The FIFA Weekly Issue #38

ISSUE 38/2015, 25 SEPTEMBER 2015

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

FEYENOORD ROTTERDAM

ALL ABOUT YOUTH

AZERBAIJAN GABALA FK GOING FOR BROKE

RUSSIA LEONID SLUTSKY’S DUAL COACHING DUTIES

BOLIVIA TIGERS CLIMB TO LEAGUE SUMMIT W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

Feyenoord Academy At the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Netherlands squad included 11 players who learned their trade at Feyenoord’s youth academy in Rotterdam. What is it that sets this port city side’s development work apart? Sarah Steiner visited the academy to find out.

South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

Bolivia A lack of leadership in their match against The Strongest cost Sport Boys not only the match but also their place at the top of the table.

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S epp Blatter In his weekly column, President Blatter calls on officials around the world to lend their wholehearted support to the sport’s urgent governance reforms during the year ahead to help rebuild confidence in FIFA.

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J orge Luis Pinto The new Honduras coach is keen to bring radical change to the national team.

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Mathieu Valbuena The French international discusses his rocky path to becoming a professional footballer.

Luc Schol

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River Plate Antonio Alzamendi is confident his old team can emerge victorious from the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.

The FIFA Weekly app FIFA’s magazine The FIFA Weekly is published in four languages every Friday and is also available free of charge on smartphone and tablet. http://www.fifa.com/mobile 2

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FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA Club World Cup

17 October – 8 November 2015, Chile

10 – 20 December 2015, Japan

Aflosport / imago, Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images

All about youth Our cover image shows two Feyenoord youth players waiting to be brought on to the pitch as substitutes.

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

Europe 54 members www.uefa.com

Africa 54 members www.cafonline.com

Asia 46 members www.the-afc.com

Oceania 11 members www.oceaniafootball.com

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Leonid Slutsky Russia’s new national coach has his sights firmly fixed on qualifying for EURO 2016.

15 Belga / imago, Vladimir Pesnya / RIA Novosti / AFP

Belgium Oostende are leading the league after eight rounds of matches.

(Pictured: Gohi Bi Cyriac)

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Leading light T

he three visitors are both curious and intrigued as they wander around the training complex. Tablet computers in hand, they take photos and eagerly make notes; nothing escapes their attention on this rainy day at Varkenoord, home of the Feyenoord Academy in Rotterdam.

The centre’s fame for outstanding youth work extends far beyond the Nether­lands’ borders. The visitors turn out to be coaches from MLS, who have crossed the Atlantic in order to learn from the Feyenoord philosophy and the training programmes on offer.

The academy has been producing numerous Dutch internationals for many years now, so what is it that makes it so special? Our staff writer Sarah Steiner went along to find out. Her report starts on page 6. Å

Mario Wagner / 2Agenten

Annette Braun

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FEYENOORD ACADEM Y

Giving everything for their dream Feyenoord Academy's young players are put through their paces at their daily training session in Varkenoord.

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FOREVER FEYENOORD Almost half of the Netherlands squad at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil learned their trade in Rotterdam.

Sarah Steiner visited the starmakers at the Feyenoord Academy to find out more.

Photos by Luc Schol.

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he rain falling on Rotterdam casts a grey pallor on the entire city.

Even the stiff breeze blowing through the streets cannot shift the thick blanket of cloud. Although this less-than-inviting weather is fairly typical of autumn in Holland, it somehow seems to suit Rotterdam particularly well. As the Netherlands’ biggest industrial centre, the city is known for being slightly rough around the edges, its working-class credentials bolstered by the urban legend that shops around these parts sell shirts with the sleeves already rolled up. Nowhere is this mentality more apparent than down by the river. Europe’s largest port lies on one of the world’s busiest seaways, supporting 180,000 jobs, handling 450 million tonnes of freight every year and covering 12,500 hectares – figures that are almost impossible to comprehend.

The people of Rotterdam are proud of their city. They are equally proud of their football club, Feyenoord, part of Dutch football’s top trio of teams alongside arch-rivals Ajax and PSV Eindhoven. De Stadionclub have won 14 Eredivisie titles and 11 KNVB Cups as well as lifting the European Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 1970 and the UEFA Cup in 1974 and 2002.

Nerves of steel are a prerequisite for any player wishing to take on the fanatical crowd, electric atmosphere and expectant fans inside Feyenoord’s home ground, De Kuip.

Although the club has run into financial difficulties several times in recent years, with several expensive signings failing to live up to expectations, it is now on a stable economic footing. Despite still struggling to live up to the expectations created by their illustrious past, Feyenoord are slowly but surely battling their way back to the top of the national and continental game.

Meanwhile in Brasilia, the sun is shining, showing off the city in all its glory. A moderate wind makes for comfortable temperatures and perfect footballing weather – all part and parcel of the Brazilian winter. It is the day of the Match for Third Place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, where the hosts face the Netherlands.

Of the 23 men in the Oranje squad, 11 have a direct connection to Feyenoord.

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FEYENOORD ACADEM Y

All-in-one package From recovery and nutrition to maintaining peak fitness, these talented youngsters are being prepared in every conceivable way to make history for Feyenoord one day.

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Team talk Even the academy's smallest students have to learn to abide by its rules.

Five of these players, none of them older than 24, play for the club: Jordy Clasie, Bruno Martins Indi, Terence Kongolo, Daryl Janmaat and Stefan de Vrij. All of them took their first footballing steps in the club’s youth ranks, the Feyenoord Academy.

Four further Dutch internationals in the Brazil 2014 camp also trained at the academy and moved on after breaking into the first team: Leroy Fer headed to Norwich City, Georginio Wijnaldum to PSV Eindhoven, Jonathan de Guzman to Villarreal and national team captain Robin van Persie to Arsenal. Then there is Ron Vlaar and Dirk Kuyt, who laced their boots for the Rotterdam side at the start of their careers. All in all, almost half of the Dutch squad have spent time in Holland’s biggest port city – an impressive figure.

Just across the street Rotterdam’s school of football must be doing something right – but what? What makes them so much better than any other youth academy? “We’ve found our own way,” is how Feyenoord Academy manager Raymond van Meenen succinctly puts it, before explaining that this path is not about being better or

worse than anyone else. “The results of our work speak for themselves.”

In addition to the eleven players who helped the Netherlands secure third place in Brazil, the stars of tomorrow also enjoyed success last season. There was scarcely room to move on the pitch when Feyenoord’s championship-winning teams were honoured ahead of the Eredivisie match at home to Willem 2 two weeks ago, with the U-16, U-14, U-13, U-10 and U-9 sides all in attendance to celebrate with the fans.

While running out onto that same turf as a first-team player is the dream of every child who steps through the doors of the Feyenoord Academy, these promising youngsters are well aware that this road can be a long and difficult one. “From the very beginning, we tell the lads that only one or two per cent of all players will actually manage to make that leap into Feyenoord’s first team,” explains Marcel Koning.

Despite this daunting prospect, the U-19 coach also knows that the rate of success will be somewhat higher in his team, as his charges have reached the top rung of the club’s youth football ladder. After that, these young players will either move to another club or step literal-

ly across the street to achieve their long-held ambition. De Kuip’s floodlights can be glimpsed through the trees, while the outer walls of the stadium are visible from the training pitches.

This is the point at which the first team comes within reach in the truest sense of the phrase.

“We’re in close contact with the team and their coaches in particular,” says Koning. Former academy graduate and Feyenoord player Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his assistant coach Jean-Paul van Gastel, once in charge of the club’s U-19 side, attend youth matches and know exactly which starlets they can already count on. “Where people once went to other clubs and countries in order to strengthen their teams, now they come straight to us at Varkenoord,” says Damien Hertog.

Like so many other staff members here, the academy’s director also learned the secrets of the beautiful game at Feyenoord. “It’s a privilege to work for this club,” he enthuses.

Focusing on the team There is a palpable sense of dedication to this club wherever you turn. Within moments of arriving, it becomes clear that the motto “Hand in hand” is both lived and played out here, all T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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THINGS GO WRONG BETWEEN 18 AND 21 The nation of Johan Cruyff and totaalvoetbal looks set to miss next year’s EURO in France. What’s gone wrong with the Netherlands?

