Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från World Soccer

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World football boasts sharplydefined eras in terms of those great players who mark the game with their genius, their achievements and an idiosyncratic creativity which propels it in new directions. The post-war era of the1950s and early 1960s points up Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano, Pele through into the1970s, quickly succeeded by the duopoly of Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer. Beckenbauer died this past January, Cruyff in 2016. Their names will always be linked not only in delighting a decade, but through innovative football which opened eyes to new visions of how it could be played. Cruyff, at Ajax and under the initial tutelage of coach Rinus Michels, launched the Total Football revolution. This saw new levels of fitness, technique and tactical intelligence permit an inter-passing, inter-changing manner of…

“West Ham United confirm Said Benrahma has joined French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais on loan until the end of the 2023-24 season …everyone at West Ham United would like to wish Said the best”The Hammers confirm the Algeria winger’s move to Lyon after initial confusion over the transfer on deadline day €30m Vitor ROQUE (Athletico Paranaense to Barcelona) €30m Sacha BOEY (Galatasaray to Bayern Munich) €25m Radu DRAGUSIN (Genoa to Tottenham Hotspur) €25m Eljif ELMAS (Napoli to RB Leipzig) €23m Renan LODI (Marseille to Al Hilal) €21m Adam WHARTON (Blackburn Rovers to Crystal Palace) €20m Lucas BERALDO (Sao Paulo to Paris Saint-Germain) €20m Gabriel MOSCARDO (Corinthians to Paris Saint-Germain)* €20m Luiz HENRIQUE (Real Betis to Botafogo) €18m Arthur VERMEEREN (Royal Antwerp to Atletico Madrid) €18m Marcos LEONARDO (Santos to Benfica) €18m Cyril NGONGE (Verona to Napoli) €17m Malick FOFANA (Gent to Lyon)…

New challenges require decisive solutions, especially if the country is experiencing a war on an unprecedented scale in the 21st century. In Ukraine, football reforms will now be carried out by Andriy Shevchenko. At the extraordinary XXVI Congress of the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF), the former player and coach, who has the status of a legend in his country, was unanimously elected president of the organisation. It would hardly have been possible to imagine a more difficult time for Shevchenko to receive the keys to the main football office in Ukraine. The Football House itself in Kyiv, where the elections were held, resembled a well protected fortress in which numerous signs indicated to the 94 delegates how to quickly go down to the bomb shelter at the first air raid…

Though its status is under pressure, the Olympic football tournament remains the women’s game’s biggest prize after the World Cup and eyes are increasingly being drawn to Paris as this summer’s jamboree nears. The path to gold will narrow significantly by the end of February as all but two of the dozen qualifiers – known as a series of eliminators – play out across the globe. Five countries are already inked in: hosts France, defending champions Canada, four-time gold medallists USA, plus Brazil and Colombia. Five nations from Europe, Asia and Oceania will now book their places, with Africa’s contenders reduced to four, from which two will qualify. While arguably the most intriguing tie is in Asia, where Japan face North Korea, much of the focus will be on Europe…

The 2024 Major League Soccer season will be one of settling into a new era, preparing to ride the wave generated by what will be some of the biggest soccer moments seen on North American shores. It’s an era of Lionel Messi, Apple TV and the hosting of high-profile international tournaments. The 2024 season will be Messi’s first proper MLS campaign. Though he arrived at Inter Miami last year, his initial involvement was in the midseason Leagues Cup tournament, which Miami won. But having joined with the 2023 season already well underway, his league exploits were limited to a late cameo. Miami finished 27th out of 29 teams last year but still qualified for the Champions Cup (CONCACAF’s version of the Champions League) thanks to that Messi-inspired Leagues Cup success.…

Before 2016, the South Atlantic island of St Helena’s only connection to the outside world was a mail boat stopping off between Britain and South Africa. That was until a new £285 million airport was built, which opened up new possibilities for sport on the island: sending teams overseas became easier, although at a cost of between £50,000 and £60,000 for the footballers. Unlike St Helena’s cricketers, who are successful against African countries, the football team remains winless. After losing all three matches on their overseas debut at the 2019 Inter Island Games in north Wales, the SHFA fundraised again to send a team to the 2023 Island Games in Guernsey. “There is no funding from other organisations, such as the FA or FIFA,” says Sam Collins, St Helena’s centreback…

“I will sleep better…they have been our biggest rival and personally he has been my biggest rival from when he was at Borussia Dortmund and I was at Bayern Munich”Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola reacts to the news that Jurgen Klopp will leave Liverpool this summer In an Adidas advert, released during the 2006 World Cup, two kids on a Barcelona street agree to a game of football. When it comes to picking their team-mates, there are no limits. “Kaka,” says one. “Zidane,” responds the other. As the two Ballon d’Or winners jog over, the team building continues: “Beckham” “Defoe” “Kahn” “Lampard” “Beckenbauer” “Beckenbauer?!” Sure enough, Franz Beckenbauer, in a pristine white 1974 West Germany shirt with number five on the back, joins the makeshift pitch. If a footballing Mount…

