INSIDE FRONT COVER ADVT.1 SPACE he 2018 World Cup draws closer with each passing day, and there’s a Tcollective sense of anticipation in the air. Players nervously monitor their phones in hopes of that fateful call-up to their country’s squad, while coaches mull day and night over their selections. Fans, on the other hand, are priming themselves for a festival of colour, noise and emotion. NOTE FROM CFFA Against this backdrop of nerves and excitement, we are proud to release our second volume of Goal-Line Magazine. Within its pages you will find a cornucopia of knowledge specific to the World Cup, so you can be best prepared for the festivities that lie ahead. The World Cup is the most televised event in the world. Billions will be watching, listening and reading. We, at CFFA, are proud to give you a head start. “ Julian Spadigam s mentioned in the first volume of Goal-Line, my induction into the revered halls of Afootball began during the ‘98 World Cup. I was 10 then, and I’m 28 now, and I still feel tremors of childlike excitement as we approach the 2018 World Cup. My life has always been measured in World Cups. In 2002, I would imagine where I would be when the next World Cup came around. The difference between 14 and 18 was massive. But, as the years fly by, World Cups seem to be my only measure of time. Qatar 2022 will see me at 32, with my entire youth behind me. But all that doesn’t matter. My age doesn’t matter, and neither does the passing of time. All that matters is football, for football is timeless. Ronaldo and Messi can attest. And so can Maradona. Their feats will be remembered long past their own expirations. The World Cup makes history, and we’re about to witness another footnote. “ Within our pages, Russia awaits. Gear up, call in sick, purchase a one-off TV subscription. Do whatever you have to because, between June 14 and July 15, the world will stand still. Your road to Moscow begins here. Randheer Moses Edachery Editorial Contributors Lay-out & Design Circulation Marketing Published by Randheer Moses Amritha Miriam, Ramesh Periya Jackson Spadigam Daryl Al Qanah Sports Edachery Julian Spadigam, Mascarenhas Services & Suman Kavil Consultancy www.cffacademy.com/goalline 3 WORLD CUP MOMENTS Maradona - Revenge of The Cosmic Kite The Match: England versus Argentina Steve Hodge towards the English goalie. Peter Shilton was The Setting: World Cup 1986, The Quarter-finals. a relative giant compared to the diminutive Argentine, standing at 1.83 meters against Diego’s 1.65 meters. The The Stadium: Estadio Azteca, Mexico City ball was lobbed into the air, and Shilton came out to punch The Backdrop: The Falklands War. 74 days of bloodshed a regulation clearance. Diego, however, had other plans. over a long-disputed territory, fought just four years earlier. In the most devious of World Cup moments, Maradona Argentina’s attempt to reclaim the Falkland Islands - or the continued his run and leapt up to challenge Shilton for the Islas Malvinas, as they called it - was brutally thwarted by ball. He stood no chance against Shilton’s goliathan height the British, forcing the Argentines to surrender on June and reach, until divine intervention took place. Somehow, 14, 1982. The Argentinians lost nearly three times as many someway, Diego managed to bend space-time, spin mid- lives as the British, and Diego Maradona still remembered. air like a ballerina, and direct the ball into the net with his After the game, he declared, “the English came to play for left hand, as Shilton flapped at the ether. their lives, what they did not take into account was that we came to play for two lives.” The English furiously appealed for handball, as Maradona tentative celebration turned into victorious fist-pumps. His “They (government) sent such young guys of 17, 18 own teammates couldn’t believe it, but they were coerced years old to fight in that Malvinas and that was to a into joining the celebration by Diego’s cues. Maradona slaughterhouse.” later said, “I was waiting for my teammates to embrace “By winning that game we could somehow diminish the me, and no one came. I told them, ‘Come hug me, or pain of so many mothers that lost sons in Malvinas.” the referee isn’t going to allow it.’” And so they gathered The Moment: The sun scorched 115,000 fans as they around Diego in bewilderment rather than jubilation. The watched England face off against Argentina. The Estadio linesman’s flag stayed down, and the rest is history. Azteca was quivering with tension and anticipation of When asked about the goal in the post-game press a knockout game that would soon become the stuff of conference, Maradona impishly commented