Sport&Fitness Middle East - World Cup Special

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World Cup SpeCial

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Time for more football!

The end of the Premier League season is normally a time when my wife rejoices as the long anticipated DIY season kicks off. But no sooner had the Chelsea players lifted the League trophy and loaded their Range Rovers with rubles, than I was quickly decorating the kitchen… with the 2010 World Cup fixture list.

I understood my wife’s outburst, as the new décor was a cowardly move to say the DIY was being pushed back in the calendar. A couple of days later I was all ready to voice my defence of why the World Cup was so important when my nine-year-old daughter Tabitha said: “Do you think Algeria could beat England?” followed by: “I hope Ghana do well in the World Cup, as they’ve got the best strip.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Little did I know that she’d been covering the World Cup at school and learning about the different countries involved in the tournament. From kits and flags to culture and geographical locations, the World Cup had given her a great global understanding. But the offside rule was lost on her!

Now we’ve got two official sticker albums on the go and it’s costing me a fortune.

I’ve also got to referee trades, as my four-year-old boy has become aware that a Lionel Messi card is worth at least two stadiums and a Didier Drogba. So, thanks to the World Cup I’ve got a National Geographic daughter filling my head with random global facts and a son who’s become a wheeler-dealer. All the same, it’s nice to have some back up when the other half starts grumbling about all the games we’ll be watching over the summer!

In this issue we’ve gone a bit World Cup mad. Well, it’s only once every four years!

We’ve got a comprehensive guide to all the action in South Africa – from players to watch out for and World Cup history, to a look at the stadiums and the latest gear that will be on show. There’s a Q&A with the world’s best player, the aforementioned Argentine magician Messi, while England’s wonderfully eccentric goalkeeper David James reveals all in a candid exclusive interview.

One of the world’s most renowned football fitness and conditioning coaches, Raymond Verheijen, lifts the lid on the techniques that have seen his services employed by the Dutch, Russian and Korean national teams and a string of clubs including Manchester City, who he worked with last season.

We’re aware that this summer isn’t all about football and with Wimbledon just around the corner we’ve previewed the action and bagged another exclusive with the hottest property in the tennis world, women’s No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki.

We also chewed the fat with the best rugby player on the planet, Dan Carter, who, it turns out, is also a thoroughly nice guy and to round off our line-up of world beaters we caught up with Wakeboarding Cable World Champion Nick Davies, who dazzled with a series of displays at the Dubai Boat Show earlier this year. I’ve no idea how we’ve managed to cram so much sporting talent into one issue but we’ve somehow managed it! Happy reading!

Alex Gallemore Editor

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31 Lionel Messi

17 World Cup

Published in the UAE by: Prographix, PO BOX 24677, Dubai, UAE

World Cup 17 Preview

It only happens once every four years so we’ve made the most of it. Looking at the teams, qualifying groups and history we’ve given you everything you need to know about this summer’s showcase tournament.

Features 31 Lionel Messi

The World’s best player might not have a Champions League medal this season but the Argentinian has the Word Cup in his sights.

40 David James

The Premier League’s most experienced goalkeeper talks to Richard Bevan about his firm belief that Fabio Capello has created an England squad capable of going all the way in South Africa.

64 Wimbledon Preview

It’s not all about football this summer as the stars of centre court prepare to battle it out on Wimbledon’s grass surface for the oldest Grand Slam of them all.

67 Caroline Wozniacki

The hottest young star in women’s tennis talks to Iain Richardson about her rapid rise to the top of the game.

72 Dan Carter

It’s rare you see a rugby player modeling underwear but All Black star Dan Carter has established himself as the David Beckham of the rugby world.

Regulars 12 Sports News

A concise look at recent sporting events from around the globe.

14 Sports Calendar

A look ahead at what’s happening each month on the international and local sports scene.

Sport & Fitness Middle East Partners

Gareth Pearce +971 4 358 0344

Alex Gallemore www.alex@wspglobal.com

72 Dan Carter

40 David James

GET IN SHAPE 78

Candy Shop Reby Sky reveals an intriguing way of keeping the flab at bay.

Training & Nutrition 50 Football’s Fire Starter World renowned football fitness and conditioning coach reveals the techniques that have seen him in high demand throughout the game for more than 10 years.

Football’s Fire starter RAYMOND Verheijen is one of the most renowned football fitness and conditioning coaches in the world. He’s the man charged with preparing the Korean national team for the gruelling game frenzy of the World Cup in South Africa this summer and it’s a task he’s more than qualified to undertake.

Verheijen’s services have been employed at every major tournament for the past 10 years with Holland and Russia as well as the Koreans all benefitting from his pioneering techniques which are aimed at not only improving players’ fitness but keeping them fresh and injury-free.

He enjoyed a spell at Manchester City last year during Mark Hughes’ reign and his innovative approach to training led to the team heading the Premier League fitness and performance stats table during the first of the season as well as experiencing the fewest injuries.

Verheijen, the author of several books on the subject, including the seminal ‘Conditioning For Soccer’ talks to Richard Bevan about his fascinating career and the techniques that have made him famous.

48 Fueling The Engine Room Your guide to getting the most out of your body on the football pitch by eating and drinking wisely.

58 ASK SFME With the help of the team at Fitness First SFME answers a number of questions that will help you in your quest for a healthy body.

60 Tone Up The female workout guide to toning up those crucial body parts.

62 Knowing Your Food Basics By understanding the nutritional basics you are well on the way to fitter healthier body.

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earth World Streetstyle champion Sean Garnier shows off his freestyle football skills at the Scape Youth Park in Singapore.

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Picture courtesy Mark Theo

ice Benedikt Mayr soars high above the powder in Vars, France with a demonstration of freeskiing at its very best.

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Picture courtesy of Dom Daher

water Diego Naranjo rides the waves in Jaco, Costa Rica.

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Picture courtesy of Agustin Munoz

NEWS

JOSÉ CLEANS UP AND MOVES ON FOR the second time in his career mercurial Portuguese maestro José Mourinho led a team to Champions League glory before immediately signalling his intention to move on to pastures new.

The self styled ‘Special One’ masterminded a textbook display of counter-attacking football to outsmart opposite number and former mentor Louis Van Gaal as Inter Milan completed the ‘Treble’ with a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in Madrid.

Bayern played the more attacking football but, as they had done throughout the competition, Inter proved too hard to break down and they were able to perform a smash and grab at the other end as one of Mourinho’s signings, Argentine Diego Milito, netted twice to seal the club’s first win in the tournament for 45 years.

The triumph means that Mourinho becomes only the third coach in history to win the Champions League with two different teams having previously tasted success in the competition with Porto in 2004.

And just like in 2004 he was eyeing up the next challenge before the dust had even settled on the Madrid triumph. As the rest of his all-conquering Inter team headed back to Milan to a hero’s welcome, he stayed in Spain for final negotiations that will see him replace Manuel Pellegrini at big spending Real Madrid.

“If you don’t coach Real Madrid then you always have a gap in your career,” said Mourinho.

RED BULLS LEAD THE WAY DESPITE all the pre-season hype surrounding the battle between McLaren and Ferrari, as well as the return of Michael Schummacher for Mercedes GP, it is the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who lead the way on the drivers championship after six races.

Australian Webber has won the last two races in Spain and Monaco while Vettel was victorious in Malaysia, runner-up in Monaco and third in Spain. Both drivers have 78 points while Red Bull-Renault lead the constructors championship on 156 ahead of Ferrari on 136.

KHAM AIMS TO UNIFY DIVISION AMIR Khan has declared his intention to unify the light-welterweight division after retaining his WBA title with an 11th-round victory over Paulie Malignaggi in New York.

In what was Khan’s debut fight in America the Englishman outclassed Malignaggi throughout. “I’m making 140lb easy, I feel strong,” said Khan.

“I’m not leaving 140lb until I unify the title. Until I’m number one I’m not going to leave this division.”

For Khan, who had been tipped to step up in weight, it was the second defence of his WBA title having beaten Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle last December.

“It was my first fight away from home so I’m very happy to win it,” he added. “He was an awkward opponent, but we stuck to the game plan and stopped him in the 11th round.

“I was a little nervous, I was fighting in his home town but I put in the hard work in the gym and I knew my work ethic would carry me home.”

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

England clinch first ICC title ENGLAND defeated Australia by seven wickets in the World Twenty20 final in Barbados to win their first ever ICC limited-overs tournament.

Having been put into bat by Paul Collingwood Australia were reeling at 8-3 but recovered to post a 147-6 total with David Hussey top-scoring with 59.

Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen scored 63 and 47 respectively to take England to 118-1 before both falling in quick succession.

However, Collingwood steadied the ship to carry England over the finishing line with three overs and seven wickets to spare.

“It’s right up there, it’s got to be. This is our first World Cup we’ve ever won and the boys deserve it.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work and effort in and the boys are absolutely thrilled we put that performance in.”

VILLA JOINS BARCA HAVING retained their La Liga title with a record 99 points Barcelona look set to be even stronger next season after signing Spanish superstar striker David Villa for €40 million from Valencia.

Barca were imperious again last season, losing just once as they beat Real Madrid by four points for their fourth league title in five seasons and the signing of Villa is a massive statement of intent. Villa scored 107 goals in 166 domestic league matches for Valencia. “Anybody would be happy to come to a club like this – as everybody says, this is the best team in the world,” Villa told Barcelona’s website. “I’m very happy and proud to be here.”

Qatar delivers World Cup bid book to FIFA QATAR submitted a 20-kilo bid book to FIFA at its headquarters in Zurich recently, confidently telling the world: “Expect amazing”.

They say Qatar 2022 will be the first carbon-neutral World Cup, utilising sustainable technologies and groundbreaking cooling systems for its 12 stadiums, fan zones and training grounds.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup bid chairman, Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, handed over the weighty dossier to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the presence of bid CEO Hassan al-Thawadi, Qatar Football Association president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin

Ahmed al-Thani and other top officials of the world governing body.

Meanwhile Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged his country’s “wholehearted” support to Qatar in its bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. President Lula said that both Qatar and Brazil had a common passion in soccer and this bond would do well to promote bilateral relations.

“There could be cultural and other differences but our common passion for soccer unites us and we are only too happy to announce Brazil’s support to Qatar in its earnest bid for hosting 2022 FIFA World Cup.” www.wspglobal.com l Page13

June One Day International Series, England v Australia

THE one day version of The Ashes – England take on Australia on home soil in the Natwest One Day International Series this summer.

England regained The Ashes last year but the Aussies are back to see if they can salvage some pride before the next Ashes series Down Under in November this year.

June 22 The Rose Bowl, Southampton June 24 Swalec Stadium, Cardiff June 27 Old Trafford, Manchester June 30 The Oval, London July 03 Lords, London

June 21 - 27 Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championship, Edirne, Turkey WRESTLERS take part in this knock-out style competition wearing only a pair of leather trousers and a good dousing of olive oil.

Competitors are paired off and struggle to get a grip on their opponent, before one is flipped over and pinned to the ground. The winner then goes on to fight another winner, and so on, until there is only one wrestler left standing.

June 4 - 6 MotoGP - Round 4 Mugello, Italy (motorbikes)

June 5 - 11 Isle of Man TT Festival (motorbikes)

June 5 WBA light middleweight title: Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman WBC lightweight title: Humberto Soto vs. Anthony Peterson Yankee Stadium, New York, USA (boxing)

June 12 Gillette Fusion International England v France, Leigh Sporting Village, Leigh, England (rugby league)

June 18 - 20 MotoGP – Round 5 Silverstone, Great Britain June 21 - July 4 MotoGP – Round 5 Silverstone, Great Britain June 24 - 26 MotoGP – Round 6 Assen, Netherlands June 25 - 27 European Formula 1 Grand prix Valencia, Spain (motor racing)

June 11 - July 11 The FIFA World Cup

June 17 - 20 US Open Golf Championship Pebble Beach Golf Links, California, USA (golf)

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

July July 9 - 11

British Formula 1 Grand Prix, Silverstone, England THE Formula 1 season returns to the home of British motorsport with Sebastian Vettel looking to defend his title on the historic track. The German started on poll position and came home with a 15.1 second victory over Mark Webber to wrap up his second of four wins on the 2009 campaign.

July 3 – 25 Le Tour de France (cycling)

July 10 - 18 Women’s Champions Trophy Nottingham, England (hockey)

July 4 MotoGP – Round 7 Catalunya, Spain (motorbikes)

July 15 - 18 The Open Golf Championship Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland

July 17 – Sept 11

Vodacom Tri-Nations SOUTH Africa, Australia and New Zealand battle it out all summer long to see who is the best team in the Southern Hemisphere, the first round of fixtures take place in July.

July 17 New Zealand vs. South Africa Wellington, New Zealand

July 5 – 6 Twenty20 matches, Pakistan vs. Australia Edgbaston, England (cricket)

July 24 Australia vs. South Africa Brisbane July 31 Australia vs. New Zealand Melbourne

July 18 MotoGP – Round 8 Sachsenring, Germany July 9 - 24 Sri Lanka Triangular series Sri Lanka hosts India and New Zealand in a Triangular series in Dambulla and Colombo. The teams play each other twice in a group before a grand final between the top two nations on July 24 decides the winner.

July 23 – 25 German Formula 1 Grand Prix Hockenhem, Germany July 25 MotoGP – Round 9 Monterey, California, USA July 31 WBO lightweight title, Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz Las Vegas, Nevada www.wspglobal.com l Page15

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

The stage is set O

VER 200 nations have been whittled down to 32 after a qualification process that for some of them has lasted three years and now South Africa is ready to welcome the best footballers on the planet as the country hosts the biggest event in the world of sport – the FIFA World Cup. Every four years the super-powers of the football world battle it out for supremacy and for the first time in its 19 installments the World Cup is heading to Africa.

Brazil and Spain go into the tournament ranked No.1 and 2 in the world and as the overwhelming favourites due to their recent form – Brazil were winners of the Copa America in 2007 while Spain won their most recent tournament at the 2008 European Championship. Defending champions Italy have the experience to go all the way again and you can never underestimate the tenacity of the Germans, finalists in 2002 and third in 2006.

England and Holland had dominant qualifying campaigns but are relative underachievers in the modern era, while many won’t look beyond Argentina with have a certain Lionel Messi in their ranks.

SFME looks ahead to what is undoubtedly the highlight of the 2010 sporting calendar.

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THE EIGHT GROUPS A

South Africa Mexico Uruguay France

B

Argentina Nigeria South Korea Greece

C

England USA Algeria Slovenia

D

Germany Australia Serbia Ghana

E

Netherlands Denmark Japan Cameroon

GROUP A MEXICO

SOUTH AFRICA

Qualification: Runner-up in CONCACAF Group.

History: 14th World Cup finals appearance.

Key Men: Gerardo Torrado, Raphael Marquez.

Did You Know? Mexico are the only nation to have hosted the World Cup twice in the modern era (1970, 1986).

Qualification: As hosts.

History: Never got past the group stages in either of their two previous World Cups in 1998 and 2002.

Key Men: Aaron Mokoena, Stephen Pienaar.

Did You Know? Current head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira guided Brazil to World Cup glory in 1994.

FRANCE

URUGUAY

Qualification: Defeated Ireland in a play-off.

History: Victorious as hosts in 1998 and runner-up in 2006, France are making their 13th appearance overall.

Key Men: Franck Ribery, William Gallas.

Did You Know? Just two months before their World Cup triumph in 1998 France were ranked 25th in the world – their lowest ever ranking.

Qualification: Defeated Costa Rica in a play-off.

History: Twice winners in 1930 and 1950, they will be making their 11th appearance.

Key Man: Diego Forlán.

Did You Know? Uruguay and Argentina hold the record for the most international matched played between two countries – 161 times since 1901.

GROUP B ARGENTINA

NIGERIA Qualification: Fourth in South America group.

History: Twice winners (1978, 1986), Argentina are making their 15th World Cup appearance.

Key Man: Lionel Messi.

Did You Know? Leandro Cufre was the first player to be sent off after the final whistle of a World Cup following a brawl after their quarter final defeat to Germany in 2006.

GREECE

Qualification: Won Africa Group B. History: Three consecutive appearances from 1994-2002 but none before or since.

Key Man: John Obi Mikel.

Did You Know? Nigeria are twice winners of the African Cup of Nations and were Olympic Gold medallists at the Atlanta games in 1996.

SOUTH KOREA Qualification: Defeated Ukraine in a play-off.

History: Making just their second World Cup appearance, previous outing saw them exit after the group stage of USA ‘94.

Key Man: Georgios Samaras.

Did You Know? Greece’s home kit since 1926 was blue but after their triumph at Euro 2004 they changed it to white.

Qualification: Won Asia Group 2.

History: Making their eighth appearance, their best result was fourth place in 2002 as co-hosts alongside Japan.

