football break

from the Times 

How Manchester City won the title: Kevin De Bruyne’s Covid bonus, Coldplay and the set-piece guru

Soccer break

Luka Modric and Marta pose with their awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA

Some of my all time favorite soccer players:
1. Antonis Nikopolodis (greek portiero at Euro 2004)
2. Kenny Dalglish (the Best No 7 in the world)
3. Ian Rush (the best No 9 in the world)
4. Andres Iniesta (the best 6/8/10 in the world) and

...
...
Luka Modric!

I am so pleased with the news on Luka :

Luka Modric and Marta win Fifa player of the year awards in London

Please pay some attention to the modest words that Luka said after winning this award.
The complete opposite of arrogance and big egos...

Well Done Luka!
we love you!

I.Z.
 

Soccer break: Yaya Toure

one of the books of the summer 2018 on my reading list was this one:
Pep Guardiola : Another Way of Winning: The Biography

It is an extremely interesting insight to the mentality of Pep.
In his 1st year at Barca, he wanted to get rid of Yaya and Samuel (Eto)...so he did.

There was always friction between Yaya and Pep...but Yaya, for me, is one the BESTEST players that I have seen playing live in Greece (at Georgios Karaiskakis) and also last May in Etihad (at his farewell match for the Cityzens).

Georgios Karaiskakis : where our soccer hearts beat a bit...faster

When Yaya was playing more than 10 years ago with Olympiakos, I was a season ticket holder...it was the era when Ernesto Valverde, Yaya, Rivaldo et al had created a team of high quality...
Yaya was so intrumental playing at positions 6 and 8 or 8 and 10, or even 6+8+10...and the whole stadium was singing back then...
oe oe oe oeeee
Yaya Toureee

And here is a clip for Yaya, somewhere at the background while Yaya greets the fans, you may be able to hear me and the boys :)





Welcome Back Home, Yaya!
Back to Olympiakos!

As a Greek God :)

Corbally United (extra curriculum activities)

It's a great pleasure to be involved in #Training of young #minds and when there is great result (Cup Winners U12 div 1) ( @CorballyUnited ) the pleasure is exponentially higher!



p.s. The best feeling is when looking back at all season and realise how much this team has grown and bonded since 30th August where we lost 3-1 to Lisnagry away and two linesmen were almost sent off 😋

Yesterday's Cup Final
(Corbally United - Lisnagry 2-0),

it was a Great Battle, all for one and one for all! Really Proud for all of You, lads!

Fun for Functional and Fun for Fun

The name of this blog is FunFood and it is fanatic about fun and food but also about functional food.
The posts are not only about food but also activities that make us having fun and therefore a better quality of life.

One of them is sports! Any sport...from Soccer to Hurling and Athletics.

Both my boys love soccer, and since our arrival to Ireland, have joined Corbally United.

Last weekend, the U13-A team got new training tops with their initials (photo); 
a big thanks to Martin for securing this sponsorship. 

It looks like the new tops have a positive aura, first game for our team with the new tops: 
Corbally United - Caherdavin 5-1 (friendly) 😉
 

on the real value of soccer

I was writing yesterday that soccer should be about fun and joy.
And here is a story that proves my point.

Last Friday, San Marino played against Germany, the final score was 0-8.
Thomas Muller was not happy with this...

He said: ‘I don’t understand the point of such uneven games like these, even more so because of the crowded fixture list.’‘I understand that for them it is special to play against the world champions, I understand also that they can only defend with tough tackling.’‘For this reason, though, I wonder if these are not games which bring unnecessary risks.’

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge didn’t exactly quell the flames when he added that: ‘San Marino has got nothing to do with professional football.’ 

Today, however, has seen the tiny nation hit back, and hit back with style!

In a scathing retort released this morning, Alan Gasperoni wrote:

‘Dearest Thomas Muller, 

You’re right. The games like that on a Friday night, they’re nothing. To you. On the other hand, dear Thomas, you do not need to come to San Marino for almost nothing in a weekend in which, without the Bundesliga, you could have spent with your wife on the sofa of your luxury villa or, who knows, you could have taken part in some events organised by your sponsors to bank several thousand euros.

I believe you, but allow me to give 10 good reasons why I think the San Marino-Germany match was very useful and if could think about them, let me know your thoughts: 

1. It served to show you that not even against the teams as poor as ours can you score a goal – and don’t say you weren’t annoyed when Simoncini stopped you scoring… 

2. It served to make it clear to your managers (and even Beckenbauer and Rummenigge) that football is not owned by them but by all of those who love it, among which, like it or not, WE are included. 

3. It served to remind hundreds of journalists from all over Europe that there are still guys who follow their dreams and not your rules. 

4. It served to confirm that you Germans will never change and that history has taught you that “bullying” is not always a guarantee of victory. 

5. It served to show the 200 guys in San Marino who play the game for whatever reason why their coaches ask them to always work their hardest. Who knows – maybe one day all their sacrifice will be repaid with a game against the champions of the world. 

6. It allowed your Federation (and also ours) to collect the money of image rights with which, in addition to paying you for your trouble, they can build pitches for the kids of your own country, schools, and make football stadiums safer… Our Federation, I’ll let you in on a secret, is building a new football pitch in a remote village called Acquaviva. You could build it with six months of your salary, we’ll do it with the rights of 90 minutes of a game. Not bad, right? 

7. It served to a country as big as your pitch in Munich to go into the papers for a good reason, because a football match is always a good reason. 

8. It served well for your friend Gnabry, in the national team and scoring three goals. 

9. It made some Sanmarinese people a little happier to remember that we have a real national team. 

10. It’s served to make me realise that even if you wear the most beautiful adidas kits, underneath you’re always the ones that put white socks under their sandals. 

With love, Alan.’

= = =

Further reading

a book about the joy that football can bring to people, to rich people or to poor people!

 

 

soccer break

As a father of 2 boys and a fan of soccer myself, I can't stand mixing the beautiful sport with politics, fascism etc.
Soccer, as any sport, should be about fun and joy!
What happened last night in Athens is absolutely disgusting.
Some "fans" were holding this nationalistic banner

reading
Nož, žica, Srebrenica
referring to this massacre that happened in 1995.

Such an action should be prohibited to happen ever again...

The "fans" that were holding this banner must not be allowed to watch ANY game for the rest of their lives.

What are FIFA and the police are going to do to tackle these brainless fans bringing nationalism, fascism and racism into soccer grounds?