Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Level Skills and Sobering Soccer Stats
COULD IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?
Unless you’ve missed the footage of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. By pulling off a move so spectacular that it would have fit right in at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to finish what had been – up to that point – an revealing conversation about how amateur players can get another opportunity after being released by professional academies.
Ndiaye, who competed in amateur leagues directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to address this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to arrive,” he informed a young player immediately prior to deploying said impressive trick on his victim, in doing so clearly demonstrating the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.
Ndiaye isn’t the first professional footballer to take things that little bit too far. Prime Michael Owen gleefully humiliating a teenage keeper in front of a annoyed Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this particular niche – but the former Liverpool man is just one of many culprits. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have reduced toddlers to actual tears with a series of harsh skills, although it’s believed that the latter was at least motivated by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “this frustration makes a person stronger” – and the related tag of #friendship.
Kagawa’s former Dortmund teammates Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the decency to be defeated against 100 children when the trio played during the mid-game pause of their final match for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they took on 109 Chinese kids in a comparable scenario. But returning to the beginning, it’s estimated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing competitive youth leagues in England will ever play in the Premier League, a sobering statistic for aspiring footballers across the country.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Tune in with Scott Murray from 19:45 Greenwich Mean Time for live international football action of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be on clockwatch duty for the other games happening later.
DAILY HIGHLIGHT
“Soccer carried me but it never abandoned me because I never stopped believing. I went from place to place. The passion for soccer carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was directing me. But today I have the understanding” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic pauses briefly from his preparations to reflect on his career.
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“Together with some co-workers and mates, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our oldest player is pushing 80, while the most junior are in their twenties. To ensure a good time for everyone, we have a simple rule of thumb regarding the ability standard: you can be quick or talented, but preferably not simultaneously. We sometimes have players who disregard this principle, but usually manage to drag them down to our level over time” – Lars Esbjerg.
