Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Skills and Revealing Football Stats
YOU’RE TELLING US THERE’S A CHANCE?
Should you have overlooked the clip of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a backwards bouncing trick 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 friendly display, the skill immediately shut down what was meant to be a informal game to wrap up what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how Sunday league footballers can earn a second chance after being released by professional academies.
Ndiaye, who played Sunday League football directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is expertly placed to address this topic. “Avoid dwelling on the rejection and one day your luck is going to arrive,” he told a young player immediately prior to deploying said ninja move on his opponent, in doing so perfectly illustrating the gap between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.
Ndiaye isn’t the first professional footballer to push the boundaries. A younger Michael Owen happily embarrassing a 13-year-old goalkeeper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this particular niche – but the former Liverpool man is far from the only offender. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have caused kids to weep with a series of merciless tricks, although it’s believed that the latter was at least inspired by the Japanese player’s social media regretful message – “setbacks build character” – and the accompanying hashtag of #friendship.
Kagawa’s former Dortmund teammates Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the manners to be defeated against 100 children when the three played during the mid-game pause of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that included Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were more competitive when they played against 109 Chinese kids in a like situation. But back to the start, it’s calculated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing competitive youth leagues in England will ever appear in the Premier League, a sobering statistic for toddlers and teenagers across the country.
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DAILY HIGHLIGHT
“The game guided me but it never deserted me because I never abandoned my dream. I went from place to place. The passion for soccer propels you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the solution” – head coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his planning to reflect on his career.
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