The World’s Best Young Stars
Young Scottish sensation, Karamoko Dembele has taken the footballing world by storm, making his debut for the Scotland under 20’s side at just the age of 13. Here are five of the world’s most promising young players right now that you may not be aware of just yet.
1. Youri Tielemans
Embed from Getty ImagesYouri Tielemans is said to be one of the most exciting young prospects in Belgian football, teasing the likes of Dortmund, Chelsea, and both Manchester clubs. The 18 year old currently plays for Belgian giants, Anderlecht. The midfielder made his break into the first team in a league game against Lokeren, aged 16. In the following season, Tielemans made his first appearance in the Champions League game against Olympiakos, making him the youngest Belgian to play in the competition. The Anderlecht star made his international debut for the Belgium on the 10th November 2016, in a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands. The 18 year old isn’t shy of finding the back of the net either. He has netted over 20 times from holding midfield in his career already, with many comparing Tielemans to Frank Lampard.
2. Renato Sanches
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter signing for Bayern Munich during the summer for a staggering €35 million, the 19-year-old was part of Portugal’s European Championship winning squad. He became the youngest Portuguese player to win a major trophy and he also picked up the prize ‘young player of the tournament’… not a bad international tournament debut? Sanches started his career at Benfica where he came through the ranks as a central midfielder. He has also been named ‘Golden boy’ of the year for 2016, an award in the past won by Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Paul Pogba. If he follows the same path as those three, Sanches will be one of the world’s best players in years to come.
3. Mahmoud Dahoud
Embed from Getty ImagesSyrian born Mahmoud Dahoud is definitely one to watch. Currently at Borussia Monchengladbach, Dahoud moved to Germany at a young age, and now qualifies to play for the German national team. Dahoud started his career at Fortuna Dusseldorf before making a move to Gladbach in 2010, aged 14. Five seasons later, after impressing in the academy ranks, Dahoud got his call up to the first team in a 7-0 Europa League win. After becoming a regular under manager Andre Schubert, Dahoud received a standing ovation from the Eintracht Frankfurt supporters after delivering a conquering performance against them, scoring once and setting up another two in a 5-1 victory. The centre midfielder has yet to make his international breakthrough, but is sure to be on his way having made appearances for the German under 18, 19 and 21 teams.
4. Breel Embolo
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter just four years in the FC Basel Academy, Cameroon born Breel Embolo made a break into the first team, in a Europa League clash against Red Bull Salzburg. Embolo is a very accomplished striker who knows where the net is. Breel scored 21 goals in 61 appearances catching the attention of many major clubs. He finally got his big money move to German side Schalke 04, for around £20 million. The exciting hotshot has yet to make a huge impact at the German club due to injury. Although Breel was born in Cameroon, he is eligible to play for Switzerland due to moving there at the age of 6, and has 15 caps under his belt, establishing himself as the first choice swiss striker.
5. Gianluigi Donnarumma
Embed from Getty ImagesLast but certainly not least, is young Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Donnarumma is arguably one of the most impressive youngsters from the list. At only 17 years of age, he is already established as AC Milan’s first team keeper. The youngster looks to be number one choice to take over the goalkeeper reign of the Italy first team, when the great Gigi Buffon retires…big gloves to fill! The 6’5 towering goalkeeper only spent two years in the AC Milan academy before making his progress into the first team squad. Gianluigi has already made over 40 appearances for the Red and Black Devils and has found his way into the Italy team already winning two caps. He is the youngest ever goalkeeper to play for Italy. Very impressive!
The Most Powerful League In The World
With the new season well underway, clubs up and down the country have been diving into their piggy banks and willingly splashing the cash on squad additions. English top flight clubs now have heavier wallets due to the new £8.7 billion television deal from Sky and BT. The new television deal means that all clubs in the Premiership have a lot of extra cash to resort to. Leicester City astonishingly won the Premier League title last season which was the biggest shock in the leagues history.
