Innehållsförteckning för July 2021 från World Soccer

6 ISSUES FOR£15 Try a subscription with our summer sale offer Don’t miss this special Summer Sale offer Pay just £15 for your first six issues of World Soccer Continue to Save 31% after your trial – save on newsagent prices! Never miss an issue with FREE UK delivery direct to your door FREE ISSUE! WORLD SOCCER PRESENTS Subscribe to World Soccer today and receive a free copy of Greatest Rivalries worth £7.99 SAVE UP TO 58% Subscribe online at shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC721 or call 01959 543 747 quote code WSC721 Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8am-5.30pm Monday to Friday. *Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK Direct Debit customers only. You will pay £15 for your first 6 issues of World Soccer. Your subscription will then…

GIANLUIGI BUFFON In 1999, Buffon won the Coppa Italia as a fresh-faced 21-year-old in a Parma side featuring Italy striker Enrico Chiesa. When the 43-year-old won it this year with Juventus, the winner was scored by 23-year-old Federico Chiesa, son of Enrico. Buffon: the cross-generational man. SAPIR BERMAN In May, the referee took charge of her first match since coming out as transgender. “This is the first step in a long and wonderful journey,” the Israel Football Association said on Twitter. “Sapir, we are proud to do it with you.” Berman, 26, was already a well-established official in the Israeli Premier League before officiating the clash between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa. MARCUS RASHFORD For what feels like the1,000th time this season: credit to Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. In May,…

“It was not easy to tell him [Sergio Ramos] something which was not positive. We don’t want to take any more …we know that only around 18 or 19 will actually play”Spain coach Luis Enrique on omitting Sergio Ramos and only selecting a 24-man squad instead of the permitted 26 players “We have four players who play at right-back for their clubs…they are in our best 26 footballers and that’s why they’re in the squad. If I could have picked a fifth or sixth right-back I would have done”England manager Gareth Southgate on selecting Trent Alexander-Arnold, ReeceJames, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker FRANCE The headline from Didier Deschamps’ Euro 2020 squad announcement was the return to the fold of exiled forward Karim Benzema. However, Tanguy Ndombele, Ferland Mendy and Anthony…

At the end of April, the Premier League launched its official Hall of Fame. The first inductees were record goalscorer Alan Shearer and four-time Golden Boot winner Thierry Henry, with a further 23 players shortlisted to be included next, inevitably triggering various debates and discussions about who deserved to be there. One month earlier, Sergio Aguero announced that he would depart Manchester City at the end of the season. While the 33-year-old will not be eligible for the Hall of Fame until he retires, he can surely expect a call-up when he does finally hang up his boots. He has scored more goals in the competition than Henry, has a better strike rate than Shearer, and won more league titles than both of the legends put together. He is the…

Justice has been served. That is the view of many Dutch fans following this season’s outcome. With SC Cambuur going up and ADO Den Haag heading in the opposite direction, the feeling is that a score has been settled; what should have happened last season has finally taken place. Many still remember Cambuur coach Henk de Jong’s rage against the decision to deny promotion for the Frisian club, who had been top of the table since October: “This is the biggest disgrace in the history of Dutch sports,” he said. With an11-point lead over third place and just nine games remaining, plenty of people agreed with him. In any other season, the promotion of Cambuur would simply have been a matter of time. Just as the relegations of ADO Den…

While there were three Italian members of the so-called “Dirty Dozen”, it may well be Juventus who end up suffering most. This is obvious enough, given that Juve president Andrea Agnelli, along with Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez, was a ringleader of this millionaires’ rebellion. Lest Agnelli failed to understand what he might be risking, Italian Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina spelled it out loud and clear in early May. In plain language he told Juventus that either they drop this Super League idea, or they are out of Italian football. This threatened hard-line is, in some senses, astonishing. The last club that the FIGC want to fight with is Juventus. Over the last decade of Italian decline, Juve have been the single shining light, on and off the field. Since…

GERONIMO RULLI (Villarreal goalkeeper) “I had never taken a penalty before. I was annoyed because I’d got my hand to three or four of the penalties but not saved any of them. I could see my family in the stand behind the goal. I didn’t really think; it would be worse to think. I just gave it everything I had. I was just thinking: ‘Just go in, just go in,’ and it did.” UNAI EMERY (Villarreal manager) “In the Europa League we have been absolutely impeccable since the first moment. Some days we were coming at 6am to the stadium to prepare a game for the Sunday. All of this makes the journey [worthwhile]. We were talking about enjoying these moments. Winning is another step, an important step. We do…

