GoalChatter: July 2014

Youth Spotlight: Stanislav Cherchesov, Jr.

3:35 PM

Youth Spotlight

GoalChatter's Youth Spotlight series features up-and-coming young talent in the world of football. This week, Aleks talks with 19-year-old Stanislav Cherchesov, Jr., who is currently a goalkeeper at Dynamo Moscow.

Photo: Stanislav Cherchesov

How did your career in professional football begin? Did you always play as a keeper?

I started playing for a team in Austria when I was 5 years old. I have always been a goalkeeper. Even before training with a team I used to "train" with my dad as a goalkeeper. He used to throw footballs at me while I was wearing his gloves. My professional career started at Amkar, where I signed my first contract.

What's the hardest thing about playing as a goalkeeper as opposed to any other position?

Definitely the pressure that lies on you. In my opinion the goalkeeper carries the most responsibility on the pitch. Also when a goalkeeper makes a mistake everybody will know and say that it was the goalkeeper's fault, because it's easier to see for fans or media. That's why it's very important to be emotionally stable as a goalkeeper.

What's it like playing in the Russian league? Is there a lot of competition between goalkeepers?

It's very interesting and very different from playing in Austria. The biggest difference for me is that we had to fly to all away games when I was playing at Amkar. Now at Dinamo at least we won't have to fly to the away games in Moscow. Also, I like the system of the youth league in Russia. You start to get used to flying to games and you play at a decent level. It prepares you very nicely for the Premier League.

What was it like playing at Amkar Perm?

I trained with the first team at Amkar and played for the reserves. I am very grateful to Amkar since they gave me a chance to try myself in Russia. I wish the team all the best for the next season.

I notice you're no longer listed in Amkar's youth squad. Are you now playing for Dynamo Moscow's reserves, or just training with them?

I signed a contract at Dinamo. I'm training with the first team and will hopefully play for the reserves.

Photo: Stanislav Cherchesov

Do you feel there's more pressure on you to perform well since your dad was one of the best goalkeepers in Russia? (Editor's note: Stanislav Cherchesov, Sr. is also the manager of Dynamo Moscow.)

Of course there is some additional pressure, but I had that pressure my whole life. I have always been compared to my dad and will always be compared to him. And I don't mind that.

What sort of goalkeeping style do you prefer to play? Do you like to come off the line often (a la Manuel Neuer), or do you have a different approach?

My style... My good qualities are my technique, talking on the field, keeping calm and reading/feeling the game. I wouldn't say that I have a specific style of playing.

If you could switch places with any goalkeeper, past or present, who would it be and why?

I don't have an answer for this question (smiles).

What teams do you dream of playing for?

Manchester United - I have been a "fan" as long as I can remember. My love for this club started as a 7 or 8-year-old because Beckham played there and until today I'm still a big supporter of this club. But generally speaking I dream of playing in the English Premier League or the German Bundesliga.

What do you think is the greatest accomplishment a goalkeeper can have in his or her career?

Individually I think winning the Ballon d'Or as a goalkeeper, like Lev Yashin did in 1963, is a huge accomplishment. And of course winning titles with your team and especially with your national team are accomplishments that every goalkeeper/player should dream of.

FC Rubin-II Kazan football futbol

Youth Spotlight: Goalkeeper Kirill Trukhov

6:05 PM

Youth Spotlight

GoalChatter's Youth Spotlight series features up-and-coming young talent in the world of football. This week, Aleks chats with 19-year-old Kirill Trukhov, who most recently played for Rubin-II. He is currently a free agent.

How did you come to play at Rubin Kazan? Did you start off at the academy?

I started playing football at 8 years of age. I first played in the attack, but then decided to try to train in the net. I began playing more so I became a keeper.

Did you get to train alongside the senior team?

I trained at Rubin's academy until I was 17 and then became a footballer for FC Rubin-II, the main farm team of FC Rubin [Kazan]. The team plays in the 3rd tier of Russian football. When I was 19 I already started to train with the first team and recently went to the training camp in Austria.
(Editor's note: Some clubs, like Rubin, have a youth team as well as a farm team. The former plays in the youth tournament, the latter in the Second Division, or 3rd tier of Russian football.)

