This article is completely false, there are no facts in here and it is just a joke.
The world of soccer is littered with great examples of successful brothers playing the game. It should come as no surprise that brothers can both do well playing football, as sharing the same genes will give them similar physiques and spacial awareness abilities. In this article I’m going to look over some of the legendary siblings that have graced the beautiful game.
One of the best central defenders in the world at the moment, Rio Ferdinand is hailed as a key to the success of Manchester United. He combines composure on the ball and defensive ruggedness with a down-to-earth attitude and a keen eye for goal. He is consistently picked in Premier League team of the seasons and will surely be remembered as the greatest defenders of all time.
As Rio makes his mark on the world of football in the 21st Century so did his older brother Les during the 1990s. Les Ferdinand was one of the deadliest finishers the league has ever known, in his prime only Iain Dowie could compare to his lethal finishing ability. Les Ferdianand was known for his grace and power, traits that his brother has inherited. Les Ferdinand will be remembered for years to come for his mesmerising dribbling ability and cool finishing.
The Alan Smith brothers are also great examples of footballing brothers making a success of the game. Alan Smith lead the line for Arsenal during the early 90s, scoring many goals and helping his team to a cabinet full of trophies. As the decade ended his younger brother Alan spearheaded the deadly Leeds United attack. When he left for Manchester United in 2001 Leeds dropped off the football map, nearly going into administration. This shows just how vital he was for the team.
Of course not all great football brotherhoods are English. The Ronaldo brothers have become synonymous with flair and outrageous skill. Ronaldo helped Brazil to a World Cup victory in 2002 almost single-handedly, a testament to his ability. His younger brother, Cristiano Ronaldo, now plays for Manchester United and helped them to win several major trophies. They are both lauded for their complete mastery of a football.
Perhaps the greatest footballing family are the Coles. Ashley, Joe, Andy and Carlton are known as the four greatest footballers to ever play the game. The fact that they are all from the same family is staggering. Comparisons have been made to the Jackson 5 for their dominance of their respective fields. In much the same way as the pop band the Coles were an instant success, with Andy leading the way first, topping scoring charts in every league in which he performed.
Hopefully this goes to show that if your brother is an amazing footballer then there is no reason that you can’t be as well. Put in enough practise and maybe one day you’ll be as good as Duncan or Barry Ferguson.
Any English boy that grew up at school playing football in the playgrounds at lunch time has surely played more different variations of the game than they can remember. When the lunch time bell went there would be the inevitable rush to lay claim for space on the playing field for an impromptu game of football. Of course, with no referees or goalposts these games would often have to form their own improvised rule set. Even now, years after leaving school, I still enjoy the various football mini-games with some friends. It has developed into its own subculture and language and I’m it sure can seem confusing to newcomers.
To Americans looking to play football, or soccer as they call it, the regional variations in small pick-up games may seem a little strange. In truth, these games are played far more than the 11-a-side format played professionally. Small three, five and six-a-side matches are much quicker and easier to play as they don’t require so much space and can be played with just a few players. In this article I thought I’d run through some of the different games of football that I’ve played, with the intent of showing that football can be played with just a few people for fun, and doesn’t always have to be that gruelling 90 minute match.
Headers and volleys is a casual game that can be played with as little as three players, only requiring one goal. One player plays in goal, and then the rest play outfield. The idea is that the outfield players must score a goal using only a header or a volley. There are far more variations of headers and volleys than I could list but that is the general idea of the game. It is usually a competition between the players and the keeper.
In the rules that I typically play if the kicker misses the target or the goalkeeper catches the ball before it bounces then they must switch and the keeper is allowed back out onto the pitch. The game is typically played for fun as a pick up with a few friends. There are variations where players have a set amount of lives, which can be lost by missing the target or being caught by the goalkeeper. Once their lives run out then they have lost. It is a fun game and can be used to practise two particularly difficult skills to execute consistently.
