Indice dei contenuti per March 2021 in FourFourTwo UK

There isn’t much that fans wouldn’t do to swap places with one of their heroes. Given that never happens, though (unless you happen to abuse Harry Redknapp in pre-season), the next best thing is seeing them have fun on a football pitch. Arguably, no player epitomises that more than Son Heung-min. The Tottenham icon has always played wearing a smile – and his could yet widen come the season’s end, with Spurs in the hunt for silverware and Son himself in contention for individual accolades. This month, FFT spoke to several former team-mates about his brilliant journey from South Korea to north London, discovering some largely unknown highs and lows en route to becoming Asia’s all-time great. Elsewhere, we chatted to Thiago Silva in a revealing interview covering life at…

Watford 1 Millwall 2 August 25, 1990 Second Division “My league debut for Watford still pains me. I wasn’t even their No.1 before this game, and had no inkling that I was going to play in the opening match of the season. Unfortunately we lost, but Millwall’s winner wasn’t a goal! I saved Malcolm Allen’s header, got up again, scrambled over to block Teddy Sheringham’s rebound and the ball ended up outside the goal, off the pitch. It’s online – I watched it a few weeks ago. It was disgusting... disgusting! This game changed my life, though, as it started my professional career.” Nottingham Forest 1 Liverpool 0 August 16, 1992 Premier League “The new Premier League’s first televised match on Sky was also my Liverpool debut. Again, I was…

Nothing comes easy to Union Berlin – even in their best ever season, the international headlines have been going to one of their city rivals instead. There were articles aplenty when Tasmania Berlin – now in the amateur leagues – came close to losing their record for the longest winless run in Bundesliga history, as Schalke almost matched their 31-match sequence from 1965-66. Less noticed by the world’s media, Union have been eyeing a European place this season, having been in the fourth tier as recently as 2006. The club has traditionally been seen as the cult team of the working class, rather than a powerhouse – falling under Soviet rule in east Berlin, they won the East German Cup in 1968, but had little joy in the league. Fans…

So, Swindon. But first! Confession… I grew up in Wiltshire, but was actually a Manchester United fan in the late ’90s. It peaked deliciously with the Treble, but at that point my dad said, “You should be supporting your local team.” He’s not a massive football fan, nor does he have any great affiliation to Swindon, but I think he enjoyed trying it on. He was very surprised when I called his bluff and started asking to go to games. You might argue that it’s been a pointless 20-year exercise in proving him wrong. Who was your childhood hero, and did you ever meet them? The first Swindon player was Giuliano Grazioli, who’d knocked us out of the FA Cup while playing for Stevenage. I felt like I truly owed…

Between August 2016 and January 2021, statistical models suggested that Son’s expected goals tally was just above 42. Thanks to his deadly finishing, he actually scored 61 Premier League goals, exceeding his own xG by 44 per cent – a higher percentage than a host of other stars Son Heung-min 44.41% Harry Kane 21.33% Lionel Messi 21.31% Ciro Immobile 21.14% Sadio Mané 16.36% Kylian Mbappé 14.35% Jamie Vardy 13.51% Mo Salah 11.81% Cristiano Ronaldo 0.67% Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang -0.07% Robert Lewandowski -0.43% Raheem Sterling -1.23%…

HIDETOSHI NAKATA A young Hidetoshi Nakata didn’t really watch much football. He did, though, watch Captain Tsubasa: the 1980s manga series beloved by many would-be footballers, from megafan Fernando Torres to Alessandro Del Piero and Andres Iniesta. It lured Nakata into his first kickabout. Asia will remain ever grateful. Come the new millennium, Nakata was a superstar. At a time when a footballer with a brand wasn’t the norm but the exception (or Becks-eption?), the promising Japanese midfielder was the world’s most marketable player. Nakata was everywhere, posing on posters, selling saké, inspiring hair trends and promoting Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Toyota and Nike. “I don’t appreciate it,” he admitted of his new role as global billboard, “but it’s true.” Switched-on and handsome, Nakata became a fashion model and even editor-at-large of…

