Iliman Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Moves and Sobering Football Stats

YOU’RE TELLING US THERE’S A CHANCE?

Unless you’ve missed the clip of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a reverse bouncing nutmeg at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. In executing a move so nasty that it would have been appropriate at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to wrap up what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how non-professionals can secure a fresh start after being let go from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who played Sunday League football directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to address this topic. “Don’t focus on the rejection and one day your luck is going to materialize,” he informed a young player just before using said spectacular skill on his opponent, in doing so vividly showing the gap between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been working to minimize.

Ndiaye isn’t the first professional footballer to take things that little bit too far. Prime Michael Owen gleefully humiliating a teenage keeper in front of a annoyed Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this specific category – but the one-time Reds forward is just one of many culprits. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have reduced toddlers to actual tears with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s believed that the latter was at least motivated by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “difficulty breeds resilience” – and the related tag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s previous Borussia partners Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the decency to be defeated against 100 children when the group played during the mid-game pause of their last appearance for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that included Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they took on 109 Chinese kids in a comparable scenario. But coming full circle, it’s approximated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever play in the Premier League, a harsh truth for aspiring footballers across the country.

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Join Scott Murray from 19:45 Greenwich Mean Time for live international football action of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be on clockwatch duty for the other games happening later.

DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“The game guided me but it never abandoned me because I never abandoned my dream. I went from location to location. The devotion to the game carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the understanding” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his planning to share his journey.

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