Archive for December, 2007

ANSA Sports Pictures of the Year (2007) – Foto Sportive dell’Anno 2007

Monday, December 31st, 2007

ANSA Sports Pictures of the Year (2007)

After the Reuters (RNPS) Best Sports Pictures of the Year, it’s time for another news agency to make its Top Pictures-Ranking for 2007. This time it’s ANSA, the main Italian press agency.

From the book “Ansa Photo 2007″, La Gazzetta dello Sport has made a selection of all the images tied with sports. I have selected the Best 30 Pictures from their feature article. So, without further ado, here’s a selection of the Best Sports Pictures of 2007 by ANSA (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata).

Enjoy, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! :grin:

1. SOCCER - Women’s Soccer… in the Andes.
1. SOCCER – Women’s Soccer… in the Andes.

2. TRACK & FIELD - Getting the Gold medal in the Pan-American games 100m dash deserves a somersault.
2. TRACK & FIELD – Getting the Gold medal in the Pan-American games 100m dash deserves a somersault.

3. BASEBALL - Evidently the show at this LA Dodgers game is far from being electrifying.
3. BASEBALL – Evidently the show at this LA Dodgers game is far from being electrifying.

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A Perspective on Youth Soccer Coaching: Are Small-Sided Games Better?

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Scuola Calcio, Italian Soccer School, Boarding Soccer School, Soccer Camps and Team Soccer Tours

Note: This is a guest writer article, written by Antonio Saviano. It was originally published on the Soccerkix blog.

The activities in the youth sector, 10-12 years of age, have as the main objectives the teaching of all individual abilities that represent the fundamental base of the game of soccer. The individual abilities are what we call, the technical fundamentals, the individual tactical fundamentals and the techniques of the players.

Unfortunately the instructors that work with these delicate age groups do not always incorporate the objectives mentioned above, but instead they turn their attention towards activities related to the adult soccer players. The reasons for these “deviations” may be are because of the desire to reach the “winning” results, which, in many cases can be an easy objective to reach with the young age groups.

They insist by working on the collective tactics instead of the individual tactics, and ignore the development of the individual techniques, as it is an important aspect of the player development growth and require much patience from the instructors as it does not show or bring fast results. It is in fact important that the young players will use their own individual abilities during the game.

The game in fact represents the moment more important for a self-evaluation of the players and an individual player evaluation for the instructors. It does not make sense for example that a player will work and learn all week to dribble but in the game they will not have the chance to dribble and take the opponent’s player on. Therefore playing 11 vs. 11 on a regular-size field will not satisfy the technical needs of these age groups.

Moreover, the regular size field would not guarantee the involvement of all players, especially the ones with less skills, and since the possibility to keep possession of the ball is very slim, it would not allow the constant application of the individual technical and tactical fundamentals.

Is it Just a Game?

In general small sided games help players improve their abilities. Modifying the small sided game format can also help coaches reach precise objectives. I would like to propose some simple exercises of which the space parameters will vary based on different situations of play to coach.

A simple 4 vs. 4 possession game can have different variations, different results based on the dimensions:

  • Larger area will favor the attacking team.
  • Smaller area will favor the defending team. It increases the concentration of the players and team around the ball.

By modifying the field dimension the players learn to evaluate different distances such as, distance between teammates, opponents, ball and the inside perimeters of the field. This can also help develop the ability to occupy or free certain areas of the field to allow situations of play, such as tight area for the defensive phase or open the area for the offensive phase.

By also creating different shapes of field, square, rectangular, circular and triangular we can also encourage the players to improve and understand there major things: spaceshapeorientation.

A more complex 4 vs. 4 possession game can be played for example in a more vertical field. Some of the requirements can be, possession of the ball switching with a long pass. One short pass and the go long. One pass out wide and then look for a pass to the center of the field.

