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WWW.FIFA.COM/THEWEEKLY
ISSUE 53, 24 OCTOBER 2014 ENGLISH EDITION
Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904
“World champions get nothing for free”
Manuel Neuer exclusive
ROMANIA SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH
KOREA REPUBLIC GOALS GALORE FOR
LEE DONG-GOOK
VENEZUEL A NOEL SANVICENTE
ON A MISSION
T H I S W E E K I N T H E W O R L D O F F O O T B A L L
North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com
South America 10 members www.conmebol.com
The FIFA Weekly Magazine AppThe FIFA Weekly, FIFA’s magazine, is available in four languages as an e-Magazine and on your tablet every Friday.
6 Spotlight on youth
Romanian children and young people are being encouraged to get back into football, but this is no easy task for a country whose priorities have shifted over the years. Perikles Monioudis visited the ‘House of Football’ in Bucharest to consider how Romanian football can emerge from this crisis.
16 Costa Rica Although the country’s recent World Cup boost can scarcely be felt in the Primera Division, the efficiency and success of league leaders Alajuelense is remarkable.
23 Sepp Blatter Modern goalkeeping made football faster, leading to an important adjustment in 1992. “I can say with a certain amount of pride,” says FIFA President Blatter in his weekly column, “that I provided decisive input to the back-pass rule.”
37 Klas Ingesson A cancer diagnosis shook his world; now the family man and coach of Swedish club IF Elfsborg is seeking to make the most of every day.
18 Noel Sanvicente Venezuela’s new national team coach wants to take the country to its first World Cup.
15 USA Kyle Beckerman is proof that dreadlocks can deliver.
“World champions get nothing for free”This image of Manuel Neuer was captured in February 2014 during a shoot for kit manufacturer adidas.
adidas / Hamish Brown
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T H I S W E E K I N T H E W O R L D O F F O O T B A L L
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
17 Korea Republic Despite struggling to shine abroad, Lee Dong-gook is a force of nature in his home league.
24 Manuel Neuer The World Cup-winning goalkeeper discusses his role as a trendsetter in an exclusive interview.
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FIFA Club World Cup10 – 20 December 2014, Morocco
FIFA U-20 World Cup30 May – 20 June 2015, New Zealand
FIFA Women’s World Cup6 June – 5 July 2015, Canada
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Connecting every fan of the game
Make new friends and discover shared passions in the Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge.
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FIFA Weekly-PCR7-English-215x289.indd 1 7/2/14 12:04 PM
U N C O V E R E D
The footballing prowess of the Romanian national team carried them to three successive World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, but that golden era ended when Gheorghe Hagi’s generation hung up their boots. Now, after years in crisis,
the country’s federation has begun to search more intently for talented young-sters, even travelling overseas to trace Romanian families who emigrated after the 1989 revolution. Perikles Monioudis went to Bucharest to speak with those responsible and, from page 6, describes the difficulties of making a fresh start.
Manuel Neuer seems to do his job with the greatest of ease – just one of the reasons why the 28-year-old is regularly asked about his role as a modern goalkeeper. “You’ve got to make the right decisions and stick by them
100 per cent,” he explains. “I know there are risks involved.” Roland Zorn’s exclusive interview with Germany’s goalkeeper starts on page 24.
In his weekly column on page 23, Sepp Blatter even speaks about a new “Neuer Benchmark”: “No position has changed more dramatically over the last 20 years than that of goalkeeper. Neuer was not only the best keeper at the
World Cup, he was also, in my opinion, the best outfield player.” Å
Alan Schweingruber
Looking to the future
Farewell match Gheorghe Hagi with his then two-year-old son Ianis in 2001.Cri
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Spotlight on youth
Vadim Ghirda / Keystone / AP
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World’s biggest flag Romania’s record-breaking ensign at Clinceni airport in Bucharest.
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With Romania keen to become a force in world football once more, its national association – the Federatia Romana de Fotbal – is focusing on youth development.
Perikles Monioudis, Bucharest
On a warm October day in Bucharest, a light blue sky, merg-ing into white here and there, extends in all directions. Underneath it the traffic-filled streets and boulevards of the Romanian capital are lined with tall chestnut trees radiating an autumnal yellow. Driving among the magnif-icent constructions and monuments from a bygone era, as well as the derelict buildings dotted around the city, the going is frequently slow on workdays. On the side streets of the metropolis, home to millions of people, it is advis-able to keep an eye out for potholes. Lurching along the banks of the River Dambovita in the sunshine, with the suspension taking the occasional hit, it is tempting to
close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself on a steamboat cross-ing a vast expanse of ocean, such as the Atlantic.
In June 1930, the SS Conte Verde departed Genoa with the Roma-nian team one of four European sides on board. The Belgian, French and Yugoslavian delegations were also bound for Montevideo and the maiden World Cup. Various reasons were cited as to why other nations, including Germany, England, Italy, Austria and Spain chose not to par-ticipate at the tournament. Some associations balked at the expense, while others disagreed with the idea of a World Cup in Uruguay, or indeed the concept of professional football itself.
Jules Rimet, the FIFA President at the time, boarded the ship along-side the French team in Villefranche-sur-Mer with the World Cup Tro-phy stowed in his luggage. Rimet had campaigned vehemently for France to participate and made arrangements with the players’ employ-ers. Romania’s King Carol II, who had only been on the throne a matter of weeks, was likewise the driving force behind his country’s partici-pation at the tournament and he ordered the team to perform almost military-style drills on deck during the two-week crossing.
Some people attributed his stringency to his German-English ances-try, while others paid more attention to the side’s results: in Group 3 Romania beat Peru 3-1 but were defeated by the hosts and eventual
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Opulence of a fallen regime A striking contrast to Bucharest’s charm.
Long journey The Romanian team aboard the SS Conte Verde en route to Montevideo in 1930.
Belodedici is in good spirits when we meet and the polite, easy-go-ing legend of Romanian football, who now works as an advisor to the FRF president, does not take himself too seriously. Asked when the next period of Romanian success will arrive following the accomplish-ments of 1930, 1986 and 1994, he says: “After the turmoil of 1989, foot-ball lost its standing in Romania because of changes in society. Many people used the new-found freedom to leave the country and moved to Spain or Italy.” This primarily affected rural areas, where previous-ly a great deal of sport, football especially, was played. Nowadays clubs throughout the country are private institutions. “Children now have to pay if they want to play a decent level of football,” Belodedici said.
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champions Uruguay 4-0. Romania’s first-ever World Cup goal was scored by 21-year-old Adalbert Desu, who was born as Bela Dezso in Gatalja, Austria-Hungary. Whilst at the competition in Uruguay he was not paid by his club FCM Resita and as a result of the dispute the attacking left-midfielder moved to Banatul Timisoara after the tournament, but later died of pneumonia aged 28.
Belodedici: a symbol of successOur car journey ends at Bucharest’s ‘House of Football’, situated in the shadow of the new national stadium, where large black-and-white pho-tos hang on the walls in homage to Romania’s 1930 World Cup team – the first success story of the country’s football association, the Feder-atia Romana de Fotbal (FRF), which was founded in 1909.
Sitting in front of the photographs is Miodrag Belodedici, who was born a generation and a half after Romania’s World Cup outing in 1930. The 55-time international, once an elegant sweeper, was among the group of players responsible for the second highlight in the country’s footballing history. Belodedici was part of the Steaua Bucharest side that lifted the 1986 European Cup – the Champions League of that era – after beating Barcelona on penalties in Seville. To this day, the cup success in 1986 remains the greatest achievement in Romanian club football. In 1991 he lifted the trophy once again, this time with Red Star Belgrade after they defeated Olymipique Marseille on penalties. Belodedici spent four years in Spain from 1992 onwards, including stints at Valencia and Villareal among others.