Another game that is common to play with just a few people is ‘one touch, two bounce’. The object of this game is to keep the ball in the air using just one touch of the ball per player while only allowing the ball to bounce twice between touches. Players are not allowed to touch the ball before it has been kicked by a different player. The game can be played in a ‘HORSE’ fashion, whereby each player collects a letter should they make a mistake. Once a player collects all the letters then they are out. The winner is the last player left. A mistake is made when a player kicks the ball so that it is impossible for another player to get to it. A fun game and can be played with almost any number of people.
If you’re feeling more competitive you could try a quick 3v3 game. Usually in a pick-up game of 3v3 small goals will be used and there will be no goalkeeper assigned. It is fast paced and focuses on quick touches and good close control. It can be great fun and again, no formal goalposts are needed, a few jumpers will do. These small games have given rise to the popular phrase, jumpers for goal-posts. This refers to a quick informal game among friends, often using variations on the goalkeeper position such as monkey rush or stick goalkeeper. Monkey rush is where the keeper is allowed to play on pitch like normal but still able to handle the ball around the goal. A stick keeper must stay on his line. These variations are often used to balance teams when there are an uneven number of players, with the numerically superior team having the stick goalkeeper.
Hopefully I’ve shown that playing football does not need to be what you see on television and that it is a really flexible game that is enjoyable with almost any amount of players. So next time you’re bored find a ball and some friends and go practise your headers and volleys, you may even notice improvements next time you play a match.
Ask anyone what the hardest job in football is and you’ll get a myriad of different answers. Maybe it’s being a goalkeeper or a manager, perhaps the chairman is the hardest job? Well without doubt the hardest job is that of the referee. It has been said that the best referees will go unnoticed as the game is played, and there is certainly a grain of truth in that statement.
Do your job well and people will be talking about the match rather than about your performance. However if you make even one mistake then expect abuse, bad press and even punishments. It is a fine balancing act and without the advantage of slow motion replay and time to ponder a decision the referee must make the right call in the heat of the moment. While pundits have the opportunity to look over an incident in slow motion from a multitude of angles, the referee does not have this chance, making his job all that more difficult.
Given the fine line between making the right decision and making a bad one in football it comes as no surprise that sometimes the referee gets things hideously wrong. While there may be an excuse for a bad decision sometimes the one given by the referee just can’t be explained. This article looks at some of the worst decisions ever made by football referees and should give some backing for calls of video replays being used during games to aid the officials.
Diego Maradona’s second goal against England in the 1986 World Cup is often hailed as one of the greatest goals of all time. His first goal has become known as one of the most bizarre. As the ball was played high into the penalty area the diminutive Maradona managed to out-jump England keeper Peter Shilton and put the ball into the net. Television replays clearly showed Maradona using his hand to beat the goalkeeper to the ball. The goal should never have stood and England were beaten 2-1 and knocked out of the World Cup with Argentina going on to win the tournament, showing just how much a bad refereeing decision can impact a team and a competition.
Generally regarded as a good referee, if a little prone to errors, Graham Poll committed one of the strangest refereeing mistakes in recent memory at the 2006 World Cup. During the match between Australia and Croatia Poll booked Josip Simunic twice without sending him off, eventually giving him his marching orders for a third yellow card at the end of the game. The mistake would see Poll sent home from the World Cup and his eventual retirement from tournament football, stating that this incident was his reason for stopping.
Standing out among all others as the strangest decision a football referee has made is the goal that Reading scored against Watford in 2008. The ball was hooked wide of the goal, but cleared away from the area. The linesman and the referee somehow gave a goal, despite the ball being a foot wide and never even touching the net. The referee, Stuart Attwell, later claimed that it was an optical illusion that made it look like the ball was inside the goal. Illusion or not, it is one of the most bizarre goals ever awarded and will surely be remembered for many years.