Key Men: Park Ji Sung, Lee ChungYong.

Did You Know? South Korea’s biggest win in international football came just seven years ago when they crushed Nepal 16-0 in Incheon.

F

Italy Paraguay New Zealand Slovakia

G

Brazil North Korea Ivory Coast Portugal

H

Spain Switzerland Honduras Chile

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

GROUP C ENGLAND

SLOVENIA Qualification: Won Europe Group 6.

History: Winners in 1966, making their 13th World Cup finals appearance.

Key Men: Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard.

Did You Know? England players donate all of their pay for international matches to charity via the Team England Footballers Charity.

USA Qualification: Won CONCACAF Group.

History: Qualified for every World Cup since 1990, making their ninth appearance in total.

Key Men: Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey.

Did You Know? The USA has more players with 100 caps than any other international team – 11 men have reached the milestone.

Qualification: Defeated Russia in a play-off.

History: Making just their second appearance at the World Cup. At their debut in 2002 they lost all three group matches to be eliminated.

Key Man: Milivoje Novakovic.

Did You Know? Slovenia will be making only their third appearance in a competitive tournament.

ALGERIA Qualification: Defeated Egypt in a play-off.

History: Making their third appearance after two first round knock-outs in 1982 and 1986.

Key Man: Yazid Mansouri.

Did You Know? Algeria and Egypt finished with identical overall and headto-head scores in Africa Qualification Group C but Algeria won the tie-breaker play-off 1-0 to qualify.

GROUP D GERMANY

SERBIA Qualification: Won Europe Group 4.

History: Three-time winners making their 17th World Cup appearance.

Key Men: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phillip Lahm.

Did You Know? Germany’s Lothar Mathhaus holds the record for the most World Cup appearances with a staggering 25 in five World Cups.

Qualification: Won Europe Group 7.

History: Ten previous appearances, they were knocked out in the group stage in 2006.

Key Men: Nemanja Vidic, Branislav Ivanovic.

Did You Know? Serbia qualified ahead of France by one point as top scorers in their group with 22 goals. They also conceded the fewest – just eight in ten matches.

GHANA

AUSTRALIA Qualification: Won Asia Group 1.

History: Two World Cup appearances under their belt.

They were knocked out during the second round by eventual winners Italy in 2006.

Key Man: Tim Cahill.

Did You Know? Australia’s nickname the Socceroos was coined by Sydney based journalist, Tony Horstead in 1967.

Qualification: Won Africa Group D. History: Only previous appearance came four years ago when they were knocked out

by Brazil in the last 16.

Key Man: Michael Essien.

Did You Know? Captain Stephen Appiah was without a club for a little over a year before joining Italian club Bologna in November last year.

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KEY DATES Opening match: South Africa vs Mexico, Friday June 11 Group stage matches: Fri June 11 – Friday June 25 Round of 16 matches: Sat June 26 – Tuesday June 29 Quarter Finals: Friday July 2 – Saturday July 3

Semi Finals: Tuesday July 6 & Wedsday July 7 Third/Fourth play-off: Saturday July 10 World Cup Final: Sunday July 11

GROUP E NETHERLANDS

JAPAN Qualification: Won Europe Group 9.

History: Playing in their ninth World Cup, Holland were runners-up in 1974 and 1978.

Key Men: Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder.

Did You Know? Holland conceded just two goals during their qualification campaign, the fewest by any team across the globe.

DENMARK

Qualification: Runner-up in Asia Group 1.

History: Making their fourth successive World Cup appearance.

Key Man: Shunsuke Nakamura.

Did You Know? Japan has won the AFC Asian Cup three times and was runner-up at the 2001 Confederations Cup.

CAMEROON Qualification: Won Europe Group 1.

History: Fourth appearance, the quarter finals in 1998 is their best result.

Key Man: Nicklas Bendtner.

Did You Know? Denmark is famous for its travelling fans – known as the ‘roligans’, a movement which emerged during the 1980s as direct opposition to hooliganism.

Qualification: Won Africa Group A. History: Making their fifth World Cup appearance, their best finish a quarter final defeat to England in 1990.

Key Man: Samuel Eto’o.

Did You Know? Cameroon used sleeveless shirts during the 2002 African Cup of Nations in Mali but were prevented from wearing them at the World Cup in the same year.

GROUP F ITALY

NEW ZEALAND Qualification: Won Europe Group 8.

History: Four-time winners Italy will be defending their crown in their 17th appearance overall.

Key Men: Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon.

Did You Know? Only Giuseppe Rossi from the current Italy squad plays his domestic football outside of Serie A.

PARAGUAY

Qualification: Defeated Bahrain in a play-off.

History: Only one previous appearance – an early exit in 1982.

Key Man: Ryan Nelson.

Did You Know? New Zealand have only once beaten European or South American opposition in their 90-year history, beating Georgia 3-1 in 2006.

SLOVAKIA Qualification: Third in South America Group.

History: Seven previous appearances but yet to progress past the second round.

Key Man: Roque Santa Cruz.

Did You Know? Dutchman William Paats introduced the game to Paraguayans at a school where he taught physical education.

Qualification: Won Europe Group 3.

History: First appearance since the break up of Czechoslovakia.

Key Man: Martin Škrtel.

Did You Know? Construction for Slovakia’s national stadium, the Tehelne Pole, began in 1939 and wasn’t finished until 1944 despite being in use from 1940 onwards.

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GROUP G BRAZIL

IVORY COAST Qualification: Won South America Group.

History: Five wins make them the most successful World Cup team of all time.

Key Men: Kaka, Julio Cesar.

Did You Know? Charles Miller, a Scottish railway engineer’s son, introduced the beautiful game to Brazil in 1894.

NORTH KOREA

Qualification: Won Africa Group E. History: Only previous appearance in 2006 saw them eliminated at the group stage.

Key Men: Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure.

Did You Know? In the 2006 World Cup the Ivory Coast was the only nation to name a 23-man squad which had no players playing domestic football in their home country.

PORTUGAL Qualification: Runner-up in Asia Group 2.

History: Making just their second World Cup appearance, they defeated Italy on the way to the quarter finals in 1966.

Key Man: Hong Yong-Jo. Did You Know? North Korea qualified at the expense of Saudi Arabia by virtue of their better goal difference.

Qualification: Defeated Bosnia in a play-off.

History: Fifth appearance, semi finalists in 1966 and 2006.

Key Men: Cristiano Ronaldo, Miguel Veloso.

Did You Know? The Portuguese Football Federation was formed in 1914 but their national team did not play a competitive match until 1921

GROUP H SPAIN

HONDURAS Qualification: Won Europe Group 5.

History: Making their 13th World Cup appearance.

Key Men: Xavi, David Villa.

Did You Know? Liverpool’s Fernando Torres didn’t score any of Spain’s 28 goals during their unbeaten qualifying campaign.

SWITZERLAND

Qualification: Third in CONCACAF Group.

History: Only previous appearance in 1982 saw them eliminated at the group stage.

Key Man: Wilson Palacios.

Did You Know? Honduras’ 10 mostcapped players in their history are still currently playing international football.

Star midfielder Palacios is 25 and already has 69 caps to his name.

CHILE Qualification: Won Europe Group 2.

History: Eight previous appearances but have never passed the quarter final stage.

Key Man: Ludovic Magnin.

Did You Know? Current head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is one of only three managers to win the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs.

Qualification: Second in South America Group.

History: Making their eighth appearance, best finish was third in 1962.

Key Man: Humberto Suazo.

Did You Know? The majority of the current squad is formed from the team that finished third at the Under20 World Cup in 2007.

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Players to watch Miloš Krasic

Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi

Wayne Rooney

Samuel Eto’o

(Serbia)

(Portugal)

(Argentina)

(England)

(Cameroon)

The blonde haired winger was the shining star in CSKA Moscow’s Champions League campaign in 09/10 scoring four goals from midfield during the group stages and helping them progress past Seville and into the last eight for the first time in their history. The 25-year-old was named Serbian Player of the Year for 2009 and will make his FIFA World Cup debut this year.

The World Cup wouldn’t be the same without the world’s most expensive player. The man from Madeira made his much talkedabout move from Manchester United to Real Madrid last summer for a world record £80m and despite a series of niggling injuries scored 33 times in 35 appearances in all competitions. Los Merengues ended the season without a trophy and he’ll be desperate to get his hands on the World Cup this summer.

FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009, Lionel Messi will go down in history as one of the greatest players to have played the game. Compared to his current national coach Diego Maradona for his low centre of gravity, silky skills and quick turn of pace, Messi once again lit up the UEFA Champions League and La Liga for Barcelona. The diminutive star will remain ‘one to watch’ for the rest of his career.