Is there a different mindset to being a goalkeeper than a field player?

Of course the mindset of a goalkeeper and a forward, for instance, are different. The goalkeeper is the last line of defense; his only mistake may [determine the result of the match], so that gives him a big responsibility.

Is there a difference between practicing penalties and any other kind of shot?

The difference is huge. With age, the shots become stronger, and they differ substantially, for instance between a 13 and a 16-year-old.

What are the most challenging teams to play against in the youth tournament?

Photo: Kirill Trukhov

I have not played in the Russian youth championship. I left Rubin-II's academy right away. The Second Division differs significantly from the youth championship, since adults play in the former. They [Second Division players] fight for victory, for the prize money, because they need to feed their families. In the Second Division all teams are very strong and organized. Everyone is equal.

Rubin is known for its strong defense. Indeed, the team conceded the 3rd least number of goals in the Russian Premier League last season, and keeper Ryzhikov was called up for Russia's national team in the World Cup. The team finished in 8th place; how do you think they'll do in 2014/15?

Rubin has a very young team this year, but it's also very talented. Of course it is unlikely they will fight for the championship this season, but they definitely have a chance for the European cups.

Are there any players in the Russian Premier League you look up to?

I really like [CSKA goalkeeper] Igor Akinfeev. I admire his composure and confidence.

If you could play for the national team in any of the past World Cup tournaments or European championships, which would you choose and why?

Of course I dream of playing for Russia, but in life anything can happen. Maybe someday I will be called up to play for the national team and I'll think about another. But now I want to play for Russia.

Do you follow any leagues from abroad, like the EPL, Bundesliga or MLS?

Yes, of course. I watch almost all leagues in Europe. I especially like England, Germany, Spain and Holland.

Is there a particular league or team you dream of playing for?

Since my childhood I am a fan of Real Madrid, so I definitely dream to play for this club.

What is your greatest challenge right now?

Now I'm a free agent, and at the moment I'm trying to find a team for next season. It is very difficult to do, but I do not despair. I believe in myself and I know that everything will be fine.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to becoming a successful goalkeeper?

I believe that the most important quality in the goalkeeping profession is diligence. There's no way without it. And of course luck, but as we know, luck favors the strongest.

Dynamo Moscow vs Metalist Kharkiv FC Dynamo Moscow football

Dynamo vs Metalist: The Calm Amidst the Storm

9:40 PM

RPL and UPL sides face off in club friendly on Nelson Mandela Day
Mainstream media stay silent

Photo: fcdynamo.ru

by Aleks V

On a hot summer day, Russian and Ukrainian football clubs Dynamo Moscow and Metalist Kharkiv played an international friendly at the SV Seeboden stadium in Austria. Dynamo, who finished 4th in last season's Russian Premier League, are playing a series of pre-season exhibition games, and faced the 3rd-placed UPL side Metalist for the 3rd consecutive year. Football took no note of the political turmoil involving both countries, and rightfully so. The game featured no incredibly reckless fouls, no "cordons of police [trying to] keep the crowd from invading the field", and no political undertones, going against everything George Orwell wrote on sport at the international level (ironically, he wrote that after Dynamo's tour in Great Britain). The match was played on Nelson Mandela Day, further reaffirming what the late, great leader said about the power of sport to change the world. 90 minutes of football ended in a symbolic draw under the setting sun in Seeboden.

There could not have come a better time, nor hour, nor day for this particular game. Yet coverage was limited to Dynamo and Metalist-TV's live streams and minute-by-minute reports. The mainstream media, always quick to point fingers, stayed perfectly silent. Thousands watched the game; the rest of the world remained oblivious. Why bother to report something significant and timely, even though that is the very purpose of the news?