Little wonder most pundits describe today’s Bundesliga as a one-party state, a championship where competitive imbalance has taken root and foregone conclusions are very much the norm. Bayern have now ruled the domestic roost for nine straight years and this cycle of total Bavarian domination is not likely to end any time soon. The outcome of the 2020-21 campaign was never in any real doubt. Bayern occupied pole position in no fewer than 28 out of 34 Bundesliga rounds and the men from the Allianz Arena more or less had the title in the bag a good seven weeks from the end of the campaign, effectively propelling themselves over the line in early April with a hard-fought 1-0 win at closest challengers RB Leipzig. In the final analysis, Bayern simply…

The 2020-21 campaign was very different to recent seasons in Portugal, and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, empty stadiums and a uniquely condensed schedule. After almost two decades, Sporting finally broke Benfica and Porto’s stranglehold on the title. Manager Ruben Amorim worked a minor miracle by coaching the Lions to a first championship triumph since 2001-02, despite a vastly inferior squad in terms of market value and trophy-winning experience than the usual Primeira Liga contenders. This was no fluke though. The Lions hit the top of the standings early on, won the Portuguese League Cup in January, and were universally acclaimed as deserved champions following victory over Boavista in May. Sporting showed remarkable consistency, losing just once in the penultimate match of the season – a 4-3 thriller…

Many of your team-mates, including Kyle Walker, have said you are the best young player they’ve ever seen. What is it like to hear compliments like that? it puts a smile on my face – as you can see! i’m just happy that he’s said that really. he’s worked with some great players, so for him to say that is a big statement. i know i still have a lot to work on and improve so for him to say makes me happy, but i still know what i need to do to get better. Pep Guardiola has been rotating you since you broke through, whilst praising your development and performances. What has he said to you about your progress? he doesn’t really speak about things like that to me,…

MARQUINHOS Brazil peaked too soon in the build-up to the last World Cup. Flying throughout 2016 and 2017, they were not quite the same by the time they reached Russia. Striker Gabriel Jesus lost form and key midfielder Renato Augusto struggled for fitness – but one problem was entirely self-inflicted. During the qualifiers, Marquinhos formed an excellent partnership with the rugged Miranda. In ten games together, Brazil conceded just two goals. But, by the main event, coach Tite was unable to resist Thiago Silva’s claims. Marquinhos was dropped – his only participation in Russia was as a late substitute in the second round match against Mexico. In the fatal quarter-final against Belgium, Brazil paid the price for pairing two veterans in defence, and badly missed their quickest centre-back. Having narrowly…

Six frenetic weeks of action in the group phase of the Copa Libertadores produced a very similar result to the last four years. In 2017 the competition was extended to last throughout the calendar year – and from that moment the domination of Brazil and Argentina has been all but complete. The action will resume in mid-July with the first knockout round, where all but four of the last16 teams will come from the continent’s big two. Only Santos failed to make the cut. They lost an all-Brazilian final back in January, but the team’s heroic battle against the club’s financial problems could not be sustained, and their poor campaign was not a surprise. Truly shocking would have been the elimination of Argentine giants River Plate – but it very…

(All kick-off times are BST) Friday June 18 SOUTH AMERICA: Uruguay’s Copa America campaign begins against their neighbours and fierce rivals Argentina. Kick-off1am. EUROPE: In the Euros, England v Scotland is the headline tie (8pm), but the day’s action begins with Sweden v Slovakia (2pm), followed by Croatia v Czech Republic (5pm). AFRICA: Both CAF Champions League semi-final first legs kick off at 8pm, with Esperance v Al Ahly and Wydad against Kaizer Chiefs. Saturday June 19 SOUTH AMERICA: In the Copa America North Group, Colombia face Venezuela at midnight, while Peru face hosts Brazil three hours later in a repeat of the 2019 final. EUROPE: On Saturday it’s Euro 2020’s “group of death”, with Hungary hosting France at 2pm and Portugal facing Germany at 5pm. Later, Poland take on…

Even fans of Atletico Madrid, Lille, Internazionale and Villarreal, who have all seen their teams achieve great success, might have been forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief at the end of the 2020-21 domestic season. Empty stadiums, combined with a relentless schedule that pushed players to their absolute limits, meant that for large parts of the season, it just didn’t quite feel the same. And yet, in such a bleak year, football often found a way to shine a light through the gloom; whether as a distraction from depressing news stories by injecting a rare thrill of excitement, or even just providing a sense of routine as the days stretched on from one lockdown to the next. So yes, in many ways it was a miserable season, but to…

