Tabla de contenidos para January 2016 en Australian FourFourTwo

Another month, another controversy. For all its failings, no-one could ever accuse football in Australia of being boring... The Sunday Telegraph last month took the unprecedented and disgraceful step of publishing the names and photographs of 198 football fans they claimed were banned from every stadium in the country. In almost every case, the fan had never faced court. The fan had never had a chance to defend themself. The fan had never had a chance to appeal. These were not criminals. Most had never even been charged, or even arrested. Some were even said to be under the age of 18. But as a result, they were all branded as "louts", "thugs" and even likened to the Paris terrorists in a sickening and shameful radio outburst by Alan Jones.…

Socceroos 2 – 1 Vasco da Gama, May 1985 The Lead Up “We were hosting what was called the World Series Trophy. We played a lot of club sides in those days, and this competition featured Brazilian team Vasco da Gama, Tottenham Hotspur and Serie A side Udinese. It was a round-robin tournament, for us to use as a warm-up for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. We beat Spurs in the opener and then lost to Vasco 1-0. We needed a win against Udinese to make the final, and we secured a 2-1 victory in Adelaide. I was copping a bit of a pasting at the time from some sections of the media because I never really went out of my way to get on with them. The Match “We…

IT’S BEEN A tough past 10 years for Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade, better known as Roda JC. The 53-year old club, situated right on the southeastern border with Germany and Belgium, has battled financial pressures and merger issues. Set up in a mining region, Roda JC has enjoyed parochial support over the years but struggled for success. Plans to merge with neighboring clubs Fortuna Sittard, MVV and VVV-Venlo eventually broke down seven years ago. In 2009 Kerkrade was added to the club’s title to boost its brand awareness and in order to receive financial help. But after years of escaping relegation, the inevitable finally struck in 2014. Roda JC had narrowly avoided the drop several times but its luck finally ran out in the 2013-2014 campaign. The club went…

1981-1982 When Boca Juniors signed Diego Maradona in 1981, they knew they had beaten deadly rivals River Plate to one of Argentina’s best young players. After all, this was a 20-year-old who was not only already an international regular but had been playing in the top flight since 10 days before he’d celebrated his 16th birthday. Even so, they wouldn’t have imagined that the attacking midfielder they had stolen from under the nose of their neighbours would go on to become one of the finest players (if not the finest) to ever grace the game – not to mention an icon recognised the world over. Four times the top scorer in Argentina during his time with Argentinos Juniors, Maradona shone early in his Boca career despite a strained relationship with…

Juventus may have been the first club to put a star on their badge, in 1958 – one for their first 10 league titles – but Boca made that all look rather tame when they put a massive 30 stars on their emblem in 1970. They were the first club in the world to include a star for every single title won, national and international. Their crest now has 52 stars, more than the USA flag. It includes 30 for their Primera Division titles and six for their Copa Libertadores victories, among others. There’s probably one each on there for Hawaii and Alaska, too, although that isn’t confirmed. Boca may not have entirely thought this approach through, however, because they’re now causing themselves problems by continuing to win stuff. A…

INJURIES HAVE A LASTING EFFECT Studies into depression among footballers reveal that those who sustained three or more severe injuries during their professional career are nearly four times more likely to report mental health problems than pros who hadn’t suffered as many, or any at all. LOSING THE HEAD-TO-HEAD Contact with another player was the most common reason for heading-related concussions among boys playing football in a US study, at 78 per cent. The other 22 per cent were caused by collisions with a post. D FOR DEFENCE Footballers given supplements of quercetin and vitamin D are far less susceptible to post-training drops in their immunity and to resultant colds and flu, according to a 12-week study among football players with prior incidents of upper respiratory tract infections. G-WHIZ 3G…

“Football is a physically demanding sport, with professional players covering up to 11km during the course of a 90-minute match. To outrun your opponents you need a multi-energy system, including aerobic fitness – the ability to pump oxygen-rich blood around the body, as long-distance runners do – and anaerobic fitness: the ability to maintain maximum running speed over and over again. On top of that, you also need an efficient creatine phosphate system. In layman’s terms, that is a system that helps power short-term, high-intensity activity for a longer period. The high-intensity stop-start nature of football places a lot of demand on the body. Research has shown that midfielders can experience up to 1,300 changes in exercise intensity during a 90-minute game, and just as many changes in direction. Instead…