The year is 2021, and you’ve been tasked with creating the perfect goalkeeper. In an ideal world, or if you just happen to be Bonnie Tyler, several attributes leap out at you like the refrain of a song. He’s got to be strong. He’s got to be fast. He’s probably larger than life. You need a hero. Not one borne of flashy egotism, but the reliable, focused type who always wants to put a shift in for his team-mates. The one who’s able to keep his head when others around him crumble quicker than a block of Caerphilly. Basically, you need Alisson Becker. Let’s start with his honours: the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Copa America in 2019, followed by the Premier League title in…

Last year, you decided to swap the EFL Championship for the Scottish Championship. What convinced you to drop another level to join Dundee? It’s the club I supported, growing up. I’d always thought about playing here, but only if I could contribute. I was 34, I could still compete, and I felt good. I didn’t want to come at 36 or 37, with my career nearly over and everybody thinking it was the last hurrah. If I can manage to help this club back into the Premiership, it’ll be the biggest thing I’ve achieved in my career, because of what it means as a supporter. You have 10 times as many Twitter followers as the club, and all of the attention is on you. Do you like that? Yeah, I…

KIERNAN DEWSBURY-HALL LUTON LOWDOWN Hooray for contract law! When Leicester’s Dennis Praet was injured in January, the Hatters feared the worst: a loan recall for their ace 22-year-old central midfielder. The cut-off date had passed, however, allowing Luton gaffer Nathan Jones to breathe easy. Dewsbury-Hall has stepped up to the second tier with ease after a similarly good stint with Blackpool in League One. The classy operator has pocketed multiple man of the match awards as the shining light of Luton’s fine season to date. HIGHLIGHT He can score goals, too – the pick of this term’s bunch a low, 25-yard drive to beat Bristol City after stealing possession himself. THEY SAID “He’s doing superbly well and he’ll go back to Leicester a better player; more of a grown man,”…

You were kicked out of Garston Boys Club after parents of the opposition complained. What do you remember about that? I was devastated – I wanted to play football with my friends. When I found out what the parents were saying, it was really hurtful. My dad had to sit me down and say, “You can’t play, they’re stopping the team from picking you.” I didn’t get it, it didn’t seem fair to me. He said, “How about hockey or netball?” but I was like, “I don’t want to do that, I just want to play football.” I remember being so upset and crying all the time. He said, “We’ll find you a girls’ team.” There were no girls’ teams in Watford or Garston, so we had to research it…

CLUBS 1999-2002 ASEC Mimosas 2002-09 Arsenal 2009-13 Manchester City 2013-16 Liverpool 2016-17 Celtic COUNTRY  2000-15 Ivory Coast The former centre-back’s playing days are almost four years behind him, but Kolo Toure has every reason for a permanent grin on the verge of his 40th birthday. As FourFourTwo proceeds to take him back through a life of trophies, records and personalised dance routines, Toure can’t help but giggle constantly as he recalls his remarkable career – one that included a mild assault on a football great, en route to seven major honours and two European finals. Even better, he celebrated one of his two Premier League titles alongside brother Yaya, his junior by two years. Toure also knows that he will always be one of them, held in the highest esteem…

BECAUSE IT’S SATURDAY Gavin Bell (Pitch, £12.99) “Man United’s community is the world – ours is Accrington,” says Stanley owner Andy Holt. It’s this more parochial view of a football club’s raison d’etre which lies at the heart of Because It’s Saturday. Travel writer Gavin Bell enjoys plenty of hospitality at various outposts, and discovers that as well as struggling to survive financially, clubs are fighting to preserve their sense of identity. Before lockdown, Plymouth’s Fansfest tent sold out for every home game; according to one supporter, the outcome of the Devon side’s matches directly affects output at the local ball bearings factory. Sentimentality isn’t a guilty trapping for Bell, who reveals how the bitter power struggle at Blackpool fractured the fanbase, and how Queen’s Park – the oldest club…

PERNILLE THE WINNER I just loved your interview with Chelsea’s Pernille Harder [FFT 321]. As a young, gay Liverpool fan, I’ve seldom found LGBTQ+ representation in the men’s game, and think Pernille nailed it when she said that some male players will almost be living two lives. I’d love nothing more than to see this change, but the added scrutiny on men hinders them from really being themselves. With Juan Mata’s Common Goal movement, I’m hopeful we might soon see more players feel confident to be themselves. It would help create a safer environment for LGBTQ+ fans. Chloe Taylor, via email…

