Australian FourFourTwo的July 2016目录

Talk of football existing in its own goldfish bowl is nothing new. The money, the media, the unfathomable ubiquity of Robbie Savage. But now, thanks to Brazilian photographer Gabriel Uchida’s stunning collection of Buenos Aires’ grounds, it looks like one, too. Taken from the centre circle of 14 different stadiums in the Argentine capital, from top-flight sides San Lorenzo and Huracan to semi-pros Chacarita and Temperley, Gabriel’s collection of 360-degree panoramas look about as cool as it’s possible for a ground to look. Floodlights, pylons and trees all sprout from hypnotically circular pitches. “I had this idea in 2013 to shoot the Brazilian arenas for the World Cup, but the distances between venues were too great,” Gabriel tells FFT. “Buenos Aires is just perfect, because there are so many different…

As a limited player who went to four European Cup finals, Conte knows talent isn’t everything To understand Antonio Conte the manager, it’s impossible not to consider Antonio Conte the player. Remarkably, he never thought of himself as anything more than average, which strikes the casual observer as false modesty given he won everything several times over. In fact, it’s the God’s honest truth. From the outset, Conte was under no illusion of what it would take for him to make it to the top. One of his first games for Lecce, his hometown club, made it clear where he stood. “I played No.4 and the No.4 used to mark the No.10,” said Conte. “I played against Diego Maradona. He was overweight and at the end of his career.” There…

My country is Kosovo. If I had been in another situation, that was where I was supposed to play.” There’s an emotional tremble in Valon Behrami’s voice as he utters these words to FourFourTwo. The Watford midfielder has played more than 60 times for Switzerland – his commitment to his adopted country is beyond question. But the 31-year-old has never forgotten the land of his birth; the war-torn region that he had to depart at the age of five, on the long bus journey west. When Switzerland face Albania in the second game of this year’s European Championship on June 11, it is conceivable that as many as half of the players on the pitch could hail from Kosovo. For Switzerland there’s not just Behrami, but Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit…

Friday night, and outside Gibraltar’s Victoria Stadium a man dressed as a giant spicy sausage has just had to fend off an attempted rugby tackle from an over-exuberant member of the public. Another man hovers nearby, sporting the world’s most magnificent horseshoe moustache and clutching a set of darts. FourFourTwo is puzzled, at least until we discover that the stadium’s indoor hall is playing host to the Peperami Gibraltar Darts Trophy, where raucous punters are paying $12 a pop to watch the likes of Michael van Gerwen and world champion Gary Anderson sling arrows on the PDC European Tour. But we’re not here for that. We have flown to one of Europe’s southernmost tips to savour a curious local football tradition – a Premier Division where every single match is…

There are two ways of looking at the decision to host Copa America Centenario in the USA. First: “Yay! A hundred years of Copa America and now we get a free extra edition. Huzzah!” Or: “Cash – that’s what all this is about. Endless summer tours have clearly demonstrated that North Americans will pack megastadiums and pay top dollar, so obviously they’re holding it in the United States.” But wait – there’s actually a third point of view. Namely: “Finally, a chance for American soccer to right the wrongs; to avenge the penalty miss that will forever overshadow the 1994 World Cup. Roberto Baggio against Brazil in the final? No, Diana Ross of course!” It’s 22 years since the World Cup started and finished with a missed penalty – but…

You’re about to take part in your first Copa America. How are you feeling about that? Excited? I’m very happy. Since I was a kid, the tournament I wanted to watch most, apart from the World Cup, was Copa America. The one I remember was when Mexico were in the final against Colombia back in 2001. I was watching at home. We lost 1-0 and the whole country was very sad, but we were also happy that the team had got so far – it was a very good achievement. But it wasn’t perfect, because a perfect tournament would be winning it. How do you view Mexico’s chances of success this time around? Hopefully we can have a very good tournament because, after the USA, we’re going to be the…

MEXICO Chances Unlike several big nations, Mexico’s top priority this summer is Copa America, not the Olympics. After all, they won gold in London four years ago but have never won Copa America, despite twice being in a final. They fancy their chances – yet there are question marks. In attack they’re talented but not on a par with the likes of Argentina and Chile, while defensive rock Rafael Marquez is 37 and probably playing in his last tournament. Copa America record They’ve appeared in every tournament since 1993, but didn’t win a game in either of the previous two. Manager Juan Carlos Osorio is a John Moores University graduate and former Manchester City conditioning coach who has won over the fans after initially being an unpopular choice. He replaced…

