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Trivia
Fun Fact x Trivia
Football coaches and their teams would always seek to exploit anything that might give them an advantage over opponents. The sizes of football pitches is one of such things that can come into play. Regulations state that a pitch must be 90-120 metres long x 45-90 metres wide. As expected, this flexibility of range is ripe for manipulation.
Graeme Souness, the hard-nosed former Liverpool captain, turned hard-nosed manager, and currently a hard-nosed pundit, smelled an opportunity to gain an advantage over an opposition team in a 1987-88 European Cup tie. Souness was managing Rangers of Scotland and they were 1-0 down from the first leg of their tie against Soviet champions, Dynamo Kyiv.
Fun Fact x Trivia
He recently just turned 47 years old. He wanted the number 7 shirt when he signed for Liverpool in 2001 because Kenny Dalglish was his idol. However, that number was already being worn by another player. So he asked for 17 and then 27, both which had also been taken by other players. He eventually settled for jersey number 37 that season. [Read more…] about Fun Fact x Trivia
Fun Fact x Trivia
Harry Kane’s penalty in the final seconds of the 2-2 draw at Anfield not only grabbed Spurs a valuable point, but also sneaked him ahead of Mo Salah in the race for the Premier League golden boot.
With Aguero not too far behind on 17 goals, it seems it would be a tight 3-way battle till the end of the season if each of them remain fit. While Kane is facing serious competition for his golden boot, there have been top scorers in other seasons and other leagues who have had it much easier. As easy as finishing ahead of 2nd place while having a double-digit gap.
Challenges of a modern day football manager
Managing a football team is tough, much tougher than any of us can even imagine, especially in today’s footballing world which is exponentially improved in all aspects in last 20-25 years, be it technological advancement, modern medical development, continuously improving tactical nous, technical data, business model and marketing structure, financial returns, fan awareness and demands, social presence and intense pressure . Not only one needs to make the team buy into his ideas, but to manage the egos, keep their morals high, take care of opposition tactics, manage and choose from the data provided by the number crunchers of the technical crew to his benefit , manage and keep the entire squad happy and motivated by distributing playing time, look into requisite transfers and give importance to academy, manage injuries and medical profiles of varying players by adjusting his team likewise, answer the owners and fans, conduct themselves in a particular way etc etc. And after accomplishing all that, they are expected to win trophies or achieving their footballing targets set by the owners or fan expectations.
Hence they need a team of 5-6 people to assist them in every facet. No wonder Pep has lost his hair, Mourinho’s hair is turning snow white, Zidanes smooth face has started wrinkling slowly, no wonder managers today burn out within 3-4 years and need a sabbatical before a fresh start. The pressure, expectations and criticism is so intense, even the greatest of modern managers can’t sustain it for too long. We see top clubs today change managers with snapping of fingers for faltering at the first hurdle, even the smallest of clubs today change managers like shirts, patience is short and with the interlinked spiderweb of social media, pressure is infinite. No matter how much aloof one tries to remain from external pressure, there is no escaping it. The manager will find experts and pundits in newspaper columns and TV channels saying how he should manage the team and how his team should play, he will find fans screaming from the galleries and in social media platforms, how he is mismanaging the side and buying the wrong players. It’s a landmine everywhere which is ready to explode at the faintest of missteps.
Managing a club today is as much about actual management as it is about football and tactical knowledge. That’s why we find successful managers like Sir Alex Ferguson being invited to premium managerial institutes to give lectures and share their ideas and experiences on management.We find autobiographicies and managerial books written by successful managers selling like hot cakes in the market. Inevitably and invariably , there is no single managerial way which is a sureshot recipe of success. We find calm and subdued managers like Carlo Ancelotti, winning multiple league titles and multiple Champion Leagues. No wonder his managerial autobiography is titled, “Quiet Leadership”. We have colorful and energetic modern managers like Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp, who combine their radically different styles of man management with footballing acumen to manage top clubs. We have tactical grandmasters like the Late Johan Cruyff and his modern mirror image Pep Guardiola, who perhaps relies more on their footballing philosophies and a standard footballing legacy and balances them with their own style of management to remain at top. We find promising and intelligent ex players trying their hands at management, some of them get their hands burnt, some succeed.
Football today is traversing, previously unthinkable uncharted territories, both financially as well as from business point of view. But the eternal hot seat of football still continues to be the manager who is the face of the club in front and hence represents the club from its owners to its team members in front of fans and cameras. Hence, perhaps they have the toughest job in modern footballing world and it will continue to be so in coming days, as they will try to continuously juggle between the various facets of the game, finances and the particular club, and will try to innovate and evolve in every facet to keep on producing results .
Arindam Chakraborty
Fun Fact x Trivia
‘Olympic goal‘ – The name given to a goal scored directly from a corner kick. Doesn’t happen too often, only one such goal has been scored in all world cups.
First man to score such a goal at international level was Argentina’s Cesareo Onzari in a 2-1 win over Uruguay in 1924. (Uruguayans claim he was assisted by the wind, Argentines say it was all about his technique. Different perspectives understandably)
But the man who has scored the most number of goals directly from corners is Turkish striker, Sukru Gulesin. He scored a mind bending 32 Olympic goals during his career and made it into the Guinness Book of Records. Bend it like Beckham? Curve it like Sukru.
Oladimeji Sapoloso
Fun Fact x Trivia
Corner flags. Tim Cahill shadow boxes with them. Roger Milla used them as a dancing partner. Some footballers kick them, some use them like guitars. But corner flags are one of the most important pieces of equipment for a football game.