These games favor ball movement, alternating between short passes for ball possession to long pass for switching play. The field can be dived in horizontal sections. Some of the requirements can be:

Possession of the ball with the objective to accomplish:

  • Long pass directly from the defensive phase to the offensive phase;
  • Long pass followed by a short pass switching with a midfielder combination;
  • Progression from the defensive phase to the offensive phase using the center (midfielder) zone;

These games favor ball depth movement, alternating short passes for ball possession to long passes to find depth.

To read more about Youth Coaching in soccer, you can visit the Soccerkix blog.

About The Author

Antonio Saviano is the founder of Soccerkix, Scuola Calcio, Italian Premier Soccer School and Soccerkix Academy, a clearing house for the Italian Soccer experience. He has been the North America Director for many Italian professional soccer clubs, including Ascoli Soccer Academy, AC Parma Scuola Calcio and AC Perugia Scuola Calcio. In that capacity he has been helping, leading and developing coaching and player development programs for over 100 affiliated soccer schools across North America and Europe. He is also a freelance writer for Soccer Coaching Magazine.

Antonio has written several books on youth development, among them, “U-6 – U-12 Development Theory”, “U-8 – U-10 Soccer School Development Manual”. He co-authored “Playing to Learn to Play, Didactic Progression for the Development of the Technical-Tactical Fundamentals in the Soccer Schools” and has produced a training video.

For more information you can visit: soccerkix.com and soccerkix.blogspot.com.

L’Équipe’s Best 11 Soccer Players of 2007

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

It’s the end of the year. A popular time for various press publications to make “Best Of 2007″-type rankings.

The Times (UK) did the Best 100 movies of 2007, the New York Times the 10 Best Books of 2007, mCalcio.com the Reuters (RNPS) Best Sports Pictures of 2007 (oh what a shameless plug from my part), and Time Magazine the Top 50 Websites of 2007 (no, unfortunately mCalcio isn’t in the list :) ).

Meanwhile newspapers like The Sun, or magazines like FourFourTwo, have been making Top 10 rankings all year long really (see Top 10 English Soccer Entertainers, Top 100 Footballers, or Richest Players/Club Owners of Premiership Soccer, among others).

So, it’s time for French sports newspaper L’Equipe to join the others, and name its All-Star XI Football Players for 2007. Premiership fans will be pleased, because the team is dominated by English-based lads.

Quoting the Goal.com review article:

In total 7 players from the ‘Top 4′ in England make the list, with only 2 from Spain and 2 from Italy respectively.

Juventus number one Gianluigi Buffon is chosen between the sticks, while the defence is made up of Sevilla’s Daniel Alves, Manchester Utd duo Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, and somewhat surprisingly William Gallas of Arsenal, a player who missed much of last season through injury.

In midfield the English dominance continues with Cesc Fàbregas, Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool symbol Steven Gerrard. There is also a place for European and World Footballer of the Year Kaká.

Up-front Chelsea’s Didier Drogba is paired with Real Madrid’s Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

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L’Équipe’s Best 11 Soccer Players of 2007

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As always, a word of wisdom with such lists should inevitably be that they are highly subjective. In fact, I defy anyone here to agree on all 11 of these choices, but there are certainly a few players cited by L’Équipe which raise some eyebrows. I’ll get you started with some very pertinent issues raised by our friend RomaChris, over @ TheOffside.com:

  • Drogba? Really? He’s had 12 goals in the Premiership in the last 12 months, with a smattering in the various Prem competitions and 5 in the Champions League (whoopdedo). You could certainly do better than a goal a month in the league striker for one of the two best players at the position over a year.
  • So where’s Francesco Totti? Last time I checked he won the European Golden Boot. 9 goals in 10 league games this year and 24 in 28 over the 12 months. Yes, I’m biased [Chris is an ardent Roma supporter], but it goes far beyond rooting interests when you omit the guy who led Europe in scoring and his league in assists. No one in the world can match the productivity of Totti. Pretty asinine.
  • Rumor has it Lionel Messi and Andrea Pirlo have been doing alright as well. Pirlo, despite my love for him, has a more difficult argument just because it’s nearly impossible to dismiss Cesc and/or Stevie G, who has been making en fuego look like a frosty night in the Arctic over the past two months. As far as Messi goes, they couldn’t have used a 3-4-3 just to get him into the equation? It’s not as though this team would ever see the pitch. Who deserves to be on an all-world team more, Patrice Evra or The Messiah?
  • Buffon is a tough inclusion because half of this year was spent in Serie B doing penance, but he is clearly the best keeper in the world so…who knows. And that back line? Plenty of options to make an argument for. (Philip Lahm, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho. Just a start.)