Ideas copied and improved In the longer ter m, the main problem is that the Dutch simply aren’t producing enough top qualit y player s any more. Holland pioneered muc h that is be s t in moder n f ootball but have los t their innovative edge. W hen the “total f ootballer s” of the 1970 s f ir s t deployed their s ophis t ic a te d sk ills and p o sit ion - s w itc hing it was r evolu t ionar y.

Now ever yone c an do it . Youth - development methods f ir s t seen at A ja x have spread throughout the wor ld.

Setting a new benchmark Johan Cruyff in the Seventies.

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Rather like the British who invented railways then saw other nations build bet ter trains and net wor ks, the Dutch have seen their ideas copied, improved upon or borrowed. France, Germany and Belgium now produc e more top player s. Tur key ’s Oğuzhan Öz yakup, who scored against Holland t wo weeks ago, is ac tually a former Nether lands youth international who emerged at the A Z Alkmaar academy.

Caught between generations Meanwhile, it is bec oming c lear that the Dutc h may not have been quite as good as their re sult s over the las t f ive year s sugge s ted. In the 2010 and 2014 Wor ld C up s, f ir s t under Ber t van Mar wijk and later L ouis van Gaal, Holland c annily tur ned weak ne s s into s trength by br ief ly abandoning their traditional at tac k ing s t y le to bec ome def ensively solid c ounter - at tacker s. Rely ing on breaks by A r jen Rob ben and the shrewd pas sing of We sley Sneijder they c ame within a Spanish goalkeeper ’s heel of winning the Wor ld Cup in South A f r ic a.

T hen, employ ing a f ive man def enc e, the Dutc h c r ushed the def end ing c hampions 5 -1 in Brazil. It is sometime s f orgot ten that bet ween those t wo suc c e s s f ul tour nament s Holland f ailed hor r ibly at Euro 2012, losing all three of their matc he s.

Now the era of great Dutc h c oac he s is pas sing. C r uy f f has not r un a big team sinc e 1996. Hiddink is 68 and a spent f orc e. Van Gaal will retire in t wo year s. Meanwhile, the onc e - f abled youth s ys tem of Holland ’s his tor ic ally mos t impor tant c lub, A ja x , has not produc ed a Dutch mega - s tar in over a dec ade (the Ur uguayan Luis Suare z and Swede Z latan Ibrahimov ic pas sed through as young adult s). C hang e s introduc ed there af ter Johan C r uy f f took over c ontrol of the club in 2011 have produc ed no disc er nible improvement . A nd the nation al team is now c aught bet ween generations. Footballer s are at their peak in their late t wentie s but in losing 0 -3 to Tur key ear lier this month, the Oranje f ielded no player s bet ween the age s of 27 and 31. At one end of the age range were f ading golden oldie s like Snei jder, Robben and Robin van Per sie. On the other were youngs ter s like Daley Blind and Memphis Depay, with nothing in bet ween.

Henk Spaan, editor of the inf luential jour nal “Hard gras”, says his c ountr y mus t s top liv ing in the pas t and lear n f rom the nations that have over taken them. W hile Dutc h f ootball educ ation bet ween 10 and 18 remains remains “unbelievably ” good, he says “something goe s w r ong b e t ween 18 and 21. Dutc h c oac he s somehow c annot trans f or m phenomenal young talent s into mature senior player s.”

A nd dome s tic Dutc h c ompe tition suf f er s w hen top young pla yer s are sold too ear ly. In the 1980 s and 90 s emerging s tar s like Ruud Gullit and Dennis Bergkamp did not leave Holland until they were 24. Now 20 year - olds are f ly ing the ne s t .

Me anw hile Holland ’s t r adi t ional tac t ic s ha ve b e c ome ob s ole te.

“C r uy f f s till says we have to play with winger s ahead of the ball to pin the opposition f ullbac k s,” says Spaan. “But f ull bac k s are f it ter than they used to be, so you c an’t play like that any more. T hat ’s mo der n f o otb all. T he Ne ther lands mus t r einvent it s f o otb all like Ger many did af ter it s disas trous ear ly 20 0 0 s.”

David Winner

VI Images / imago

A f ter f inishing r unner s - up at the 2010 Wor ld C up and third at las t year ’s showpiec e in Brazil, the Oranje now languish f our th in their EURO 2016 qualif y ing group. Merely to reac h the play - of f s Holland mus t now beat Kazak hs tan and the C zec h Republic and hope near e s t r ivals Tur key slip up in their las t t wo game s. Few in the Nether lands ex pec t this to happen. Tac tic al er ror s, plodding at tac k and def ensive blunder s have mar red the Dutch c ampaign. Rumour s even s w ir led this week that Danny Blind, w ho onl y took over as c oac h f rom Guus Hiddink eleven week s ago and los t his c r ucial f ir s t t wo matc he s to Ic eland and Tur key, c ould be replac ed by f or mer Dor tmund bos s Jurgen K lopp.

FEYENOORD ACADEM Y

the way from the beaming eight-year-old boys scampering onto the training pitches, chests puffed out in pride, to the club’s international development manager, who says: “I grew up here. Feyenoord is my home and I could never work for another team.” The club’s presence is also omnipresent in the city itself: every neighbourhood boasts at least one graffiti tag professing support for De Trots van Zuid or “The Pride of the South”, and it is impossible to walk into a bar without seeing a red-and-white scarf pinned to the wall.

Even on a dreary day such as this, nobody at Varkenoord grumbles when faced with the prospect of training in the rain. It is a friendly environment with a strong focus on teamwork, just as the academy’s management have intended. “What’s the use of playing well if your team loses 2-0?” asks Hertog. Feyenoord’s youngsters must give their all to meet the coaches’ strict criteria. After all, life as an aspiring professional footballer is no picnic.

Nevertheless, the academy places great importance on giving its young charges a childhood and preserving their youth. It works closely with schools to coordinate training sessions with their academic education, allowing students to train in the morning before heading off to lessons while still ensuring that the school day ends early enough for these young footballers to spend enough time with their friends and family.

Social considerations are extremely important to the club. The director of the academy keeps in regular contact with his 220 players and their parents about more than just football. “We once found a job for one father and can also offer assistance with bureaucratic matters,” says Van Meenen. The former professional referee considers it vital that the club sets an example, explaining: “We’re not just raising footballers here, but human beings too.”

Communications training and nutritional advice In keeping with this philosophy, the players are also encouraged to fend for themselves and given responsibility for their own personal development. U-19 coach Marcel Koning explains how this works. “At the start of the season I sit down with each and every player to discuss his development, aims, strengths and weaknesses.

We then choose three areas that require improvement and which the player can work on individually.” This process is called the Personal Development Plan interview and is conducted with every young footballer from U-13 level onwards.

The academy’s video analysis tools are also on hand to help the youngsters implement their plan as effectively as possible. Every match and many training sessions are filmed,

Ready for action Playing at Varkenoord's stadium now but within reach of a game at De Kuip.

Talent scout U-10 coach Glenn van der Kraan (top right) and U-19 coach Marcel Koning (bottom left).

Organisers Feyenoord Academy director Damien Hertog (top left) and manager Raymond van Meenen (bottom left) T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Mighty oaks from little acorns grow Many of Feyenoord Academy's players have become international stars, including for the Dutch national team.

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with each player given a unique code that allows them to log in to the online platform and review their performances. Coaches can see exactly when and for how long each young starlet logs in, and students are required to present their progress to their coaches halfway through the season. “That means both we and, much more importantly, the players themselves, know exactly where they stand,” Koning says.

Together with footballing techniques, other skills are also honed at Varkenoord. “Being a professional requires much more than just talent,” explains Van Meenen. For this reason, players receive support in a wide range of areas, not least communications training. The academy’s budding stars must face the cameras of the club’s own television channel to answer questions as well as being asked about delicate topics such as problems with the coach or team-mates. Their answers are then analysed in special training sessions and discussed with the players themselves. The budding professionals also receive training from a mental coach and nutritional consultant, while a social worker is on hand to discuss personal matters at any time.

“They have to develop themselves” The Feyenoord Academy operates under a rigorously organised system. Although at first glance it seems difficult to gain an overview of the club’s work, its digital club management system is on hand to help, offering a database where all of a player’s information can be entered. “This gives us the opportunity to bring all the different aspects together in one place,” explains Glenn van der Kraan. As the academy’s project manager and U-10 coach, he knows exactly what makes the database such a useful tool. “When a five-year-old enrols with us and starts training, we open a file where we can enter every conceivable piece of information over the years – everything from training dates and school results to medical information,” he explains. “This is accessible to everyone within the club and means that each of the player’s coaches can call up the data they need easily.”