Another goal mouth incident is next up and it’s almost a direct opposite of the Reading incident. In 2005 while playing for Tottenham Pedro Mendes hooked the ball from the half-way line into the Manchester United goal. Goalkeeper Roy Carrol fumbled the ball before clawing it out from behind the line. The ball was over by about a foot but the officials said that it was not a goal. Television replays confirmed that the goal should have been allowed and Spurs should have won 1-0 and taken three points from the game. The disallowed goal sparked a debate over whether replays should be used to aid decision-making and based on this game it certainly has a strong case.
These are some of the worst and the strangest decisions that I can remember, and they present a strong case for the addition of television replays to help officiating top-level matches. It must be remembered, however, that for the most part referees do an excellent job and games pass by with barely a mention of the man in the middle. It is just an unfortunate situation that any error can so drastically change the course of a game, and even a season. Using replays to help the referee seems like a reasonable idea and in most cases wouldn’t slow the game down much at all. Surely it’s much better to get the right decision than save thirty seconds?
With the new English football season upon us we’re sure to see some fantastic and breathtaking goals. Every season a handful of players pull out something magical and score a goal that you didn’t think was possible. Looking over the best goals from last season made me wonder, what would be the best goals ever scored? Well I’ve done some research and this is what I’ve come up with.
10. Geoff Hurst for England against Germany in the World Cup final in 1966. As an Englishman I think this one can almost go without saying any more. The goal that clinched the World Cup for England and secured our only international triumph to date has a special place for any football fan from the country where it was born. When you combine the goal with the black and white footage and unforgettable commentary from Kenneth Wolstenholme you get a classic moment for English football and one that hasn’t been replicated since.
9. Zinedine Zidane’s left foot volley in the Champions League final in 2002. Volleying a ball that drops from a height is one of the hardest skills to pull off in football. To volley it with such power and accuracy on his weaker foot is why Zidane was such a special player.
8. Carlos Alberto for Brazil against Italy in the 1970 World Cup. The Brazil team of 1970 have often been thought of as one of the greatest teams of all time, with this goal one of their crowning glories. It is a brilliant team goal involving the whole team and when Carlos Alberto bursts out of nowhere to provide the finishing touch you have a moment of World Cup history.
7. Trevor Sinclair’s bicycle kick for QPR in 1997. If volleying a ball was one of the hardest skills then an overhead kick must be the hardest skill to pull off. Sinclair’s overhead kick is the best one I’ve ever seen, hit with precision off a pacey cross with flawless technique, it is simply an amazing goal.
6. Roberto Carlos’ free kick for Brazil against France in 1997. Dubbed the banana kick, or the impossible goal the amount of swerve that Roberto Carlos managed with this kick is unreal. The flight of the ball completely fooled French keeper Fabian Barthez as kids all over the world spent the next day trying to replicate this jaw dropping piece of skill.
5. Tony Yeboah’s volley against Liverpool. Another volley, and this is a special one. Seemingly from nothing Yeboah smashes the ball against the underside of the bar to beat David James from 25 yards. Yeboah would score a similar goal the next week before fading away. Still, if you’re going to be remember for something you may as well be remembered for an outstanding goal.
4. Nayim against Arsenal in the Cup Winners Cup final. One of the first goals of its kind, Nayim’s audacious lob fooled everyone, David Seaman included. The vision to spot the goalkeeper off his line combined with the perfect execution is what makes this goal so good. Add it to the fact that it is in a major European final and you have one of the best goals ever scored.
3. George Weah for AC Milan against Verona. This is an absolutely amazing goal. Picking the ball up inside his own penalty area Weah beats four players on his own while running the length of the pitch to score. One of the best goals of all time no one has ever come close to scoring anything like it since.
2. Marco Van Basten for Holland against the USSR in 1988. This is the best volley ever scored. Hit from an impossible angle it is still unbelievable to watch the ball fly in, it is hard to think that a volley will ever beat this.
