Tabla de contenidos para December 2015 en Australian FourFourTwo

Football Federation Australia has overall been great for the sport in this country – but they've made some king-size bloopers along the way (the World Cup bid cheque to Jack Warner probably topping the list). Now they're on the verge of making two more whoppers... The refusal to grant Wellington Phoenix a 10 year licence and instead offer just another four years is tantamount to ripping up the deal entirely. There is no reason for Welnix to continue when it has been made clear they have no future. There is nothing more Phoenix can do to improve their situation – membership has grown by 27 percent over the last three seasons and crowds per capita are better than most Australian metro sides. But in FFA eyes, they don't bring enough…

Australia 4 (Paul Wade, Charlie Yankos x 2, Vlado Bozinoski) Argentina 1 (Oscar Ruggeri), July 1988 The Lead Up “We were hosting the Bicentennial Gold Cup, featuring number one ranked Brazil, world champions Argentina and Asian champions Saudi Arabia. Everyone expected us to get annihilated when we played Argentina at Sydney Football Stadium, who had a full strength team bar Maradona. Although we thought we had the ability to go out there and mix it with them, especially after playing well in a 1-0 loss to Brazil, we never anticipated what would happen. We had never scored a goal against a world class opposition, and I remember coach Frank Arok talking about that – he just wanted an opportunity for us to score. In the end, we made our own…

FACT FILE Full name Marcos Evangelista de Morais Date of birth 07/06/1970 Place of birth Sao Paulo, Brazil Height 5ft 9in Position Right-back Clubs 1988-94 Sao Paulo 117 games (7 goals); 1994-95 Real Zaragoza 17 (0); 1995 Juventude 2 (0); 1995-97 Palmeiras 35 (0); 1997-2003 Roma 217 (8); 2003-08 Milan 161 (4) Internationals 1990-2006 Brazil 142 (5) Club honours Brasileiro Serie A 1991; Copa Libertadores 1992, 1993; Copa CONMEBOL 1994; UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1995; Italian Serie A 2001, 2004; UEFA Champions League 2007; FIFA Club World Cup 2007 International honours FIFA World Cup 1994, 2002; Copa America 1997, 1999; FIFA Confederations Cup 1997 Individual honours South American Footballer of the Year 1994; FIFA World Cup All-Star XI 2002; FIFPro World XI 2005 When Marcos Evangelista de Morais lifted the…

Kevin De Bruyne is a man of many skills but few words. Ask him why he made only three league appearances for Chelsea and his reply is: “I don’t know.” Ask him, as a German reporter did back in April, whether Jose Mourinho ever explained to him why he wasn’t playing at Stamford Bridge and the Belgian says: “Mourinho decides. Mourinho doesn’t explain.” Which is a pity, really, because if there’s one career that needs a bit of explaining, it’s De Bruyne’s. In three and a half years, during which he has won neither a league title nor a European trophy, his value on the transfer market has risen almost eightfold, from £15 million in 2012 to £125 million this August. Two years ago, he wasn’t deemed good enough to…

One of the biggest moments for John Moriarty Football was taking eight boys and girls from the program to the World Cup in Brazil last year. Before the Socceroos played their first group game against Chile, the children took part in drills with the players and coach and played a game against locals. John Moriarty called that experience a game changer. “Our kids had a training session with the Socceroos, with Ange Postecoglou dealing with the kids. Timmy Cahill, Mat Ryan and Eugene Galekovic were all there watching us, and helping us. Timmy Cahill ended up taking over with Ange. As the kids from Borroloola walked into the stadium one side of the ground was full of 3,000 Brazilian kids, the other was empty except for our players and the…

2010-2015 TOMMY OAR Excitement machine Tommy Oar was a teenage sensation at Brisbane Roar. He made his Socceroos debut at 18 and moved to Europe to join Eredivisie side Utrecht just months later. There he quickly made a huge impression – playing more than 100 games, scoring plenty and proving a vital cog in attack, loved by fans and the local media…and improving all the time. And yet he was still given the cold shoulder by his club. “The first six months of the 2014/15 season were the best of my career at Utrecht. I was playing really well, setting up lots of goals,” Tommy Oar, now 23, recalls. “But after I announced I didn’t want to re-sign with them, I guess that didn’t sit well – which I can…