I knew I’d made it as a player when I had the opportunity to share a pitch with my brother, John Gibson (current Perth Glory Youth Coach), for our first professional game together at Marconi. I had always looked up to him, and still do. He set me up to score and that moment was reminiscent of our childhood: moves we had practised every afternoon being played out in real life on a professional pitch. I was happiest during my time at Marconi under former Socceroo Eddie Krncevic. Throughout a career, you are lucky if you find one coach who just has complete faith in you. He was that coach for me – he understood me as a person and my strengths as a footballer. It was the only time…

“Sport was everything for my family. My mother and my sister were both volleyball players. My dad, Krzysztof, played a bit of football, but he was primarily a judoka. They were all very good and very successful. My mum, Iwona, won the Polish championship with her team and my dad took part in the world championships. Judo was the sport he loved most and was best at. “However, he didn’t want me to become a judoka. He knew it was a very difficult and taxing sport. He had some physical problems because of judo, especially with his heart. That’s why he didn’t want me to pursue a career in judo. He always told me: ‘You can do some judo, but I don’t want you to train to become a judoka.…

GRAHAM ARNOLD Sydney FC’s coach spent two years at Roda JC after joining the club in 1990 from Sydney Croatia. Arnold was prolific in Holland and a popular figure at De Koempels, scoring 22 goals in 66 appearances before being sold to Belgian side Liege in 1992. In his first season, the striker managed eight goals in 29 matches and also managed a goal in two UEFA Cup ties with AS Monaco. In his second Arnold bagged 13 goals in 34 appearances as Roda JC also made it all the way to the Dutch Cup final, where they fell to Feyenoord. The Socceroo enjoyed his time at the club immensely and admits: “The memories of Roda JC I cherish in a special way”. GARY VAN EGMOND Joining Arnold in the…

How would you explain Boca Juniors to the readers of FourFourTwo ? Boca Juniors is hard to explain. I see it as a family, with all the virtues and flaws that go with it. Compared to Europe, Argentine supporters live football in a parallel dimension. They are more radical, and that makes them do crazy things – things you wouldn’t believe. But as long as they see the team giving everything and playing with intensity, they will always be behind you. Whether you are playing well or badly, winning or losing, it doesn’t make a difference. Do you remember arriving at the club for the first time to join the youth team? Of course. That’s not something you forget. I was 10, about to turn 11, and…

“My manager wants to use me as a playmaker behind the striker. I’ve never played in this position. Any advice on creating chances for my team-mates?” Chris Hendrix, via Twitter “Perseverance and consistency are crucial – don’t lose your focus. In this role you need to be switched on at all times, as games can easily pass you by. Work hard every day: training performances often mirror matchday displays. Today, talent alone is not enough to succeed in this role at the highest level. Developing technical skills and learning to read the game is also key. Killer passes are difficult, riskier than a sideways pass. You need conviction and the mental strength to try again until you produce them regularly. In the beginning, practice and concentration were key for me;…

73.68% Win ratio as Argentina coach “HUMAN GARBAGE” His 2005 description of US president George W. Bush ¡REVOLUCION! He has a tattoo of Cuban leader Fidel Castro (who is also a friend) on his left leg and one of Che Guevara on his right arm WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE MEXICO 86 HANDBALL? Maradona 5% Shilton 5% Thatcher 5% The referee 10% God 75% GOD He has a religion named after him in Rosario, Argentina BUTCHER ‘Butcher of Bilbao’ Andoni Goikoetxea keeps the boot that broke Maradona’s ankle in a glass case 16 World Cup finals games he captained Argentina AD #1 fans He upset in 2006 when he starred in a drink commercial wearing a Brazil shirt, saying after the only jersey he’d never wear would be River…

FACT FILE Full name James Richard Bullard Date of birth 23/10/1978 Place of birth East Ham, London Height 5ft 11in Position Midfielder Clubs 1998-99 Gravesend & Northfleet 30 games (7 goals); 1999-01 West Ham United 0 (0); 2001-03 Peterborough United 77 (14); 2003-06 Wigan Athletic 157 (11); 2006-09 Fulham 41 (7); 2009-11 Hull City 24 (6); 2011 Ipswich Town (loan) 16 (5); 2011-12 Ipswich Town 21 (1); 2012 MK Dons 3 (0) Honours Second Division 2003 With a naively blank expression, Jimmy Bullard asks FourFourTwo: “What are the clown shoes for?” We often hear that there aren’t enough ‘characters’ in the game any more; that everything is just that little bit too serious and strait-laced these days. There’s certainly something in that diagnosis, particularly now Bullard…