What Orwell should have written instead is how much the media neglects to mention the good, especially involving sport in times of war or great political tension. There are plenty of examples in recent years of both government and non-government sanctioned efforts in sports diplomacy. Two years ago, the U.S. organized a basketball training camp in Afghanistan. In 2008, NBA teams trained and played against Iran's national basketball team. Long before that, the widely-known "ping-pong diplomacy" ended both a trade and information blockade between the U.S. and China. Practically every competitive sport with a fan base, from baseball to football, has in one way or another been involved in sports diplomacy. Such stories, however, are buried under massive piles of negativity and hatred, the only things that the mainstream media believes will elicit a passionate enough reaction to keep the business of journalism afloat. Non-U.S. instances of effective sports diplomacy, such as the cricket games between India and Pakistan, remain largely overlooked. If the media take no time at all to provoke and anger, it should take no time at all to inspire a peaceful protest wherein those at war take up footballs instead of weapons.

Sport is inevitably linked with corporate power, and in today's information superhighway, those with the power to be heard should spend more time addressing the obvious facts of life that are forgotten by those cut off from the truth. But every message needs not only a sender and receiver. It also needs something that'll keep the point from being lost in translation or noise, something to carry it through the most resistant of filter bubbles. Sport transcends cultural and language barriers, carrying that message loud and clear. Now all that's needed is an amplifier.

culture football football films

Nike's 'Last Game' a Welcome Revelation

5:54 PM

by Aleks V

A 5-minute film on football with a trailer that aired all throughout the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament sets some pretty high expectations. Yet Nike manages to go above and beyond. The Last Game is a rather unexpected parable from Nike, featuring some of the world's best former and current players, like France's Franck Ribery, the USA's Tim Howard and England's Wayne Rooney, who are rounded up by the Brazilian Ronaldo in an all-star team to face their own clones in a sudden-death, winner-take-all match. Should the clones triumph, their real counterparts will quit football forever.

Although the clones are all decked out in a dull gray kit that emphasizes their generic nature, lets not forget they're duplicates of Zlatan and Rooney and Iniesta. Alas, there are no stars among the clones, and no way to distinguish each individual player's style from the other. They are like photocopies, twice removed from the original images they aim to represent. The implication, however, is that there are real teams that operate in much the same, "fail-proof" way as the clones. If not for the system they're a part of, each of those players would be individuals, and - who knows? - maybe even stars.

Paul Gardner writes on the rise of the defense-oriented game leading up to the 1990's that not only made for more boring football, but led to the widespread use of dangerous tackles and "tactical fouls". The aim switched from winning to 'not losing', the emphasis on not allowing goals rather than scoring them. The Last Game epitomizes the modern mentality of football, owing in no small part to the mostly business-centered approach that the sport, like so many others, has gradually taken on. There's a hint that the basketball world may be guilty of this, too, with the film's mention of a "Perfect LeBron". Yet part of The Last Game's irony is that despite a seemingly perfectly-engineered team, attendance is down. Nobody is interested in predictable results.

The open, risk-taking, creative game derives from street soccer, presented in the opening scene of the film. And indeed, some of the world's best players come from the streets. In the end, it is the humans who triumph over an ironically-named Perfect Inc. team of clones.

The All-Star team represents that which is so rarely found today - a human, rather than a money-oriented approach, one which entails more risks but likewise more rewards, and whose beauty embodies all the good the game has stood for since its founding in the late 19th century.

It seems that the age of impersonal commerce is endless. Yet history's cyclical nature means there will soon be a return to a more open game, one that is guided more by artful skill than financial ambitions. In fact, the days of old we so long for may already be upon us.

FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup 2014 infographic

FIFA World Cup: Recipe For Success

9:00 PM

What makes a World champion?

by Aleks V

What does it really take to win the World Cup? Do teams that win in the Euro or in the Olympic games go on to win the World Cup as well? The answers to those and other questions help form a picture of what sort of teams tend to do well, who might win the final, and what teams have the best chances of reaching the knockout round in 4 years' time. Below is the biggest guide to World Cup-winning trends.