THE AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS By BenJackson (Pitch Publishing, £14.99) This book explores the rich history of one of football’s iconic but often overlooked tournaments. There are many stories of redemption and achievement, such as the return of South Africa in the1990s following apartheid, and the triumph of Zambia after the tragedy of 1993. It brings us all the great teams, managers and players who have lit up the tournament, shining a spotlight on African football history. BIG BOOTS TO FILL By David Michael Nolan (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) This is the story of Argentina’s search for an heir to Diego Maradona – players like the great Juan Roman Riquelme, troubled Ariel Ortega, beloved Carlos Tevez and magical Pablo Aimar. Others wilted under the huge weight of expectation and ended their…

“We have lost one of the great symbols of Italian football. A fantastic player and above all a real man”Fabio Capello pays tribute to Italy great and his former Azzurri team-mate Luigi Riva “Jorge Griffa was the guru of football development in Argentina, and Newell’s followed his ideas which placed their academy at the top of the scale”Former Argentina and Real Madrid forward Jorge Valdano on the late Jorge Griffa Luigi RIVA (1944-2024) The great Luigi “Gigi” Riva was an old-fashioned sort of football hero, a superstar goalscorer loyal to an unfashionable club who turned down a relentless stream of offers from the giants ofCalcio. Riva, more remarkably, remains the Italy national team’s all-time leading marksman on 35 goals in 42 games; none of today’s fellow countrymen approach his level…

Vissel Kobe made history in 2023 by winning their first-ever J. League championship. That success brought the title back to the Kansai region for the first time since Gamba Osaka won their second crown in 2014, and at long last out of Kanagawa Prefecture after six years of domination by Kawasaki Frontale and Yokohama F. Marinos. After 20 years of searching, it was Kobe’s first serious step towards achieving Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani’s proclaimed goal of building Asia’s strongest football club. The 2024 season kicks off in late February with 2022 champions Yokohama, last year’s eventual runners-up, still best placed to challenge Kobe. Kawasaki, too, despite last season’s disappointing mid-table finish, may be ready to surge back after making a batch of promising new foreign signings. While Yokohama and Kawasaki…

Girona’s remarkable ascent to the top of La Liga didn’t start with a bang but a commendable draw, against Real Sociedad on the opening day. Still, it proved a steady foundation on which to breed a purple patch that few thought would last but soon became thrilling, title-winning form, leaving usual suspects Real Madrid and Barcelona with an unexpected challenger for the crown. This century, only Atletico Madrid and Valencia (champions twice each) have beaten Barcelona and Real Madrid to the top prize. Meanwhile, Girona have generally found themselves two tiers lower – an irrelevance to the elite sides chasing glory. Before this surge, the club’s best-ever finish was tenth in La Liga, which they achieved last year. Central to Girona’s heady climb has been Aleix Garcia, the former Manchester…

REAL MADRID For only the third time in the current iteration of the Champions League (dating from 2003-04), Real proved pitch perfect in the group stage, winning all six of their matches in a pool that comprised Italian champions Napoli, Portuguese upstarts Braga and German surprise packages Union Berlin. Not that Los Blancos will have any grounds for complacency. On the two other occasions when they gained maximum points (2011-12 and 2014-15), first round full houses did not translate into silverware, beaten at the semi-final stage by Bayern Munich and Juventus respectively. Should Real collect their 15th Champions League crown, coach Carlo Ancelotti will deserve a substantial bonus. ACL injuries to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and centre-backs Eder Militao and David Alaba have stripped bare the team’s defensive options and the…

The 2024 K-League season kicks off on March1, a national holiday on the peninsula that commemorates the people and movement that fought for independence from theJapanese colonisers in the first half of the 20th century. It is always a well marked day, though often very cold, and should result in big crowds, lustily sung national anthems and plenty of Taegeukgi flags flying from apartment windows as well as stadiums. There is some optimism ahead of the season. Attendances last year reached an average of almost11,000, the highest for a decade, and there were record ticket revenues for the top tier worth around £20 million. These are not spectacular numbers but show a positive upwards trend. An exciting title race should help, especially as there wasn’t really one last time with…

174 By netting against arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, Antoine Griezmann moved to174 Atletico Madrid career goals – making him the club’s all-time top scorer. 98 League places separating Maidstone United and Championship side Ipswich Town before the non-league club’s FA Cup giant-killing. 34 Years and110 days, the age at which Equatorial Guinea captain Emilio Nsue became the oldest-ever hat-trick scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. 24 Penalties that were taken in the French Cup shootout between holders Toulouse and third-tier Rouen. The lower-league side eventually triumphed12-11. 8,000 Miles that Martinique-based Golden Lion travelled in a round-trip to face Ligue1 side Lille in the French Cup, only to lose12-0. 2 Years that Steven Gerrard extended his contract by at Saudi side Al Ettifaq, keeping him…