The comments section eagerly awaits your opinions. Fire away!

Top 20 Future Soccer Stars: A 2008 Watchlist from ‘The Sun’

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

Top 20 Future Soccer Stars: A 2008 Watchlist from ‘The Sun’

Few years, like 2007, can claim to have served as the launching platform for many of the talented youngsters football has to offer.

From Cristiano Ronaldo to Cesc Fàbregas, passing by Giovani Dos Santos and Bojan Krkic, through to Karim Benzema and Alexandre Pato, not forgetting of course Lionel Messi: while some have used 2007 to confirm expectations and firmly establish themselves as the stars of today (and many many tomorrows), others have just recently exploded onto the football scene, with good promise that 2008 will be even more exciting to follow as the previous year.

Well-known and popular English tabloid newspaper The Sun takes a look at the ‘Ones to watch in 2008′, a Top 20 of the Best Youngsters on the football scene. Who knows… in a short time, most of these players might very well deserve their own individual article (some of them already do). Let’s have a look…

The past 12 months have seen the emergence of some of the brightest young talents in world football.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fàbregas and Lionel Messi transformed themselves into world-class performers during 2007. Ronaldo, 22, and Messi, 20, were named as runners-up to Kaká in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards and Fàbregas, 20, has helped turn Arsenal in to genuine Premier League title contenders.

But who will be the stars of 2008? SunSport profiles 20 players who are set to make their mark on the beautiful game.

Note that this is NOT a ranked list; the players have been listed in alphabetical order for simplicity.

Also note that there undoubtedly are players who deserve to be on this list, but who have been forgotten by The Sun’s authors. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments section. I’ll get you started: Gareth Bale, Ángel Di María… or even Ezequiel Garay, Markel Susaeta, Yoann Gourcuff… or Jozy Altidore, and Man Utd’s Anderson. Not to mention some very interesting youngsters the Serie A has to offer (Sebastian Giovinco, Robert Acquafresca, Nicola Pozzi)… have your say!