Belodedici also played a significant role in his country’s third foot-balling triumph, forming part of the Tricolorii side that reached the quarter-finals at the 1994 World Cup in the USA. No Romania team has ever advanced further at the tournament. That legendary ensemble, built around the dazzling talents of Gheorghe Hagi, Dan Petrescu, Ioan Lupe-scu, Gheorghe Popescu, Viorel Munteanu, Ilie Dumitrescu, Florin Raduci-oiu and goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea, lost to Sweden in a penalty shootout after Belodedici’s decisive spot-kick was saved by Thomas Ravelli. FI
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Heading for Euro 2016 The Tricolorii pose ahead of their 1-1 draw with Hungary on 11 October 2014.
Postmodern Bucharest Graffiti covers a derelict building.
He also believes the Romanian game is a long way off rediscovering its past glories: “It’ll be very, very difficult to compete in European club football again. The clubs are private businesses and the owners expect immediate results. They’ve shown that they’re not really interested in developing youngsters, but they should be; they should use training centres and organise lots of games so that the young players can im-prove, even if it doesn’t have an immediate impact on the senior side’s place in the table.” The FRF has built a training complex in Mogosoaia, in the northern outskirts of Bucharest, where youth teams can use the facilities and play matches against foreign teams. “The aim is to con-tinually improve the level our youngsters are playing at,” Belodedici
continued. “There are some players who are at Juventus, Roma, in Spain or elsewhere, even if they’re not first team regulars. They’ll be trained there.”
Scouting trips abroadAt the ‘House of Football’, former international and coach Aurel Ticleanu, capped 42 times for his country, prepares for the journey to Getafe, south of Madrid. He is aiming to observe young players with Romanian roots who might be interested in playing for one of the FRF’s youth teams. “Over there we’ll take a look at 90 youngsters aged between 15 and 16,” said Ticleanu. “We hope to be able to identify a couple of very good players.”
Ticleanu also revealed that the FRF keep a watchful eye on young-sters a lot closer to home too: “We have 21 scouts across the country who look for players for the federation,” explains Ticleanu. “They watch youth matches and scrutinize players between the ages of 14 and 19. The best of them, approximately 15 per cent of all youngsters, are called up by the federation. That makes around 150 players per year. They’re in-troduced to me and also to Miodrag Belodedici and Ion Vladoiu [a 28-time former international], as well as the youth team coaches of course.”
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“Many people used the new-found freedom to leave the country.”
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A blend of experience and team spirit
On May 6 1992, the Far-oe Islands travelled to Bucharest for the first
match of their 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign. While Ro-
manian fans in the capital were delighted to see their side ease to a 7-0 win that night, no-one was in the mood to overdo the celebrations. With the match falling on a Wednesday and an emphatic victory over such low-ranking opposition largely expected, their reticence was hardly sur-prising. However, there may have been one or two Romanian fans enjoying a qui-et glass of champagne in the hope that their side’s easy victory would herald the start of an unforgettable era for Romani-an football.
With the talented Gheorghe Hagi, then under contract with Italian side
Brescia, pulling the strings in midfield, Romania soon racked up 15 points and 29 goals to beat the likes of Belgium and Czechoslovakia to top spot in the group. Perhaps most importantly, the experi-enced Romanian national team trav-elled to the World Cup in the USA with new-found self-confidence and good team spirit. “I wouldn’t say that we were the best national team in the history of Romanian football,” said former mid-fielder Ioan Lupescu. “The team of 1970, which included my father, also played good football. But we were very strong in 1994. We played some great football
and could compete with the very best. The people of Romania still remember our team today.”
Memorable win over ArgentinaRomania kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Colom-bia before losing their second match 4-1 to a strong Switzerland side coached by Roy Hodgson. But a 1-0 win over hosts USA saw the Tricolorii finish top of their group and by this point, it was clear for all to see that this unheralded Romanian side was a force to be reckoned with. “We could beat anyone on our day,” Hagi later declared in an interview.
Circumstances certainly worked in Ro-mania’s favour prior to their Round-of-16
clash against Argentina, who had trav-elled to the USA on the back of an incred-ible 33-match unbeaten run. Diego Mara-dona was sent home after failing a drugs test and Claudio Caniggia was ruled out after picking up a muscle injury. The East-ern Europeans took full advantage, play-
ing some bold and brilliant free-flowing football to overcome the South American giants 3-2 in a match that many pundits regard as the greatest played at the 1994 World Cup. Lupescu, who now works for
UEFA, said: “Our performance on that 3 July generated a lot of emotion, not just in Romania but all over the world. That’s fan-tastic.” The Romanians were unlucky to fall at the next hurdle when they lost on penalties to fellow outsiders Sweden at the quarter-final stage.
Hagi’s academyGheorghe Hagi, then in the prime of his career, was signed by Barcelona after the World Cup. He later joined Turkish giants
Galatasaray, where he played for five years before hanging up his boots. In
2009 the former star founded a football academy for children and youths between the ages of 6 and 18, which is based in Ovidiu near his birthplace of Sacele. “Dur-ing my childhood I was fortunate enough to be able to play football all the time and
everywhere,” said Hagi. “I want to offer the young people at my academy this same opportunity. We want to develop
the players here step by step.”Some of the players from Hagi’s acade-my have already featured for the Roma-nian national team, who have made a
bright start to their EURO 2016 qualifying campaign. Yet it is unlikely to become clear whether they have a chance of reaching the tournament in
France before the evening of 29 March 2015, which marks the halfway point in qualification. Incidentally, it is a familiar foe that the Romanians will be welcoming back to Bucharest that night: the Faroe Islands.
Alan Schweingruber
"We were very strong in 1994. We could compete
with the very best ."Ioan Lupescu
A rock midfielder Ioan Lupescu played in all five of Romania’s matches at the 1994 World Cup.
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In Mogosoaia Ideal training conditions for the Romanian team.
Flying the flag Romania enjoy rousing support at home.
Ticleanu is surprised at the large quantity of talented youngsters in Romania, a nation with 20 million inhabitants: “The coach of our 15-year-olds told me we have around 50 players who are good enough to play for the national side in their age category.”
And yet in the last two decades Romania’s gifted youngsters have not risen to the top in football. “It’s my job to fill young people with enthu-siasm for the game,” said Ciprian Paraschiv, FRF’s head of development. “That’s harder than it used to be. We need to invest in the foundations but youngsters don’t just start playing by themselves. They have a lot more options than they used to have: the internet and computers for example. If you want football to develop you need to invest in youth.”
Apparently, that has not happened in recent decades. “A profession-al club needs five, six or even 15 years to train a young player,” Paraschiv continued. “It’s much easier just to sign a player from abroad who can strengthen the team straight away.”
Slow return on investment So how can clubs be persuaded to invest more in youth development? “We’re working hard to answer that because we want it to happen,” Paraschiv said. “One of our suggestions is for every senior side to field three under-21 players in their starting line-up. For the clubs that could mean earning income further down the line from the transfer fee of one of their former youth members. But it’s difficult to change attitudes. Clubs prefer to sign a foreign player of the same quality, potentially on better financial terms, than a homegrown player.”
Over the last few years there have been several unusual occurrenc-es in Romanian club football. In 2009 FC Unirea Urziceni won the championship in only their third season in Liga 1 and went on to compete in the Champions League. Yet in summer 2011 the owner chose not to register the side for any further competitions, before selling the club and keeping the profits. Gheorghe ‘Gigi’ Becali, the
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The House of Football The Romanian Football Federa-tion’s headquar-ters opened in 2005.