English talisman Wayne Rooney had the best season of his career in 09/10 with countless match-winning displays for the Red Devils as they came up just short of their fourth consecutive league title.

Many United fans will point at Rooney’s unfortunate ankle injury in April as the reason behind their failure to win the title – such is his importance to the team and his role within the England set-up is equally crucial.

One of the most decorated African footballers of all time and the leading goal scorer in Cameroon’s history, Samuel Eto’o will lead the line for The Indomitable Lions in 2010 as Captain. Eto’o made a name for himself with Barcelona in La Liga, winning three league titles and two Champions Leagues. He was part of the Barca team that won an astonishing six trophies in 08/09 before moving to Inter and winning the treble last season.

A GUIDE TO SOUTH AFRICA Polokwane

Rustenburg

Neispruit

Tshwane/Pretoria

Johannesburg

Stadium: Peter Mokaba Stadium Province: Limpopo Capacity: 45,264 Construction: New Altitude: 1310m

Stadium: Royal Bafokeng Stadium Province: North West Capacity: 44,530 Construction: New Altitude: 1500m

Stadium: Mbombela Stadium Province: Mpumalanga Capacity: 46,589 Construction: New Altitude: 660m

Stadium: Loftus Versfeld Stadium Province: Gauteng Province Capacity: 49,365 Construction: 1906, upgrade completed 2008 Altitude: 1214m

Stadium: Soccer City Province: Gauteng Province Capacity: 88,460 Construction: 1987, upgrade completed 2009 Altitude: 1753m

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Franck Ribery

Lee Chung-Yong

Maicon

David Villa

Didier Drogba

(France)

(South Korea )

(Brazil)

(Spain)

(Ivory Coast)

The man Zinedine Zidane calls, “the jewel of French football,” Franck Ribery’s last appearance in a major tournament ended on a stretcher after an ankle injury in their 2-0 loss to Italy in Euro 2008. Now, after his third season with German giants Bayern Munich, the fleet-footed winger is in his prime at the age of 27 and will be a dangerous outlet on the right side of the pitch for Les Blues.

The new face of South Korean football, 21-year-old Lee Chung-Yong is at the top of the new breed of players looking to emulate the success of Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung in European football. Lee was named Player of the year for English Premier League club Bolton Wanderers after contributing four goals and six assists in a memorable debut season.

While players like Kaka and Fabiano will undoubtedly grab the headlines Jackie Charlton once said that the full-back is the most important position on the football pitch, and in Maicon Brazil have one of the best in the world. Fearless, strong and quick, Maicon has all the attributes required by the modern full back. He plys his trade at Inter Milan where played a key role in the solid counter attacking style that saw José Mourinho’s side win an historic treble last season.

There is quality throughout the Spanish squad but the man who will get them goals is former Valencia hit-man David Villa, who has just signed for Barcelona for €40 million.

With a slight doubt over the fitness of Fernando Torres the diminutive Villa will have to be at his best as he spearheads Spain’s attack. He was the top scorer at Euro 2008, winning the Golden Boot with four goals despite missing the final and much of the semi-final.

With 43 goals in 66 appearances for the Ivory Coast Didier Drogba is the apex of The Elephant’s team.

New head coach Sven GoranEriksson will be looking to get the best out of the powerful front-man if they are to progress past the group stages for the first time in their history. Drogba has just enjoyed a wonderful season at Chelsea, winning a domestic league and cup double and claiming the Golden Boot with 29 league goals.

Johannesburg

Managuang/ Bloemfontein

Durban

Port Elizabeth

Cape Town

Stadium: Ellis Park Stadium Province: Gauteng Province Capacity: 61,639 Construction: 1982, upgrade completed 2009 Altitude: 1753m

Stadium: Free State Stadium Province: Free State Capacity: 45,058 Construction: 1952, upgrade completed 2008 Altitude: 1400m

Stadium: Durban Stadium Province: Durban Capacity: 69,957 Construction: New Altitude: 0m

Stadium: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Province: Eastern Cape Capacity: 49,082 Construction: New Altitude: 0m

Stadium: Green Point Stadium Province: Western Cape Capacity: 66,005 Construction: New Altitude: 0m www.wspglobal.com l Page23

THE WORLD CUP in history 1930

1934 Winner: ITALY

Winner: URUGUAY

Host: Italy Final: Italy v Czechoslovakia Score: 2-1 (a.e.t)

Host: Uruguay Final: Uruguay v Argentina Score: 4-2

Forty five thousand people were present in Rome as the Czechs took the lead after 71 minutes but were pegged back five minutes later by Italy. Five minutes into extra time Schiavio scored and Italy held on to seal the title.

Uruguay crushed Argentina 4-2 in the first ever World Cup Final in front of a partisan crowd of 80,000 in Montevideo. The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay.

1938 Winner: ITALY Host: France Final: Italy v Hungary Score: 4-2 Two goals each for Gina Colaussi and Silvio Piola secured Italy their second consecutive World Cup after a 4-2 victory over Hungary in Paris.

1954

1958

Winner: WEST GERMANY

Winner: BRAZIL

Host: Switzerland Final: West Germany v Hungary Score: 3-2

Host: Sweden Final: Brazil v Sweden Score: 5-2

Hungary were the much-fancied team ahead of the 1954 final but West Germany’s 3-2 win against the odds became known as The Miracle of Berne.

In 2003 there was a German film of the same name made to commemorate the victory.

The 1958 final gave the world its first glimpse of Pele as he scored twice in Brazil’s commanding 5-2 win over hosts Sweden in front of 52,000 in Solna.

1962

1966

Winner: BRAZIL

Winner: ENGLAND

Host: Chile Final: Brazil v Czechoslovakia Score: 3-1

Host: England Final: England v West Germany Score: 4-2 (a.e.t)

Brazil recorded their second consecutive World Cup win with a 3-1 victory over Czechoslovakia in Santiago without Pele who was injured during an earlier match against the Czechs in the tournament.

Almost 100,000 people crammed into Wembley stadium to watch England overcome the West Germans 4-2 after extra time. Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick as England came from behind to record their only World Cup triumph to date.

1970

1974

Winner: BRAZIL

Winner: GERMANY

Host: Mexico Final: Brazil v Italy Score: 4-1

Host: Germany Final: West Germany v Netherlands Score: 2-1

Brazil cruised past Italy in the Azteca Stadium with a sumptuous display of footballing beauty. Captain Carlos Alberto wrapped up the win with a famous goal after a patient build up that involved eight different team members.

The much fancied Johan Cruyff inspired Netherlands took the lead with barely two minutes on the clock thanks to a Johan Neeskens penalty but the efficient West Germans, led by Franz Beckenbauer, came back to win 2-1.

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1978

1982

Winner: ARGENTINA

Winner: ITALY

Host: Argentina Final: Argentina v Netherlands Score: 3-1 (a.e.t)

Host: Spain Final: Italy v West Germany Score: 3-1

The Netherlands lost to the home nation for the second time in a row as Argentina, inspired by Mario Kempes who scored six goals in all to claim the Golden Boot, defeated them 3-1 after extra time.

Italy won their third World Cup with a 3-1 victory over West Germany in the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. The game is remembered for the celebration of Marco Tardelli who scored the second goal and sprinted towards the Italian bench in a moment of uncontrollable joy.

1986

1990

Winner: ARGENTINA

Winner: WEST GERMANY

Host: Mexico Final: Argentina v West Germany Score: 3-2

Host: Italy Final: West Germany v Argentina Score: 1-0

Argentina won their second World Cup in three attempts after a memorable final with West Germany in Mexico.

They went 2-0 up before the Germans pegged them back but Jorge Burrachaga popped up to score the winner in the 83rd minute.

The 1990 World Cup final was far from a vintage contest. Argentina had two men sent off and a late Andreas Brehme penalty sealed a third World Cup win for Germany. Argentina became the first team to fail to score in the final.

1994

1998

Winner: BRAZIL

Winner: FRANCE

Host: USA Final: Brazil v Italy Score: 0-0 (3-2 pens)

Host: France Final: France v Brazil Score: 3-0

In the heat of the Rose Bowl in California, Italy and Brazil played out a 0-0 bore draw before Roberto Baggio – one of the best players of the tournament – skied the decisive spot kick to give Brazil the title in the first ever final to be settled on penalties.

