Iliman Ndiaye, Harlem Globetrotters-Style Skills and Sobering Soccer Stats

COULD IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

If you haven’t seen the clip of Iliman Ndiaye performing a reverse bouncing nutmeg at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. By pulling off a move so nasty that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill immediately shut down what was meant to be a informal game to finish what had been – up to that point – an revealing conversation about how Sunday league footballers can get another opportunity after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who featured in non-league games directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is ideally suited to speak on this topic. “Avoid dwelling on the rejection and one day your luck is going to materialize,” he advised a young player immediately prior to executing said ninja move on his opponent, in doing so perfectly illustrating the gap between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been attempting to dispel.

Ndiaye joins a list of professional footballer to push the boundaries. A younger Michael Owen cheerfully overwhelming a young shot-stopper in front of a fuming Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this specific category – but the ex-Anfield star is far from the only offender. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have made young children cry with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s thought that the latter was at least driven by the Japanese player’s social media disgrace caption – “difficulty breeds resilience” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the good grace to be defeated against 100 children when the trio lined up during the half-time break of their final match for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were more competitive when they faced 109 Chinese kids in a similar experiment. But coming full circle, it’s calculated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever feature in the Premier League, a stark reality for young players across the country.

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Join Scott Murray from 7.45pm GMT for hot Geopolitics World Cup qualifying coverage of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be monitoring the action for the rest of the night’s action.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Football took me but it never abandoned me because I never stopped believing. I went from team to team. The devotion to the game drives you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the answer” – national team manager Veljko Paunovic makes time from his planning to reflect on his path.

READER CORRESPONDENCE

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“As a daily reader and Florida resident, can I preemptively object about the upcoming week-plus of published letters about which highway one uses to get to various locations in your island nation? I mean, I was delayed in congestion on I-4 at 2am on a Tuesday night driving through Orlando once, but that’s the complete account. 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.

“Concerning Wythenshawe FC, I recall many years ago playing for a Sunday, very social side, Turnpike Lane Hibs, on Clapham Common. One morning a bloke known as ‘Danny’ turned up to play. I have no idea who brought him along. Apparently he was an actor; he had a decent left foot. (Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis)” – Jason Steger.

“Together with some associates and companions, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our oldest player is pushing 80, while the most junior are in their young adulthood. To ensure a positive atmosphere for everyone, we have a basic guideline regarding the quality of player: you can be quick or talented, but preferably not simultaneously. We sometimes have players who break this guideline, but usually succeed in bringing them to our standard over time” – Lars Esbjerg.