Legend with responsibility Miodrag Belode-dici stands in front of Bucha-rest’s National Stadium.
An eye for youth FRF scout Aurel Ticleanu is also a former Romanian international and coach.
At Mogo-soaia’s training centre An oversized Brazuca match ball stands in the car park.
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Here in this secluded rural setting, located close to the wonderfully renovated palace originally built by Prince Constantin Brancoveanu between 1698 and 1702 on Lake Mogosoaia, the guard also watched Hagi’s 15-year-old son Ianis train. Over the summer the youngster, who is captain of the country’s U-17 side, moved from his father’s football academy to first division club FC Viitorul, where his father has been coach since September.
Romania are well placed to qualify for a European Championship again, namely EURO 2016 in France. They owe their strong position to a 1-0 opening qualifying victory away to Greece, which was followed up with a 2-0 away triumph in Finland – despite four changes to the
owner of Steaua Bucharest, offered bonuses to league rivals if they failed to turn up for matches against certain opponents. He is cur-rently serving a jail sentence for unlawful detention.
“In England’s Premier League,” said Paraschiv, “there is a rule, among others, that foreign players must have made a certain number of appearances for their national team before they can be given a contract.” At present the FRF’s main objective is for the national team to qualify for a major tournament again, having only taken part in four of the eight European Championships in the last 30 years, while the Tricolorii’s last World Cup outing was at France 1998.
The Hagi familySitting in his second-floor office, Paraschiv explains further. “Every major tournament is a good opportunity for us to promote football. We’re applying to host the futsal Euro 2018. We have a professional futsal first division, as well as a second division. The games in the top flight are broadcast live on television. The only Romanian national team that has qualified for the Euros three times in the last decade is the futsal team. Now we need a new indoor pitch.” And what of the women’s game? “I have high hopes,” Paraschiv said. “The Romanian wom-en’s handball team is absolutely world class. Why can’t we have the same in football? There is huge potential here. There are young players in our national side and next year, for the first time, there will be a 21-team youth league for girls between the ages of 12 and 15. It’ll be played across five tournaments. We still need to improve attendance figures though.”
The guard at the entrance of the national training centre in Mog-osoaia, which was opened in 2005 and staged four matches at the U-19 European Championship in 2010/11, greets us on this warm, sunny autumn afternoon. Inside the complex there is an oversized Brazuca matchball in the car park, and behind it lie two perfectly manicured grass pitches and one slightly smaller artificial pitch. Like many oth-ers, the guard considers Gheorghe Hagi to be Romania’s finest ever player and fondly recalls watching many of his games. C
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Stretching for a blue, yellow and red ball Football is played on a pitch in central Bucharest.
Chip off the old block 15-year-old Ianis Hagi (centre) captains Romania’s U-17s.
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starting line-up – and most recently a 1-1 draw with Hungary in what was a decidedly mediocre game.
However, a few days ago national team coach Victor Piturca, a strik-er in the legendary 1986 Steaua side, announced his resignation and subsequent move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad. “We don’t have any infrastructure,” he said last November. “We’ve lost four out of five of our pitches and children are no longer playing football on the streets in Romania. Youngsters just don’t have an appetite for the game anymore. We don’t have any outstanding players.” The great Gheorghe Hagi, who incidentally is much stricter with his own son than with other players in public, would likely dispute that statement. Å
FIFA's support for RomaniaA range of projects have been realised in recent years thanks to FIFA’s support. In 2010 world football’s govern-ing body invested US$400,000 in a grass pitch, artificial turf pitches and changing rooms for the technical centre in Buftea. FIFA provided the same sum nine years earlier for the construction of the headquarters in Bucharest. US$500,000 was spent on training facili-ties in Buftea, Mogsooaia and Contanta. FIFA has also invested US$218,000 in Romanian women’s football in the last four years.
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I N B R I E F
If anyone required proof that football can provide people from disadvantaged backgrounds with a second chance in life, they need only look at the Homeless World Cup, currently being staged
in Santiago de Chile. Over 500 players both male and female are participating in the twelfth edition of the tournament, which was first held in 2003, but winning the competition isn’t the be-all and end-all for the 63 teams taking to the streets in South America. On the contrary, the tournament is designed to encourage people to lift themselves from poverty, isolation and drug addiction and reinte-grate themselves into society. Only one team can get their hands on the trophy, but all players should be regarded as winners here. Sta-tistics show that approximately 80 per cent of participants take better control of their lives following the tournament – whether through drug withdrawal, full-time employment or apprenticeship, a home of their own or even voluntary work at another club. Perhaps the greatest success story involving a former ‘homeless’ player, though, is that of Portuguese forward Tiago Manuel Dias Correira, more commonly known as Bebe. Having appeared for CAIS, partner organisation of the Homeless World Cup and responsible for Portu-gal’s national homeless team, Bebe was signed by English record champions Manchester United in 2010. Now aged 24, he plies his trade at Portuguese giants Benfica. Å
Tim Pfeifer
Former serial Ugandan national champions SC Villa recently showed that they mean business in the country’s Premier League by banning players from having dreadlocks. “We want to give off the image of a disciplined team,” said club president Immanuel Misagga. Proof that it is possible to be a successful footballer and even play in a World Cup despite having dreadlocks was provided by the new darling of the USA side Kyle Beck-
erman, whose coach Jurgen Klinsmann did not seem to mind his hairstyle at all. At any rate, it would be wrong to attribute USA’s elimination against Belgium in the Round of 16 to Beckerman’s locks, as he was on the bench. But was he there because of his coiffure in the first place? A more plausi-ble explanation is that he risked suspension because he was already on a yellow card. Å
Dominik Petermann
Rome is a wonderful city. You can sun yourself on the Spanish Steps, marvel at the carriages that go in and out of Vatican City or simply linger in a cosy garden restaurant eating the best
spaghetti of your life. These were the same choices that greeted the thousands of Munich fans who visited the Eternal City last Tues-day. Wherever you looked, supporters were intent on relaxation, which seemed understandable. That evening, European giants Bay-ern Munich played at the Stadio Olimpico, with several of Italy’s former world champions welcoming some of Germany’s reigning ones. The time for relaxation seemed to be over almost as soon as the floodlights were switched on at AS Roma’s home ground. As the goals mounted up – 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 – the scene began to resemble that of Germany’s World Cup semi-final in Brazil. The parallels were remarkable: five goals in barely half an hour, 5-0 at half-time and 7-1 at the final whistle. Bayern’s only real challenge of the evening was to analyse their high-scoring victory after the game without sounding boastful, arrogant or sarcastic. Munich coach Pep Guardiola solved the problem by saying: “We didn’t have enough possession… We struggled a little… We didn’t play very well at all in the first 25 minutes of the second half,” while insert-ing a couple of positive comments along the way. You can’t get more diplomatic than that. Å
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will be headed their way in the weeks to come. Alajuelense might not play the most attractive football, but they are mighty effective and very successful. The 2-1 win against Municipal de Perez Zeledon was their tenth victory in 12 league games.
Their lead on second-placed Universidad de Costa Rica might only be three points, but with Alajuelense taking part in the CONCACAF Champions League, their three league games in hand suggest an even bigger gap lies ahead.
Quarter-finalists at the World Cup in Brazil, Costa Rica were one of the biggest surprises
C o s t a R i c a ’s P r i m e r a D i v i s i o n
A league without its own World Cup stars
Sven Goldmann is a leading football correspondent at Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin.
The Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, the home stadium of
Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, is set to host even more celebratory scenes. The side from Alajuela has lifted 29 league titles and there is a good chance another one
of the tournament. The country’s historic World Cup run has not resulted in much of an impact in the domestic league though – barely any of the World Cup stars play their football back home.
Captain Bryan Ruiz is currently plying his trade at second-division English side Fulham, and is hoping to make a transfer-window move to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. Keylor Navas’ performances in Brazil earned the goalkeeper a contract at Real Madrid, and Joel Campbell’s stock has increased at Arsenal.
Alajuelense can proudly proclaim one World Cup winner in their ranks. Defender Johnny Acosta made two appearances for Costa Rica at the World Cup in Brazil, although in Alajuelense’s win against Zeledon, he was a peripheral figure. Youth players Luis Sequeira and Jean Carlo Aguero both got on the scoresheet, seizing the opportunity awarded to them by head coach Oscar Ramirez, who rested some key players ahead of their Champions League game against Mexican side Cruz Azul. Å
Luis Sequeira (left) Alajuela’s talented youngster and goalscorer in their 2-1 win over Perez Zeledon. Ra
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K o r e a n K L e a g u e C l a s s i c
From ‘La z y Gen ius ’ to force of natu re
Roland Zorn is a football expert who lives in Frankfurt am Main.
Lee Dong-gook has only played a supporting role on world football’s biggest
stages, managing only seven Bundesliga appearances for Werder Bremen in the 2000/01 season and 23 games for Middles-brough while they were still a Premier League side back in 2007/08. As for goals, there were none, nor did the Korean attract special attention during his substitute appearances at the two World Cups he travelled to in 1998 and 2010. Nevertheless, the 35-year-old striker
is now flourishing at home in the Korea Republic’s K League Classic, where he is once again the top flight’s leading goalscorer, netting 13 times in 32 appearances for top-of-the-table Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. With 165 strikes in 370 K League matches, Lee is the most prolific striker ever to grace this 31-year-old competition. The powerful player so often overlooked by his club coaches also continues to make an impact for the national team he was recalled to this summer. His tally of 33 goals and 103 caps gives an indication of the class of a player who is particularly close to his roots and was once dubbed the ‘Lazy Genius’.
In 2002, Lee was not selected by then nation-al team coach Guus Hiddink to represent the ‘Reds’ at their home World Cup and then received a one-year ban from the national team in 2007 as punishment for a late-night
drinking spree with three team-mates during the Asian Cup. The K League’s top scorer has since put these setbacks behind him; he is currebtly worth his weight in gold for the club he joined in 2009 and is now guiding them towards their third league title.
With one match to go before the end of the regular season and shortly before the six best sides in Korea’s 12-team league embark on the end-of-season play-offs, Jeonbuk hold a seven-point lead over Suwon Bluewings – a cushion attributable in no small part to the formidable talent of Lee Dong-gook. Å
Another crisp finish Lee Dong-gook tees up a powerful shot on the edge of the penalty box.
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T H E I N T E R V I E W
Mr Sanvicente, what are the aims of your new project?
Noel Sanvicente: I’ve come with the intention of giving the country something to celebrate, and that is qualification for the 2018 World Cup. That’s probably the most difficult of my targets.
Venezuela only narrowly missed out on reach-ing the finals at Brazil 2014. What is the mood like within the team?
They’re moving on. My team is still very young, but we’ve also got to benefit from the experience the squad gathered with the previous coaching staff. They did an excellent job. It’s now time to combine that with our own work to take that last vital step. We know the path to Russia will be more difficult because Brazil will be back in qualifying again and the smaller teams have become stronger. We’ve all got to knuckle down and be confident.
How does your approach differ from that of your predecessors?
Only the lads can really answer that question. All I can say is that we take very good care of the players and pay attention to the smallest details so that everyone feels comfortable and assured whenever they take to the pitch.
What style of football would you like to introduce?
My teams have always been aggressive in attack and strong when it comes to winning the ball. I want to have a dynamic team.
One of your players, Nicolas Fedor, has spoken of a new morale in the team since you took over.
That’s great. I constantly strive for improvement and correct the players on what they’re doing. I also see myself as an instructor even though their schools and
Venezuela are the only team in the South American Football Confederation never to have qualified for the World Cup finals.
The new ‘Vinotinto’ coach Noel Sanvicente is now setting out to change that.
“I’m very strict”
youth departments are really responsible for that. But you can always learn if you’re open to it. Many players say that I’m like a father to them. I’m strict, but later the players realise how much they’ve learned from me.
Do you work closely with the youth depart-ment?
Of course. The youth teams at my previous clubs regularly won championships. I want to unearth talent and strengthen every part of this football association. It’s crucial that we spare no effort in getting the best out of the wonderful training centre we have at our disposal.
The majority of your experience has come from club football, but the rhythm of working with a national team is completely different. How are you dealing with the change?
We try to work regularly with videos and meet at the association’s headquarters every day. At the moment there’s a lot of office work that I’m still getting used to. I’ve got to adapt even though it can be difficult. We try to make maximum use of our meetings between matches; that way we get to know each other better and have a chance to introduce our training exercises. I put forward my ideas then so that everything’s clear at our next meeting, which allows us to make the most of the few days leading up to each match.
Which element is most important in your training sessions: conditioning or tactics?
I think players have to work on their physical performance with their clubs, so the key consideration for members of the national team is getting the best out of their work on the ball and learning what kind of moves and systems I want to see from them. That’s how we learn how we want to play. But a nutritionist will also give them some guidelines and keep in touch with their clubs to optimise their physical training.
Your players say that you set high standards but also give them freedom. How do you maintain this balance?
I’m very strict when we’re working, but off the pitch I’m more of a friend. Provided they do their job conscientiously and work within the guidelines I set, everything’s fine.
And what if players do not respect that?I’m very direct. I tell the players what I do
and don’t like. The rules are not there to be discussed but to be followed, but the players also have to feel free. The best way to get everyone on side is through communication. As long as we’re open, honest and sincere, we won’t have any problems with each other. Å
Noel Sanvicente was speaking to Tamara Castro
Nel
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18 T H E F I FA W E E K LY
NameNoel Sanvicente BethelmyDate and place of birth21 December 1964, San Felix, VenezuelaPosition playedStrikerClubs played for1980–1986 Mineros de Guayana 1986–1993 CS Maritimo de Venezuela 1994–1996 Minerven Bolivar FC 1996 Caracas FCTeams coached2002–2010 Caracas FC 2010–2011 Deportivo La Guaira 2012–2014 Zamora FC since 2014 Venezuela national teamVenezuela national team10 caps between 1989 and 1990
Nel
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19T H E F I FA W E E K LY
P l a c e : K p e v e , G h a n a
Da t e : 1 6 M a y 2 0 1 4
T im e : 9 . 2 2 a . m .
First Love
20 T H E F I FA W E E K LY
Nyani Quarmyne / Panos Pictures 21T H E F I FA W E E K LY
Developing football everywhere and for all
Organising inspiring tournaments
Caring about society and the environment
FIFA is committed to developing football for the benefi t of all. Our mission is to:
Develop the game FIFA’s primary objective is to develop the game of football in our 209 member associations. The FIFA World Cup™ gives us the resources we need to invest USD 550,000 per day in football development across the globe.
Touch the worldFIFA’s aim is to touch the world through its international football competitions and events, uniting and inspiring people everywhere.
Build a better future Football is much more than just a game. Its universal appeal gives it a unique power and reach which must be managed carefully. FIFA believes it has a duty to society that goes beyond football.