The build-up to the game was dominated by reports that Brazil’s star striker Ronaldo had suffered a pre-match fit. He played but Brazil were never in the game and Zinedine Zidane was the hero for France with two first half goals. Emmanuel Petit wrapped up the tie in the 90th minute.

2002

2006

Winner: BRAZIL

Winner: ITALY

Host: Korea/Japan Final: Brazil v Germany Score: 2-0

Host: Germany Final: Italy v France Score: 1-1 (5-3 pens)

Ronaldo made up for his performance four years earlier with two clinical goals against Germany in Yokohama. He slotted home his first in the 67th minute before capitalising on an Oliver Khan mistake to poke home his second with 10 minutes remaining.

Italy won their fourth World Cup as France’s David Trezeguet struck the bar with his spot-kick after the teams couldn’t be separated after 120 minutes. Zinedine Zidane gave France the lead early on but Italy equalised through Marco Materazzi.

Zidane’s tournament ended in shame with a red card for head butting Materazzi. www.wspglobal.com l Page25

the

WORLD CUP Trophy T

he World Cup Trophy is an icon of the modern sporting era and has almost as much of a story to tell as the tournament itself.

The first trophy was designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur who created a “Goddess of Victory” statuette holding an octagonal goblet in her hands above her head – from this the term World Cup was born.

The trophy was presented to Uruguay in 1930 as they won the inaugural tournament on home soil. Italy then were victors in 1934 and 1938 but during World War II the Vice President of FIFA Dr. Ottorino Barassi protected the trophy from the Nazis in a shoebox under his bed.

After the War the competition resumed in 1950 and FIFA decided to re-name the cup the “Jules Rimet Trophy” in honour of the FIFA President from 1921-54.

Shortly before England hosted the World Cup for the first time in 1966 the trophy was stolen while on display in London. One week after it disappeared a Thames River barge worker called David Corbett inadvertently stumbled upon it after his dog, Pickles, found it wrapped in a newspaper under a hedge. Corbett received

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a £3,000 reward while Pickles became something of a cult hero until his death in 1973. Four years after England won the cup in ’66 Brazil were victorious for the third time and were allowed to keep the trophy as stipulated in rules drawn up by Jules Rimet in 1930.

A replacement trophy was commissioned by FIFA ahead of the 1974 World Cup with 53 submissions being received from sculptors across seven countries.

Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga was awarded the commission with his design depicting two athletes standing back-to-back with their outstretched arms holding the globe on their shoulders. The new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently – winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.

The drama wasn’t over for the original Jules Rimet trophy however, as in 1983 thieves again stole it from its display at the Brazilian Football Confederation’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

The trophy was never found and the Confederation commissioned a replica for themselves using 1.8kg of gold which was presented to the Brazilian President Joao Baptista Figueiredo a year later.

www.wspglobal.com l Page27

Š 2009 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group

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MESSI AIMS TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

A

T just 22 years of age Lionel Messi has won almost everything there is to win… almost.

He was the star of the show in Barcelona’s historic six trophy haul last year that took in the La Liga title, Copa de Rey, Supercopa de España, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year in December having picked up the Ballon d’Or as European Player of the Year just a couple of weeks earlier. His goals and mesmerising build up play once again fired Barca to the La Liga title this season as they racked up a record breaking points total of 99 and fought off the challenge from their mega spending rivals Real Madrid.

But there is one trophy that has so far eludes this precocious talent, who is already being judged as one of the best the game has ever seen, and he’s aiming to put that right in South Africa this summer by bringing the Jules Rimet home to his beloved Argentina. He hasn’t so far dazzled quite a brightly with his national team as he has on the domestic front but he’s hoping the World Cup will give him the perfect stage to put that right.

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SFME: You’ve already been so successful in your career, what’s left for you to win?

LM: All I need now is the World Cup. I hope to improve my performance with Argentina and I am working hard for it. I really want to be the best, always.

SFME: Is there added pressure in playing for Argentina because of the great expectancy from your people for you to win the World Cup? LM: Argentina is always carrying one of the greatest football traditions in the world, but that doesn’t really mean anything to me. I believe we have a good team that could go far in the tournament. It’s in our hands to prove that we are considered as one of the favourites for a reason. We need to respect every opponent and if in fact we are the superior team, we always need to show that on the field.

SFME: You struggled in qualifying and only just made it through to the World Cup finals, does that affect the players’ confidence heading to South Africa?

LM: In spite of the fact that we had a tough time in qualifying our subsequent matches against European opposition went well and we’ve not got some time to work as a group

and build on what we have done together until now.

SFME: You’ve enjoyed great success with Barcelona but so far haven’t won anything with Argentina. Is that frustrating for you?

LM: It is different. It doesn’t mean the players are better in Barcelona it is just the time is pressing for the national team, we only have a couple of games with all players together and no time to work before. If we were all playing in the same football club things would be different, we all dream of winning the World Cup though, no doubt about that.

SFME: How do you feel when people compare you to Maradona?

LM: Even after a million years pass I will not be as good!

SFME: How have you found your experiences working under him as a coach?

LM: Maradona is a huge football personality, a true legend for all Argentina.

In the national team we all believe in him, we are certain Maradona can lead us from the bench. Players and manager all together as a fist, fighting together for the best.

“we are certain Maradona can lead us from the bench. Players and manager all together as a FIst, FIghting together for the best.”

– Lionel Messi

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SFME: Is there a player you would like to see playing in the Argentinean team?

LM: We’re lucky because Argentina have many good players and all of them play at a high level. I’m glad to have Gabriel Milito with me because he is my friend and I think he will be good for the Argentinean team.

SFME: Describe the rivalry between Argentina and Brazil.

LM: Brazil are a big team and are always in with a chance of winning the World Cup. They have good players and will always be challenging.

SFME: Which team would you prefer to avoid at the World Cup? LM: I think that nowadays Spain are the team that are playing the best football. England are a good side too but during the World Cup anything is possible and you have to play and beat everyone in order to be the Champions.

SFME: If you hadn’t won the FIFA World Player of the Year Award who would you have nominated?

LM: If I hadn’t won I’d have given it to any player in our team. Before I received the

prize I said that Barca had achieved the perfect year and therefore any of us would have deserved to win it.

SFME: What makes (Barca coach) Pep Guardiola different from other coaches?

LM: Every coach has his own way, his own style and while I know Guardiola I don’t know others. Guardiola is a person who understood the game extremely well when he was a player and now from the touchline he is doing equally well, perhaps even better.

His relationship with the players is very close and as players that is a really good thing to have.

SFME: What are the best goals you’ve scored?

LM: The goals I remember are the three goals against Real Madrid because the match was very important and to score a hat-trick the derby was great (Messi became the first player to score a hat trick in El Clasico for 13 seasons in 2007). The goal against Getafe the same year (very similar to Maradona’s against England in the 1986 World Cup) and the goal against Real in 2008-2009 because it was a defining moment for us in La Liga that year.

www.wspglobal.com l Page33

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SFME: How do you cope with constantly being kicked, are you scared of injuries?

LM: I see being kicked as part and parcel of football. I don’t worry about getting injured, I don’t believe I’m going to get injured. If I did that then I wouldn’t be able to play in the same way.

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SFME: Would you like to experience playing in the Premier League or Serie A? LM: I’ve always said that I want to stay at Barcelona. Right now it is the only thing that I think about and is the only thing that I want. I don’t know what can happen in the future but my idea is always to be here.

SFME: Which England and Italian player to you most admire?

LM: I think that Rooney in the English League is playing at a great level. He is a very important player in his team and in the England team. I think that his level is above any other player in England.

“He is a very important player in his team and in the England team. I think that his level is above any other player in England.”

– Lionel Messi In Serie A I think that Diego Milito had a great season. He finished top scorer and scored plenty of goals, including two in the Champions League Final, and generally played very well for Inter.

Those two stand out for me right now.

SFME: What are your thoughts on how your exteam mates Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o are performing in Serie A? LM: I see they are both doing very well.

Milan were very unlucky to come up against Manchester United and the amazing Rooney who was very good in both matches in the Champions League. Eto’o was very instrumental in helping Inter get to the final of the Champions League. I think that Ronaldinho is doing fine, Samuel as well. It’s true that maybe he had some difficulties adapting to Italian football because it is very different from Spain but Samuel is always an important player.

SFME: Aside from La Liga, what other football do you follow closely?

LM: I don’t really follow many other leagues or matches although I do like to see the big games in the Argentinean league, which I do keep track of. But I’m not really a big fan of watching football. n

www.wspglobal.com l Page35

EQUIPT Nike bottle shirt success

Footballers including Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho will take to the pitch in the World Cup in South Africa this summer wearing shirts made out of recycled plastic bottles.