Silvio Berlusconi, some 30 years ago, sat in the boardroom of his grand villa at Arcore outside Milan and expounded for World Soccer and this writer exactly how the big clubs were about to take over international football. For Berlusconi, international football was moribund, a curiosity only for the history books. Tomorrow belonged to him and his like: rich owners of both their clubs and the burgeoning new world of cash-rich commercial television, which had pushed state broadcasters into penurious retreat. Milan were then the finest team in the world: Franco Baresi, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, et al. But the players aged, titles were lost and with it Berlusconi’s enthusiasm for his toy. Football had served its purpose as a platform for grander ambitions that secured three…

“Thanks Antonio. You changed me as a player and made me stronger…and we won together! I’m glad I’ve had you as a coach. I’ll take your principles for the rest of my career. I owe you a lot”Internazionale striker Romelu Lukaku says goodbye to Antonio Conte “We love him so much. He’s a special person. He’s so nice… we cannot replace him, we cannot…we have his legacy” Pep Guardiola breaks down when paying a gushing tribute to the departing Sergio Aguero IN EUROPE As well as SERGIO AGUERO (page 22), Barcelona completed the free transfer of ERIC GARCIA (Manchester City) and exercised their £7.8m buy-back option on EMERSON ROYAL (Real Betis). DAVID ALABA joined Real Madrid after his Bayern Munich contract expired. Milan signed Lille goalkeeper MIKE MAIGNAN to replace…

Austria Vienna’s 110-year run in the top flight of the country’s football league came perilously close to an end, and it had nothing to do with what was happening on the pitch. Beset by financial problems, the Violets were initially denied a licence for next season, which would have condemned them to amateur football, and were only saved when the decision was overturned on appeal by Austrian football’s so-called “protest committee”. This followed a huge fund-raising campaign in which Austria international David Alaba, who began his career at the club, was reportedly among the contributors. In between, fans organised a mock funeral procession that ended with them depositing a coffin at the doors of the club’s Generali Arena, as part of a protest against the club’s owners. “The time of…

When Paik Seung-ho was turning heads as a Barcelona youth player, he must have dreamt of a triumphant homecoming to South Korea one day. It is probably safe to say, however, that it hasn’t quite turned out as he would have liked. The 24-year-old midfielder may have joined Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the K League champions and early season pace-setters, but the entire episode has been messy. A decade ago, Paik was one of three South Korean talents on the books of Barcelona, along with Lee Seung-woo and Jang Gyeol-hee. They were an immense pride back in their homeland – especially Lee, who broke scoring records to become known as “The Korean Messi” – but the all-action Paik was the one who coaches felt could make it at the top level.…

For a moment, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez appeared to have been badly burnt by the Super League project. He, after all, was its president and most public face, the only person speaking – and speaking too much. Not only that, but his appearance on El Chiringuito and then on Cadena Ser radio offered a very unflattering picture of him, a man seemingly out of touch, unconvincing, rambling, contradictory and defeated, the paranoid old man at the head of a project that looked poorly planned and executed. Not just that, but the lasting message left by his appearance could be reduced to the enormity of the economic crisis his club faced. That was a portrait that surprised onlookers in Spain, as Perez is incredibly powerful and even those who dislike…

THOMAS TUCHEL (Chelsea manager) “I spoke to the owner for the first time on the pitch. It was the best moment for a first meeting. I can assure him that I will stay hungry, that I want the next title and I feel happy. My desire is to go for more victories, to grow as a coach and to push the group from the first day of next season to the limit. We have work to do. We have to close the [Premier League] gap. We had wanted to be a stone in City’s shoe. We encouraged everybody to step up and step out, to be more brave and create dangerous counter-attacks. It was a tough, physical game. We had to help each other out.” CESAR AZPILICUETA (Chelsea captain) “[Kai…

The phrase: “Football without fans is nothing” has developed into a well-worn cliché over the past12 months. Yet it is, nevertheless, true now as much as ever. The joyful eruption of Leicester City supporters behind the Wembley goal as Youri Tielemans’ long-range shot flew into the top corner to win the FA Cup final offered a stark reminder of what we have missed. Even the most exciting moments have lacked the buzz of atmosphere that the Premier League prides itself on. Results have undoubtedly been affected too. With no fans, there were 153 away wins in 2020-21, comfortably eclipsing the previous record of128. Home sides outscored away teams by just four goals; in 2018-19, the last “normal” season, the difference was 120. In a campaign played almost entirely behind closed…