The qualified sports scientist is fully committed to the club. “I’m Feyenoord, my family are Feyenoord, and that’s the way it’s always been. Working here is a dream,” says the coach, who accompanied his sports journalist father to interviews with the stars at De Kuip as a young boy. He now coaches the club’s U-10 side – a job that continually inspires him. “It’s incredible to watch them play. They’re able to think two steps further ahead than we can and come up with ideas for their next pass far more quickly,” he says.

The academy uses simple methods to nurture these skills even further. For example, Van der Kraan does not let his team play against

each other in bibs, meaning that they cannot rely on the bright colours and must actually look around to identify which players are on their team. The academy also allows boys in this age group to play nine-a-side games rather than the four or five-a-side matches favoured by other clubs. “They’ll ultimately have to play 11-a-side football – that’s a fact,” says the U-10 coach. “They’ve got to learn to survey the entire pitch, so why wait?”

“It’s the best academy in Europe, if not the world”

for their success, his answer is immediate. “It’s the best academy in Europe, if not the world.

Part of the country’s success is down to them, yes!”

The Oranje are currently struggling to qualify for EURO 2016 in France and must now rely on assistance from Turkey if they are to progress. When asked why the national team is experiencing such a slump, Van Meenen laughs: “There are simply too few Feyenoord players in the team.” After all, having a sense of humour means looking on the bright side. Å

Professional footballer Leroy Fer

Van der Kraan has an unshakeable faith in his young charges and is convinced that every member of his team can eventually make the grade. “We’re here to show them the way,” he explains. “We help them, we organise things for them, we train them – but they have to develop themselves.”

Forever Feyenoord Many of these youngsters have progressed well, with some ultimately making the trip across the street into the senior side. The portraits and names of these graduates hang prominently on the wall of the academy’s foyer.

Examples include Feyenoord first-team regular Terence Kongolo, or Jean-Paul Boetius, now a Basel player, or new Eintracht Frankfurt goalscoring prospect Luc Castaignos. Only the silhouette of a player can be seen in the last picture, and instead of the name there is only a question mark. Every youth player in the academy knows that one day this could be their portrait.

On the opposite wall are those players who have gone on to play for the national side, those who caused such a sensation in Brazil – particularly captain Robin van Persie – and they all have one special relationship in common. “We grew up together, this club unites us,” says Leroy Fer. His photo is among those in the academy’s reception, having joined its youth ranks at the age of ten. “Feyenoord is in my heart; it’s my club!” He remembers his time at Varkenoord well, when the prospect of playing at De Kuip one day was still a distant dream.

Now a Queens Park Rangers player, he achieved his ambition and was part of the country’s 2014 FIFA World Cup squad. “It was the best time of my life,” he recalls.

When asked whether the Dutch national team have Feyenoord’s youth academy to thank

FE Y ENOOR D Facts and figures Founded: 19 July 1908 Stadium: Feyenoord Stadium, De Kuip, 51,577 c apacit y Head c oac h: Giovanni van Bronc k hor s t C hair man: Gerard Hoetmer C lub honour s: Dutc h c hampions: 1924, 1928, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1984, 1993, 1999 Dutc h C up winner s: 1930, 1935, 1965, 1969, 1980, 1984, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 20 08 Inter national honour s: European C up: 1970, Interc ontinental C up: 1970, UEFA C up: 1974, 20 02

Feyenoord Academy Direc tor : Damien Her tog Manager : Ray mond van Meenen Stadium: Var kenoord spor t s c omplex , 3,60 0 c apacit y Honour s: Rinus Mic hels Award: 2010, 2011, 2012,2013, 2014

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Belgium: Jupiler Pro League

O o s te n d e k e e p a g r ip o n to p s p ot Annette Braun is a staff writer on

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lecht. The scorer of Oostende’s solitary goal in the 66th minute was Gohi Bi Cyriac, who joined Vanderhaegh’s side from Anderlecht this summer. The 25-year-old centre-forward has helped the league leaders, who finished tenth last term, to emerge as one of this season’s surprise packages.

The FIFA Weekly.

Last season, K.V. Oostende lost 7-1 at home to Kortrijk.

Celebrating in the visiting dugout that day was Yves Vanderhaeghe. On Matchday 8 of the current campaign, the sides faced off again but this time the home side prevailed 1-0. Vanderhaeghe was again in the dugout and again celebrating: the 45-year-old left Kortrijk to take charge at the coastal club this summer.

Belga / imago

Could Vanderhaeghe’s arrival be the reason behind Oostende’s impressive start to 2015/16? With victory over Kortrijk, De Kustboys moved onto 19 points, consolidating their place at the top of the standings, four points clear of second-placed Ander-

For Standard Liege, by contrast, it has been a disappointing start. After finishing fourth in 2014/15, the domestic giants currently sit second from bottom, only a point above Westerlo. After losing 7-1 to Club Brugge on Matchday 6, Standard were beaten 4-1 by KAA Gent on Matchday 8, despite taking a second-minute lead through Anthony Knockaert.

It seems that a first title has merely left Gent hungry for more success.

Two red cards (Dino Arslanagic and Damien Dussaut) and 90 minutes later, a fifth defeat of the season had been sealed. Sven Kums netted the equaliser for Gent in the 42nd minute before Danijel Milicevic’s 45thminute strike and a second-half brace from Thomas Matton lifted the reigning champions to 14 points and sixth place in the standings.

Facing Standard is likely to have rekindled happy memories for Gent, whose 2-0 triumph over the same opposition in May secured the club’s first-ever domestic league title.

Becoming champions brought not only long-awaited domestic honours, but also direct qualification for the UEFA Champions League: on Matchday 1 at Europe’s top table Gent drew 1-1 at home with Olympique Lyonnais. Next up for KAA is a trip to Waasland-Beveren, followed by a visit to St. Petersburg to face FC Zenit. It seems that a first title has merely left Gent hungry for more success. Å

A happy reunion Yves Vanderhaeghe celebrates Oostende’s 1-0 win over former club Kortrijk T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Tigerish Rodrigo Ramallo (centre) celebrates a goal.

T i ge r s k n o c k S p o r t B oy s o f f t h e to p Sven Goldmann is a leading football correspondent at Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin.

Sport Boys could have done with a proper number 10 in their top-of-the-table clash with The Strongest in the Bolivian Liga de Fútbol Profesional. They were lacking a player with leadership qualities who is not afraid to put himself about. It is over a year since the club from the town of Warnes in the Bolivian lowlands assigned the prestigious number 10 shirt to the Bolivian president Evo Morales. In May 2014 Morales signed a professional contract with the club, which guaranteed him the minimum wage of $213.

It was a nice bit of publicity for the club and also for Morales, who was preparing for presidential elections at the time. No one would have ever thought that the 55 yearold head of state would one day play for Sport Boys.

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Now the blue number 10 shirt is worn by Anderson Gonzaga, but the Brazilian offered little at the Estadio Samuel Vaca Jimenez on the eighth matchday of the Apertura stage. The 2-1 defeat ended Sport Boys’ status as undefeated league leaders as they were displaced at the top by the team known in Bolivia as ‘the Tigers’ because of their black and gold striped kit. The Strongest are a historic club from La Paz who are due another title after their eleventh and most recent Apertura success in 2013. The two most recent half-year tournaments went the way of city rivals Club Bolivar, the country’s most successful club with 20 titles to its name.

Sport Boys, who are nicknamed ‘the Bulls’ in Bolivia, have not reached these heights before. The club only got promoted to the first tier two years ago after finishing runners-up in Division B, having only just avoided relegation in the previous season.

But the Bulls were too gentle on their home turf in the big match against the Tigers.

Things went badly from the start for the hosts; on five minutes an awful ricochet left Rodrigo Ramallo through on goal and he made it 1-0 to the visitors. Hope was

restored shortly before the break when Leonel Morales equalised with a sensational volley from an acute angle.

In the second half The Strongest took command of the game again, although there was more than a hint of luck about their winning goal. Paraguayan Ernest Cristaldo’s header was meant more as an assist but the ball bounced off Sport Boys’ Helmut Gutierrez and into his own net.