Nike announced recently that for this first time its nine national teams, which include Brazil, Portugal and The Netherlands, will wear tops made entirely from polyester.

The environmentally-friendly move will see each shirt made from up to eight recycled plastic bottles.

Manufacturing the shirts this way has prevented nearly 13

million plastic bottles, totalling almost 254 tonnes of polyester waste, from going into landfill sites.

This amount would be enough to cover more than 29 football pitches. Nike claimed the move is its biggest ever commitment to sustainability.

Nike Brand president Charlie Denson said: ‘We are equipping athletes with newly designed uniforms that not only look great and deliver performance benefits, but are also made with recycled materials, creating less impact on our environment.’

The 2010 Brazil, Portugal and Netherlands kits are available for AED 295 each, across selected Nike stores in the UAE. Dubai: Mall of The Emirates l The Dubai Mall Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda Mall www.wspglobal.com l Page37

EQUIPT Adidas Some of the world’s best players will be sporting Adidas designed national kits in South Africa.

Bastian Schweinsteiger’s Germany will be among them with this striking, classic looking strip. Other teams that will be kitted out in Adidas include European Champions Spain, hosts South Africa, France, Denmark, Greece and Mexico.

Jabulani Adidas are again the manufacturer charged with creating the all-important match ball for this summer’s World Cup. The ‘Jabulani’, which means “to celebrate” in isiZulu, features a South African inspired design and radically new technology aimed at creating fantastic grip and an unrivalled stable and accurate ball flight.

F50 adizero The F50 Adizero will be worn by stars including Argentina’s FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Spanish hot shot David Villa at the World Cup. It is the lightest football boot the company have ever created, weighing in at just 165 grams, which means the quick footed players will now be even faster!

Ivory Coast Puma have designed the kits for most of the African teams taking part in the World Cup. As well as the Ivory Coast, whose eye catching away kit is modelled here by Galatasaray’s AbdelKader Keita, Ghana, Cameroon and Algeria will all wear Puma.

Reigning World Champions Italy will also again wear Puma kits, as will Switzerland, and the Czech Republic as well as South American teams Uruguay and Paraguay.

Puma V1 The likes of Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o will be wearing Puma V1s this summer.

The V1.10 Soft Ground (SG) is an evolution of its successful predecessor. Extremely lightweight, stable and durable it features a lace cover to give a smooth kicking surface and a unique appearance.

Limited Edition This stunning limited edition version was designed in collaboration with artist Kehinde Wiley who took the original design and added one of his signature graphic prints inspired by the bold colours of Africa.

www.wspglobal.com l Page39

the Wo

rl

his hands

By Richard Bevan

in

THE hopes and dreams of millions of England fans just might rest in this man’s hands. David James is hoping to get the nod from Fabio Capello as his team’s No.1 in South Africa after a roller coaster of a season with Portsmouth that saw the team go into administration, get relegated, and reach the FA Cup Final.

James is not, and never has been, your average footballer.

An addiction to computer games, dodgy white suits, even more dodgy haircuts, cars that run on rapeseed oil… the list goes on and it all forms part of the eccentric James legacy.

d

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www.wspglobal.com l Page41

B

“ I feel I can always do well but it’s about the squad and if the manager picks a side that is successful then the manager’s done what he needs to do and the squad accept that.”

– David James

ut look beyond the headlines and you find a man who is not only the most experienced player in the Premier League and a shot stopper of unrivalled quality with a record 171 clean sheets to his name, but an intelligent and eloquent individual who fits Capello’s mandate for ‘on field leaders’ perfectly.

As my chat with James runs a good hour over the time limit specified by the press officer at Portsmouth it becomes clear that no question is too taxing and no subject taboo. He’s a breath of fresh air from the mollycoddled modern generation of media briefed players. His answers are considered and forthright while he frequently displays the maturity and rational thinking that could prove crucial when the heat is on in South Africa.

James was seemingly nailed on as England’s first choice keeper this time last year but injuries earlier in the season have opened the door to West Ham’s Robert Green and Manchester City’s up-and-coming young star Joe Hart. The average fan on the street and the majority of those in the industry still believe James is the man for the job but the player himself is taking a more pragmatic view.

“The England thing is a strange one,” he says.

“The setup that Mr Capello has got – there’s belief in the side, and something I find really refreshing is that we have a squad which looks at each other as ‘England the group’ as opposed to 11 players and everyone else just making up numbers.

“I heard one manager saying on the television that the problem with previous regimes was that a certain player was always the first name on the team sheet regardless of form etc. But although there are of course certain players that have played most games when fit with Mr Capello, the team doesn’t know who the starting 11 is until

usually an hour or two before the game. It’s not a case of trying to fool anyone or hide anything. The team is always prepared as a squad and therefore whoever is selected goes out there and plays. It’s a lovely balance we’ve got.

“For me, yeah, there is the individual frustration of not starting every game when I’ve been fit but I look it at the England squad as being a success and therefore being part of that squad, I’m happy. I take my own personal view but it’s quite comfortably put on the back burner as long as the team is successful. I feel I can always do well but it’s about the squad and if the manager picks a side that is successful then the manager’s done what he needs to do and the squad accept that.”

Uncertainty James would be forgiven if he did feel a mite frustrated by the uncertainty of his England starting place. Having begun his international career in the considerable shadow of David Seaman, he won the jersey for Euro 2004 before being ousted by Paul Robinson for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Steve McLaren then shipped him out of the squad along with fellow veterans David Beckham and Sol Campbell and the so called ‘Wally With The Brolly’ was rewarded on a rainy night at Wembley with some understandably shaky goalkeeping by untried rookie Scott Carson, who had been thrown into the lion’s den for the must-win game against Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

It was a game that ultimately ended in defeat and England’s spectacular failure to reach the Finals. But Capello’s arrival in England signalled the dawn of a new era, where players would be judged on current performances alone regardless of reputation or precedent. James, who had been busy re-establishing himself as one of the Premier League’s best keepers with a sustained period of

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“I’ve got this staunch belief that England are going to be very successful in the World Cup whoever plays. It’s just a case of putting myself in the frame and if I’m selected I’ll be happy, if I’m not selected then England are going to be happy and that makes me happy.”

– David James

brilliance at Portsmouth, was promptly reinstalled.

And there he stayed until last season when shoulder and knee operations over the summer sidelined him and meant that the steady if not spectacular Green was given a run by Capello while Hart, though only capped three times so far, has drawn plaudits for a superb season on loan at Birmingham and some good performances in the pre-tournament friendlies, throwing some doubt on who will get the shout.

“The thing is I’ve missed a lot of squads where it’s been more to do with injury factors than performance,” says James who has 50 international caps. “But I’m confident in myself and quite simply if I’m asked to play I’ve got no qualms about going out there and performing well.

That’s more do to with the fact that having been in and around the squad for so long and seeing what Mr Capello has set up that the environment is conducive to good performances rather than feeling like you’ve got to go out and prove anything to anyone.

“I’ve got this staunch belief that England are going to be very successful in the World Cup whoever plays. It’s just a case of putting myself in the frame and if I’m selected I’ll be happy, if I’m not selected then England are going to be happy and that makes me happy.

The squad mentality displayed by James and the rest of the players is a shining example of

seismic shift in the psychology of the England camp that Capello has engineered. They now play and think like a team rather than 11 individuals and when a squad member comes into the starting line-up, they immediately feel like they belong and therefore play well. The England team is traditionally affected by the overwhelming weight of expectation from fans who are desperate to add a first World Cup triumph since 1966. But after a blistering qualification campaign James believes there is every reason to feel confident, especially with a no nonsense manager like Capello at the helm.

Successful “I’m very much looking forward to the World Cup and I think it’s going to be a very successful trip for England. You have to believe that you can win it to start with. When we prepare for a game we’ll look at the team in front of us, the analysis will be done on their strengths and weaknesses and there’ll be a game plan set out.

“All bar one qualifier – possibly due to the fact that we played most of the game with 10 men – we won every game. You could argue there was some weak teams in the group or whatever but we went out and did what we needed to do. At the end of each game it’s ‘well done, on to the next one.’ There isn’t too much fuss, which helps as well. I believe that will be the same thread that

will run through the World Cup. There is ability in the team and we’re certainly good enough. There are some terrific opposition it has to be said – the likes of Spain, Brazil and Argentina – the same old faces, but it’s a cup competition and on our day we can beat anyone. We’ll have a lot of time to work together as a group and work on certain things to beat different teams so I think there needs to be an expectation that we can win it otherwise people will be expecting us to fail.”