If a corner flag is damaged and a replacement can’t be found, the game must be abandoned. A match also can not commence without all four corner flags being present. The kick off of the 1974 world cup final was delayed for that very reason.
It is a yellow card offence to bend or shift the corner flag when taking a corner kick. And while flags marking the middle line of the pitch have gradually disappeared over the years, corner flags are still one of football’s corner stones.
Oladimeji Sapoloso
Un-Quoted
Cristiano Ronaldo. An epic footballer. Winner of many individual awards, breaker of many records, scorer of an unbelievable number of goals at an incredibly consistent rate.
Cristiano Ronaldo. The one footballer we couldn’t even do a parody interview for. What can you write when Ronaldo himself gave an interview a few days ago that is almost like a parody? Ha.
Could we make fun of the weird looking sculpted bronze bust which doesn’t look anything like him, but which he was quite happy with? Or the regular showing off of his 8-pack abs, an action that we can’t even poke fun at anymore? Or the occasional childish petulance and dramatic behaviour?
We would rather just go ahead and present the interview he gave. Below are his glorious words.
”No other player has won as many individual trophies as me. And I’m not only talking here about the Ballon d’Or,” Ronaldo said. “That says something, no?
“It’s not only the work that I’m doing in the gym, like people think. It’s a combination of many things. Legends like Floyd Mayweather or LeBron James, they didn’t get to this level of perfection by chance. It must be many factors coming together. To be at the top and stay there, you must always have more talent than others.
“You know, I respect everyone’s preferences. But I don’t see anyone better than me. I always thought that.
“No other footballer does things that I am not capable of doing myself. But I see that I do things that others can’t do. There’s no player more complete than me. I play well with two feet, I’m fast, powerful, good with headers, I score goals, I deliver assists.
“People have the right to prefer Neymar or Messi. But I insist: There is no one more complete than me. …
“You will go and say that I have a big head, but when you’re at the top, it’s normal that you’re criticised. … I am the best player in history, in both good and bad times.”
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He has done the unthinkable and forced ”Un-qouted” to become ”quoted”. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the Cristiano Ronaldo effect. Seemingly making the impossible, possible.
Article by Oladimeji Sapoloso
Portrait by Daniel Diaku.
Fun Fact x Trivia
Jersey numbers in recent decades have gone haywire. We had Milan Baros playing upfront and wearing number 5 for Liverpool. There was William Gallas playing defence for Arsenal while rocking a number 10 jersey.
Honorable mentions to Victor Perales who had number 143, Tommy Oar with 121 for Australia, and Osvaldo Ardilles who spent his career in midfield but played for Argentina in a jersey numbered 1. There have been numerous other mystifying examples.
However, a few players took it even further. In year 2000, Aberdeen’s Moroccan striker, Hicham Zerouaki wore a number Zero on his jersey (because of his surname, geddit?). At the end of the season, the Scottish FA outlawed that number and put an end to such nonsense.
Prior to that, in the 1990s, Finnish midfielder, Mika Lehkouso wore 96.2. Mad stuff. When HJK Helsinki qualified for the Champions League, he was told UEFA only allow numbers between 1 and 99. He dropped 0.2 and sensibly went with 96.
Maybe the most justifiable one is Ivan Zamarano’s. When Ronaldo, he of the phenomenal talent, was given Zamarano’s number 9 jersey at Inter Milan, the Chilean striker was understandably miffed. So he got a jersey numbered 1+8. Because 1+8 = 9, Quick Maths. Ivan’s smart way of telling them, ”you can’t take my shine”. Top lad.
Oladimeji Sapoloso
Fun Fact x Trivia
Goals for minus Goals Against = Goals Difference. ”Quick Maths” as Big Shaq would say. Manchester City currently have a +31 goals difference. If they keep up their current rate of scoring plenty and conceding few, they could be hitting +100 goals difference this season.
The current record for highest goals difference in England’s top flight is held by Chelsea. Ancelotti’s brilliant Blues banged in 103 goals in season 2009/10 and conceded only 32. A tally of +71 which is yet to be surpassed.
However, the more impressive feat of +100 or more has actually been achieved in another major European league. It has happened in Germany twice, and rather surprisingly, Bayern Munich are not in the conversation. In the 1936/37 season, Schalke finished with +119, while in 1942/43 Dresdner SC tallied up a goals difference of +136.
Other notable record holders for goals difference in various leagues include: Spanish La Liga – Real Madrid +89 (Season 2011/12), French Ligue 1 – PSG +83 (2015/16) and Italian Serie A – Torino +92 (1947/48).
In all the examples listed, the teams ended up champions of their leagues. That is not shocking at all. However, there are have been teams who manage to win league titles while finishing with very low goals difference.
In a previous edition of Fun Fact x Trivia, I mentioned the AIK team who managed to win a league title in Sweden by scoring only 25 goals in 26 games. I now present a league champion from Ghana who did even ‘better’ and ended with a goals difference of only +9, seven years ago.
Aduana Stars were a newly promoted team in the Ghana Premier League in season 2009/10. They one-cornered the trophy by scoring only 19 goals in 30 matches (!), while conceding just 10. All other 15 teams in their league scored at least 7 more goals than they did. I reckon the fans, players and management of Adauna Stars hardly gave two hoots when the trophy was being lifted though.
Oladimeji Sapoloso