Foremost among them was Ken Baily, a balding civil servant from Bournemouth who achieved fame by following the Cherries and England in his distinctive John Bull outfit of top hat, tails and a Union Jack waistcoat. Elsewhere, Lenny Campbell became the most recognisable man on the Kop thanks to his all-red suit. A former Butlins redcoat known as Dr Fun, he was always accompanied by his personal mini-me: a terrifying ventriloquist’s dummy called Liverpool Charlie. Carlisle had George Baxter – yet another top-hatted gent, this one carrying his stuffed fox, Olga, naturally – while Peterborough had Mr Posh (simply a chap in a fancy suit). There was also a veritable Noah’s Ark of (real) animals, including Tottenham’s cockerel and Hereford’s bull, but there were question marks around how ‘official’ these…

SAME REFS, DIFFERENT DECISIONS A UK review has found that referees adjust their style when officiating international competitions compared with matches in their homeland. “The pressure is on to make domestic games fast and entertaining, so refs let the games flow more freely,” concluded researcher Dr Tom Webb. ICE NOT SO NICE An Australian study suggests ice baths hinder the development of muscle by preventing the process in which they’re broken and strengthened. But it also found that players not looking to grow muscle will get relief from post-training soreness. HOP TO IT Incorporating hopping into your training drills can help reduce the risk of injury and improve bone strength. British exercise scientists discovered that an average of just two minutes of hopping a day can increase the hopper’s bone…

1 Find pockets of space Search for gaps in the opposition’s shape “If you want to play the free role behind the striker, you need to find space between the opposition’s midfield and defence. As the playmaker of the team, it’s your job to create chances for your team-mates and this is where you can do the most damage. You also need to be someone who is motivated by scoring goals. Creating opportunities is your primary objective, but you also have to be able to chip in with a few goals, too. Look to play off the frontman.” 2 Use brains over brawn Think quickly in order to cause chaos “Football is not all about speed, it’s about vision as well. A lot of playmakers are not the quickest, but…

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Others, someone should point out to Malvolio from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, are so steadfast in their refusal to defer from their chosen path that they become great through sheer force of will. An unshakeable desire to prove the doubters wrong consumes them. It’s this latter category to which Chelsea new boy Pedro Eliezer Rodriguez Ledesma belongs. The 28-year-old wasn’t always a regular at Barcelona and circled the drain at Camp Nou on three occasions, yet endured to win 20 major honours in seven first-team seasons. Pedro’s isn’t the story of Lionel Messi or Andres Iniesta. He wasn’t identified from an early age because of an extraordinary talent, nor was he nurtured through La Masia by…

Pace to burn De Bruyne is quicker than you think, a devastating attribute that helped him to rack up 20 Bundesliga assists last season – eight more than any other player in the division. He’s particularly effective on the counter-attack: against Hamburg last November, for example, he picked up the ball deep in his own half before zooming past Valon Behrami and sliding a perfect ball inside two defenders to tee up Aaron Hunt. In January’s 4-1 demolition of Bayern Munich, he led the charge to expose Jerome Boateng and square for Bas Dost’s early opener, before twice scoring on the break himself. Impeccable vision This ability was clear from his Manchester City debut against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, when, five minutes into the second half of a tight…

THE SHINY FOREIGNER Alfredo Di Stefano ARGENTINE/COLOMBIAN/SPANISH MATCHES 709 GOALS 519 So good, he was at the centre of a row between the two outstanding players of last century. “I really don’t know if I was better than Pele,” said Diego Maradona. “But Di Stefano was.” The Brazilian hit back by claiming that Di Stefano was also superior to Diego. Petty point-scoring aside, it is evident that the man in question was a ruthlessly efficient No.9. Dubbed ‘the Blond Arrow’ for his direct, incisive play, the Argentine-Spanish schemer married graft (“I always saw football as a game in which you must run and sweat”) with a tactical awareness ahead of his time: he was pivotal in Real Madrid’s ascendancy, playing (and scoring) in all five of their 1950s European Cup…

156 Serie A goals in 370 appearances “BORN OFFSIDE” Fergie’s description of his uncanny there-at-the-right-time ability EGG Pippo’s idea of a special treat BASTA Italian for “enough”, spelled out by Milan fans as his time as boss at San Siro unravelled. INZAGHI’S BIGGEST REGRETS Shaun Ryder circa 1995 haircut 1% Trusting Berlusconi 1% Comparing scoring goals to drug addiction 1% Celebrating every goal like a World Cup winner 0% Signing Fernando Torres 97 % MUSHROOMING One of his hobbies is picking funghi 10 Serie A hat-tricks (one for Atalanta, four for Juve, and five for Milan). He’s also the first player to score two Champions League triples NUMBERS GAME He studied accountancy as a backup career to please his parents 70 BILLION Amount in lire paid to Juventus by Milan…