If James does win the battle between the sticks there’s every chance that he’ll have to face the dreaded penalty shootout. England have been eliminated on spot kicks in five of the last seven major tournaments that they have qualified for. James, who was in the hot seat at Euro 2004 when England crashed out at the hands of Portugal, has the ignominious claim of never having saved a penalty for his country.

“I haven’t physically saved one but I did put Shevchenko off once and also Rui Costa against Portugal in 2004,” he jokes. “To be fair I haven’t faced that many for England. The problem with Euro 2004 was that I actually went out there with videos of penalties but not the penalty takers.

Going into the World Cup, if there’s a chance that there might be a penalty shoot out, believe me, we will have done our homework on who every conceivable penalty taker is. You can arm yourself I’m sure. There have been famous quotes from famous ex-managers who have said that it’s all chance and you can’t recreate the penalty shootout in a training session. But if you can say that then you can’t recreate a real match in a training session so what’s the point in doing anything?”

He may not have saved one for England but he’s proved to be one of the best penalty stoppers in the business at club level over the years and James is a passionate advocate of the psychological techniques that can be applied to goalkeeping and football in general.

“I’ve actually been using a sports psychologist for about eight or nine years now and without question it is the main reason why I’m still playing and still in the England set up. There’s so much that you can do to train your mind. I spend a good 25 minutes in the shower on a match day visualising the game and pretending to save shots, headers, crosses, etc. It’s a fundamental part of my prematch training. Because I’ve visualised pulling off a wonder save or whatever, when I do it in the actual match it kind of nullifies the emotional impact and allows me to remain calm and focused, where as in the old days I’d have thought, ‘wow, how did I do that!’. I swear by it, it’s been invaluable.”

James’ 23-year professional career has taken www.wspglobal.com l Page43

in spells at Watford, Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester City and Portsmouth, making a record 573 appearances in the Premier League. He earned the nickname ‘Calamity James’ during his time at Liverpool in the 1990s when a tendency to allow his concentration to lapse led to a spate of errors, which he bizarrely put down to his addiction to staying up all night playing computer games!

It was also while at Liverpool that he formed part of the infamous party loving ‘Spice Boys’ along with teammates Robbie Fowler, Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman. He was claimed to have been responsible for choosing the much maligned white suits the team wore to the 1996 FA Cup Final, which they lost to Manchester United and along the way the array of outrageous hairstyles he has sported has been too vast to list. But James has matured into the consummate professional.

The, shall we say, idiosyncratic fashion sense has remained but where the outfits and hairstyles were perhaps unfairly previously viewed as indicators of a lack of seriousness for the game, they now mark him out as an individual with plenty of strength of character. On the pitch, any errors that do occur are quickly rationalised and learned from due to a dedication to proper training and his sports psychology.

Buzz “The reality is that we train to prepare for a game. You have to aim to be at your best against your opponents. If you do the right training you can work out why you do something right and why you do something wrong. It sort of kills a bit of the buzz. If you do things right and you know why you’ve done them right you don’t get too excited about it. If you do something wrong, as long as you know why you did it wrong you can deal with it.”

And the hair and wardrobe malfunctions?

“I’m not worried what people think,” he laughs.

“Years ago I’d be concerned that people might think this or that but I don’t care now! I don’t get dressed for other people I get dressed for myself and sometimes it might be in the dark and the lads are the first ones to comment on what I’m wearing. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m going out to train or play and perform.

“Take the FA Cup Final suits from 1996. That’s a prime example. People relate the final to the suits, not the performance. Had we won the FA Cup Final that year we’d have probably been the best dressed footballers ever to win it. From that moment you think, ‘who gives a toss?’

“My favourite haircut was the superman one I had a few years ago, but only because my missus hated it!”

Beyond the World Cup James’ future is far from certain. One thing he won’t be doing is jumping ship purely for a quick buck. During Portsmouth’s heartbreaking plunge into administration last season, which led to a nine-point deduction and effectively sealed their relegation from the Premier League, he was a shining example of a player putting his club before himself. He offered to take a pay cut to try and ease the financial burden of Portsmouth’s crippling wage bill. He waived his right to an automatic one-year contract extension worth £3 million which would have been triggered

by playing over a certain amount of games and he spearheaded a move of startling generosity that saw the players club together to pay the wages of several key members of the coaching staff in order to save them from redundancy. But while James takes his responsibilities as a professional more serious than most, he’s also frank in his admission that his gestures last season were also made with his own career in mind. Being made to sit on the bench at Pompey to keep his appearances down would hardly have helped his chances of selection for England, and not having enough coaching staff

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would have made a bad season much worse. He may yet have to seek employment elsewhere if Portsmouth can’t afford to keep him but he’ll have no problem playing in the Championship if he does stay – he went down with West Ham in 2003 and stayed on to help the fight back before being sold midway through the season.

“The situation at Portsmouth is that I don’t know what is going to happen,” he says. “A lot of decisions will be heavily, if not totally, influenced by the administration team and Portsmouth’s financial well being. Essentially I love the game. It’s not

about the money – and that’s not to say that I’m wealthy enough not to worry about money – it’s about doing what’s right in an industry where people often see an opportunity to get out for financial gain. If that’s what they want to do that’s their choice but for me it’s about the benefits and positivity that you can get out of enjoying the game of football.

“At the same time it’s not about friends. The players didn’t keep the staff on out of sympathy.

It was felt that as an operating unit we needed certain members of staff to retain their positions,

they did do and as a result, we made it to the FA Cup Final. The people are all decent people so there was a plus side to it from that perspective as well but it was about trying to operate the best way we could in order to get the best result out of the season that we could. We didn’t achieve survival in the league but we made the cup final and everyone who stayed on had a big influence on that.”

Pompey’s FA Cup dream, like their season, ultimately ended in disappointment as Chelsea beat them 1-0 to seal a domestic league and cup www.wspglobal.com l Page45

double but the winning margin could have been much higher if not for a string of top drawer saves from James. Despite the loss and their relegation Pompey would have been eligible to play in the Europa League next season with Chelsea set for the Champions League, but they failed to submit their registration in time amid the turmoil of administration. Although many thought the FA were being unfair to an already suffering team James is again honest in his assessment that the club only have themselves to blame for the situation they find themselves in.

“We should have been registered on time for qualification for Europe and that is something that the FA can’t force us to do,” he states bluntly.

“The frustration for a group of players is that this was about joining a football club and wanting the right to represent that football club in whatever competition you can achieve. If reaching the final of the FA Cup grants you the success and the right to qualify and play in Europe the following year then we should have had that right.

“Portsmouth have only played in Europe once – after our FA Cup win a couple of years ago and for our fans it was an amazing adventure. It wasn’t as successful in most respects but it was an amazing adventure for them.”

Involvement When James does eventually decide to hang up the gloves he’ll have no shortage of options open to him. His interests and projects outside the game run deep and he talks passionately about his love of reading – a book about physics his current preoccupation – and his involvement with the Premier League Reading Stars initiative, aimed at encouraging children from difficult family situations to read. He’s also a lover of art and writes an engaging column for the Observer newspaper as well as doing his bit for the environment with the aforementioned rapeseed oil fuelled car and a host of other eco-projects.

“I just get bored easily!” he laughs. “If I’ve got something to do then I’m alright, I’m a bit obsessive in what I do.”

A keen philanthropist, his involvement with his three main charities, the David James Foundation, Access Sport and the Special Olympics, for which he is a Global Ambassador, is very much ‘hands on’ and he prefers to get his hands dirty rather than just ‘wearing the tee-shirt’ for the cameras.

“We’re happy out there on the field and trying to impress everyone with our super skills but at the end of the day everyone has to go home and if we can have an equally positive influence off the field then I think it’s only right.

“At Portsmouth I’ve never been to a club where so many players have their own foundations, it’s fantastic. The influence they can give to their

charities, however small, it all helps. It takes away from this stereotypical image that has been put forward that footballers only care about fast cars women and money.”

Despite this wealth of outside interests James sees his future within the game. He wants to be a manager and has even been touted as a possible replacement at Portsmouth following the exit of Avram Grant.

“I really do want to be a manager,” he says. “The

more the days and weeks pass, the more driven I am to want to do it. Having been in the professional game for nearly 24 years I’ve seen some very good managers and some very bad ones.