Looking over and seeing Juan Sebastian Veron lining up was a frightful sight for opponents. A cultured, 6ft 1in assassin with a goatee, the Argentine midfielder liked to wear his socks low as he prepared for war. Despite his revered style, he wasn’t afraid to scrap if the going got tough. Today, Veron has decided to present himself even more menacingly for his catch-up with FourFourTwo. Studying his black leather jacket and Peaky Blinders-style flat cap, we’re just thankful there’s no razor blade nearby as the genial 45-year-old chats with us from the other side of the Atlantic. He has been Estudiantes club president since can run a , over the past few months the election has been pushed back due to coronavirus. Before he took office, La Brujita (‘The…

TARIBO WEST PLYMOUTH, 2005 CREDENTIALS Beyond the natty green braids which made him look a slightly less scary prospect than The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, West was a tough-tackling stopper who won the Ligue 1 title at Auxerre in 1996, followed it with Olympic gold and then bagged the UEFA Cup at Inter in ’99. A switch to crosstown rivals Milan in 2000 proved short-lived, and West later revealed that he’d been forced out by the mafia. “They cooked a vicious story that I was injured – the doctors were bribed,” he huffed. Cue a perplexing career trajectory: Derby, Kaiserslautern (where he was sacked for attending a birthday party in Milan while ‘ill’), Partizan and Al-Arabi, before the only natural conclusion: Plymouth. HOW’D IT GO? West was still just 31 when…

1 FLYING THE FLAG Hibs were the only British club to compete in the European Cup’s inaugural 1955-56 season, despite finishing a lowly fifth the previous campaign. In the days where Brits would routinely refuse invitations abroad – plus ça change – Hibs (and their crucial floodlights) reached the semi-finals, going down 3-0 to runners-up Reims. 2 PURPLE HAZE Hibs were the first top-flight team in Britain to secure a shirt sponsor, with Bukta supplying and adorning their 1977 kit. When TV companies threatened to boycott matches, the wily Scots wore an alternative purple strip for games on the box, forcing commentators to highlight the issue. Crafty. 3 SNOW MERCY Blizzards put paid to most of the Boxing Day fixtures north and south of the border in…

“I HAD A WI-FI BOX THAT WAS CAUSING US SOME BOTHER, SO SMASHED THE THING TO BITS” Hi John. You became a Christian to help deal with your terrible temper. Do you ever become enraged these days, or are you 100 per cent zen? Hi mate. It still rears up now and then, but it’s all about retraining your mind. I have to stay on top of things and it can always catch me out, but I handle things better than I did 20 years ago. What are the main trigger risks for a Moncur meltdown? Well, if I was home-schooling children right now, I’d be praying every single day. And playing golf is a scourge. But it’s got to be technology breaking. We had a roofer round and he…

How did your loan move from Stoke to Trabzonspor happen last summer? Last year was a tough year, with my daughter passing away. I just felt like I needed to be away from England for a little bit, so I was looking abroad. A few teams in the Championship came in, but I wanted to experience something else to clear my head – it felt like the right time after coming back from a long-term ACL injury [on loan at Bristol City last season], to start enjoying my football again. How are you finding Trabzon so far? I’ve got my wife and two kids out here with me – our apartment is right next to the beach, so they’re enjoying it. For them, it’s like an extended holiday! In England,…

In the spring of 2020, a shaven-headed man crouched holding an M16 assault rifle in Moseulpo, on the island of Jeju. Seventy years earlier, his countrymen had trained at the very same base, preparing for the most significant battle of the Korean War. Supported by forces from China and the Soviet Union, North Korea had swept south through the Korean peninsula in 1950, capturing all but a tiny part of the mainland. The volcanic island of Jeju, 80 miles further south, was one of the few places that South Korea had left. From there, troops sailed west of Seoul to Incheon, where they combined with British and American forces for the battle that turned the conflict. It paved the way for the modern South Korea. Now, one of South Korea’s…