I never thought I had made it as a player, because I was told from a young age that football has a way of biting back when you get comfortable or think things are easy. I certainly had firsthand experience on that front. I was happiest playing football. Once you are training or playing everything else is irrelevant and you are just there for the pure love of the game. My hero growing up was Diego Maradona – the on-field Maradona! He shaped the way I saw football being played, taking risks and being creative. As a 12-year-old getting up to watch the 1986 World Cup in Mexico I witnessed Maradona single-handedly win a World Cup. The second goal he scored against England by dribbling through half the team is…

Sergio Busquets A carbon copy of Pep Guardiola the player, the rangy defensive midfielder is a mainstay for both club and country and – yes – is the most important cog in the Barcelona machine after Lionel Messi. Without the 27-year-old anchoring, the 2014-15 treble-winners’ possession obsession would be little more than a sideshow. Gai Assulin With a $35m release clause attached when was just 16, the Israeli midfielder was tipped for greatness, but a move to Manchester City in 2009 failed to produce a single first-team outing. Now at Mallorca, the 24-year-old is something of a second-division journeyman but, if you’re being (very) optimistic, has age on his side. Thiago Just 16 when he began to help Barcelona B to the third-tier title, the midfielder followed Guardiola to Bayern…

Diego Forlan Manchester United’s $15m signing was cruelly nicknamed ‘Diego Forlorn’ by the press after only 17 goals in 98 games, many of which were spent peppering Row Z. Sold to Villarreal, he scored 25 in his first season to share Europe’s golden boot. In 2008-09 he won the award outright after netting 32 for Atletico Madrid. Jerome Boateng Boateng’s hopes of succeeding at Man City weren’t helped when he aggravated a knee injury by colliding with a drinks trolley on a plane, before spending much of the 2010-11 season at right-back. His desire to play more centrally saw him join Bayern after one season. He’s since won the Champions League and the World Cup. Nemanja Matic The Serbian made only three appearances in his first spell at Stamford Bridge…

Gunnersaurus’ designer finally explains himself Peter Lovell is a 32-year-old recruitment manager now, but 22 years ago he created the most famous football mascot of them all – and never got a penny “In late 1993, Arsenal ran a competition for the Junior Gunners to design the club’s new mascot. I loved art and design, so I thought it seemed like a great idea. Like most 11-year-old boys at the time, I was really into Jurassic Park – that film and Arsenal were my two favourite things in the world – so I quickly came up with the name Gunnersaurus Rex and thought it sounded really cool. I sat down and sketched out this really nice, friendly-looking dinosaur, kind of in the style of [children’s TV sensation] Barney. It was…

MASTERCLASS The Citizens’ schemer on how to pop up between the lines and punish gaps in the opposition’s defence. PRO TIP The much-maligned ex-Arsenal forward on how to cope with life in the firing line of fans and the media. YOU ASK, WE ANSWER How do you train to last the pace for 90 minutes as a player? Our superfit flanker has the answers...…

“I rarely feature for the full game, and even when I am on I struggle to get around. How can I improve my fitness?” Andy Williams, via Twitter “I’m lucky – it comes naturally to me. Even at school I was good at cross country. At Peterborough, when we didn’t have the Prozone stats, I was probably covering a lot of ground, but it wasn’t as magnified as it is nowadays. I might be naturally fit, but I work on it. At Burnley we do between eight and 13 box-to-box runs. It’s nothing different to any other club; as a pro footballer you do a lot of high-intensity training – 12 minutes is probably the longest you’ll run for. At the start of my career we used to run for…

“Using your mind’s eye to create a clear picture of how you want to perform during a game will boost your confidence and focus. You’ll feel calm, concentrated and ready for kick-off. Why? Because the brain doesn’t know the difference between motor and cognitive activation. Visualisation is as powerful as performing the action for real. Your muscles become more receptive to the demands of the central nervous system, and improve connectivity between body and brain. As a result, your body produces faster, more efficient motor patterns – you’ll move more like an athlete than a donkey. This process will also make you feel more optimistic about the successful outcome you have just played out in your head. By visualising a match-winning display, you are more likely to feel energised, enthusiastic…