International Football
VIEWS FROM THE FAR EAST: SADIO MANE SHOULD BE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD
BY DILENJIT SINGH
He was Lionel Messi’s pick as the world’s premier player at the Best FIFA awards, Cesc Fabregas believes he has been one of the three best footballers for “a while now” and Jamie Carragher opined that his Liverpool side would have won the English Premier League in 2009 if they had him in the team.
After surreptitiously sliding away from the spotlight for most of his career, the soft-spoken Sadio Mane seems to finally be getting the plaudits his performances warrant.
But his Senegal coach Aliou Cisse believes last season’s EPL joint-Golden Boot winner deserves to be feted even further.
At a press conference at Swissotel The Stamford ahead of his team’s clash with Brazil at the National Stadium tonight, the former Paris Saint-Germain and Birmingham City midfielder said Mane deserves to be recognised as the best player in the world.
The 27-year-old Liverpool wide forward finished fifth at last month’s Best Fifa Men’s Player award, behind Messi, Virgil van Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah.
When The New Paper asked Cisse if he agreed with Messi, Fabregas and Carragher’s assessments of his star player, he said: “With all those testimonies from those brilliant players, we should really grant Sadio the Best Player award, because they are good players and they recognise the quality of Mane.”
Mane was more coy about whether he was approaching the stratosphere of Messi and Ronaldo, saying: “What a compliment… I will try to do everything to get this kind of award.”
With the likes of Mane and captain Kalidou Koulibaly, who is considered among the world’s best centre-backs, in his side, Cisse believes Senegal could cement their place as Africa’s best-ever team at the 2022 World Cup.
GREATER HEIGHTS
Cisse, 43, insists that his charges can go beyond the quarter-finals on football’s grandest stage, something only his team of 2002, Cameroon’s class of 1990 and most recently Ghana in 2010 have achieved.
Said Cisse: “I believe we have a good team who can go even beyond that. It is from that perspective that we have accepted the (offer) to play against Brazil.
“Our ambition is not just here. We are looking to go very far. We believe we can reach further than the quarter-finals.”
Looking ahead to the clash with five-time World Cup winners Brazil, Cisse warns that, even if his side don’t dominate the match, they can still hurt the Selecao.
He said: “It is not the case that if you control the ball, you will win… Even if we don’t control the ball, we can use other strategies to score… (Senegal’s) strengths are attacking and defending together, so what is important is to have that cohesion in the team.”
Mane, meanwhile, said that should his side cause just the fourth defeat of Tite’s 44-match tenure, his Liverpool teammate Roberto Firmino will not hear the end of it.
“We know each other very well. He knows I will talk a lot if I score or we get a win against Brazil,” said Mane, who has 19 international goals in 66 games.
“He will do everything possible to stop me scoring or to stop us winning.” –
–The New Paper
Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been named the new head coach of the England national team, the country’s Football Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The German, who is England’s third foreign manager, after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, will be assisted by Englishman Anthony Barry, the statement added.
“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world and Anthony Barry who is one of the best English coaches to support him,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said.
Tuchel replaces Lee Carsley, England’s under-21 manager, who has been in temporary charge since the resignation of Gareth Southgate after England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.
-Reuters
German Thomas Tuchel has been appointed head coach of the England national team on Wednesday.
Born: Aug. 29, 1973 in Krumbach, Germany.
PLAYING CAREER
* Tuchel played for his local club TSV Krumbach, before moving to FC Augsburg’s academy at the age of 15.
* He never played for Augsburg’s senior side and joined German second division team Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
* After eight league appearances for Kickers, Tuchel moved to fourth-tier SSV Ulm.
* Tuchel made 69 league appearances for Ulm as a central defender before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 25 due to a knee injury.
COACHING CAREER
* Tuchel began his coaching career with a youth team role at VfB Stuttgart in 2000, working with future Germany internationals Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber.
* He returned to Augsburg and took charge of their reserve team for the 2007-08 season.
* Tuchel was appointed Mainz 05 manager in 2009, replacing compatriot Juergen Klopp.
* He guided Mainz to Bundesliga stability during his five-year stint at the club, gaining plaudits for his team’s high energy, attacking style of play.
* Tuchel took over from Klopp as Borussia Dortmund coach in 2015.
* He led Dortmund to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2017 German Cup final. He was sacked by Dortmund three days later.
* Tuchel joined Paris St Germain in 2018 on a two-year contract, replacing Unai Emery.
* He won two Ligue 1 titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season, and guided the club to their first Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
* Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Christmas Eve in 2020, despite the club finishing top of their Champions League group and sitting third in the Ligue 1 table.
* He was named Chelsea manager in January 2021 on an initial 18-month contract following the dismissal of Frank Lampard.
* Tuchel revived the team’s Premier League season and guided the London club to the Champions League final, where they beat Manchester City. Chelsea also won the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
* Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 following a shock 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League group game.
* Bayern Munich appointed Tuchel to succeed Julian Nagelsmann in March last year.
* Bayern decided to let Tuchel go at the end of the 2023-24 season despite a contract until 2025. Tuchel steered Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2022-23, but they finished the last campaign without any silverware for the first time in more than a decade.
* Tuchel will become England’s third foreign manager after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello.
* Tuchel will take over the team in January ahead of the qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
-Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.
Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.
Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.
He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.
With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.
Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.
While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.
-Reuters
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