as the oldest professional footballer of all time. KARIM BENZEMA Benzema hit his 250th goal for Real Madrid in the 2-0 win over Levante. He’s now Real’s fifth all-time top scorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul, Alfredo di Stefano and Santillana. LANDON DONOVAN Now managing San diego Loyal, the USA legend led his team off the pitch in a crucial USL Championship…

Infantino – a victim of his own ambition? Gianni Infantino’s worst enemy as world football supremo is not Swiss justice or any disaffected European. It is his own haste to make his mark. FIFA presidents do not, traditionally, lose their grip on the job. The levers are too powerful. In 116 years only nine men have wielded that power. Three of them (Daniel Woolfall, Arthur Drewry and Rodolfe Seeldrayers) died in office; one stepped down because he was too busy in his day job (journalist Robert Guerin in1906); and two retired due to old age costing them their touch (Jules Rimet and Joao Havelange). Only one, Sir Stanley Rous in 1974, was tragically voted out of office. Few in the UK now know of the key role played by the…

“Surely there is no country in the world where you can become a national coach after you have been fired three times in a row?”Ex-Netherlands international Rene van der Gijp reacts to Frank de Boer’s appointment IN EUROPE Netherlands appointed FRANK DE BOER as their new head coach. Three of Uruguay’s all-time greats sealed transfers – EDINSON CAVANI joined Manchester United after leaving PSG and DIEGO GODIN swapped Inter for Cagliari, while Atletico Madrid paid Barcelona €6m for LUIS SUAREZ. RAVEL MORRISON joined the 11th club of his career at the age of just 27, leaving Sheffield United for Dutch outfit ADO Den Haag. Similarly, HATEM BEN ARFA joined his ninth club, Bordeaux, while KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG joined his14th – Serie B outfit Monza. Porto completed three Premier League loans, signing…

At the end of last year Chapecoense suffered their first ever relegation at national level, when their six-year spell in the Brazilian first division came to an end. But this is a club well able to tell the difference between a sporting disappointment and a genuine tragedy. Chapecoense, of course, are the little club whose team were practically wiped out in an air disaster on November 28, 2016. Their plane crashed on approach to Medellin airport, where they were about to play Atletico Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, a Europa League equivalent. Of the 77 people on board, all but six died, including the entire coaching staff. Just three players survived – reserve goalkeeper Jakson Follman, centre back Neto and midfielder Alan Ruschel. It was a desperately…

“In front of you is sitting a very happy person”, said Frank de Boer at the press conference for his appointment as the Netherlands’ national coach. “Even though you can’t always say that about me.” He was referring to his often-surly facial expression, but his remarks also summarised the divided reaction to his appointment. Relief and happiness from the De Boer camp and at the Dutch FA, but vexation throughout the rest of the country. Although he represented the Oranje 112 times, making him the third-most capped player (behind Wesley Sneijder and Edwin van der Sar), De Boer was not the obvious choice to succeed Ronald Koeman. His track record in recent years has been too poor. The Dutch FA had a serious problem when Koeman failed to resist the…

What’s your earliest football memory – did you start playing when you moved to Canada, or before that? It was in Canada that I first really started playing. There was a programme that allowed kids from the city to play football after school and I didn’t ever miss a session. Football is growing [in Canada], but it isn’t the most popular sport. For me it was all I ever wanted to play though, and there is the chance to develop in Canada. You’re an established player in the national team, and part of an exciting new generation. Do you think Canada can reach their first World Cup? It has been so long but I really do believe in the qualities of this team and I can see us putting up…

JUVENTUS Pirlo set to cut his teeth at the top Following their shock defeat to Lyon in last season’s Champions League round of 16, it was inevitable that the Juventus board would respond by throwing coach Maurizio Sarri under the team bus. No matter that Sarri only had been in situ for one season and had just led the side to the 2019-20 Serie A title. Major European setbacks require a scapegoat and that was to be the coach. Much less predictable was the Turin club’s choice of replacement, opting to engage Andrea Pirlo, who just a week earlier had been appointed as Juve’s Under-23 boss. The Juventus powers-that-be undoubtedly are taking a massive risk with the 41-year-old Pirlo. He has zero experience as a coach and in all their…

BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH Germany’s sleeping giants on the rise Little wonder, Gladbach supporters swear by coach Marco Rose. Last season, his first in charge of the Foals, the 44-year-old barely made a bad call, steering them to an excellent fourth-place in the Bundesliga – their best classification since 2014-15. Roses were blooming all over at Borussia Park in 2019-20. Twenty wins out of 34 top-flight fixtures, bags of dynamic attacking football and, as the cherry on the cake, the club’s first Champions League in four years. Gladbach have only participated in two previous campaigns at this level, but with the inspirational Rose at the helm they will be a tough nut to crack. Rose, for one, has no intention of resting on his laurels: “We’ve set the bar high. Now we…

GROUP A OCT 22 CSKA Sofia V Cluj OCT 22 Young Boys V Roma OCT 29 Cluj V Young Boys OCT 29 Roma V CSKA Sofia NOV 5 Roma V Cluj NOV 5 Young Boys V CSKA Sofia NOV 26 CSKA Sofia V Young Boys NOV 26 Cluj V Roma DEC 3 Cluj V CSKA Sofia DEC 3 Roma V Young Boys DEC10 CSKA Sofia V Roma DEC10 Young Boys V Cluj GROUP B OCT 22 Dundalk V Molde OCT 22 Rapid Vienna V Arsenal OCT 29 Molde V Rapid Vienna OCT 29 Arsenal V Dundalk NOV 5 Rapid Vienna V Dundalk NOV 5 Arsenal V Molde NOV 26 Molde V Arsenal NOV 26 Dundalk V Rapid Vienna DEC 3 Molde V Dundalk DEC 3 Arsenal V Rapid Vienna DEC10…

Players have been switching nationalities for decades but until now, that decision had to be taken early on. In bigger countries, players who had risen through the junior ranks were left ruing that decision, as they were squeezed out after winning the odd senior cap and became lost to the international game. Using the rule that allows using your grandparents as a qualification, some of these disenfranchised players could have switched to smaller countries and had long international careers, but not if they had a senior cap in a competitive game. As a result, FIFA has intervened. Any player aged below 21 and with no more than three senior caps can now switch nationality. This includes competitive matches, although not appearances at major tournaments. “The rule change is very good;…

EURO 2020 PLAY-OFFS PREVIEW | PATH A Hungary v Iceland Overview This clash of the Magyars and the Norsemen represents a date with destiny for both combatants. Hungary, once a world football power in the 1950s and ’60s before enduring three decades in the wilderness, have their sights set on reaching what will only be their fourth European Championship (previous participations in 1964, 1972 and 2016). Iceland, until recently international also-rans, are striving to appear in their third consecutive major tournament after Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. Hungary have an extra incentive to prevail. Should they go forward, they will host two Euro 2020 group phase matches in their Budapest backyard. Each team features one totally indispensable figure. In the cherry red Hungarian corner, RB Leipzig keeper Peter…

The Copa Libertadores was forced to shut down for six months and, as the Argentine championship has yet to resume, it meant that when South America’s premier club competition resumed in mid-September, River Plate had not played a competitive match in all that time. Even training opportunities had been limited. So it was extraordinary that for the first game back, away to Sao Paulo of Brazil, River coach Marcelo Gallardo went with three strikers and two attacking midfielders. His ring-rusty team, inevitably far from match fit, opted to carry the game away to a powerful opponent in full competitive rhythm – and it worked. River went behind to an early own goal, roared back to take the lead, and were only denied victory by another own goal. Two weeks later,…

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE Group a1 Oct 11 - Zenica bosnia & Herzegovina 0 Netherlands 0 Ht: 0-0. ref: Kovacs (Hun) bosnia & Herzegovina: Sehic - Todorovic, Hadzikadunic, Sanicanin, Kadusic (Kolasinac 46), Cimirot, Tatar (Hadziahmetovic 54), Pjanic (Loncar 75), Krunic (Hodzic 75), Gojak, Djuric (Dzeko 61). Netherlands: Cillessen - Dumfries (Hateboer 70), De Vrij, Van Dijk, Blind (Ake 86), De Roon, F. De Jong, Malen (Berghuis 69), Wijnaldum, Promes (Babel 86), L. De Jong. Oct 11 - Gdansk Poland 0 italy 0 Ht: 0-0. ref: Sanchez Martinez (Spa) Poland: Fabianski - Kedziora, Glik, Walukiewicz, Bereszynski, Krychowiak, Moder, Szymanski (Grosicki 59), Klich (Milik 70), Jozwiak (Karbownik 83), Lewandowski (Linetty 82). italy: Donnarumma - Florenzi, Bonucci, Acerbi, Emerson, Barella (Locatelli 79), Jorginho, Verratti, Chiesa (Kean 70), Belotti (Caputo 83), Pellegrini (Berardi 83). UEFA…