The Strongest saw out the rest of the game comfortably and never looked like surrendering their lead. Their opponents lacked imagination and determination, as well an enforcer who could get in the faces of the opponents when they needed to. Unfortunately Evo Morales was taking part in an anti-drugs campaign on the weekend and had no time to play football. Å

Xinhua / imago

Bolivia: Liga de Fútbol Profesional

Azerbaijan: Supreme League

Gaba la F K a i m i ng fo r f i r s t t it l e Emanuele Giulianelli is a freelance football correspondent based in Milan.

Gabala FK are determined to break new ground on the tenth anniversary of their creation. After finishing third in the last two league campaigns, each time behind Qarabag and Inter Baku, the representatives of Azerbaijan’s oldest city have their sights set on winning their first national title.

ZUMA Press / imago

Yet with five matches played in the Azerbaijan Premier League, which is also known as the Supreme League, the clear frontrunners are Qarabag Agdam, who are forced to play their home games in the capital due to the long-running and bloody Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two-time defending champions top the table with 13 points from four wins

and an away draw at Gabala on the opening day. That stalemate finished 2-2 after Estonian forward Sergei Zenjov had struck first for the hosts, who then fell behind to a double from the champions’ Brazilian midfielder Richard Almeida, now in his fourth season with the club. The home side then equalised three minutes from time through Samir Zargarov.

Gabala share second spot with Inter Baku on ten points, both teams having lost only once so far this season.

Qarabag and Gabala are also the only Azerbaijani clubs still in contention in a UEFA club competition. Gabala, competing in the Europa League for the second time, drew 0-0 at home to Greek side PAOK Salonika in their opening group qualifier. Qarabag fell to a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham, despite playing well and demonstrating their intention to avoid being labelled the group’s weakest team. Qarabag still have a chance of emulating or even exceeding their excellent performance last season, when they came within a point of progressing past the group stage.

Last crowned league winners in 2010, Inter Baku are the third title favourites in the Azeri championship, which is one of the least well attended in Europe with an average of around 1600 spectators per game.

Three points separate the top trio, with fourth-placed Zira FK close behind on nine points. The Baku-based newcomers, who were founded only 13 months ago, are intent on bettering the surprising fifth place they achieved in their maiden season and are still unbeaten in the current league campaign, having already obtained a commendable 0-0 draw at home to Inter Baku.

Propping up the ten-team table with no points and no goals scored are another capital city side, AZAL, whose prospects of staying in the division will be boosted if they distinguish themselves in back-to-back away meetings against high-flyers Qarabag and Gabala in late October. Å

On the European stage Sergei Zenjov (l.) in Europa League action for Gabala in their 0-0 draw with PAOK Salonika.

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THE INTERVIEW

“If you work hard, you’ll reap the rewards” Mathieu Valbuena is a hard worker, a playmaker and a danger to any defence.

In an interview, the 30-year-old French international discusses his difficult beginnings in Bordeaux, his tenacity and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Mathieu Valbuena, which players did you enjoy watching most?

Mathieu Valbuena: My idol has always been Ronaldo, Il Fenomeno, who could do incredible things with the ball. Romario and Rivaldo also fired my imagination back then and did great things for Barça. They didn’t play like everyone else – they were football geniuses. When you’re a kid, it’s players like those who get you dreaming. They’re the reason people say football is beautiful, and they create passion for the sport.

Your own image is that of a player who had to work harder than most to get where you are.

Why is that?

It’s never been easy for me because of my build, which raised question marks for a lot of people. I started out at Bordeaux at the age of eight and completed my training there, but when I was 18 and it was time to progress to the first team, they put the brakes on. It was because of my size, or perhaps because I wasn’t ready to take on the physical challenge at the time. I left and had to finish my training elsewhere, at smaller, amateur clubs.

It was tough because when you go from training sessions every day to sessions twice a week, you need to train on your own to be able to continue believing in your dream.

When you get rejected at 18 you can’t exactly be a tower of strength, but I busted a gut and never gave up. It ended up making me stronger.

How did you react at the time?

I cried. It really made me sad because I felt like my world was suddenly collapsing.

My parents, and my father in particular, were the driving forces who pushed me to keep believing. They told me I was still young and that I needed to work and follow a different path to keep progressing in order to get there in the end. I went to Langon and then Libourne, where it was tough for me to impose myself, but I’ve always been able to 18

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achieve my goals. My strength has been my capacity to stick at a task despite nothing having ever been easy, whether it was becoming a professional, winning a starting place at each new club or getting into the national team. Thanks to hard work and self-sacrifice, values which have always been my strengths, I’ve always managed to turn things around.

How did your difficult start in the game make you stronger?

It was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t get everything handed to me on a plate. Today you see a lot of players who sign professional contracts very young and suddenly find themselves in a comfortable situation. If I’d signed with Bordeaux, perhaps I never would’ve had the career I’ve had and wouldn’t have become an international. The fact that I was cast aside was like a wake-up call.

What aspect of your personality made it possible for you to overcome all those challenges?

I think it’s a kind of carefree attitude.

I also had a respect for hard work which I got from my parents, and I was passionate about football. Football is my whole life and I get huge pleasure from playing games or kicking the ball around with friends. These days you don’t find as many passionate people in football. I’m just happy when I get to train and kick a ball, and when I play I’m not thinking about anything else. That’s what gives me strength.

Does that same quality explain why you have tended to perform well in big games?

For me, it’s a pleasure to play in a big game. You have to approach it positively and enjoy it. If you work hard, you’ll always reap the rewards. It’s true that I got to score in some important matches when I was at Marseille. My debuts have tended to be successful as well. For example, my first

Champions League game was at Liverpool, where I scored. It was the same with my international debut. For me, that’s a positive pressure. I try to make the most of it so as to have no regrets when I end my career.

How did your experiences at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ change you?

On a personal level, it was an adventure like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Leaving aside the fact that we all performed well, the cohesion in the squad was extraordinary, as were the stadiums and the ambience. And that fact that it was held in Brazil added something very special to the mix. It was a great moment and scoring a goal against Switzerland remains my greatest career memory.

Having spent a year in Russia, what are your expectations of the 2018 World Cup? I can tell you that they’re thinking about it a lot. We’re thinking about it too, but it’s still some way off because we’re due to have the EURO in France. Having seen the stadiums and the projects under construction, I can assure you that the infrastructure is fantastic and that it’ll be a truly great World Cup.

What are your thoughts on France’s qualifying group, with Les Bleus drawn alongside the Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg?

There are no easy groups whatever happens. We lost to Albania at the end of last season. There are no small teams any more – the days when you could beat Azerbaijan 10-0 are long gone. We’ll have to fight hard, as in every qualifying campaign.

We had to go through the play-offs to reach the last World Cup, so I hope that this time we’ll finish top. Å Mathieu Valbuena was speaking to Pascal de Miramon

Name Mathieu Valbuena Date and place of birth 28 September 1984, Bruges, France Position Midfielder

pressesports

Clubs played for 2001-2003 Girondins Bordeaux 2003-2004 Jeunes de Langon-Castets 2004-2006 Libourne-Saint-Seurin 2006-2014 Olympique Marseille 2014-2015 Dinamo Moscow since 2015 Olympique Lyon France national team 50 caps, 8 goals

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First Love Place: Grand-Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire Date: 6 April 2014 Time: 4.43 p.m.

Photog rapher: Ma lte Jaeger

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Football breaks down barriers Football builds bridges. It has a unique power to inspire friendship, respect and equality.

FIFA’s Say No To Racism campaign is part of our commitment to tackle all forms of discrimination in football.

Everyone should have the right to play and enjoy football without fear of discrimination. Say no to racism.

For more information visit FIFA.com

FIFA WORLD FOOTBALL MUSEUM

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

FIFA World Football Museum now in home straight

Reform must be global

F Inspection Alessandro Del Piero (left) and Marta visit the construction site.

Olivier Morin / AFP

M

ajor construction work has been underway in Zurich since March 2014, with FIFA Museum AG building the FIFA World Football Museum at the very heart of the city. Work on the interior of the museum began in September, with fitting-out work currently being undertaken on all three exhibition levels in order to install the complex background technology for more than 1,000 exclusive exhibits.

The museum will boast an interactive world of experiences with no fewer than 60 screens, but it is the installation of the unique pinball machine that is particularly challenging.