MALCOLM MACDONALD ENGLAND 5-0 CYPRUS APRIL 16, 1975 Boss Don Revie told SuperMac he’d never play for England again unless he got himself on the scoresheet in a friendly against West Germany. His motivational tactic clearly did the trick: Macdonald scored the second in a 2-0 England win and followed up with all five in a 5-0 defeat of Cyprus. OLEG SALENKO RUSSIA 6-1 CAMEROON JUNE 28, 1994 Salenko still remains the only man to score five times in a World Cup finals match. His efforts against Cameroon propelled the 24-year-old to the top of the tournament’s scoring charts. Curiously, all of the former Rangers striker’s goals for his country came during USA ’94. FERNANDO MORIENTES REAL MADRID 7-0 LAS PALMAS FEBRUARY 10, 2002 Morientes deserves extra credit for the…

Shuffling uncomfortably in our seat, FFT feels beads of high-definition sweat trickle down our brow. Staring down a blinking camera lens like a terrified prisoner of war, we babble incomprehensibly for what feels like an hour, muttering stock phrases such as ‘the gaffer’, ‘to be fair’ and ‘at the end of the day’. This morning your correspondent was a journalist; now, fielding questions in a mock press conference to learn first-hand the nature of a modern footballer’s media training, he is a 17-year-old prodigy tipped for big things. But while our (fictional) left peg could rival that of Lionel Messi, it seems that our interview skills are more non-league than Champions League. Where once we might mock the absence of personality in certain footballers’ interviews – the dead-eyed stare, the…

Boca may have been built by Italians, but their colours were determined by the good people of Nottingham and Sweden. Boca originally wore a Juventus-style black and white striped affair, before switching to light blue, sporting a similar shirt to their brilliantly-named Buenos Aires neighbours Nottingham de Almagro. In 1906 the two clubs played off for the right to retain the colours. Boca lost. The solution? Head to the docks and look out for the national flag of the next ship to come into port, of course. Winner of this bizarre race was 4,146-tonne freighter The Drottning Sophia from Sweden – meaning Boca adopted yellow and blue as their new club colours. At first they went down the River Plate sash route, opting for a predominantly blue shirt with a…

THE RIVALRY OF THE BURNING TEAM BUS Caracas vs Deportivo Tachira Venezuela Aggro rating Who are they? Venezuela’s two biggest clubs, even though both have been in existence for less than 50 years. Caracas have 11 titles, all won since 1991-92, having previously been known as Yamaha FC. Tachira were formed by members of Juventus (an amateur club set up by Italian immigrants) and have eight titles. Where are they? Caracas are based in the Venezuelan capital. Deportivo Tachira take their name from the state in which they are based and play in the city of San Cristobal, 400 miles from Caracas. The flashpoint It all kicked off in the second leg of the Copa Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela final in 2000. Caracas came from 2-0 down to level in…

MASTERCLASS Ivan Rakitic Barcelona’s latest pass master The Croatian crux of Barça’s midfield gives a six-step guide to controlling the game without breaking sweat. FITNESS Glen Thurgood Fitness guru and SAQ expert Prepare for 90 minutes of box-to-box action with help from the leading Speed, Agility and Quickness coach. PRO TIPS Javier Pastore Playmaker for PSG and Argentina The Ligue 1 champions’ chief assist-maker helps an FFT reader learn the art of a midfield creator.…

1 Prepare and be positive Get in gear to build unstoppable momentum “If we’re playing in the evening, I make sure I eat right during the day and rest with a siesta. Then I will have a shower, either at the hotel or at my house. Sometimes I’ll listen to music with the other players, but I don’t put headphones on. I do also like to have some time alone, though, so I can really focus. Doing all these things helps me build momentum and feel positive. It fills me with energy before a game.” 2 Pass with confidence Practise playing the ball with conviction “To play the right passes, either difficult or simple, you must have confidence in your ability. There are a lot of tricky ones you have…