For the Game. For the World.
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P R E S I D E N T I A L N O T ET H E D E B A T E
Best wishes, Sepp Blatter
Off the top of my head, two legendary goalkeepers spring to mind: one is Jorge Campos, who played for Mexico. He always wore multicoloured shirts and even played as a striker at one point during his career. Another is Robinson Zapata – a Colombian, like Higuita – who even managed to score a goal from a punt up field.
Philipp, Germany
Kahn is and always will be a larger than life character! I miss him as a player, but that makes watching his comments and analysis as a television pundit all the more enjoyable. In my opinion, he’s one of the greatest goal-keepers the world has ever seen and remains Germany’s best ever keeper, even though Neu-er is a great goalie too.
05474902010d, Germany
Even Germany’s reserve goalkeepers are better than other nations’ first-choice keepers. I’m thinking of Adler, Hans-Butt and Neuer too, of course!
jj.plucky, India
Rui Patricio doesn’t get enough plaudits on the world stage – he’s an exceptional goal-keeper! You have to bear in mind that a striker can afford to make an error every now and then, but the most important attribute of any keeper is his consistency. Patricio never makes any major blunders!
cherie13, France
A famous coach once made the following joke: “I don’t understand goalkeepers. I don’t understand how you can go onto the pitch and wait around for the ball for 90 minutes if you love playing football so much.” If you ask me, though, a good keeper kicks every ball in his head and is more alert than any other player on the pitch.
ljbejing, China
Keylor Navas and Tim Howard are simply magnificent! Manuel Neuer is exceptional too, of course, but those two impress me that little bit more.
07isa.kadir.10, Turkey
A goalkeeper has to adapt more than any-one else on the pitch – the best keepers are probably more versatile than any other player. The way I see it, though, hoofing the ball away is a mistake that even the best still make. The risk of the ball landing in the “arms of the opposition” is simply too great.
singi78, Switzerland
Vincent Enyeama is my favourite! He’s scored several goals and plays just as well for his club as he does for his country due to his incredible adaptability. I hope he will contin-ue to build on his success!
fisayo2k1, USA
The best
keepers are more
versatile than any
other player.
Keylor Navas and T im Howard
are simply magnif icent!
FIFA.com users share their thoughts on some of the world’s best goalkeepers and their qualities:
FIFA’s goalkeeping instructors gathered in Zurich this week for a seminar. The main topic was the standardisation of goalkeep-
ing instruction around the world. No position in football has changed more dramatically over the last 20 years. In the past, keepers were al-most exclusively responsible for defending and shot-stopping and could only “actively” influ-ence events by time-wasting, but their duties changed significantly after 1992. This was prompted by the introduction of the back-pass rule, prohibiting keepers from playing the ball with their hand if it has been passed to them via a team-mate’s foot. I can say with a certain amount of pride that I provided decisive input to this groundbreaking modification in the wake of the 1990 World Cup.
Since then, goalkeepers have also required ball-playing skills. We might even go as far as to say that the keeper in modern football must be able to fill the role of an eleventh outfield player. The significance of the position in tac-tical terms has also increased in that he or she is the only player who always has both teams in his or her field of vision. This is why more and more keepers are also appointed as cap-tains. I would go even further and describe the goalkeeper as the coach’s assistant.
The World Cup in Brazil reminded us of the match-winning nature of goalkeeping. The tournament was of course largely an attacking spectacle, but it was also a World Cup of out-standing goalkeepers. I’m thinking of the multi-talented goalkeepers from South Ameri-ca, but especially of Germany’s Manuel Neuer. Neuer was not only the best keeper at the World Cup, he was also, in my opinion, the best outfield player. As of this year, a new “Neuer Benchmark” applies to all goalkeepers.
A new “Neuer Benchmark”
23T H E F I FA W E E K LY
M A N U E L N E U E R E X C L U S I V E
NameManuel NeuerDate and place of birth27 March 1986, GelsenkirchenClubs played forSchalke 04, Bayern MunichMajor honours2014 World Cup winner 2013 Champions League winner 2013, 2014 Bundesliga winner 2011, 2013, 2014 DFB Cup winner
24 T H E F I FA W E E K LY
Germany’s 2-1 win against Algeria was a crucial game in their World Cup campaign, thanks in no small part to Manuel Neuer,
who admits: “I had to take risks.” The FIFA Weekly caught up with arguably the world’s best goalkeeper for an exclusive interview.
“My feelings before a match are usually
wrong”
M A N U E L N E U E R E X C L U S I V E
Mr Neuer, as a world champion, do you still tremble with nerves before major football matches?
Manuel Neuer: No, and I didn’t before we won the World Cup either. I have to make it clear to my opponents that nobody’s getting past me. The calmness and confidence I take into matches has an effect not only on our rivals but also on my team-mates, who are counting on me.
Practically everything has been asked of you over the years: you are expected to be the best goalkeeper in the world as well as the perfect eleventh member of the team. Does it some-times feel as if you are being asked to do too much?
It isn’t always easy to manage the range of responsibilities I have, but I don’t think too much about the demands placed upon me; instead I try to demand those things of myself. I also know that I can make mistakes
every now and again. As for being the best goalkeeper in the world, it’s been written occasionally, but I’d never say it myself. For me, the main thing is that I continually improve my game and make sure I keep setting the bar high.
In contrast to previous great German goal-keepers like Oliver Kahn, you don’t seem to fit the profile of a ‘lone wolf’ or ‘solitary hero’. Why do you think that is?
Personal success means nothing if it isn’t aligned with the success of the team. I consid-er myself to be a team player more than anything else. I’m reliant on the guys playing in front of me. I have to take up my position in front of the goal depending on how high up the pitch they’re playing or where they’re attacking to make sure I can stay in the game. The whole thing is always a matter of team-work that I can’t decide alone; luckily, it almost always comes together.
So what’s the most enjoyable thing about sport?
Just doing something together. Celebrat-ing Christmas alone isn’t much fun either.
How do you influence your defensive team-mates when shouting instructions about how they should position themselves?
Sensible orders are part of a goalkeep-er’s game. I can’t give my colleagues a dressing-down and unsettle them, nor would I want to, so I have to choose instruc-tions that are short, accurate and easy to understand. That’s also why keepers today need to have such a thorough understand-ing of the game.
Your goalkeeping for the world and German champions has set a new benchmark. It has been hailed by many as a revolution and was praised by your national team coach Joachim Low as the goalkeeping of the future. Do you
25T H E F I FA W E E K LY
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consider yourself to be an international trendsetter?
For years, I’ve understood that my goalkeeping style is the one I employ today. My game hasn’t fundamentally changed; it was just that the global attention that comes with the World Cup gave it a com-pletely different platform. Our Round-of-16 match against Algeria [which Germany won 2-1 after extra-time] sticks in the memory because I had to come out of my area to act like an outfield player so many times, and that caught the attention of people who didn’t know that much about me before. Anybody who watches the Bundesliga will have been aware for some time of the various ways I interpret my role. I had to take risks against Algeria because it suited a match in which our team were playing high up the pitch and Algeria were using the pace of their players to counterattack strongly.
A goalkeeper in a match like that who is required to make plenty of tackles outside the penalty box has to have incredibly good timing.
You’ve certainly got to make the right decisions and stick by them 100 per cent. I know there’s a risk that my decision could lead to a goal, a penalty or a dismissal, but I’d have no chance to make the save if I was indecisive about it – I’d be too easy to beat.
Do you occasionally play outfield in training at Bayern?