UEFA Euro Finalists in the World Cup

Since the start of the first European Championship in 1960, every World Cup has seen the champion of the Euro, the runner-up or both make the knockout round. On 5 occasions, the reigning European Champions were either eliminated in the group stage or failed to qualify for the World Cup at all. Spain is no stranger to such a fate, winning the 1964 Euro and ending their 1966 World Cup campaign in the group stage after two 2-1 defeats by Argentina and West Germany (Spain also won 2-1 against Switzerland, but even if they'd have gotten 3 instead of 2 points for a win, they wouldn't have qualified). Three teams, the Czechs, Denmark and Greece, won the Euro and failed to qualify for the following World Cup.

Among the many surprises of the 2014 World Cup was the elimination of reigning WC and Euro champions Spain and Euro 2012 runners-up Italy. In fact, it marks the first time in history that both Euro finalists were eliminated before reaching the knockout round.

Germany FR and Spain won back-to-back Euro's & WC's. Four teams - Italy, Germany, Spain and France - reached back-to-back finals in both tournaments, while nine teams have reached the final of the Euro and subsequently the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup.

Olympic Champions in the World Cup

Perhaps surprisingly, more teams that won the Olympic football tournament went on to the knockout round of the following World Cup than did the winners of the Euro. Olympic champions reached the second round of the World Cup on 12 occasions, Hungary doing so twice - the 1954 and 1966 World Cups. Five teams reached back-to-back finals in the Olympics and in either the preceding or the following World Cup, among them Uruguay, Argentina, Italy, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. France won both the Euro and Olympic tournament in 1984. Not only did they make the knockout round of WC 1986, but they also finished third, beating Belgium 4:2 in extra time.

Uruguay and Italy have so far been the first and last teams to win back-to-back Olympic tournaments and WC's.

*Note: There was no football played at the Olympic tournament in 1932.

Host Nations in the World Cup

The host nation has reached the final on 8 occasions and won 6 times, making the knockout round on 18/19 occasions. South Africa became the first host nation that failed to qualify out of the group stage, losing out to Mexico on goal difference.

*Spain made the Second Round of the 1982 World Cup, which featured 12 teams playing, in essence, a second group stage, with the top teams from each of the four groups proceeding to the semi-finals.

World Cup Winners by Region:

Europe: 10 WC's

South America: 9 WC's

*Note: Piktochart maps indicate UK rather than England.

>European Nations in South America

5 World Cups have been hosted by South American nations.

So far, no European nation has won a World Cup on South American soil.

>South American Nations in Europe

10 World Cups have been hosted by European nations.

Brazil was the first and so far only South American team to win a World Cup in Europe, beating the hosts, Sweden, 5-2 in 1958.

World Cup Winners: Group Stage GF-GA

The winning side has always scored at least 2 goals in the Group Stage, Italy being the only World Cup winner to make the second round with 2 goals, a feat they accomplished both in 1938 and 1982.

Germany conceded the most goals (11) in the Group Stage when they went on to win the Cup in 1954.

Only Uruguay (1930, 1950), Brazil (1958) and England (1966) have won the World Cup while not conceding a single goal in the Group Stage.

World Cup Winners: Total Goals For-Against

The World Cup winner has scored no less than 8 goals total and has not conceded more than 14 goals overall. Spain won the World Cup scoring the least amount of goals (8). Germany's winning run in 1954 broke the record for most goals for-against by a World Cup winner (25-14). France were the first to concede the least goals (2) as winners in 1998. Italy and Spain equaled the record in 2006 and 2010.

On average, the winner of the World Cup scores a total of 14.3 goals in the tournament while conceding 4.5. Comparatively, host nation winners, on average, have both scored and conceded less goals (13.5:3.2), implying that the advantage of playing at home may positively affect a team's defensive qualities.

World Cup Winners: Average Goals Per Game

The World Cup winner scores around 2.4 goals per game in a tournament, conceding about 0.8.

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2014 FIFA World Cup Match for Third Place
Brazil vs Netherlands - Saturday, July 12 at 4pm/ET (Univision)

2014 FIFA World Cup Final
Germany vs Argentina - Sunday, July 13 at 3pm/ET (ABC, Univision)