“I can’t wait to see the Museum. We are creating a special meeting place, because it will bring shared memories and emotions to life, and therefore bring the whole international football family together,” said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

The start of the interior fitting-out phase means that the FIFA World Football Museum has now entered the home straight. “It is great that work has finally begun on the inside of the museum,” said Stefan Jost, CEO of FIFA Museum AG. “Everything that we have only known from plans so far is now beginning to take shape.” Another person working at full steam at the moment is Creative Director David Ausseil: “There is still a lot to do. Apart from installing the complex technology, we also need to check all of the museum’s content to make sure that there are no mistakes, review all of the translations, and also finalise all of the video material.” Work on the interior of the museum will be finished by the end of October, which is when an intensive test phase will begin for all areas of the museum.

Nevertheless, Stefan Jost is still confident that “we will be able to open the museum in the first quarter of 2016”.

Once complete, the Museum will boast an exhibition area measuring more than 3,000m2 over three levels, covering all aspects of the world of football. An interactive, multimedia world of experiences will give visitors the chance to look at the emotions that football awakens on a daily basis all around the world, thrilling people and shaping their lives. Å tfw

IFA’s 2011 reforms helped us to establish a stronger foundation for the governance of football around the world. However, the highly regrettable events this year have made it painfully clear those changes have not been enough.

While most of the recommended 2011 reforms were approved by a global vote at the FIFA Congress, they have not been embraced in full throughout the framework responsible for the day-to-day control of football around the world. We must put this right, once and for all, with water-tight reforms and a genuine commitment from all football administrators.

We need to show that we understand the severity of this situation and that we are ready to take the right steps to fix it.

But FIFA cannot achieve this change in football alone. We need the full cooperation of the six confederations, our member associations and national authorities. FIFA supports the actions of the U.S. and Swiss authorities and we will continue to do so, no matter how close to home those investigations get. This is the difficult path we must follow if we are serious about change.

I am confident that Dr. Francois Carrard and the 2016 Reform Committee will deliver a credible package of reforms with the substance to help us restore credibility and trust. The independent chairman of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee Domenico ­Scala has put forward a strong list of proposals to FIFA which has helped to set the tone and direction of this next phase of reforms.

I expect all member associations to fully support this reform process at the Extraordinary Congress in February. To fail to do so would represent a betrayal of our institution, of football and of the millions of fans around the world that rightly expect the highest standards from those managing the game.

Our goal must be to give FIFA, the institution, the opportunity to move forward next year and to build on the progress we have achieved in staging competitions and developing football around the world since 1904. If we do not act now, we will be putting all of that work at risk.

Best wishes, Sepp Blatter T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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RUSSIA

Name Leonid Viktorovich Slutsky Date and place of birth 4 May 1971, Volgograd Clubs played for 1989 FC Zvezda Gorodishche Clubs coached

Three footballs, two jobs Multi-tasking is not a problem for Leonid Slutsky.

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Alexander Vilf / RIA Novosti / AFP

2000 FC Olympia Volgograd 2003-2004 FC Elista 2005-2007 FC Moscow 2008-2009 Krylia Sovetov Samara Since 2009 CSKA Moscow Since 2015 Russia national team

RUSSIA

Dual expectations Not only is Leonid Slutsky head coach at CSKA Moscow, he is also in charge of leading Russia through the final phase of EURO 2016 qualifying. However, performing both roles is no problem for the successful strategist, writes Ivan Tarasenko.

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s Russia continues to prepare to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, its national team is starting life under a new coach: current CSKA Moscow boss Leonid Slutsky. For the first time since 2006, the Russian Football Union (RFU) has entrusted the job to a Russian national, following the appointments of Dutchmen Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat, and the Italian Fabio Capello. What made the selection even more unusual is that Slutsky has agreed to take charge of the national team until the end of the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers while still fulfilling his coaching duties at CSKA Moscow, where he has been in charge for six years, winning the Russian Premier League twice and the Russian Cup twice.

“I know that having a part-time coach is unusual in modern football, but it’s not the first time this has happened in Russian or world football,” he said.

“When I spoke to the RFU, we talked about a short period of time, four to six EURO 2016 qualifiers. It’s an exceptional measure. Russia’s got into difficulties in its group, so when the offer was put to me, I said yes. For any coach in my position, I think it would have been entirely natural to answer the call and help the national team, even if it’s only for a few matches.”

Multi-tasking not an issue As a result, Slutsky’s autumn schedule now looks particularly daunting. It includes the domestic title race, which CSKA are currently leading, the UEFA Champions League group phase, in which they lost to Wolfsburg and still have to face Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven, and key EURO 2016 qualifiers. Yet this packed programme holds no fear for the 44-year-old.

“I don’t see a problem here,” he said. “In modern football, what a coach needs to think about above all is the next game. I’ve already been operating that way for a number of years and it’s nothing new for me. I know virtually all the players in the national team – they’re all playing in the Russian Premier League. The only exception is Denis Cheryshev at Real Madrid, but we’ve spoken on a few occasions.”

However, critics argue that coaches performing dual roles can develop a conflict of interest. A club coach who also works with the national team could, for instance, lack objectivity when it comes to players he knows well.

“I think any coach in my position would have answered the call to help the national team.”

Leonid Sluzki

Slutsky is not too concerned in that regard: “My main objective is to get good results. If we can do that then it doesn’t matter what people accuse me of. If we don’t get results then me favouring certain players is only one of many things I could be criticised for. So I’m really not worried about it.”

A year in hospital If Slutsky sounds confident, it is not without good reason. Domestically, he has been one of the most successful coaches in recent years, helping CSKA to hold their own against a star-studded Zenit St Petersburg side. In 2009, he was the first coach to lead a Russian club into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, and before that he enjoyed more local success with Krylya Sovetov from Samara and FC Moscow. But as far as the strategist is concerned, his finest achievement to date was his work with the Olimpia youth team in Volgograd at the very outset of his career.

“At Olimpia I was working with boys who were born around 1982, and 17 of them ended up playing professionally. That’s just an un-

believably high percentage, pretty much impossible. I’m proud of that,” he remarked.

Slutsky himself, unlike the overwhelming majority of Russian coaches, has virtually no experience of playing professional football.

His bourgeoning career ended when he was 19, after he was injured falling out of a tree while trying to rescue a neighbour’s cat.

“The woman next door came round and asked me to help retrieve her cat from a tree,” the Volgograd native explained. “I climbed up the tree but then I fell. The result was an open compound fracture of my left kneecap.

It’s the sort of injury that not only rules you out of football, but also affects every part of your life. In all I spent a year in hospital and, while I was able to work on my leg and later tried to get back into football, it didn’t happen. But now, as a coach, when I look back at what happened, it was no great loss to Russian football to be deprived of Slutsky the player.”

Russia’s “Special One” When Slutsky later began coaching in the Russian Premier League, the local press dubbed him “the Russian Mourinho” given his lack of experience as a professional player. “When the president of FC Moscow, Yuro Belous, hired me, he was asked why he was employing someone who had never played football,” Slutsky recalls. “He answered: ‘Mourinho never played professionally either.’ That’s how what is really a far-fetched comparison started. But I was pretty relaxed about it.”

Although Slutsky has done most of his coaching in Moscow, he has strong links with other parts of Russia. He was born in Volgograd, and spent a year coaching in Samara .

Both cities will be hosting matches at Russia 2018, and, according to the CSKA boss, are very excited about the prospect.

“People in Russia, and the provinces in particular, are really looking forward to the World Cup. For these cities, it’s the chance of a lifetime to see the best stadiums, the best footballers, to bring about real improvements in infrastructure and to be part of the international community. Not everyone living in these cities has the opportunity to travel abroad. They’re already looking T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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RUSSIA

A VERY PERSONAL TOUCH Numerous events were held across Russia to mark 1,000 days until the Opening Match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™. The activities centred on a volunteer programme aimed at giving the tournament an individual touch.

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riday 18 September marked 1,000 days until the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ begins with the Opening Match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. To mark this signifi-

cant milestone, over 45,000 people in 33 cities across Russia took par t in a whole host of events organised by the Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee (LOC) with suppor t from the Volunteer Centres Association and the Russian Student Spor ts Clubs Association. The main focus was on attracting volunteers for the tour­n ament itself, a process that will begin in the second quar ter of nex t year.