Every once in a while, a generational talent emerges that looks set to be a standard-bearer for the sport for years to come. We could be sticking our necks on the block with this statement, but one such player that looks ready to take up that mantle over the next decade is Bayern Munich and Canada’s Alphonso Davies. After such an outstanding breakout season in 2019-20, we only thought it right to give the lightning-quick superstar-in-the-making the coverage he deserves, with an exclusive interview (page 40) and detailed player biography (page 32) on his incredible rags-to-riches story. His emergence from Canada and MLS is a growing trend of the modern game, with the Canadian trailblazers who paved the way for him analysed in detail along with his contemporaries (page 44),…

“Jose [Mourinho] wasn’t happy but there was nothing I could do about it, nature was calling!”Eric Dier, after taking a toilet break during Tottenham v Chelsea Giovanni REYNA (Borussia Dortmund) Dortmund is already home to some of the very best young players in Europe, and Reyna is very much following in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland. After making his debut in January – breaking Christian Pulisic’s record as the Bundesliga’s youngest American – Reyna has this season made the step up from promising teenager to first-team match-winner. In his first three league matches, Reyna was directly involved in four goals, including three assists in one game. Born in Sunderland to former Black Cats midfielder Claudio, Reyna has been targeted for an England call-up by the FA. The…

Evolution of the front three The day after Tottenham completed the loan signing of Gareth Bale from Real Madrid, Son Heung-min scored four goals in a 5-2 victory against Southampton, all of them set up by Harry Kane. In the space of a weekend, Spurs offered a vision of the future and, while Jose Mourinho may no longer be at the forefront of tactical development in other regards, with a very modern front three. Front threes have existed almost since football began. Once the 2-3-5 became the default formation in the 1870s there was a front three implicit within it, given the way the inside-forwards would typically drop deeper, feeding the wingers and the centre-forward. That was a process formalised in the late1920s with the advent of the W-M (3-2-2-3)…

At the start of 2019, Vasil Bozhkov became the owner of Levski Sofia and fans of the most popular club in Bulgaria began to dream of better times. Why? Because Bozhkov is one of Bulgaria’s richest men, with an estimated worth of over1 billion Bulgarian lev (approximately £500m). He has also been described by the US State Department as “the most infamous gangster in Bulgaria.” Nicknamed “The Skull,” Bozhkov’s upsurge began in the early 1990s after the changing of the political system in Bulgaria. His main business is gambling, with a number of casinos registered to his primary company, Nove Holding, while he also founded Eurofootball, the first and largest private bookmaker in Bulgaria. In 1999 he bought shares of CSKA Sofia – the most successful football club in Bulgaria…

European club football is bursting with a sudden explosion of young African talent, but few have had the dramatic journey or shown the resilience and promise of teenager Musa Juwara. The 18-year-old from The Gambia made a sensational entrée in Serie A during lockdown at the belated end of the last season with Bologna, and much is expected from him in the new league campaign after joining Boavista on loan on transfer deadline day – even if the Portuguese club are expected to nurture his progress with patience and caution. Plus, he will soon get a chance to go home with The Gambia national team for the resumption of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after leaving the small west African nation aged just 14 and undertaking a perilous journey…

LIVERPOOL Ready for another tilt at glory In five years in charge at Anfield, German technical-area livewire Jurgen Klopp has already snagged one Champions League trophy (2018-19), finished as runner-up in the same competition (2017-18) and achieved a silver medal in the 2015-16 Europa League. Given the Reds’ total domination of last season’s Premier League and the club’s long-standing love of continental head-to-heads, it would be a shock on a seismic scale if they did not progress deep into the 2020-21 edition. Winning their first English league title in three decades has lifted a substantial weight from their shoulders. Yet don’t expect the waves of relief to reduce the drive, hunger and focus which Klopp has instilled in his dynamic charges. Klopp tellingly talks about being “in the middle of…