The 2020-21 Serie A season was not just the year of COVID-19. On a much brighter note, it was a history-making season when, for the first time ever, the Scudetto was won by a foreign-owned club, namely Internazionale in the ownership of Chinese electronics giant, Suning. This was the year of Inter, of Antonio Conte and of team talisman, Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku. But it was also the year of the Chinese: a five-year, €650 million investment, following the purchase of Inter in 2016, has reaped success for Suning. Not for nothing, some of the most expensive players in today’s Serie A are Inter players – Moroccan wing-back Achraf Hakimi, Argentina striker Lautaro Martinez and of course, Lukaku. It all finally came good on the first Sunday of May, when…

Ajax clinching the double was never a surprise this season. With rivals simply making too many mistakes the outcome was inevitable. More interesting is the question of whether the Amsterdam giants would also have collected European silverware if it wasn’t for mistakes made off the pitch. What would have happened if Andre Onana hadn’t been suspended for failing a doping test? How much would their firepower have been boosted if the team manager hadn’t omitted to register Sebastien Haller for the European tournaments? After all, European football was the reason to send a £20 million cheque to West Ham United. Most likely Ajax wouldn’t have been eliminated in the group phase of the Champions League, while they would have at least reached the semi-finals in the Europa League. So, there…

It’s 15 years since you left Nacional in Uruguay to begin your career in Europe. How do you reflect on that time? If anybody looks at 15 years of their life I am sure it is easy to find some small regrets. But I have played for some of the biggest teams in Europe, played with many of the best players ever, and won the top trophies. That was always the ambition so I can have no regrets. When you left Barcelona last year it was suggested that you didn’t want to leave Spain. Do you feel more comfortable living in Spain than in Netherlands or England? I enjoy living in Spain. I enjoyed Liverpool, but I knew it was always the desire of my family to live in Spain.…

41 League goals scored by Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski in 2020-21, breaking Gerd Muller’s 49-year record for goals in a single Bundesliga season. 20 Years since a Spanish side lost a major European final to a non-Spanish team (Bayern Munich beat Valencia in the Champions League back in 2001). 265 In the last three seasons, Liverpool and Manchester City have each collected the exact same number of Premier League points. 36 Geronimo Rulli’s Europa League-winning penalty in the shootout for Villarreal versus Manchester United was the 36th penalty in a row that David De Gea has failed to save. 15 Age of Wisdom Amey, Bologna centre-back who became the youngest player in Serie A history when he made his debut at the end of the season. 2 Andres Iniesta will…

Mamelodi Sundowns had looked the form team in the group phase of the African Champions League, but for a second successive year they ran into an Egyptian roadblock in the quarter-finals. Holders Al Ahly might have stumbled and fumbled their way through the six group matches between February and April, and finished an embarrassing second behind unheralded Simba of Tanzania, but they were back to their customary efficiency in eliminating the super-rich South African club in the last eight. It was a dream draw for the competition, not only pitting the two clubs together for the third successive season at the quarter-final stage, but made even more spicy by the fact that Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane had moved to the Cairo club last September after seven trophy-ladened seasons with Sundowns.…

EUROPE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2020-21 Quarter-Finals - Leg 1 Apr 6 - Manchester Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne19, Foden 90) Borussia Dortmund 1 (Reus 84) HT: 1-0. Ref: Hategan (Rou) Manchester City: Ederson - Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Rodri, Gundogan, Silva (Jesus 59), De Bruyne, Foden, Mahrez. Borussia Dortmund: Hitz - Morey (Meunier 81), Hummels, Akanji, Guerreiro, Can, Knauff (Reyna 63), Dahoud (Delaney 81), Bellingham, Reus, Haaland. Apr 6 - Madrid Real Madrid 3 (Vinicius 27, 65, Asensio 36) Liverpool 1 (Salah 51) HT: 2-0. Ref: Brych (Ger) Real Madrid: Courtois - Vazquez, Nacho, Militao, Mendy, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Asensio (Valverde 70), Benzema, Vinicius (Rodrygo 85). Liverpool: Alisson - Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Kabak (Firmino 81), Robertson, Wijnaldum, Keita (Thiago 42), Fabinho, Salah, Mane, Jota (Shaqiri 81). Apr 7 - Sevilla Porto 0…