“For us, the communit y of volunteers plays an impor tant role

in promoting a positive image of the 2018 FIFA World Cup RusKick-off The countdown gets underway in Moscow’s Red Square.

sia™,” said Alexey Sorokin, CEO of the Russia 2018 LOC. “In fact, volunteers will become the face of this global event. We are hap py that the chance to take par t in the Volunteer Programme has at tracted such huge interest from across the countr y. And the 1,000 day countdown has clearly shown that. To date, Russia 2018 LOC volunteer centres have already been selected in all 11 Host Cities, but we are going to run the volunteer programme as a single team. Volunteer candidates will be able to apply to take par t from the second quar ter of 2016.”

In other events to mark the 1,000 day countdown, football matches and masterclasses took place across the length and involved, while volunteers in Arkhangelsk and Tambov helped youngsters who have grown up in orphanages develop their Anticipation 1,000 days to go until the Opening Match of Russia 2018.

footballing skills. In Vladivostok, Russian First Division side Luch Energiya hosted a mini-football tournament, with Russia’s Minister of Spor t and Chairman of the Russia 2018 LOC Vitaly Mutko eager to stress the physical benefits that playing football brings. “It is impor tant for us that spor t and healthy lifest yles become increasingly popular among young people,” he said. “In terms of preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, we are building a multitude of spor ts venues across practically the entire European par t of Russia. This is not just new stadiums, it is also training grounds and team bases. This will all lay the foundations for the rich legacy that the tournament will leave behind, and we are cer tain it will help improve the nation’s health.” Å

Representative 1990 world champion Lothar Matthaus gets involved.

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Sefa Karacan / Anadolu Agency / AFP, Pavel Lisitsyn / RIA Novosti / AFP, Golovanov + Kivrin / imago

breadth of the countr y with schools and universities getting

RUSSIA

Grigoriy Sisoev / RIA Novosti / AFP

Successful start Leonid Slutsky (r.) won his first two matches as Russia head coach and is satisfied with the way his team played.

f­ orward to the World Cup. So I want to tell all football fans planning to come to Russia that they’ll quite simply be charmed by the people they meet, especially in the regions, and they’ll be charmed by the feel-good atmosphere the tournament will bring to these cities.”

So would Slutsky himself like to be national team coach when Russia hosts the World Cup? “I don’t really think in those terms,” he said. “I just go from one match to the next without looking that far ahead. But it’s definitely the case that, for any coach, it would be very prestigious, and also very emotional, to prepare your national team for a World Cup at home.”

Striving for recognition Slutsky is currently focusing on the crucial upcoming EURO 2016 qualifiers. Critics of the national team still claim the current line-

up lacks stars, but that is not quite the way the coach sees it. “If ‘stars’ means players from the top clubs in the best leagues, then that’s true, we don’t have any,” he acknowledged. “That said, Cheryshev’s at Madrid, and we would really like to see him get more playing time there. But the way I see it, the Russian championship doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. I think the national team’s got really good players, and they’re absolutely up to the challenge facing them at the moment – which is to qualify for EURO 2016.” Å

Russia’s path to EURO 2016 With two wins from as many games at the beginning of September, Leonid Slutsky got his tenure as Russia national team coach off to the perfect start. In 2016 ­European Championship qualifying his side posted a 1-0 victory over Sweden – direct rivals for a place at the tournament – and also beat Liechtenstein 7-0.

The wins lifted Russia to second in the Group G standings on 14 points, two ahead of Sweden in third and eight behind Austria, who have already booked their ticket to the finals. Russia’s hopes of securing automatic qualification are therefore in their own hands as they head into their final two games against Moldova and Montenegro.

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RIV ER PL AT E

Third triumph River Plate were in celebratory mood following their Copa Libertadores success in August.

No fear of Barcelona

T

hough the days of Antonio Alzamendi speeding down the wing or cutting inside and ghosting past defenders in the No7 River Plate jersey may be over, the Millonarios faithful have far from forgotten him. Now 59 and sporting a shock of white hair, the Uruguayan forward says that he has become “sensitive” with age, which might explain his reaction to the adulation he received from the River fans on a recent trip to Buenos Aires.

It came on 3 August, when Alzamendi made the journey from his native Uruguay to the Argentinian capital to see his beloved River claim the Copa Libertadores title. His appearance caused the home fans to strike up an old chant once sung in his honour, back in the days when he 28

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became a club legend on the back of the header that gave Los Millonarios a 1-0 win over Steaua Bucharest in the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. “Hearing them sing “Uruguayo, Uruguayo!” gave me goose bumps,” Alzamendi said, recalling that heartfelt ovation from the fans. “It had me shaking all over. I was lucky enough to score the most important goal in River’s history and that’s kept me in their thoughts.”

Anxious to downplay his part in that triumph, Alzamendi added: “We were a team that filled in the biggest black hole in the club’s history, and that was never having won the Copa Libertadores and the world title. What we did is still fresh in the memory, and it was a landmark achievement for one of the most important clubs in the world.”

Xinhua / imago

In 1986 Antonio Alzamendi helped River Plate win their maiden Copa Libertadores title and then the Intercontinental Cup. He believes the current side could repeat that feat at the Club World Cup in Japan in December.

RIV ER PL AT E

“We weren’t little kids.

We were a pretty fierce bunch.”

Antonio Alzamendi

River’s relationship with the Libertadores was an unhappy one until the likes of Alzamendi, Norberto Beto Alonso, Oscar Ruggeri, Hector Enrique, Nery Pumpido, Americo Gallego and Juan Gilberto Funes broke the curse in October 1986. Less than two months later they travelled to Japan – where River will return this December to contest the FIFA Club World Cup. Alzamendi's goal then earned his side their one and only Intercontinental Cup win and completed, in the space of only 46 days, an international double that broke a 26-year hoodoo.

AFLOSPORT / imago

Feeling like King Kong “The pressure was on us in every game, but we had a group of players who could stand up to anything,” Alzamendi continued. “We were up for any challenge, and we didn’t care who we came up against because we were confident we could beat anyone.

“It was a team that broke with River’s history. Maybe we didn’t play the prettiest football but we were very strong. That team had a lot of character.”

The motivational skills of coach Hector Veira were also crucial to their success: “El Bambino convinced us that we could go down in the club’s history,” Alzamendi explained. “His team talks got you so pumped up you felt like King Kong.”

After sweeping their continental rivals aside, Veira’s River travelled to Tokyo to take on a Steaua side that had stunned everyone by beating Barcelona in the European Cup final and which contained seasoned Romania internationals such as Marius Lacatus, Miodrag Belodedici, Adrian Bumbescu and Gavril Balint.

Describing the first time they caught sight of their opponents, Alzamendi summed up the psychology of that River squad: “We arrived in Japan virtually at the same time as the Romanians. They were wearing suits and we were in this gym gear that was so tight we looked like dancers.

“We said to ourselves: ‘Look at those madmen. Look at them. Look at the meat on them. We’re going to eat them anyway. We’re going to beat them anyway.’ And that’s how it turned out. It was very difficult to get the better of us. We had four world champions with Argentina and five members of the Uruguayan national team. We weren’t little kids. We were a pretty fierce bunch.”

Semi-final on 16 December Many of the fans who witnessed River’s three Libertadores wins – the second of which came in 1996, a year in which they went on to lose to Juventus in Japan – believe the current champions and the class of ‘86 have a lot in common. Having followed their Libertadores run to the final on TV (“I like watching football in peace and quiet, at home with my wife and sipping on mate”), Alzamendi agreed in part.

“The players are totally different in terms of characteristics but they’ve got a similar team spirit and this team has also learned how to win finals and get through tough games,” he said. “When we beat the Brazilians in the quarters (a 3-0 victory over Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte following a 1-0 home defeat in the first leg), I saw a very strong team.

They showed a huge amount of character, and the coach Marcelo Gallardo has got a lot of personality and knows the game inside out.”

River’s dream now is to win their semi-final on 16 December and then take down the mighty Barcelona in the final four days later in Yokohama. But is it an impossible one? “If I bumped into Luis Enrique, I’d tell him to watch out because River have got what it takes,” replied a defiant Alzamendi.