Embed from Getty ImagesA huge £150 million has been added to the Leicester City kitty, but they’re not the only ones with growing pockets. All Premiership clubs are set to share a humongous £8.7 billion of TV windfall money. This new deal confirms that the English Premier League is the most powerful league in the world and all 20 English top flight teams will dominate the richest clubs leader board and all feature in the top 40. Overall it is positive for English football because it means that English teams can compete with the superior forces such as Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Embed from Getty ImagesEvery season three teams lose their place in the Premier League, however, three lucky teams get promoted, which means they get rewarded the all important TV funds. But for the relegated teams to have around £100 million to spend in the Championship, it could improve the Championship league stature and popularity. This also means that the difference in team qualities could make the league a lot easier to accomplish. For example the difference between Newcastle and Burton Albion. Newcastle do not only have a bigger stadium and a better squad, but also a lot more cash for exploit.
Embed from Getty ImagesAlready the Premiership has seen this impact with clubs splashing the cash on players. An example would be the ridiculous the £90 million transfer fee of Paul Pogba, which smashed the record held by Real Madrid, who splashed out a massive £86 million for Tottenham and Wales star Gareth Bale. With the television companies forever competing against each other, it is scary to think what the future may hold, as the money in the beautiful game keeps rising.
The Lesser Known Rivalries
With the Milan Derby being a stalemate two weeks ago, it remains one of the most infamous derbies in world football. It is joined by the ‘Old Firm’ derby, the Manchester derby and many more. The tradition of these fixtures are globally notorious. What about derbies elsewhere? Here is a selection of vicious world derbies that are less talked about.
Fluminense v Flamengo
Embed from Getty ImagesFluminense v Flamengo, otherwise known as the Fla-Flu, is a Brazilian derby that dates back to the early 1900s. A group of disgruntled players from Fluminense departed the club, and went to Flamengo, who didn’t have any footballing teams. The matches take place at the iconic Maracana Stadium, in Rio De Janeiro, where both teams share and play their home games. In the carnival atmosphere of this game, pitch invasions and riots have been common. The record attendence for this game was in 1963, where an astonishing 194,000 fans tuned up to see Brazils most heated rivalry.
Al Ahly v Zamalek
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Cairo derby, otherwise known as the ‘Egyptian Clasico’, is a match between Al Ahly SC and Zamalek SC, two of the most successful clubs in Egypt and arguably the whole of Africa. Between them, the two clubs have won 49 Egyptian league titles, with Al Ahly winning 37 to Zamalek’s 12. With it being Africa’s biggest match, over 100,000 people cram into the Cairo international stadium to watch this fiery affair. This rivalry is so fierce, that even numerous deaths have been reported. The record score for this game is a 6-0 thrashing from Zamalek, which as you can imagine, gives them bragging rights over their ferocious enemy.
Red Star Belgrade v FK Partizan
The Eternal Derby, a savage rivalry that dominates the Serbian Super League. The rivalry also takes place not only in Football, but also in Basketball and Handball. In 2009, the Daily Mail ranked the derby 4th in all time Footballing rivalries, showing just how prestigious the derby is. Following the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992, the derby escalated, leading to multiple arrests, crowd trouble and many deaths.
East Bengal v Mohan Bagan
The Kolkata derby, is a match between East Bengal and Mohan Bagan in India. Many people haven’t heard of this derby, but it is extremely important to both teams involved. The two sides play each other 3 times a season, which doesn’t help the authorities. The derby has been compared to the likes of the Old Firm derby, due to
some of the East Bengal fans representing the immigrant population, similar to Celtic. Both sets of fans are extremely passionate and in 1980, 16 deaths were documented, after being crushed in a stampede from both fans after trouble flared. This took place at Eden Gardens, more familiar for its cricket and has been labelled the darkest day in Indian football.
Dinamo Zagreb v Hajduk Split
Finally the infamous Croatian Derby. This is a match between the two biggest clubs in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. Funny enough, these two teams used to play in the same league as Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan in the Yugoslavia First League, before the country’s break in 1992. Both sides before the matches prepare themselves, making large flags and special messages that are usually directed towards the opposing side. Although there is an element of physical violence, these supporters, otherwise known as ‘Ultras’, voice their hate through banners and flags. The two have met 208 times, with Zagreb leading the way with 88 wins, over Split who have 66.
