Ndiaye, Harlem Globetrotters-Level Moves and Revealing Soccer Stats

YOU’RE TELLING US THERE’S A CHANCE?

Unless you’ve missed the clip of Iliman Ndiaye performing a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, it’s a good watch. In executing a move so spectacular that it would have been appropriate at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to wrap up what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how amateur players can earn a second chance after being released by professional academies.

Ndiaye, who featured in non-league games directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is ideally suited to discuss this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to arrive,” he informed a young player shortly before deploying said spectacular skill on his opponent, in doing so clearly demonstrating the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been working to minimize.

Ndiaye isn’t the first professional footballer to take things that little bit too far. Peak Michael Owen happily embarrassing a 13-year-old goalkeeper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this particular niche – but the one-time Reds forward is far from the only offender. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have reduced toddlers to actual tears with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s believed that the latter was at least inspired by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “this frustration makes a person stronger” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s previous Borussia partners Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the manners to lose their match against 100 children when the three competed during the mid-game pause of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they played against 109 Chinese kids in a like situation. But returning to the beginning, it’s estimated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing organized youth football in England will ever appear in the Premier League, a stark reality for toddlers and teenagers across the country.

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Tune in with Scott Murray from evening UK time for live international football action of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be monitoring the action for the other games happening later.

DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“The game guided me but it never abandoned me because I never gave up on my goal. I went from team to team. The passion for soccer drives you. I couldn’t always see where it was directing me. But today I have the solution” – head coach Veljko Paunovic pauses briefly from his preparations to share his path.

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“Together with some co-workers and mates, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our most experienced participant is pushing 80, while the youngest are in their twenties. To ensure a positive atmosphere for everyone, we have a straightforward principle regarding the skill level: you can be speedy or technical, but preferably not simultaneously. We sometimes have players who violate this rule, but usually typically reduce them to our quality over time” – Lars Esbjerg.