Before Pep Guardiola took charge of Barcelona in 2008, nobody believed it was possible to play elite European football in the way you might play a five-a-side: holding possession, dragging the opposition around the pitch, trying to work openings. Thirteen years on, his approach is so accepted as a standard way of playing that there has been a counter-revolution. And now, in the season just finished, a synthesis seems to have emerged, led by Guardiola himself. After the years when the game, at the highest level, was about retaining possession, Jurgen Klopp and the German school came to the fore by regaining it. But this season, Guardiola’s Manchester City won the league and Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea won the Champions League with a form of football that balanced pressing and possession,…

Lee COLLINS (1988-2021) The Yeovil Town captain tragically passed away aged just 32. Peter KROHN (1932-2021) Former Hamburg boss that guided the club to the1977 Cup Winners’ Cup. Doug HOLDEN (1930-2021) Former Bolton Wanderers winger and the last surviving player from the 1953 Stanley Matthews FA Cup final. Willy TA BI (1999-2021) The promising Atalanta and Ivory Coast midfielder tragically died of liver cancer. Derek UFTON (1928-2021) The ex-Charlton Athletic and England player also played county cricket for Kent. John SLUDDEN (1964-2021) A striker of note in the Scottish leagues for Ayr United, Kilmarnock and East Fife, Sludden also coached Celtic’s academy. Mauro BELLUGI (1950-2021) Won the Serie A title with Inter in 1971 and represented Italy at two World Cups. Willy VAN DER KUIJLEN (1946-2021) Record Eredivisie scorer with…

In 2004 Dinamo Bucharest played Manchester United in a Champions League qualifier. In 2021 they signed a player released by Halifax Town. With all due respect to Gevaro Nepomuceno – who scored one National League goal before moving to Romania in January – it is a stark illustration of the drop off that Dinamo have experienced. With18 league titles, they are Romania’s second-most successful club. Since being formed in 1948, they have only ever played top-flight football. Now though, that record is under threat, while their last title came in 2007. The club has struggled against years of corruption and financial issues. Just like the two previous campaigns, the 2020-21 season was spent fighting relegation. Five wins in a row, followed by a 0-0 draw with Chindia on the final…

The year is 2009. Bordeaux are managed by one of France’s greatest ever players, Laurent Blanc, while upcoming superstars Yoann Gourcuff and Marouane Chamakh are tearing through Ligue1 with the club’s first French league title in ten years in sight. With over 25,000 fans coming to the Stade Chaban-Delmas every week, the city is at one with the club, and a 42,000-seater new stadium is in the offing. Bordeaux look well on their way to dominating French football at a time when Paris Saint-Germain’s billionaire Qatari owners are yet to arrive in the capital. Fast-forward to today, and Bordeaux is a club in disarray. Just like Arsenal and Manchester United, fans have been protesting vociferously against American owners. Yet while the two Premier League giants are still in good enough…

Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, spoke about Barcelona’s position before Barcelona did. A long way before, as it turned out. “Joan Laporta will speak tomorrow,” he said during the now infamous interview on El Chiringuito, but Laporta didn’t speak the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. As teams dropped out, and while Madrid continued to defend the project publicly, there was silence from Barca. Eventually, there was a statement saying they too were committed to the Super League, one of three clubs holding out. And yet the statement was the same as Madrid and Juventus, and there was very, very little from Laporta himself – the same Laporta who during the presidential campaign had suggested that he didn’t like the idea. All…

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In the end, after an increasingly preposterous penalty shootout, there was an air of inevitability about the denouement. As 21 penalties in a row were scored, the mind began to play tricks. What did a missed penalty look like? Was it even possible to miss them? Or was this some sort of purgatory, Villarreal and Manchester United whacking penalties into a net in Gdansk, forever? And then it came down to the two goalkeepers. On the one hand Rulli, Villarreal’s second choice, a man many had expected to be left out for Sergio Asenjo. It is an increasingly familiar conundrum of the cup keeper: it’s all very well to give your reserve pitch-time in the early rounds, but at what stage do you bring in the number one? For Unai…

When Atletico Madrid missed out on the1974 European Cup to Bayern Munich due to a120th-minute equaliser from 40 yards out, Los Colchoneros earned a new nickname: El Pupas (The Cursed Team). Coined by then-president Vicente Calderon, it’s a term that’s stuck with the club throughout modern history and often rears its head when things start to wobble. But some supporters think they’ve finally managed to shake it off. After all, how many cursed clubs beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to the league title? That’s not to say that Atletico’s 2020-21 title-winning season was totally smooth sailing: at times, it felt like the curse might come back to strike again. They started the season in incredible form, winning their first game 6-1 at home to Granada, with their new shock signing…

