Iliman Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Level Moves and Sobering Football Statistics

YOU’RE TELLING US THERE’S A CHANCE?

If you haven’t seen the video of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a backwards bouncing trick at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. In executing a move so spectacular that it would have fit right in at a Harlem Globetrotters friendly display, the skill instantly ended what was meant to be a lighthearted kickabout to finish what had been – up to that point – an illuminating interview about how non-professionals can get another opportunity after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who competed in amateur leagues directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is ideally suited to speak on this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to arrive,” he informed a young player just before deploying said spectacular skill on his teammate, in doing so perfectly illustrating the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been working to minimize.

Ndiaye isn’t the first professional footballer to push the boundaries. Peak Michael Owen gleefully humiliating a teenage keeper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this specific category – 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 driven by the Japanese player’s social media disgrace caption – “setbacks build character” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the decency to be defeated against 100 children when the three competed during the half-time break of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that included Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were more competitive when they faced 109 Chinese kids in a similar experiment. But coming full circle, it’s estimated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever appear in the Premier League, a harsh truth for young players across the country.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Soccer carried me but it never deserted me because I never abandoned my dream. I went from place to place. The love of football carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was directing me. But today I have the understanding” – national team manager Veljko Paunovic pauses briefly from his training to reflect on his career.

FAN FEEDBACK

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“As a regular follower and Florida resident, can I proactively complain about the next several days of published letters about which highway one uses to get to various locations in your country? I mean, I was caught in a traffic jam on I-4 at 2am on a Tuesday night driving through Orlando once, but that’s the entire tale. There’s no meaningful conclusion to the tale. (I-4 links Tampa on the Gulf Coast to Daytona on the Atlantic via Orlando/Walt Disney World, and can have congestion problems at any time)” – Rasteen Nowroozi.

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“Together with some co-workers and mates, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our most senior member is nearing eight decades, while the youngest are in their twenties. To ensure a good time for everyone, we have a straightforward principle regarding the quality of player: you can be quick or talented, but ideally not both. We occasionally have players who disregard this principle, but usually manage to drag them down to our level over time” – Lars Esbjerg.