“Barcelona have got [Luis] Suarez, [Lionel] Messi, Neymar and [Andres] Iniesta but it’s just the same as when we played the Romanians. There are only 11 of them. I think River have got a real chance. I suppose they’re Goliath and we’re David. Watch out, because a little stone could do them a lot of damage.”

Speaking with true Uruguayan grit, the former No7 added: “Roque Maspoli, who played in goal in the Maracanazo in 1950, used to say to us: ‘Everyone said Brazil would beat us 99 times out of 100, but we beat them the one time we had to. Brazil can have the other 99.’

“I think River can do the same. Barcelona would maybe win nine times out of ten, but let’s see what happens when the game’s played.

Football is all about doing it when you have to, and this team has responded superbly when it’s had to stand up and be counted.” Å Eduardo Barassi

Match winner Antonio Alzamendi (c.) at the 1986 Intercontinental Cup.

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FOOTBALL FOR HOPE

Football for Hope is our global commitment to building a better future through football. To date, we have supported over 550 socially-responsible community projects that use football as a tool for social development, improving the lives and prospects of young people and their surrounding communities

To ďŹ nd out more, visit the Sustainability section on FIFA.com.

FREE KICK

SPOTLIGHT ON

GENER AL INFORMATION Country: Sri Lanka FIFA Trigramme: SRI Confederation: AFC Continent: Asia Capital: Colombo

Fan favourite Annette Braun

Mario Wagner / 2Agenten

D

uring his 13 years at Borussia Dortmund, Dede won two Bundesliga titles and made 399 competitive appearances, of which 322 were in the league and 47 on the European stage. The Brazilian striker was with the Yellow-and-Blacks from 1998 to 2011 and has long since secured a place in Dortmund fans’ hearts.

At the beginning of September it became clear just how popular Dede is among the Dortmund faithful and at the club itself at his testimonial, in which he played alongside numerous former team-mates and global stars in front of a crowd of 80,000. The sheer number of spectators present underlined the impact the former No.17 made on the Ruhr district club, having stayed with them through thick and thin.

Dortmund and Dede triumphed together and also stood side by side when the club faced insolvency; far from pushing them apart, it brought them closer together. The Brazilian rejected attractive financial offers from other clubs and stayed in Dortmund, saying the city was his home.

Players with that kind of loyalty are a rarity in the fast-moving world of the modern game, and as such they are honoured and showered with affection. Football fans have big hearts and an equally big desire for support and devotion. Although they have the

opportunity to cheer their team on every week, there are decreasing numbers of players they can truly identify with.

Dede was one such player. He was one of the fans and is still a hugely popular figure in Dortmund to this day, despite the fact he has not played for the club for four years and is currently working as an assistant coach in Turkey.

Once supporters have taken a hero into their hearts, their admiration and affection know no bounds. Dede’s testimonial between a World XI and a ‘national team’ selected by him filled a stadium, making it the all-time best-attended farewell fixture in Europe. Å

GEOGR APHIC INFORMATION Surface area: 65,610 km² Highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m Neighbouring seas and oceans: Indian Ocean

MEN’S FOOTBALL FIFA Ranking: 184th World Cup: No appearances

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL FIFA Ranking: 124th World Cup: No appearances

L ATES T RESULTS Men’s: Bhutan - Sri Lanka 2:1 17 March 2015 Women’s: Indien - Sri Lanka 4:0 13 March 2015

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Westminster, England

1958

Sven Torfinn / laif

Laundry drying slowly in the cold, wet English climate.

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Elmina, Ghana

2012

mauritius images

The process is rather quicker with the help of an Atlantic breeze.

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THE ART OF FOOTBALL

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Formation and fortune

“We’ve earned the right to be in the top ten of the World Ranking and are on the verge of doing something special.”

Ronald Düker

Wales team coach Chris Coleman

“It’s the saddest day of my life. I was with him when he was born, shared an experience for seven years that will never be repeated, and gave him his last kiss goodbye. I’ve not shed so many tears in years but my grief is shared.

Life will not be the same without you.”

Michael Owen after his beloved horse Brown Panther was put down after suffering an injury defending the Irish St Leger crown

Imagebroker / imago

N

ever before have tactical line-ups and strategies been as popular a topic of debate as they are today. Formations such as 4-4-2, 5-3-2, 4-3-3 and even 4-2-3-1 are bandied about as though they were being read from a telephone directory. Back in the 1970s, though, it was a rather different story: legendary head coach Rinus Michels' 'total football' system gave his players licence to roam the pitch and switch positions with more regularity and flexibility than ever before. Michels' Oranje ran rings around their opponents at the 1974 World Cup - at least until the semi-final stage. Despite the apparent fluidity of Michels' approach, there was an obvious structure to his 4-3-3 system, providing a platform for his players to prosper.

Certain other systems have long been consigned to the history books. The very attacking 2-3-5 formation, which enjoyed great popularity during the 19th century, was known as the Pyramid, while the ultra-defensive 1-4-3-2 formation employed by the Italians to slowly wear down the opposition over a century later is commonly called Catenaccio.

One thing that football fans the world over have grown accustomed to in recent years are the TV graphics that serve as a visual aid of how a team is set to line up. The pitch is depicted as an abstract rectangle, while the players are portrayed as small dots. These dots are typically lined up in rows of varying length, although it would be impossible to draw a straight line along them: some of the dots are positioned further forward than others in any given row,

depending on the more defensive or attacking role of the player in question. Though a player's movement can only be outlined in this rather primitive fashion, these graphics are nonetheless able to relay a team's set-up reasonably accurately.

Let us take a moment to compare these tactical diagrams with a roulette table - a green baize surface covered in red and black squares which are numbered from 1 to 36.

The zero on a roulette table is almost exactly where the goal would be on a diagram of a football pitch. A roulette player can choose between a number of moves - or bets - which are listed in rectangles that run parallel to the numbered squares on the other side of the “touchline”: Passe, Manque, Pair, Impair, Rouge and Noir. Just like the dots denoting the players on the football pitch, the roulette chips can be moved up and down the table onto one of the squares. The comparison ends, however, with the roulette wheel through which the ball spins before eventually slowing down and deciding the gambler's fate.

Coaches can be as meticulous as they like: no matter how compelling their team's formation, whether they win or lose is ultimately decided by an entirely different power. Sometimes the result is fair, sometimes it is not; but it is always unpredictable. This is precisely why so many of us regard ­football as the most beautiful game in the world. Just as in a game of roulette, once the ball is in motion the outcome is in the hands of the gods. Were this not the case, we might as well replace human footballers with robots. Å

“There are a lot of stars in this Paris team – the only place where you can find more is in the sky!”

Age Hareide, Malmo’s coach, on Paris Saint-Germain

“My team is like the RA – beep, beep, beep! I love it. When you want to build something, it’s about the club. The head of the fish. That’s the secret. Now I want a clean sheet. If we get one I’ll pay for pizza… and maybe even a hotdog.”

Claudio Ranieri on Leicester City

“He was a very direct guy. One day he would humiliate you in front of the entire team and the following day he would make you feel like Zidane.”

Barcelona’s Xavi on Louis van Gaal

“Wrestling has definitely had an impact on my physical attributes, my agility and on the way I control my body. It taught me to think of myself as an individual.

In wrestling, the only one taking responsibility is me.”

Finland international Emmi Alanen T H E F I FA W E E K LY

35

FIFA PARTNER

HONDURAS

“I want a fresh style for Honduras” Some crises provide genuine opportunities for renewal, which is exactly how veteran Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto is looking at his ongoing assignment with Honduras.

Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images

L

os Catrachos’ underwhelming showing at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup revealed their shortcomings and the scale of the task he faces in turning their fortunes around. Now ten months into his tenure, the 62-year-old Pinto shared his thoughts and plans in an exclusive interview. “Transitions from one generation to the next are always painful, but it’s allowed me to look for a fresh style for Honduras,” he said, getting straight to the point and identifying his main challenge.

Honduras enjoyed unprecedented success in the period between 2009 and 2014, qualifying for the FIFA World Cup™ twice in a row for the first time in the country’s history and doing so directly, without having to go through the intercontinental play-offs. Though talented, the generation that achieved that feat went to Brazil 2014 as the second-oldest squad in the competition, with an average age of 28.56. And after La H went tumbling out in the group phase, the time had come for a generational handover.