A SMILE IN HIS BOOTS Is there a more likeable Premier League player? I’m not sure there is. He’s the guy who all my non-Spurs friends both like and enjoy watching the most. He plays the game with a smile on his face – and that smile has made its way to his boots, too. His style of play is so joyful, so positive. His burst of pace, his ability to go inside or outside and shoot with either foot, often from range, is just fun. Handshake goal celebrations are naff, but he even carries those off. HE’S UNSTOPPABLE It’s not just his personality – his ability is exceptional. When you think of a Son goal, you think of a mazy cut-in from the flank and a curling shot into…

“ONE OF MY LUNGS WAS COMPLETELY WHITE. I SPENT SIX MONTHS IN A RUSSIAN HOSPITAL. BUT NOW I CAN SAY I’M A LIFE CHAMPION TOO!” Flying a kite might feel to most people like a pastime from the last century, but it’s up there as one of Thiago Silva’s favourite activities to help him disconnect from football. More than that, though, it takes the 36-year-old Chelsea defender back to his rough but joyful childhood in western Rio de Janeiro. “I was more passionate about kites than football,” he tells FFT in his first major interview with British media since crossing the English Channel from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. “If I was having a kickaround with my friends and saw a kite up in the sky, I would leave the ball…

I was only 10 years old when I got on a plane to England from Burundi, and was scared as hell. I’d never left Burundi before, or even the area that I lived in. My mum moved to England when I was six or seven. I stayed with my friend, then she did everything she could for me to join her. But when I arrived in England, we couldn’t find her – I had to go to a care home. When they found her, I had to do blood tests to prove she was my mum. Finally, I met her again. We were at a police station and it was so emotional – she literally got on her knees and crawled to me, then we cried. Being reunited with her…

XI BEST: Steve Ogrizovic, Roland Nilsson, George Curtis, Gary Gillespie, Stuart Pearce, Gary McAllister, Terry Yorath, Tommy Hutchison, Peter Ndlovu, Dion Dublin, Robbie Keane. WORST: Raffaele Nuzzo, Reece Brown, Steve Walsh, Horacio Carbonari, Alex Evtushok, Paul Trollope, Neil Wood, Tim Sherwood, Keith O’Neill, Kevin Kyle, Nick Proschwitz. PLAYER B: City splashed out on Keane [right] in 1999 and were rewarded with the most inexplicable season of fun. Goals, flicks and crap cartwheels had us all gripped, until Inter caught a glimpse of him and fancied a bit of the action. W: As rough as it feels to single out an individual as the worst ever, it would be remiss of me to not say that Sherwood was a waste of everyone’s time. Harsh, but I doubt he cares. MOMENT B:…

You played for some of England’s biggest clubs and Real Madrid. How would you sum up your career in three words? I’d say I was honest and passionate, but the one word which springs to mind more than any other is unfulfilled. Does that sense of unfulfillment continue to bother you today? Yes, absolutely. It does my head in, because my career could have been so much different but for all the injuries. I sometimes study my playing statistics, then compare them to the players of a similar age who notched up more than 500 appearances. Looking back, a lot of it was my own fault because I always used to rush back from injuries. You blame yourself? Yes, in a way. When you’re out, you’re saying to yourself, ‘What’s…

Shortly before your retirement in 2017, you became the world’s most successful player having won 37 honours. How did that feel? I never really gave a lot of importance to that record during my career. But once I’d retired, it was nice to look back and realise everything I experienced in football. Being part of many great sides is definitely more important than the trophies. I’m grateful to have played for big teams and with top players – that’s what makes me proud. I could only win the titles because of my privilege of working with very talented guys at successful clubs. Which prizes stand out? I’ll mention two: my first and last trophies in Europe. The first was the Eredivisie title with Ajax in my debut season. The celebrations…

EDWIN VAN DER SAR “A great all-round goalkeeper. He was good with a ball at his feet and his distribution was excellent, so our attacks started with him. On and off the field, he was a professional guy.” LILIAN THURAM “Lilian was strong in one-on-one situations – his defensive skills were outstanding, and it seemed impossible to get past him. Although he scored a brace against Croatia in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals, he didn’t go forward much – those two goals were the only ones he ever scored for France!” JAAP STAM “Such a class defender. He was so powerful – physically a beast – but fast as well. He had quick feet, and that agility was impressive for a big guy like him. I was sad to see…