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Player Focus: Mehdi Benatia - The Centre-Back Worth a Small Fortune

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Player Focus: Mehdi Benatia - The Centre-Back Worth a Small Fortune Recognition hasn’t come without sacrifice for Mehdi Benatia. Though his talent was discerned from an early age, he has had to work harder than most to get where he is today. Inducted into Clairefontaine [where he’d be asked to leave for not applying himself in school], he was also a part...

Player Focus: Man Mountain Koulibaly in to Bolster Napoli Defence

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Player Focus: Man Mountain Koulibaly in to Bolster Napoli Defence It didn’t take long for Sport Mediaset’s commentator Raffaele Auriemma to find a nickname for Napoli’s new signing Kalidou Koulibaly.Watching the centre-back play in Wednesday night’s 1-0 victory over Barcelona in Geneva, it suddenly came to him. Koulibaly has two Ks for init...

Team Focus: Lazio Making Much Needed Improvements Amidst Fan Fury

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Team Focus: Lazio Making Much Needed Improvements Amidst Fan Fury There were 500 disgruntled Lazio fans outside the team hotel in Auronzo di Cadore last Thursday night. They wanted to speak to Igli Tare, the director of sport. An explanation was owed them. Since the end of last season and over the course of the World Cup, Lazio had been in negotiations with Caglia...

Player Focus: Wanted Man Morata Finally Coupled with The Old Lady

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Player Focus: Wanted Man Morata Finally Coupled with The Old Lady Tuttosport like a pun. Back in May, the Turin-based paper declared the Old Lady to be innaMORATA. She was ‘in love’ with Real Madrid striker Álvaro Morata. The courtship has been long. At least six months. “Morata is a champion and, like all champions, he interests us,&rdquo...

Player Focus: Sergio Romero an Unlikely Hero with the Hands of God

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Player Focus: Sergio Romero an Unlikely Hero with the Hands of God Javier Mascherano looked Sergio Romero in the eyes and said: “Hoy, vos te convertís en Héroe.” Today, you will become a hero. He then kissed his goalkeeper and wished him good luck. Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final between Argentina and the Netherlands had come down t...

Player Focus: Why Germany's False 5 is World Number One

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Player Focus: Why Germany's False 5 is World Number One Ball-boys can expect a call from Manuel Neuer. He won’t shout at them like Joe Hart did during England’s 2-1 defeat to Italy in Manaus. Instead, every now and again when the play is up the other end and he hasn’t been involved for a while, the Germany goalkeeper will ask the kid be...

Player Focus: Enyeama's Dream Draw Could Be France's Nightmare

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Player Focus: Enyeama's Dream Draw Could Be France's Nightmare Vincent Enyeama walked out of the Nigeria dressing room for the second half of their final group stage game against Argentina. As the goalkeeper approached the tunnel of the Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre, he spotted Nicola Rizzoli, the referee. “You gave Messi a lot of free-kicks!&r...

Player Focus: New Free Role Allowing Shaqiri to Shine

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Player Focus: New Free Role Allowing Shaqiri to Shine Swiss tabloid Blick gave Xherdan Shaqiri a 6 in their report of Switzerland’s 3-0 win against Honduras in Manaus on Wednesday night. If that appears harsh on a player who scored the 50th hat-trick in World Cup history, thereby clinching a place for his country in the last 16 for the first time...

Player Focus: Darmian's Promising Start to Life with the Azzurri

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Player Focus: Darmian's Promising Start to Life with the Azzurri Jorge Luis Pinto went to a football stadium and fell in love. It was the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. The year was 1978. A World Cup was on. Pinto had tickets to see Italy play Argentina and witnessed a shock. The hosts lost. Roberto Bettega’s 67th minute strike was the only goal of the...

Player Focus: The Challenge of Stopping Andrea Pirlo

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Player Focus: The Challenge of Stopping Andrea Pirlo The announcement had been expected for some time. On Wednesday it finally came. Andrea Pirlo signed a new contract with Juventus. Fans of the Old Lady will get to see the veteran deep-lying playmaker perform in Turin for another two years. Pirlo will continue to pull the black and white shirt on unt...