AJAX Next crop of youngsters ripe and ready Much water has passed under the bridge since Ajax dazzled en route to the last four of the 2018-19 Champions League, stylishly seeing off Real Madrid and Juventus before throwing away their semi-final confrontation with Tottenham. Centre-back Matthijs de Ligt and midfield strategist Frenkie de Jong exited stage left immediately, while two other members of their attacking-third “Dream Team”, Donny van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech departed this summer. However a new crop of talent is always waiting in the wings in Amsterdam, and in midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, centre-back Perr Schuurs and Burkino Faso striker Lassina Traore, they have a real next generation of quality ready to earn their stripes. Forever searching the globe for young talent, the Ajax management is justifiably…

CLUB BRUGGE Belgium’s sole representatives on a high The Blauw-Zwart (Blue-Blacks), Belgium’s reigning champions, will go into their latest European adventure in great spirits. A recent 3-0 victory over arch-rivals Anderlecht was the perfect tonic for all at Club and just to improve the mood at the Jan Breydel Stadium, key midfielder Hans Vanaken announced that he would not be moving to the Premier League. The current Belgian Player of the Year had been mulling over an offer from West Ham. However ultimately chose to stay put, extending his contract until 2025. What is Club’s strongest suit? Their African connection. Their front line is stuffed with top-quality African stars, notably Senegalese winger Krepin Diatta, his compatriot, striker Youssouph Badji and Nigerian line-leaders Emmanuel Dennis – who hit a brace in…

It was a shot to make any marketing executive swoon and Tottenham Hotspur made sure plenty of eyeballs saw it. There was Alex Morgan, on her first day in training, chatting with Jose Mourinho like they were old friends. This clip featured prominently in publicity produced by Spurs’ media department and no wonder. Morgan, the best-known footballer, male or female, in the world’s wealthiest country, has 9.2 million Instagram followers – more than her new club does. Her arrival at Tottenham, like those of Mourinho, Gareth Bale and the Amazon cameras, is all part of the drive to make Spurs a global powerhouse. But it was also a significant move outside North London. Morgan became the fifth member of the victorious US World Cup team to join the FA Women’s…

The slow opening up of borders across Africa, amid much caution over the coronavirus pandemic, means the resumption of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers will be the first competitive football in a year for the continent’s national teams. The preliminaries ahead of the next Cup of Nations finals are still only at the halfway stage and the tournament itself put back a year as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. There are 23 places up for grabs at the finals, along with hosts Cameroon, who are competing in the preliminaries but guaranteed a berth at the finals. The qualifying competition is set up such that it is virtually guaranteed that all the continent’s powerhouses should qualify, as the top two teams in each of the groups (except that of Cameroon)…

Documentary shines spotlight on Jose the actor Television cameras are ubiquitous in football; they capture every incident from every angle. It is why the world’s favourite sport has been lumbered with VAR, and why people inside the game are forever on their guard. How often do you see players and managers cup hands over their mouth so that endless replays cannot be used to lip-read their conversation? They learn, and they are taught early, that nothing is private in modern football. Think of this reality if you watch All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, the new TV series on Amazon Prime about life inside Spurs last season, when manager Mauricio Pochettino was sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho. Yes, the show is fine enough entertainment, and provides some moments of insight…

November 2019 was one of the best months in the history of Lebanese football. It started with Beirut’s Al Ahed lifting the AFC Cup, Asia’s second-tier club competition reserved for “developing nations.” There was some rare optimism and celebration of a first international trophy at club or country level. “It should be noted that Ahed’s manager Bassem Marmar is a Lebanese coach,” a delighted statement from the federation said. “When other clubs search for foreign coaches, Ahed kept faith in their coach [and] have found their very own Pep Guardiola but with the mindset of Helenio Herrera. This win is for Ahed and Lebanon as a whole, a win we must capitalise and build on to upgrade the game in Lebanon.” These were heady words but reflected the feeling, and…

The new Serie A season was only three weeks old when Italian football crashed head-on into a serious COVID case, prompting no small alarm, polemics and concern about the rest of the season. It happened on Sunday, October 4, matchday three, when Napoli launched a bombshell by failing to turn up in Turin for their away game against champions Juventus. Napoli claimed that, because two of their players had tested positive for COVID, the Campania regional health authorities (ASL) had banned them from travelling. Two days earlier, Napoli owner, Aurelio De Laurentis, had suggested by text message to Juventus president Andrea Agnelli that maybe the game should be postponed. Juve responded by saying that they would stick to the Football Federation’s COVID protocol (drawn up in June with the Ministry…

