By Simone Poliandri
As the new year approaches, we leave 2011 and its great goals with this gem by Argentinian player Lucas Emiliano Maina of Rocca Massima Latina, a team competing in the second division of Italian 5v5 (“calcetto”) league.
A Happy New Year to all football “aficionados” with best wishes for a 2012 full of spectacular goals!
Photo: Breakthrough Chiparamba girls football team, 20 July, 2011, Olympic Youth Development Center, Lusaka, Zambia. Courtesy of Hikabwa Chipande.
Training and Developing Coaches in Southern Africa: Licensing and Administration
Guest Post by Hikabwa Decius Chipande (@HikabwaChipande)
Football is the most popular sport in southern Africa but there are few qualified coaches at all levels. Prior to 2010 most top league clubs in southern Africa were coached by people without even a basic qualification.
One major problem is that Southern African countries have a haphazard approach to coach education. What had been happening until recently was that any person could come to the region, conduct a coaching course for a few days, and declare the participants as coaches with questionable certificates of limited value. It has been, therefore, very difficult to know the actual capabilities of local coaches and their qualifications because there had been no set benchmarks. South Africa is an exception in that it has the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA), although its effectiveness remains debatable.
After many, many years, I recently played Subbuteo again. It was such a blast that I’m starting a series of posts on the world’s greatest football game ever invented. My older brother, who taught me how to play, kicks off.
By Daniel Alegi
Rome, Italy, Christmas 1973: I finally got Subbuteo, the new English game everyone was talking about. It was the “Continental” set (see photo below); the box said the name was pronounced “sub-BEW-teo.” 20,000 lire ($15) got you a green cloth pitch, two white floodlights 13 inches high with 9-volt batteries, two plastic goals with brown nets, two balls, two goalies with a handle-rod and two teams in white shorts: one with red shirts, the other with blue.
“Italy – Russia!” I said. “Como-Varese!” said my brother from the height of his 18 months’ seniority. Their kits are almost identical, but would you rather make your debut in the Christmas snow at Moscow’s Lenin Stadium or in a Serie B derby in the Po Valley fog? Our first flicks were backed by our grandfather in the armchair snoring away. Cloth pitch on the carpet, improvised rules. Then during lunch dad stood up and stepped on everything (how could he miss a 4.5ft x 3ft pitch?). On the ground lay decapitated, amputated, crushed players. Only six survived this massacre, one of them a goalkeeper. And so with this ill-fated 1973 debut, played with only one goal, Subbuteo entered our house forever.
Luis Suarez has been banned for 8 games in the English Premier League for the alleged racist abuse of Patrice Evra. The nature of the exchange between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra has not yet been disclosed. Luis Suarez is appealing. Here is a brief reminder of a less well known contribution Luis Suarez made to the World Cup in South Africa. A post on Luis Suarez will follow once details of the accusation against Suarez have been released by the English FA.
By Simone Poliandri
Argentinian striker Maxi Biancucchi, F.C. Barcelona Leo Messi’s cousin, gets on the scoreboard for Olimpia against Rubio Ñu in the last matchday of the Paraguayan Torneo de Clausura 2011. Maxi’s chest control and no-look finish are further proof, if needed, of the football skills running in the family. Olimpia went on to win the game 2-1, which also gave them the league title 3 points ahead of major rival team Cerro Porteño. Dec. 18, 2011.
By Simone Poliandri
Although three weeks old, this spectacular shot by Hannover 96 striker Jan Schlaudraff against Hamburger SV in matchday 14 of the German Bundesliga deserves a spot in the series. Scored in the 79th minute, this marvel of coordination and power equalized the game at 1-1, which remained as the final score. Nov, 26, 2011.
Bayern Munich’s Daniel van Buyten lines up to take a free kick against Cologne in this weekend’s Bundesliga. He blasts the ball into a defender sliding studs up . . . and the ball bursts its bladder!