Paris Saint-Germain’s recent domestic dominance finally came to an end on Sunday, May 23. After three consecutive successful league campaigns for the capital club it was Lille who wrestled the title from their grasp, winning 2-1 away at Angers to finish the 38-game season one solitary point ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s team. PSG won their final game 2-0 away at Brest, but a goal from the Canadian Jonathan David and a penalty calmly tucked away by Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz saw Lille over the line. Coach Christophe Galtier’s team landed the club’s first Ligue1 title since 2011 and the fourth in their history. Lille’s success was built on a superb defensive display throughout the campaign that saw the team lose just three matches and concede only 23 league goals. It’s…

A new era in women’s club football was launched when Barcelona obliterated Chelsea to become the first Spanish side to win the Women’s Champions League and the first club to win the competition in both genders. The Catalan giants scored three times in the opening 20 minutes of the Gothenburg final before settling for a 4-0 triumph that reverberated around the sport. With both Lyon – champions for the previous five years – and their perennial rivals Wolfsburg knocked out in the quarter-finals, a new name was certain to be inscribed on the trophy. That it was one of football’s most illustrious marques underlined the sport’s new status. Like many overnight successes this had been years in the making. Barcelona’s women’s team dates back to 1988 but was only fitfully…

Zinedine Zidane is a difficult man to impress. For his glittering 17-year playing career, the former Real Madrid coach is remembered as one of the finest midfielders in football history. A majestic technician, his central role in title wins in Italy and Spain, as well as Champions League and World Cup triumphs, saw him named FIFA World Player of the Year three times. And he was the ultimate big-game player: a scorer of three World Cup final goals and, thanks to his spectacular volley against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, architect of arguably the greatest ever goal scored in a European final. Yet when Zidane’s multitude of gifts coalesced sublimely in the summer of 2000 for the most exceptional tournament performance of his gilded career – and, it could be argued,…

Even before you made your Brazil debut, people were talking about you playing for Selecao – Pele backed you to make the 2010 World Cup squad and14,000 Brazilians signed a petition for you to be included! Did you feel you were ready for that tournament? Was it a shock to be left out? you always want to play in a World Cup, but 2010 was not my time. I accepted the decision of Dunga – it was not my time and maybe he was right. In 2014 I was a lot more mature, I was more ready and I had been working hard. I accepted the decision at the time and, looking back, I would say that I understand it. Brazil went out in the quarter-finals to Netherlands in 2010…

The remote South Pacific island of Tuvalu was one of the few parts of the world to escape the COVID-19 pandemic. Formerly part of the British territory of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Tuvalu became independent in1978, and consists of nine atolls with a landmass of 26km squared and a population of 11,500. Unlike many other Pacific islands, football rather than rugby is the main sport and was played throughout the pandemic. Nauti FC, from the main island of Funafuti where half the population lives, are traditionally the league’s most dominant side, but were pipped to the 2021 National Provident Fund Championship League title by Tofaga. Tofaga are based on the largest atoll of Vaitupu, which has a population of around 1,000 people but is still able to field teams…

In November 2019, the Myanmar national team served up a real treat for their supporters in qualification for the 2022 World Cup. First, they managed a thrilling 4-3 win over a much-improved Tajikistan team in Mandalay, the country’s second city, then a few days later they defeated Mongolia 1-0 in front of almost 20,000 fans. They would not play again for another 18 months, and when they did return to action it was not so happy: a10-0 thrashing by Japan at the end of May was their biggest-ever defeat. Qualification for the Qatar World Cup is now not going to happen, but as these qualifiers also act as a road to China and the 2023 Asian Cup, an appearance on the continental stage is a realistic goal. It was1968 when…

England 3 Poland 0 1986 World Cup, Mexico As Gary Lineker led England onto a bobbly pitch in Monterrey in June 1986, his life was about to change forever. With his country’s World Cup dream close to breaking point, Lineker stepped up as the saviour of Bobby Robson’s team… I don’t remember too many games that I played in; that’s the truth. Often, one of my goals will pop up on Twitter and unless it was one of the rare times I got one from outside the box or a really important goal, I will look at it and have no recollection. It will be like seeing it for the first time. I don’t recall too much about my international debut, and as for my first England goal against the…