You can also check out World Soccer Magazine’s Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers on Soccerlens (for which I designed the head image by the way ;) ).
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Sergio Agüero Age 19 Striker .
Atletico Madrid
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Yet another Argentine youngster who has been tagged “the next Maradona”. Aguero joined Atletico Aged just 17 in June 2006 from Independiente for a club-record fee of £15.75m. Struggled to cope with the pressure in his debut season but has already scored 12 goals in 22 games this term.
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Ever Banega Age 19 Midfielder .
Boca Juniors
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Classy holding midfielder who has been linked with moves to some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Took over the holding role for Boca when Fernando Gago joined Real Madrid last year and formed a strong partnership with Juan Román Riquelme as the Argentine giants won the Copa Libertadores — South America’s answer to the Champions League.
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Karim Benzema Age 20 Striker .
Lyon
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Came through the ranks at Lyon and has caught the eye of Arsenal, Real Madrid and Juventus after scoring 12 goals in 16 matches this season. Made his international debut for France in March and has netted three times for Les Bleus in eight games. Arsene Wenger described him as “an immense revelation”.
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Breno Age 18 Defender .
Bayern Munich
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Brazil Under-20 skipper who will join the German giants on January 1. Bayern paid São Paulo around £8.5million for the skillful central defender. Ex-Brazil and Bayern striker Giovane Élber described Breno as “an absolutely stunning prospect” after he agreed his big-money move.
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Macauley Chrisantus Age 17 Striker .
Hamburg
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Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City were all interested in signing Chrisantus after his exploits at this year’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The scintillating striker fired seven goals in seven games and was the top scorer as Nigeria won the competition. Joined Hamburg in November 2007.
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Denilson Age 19 Midfielder .
Arsenal
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Brazilian star who is a regular fixture in the Gunners’ youthful Carling Cup sides. Bought from São Paulo in August 2006 for £3.4m despite just four starts for the club. All-round midfielder who is comfortable going forward but also a tenacious tackler.
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Lorenzo De Silvestri Age 19 Defender .
Lazio
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Talented full-back who has been tipped as a future Italian international. De Silvestri will be a target for Roma, Juventus and Arsenal in January as he will be available on a Bosman when his contract expires in the summer. Made his Champions League debut in August and has made 12 appearances so far this season.
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Franco Di Santo Age 18 Striker .
Chelsea
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Argentine wonderkid who will join the Blues in January for £3.4m from Chilian side Audax Italiano. Like Lucas Leiva at Liverpool, he holds an Italian passport and will be able to play for the Blues immediately. May struggle to break into Avram Grant’s star-studded team but should earn a few run outs in cup competitions in 2008.
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Giovani dos Santos Age 18 Striker .
Barcelona
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Came to prominence in 2005 when he was one of stars of the Mexico team that won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. Has been a regular feature for Barca this season and has managed to keep Ronaldinho out of the starting XI. Already has four caps for Mexico.
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Stevan Jovetic Age 18 Striker .
Partizan Belgrade
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A £7m target for Manchester United after becoming the top scorer in the Serbian league with 11 goals. Was named captain of the Montenegro Under-21 side aged just 17 and has already made his full international debut. A creative striker who likes to drop deep and run at defenders. He is also a deadly-accurate finisher.
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Bojan Krkic Age 17 Striker .
Barcelona
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Hailed as Spain’s answer to Lionel Messi by Barca fans after scoring over 800 goals in the Catalan club’s youth teams. Broke the record as the youngest ever player to feature in a Champions League match in September 2007. A month later, he became Barcelona’s youngest La Liga goalscorer.
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Toni Kroos Age 17 Midfielder .
Bayern Munich
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Named player of the tournament at the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup and has already made his Bundesliga and European debuts for Bayern. A creative, goalscoring midfielder, Kroos shone at youth level for both club and country. Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness has already earmarked him for the revered No10 shirt.
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Lucas Leiva Age 20 Midfielder .
Liverpool
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Signed for the Reds in the summer from Copa Libertadores finalists Gremio after winning the Brazilian Footballer of the Year award. Likened to Steven Gerrard before his move to England, the box-to-box midfielder has already featured heavily in Rafa Benitez’s side and should be a key player in 2008.
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Lulinha Age 17 Midfielder .
Corinthians
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Transfer target for Italian champions Inter Milan after starring for Brazil’s Under-17 side. Scored 12 goals in seven matches during the South American U-17 Championships before being one of the stars of the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tricky attacking midfielder has an eye for goal and is already being touted as the long-term successor to Ronaldinho.
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Alexandre Pato Age 18 Striker .
AC Milan
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Known as ‘the duck’, Pato shot to fame when AC Milan shelled out £15m for his services in the summer — despite rules stopping him from playing until January 3. Milan have high hopes for Pato, with president Silvio Berlusconi claiming he expects the youngster to score 30 goals between January and the end of the season. Brazil coach Dunga has dubbed him “the new Ronaldo”.
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Gerard Piqué Age 20 Defender .
Manchester United
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Returned to United this season after a successful loan spell with Real Zaragoza. The ex-Barcelona youth product showed huge potential during his year in Spain and is expected to feature regularly for the Red Devils in 2008. Has played nine times this season, including the Champions League matches with Roma and Dynamo Kiev.
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Ivan Rakitic Age 19 Midfielder .
Schalke
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Niko Kranjčar and Luka Modrić may have ended England’s Euro 2008 qualifying hopes but new Three Lions boss Fabio Capello will have to watch out Rakitić in 2008. The Swiss-born attacking midfielder is the latest Croatian star to catch the eye and was snapped up by German champions Schalke in the summer.
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Adel Taarabt Age 18 Midfielder .
Tottenham
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Young French midfielder who has established himself as a regular member of Spurs’ match-day squad. Compared to Zinedine Zidane before his move to North London, the left-footed trickster has already wowed the White Hart Lane faithful with his ambitious runs and long-range strikes.
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Carlos Vela Age 18 Striker .
Arsenal
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The Gunners snapped up Vela after he finished top scorer in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2005 — a feat that Cesc Fabregas achieved two years earlier. The Mexican has been on loan in Spain for the past two seasons and will return to North London in January. An exciting prospect who should make his Arsenal debut this term.
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Theo Walcott Age 18 Striker .
Arsenal
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Joined the Gunners from Southampton for £5m in January 2006 and shot to fame when he was called up to England’s 2006 World Cup squad aged 17. Scored the opening goal in last season’s Carling Cup final and is a regular at Under-21 level for the Three Lions. Should return to the Fabio Capello’s England squad in 2008.