Yes, we sometimes practise our positional play with seven against three, so I occasional-ly play an outfield role then. That’s important too, because it gives me a chance to improve my technique, my passing skills and quick ball distribution. Previously, outfield players hardly played the ball backwards because they didn’t know what the goalkeeper would do with it. Nowadays it’s perfectly normal for us to act as another passing option.
During a match, do you touch the ball more with your hands or your feet?
I think I make more contact with my feet.
M A N U E L N E U E R E X C L U S I V E
The Algeria match caught the at tention of people who didn’t
know that much about me before.
30 June, Porto Alegre Manuel Neuer perceives the danger in plenty of time to ensure that…
… Algeria’s Islam Slimani cannot capitalise on his goalscoring opportunity.
In safe hands Neuer gathers the ball from the lively Algerians as his grateful team-mates look on.Leon
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27T H E F I FA W E E K LY
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M A N U E L N E U E R E X C L U S I V E
What kind of level do you think you would be able to reach if you were an outfield player?
Probably the fourth tier, so the Regionalli-ga in Germany. That’s about where I could realistically see myself playing anyway. But I don’t know what position I’d play in.
Unlike many of your contemporaries and despite your talent, you’re not a showman in goal.
That’s because I’m always trying to do the obvious thing and just play.
What do you remember more readily: your fantastic saves or your occasional blunders?
I’m not somebody who watches my top ten saves on YouTube; I don’t have any inter-est in that. What’s more interesting are the situations where I can ask myself, “What did you do right?” and above all, “What did you do wrong?” I think it’s necessary to analyse that and then to improve. As a young goal-keeper, I watched the Eurogoals programme; everyone watched it for the players’ fantastic strikes, but I kept an eye on the goalies and how they behaved in those moments.
Given that the dynamics of modern goalkeeping are split between classic responsibilities on the goal line and in the penalty area with additional jobs as an eleventh outfield player, is there ever any time to relax during a match?
To be honest, I’m never out of the game as a goalkeeper, not even in matches where I don’t have to actively intervene very often. It’s exactly those games with just two or three testing moments that can be very stressful mentally because you have to be on top of things the whole time. You can never switch off. It’s like a university lecture; if you don’t hear something properly the first time around, then tough luck.
Are there also matches where you feel at an early stage: “Nothing’s going to go wrong today”?
I’ve had umpteen different feelings before matches, and most of them are wrong. I’ve thought, “Nothing can get in my way today,” often enough in the warm-up, and then you get out on the pitch and think again. Having a good feeling about a game can be very deceptive. As a goalkeeper, I always start from scratch even if I’ve made a mistake; that’s how I deal with it. Referees wouldn’t be able to even get a match underway without the same kind of mentality.
Although you’re one of football’s international stars, does it help that you never act like a star and instead always remain grounded and sensible?
Behaving like a star doesn’t achieve anything. I can stay in a five-star hotel, but I can also go camping.
How long does the elation of being a world champion really last?
It stays with you forever. That said, I don’t walk around like a world champion; it’s not appropriate and, besides, life goes on in football. World champions get nothing for free. Å
Interview conducted by Roland Zorn
I could see myself as a fourth division
outfield player.
10%0% 15% 20% 25% 30% Neuer (Germany) Ryan (Australia) Bravo (Chile) Benaglio (Switzerland) Buffon (Italy) Joe Hart (England) Tim Howard (USA) Hugo Lloris (France) Ospina (Colombia) Navas (Costa Rica) Cillessen (Netherlands) Júlio César (Brazil) Beto (Portugal) Courtois (Belgium) Romero (Argentina) Karnezis (Greece) Muslera (Uruguay) Ochoa (Mexico) Sung-ryong (Korea Republic) Rais Mbolhi (Algeria) Kawashima (Japan) Dauda (Ghana) Itandje (Cameroon) Akinfeev (Russia) Valladares (Honduras) Enyeama (Nigeria) Begović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Barry (Ivory Coast) Casillas (Spain) Dominguez (Ecuador) Haghighi (Iran)Pletikosa (Croatia)
30% Neuer (Germany) Ryan (Australia) Bravo (Chile) Benaglio (Switzerland) Benaglio (Switzerland)
Buffon (Italy) Joe Hart (England) Joe Hart (England) Joe Hart (England) Tim Howard (USA) Hugo Lloris (France) Hugo Lloris (France)
MANUEL NEUER GERMANY
GIANLUIGI BUFFON
TIM HOWARD
IKER CASILLASITALY
USA
SPAIN
<1%1-2%>2%
Left Comparing Manuel Neuer's movement with that of three other international goalkeepers.
Below Percentage of pitch covered by all World Cup goalkeepers (includes all World Cup games played by each keeper).
W h e r e Wo r l d C u p g o a l ke e p e r s s p e n d t h e i r t i m e
Wo r l d C u p g o a l ke e p e r p i t c h c o v e r a g e ( i n p e r c e n t)
FIFA goalkeepers’ summit analyses latest trends: http://tinyurl.com/lx6k4lz
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F R E E K I C K F I F A’ S 11
Most successful teams at the U-17
World Cup
1 Brazil 143 points 44 wins 14 appearances
2 Nigeria 131 points 40 wins 10 appearances
3 Argentina 97 points 28 wins 12 appearances
4 Ghana 91 points 27 wins 8 appearances
5 Mexico 84 points 26 wins 11 appearances
6 Spain 83 points 25 wins 8 appearances
7 Germany 65 points 19 wins 8 appearances
8 USA 64 points 19 wins 14 appearances
9 Australia 55 points 16 wins 11 appearances
10 Uruguay 40 points 12 wins 6 appearances
11 Italy 36 points 10 wins 7 appearances
Source: FIFA(FIFA, Report: Alltime Ranking U17-World Cup, 21.10.2014)
True to the motto “you only live once”, many people draw up a very special bucket list at least once in their lifetime under the title
“Ten things I would like to do before I die.” To-tally subjective, drawn up in a mad moment or over a glass of red wine, absolutely anything gets included: ‘Write a list of the nine things,’ for example, or ’Attend a football World Cup.’ Or, for the hardcore fans: ’Attend a World Cup final.’
The list can be expanded according to your individual desires. Five or six additional reso-lutions can enrich your life, as long as you work down the list point by point. If failing to com-plete a task leaves you with a guilty conscience, the list will most probably end up in the bin within a few months. That’s not what it is all about, though. It’s like the striker who, before the season starts, sets his sights on being the top-scorer and then doesn’t score in any of the first three games. It weighs him down more and more until he loses his place in the team. In the worst-case scenario, he has to leave the club.
So, these 10 things have got to be achieva-ble without involving too great an effort – and you have to cut your coat according to your cloth. Even those tasks which may seem unat-tractive could change your life. Take the story of the unemployed man in his mid-40s who, on one grim and foggy Sunday morning, went to watch the third team in action. He was the only spectator because nobody else cared about the match. After a talented young substitute caught his eye, he became an agent just a few days later. Within three years, he was a million-aire. It would be intriguing to know whether that man had drawn up a list before attending that game. And whether taking a trip to a game on a murky Sunday morning was on it.
Now let’s assume you don’t have a rich backer for your bucket list, in which case it’s advisable not to consider things too strategi-cally. Particularly long-term projects, like at-tending a World Cup, are less likely to be achieved with a pragmatic approach (“Brazil’s a long way away, the trip would be expensive and I don’t speak any Portuguese”). It’s best just to follow your gut feeling (“It’s the World Cup, and Rio de Janeiro’s a pretty city.”)