1 Foxe’s bar relief “There were no fights or yelling abuse or anything,” shrugged West Ham United defender Hayden Foxe after the Aussie defender emptied his bladder against the nightclub bar during the Hammers’ 2001 Christmas bash. “What I did was wrong, but I’m determined to show that Australian players can adapt to the English game.” Like a duck to water, Hayden. 2 Grizzly business In November 2014, Torpedo Moscow’s on-loan midfielder Kirill Kombarov came in for justifiable criticism after hiring a bear for his son’s birthday. Two-year-old Timofei rode on the grizzly’s back as the tie-clad beast, which Kombarov first saw on a TV show, danced around in the player’s living room to the toddler’s amusement. At least it was muzzled. Yes, we mean the bear... 3 “Have The…

FIELD OF DREAMS Leicester – Leicester! – won the Premier League. And what better way to celebrate than with 240,000 supporters lining the streets to cheer the most unbelievable of triumphs? Turn to p56 to find out what jubilant Foxes fans – some of them dressed as pizzas – thought of the season ahead of their final home game against Everton. THE ORIGINAL LEGEND When the history of the A-League is written, Archie Thompson will loom large as the competition’s first real legend. The relentless larrikin was the A-League’s orginal goal machine, scoring crucial strikes when they mattered most - and even when his career looked over, equalling his personal best tally, often from the bench. And always - ALWAYS - with a smile on his face. Melbourne Victory gave…

What has the reaction in the Spain camp been like after the disappointment of the World Cup? The reaction has been good: we played well and won every game in European Championship qualifying except for one against Slovakia [Spain lost 2-1]. We lost a few key players due to retirement, but now is the time for our younger players to step up and show that they are also very important. We have a younger group this time, with some fantastic qualities, and I’m sure we can do well at Euro 2016. What went wrong in Brazil? Confidence is very important in football. We played the Netherlands in the opening game and lost 5-1, but in the first half we took a 1-0 lead, and then David Silva went through one-on-one…

Vardy’s chances of starting have improved due to Danny Welbeck’s long-term injury Over the past 20 years, England’s two most exciting players at major tournaments have been quick, direct centre-forwards unleashed immediately after their first major Premier League campaign. Michael Owen starred at the 1998 World Cup, Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004, both fearlessly charging through the opposition’s defence. This time around, it could be the turn of Jamie Vardy. Vardy, of course, is in a different situation. Owen and Rooney were both 18 at their first major tournament; Vardy will be more than a decade older. Nevertheless, picking the Leicester City man upfront would be a similar move: selecting an in-form, direct striker who most opponents won’t have faced before. His rise through the English football pyramid has been…

June 26 was once a glorious date in the River Plate calendar. It was on that day in 1996 that one of South America’s most iconic clubs had won their second Copa Libertadores, with two goals from Hernan Crespo sealing a 2-0 victory over Colombia’s America de Cali. Yet 15 years later, to the day, the emotions were altogether different. The unthinkable happened. At Estadio Monumental, the venue of Argentina’s first World Cup triumph in 1978, the country’s most successful club, with 35 domestic titles to their name at the time, faced the second leg of an unexpected relegation play-off against Belgrano. They had lost the first leg 2-0, so needed to win by a two-goal margin in order to stay in the top flight. Despite that difficult task, hopes…

At 4.53pm on January 12, 2010, Haiti began to tremble. An earthquake of colossal magnitude (7.0 on the Richter scale) had struck 25 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Twelve days of aftershocks followed. Some three million people were affected in a Caribbean country with a population of around 10 million, leaving up to 316,000 dead, in one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century. The main headquarters of the Haitian FA had collapsed, killing highly-rated coach Jean Yves Labaze and 30 other people. The 10,000-capacity Stade Sylvio Cator became a refugee camp; a shelter for men, women and children rendered homeless. “The national team’s football stadium found itself stormed by people who simply didn’t know where to go,” remembers Billy Charlera, who works for the French-speaking country’s football…

USA Chances The USMNT (the US Men’s National Team, a catchy nickname if ever there was one) are standing at a crossroads. Not long ago they were CONCACAF’s best team, but Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard are all either in retirement or nearing it, and the new generation has yet to suggest it is capable of replacing them. After a semi-final defeat to Jamaica on home soil in last year’s Gold Cup and a seriously shaky start to World Cup qualifying that included a defeat to Guatemala, the question is: can the US recover? Or, as they’d abbreviate it Stateside: WTF USMNT LOL? Copa America record They made the semis in 1995 but lost every game last time out in 2007. Manager Jurgen , who was once lauded…

ARGENTINA Chances Even though they’ll face holders Chile in their opening match – a repeat of the 2015 final – La Albiceleste are favourites to win Copa America. That heartbreaking defeat to their neighbours hasn’t been forgotten, and neither has the World Cup final loss to Germany, which has led fans to accuse the players of being bottlers. Time to win the thing, then – ideally beating Brazil on the way. Copa America record They’ll hope to match Uruguay’s tally of 15 titles at this year’s Copa. Manager Gerardo Martino was deemed a flop at Barcelona, losing La Liga to Atletico Madrid, and the coach nicknamed Tata said ta-ta to Camp Nou. But the former Paraguay boss is still highly regarded in South America and has introduced a more attacking…