APR 3, 2016 Makes his professional debut for Whitecaps II in the United Soccer League Championship, aged 15. MAY 15, 2016 Becomes the youngest goalscorer in USL history, aged 15 years and six months, after netting against LA Galaxy II. JUL 17, 2016 Having been promoted to the Vancouver Whitecaps first team, Davies makes his MLS debut v Orlando City. JUN 6, 2017 Receives Canadian citizenship and is immediately called into the squad for a friendly v Curacao, becoming Canada’s youngest debutant. JUL 8, 2017 Scores against French Guiana to become the youngest goalscorer in the history of both Canada and the Gold Cup. MAR 5, 2018 Scores his first MLS goal in the opening game of the 2018 season against Montreal Impact. JUL 25, 2018 Vancouver Whitecaps announce that…

Jack HARRISON Leeds United In a sentence Former MLS SuperDraft #1 pick that scored Leeds United’s first Premier League goal for16 years. What they say “He has something important that only a few players have – when he has the ball at his feet, you get the sensation something special is going to happen.” Former New York City FC team-mate, David Villa “I think there are a lot of big things to come from Jack. I like him, he’s a great lad, great ability.” Chelsea manager and former New York City FC team-mate, Frank Lampard The story so far As far as English players go, Harrison’s route to the Premier League has been unique. Disillusioned by her son’s experience in the academies of first Liverpool and then Manchester United, Jack’s…

BARCELONA Club in crisis In order to win, every part of a football organisation – playing staff, boardroom, coaches and fan-base – has to be on the same page. Shame that Barca, so used to being top dogs, appear anything but united. For quite some time now, the Catalan giants have been stumbling from one crisis to another: terrible results, culminating in the surrender of their La Liga crown and 8-2 hammering by Bayern in the Champions League; star turn Lionel Messi trying and failing to escape from his golden handcuffs; debts piling up (recently announced at €488m); fans demanding the head of president Josep Maria Bartomeu and an extensive cull of players. This is the shambolic workplace new coach Ronald Koeman has to operate in. It’s a good thing…

MANCHESTER UNITED Jekyll and Hyde displays a real worry The problem with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is that you never know which version of the Red Devils is going to turn up. Will it be the A team which won seven of their ten matches against top six clubs in the Premier League last season? Or the side which was hammered in home defeats by Crystal Palace and Spurs this season? After missing out on the Champions League in 2019-20, there’s every reason to believe that the big-match stakes will bring out the best of their most prominent stars – midfielders Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes and striker Marcus Rashford. One of Solskjaer biggest dilemmas is the composition of his midfield. An engine room made up of Pogba, Fernandes and…

LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW Lokomotiv flying the flag for Moscow Logic says that The Railwaymen will find it hard to make any sort of impression in the Champions League. Marko Nikolic, who took over from legendary boss Yuri Semin in May, has not often lost in his time in charge, but will be dissatisfied with the team’s frequent failure to turn matchday superiority into victories. Both the systems he has used thus far – a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 – have looked short of synchronicity. Collectively they remain a work in progress, which could turn out to be fatal against the continental elite. Will Lokomotiv fans be pleased with the club’s transfer activity? No, they will feel more than a little fearful. They’ve lost a great deal of experience with Germany centre-back Benedikt…

When Jacques Passy moved to the Dominican Republic in January to take charge of the country’s team in the Olympic qualifiers, he was, like all new coaches, full of the possibilities that lay ahead. The Mexican soon took on the same post for a national team in a good position. In 2015, a professional league was launched on the island. With the players from that competition and a huge diaspora in Spain courtesy of enduring links from a period of colonisation that ended two centuries ago, Passy has a massive pool of more than 350 players. Then coronavirus struck. The league was due to begin in March but never kicked off. The Olympic qualifiers were never staged and nobody even knows when they will be. The national team has not…

All being well, the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) season will start on November 21 for its biggest and longest campaign yet, because what started out as a brief but glamorous sideshow in 2014 has now become the main event in this country of 1.4 billion. Six years ago, the I-League was the top tier but it struggled to compete with the glamour of eight new franchises in the ISL, owned by a mixture of Bollywood stars, cricket players, big business and European clubs, that burst onto the scene. Suddenly the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg were playing in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and being coached by Zico, Marco Materazzi and Peter Reid. Average attendances were 24,000 and with a media profile that the I-League…