1. Diego Maradona against England in 1986. No, not the handball that should have been disallowed. The other goal. The one where Maradona beats five England players before calmly slotting the ball into the net. While not running as far as George Weah, Maradona didn’t just use pace to beat players, but ghosted past world-class English players like they weren’t there. If there ever was a one man team it was this Argentina team, and Maradona was their driving force. An incredible player and this was his best goal.
Well these were my favourite goals of all time. There are a lot I’ve left out, but search for these on YouTube and you’re sure to be amazed.
The state of English football is an interesting one. One the one hand you have a blossoming club scene, with English teams among the most powerful in Europe and making millions of pounds worth of revenue every year. Few could argue that the English Premier League is the most financially successful league in the world as well as being one of the most exciting to watch with a very high standard of play. The last four consecutive Champions League finals have featured English teams, including this years final in Moscow which was the first to have two teams from England go head to head for the greatest prize in European football.
However on the other hand you have a struggling international team packed full of stars that are failing to perform on the highest stage. Failure to qualify for Euro 2008 has hurt the image of the national game significantly and has left many questioning how it has gone so wrong. The question remains that if these same players can illuminate the club scene and help inspire their teams to European glory then why can’t they do the same with England?
Like many when I saw the qualifying group draw for Euro 2008 I was certain England would qualify with ease. While good teams, Russia and Croatia do not have players of the calibre of Barcelona, Inter Milan or Real Madrid, sides that English teams have overcome in Europe. I saw England qualifying in a comfortable first position and taking their place among the seeds for the draw for the tournament, but it just didn’t happen.
We all saw how badly the English team played through the qualifiers, losses at home to Croatia and away to Russia being particularly painful to watch. While a good deal of the blame can be placed at the feet of Steve McClaren it is certainly not entirely his fault. The players just didn’t play well enough to deserve it.
The answer to why this is has puzzled the football community for a long time, because it certainly isn’t the first time the English team have failed to live up to their potential. Since the turn of the century England have consistently underperformed, crashing out in the first round of Euro 2000, losing on penalties at Euro 2004, and going out in the quarter finals of the World Cup in 2002 and 2006.
For a nation that often believes the team enters tournaments as potential winners it isn’t a very good record, and I believe the weakness of the team lies in the technical ability of the players in England, their tactical awareness and the lack of good coaching at grass roots level.
I do not believe there are enough great English players coming through that can compete at the very highest levels. While good they’re not great. Wayne Rooney was completely overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo all season at Manchester United and outplayed by Lionel Messi in the Champions League. Rooney is not alone, look across the England team and every player with the possible exception of Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard will have been outperformed in his position by a foreign player in the Premier League.
I believe the problem comes from the grass roots level where children just picking up the game are taught all the traditional English values of football. Work hard, be strong, tackle hard, never give in, etc etc. While certainly of merit these values are no longer sufficient in the modern game.
The qualities that used to be hallmarks of the English game are now copied by everyone and the English are left behind in the technical areas. Ball retention and passing by English teams is far behind some of our continental rivals, and this will not improve unless changes are made to the national outlook on the game. Children need to be taught to keep the ball and pass well, rather than just get stuck in and told to be big and tough.
The culture of football in England needs to move away from being tough and macho to applauding and encouraging moments of skill.
The great French team of the late 90s and early 2000s is a good model to try and emulate. They combined power and aggression with skill and finesse. They won a World Cup and a European Championship and were the most successful French team ever. England need to start producing players like Zidane and Henry if they are ever going to win a major tournament.
The changes to get there need to start at the very bottom. If we can teach our children to play one and two touch football and teach them the value of their first touch and ball possession then the game should start to look much more healthy. As it stands winning is all that matters, even at school football level and so kids who maybe have the skills but aren’t big enough yet aren’t given the chance to shine as they are physically overpowered.
Once English football thinks skill first, and physical prowess second then the game should be in better shape and we may even start to think about winning our first World Cup since 1966.