It is also advisable to insert a somewhat easier task somewhere in among the others (see example 1 in the first paragraph). That way, you leave room for the really big challenges. Desires and yearnings change over the course of life. That is why it is quite possible that, after one has been crossed off, new doors open up and new opportunities arise which may never have even been on the list. Take the case of 20-year- old imposter Nicolás. He pretended to be an advisor to the Spanish government, and then a member of the secret services. “Little Nicolás” even ended up on photos shaking hands with King Felipe VI. Last weekend, daring conman Nicolás was arrested. Å
The 10-point bucket list
Alan Schweingruber
31T H E F I FA W E E K LY
M I R R O R I M A G E
T H E NBirmingham, England
1908
Dogs decked out in shirts jump up at a beach ball.
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32 T H E F I FA W E E K LY
M I R R O R I M A G E
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Robotic dogs on the field of play.
Berlin, Germany
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33T H E F I FA W E E K LY
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F I F A W O R L D R A N K I N G
RankingRank Team Change in ranking Points
1 Germany 0 1669
2 Argentina 0 1565
3 Colombia 0 1420
4 Belgium 1 1388
5 Netherlands -1 1375
6 Brazil 0 1307
7 France 2 1191
8 Uruguay -1 1184
9 Portugal 2 1175
10 Spain -2 111911 Italy 2 1064
12 Switzerland -2 1063
13 Chile -1 1060
14 Croatia 5 1002
15 Algeria 5 989
16 Costa Rica -1 974
17 Mexico -1 954
18 Greece -4 946
19 Ukraine 5 920
20 England -2 919
21 Romania 5 876
22 Czech Republic 6 870
23 USA -6 862
24 Slovakia 16 861
25 Côte d’Ivoire -3 842
26 Bosnia and Herzegovina -1 837
27 Ecuador -6 826
28 Iceland 6 816
29 Austria 10 810
30 Russia -7 792
31 Tunisia 0 780
32 Denmark -5 763
33 Cape Verde Islands 8 716
34 Wales -5 715
35 Ghana -2 685
36 Slovenia 17 683
37 Scotland -8 674
38 Egypt 23 658
39 Sweden -7 646
40 Cameroon 2 637
41 Senegal -5 635
42 Nigeria -5 632
43 Northern Ireland 28 625
44 Poland 26 621
45 Israel 19 615
46 Turkey -8 614
46 Serbia -12 614
48 Albania -3 604
49 Trinidad and Tobago 37 598
50 Hungary 4 561
51 Iran -7 560
52 Japan -4 559
52 Togo 73 559
54 Peru -7 558
55 Guinea -7 552
56 Panama -1 546
57 South Africa 10 542
58 Mali 1 533
59 Bulgaria -13 532
60 Congo DR 13 521
61 Republic of Ireland 1 519
62 Congo -14 512
63 Finland 2 510
64 Montenegro -21 504
65 Uzbekistan -7 498
66 Korea Republic -3 496
67 Gabon 16 487
68 Norway 8 481
69 Honduras -13 480
70 Antigua and Barbuda 10 478
71 Burkina Faso -23 469
72 Guatemala -15 466
73 Libya -5 440
74 Jordan -5 434
75 Armenia -23 432
76 Paraguay -16 423
77 Sierra Leone -2 421
78 Zambia 10 418
79 United Arab Emirates -6 413
80 Dominican Republic 27 405
81 Iraq 9 393
82 El Salvador -10 392
83 Oman -7 391
84 Uganda -5 389
85 Venezuela -19 388
86 Benin -8 375
87 Angola 14 373
88 Estonia -7 369
88 China PR 9 369
88 Morocco -1 369
88 Qatar 8 369
92 Lithuania 11 364
93 Haiti 26 360
94 Australia -10 359
95 Rwanda -2 356
96 Cyprus -11 348
97 Mozambique 12 341
97 Saudi Arabia -15 341
99 FYR Macedonia 13 340
99 Latvia 0 340
101 Zimbabwe -9 330
102 Botswana -11 323
103 Bolivia -9 310
104 Bahrain 0 308
105 St Vincent and the Grenadines 1 302
106 Belarus -17 301
107 Sudan 26 298
108 Palestine -6 297
109 Malawi -11 292
110 Tanzania 5 291
111 Ethiopia 21 289
112 Cuba 10 286
113 Namibia 0 284
113 Jamaica -13 284
115 St Kitts and Nevis 2 279
116 Kenya -5 273
117 Georgia -7 271
118 Lesotho -3 266
119 Moldova -14 262
120 Kuwait 4 261
121 Niger -14 258
122 Canada -2 251
123 Liberia 3 249
124 Lebanon -3 246
125 Equatorial Guinea -11 238
126 Azerbaijan -31 233
126 Luxembourg 1 233
128 Burundi 2 232
129 Philippines 5 229
130 Guinea-Bissau 0 226
131 New Zealand -13 225
132 Kazakhstan -5 218
132 Aruba -3 218
134 Tajikistan 2 214
134 Afghanistan 1 214
136 Vietnam 6 208
137 Myanmar 6 207
138 Turkmenistan 3 197
138 St Lucia -15 197
140 Mauritania 0 195
141 Chad 3 194
142 Maldives 3 183
143 Madagascar 3 180
144 Central African Republic -7 178
145 Grenada -8 176
146 Barbados 15 172
147 Curaçao 1 171
148 Korea DPR 2 168
149 Suriname -2 167
150 Kyrgyzstan 1 158
151 Syria 1 154
152 Guyana 1 148
153 New Caledonia -16 142
154 Laos 15 141
155 Liechtenstein 17 136
156 Malaysia -2 134
157 Indonesia -1 129
157 Malta -2 129
159 Puerto Rico -2 119
159 India -1 119
161 Singapore -12 115
162 Guam 2 111
163 Hong Kong 1 109
164 Swaziland -4 103
165 Thailand -7 102
166 Tahiti -4 100
167 Belize -4 99
168 Gambia -2 90
168 Nicaragua 2 90
170 Montserrat -2 86
171 Seychelles 1 81
172 Bermuda -2 80
172 Comoros 2 80
174 Sri Lanka 2 76
175 São Tomé e Príncipe 2 72
176 Bangladesh 5 68
177 Turks and Caicos Islands 3 66
178 Yemen 6 62
179 Nepal 4 61
180 Solomon Islands 2 53
180 Dominica -13 53
182 Pakistan -7 51
182 Timor-Leste 11 51
184 Macau 2 49
185 Cambodia 14 46
186 South Sudan -1 43
187 Faroe Islands -8 42
188 Chinese Taipei -10 39
189 Samoa -2 37
190 Vanuatu -2 33
191 Mauritius -2 32
192 Fiji -2 30
193 Mongolia -2 29
194 Bahamas -1 26
194 American Samoa -1 26
194 Tonga -1 26
197 US Virgin Islands -5 20
198 Brunei Darussalam -5 15
199 Papua New Guinea 0 13
200 Eritrea 2 11
201 Cayman Islands -3 10
202 Andorra 1 9
203 Somalia 1 8
203 British Virgin Islands -4 8
205 Djibouti 0 6
205 Cook Islands 0 6
207 Anguilla 0 2
208 Bhutan 0 0
208 San Marino 0 0
Top spot Biggest climber Biggest faller
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→ http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/index.html
34 T H E F I FA W E E K LY
T H E S O U N D O F F O O T B A L L
“Send him off Ref!/Where are your specs Ref!” was not a chorus you would have expected from musicians hailed as heroes of progressive or “prog” rock. After all,
the stars of “prog” – ELP, Yes or Jethro Tull – seemed to be on a mission, aiming to elevate the humble rock song to the level of Beethoven via impossible rhythms and cryptic lyrics.
