Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Skills and Revealing Football Statistics

IS THERE REALLY A POSSIBILITY?

Should you have overlooked the video of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. Through performing a move so spectacular that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters friendly display, the skill immediately shut down what was meant to be a casual practice to finish what had been – up to that point – an illuminating interview about how amateur players can earn a second chance after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who played Sunday League football directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is expertly placed to speak on this topic. “Don’t focus on the rejection and one day your luck is going to come through,” he informed a young player immediately prior to executing said spectacular skill on his opponent, in doing so vividly showing the difference between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.

Ndiaye is far from the only professional footballer to go slightly overboard. Prime Michael Owen cheerfully overwhelming a young shot-stopper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this particular niche – but the ex-Anfield star is far from the only offender. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have caused kids to weep with a series of harsh skills, although it’s thought that the latter was at least inspired by the Japanese player’s social media regretful message – “setbacks build character” – and the associated label of #friendship.

Kagawa’s previous Borussia partners Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the manners to lose their match against 100 children when the group competed during the half-time break of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they faced 109 Chinese kids in a similar experiment. But back to the start, it’s approximated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing organized youth football in England will ever feature in the Premier League, a harsh truth for aspiring footballers across the country.

BROADCAST ON MAJOR PLATFORM

Tune in with Scott Murray from evening UK time for real-time tournament updates of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be on clockwatch duty for the rest of the night’s action.

DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“Football took me but it never abandoned me because I never stopped believing. I went from place to place. The love of football carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the solution” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic pauses briefly from his training to discuss his career.

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