In the space of two days in January, football lost Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer, two of the three men to have won the World Cup as both a player and a manager. But there is something else that links them: they both changed the tactical evolution of the game as players. Tactical revolutions these days tend to be regarded as the preserve of managers, who change the game with their philosophies. Six decades ago, the process was often more organic. Brazil had won the1958 World Cup using a 4-2-4 formation. Teams playing a classic W-M (3-2-2-3) found that the extra defender made it much harder to create situations in which a winger was running at an isolated defender, while at the same time when in possession, Brazil’s full-backs could…

“We’ve got titles to go after and we’ve already won one, so that’s already done. After that, no, I haven’t made up my mind yet”Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe admits he doesn’t know where he’ll be playing next season EUROPE JADON SANCHO & IAN MAATSEN The Manchester United winger returned to former club Dortmund on loan. The Germans also signed Maatsen on loan from Chelsea. TIMO WERNER Tottenham loaned the ex-Chelsea forward from RB Leipzig until the end of the season. JORDAN HENDERSON The England midfielder ended his short stay in Saudi Arabia, joining Dutch giants Ajax. KALVIN PHILLIPS West Ham United signed the Manchester City midfielder on loan for the rest of the season. ERIC DIER Bayern Munich signed the Tottenham defender until the end of the season. DJED…

“What is your fondest memory from your playing career? Taking part in the1966 World Cup finals in England at the age of just 20 was a real thrill. After all, I’d only made my full international debut the previous autumn. Probably the most satisfying match of my career was our 3-1 victory over England in1972, a European Championship quarter-final. It was our first-ever victory at Wembley and it was a night when everything fell into place for us. We combined stylishly, were physically strong and took our chances. Six years after our unlucky loss to England in the1966 World Cup final we had our revenge. How different was your era from today? It’s night and day. Early inmy career semi-professionalism was still in vogue in Germany. For example, in my…

At the 2023 Asian Cup, Palestine won their first-ever match in the continental finals by defeating Hong Kong 3-0. That victory, which followed a draw with the United Arab Emirates, ensured Palestine’s passage to the last 16. This achievement was even more significant because of what the national team represented: a symbol of hope and resilience for Gazans, Palestinians and the diaspora around the world. In Qatar, Palestine and their supporters were on an emotional roller coaster. After the victory against Hong Kong, centre-back Mohammed Saleh kneeled, prayed, and wept. He had fought back tears during the match, but when asked by the press corps if he thought news of the qualification would reach Gaza, the number five broke down: “I hope my family knows…” Saleh was one of three…

J League second-division club Ventforet Kofu have lived the Asian dream since lifting the Emperor’s Cup (Japan’s FA Cup) in 2022. Nobody gave them much chance when that win qualified them for the 2023-24 Asian Champions League, but they have since defied the odds by winning their group and becoming the first-ever J2 club to advance to the knockout stage. In the last16, they were drawn against South Korean champions Ulsan HD. Ventforet’s dream commenced with a spectacular Emperor’s Cup run in 2022 under former manager Tatsuma Yoshida. They wound up 18th in the second division that season but claimed five consecutive top-flight scalps on the way to winning their first major trophy, including Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the final. Ventforet also put up a strong showing in the 2023 seasonopener…

February is usually a time when the Asian Champions League gets going but not in 2024 as, due to a calendar change, the16 teams remaining have been preparing instead for the second round that kicked off in mid-February. The question before the group stage started back in September was whether anyone could stop the big-spending teams from Saudi Arabia. So far, the answer is no, with all four sides from the kingdom making it through. Three – Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Nassr – topped their groups with the help of their megastars, while Al Fayha, not one of the big-spending sides backed by the Public Investment Fund, squeezed through as the fourth of the four best performing second placed teams. The latter were drawn with Al Nassr in…

Shamrock Rovers were not one of the eight founding members of the League of Ireland in 1921-22, when St James’ Gate were the inaugural winners. But a year later, the Hoops won the league in their first season of membership and in the 100 or so years since then have become the Republic of Ireland’s most successful club. Last season, Rovers won four-in-a-row for the second time in their history (having also done so in the1980s), but it was the first time the feat was achieved by just one manager, Stephen Bradley. It was Rovers’ 21st League of Ireland win, moving them seven clear of the next best side, Dundalk. Rovers have also won the FAI Cup a record 25 times, more than double their nearest rivals, also Dundalk. Rovers’…

Iceland1 Argentina1 2018 World Cup group stage, Moscow “After making my debut for the national team, I set myself a target of reaching 50 caps and, incredibly, I got there by playing in the biggest game in Iceland’s history. We’d never been to the World Cup before and we were the smallest country to ever qualify. Facing a giant like Argentina made the experience even more special. The World Cup is the biggest stage for any footballer and this game changed my life. It’s defined me, and my career, ever since. Regardless of everything else I’ve done, I’ll always be known as the guy who saved a penalty from Lionel Messi! We wanted to make ourselves, and the people of Iceland, proud. We had a really good team and knew that…