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Lionel Messi: Napoli’s Forbidden Dream

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

Napoli is having forbidden dreams these days. Big dreams. Very big. 2nd-ranked-FIFA-Player-of-the-year big. According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, the Italian club are attempting to find the finances to make a mega-offer for Argentine and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, as they believe he could bring the club back to the glory days of Diego Armando Maradona. Delusions of grandeur or very sincere hope for the future? Better yet… is this just another ridiculous rumor that is so far-fetched it is not even remotely possible? When Neapolitans dreams, they dream big, but some of them have already woken up and started working to make this dream a reality.

El Mundo Deportivo’s printed edition - Napoli quiere a MessiAccording to El Mundo Deportivo (which by the way is a traditionally pro-Barcelona newspaper), the Neapolitan project is being spearheaded by the Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis (a well-known Italian cinema producer), with the objective of turning the club into a Scudetto contender, just like the good old days of Maradona. Not only is there a very concrete project to bring Azzurri captain Fabio Cannavaro back to his old colors at the end of the 2007-08 season, but a large number of Neapolitan investors have identified Lionel Messi as the ideal booster rocket for the city’s economy, much to the liking of Maradona in the mid 80′s.

The whole idea came from a Napoli supporters site a few months ago, who (probably jokingly) suggested to bring the Argentine wonderkid to Southern Italy. However, some of the higher powers of the Biancoazzurri club didn’t find the project to be entirely so far-fetched, and apparently have put a plan in motion to convince Messi to the highly-unlikely Napoli transfer. El Mundo Deportivo mentions that Messi was already approached by Napoli emissaries, who on top of a substantial contract offer have also put the attraction of the unique boost to Messi’s self-image onto the table. Indeed, if La Pulga Atómica were to arrive in Southern Italy, he would be instantly idolized by the entire city of Napoli much like Maradona was back in his time.

Lionel Messi with Diego Armando MaradonaThe only problem? Messi seems to have no intention of leaving Barcelona. and despite he is seen by many as Maradona’s heir at international level, he does not want to follow in his hero’s footsteps by moving to the Stadio San Paolo. As mentioned on Goal.com, “[Messi's] loyalty to Barcelona is well-known as the club brought him over from Argentina and gave him the medicine he needed to grow, while honing his skills on the pitch“.

The buy-out clause in Messi’s contract is believed to be around €125m, but that hasn’t scared Napoli. In fact, the users of the official site’s forum have just suggested the idea of asking all the citizens of Napoli for a small contribution. Now let’s see…  the population of the entire Neapolitan area is about 3 million people… if everyone donates €40 they should reach €125m in the blink of an eye. Right? :)

Messi with a Napoli shirt… wishful thinking?