Pinto knew as much when he signed the contract that made him national team coach, making that handover his number one priority: “We analysed the team’s recent past and realised that was the course we needed to take. We had no option,” he said. “That’s just the way things are, and the idea is for the team to gradually pick up the concepts they need so that there’s no vacuum and no shortfall in terms of experience.”

That process of change is already under way. Of the 23 players called up by Pinto for the friendlies against Ecuador and Venezuela, only seven are survivors from the squad that contested last year’s world finals.

“There’s a new generation of talented young players coming through,” commented Pinto.

“Some of them already have experience of playing abroad and have had a taste of international football, which is really important in my eyes. It’s something we can work with.”

A results business The transition is proving anything but easy, however, as recent results show. Since their elimination at Brazil 2014, Honduras have lost 11 of the 20 matches they have played, winning only five and drawing the remaining four. In the process, they finished a lowly fifth in last year’s Copa Centroamericana 2014 and were knocked out in the group phase of the recent Gold Cup after losing to USA and Haiti and drawing with Panama.

Despite that unsatisfactory run of form, the coach sees reasons to be optimistic. “Some games have been learning experiences and have been demanding for us, especially the ones with Brazil and Mexico,” he explained. “To

my mind, the results in the Gold Cup don’t reflect how we played. We performed well, but we made some schoolboy errors. It hasn’t been easy, but my feeling is that, one way or another, we’re doing fine.”

A coach of great experience and the man who took Costa Rica to the quarter-finals in Brazil last year, Pinto is aware that it will take time for his message to get through and for the new Honduras to take shape. Nevertheless, his objective is clear and he knows that it can only be achieved through hard work: “I want this team to do more with the ball, to play a faster game than they used to.”

A 3-0 defeat of Venezuela suggested that the wily Pinto might be on the right track. He certainly believes so: “The talent is there. All we need to do is work on it, because these players can go far.” Å Martin Langer T H E F I FA W E E K LY

37

WOMEN’S WORLD R ANKING

USA none none 98 Nigeria (7) Jamaica (67th, up 7) Nigeria (38th, down 9) 6 (Fiji, Guyana, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Grenada) none

Leader Moves into top ten Moves out of top ten Matches played in total Most matches played Biggest move by ranks Biggest drop by ranks Newly ranked teams Teams that are no longer ranked

Rank Team

Last updated: 25 September 2015

Rank Team

+/- Points

+/- Points

Rank Team

+/- Points

1 USA

0 2189

51 Belarus

-2 1476

101 Mali

-2 1196

Rank Team Singapore **

+/- Points

2 Germany

0 2115

52 Ghana

0 1475

102 Palestine

-2 1192

Vanuatu **

1139

3 France

0 2083

53 Paraguay

-2 1459

103 Dominican Republic

-6 1191

Angola **

1134

4 Japan

0 2052

54 Ecuador

0 1451

104 Cook Islands

1 1185

Sierra Leone **

1132

5 England

0 2038

55 Croatia

5 1436

105 El Salvador

-4 1184

Congo DR **

1132

6 Korea DPR

2 1993

56 India

0 1425

106 Moldova

-4 1180

Armenia **

1104

7 Brazil

-1 1973

57 Israel

0 1424

107 Zimbabwe

-3 1174

American Samoa **

1075

8 Sweden

-1 1970

58 Jordan

-5 1423

107 Latvia

-5 1174

Guinea **

1063

9 Australia

1177

0 1968

59 Iran

-1 1418

109 Ethiopia

-3 1154

Eritrea **

1060

10 Norway

0 1933

60 Peru

1 1412

110 Suriname

-3 1152

Burkina Faso **

1038

11 Canada

0 1924

61 South Africa

-2 1408

110 Honduras

-3 1152

Uganda **

965

12 Netherlands

0 1908

62 Turkey

0 1395

112 Malta

-3 1145

Guinea-Bissau **

927

13 Italy

0 1874

62 Côte d’Ivoire

5 1395

113 Solomon Islands

1144

Syria **

927

14 Denmark

1 1856

64 Slovenia

0 1390

114 Samoa

1138

Iraq **

882

15 China PR

-1 1840

65 Venezuela

0 1380

115 Puerto Rico

0 1137

Liberia **

877

16 New Zealand

0 1839

66 Northern Ireland

0 1376

116 Kyrgyzstan

-6 1134

Mozambique **

873

17 Korea Republic

0 1838

67 Jamaica

7 1374

116 Luxembourg

-6 1134

Sierra Leone *

1132

18 Spain

1 1824

68 Haiti

-5 1372

118 Georgia

-6 1116

Burkina Faso *

1038

19 Iceland

-1 1818

69 Greece

-1 1364

119 Nepal

-7 1115

Grenada *

1029

20 Scotland

0 1791

70 Panama

-1 1363

120 Nicaragua

-6 1111

Rwanda *

996

21 Switzerland

0 1781

71 Uruguay

-1 1361

121 Cyprus

-6 1108

Barbados *

979

22 Russia

0 1779

72 Bosnia and Herzegovina

-1 1360

122 FYR Macedonia

-5 1079

Macao *

922

23 Ukraine

0 1770

73 Kazakhstan

-1 1351

123 Gabon

-5 1052

Liberia *

877

24 Finland

0 1754

74 United Arab Emirates

-1 1348

124 Namibia

-5 1039

British Virgin Islands *

867

25 Colombia

0 1747

75 Hong Kong

0 1347

125 Zambia

-5 1015

US Virgin Islands *

852

26 Mexico

0 1736

76 Bulgaria

0 1343

126 St Vincent and the Grenadines

-5 1000

Andorra *

763 761

27 Austria

0 1722

77 Estonia

0 1329

127 St Lucia

-5

991

Comoros *

28 Belgium

0 1712

78 Albania

0 1322

128 Bangladesh

-5

987

Madagascar *

714

29 Thailand

1 1666

79 Indonesia

0 1321

129 Sri Lanka

-5

968

Turks and Caicos Islands *

704

30 Czech Republic

0 1654

79 Algeria

0 1321

130 Lebanon

-4

949

31 Republic of Ireland

2 1653

81 Morocco

0 1320

131 Bermuda

-4

943

32 Poland

-2 1639

82 Tunisia

0 1314

132 St Kitts and Nevis

-7

942 938

33 Vietnam

2 1629

83 Philippines

0 1312

133 Maldives

-5

34 Costa Rica

0 1627

84 Guatemala

0 1300

134 Tanzania

-5

937

35 Argentina

1 1621

85 Fiji

1292

135 Pakistan

-5

926

36 Wales

1 1620

86 Bahrain

0 1289

136 Grenada

37 Chinese Taipei

2 1608

87 Guam

0 1287

137 Dominica

-6

900

38 Nigeria

-9 1602

88 Faroe Islands

0 1286

138 Afghanistan

-6

889

39 Portugal

-1 1580

89 Egypt

0 1278

139 Qatar

-6

864

40 Hungary

0 1565

90 Laos

0 1273

140 Cayman Islands

-6

849

41 Romania

0 1562

91 Malaysia

0 1260

141 Swaziland

-6

836

42 Chile

0 1559

92 Guyana

1259

142 Belize

-6

825

43 Uzbekistan

2 1540

93 Tonga

-8 1258

143 Kenya

-6

796

914

43 Serbia

3 1540

94 New Caledonia

144 Bhutan

-6

778

45 Cameroon

-2 1530

94 Senegal

-2 1252

145 Antigua and Barbuda

-6

767

46 Slovakia

1 1525

96 Montenegro

-3 1241

146 Aruba

-6

745

47 Myanmar

-4 1515

97 Lithuania

-3 1238

147 Botswana

-6

730

48 Trinidad and Tobago

0 1489

98 Bolivia

-2 1217

Azerbaijan **

1341

49 Papua New Guinea

1 1480

98 Cuba

0 1217

Tahiti **

1238

50 Equatorial Guinea

5 1477

100 Congo

-5 1206

Benin **

1187

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/women

38

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

1252

** Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked. * Provisionally listed due to not having played more than five matches against officially ranked teams.

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39

GRASSROOTS

FIFA inspiring girls and boys to play football FIFA’s Grassroots programme is the core foundation of our development mission, aimed at encouraging girls and boys around the world to play and enjoy football without restrictions. Grassroots focuses on the enjoyment of the game through small-sided team games, and teaching basic football technique, exercise and fair play.

For more information visit FIFA.com