Monthly Archives: November 2016

The president of FIFA Gianni Infantino has recently talked about the new rules of the World Cup tournament. The Italian has explained about his desire to extend the number of the teams, which are going to take part in the competition.

16 teams will qualify directly for the group stage of the competition, while the other 32 will take part in a play-off match, which will decide who will proceed to the group stage. So, the final number of the teams will still be 32! However, Infantino thinks that these changes will be very helpful for the development of the game.

“The FIFA World Cup is not only a sporting event. It is something unique, something big on a social level! FIFA’s main task is to care about the development of the game. In my opinion, increasing the number of the teams, which will take part in the competition is a big step in that way! Some people said that the quality of football will suffer from this, but do you remember what happened with Italy and England in the last edition of the World Cup? They were eliminated in the group stage, on the account of Costa Rica, which team won the group and eventually reached the quarterfinals,” Gianni Infantino said in his latest press conference.

You all know how sad it is when the team you support is just one step away from qualifying for the World Cup and is eliminated in the very last moment. Increasing the number of the teams, will give these teams the chance to taste from the World Cup’s atmosphere, independently they are eliminated in just one match!

In conclusion, I think the first World Cup with the new rules will be more interesting than ever, because there may be huge sensations in the very beginning of it. We may see the big teams eliminated in the very first match of it!

The winger Serge Gnabry has recently scored a hat-trick for The Mannschaft on his debut for the German national team in the 8-0 victory against San Marino. The 21-year-old player helped his national team record their 4th consecutive victory in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2018 in Russia. The winger equalled a record, which lasted 40 years – the hat-trick, scored by Dieter Muller in 1976 for West Germany. However, when Joachim Low has called Serge to invite him to the national team, Gnabry has thought that this has been a joke.

“Germany’s coach (Joachim Low) called me and I had to think about whether this is true or not. There were many jokes on the radio and I really did not want to become a part of such,” Serge Gnabry said in an interview after his first match for the German national team.

To continue with, Serge Gnabry started his professional career at Arsenal, but he couldn’t win his place among the starting eleven. The winger only recorded 21 matches in his first 4 years in the professional football. But, he made a real furore at the Olympic games this summer, scoring 6 goals in 6 matches for Germany U23. Shortly after his great performance in Rio de Janeiro, Gnabry received an offer from Werder Bremen, where he has found the net on 4 occasions in just 9 matches. So, no wonder why Joachim Low has decided to call him in the squad.

“I wouldn’t be that good, if I hadn’t been in England. I learned everything there and my spell at Arsenal helped me a lot. That’s why I am that fast and I have become the player I am. It’s normal for a young player to keep improving,” the hat-trick hero added after his successful debut for The Mannschaft.

The teams of Chelsea U23 and Oxford United met in a match of the English Football League Trophy. But what is more special about this third match of the group stage of the tournament? The game finished with a 1-1 draw in the regular time. The 19-year-old Chelsea talent Josimar Quintero opened the score just a minute before the end of the first half. The forward Kane Hemmings equalized the score in the 4th minute of the added time. This lead to the penalty shootout, which had to decide the winner in the match.

Nothing unusual so far… However, the fans became the spectators of the new record for the most penalties in a penalty shootout in England – 34! It’s interesting that some of the players took 2 penalties, just because everybody had taken a penalty.

Eventually, Chelsea won 13-12, but the youth team of the Blues finished in the last 4th place in the group. Oxford United managed to proceed to the next stage of the competition, finishing 2nd in the group. The midfielder John Lundstram of Oxford United missed twice from the spot, but the decisive penalty was missed by Wes Thomas, who also missed his second of the game. The big hero in the game was Chelsea’s goalkeeper – Bradley Collins, who made 4 saves to help his team win the match!

The last record was held by Derby County and Carlisle United, which met in August and took 32 penalties in total, which was equal to the match between Scunthorpe vs. Worchester in the FA Cup in 2014.

In conclusion, The English Football League Trophy is the newest version of the previous Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, in which only the clubs from lower divisions used to take part. However, now the bigger clubs are allowed to play with their U23 squads. That’s very useful for the young players, because they can make a smooth transition into the men’s football, which is the most difficult thing for the footballers.

The new on-loan signing of Stoke City – Wilfried Bony helped his new teammates win the home match against his former team Swansea City 3-1, scoring two of the goals in the game. However, The Potters’ victory was deserved, because they were the better team on the pitch, hitting the woodwork on 3 occasions.

To continue with, the Ivorian striker left The Swans in January 2015 to join Manchester City. Until then, Bony had become the top scorer in The Premier League for Swansea with 25 goals (Gylfi Sigurdsson has recently scored his 27th goal to ride down the Ivorian’s achievement). The forward bagged a total of 35 goals in a season and a half in all competitions with the Swans’ colours.

However, the big competition for the starting line-up in Manchester City brought back Bony’s development as a player and he only recorded 46 matches for The Citizens (the half of which he started from the bench) before moving on loan to Stoke City this season.

The 2 goals against his former team were the first in The Premier League for him this season. Since he left The Swans, Wilfried Bony has scored 12 goals in total. But, what is more interesting – he has found Swansea City’s net the most of the times – 4 goals against his former team.

Wilfried Bony has enough time to seek for a record for scoring goals against a single team, but he will need a lot more games against Swansea, because in front of him are Nicolas Anelka (12 goals against Blackburn Rovers), Luis Suarez (12 goals against Norwich City), Michael Owen (14 goals vs. Newcastle United), Didier Drogba (15 goals vs. Arsenal) and Alan Shearer (21 goals vs. Leeds United). So, there are definitely lots of players who are a nightmare to a single team. Is Bony Swansea City’ nightmare?