that the goal legend; folklore was in the making. was scored “un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios” or “a little with the head of With the score at 0-0 in the 52nd minute, Diego picked Maradona and a little with the hand of God”. the ball up from the left, just inside the English half, and cut inside towards the English box with venom in But Diego’s cold dish of revenge was to be served over two every stride. He weaved his way towards a cul-de-sac of courses, and the hand of God was merely the appetizer. defenders and attempted a pass to Jorge Valdano at the Four minutes after the goal, Maradona received the ball edge of the box, which was desperately miscued away by in his own half. 10 seconds and 60 yards later, the ball was 4 www.cffacademy.com/goalline Maradona bends space-time to outjump and outfox Peter Shilton in the back of the net, leaving behind a desolate wake of cosmic kite, which planet did you come from, to leave so English outfield players and Peter Shilton. The destruction many Englishmen behind, so that the country becomes a was surgical. Diego left Peter Beardsley, Peter Reid, clenched fist crying for Argentina? Argentina 2, England 0! Terry Butcher, and Terry Fenwick, for dead as the crowd Diegoal, Diegoal, Diego Armando Maradona! Thank you, ascended towards fever pitch with each touch of the ball. God, for football, for Maradona, for these tears, for this He galloped towards goal and turned the English players, Argentina 2, England 0.” the Peters and Terrys, inside out with vicious turns of pace, the ball strung to his feet like a yo-yo. In the box, one-on- The English scored a consolation goal, but it was too little, one against Shilton, he feinted as Shilton sprawled himself too late. An entire nation tremored with vindication, as to no avail, and slotted the ball into the exposed net as Diego proclaimed after the game, “Although we had said Terry Butcher made one last desperate lunge. He, too, before the game that football had nothing to do with the connected with nothing but the same ether that was now a Malvinas war, we knew they had killed a lot of Argentine second home to Shilton. boys there, killed them like little birds. And this was revenge.” The goal, later recognized as the “Goal of the Century”, was further immortalized by the commentary of legendary Reverberations were felt throughout Argentina as Uruguayan journalist, Victor Hugo Morales – epitomized by former player Roberto Perfumo’s statement “He’s going to pass it to Diego, there’s Maradona with - “In 1986, winning that game against England was it, two men on him, Maradona steps on the ball, there enough. Winning the World Cup was secondary for us. goes down the right flank the genius of world football, he Beating England was our real aim”. leaves the wing and he’s going to pass it to Burruchaga... To this day, the average Englishman is more likely to Still Maradona! Genius! Genius! Genius! There, there, remember the defeat at the hands of God and Maradona there, there, there, there! Goaaaaaaaal! Goaaaaaaal! I rather than their victory in the Falklands. The little cosmic want to cry, oh holy God, long live football! What a goal! kite had exacted revenge without shedding a single drop Diegoal! Maradona! It’s to cry, excuse me! Maradona, of blood, and the mothers of sons slain in Malvinas were in a memorable run, in the best play of all times! Little given the briefest of respites. www.cffacademy.com/goalline 5 ADVT.2 SPACE 6 www.cffacademy.com/goalline ADVT.3 SPACE www.cffacademy.com/goalline 7 WORLD CUP GROUP ANALYSIS GROUPS A-D With the 2018 World Cup at our doorstep, it’s finally time to analyse the 32 teams battling it out for their chance at being immortalized. Even though the last World Cup showed us how football can rarely be predicted – with the likes of Costa Rica and Algeria causing huge upsets – we’re still boldly venturing a guess as to the final word in each group. Without further ado – Nickname GROUP A Al-Suqour (The Falcons) Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay Manager Juan Antonio Pizzi Key Players Team Nawaf Al Abed (Al-Hilal), Russia Fahad Al-Muwallad (Al-Ittihad) Nickname Sbornaja (The National Team) Manager The Saudis are back in the World Cup for the first time Stanislav Cherchesov since 2006, and are the lowest-ranked team to qualify (since the Russians were given an automatic pass as Key Players hosts). Add to that, they have not won a World Cup game Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), since 1994, and enter this World Cup riding the crest of Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow) several shuffles in management.