Iliman Ndiaye, Harlem Globetrotters-Level Moves and Sobering Soccer Stats

COULD IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

Should you have overlooked the clip of Iliman Ndiaye pulling off a backwards bouncing trick at Everton’s training ground, it’s worth viewing. Through performing a move so impressive that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to conclude what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how non-professionals can earn a second chance after being released by professional academies.

Ndiaye, who played Sunday League football directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is perfectly positioned to discuss this topic. “Avoid dwelling on the rejection and one day your luck is going to come through,” he told a young player shortly before using said impressive trick on his teammate, in doing so vividly showing the gulf 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 cheerfully overwhelming a 13-year-old goalkeeper in front of a fuming Neville Southall is obviously the gold standard in this specific category – but the one-time Reds forward is not alone in this. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have caused kids to weep with a series of merciless tricks, although it’s thought that the latter was at least inspired by the Japanese player’s social media disgrace caption – “this frustration makes a person stronger” – and the accompanying hashtag 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 competed during the mid-game pause of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that contained Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they took on 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 structured junior soccer in England will ever play in the Premier League, a sobering statistic for toddlers and teenagers across the country.

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DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“Football took 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 leading me. But today I have the understanding” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his preparations to discuss his path.

READER CORRESPONDENCE

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