“If we had two or three Cristiano Ronaldos in the team, I’d feel more comfortable. But we don’t.” Talking ahead of the 2014 World Cup, the words were spoken by... Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal’s captain was speaking not just in the third person but in the knowledge that his words, featuring in a documentary about himself, wouldn’t hit the screens for at least a year; even so, his comments illustrated exactly how he saw his country’s chances in Brazil. So interwoven are Portugal’s chances with their all-consuming supergiant, it’s impossible to see them winning a first major international honour without Ronaldo at his peacocking best. Five goals in qualifying (of Portugal’s 11) took the Real Madrid forward to 23 in European Championship history, more than any other player. He is easily…

We know what you’re thinking: didn’t Copa America happen last year? Well, yes, it did – but everyone enjoyed it so much, they’re going to do it all again. In fact, not only are they doing it again this summer, but they’re doing it bigger than ever before. It’s the Copa America Centenario, 100 years after the very first tournament was held in 1916. To celebrate the event’s centenary, CONMEBOL has decided to move the tournament as far away from South America as possible. OK, not that far away, but with the USA acting as hosts, it’s the first time Copa has ever been staged outside of South America. Six teams from North and Central America have been invited to join the super-tournament, bringing the number of countries involved to…

No major tournament does organised chaos quite like Copa America – and if you think things were a little calmer at the first event in 1916, you’d be wrong. The first edition took place in Argentina, 14 years before the first World Cup and 44 years before the birth of the European Championship. Back then it was known as Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones, held to celebrate Argentina’s 100th anniversary of independence. Brazil, Uruguay and Chile were the others to take part in a round robin format, but things started badly and only escalated from there. Uruguay beat Chile 4-0 in the opener, only for the beaten side to controversially protest about the presence of black players Isabelino Gradin and Juan Delgado in the Uruguay side, calling them ‘African slaves’ who…

It was the first Copa America staged in Peru for 47 years, but the hosts’ opening night looked like going horribly wrong until Roberto Palacios and his left foot got involved. Regarded as one of the favourites to win the tournament, alongside Brazil and Argentina, Peru were trailing 2-0 to Bolivia in their opening match in Lima when boss Paulo Autuori summoned seasoned midfielder Palacios from the substitutes’ bench. Palacios, now 43, tells FFT: “Before the game he’d told me: ‘Roberto, we need to win. I will use three attackers as starters and then if I need changes, you will come on.’” And so, Palacios was introduced in place of Nolberto Solano, and soon Peru got a goal back from the penalty spot thanks to Claudio Pizarro. Then, with only…

Masterminded by Jorge Sampaoli, Chile took an unusual route to their first ever Copa triumph last year – one that included a crashed Ferrari and a seriously weird ban. Sampaoli has since stepped down, but took the time to tell FFT the secrets of Chile’s success – and why he’d love to manage in England... It helps if your team is a bit Loco Sampaoli took over as Chile boss in 2012, not long after the departure of fellow Argentine Marcelo Bielsa. The new man was determined to let his team play with the same attacking verve El Loco had instilled. That helped La Roja to beat La Furia Roja in his first tournament, as Chile knocked holders Spain out of the 2014 World Cup. “The…

BRAZIL Chances The Selecao will always be among the favourites at any tournament, but this is far from Brazil’s greatest ever team and the absence of Neymar won’t make things any easier. He’s undoubtedly the nation’s finest player but has had to sacrifice a Copa America appearance to play in August’s Olympic Games, with the hosts determined to win their first football gold. Copa America record Eight titles put them a distant third in the rankings behind the 15 of Uruguay and 14 of Argentina. They’ve lost in the quarter-finals on penalties to Paraguay two tournaments running; in 2011 they missed all four of their kicks. Manager Dunga led Brazil to their last Copa triumph in 2007 but in his second spell as boss they’re sixth in a World Cup…

MONDAY “It’s my second day of recovery, so I’ll go for a jog, have a stretch and then maybe go into the gym to do some core and upper body work – but it’d be very light. Then I’ll get in the pool, before going home to relax. Some people like to have ice baths, but the main thing for me is getting in the pool to loosen up and get the legs going. That’s where I feel the most benefit.” GAINS Relieve stress + Ease aches + Increase circulation in muscles TUESDAY “We’ll be out on the training pitch for a light session and then we’ll do a bit more gym work on the upper body and core. The theme of the training session will depend on what the…