Genesis also threw in an array of outrageous costumes and sang lyrics oscillating between subtle everyday obser-vation and weighty existential questions. Football would have been out of place to say the least.
The words from the chorus quoted above are taken from “Match of the Day”, a song departing somewhat from the previous formula and to be found on the “Spot the Pigeon” EP. In May 1977 the EP took Genesis to the then unprecedent-ed heights of 14th on the British singles charts.
Diehard fans were appalled: singles were regarded as banal in these circles because they were considered nothing but a commercial exercise. Genesis had featured in the
top ten shortly before then with their eighth album “Wind & Wuthering”, despite the promotion of chummy drummer Phil Collins to lead singer after the departure of charismat-ic predecessor Peter Gabriel. The band had arrived at a crossroads. After the purging fire of punk, progressive rock was seen as out and uncool – and Gabriel had been the only truly “cool” member of Genesis.
Back to the hit single “Match of the Day”: the song was a eulogy not only to the Saturday sporting ritual, but also to the eponymous football highlights show broadcast by the BBC on Saturday evenings since 1964. The ditty with relative-ly simple lyrics unleashed a minor earthquake. Guitarist Steve Hackett dissented, but Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks had no problem whatsoever singing chorus-es even a schoolboy could understand. Hackett took to his heels, the remaining trio recorded their seminal album “… And Then There Were Three”, and proceeded to storm the pop charts of the world for the next fifteen years. Æ
Genesis’ tactical switch
Hanspeter Kuenzler
Genesis were leading lights of the progressive rock genre, but “Match of the Day” marked a radical change of direction.
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instincttakes over#predatorinstinct
+135302_SP_AD_FIFA_weekly_H10284_FO_Predator_instinct_FW14_ATL_Boot_Eye_Visual_Red_215x289.indd 1 15.07.14 13:00
In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives.
T U R N I N G P O I N T
NameKlas IngessonDate and place of birth20 August 1968, Odeshog, SwedenClubs played for1987–1990 IFK Gothenburg 1990–1993 KV Mechelen 1993–1994 PSV Eindhoven 1994–1995 Sheffield Wednesday 1996–1998 AS Bari 1998–2000 FC Bologna 2000 Olympique Marseille 2001 US LecceSwedish national team57 caps, 13 goals
Football is my life and always has been. I had a great career as a player, playing for clubs in England and Italy and finishing in third place with Sweden at the 1994 World Cup in the USA. I hung up my boots in 2001, aged 32. If I had the chance to do
it all again I’d have carried on playing for longer, but I was a different person back then and constantly going through the same routine bored me.
My life changed completely in 2009, when I finally visited a doctor after suffering from back problems for some time. I was lying in a hospital bed when the doctor told me: “Klas, you’ve been diagnosed with multiple myeloma.” I took that to be good news and explained to my wife on the telephone that it was a disease but not cancer. When the doctor came back into my room and explained my chemotherapy treatment plan, I asked: “What chemotherapy? I don’t have cancer.” When he replied saying:
“But Klas, it is cancer,” it felt like a knockout punch. Everything around me went black. It seemed clear to me that I was going to die, and quickly.
I had two options: I could either accept death without resisting – or I could fight. I didn’t want to die; I love my life and family too much for that. I’ve been living more con-sciously since my diagnosis, having previously been an impatient person. I tried to read as little as possible about the illness; it’s too de-pressing to Google it and see how small the chances of survival are. I spoke to other suf-ferers but read as little as I can about my con-dition. I also prefer it if the doctors don’t ex-plain everything to me.
Multiple myeloma is a bone marrow disease that gradually eats away at muscle tissue. When I took on the job at Elfsborg in 2013, I arrived there on crutches. Later I needed a walking frame and then a wheelchair. For me,
being unable to stay physically active is the hardest part. I don’t expect to be able to play football again, but it would be great to be able to cover ten metres again without falling over. I broke my arm in the dressing room that way, as my bones have become extremely weak.
In the meantime I have undergone two stem cell transplants. I feel good given the cir-cumstances, but I don’t know how much more time I have left in football, or in life. I’m just grateful that I don’t have to sit around at home. For me, a perfect day is being able to travel to the training ground without feeling too ex-hausted. We’ve got a young team and working with the players keeps me feeling fresh.
I believe in being able to help the players develop their careers and improve their skills. The moment that stops being the case, I’ll call it a day. Until then, I’m enjoying every moment. Å
As told to Nicola Berger
Klas Ingesson is enjoying every minute as coach of IF Elfsborg. Football provides a welcome change for a family man who fell ill with an incurable form of cancer in 2009.
“The diagnosis was a knockout punch”
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F I F A Q U I Z C U PThe FIFA WeeklyPublished weekly by the
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Publisher:FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20,
PO box, CH-8044 ZurichTel. +41-(0)43-222 7777Fax +41-(0)43-222 7878
President:Joseph S. Blatter
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Send your answer by 29 October 2014 to [email protected] solutions to all quizzes published from 13 June 2014 onwards will go into a draw in January 2015 for a trip for two to the FIFA Ballon d’Or on 12 January 2015.Before sending in answers, all participants must read and accept the competition terms and conditions and the rules, which can be found at: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/af-magazine/fifaweekly/02/20/51/99/en_rules_20140613_english_neutral.pdf
The answer to last week’s Quiz Cup was SPOT Detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly Inspiration and implementation: cus
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A L K E
Which of these players has commanded the highest total transfer fees?
One test for the FIFA Approved seal of quality is to drop a football from a height of two metres onto a steel plate. How high should the ball bounce back? Approximately …
Which team wore this striped shirt at a World Cup during the 1970s?
Mistreated corner flags, a bounce test and a unique World Cup shirt – test your knowledge!
F BrazilM NetherlandsJ ItalyR France
Four World Cup matches, four innocent corner flags, but which flag met its end most recently?
S 50 cmD 80 cmN 110 cmL 140 cm
A E O U
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W E E K I N N U M B E R S
“ Tevez has reached the level Z idane was at while at Juventus. He is so unique. There is no phenomenon like him.”
Italian football coach Marcello Lippi
Which of these forwards impressed you most in the recent international
friendly matches?
≠ Abderra zak Hamdallah (Mar)
≠ Carlos Bacca (Col)
≠ Karim Benzema (Fra)
≠ Joao Plata (Ecu)
≠ Eduardo Vargas (Chi)
≠ Diego Tardelli (Bra)
Which of the current leaders in 2015 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying have
surprised you most?
Choose from the following:· Algeria· Cameroon· South Africa· Ghana· Gabon· Cape Verde· Tunisia
Cast your votes at:Fifa.com/newscentre
35%
23%
22%
8%7%
5%
fans went through the turn-stiles in the opening week of the Australian A-League season, setting a new division record for a single round of matches. Sydney FC, for example, welcomed an unprecedented crowd of 41,213 for their derby with Western Sydney Wander-ers - the highest attend-ance for any regu-lar-season match of any code at Allianz Stadium since it opened 26 years ago.
goals in seven league appear-ances would be a run of which most strikers would be rightly proud. But this recent sequence becomes truly remarkable when it is attributed to a goalkeeper, Rogerio Ceni, who took his career tally – al-ready a record for his position – to 123.
4 106,082 15goals in his opening eight La Liga matches have seen Cristiano Ronaldo make yet more history. The Real Madrid talisman surpassed the previous record at this stage of a Spanish top-flight season. Remarkably, Ronal-do’s goals-to-games ratio of 2.14 this season is currently better than all but eight of the 97 teams in Europe’s top five leagues. B
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