Press Conference ‘Bust Ups’
Embed from Getty ImagesIn just one week, the Boxing world has been flabbergasted by the scenes in recent press conferences from the likes of David Haye and Tony Bellew, and more recently, Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte. But how legitimate are these so called press conference ‘bust ups’?
In UFC 202, Conor McGregor faced Nate Diaz in a rematch fight, which eventually lead to McGregor gaining revenge. However, the UFC 202 press conference took the internet by storm, after Nate and his gang decided to bombard McGregor with bottles and abuse, which obviously irritated the cocky Irishmen. With the video of the press conference being watched by millions all over the world, it tempted people to tune in to fight night, resulting in 1.65 million pay-per-view viewers, a UFC record. Since then, press conferences in boxing seems to have become a lot more heated. Is boxing trying to replicate the public reaction of this UFC 202 press conference?
David Haye faces his new boxing rival Tony Bellew next year, which is the most anticipated fight of 2017 so far. However, in the recent press conference, tensions seemed to spill over, after the two fighters viscously squared up to each other, leading to Haye taking a swing at his Scouse opponent. The fight seems too good to miss right? But was this the objective? To make sure they gain as many viewers as they can? In the same week, during a press conference, Derek Chisora seemed to get rather angry at his opponent Dillion Whyte, leading to him launching a table in the direction of Whyte, completely unprofessional behaviour.
As it turned out, Haye and Chisora have some history of their own in press conferences. Back in 2012, Chisora and Vitali Klitschko were in a post match press conference, when Haye interrupted, and started verbally abusing both boxers. Chisora then confronted Haye, which lead to a savage brawl. Funny how these boxers have a history of brutal press conferences. This begs the question, are the press conferences real, or just PR stunts?
An Interview with Tony Oakey
In this exclusive interview, Extra Time interview former British, Commonwealth and WBU light-heavyweight champion, Tony ‘Oakey Kokey’ Oakey. Born and bred in Portsmouth, Tony first made his break in Boxing, winning the ABA’s twice in 1998. Following on from this, Tony picked up recognitions from legendary Boxing promoter, Frank Maloney, who wasted no time in signing him up. “My uncle was on a flight back from America, after seeing a Lennox Lewis fight, when he bumped into Frank Maloney. He spoke to Frank about me winning the ABA’s, and Frank was keen to meet up with me. He gave my uncle a Business card and told to give him a ring, and my boxing career went from there.”
With British Boxing producing stars such as, Henry Cooper and more recently, Anthony Joshua, Tony may not have been as well known, however won his fair share of belts and competitions. When asked what his biggest achievement, he struggled to single out just one. “It’s hard to tell you what my biggest achievement in Boxing is, as they all meant so much to me, but the three biggest for me were the WBU title, which was also won by my good friend Ricky Hatton, the Prizefighter, which was on Sky Sports, having your arm lifted 3 times in one night, was fantastic, and probably the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title.”
As a youngster, Tony was compared to Hall Of Fame great, Rocky Marciano, so when asked who his Boxing idol was, it wasn’t hard to guess his answer. “One of my earliest memories was watching Mike Tyson beat Trevor Berbick. Tyson was so fast and ferocious, I just remember thinking, I wanna be like that, winning titles and being on TV. Also being compared to Rocky Marciano, I always looked up to him as it was special to be compared to such a great boxing.”
Tony fought ex WBA champion, Nathan Cleverley back in 2008, and has come across many tough opponents. “My toughest opponent, I would have to say was Chris Davies, the Welsh lad, although I won, he was so tough and hit so hard, it was a very even fight.”
Tony’s most recent opponent was Jeff ‘Left Hook’ Lacy, an American boxer who has fought the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr. Tony Amazingly won the fight and unexpectedly gained a new friend in Lacy. So whats next for Oakey Kokey? “My dream was to always fight in America. Me and Jeff have been in contact, and are in talks for a rematch in Florida, but if that doesn’t happen, I am more than happy to hang up my gloves and retire from boxing, as I’ve achieved everything I wanted in Boxing.
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