“I have a perceived ideal about how a club should be run. And that goes across the board from coaching the team to win a game of football to understanding how the club is run from a community/social aspect. Again, it’s so easy to look at football as just a money driven occupation

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without looking at what the community and social impact is and whether the community itself benefits from the club there.”

For the time being however, despite approaching the age of 40, James has no intention of quitting the game he loves. His obsessive nature means he loves the regimented aspect of training, “if I hadn’t been a footballer I’d have been in the armed forces.” He’s kept himself in good shape, putting in the hours in the gym, limiting nights out and eating the right things.

“There are three main criteria I think with regard to playing: The first is physical fitness – if you’re not fit then you can’t play for anyone. Secondly it’s having a desire to want to play because if you haven’t got that you can’t perform. And thirdly it’s having someone wanting you to play for them.

As long as those three boxes are ticked I’ll keep playing. I love playing the game and there’s so much more that can be done achievement wise.

Why retire? As my old mentor, Paul Baron the

Newcastle goalkeeping coach used to say, ‘you’re a long time retired.’”

When that day eventually comes the game will lose one of its true characters. They don’t make them like James anymore and as far the England national team goes, this summer could be his last dance at a major tournament. Nobody deserves his moment in the sun more than he and if Capello puts his faith in him in South Africa England’s World Cup hopes couldn’t be in safer hands. n www.wspglobal.com l Page47

FUELING THE

ENGINE ROOM Diet and nutrition for football players: How players can overcome the second-half slump.

Although football is the world’s most popular sport, with over 120 million amateur players worldwide, scientific research concerning the nutritional needs of football players has been scant.

Fortunately, new investigations are being conducted, and the up-to-date research suggests that football players should eat and drink like marathon runners!

T

he link between football players and long-distance endurance athletes seems strange at first glance, since football is a game involving sudden sprints and bursts of energy rather than continuous moderate-intensity running, but the connection doesn’t seem so extraordinary when one considers what happens during an actual football match. In a typical contest, football players run for a total of 1011 kilometres at fairly modest speed, sprint for about 800-1200 metres, accelerate 40-60 different times, and change direction every five seconds or so.

Half-starved!

Unfortunately, many football players don’t seem to be aware of the importance of dietary carbohydrate. Studies show that large numbers of players eat only 1200 calories of carbohydrate per day, way below the optimal level of 2400-3000 carbohydrate calories. As a result, many players BEGIN their competitions with glycogen levels which are sub-par. Players who start a match with low glycogen usually have little carbohydrate left in their muscles by the time the second half starts.

That leads to bad performances during the second half. Glycogen-poor football players usually run slower – sometimes by as much as 50 percent – during the second halves of matches, compared to the first. In addition, total distance covered during the second half is often reduced by 25 per cent or more in players who have low glycogen, indicating that overall quality of play deteriorates as glycogen levels head south. Compared to competitors with normal glycogen, low-glycogen players spend more time walking and less time

sprinting as play proceeds. That’s why taking in carbohydrate during competition can pay big dividends. In recent research carried out with an English football team, players consumed a glucose-containing sports drink during 10 of their games but swallowed only an artificially flavoured, coloured-water placebo during 10 other competitions.

When the players used the glucose drink, the team allowed fewer goals and scored significantly more times, especially in the second half. When the placebo was ingested, players were less active and reduced their contacts with the ball by 20-50 per cent during the final 30 minutes of their games. A separate study showed that swilling a glucose solution before games and at half-times led to a 30per cent increase in the amount of distance covered at high speed during the second half of a match.

However, just sipping a sports drink at random before matches and at half-time probably won’t do much good, because football players must be sure they take in enough carbohydrate to really make a difference to their muscles. An excellent strategy is to drink about 12-14 ounces of a sports drink containing about 30 grams of carbohydrate 10-15 minutes before a match begins.

The same amount should be drank at halftime, although players may rebel at both intake patterns because of perceptions of stomach fullness. The important thing to remember is that through experience – trying out these drinking strategies on several different occasions during practices – the intake plans will gradually become comfortable and they will help reduce the risk of carbohydrate depletion.

E BEFORE A GAM rate may

in carbohyd A snack high before the out 2 hours be eaten ab e reference tim e ever th t match, how ere are grea ideline as th gu a ty ly ili on ab is the fferences in individual di od idea for go a is It . od to digest fo a variation riment with before you to expe es different tim of foods at . ions training sess ead as toast, br Foods such ey, on /h m ja with fat milk, or crumpets w lo cereal and sweetened and jelly ange juice muffins, or ed. d be consum sweets coul

O F F T H E P IT

CH

Once the game is ov should b e replace er, fluids d and carbohy drate sh ould be as soon consum as possib ed le to pro recovery mo of glyco gen store te During th s. e cool do wn you consum should e fluids a nd small such as snacks, jelly swe ets, jaffa and jam cakes my dodg ers.

As soon as possib aim to c le you sh onsume ould a meal w high in c hich is arbohyd rates. Fo as pasta ods such , spaghe tti, rice, n low fat p oodles, asta sau ce, bread potatoes , , and ba k ed be consu med duri beans should ng this p eriod.

PRE GAME

DURING THE GAME

AFTER THE GAME

Time: 2 hours

Time: Regularly

Time: Within 2 hours

Consumption: 600 calories

Consumption: Stay hydrated

Consumption: 500 calories

Intake: Bananas, toast/ bread,crumpets with jam/ honey, sweetened cereal and low fat milk, muffins, orange juice and jelly sweets.

Intake: Have sips of water or an energy drink regularly, if you become thirsty you are already dehydrated.

Intake: Water/Energy drink.

Snack – Jelly sweets, jaffa cakes, jammy dodgers.

Meal – Pasta, jacket potato, rice, vegetables.

Tapering is important Players should also eat a small meal containing at least 600 calories of carbohydrate about two hours before competition. 600 calories is the approximate amount of carbohydrate in three bananas and four slices of bread (eaten together). Players should also try to ‘taper’ for a few days before matches, reducing their intensity and quantity of training in order to avoid carbohydrate depletion.

During the taper and during all periods of heavy training, football players should attempt to ingest 9-10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight (16-18 calories per pound of body weight) each day. ‘Grazing’ – eating two to four daily high-carbohydrate snacks in addition to three regular meals – can help players carry out this high-carbo plan successfully. However, carbohydrate is not the only nutritional concern for football players Fluid intake is also critically important.

Various studies have shown that football players lose – through their sweat glands – from two to five litres of fluid per game. Even the lower figure could raise heart rate and body temperature during a match and might reduce running performance by about 4-5 per cent

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for an average player. Fortunately, the sportsdrink-intake plan described above – coupled with sips during injury time-outs – can help to reduce the impact of dehydration Although water and carbohydrate must be taken on board, football players don’t need to worry about replacing electrolytes during play.

Sweat is a dilute fluid with low concentrations of electrolytes, and most players can obtain enough electrolytes – including salt – from their normal diets. However, the presence of salt in a sports drink can enhance the absorption of water and glucose. Most commercial drinks have about the right concentration of sodium; if you’re making your own beverage, you should be sure to mix about one-third tea spoon of salt and five to six tablespoons of sugar with each litre of water that you’re going to be using.

After all matches, players should attempt to ingest enough carbohydrate-containing sports drink to replace all the fluid they’ve lost during competition. After strenuous workouts, water should also be replaced, and football athletes need to eat at least 500 calories of carbohydrate during the two hours following practice in order to maximise their rates of glycogen storage.

www.wspglobal.com l Page49

F ootba l l ’ s fire starter RAYMOND Verheijen is one of the most renowned football fitness and conditioning coaches in the world. He’s the man charged with preparing the Korean national team for the gruelling game frenzy of the World Cup in South Africa this summer and it’s a task he’s more than qualified to undertake.

Verheijen’s services have been employed at every major tournament for the past 10 years with Holland and Russia as well as the Koreans all benefitting from his pioneering techniques which are aimed at not only improving players’ fitness but keeping them fresh and injury-free.

He enjoyed a spell at Manchester City last year during Mark Hughes’ reign and his innovative approach to training led to the team heading the Premier League fitness and performance stats table during the first of the season as well as experiencing the fewest injuries.

Verheijen, the author of several books on the subject, including the seminal ‘Conditioning For Soccer’ talks to Richard Bevan about his fascinating career and the techniques that have made him famous.

www.wspglobal.com l Page51

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SMFE: Korean players play at a high intensity, I imagine they train like that too – does that make your job easier or harder?

RV: It’s great to work with them because everything they do is always maximum. But because they play with such intensity – they’re very explosive – their endurance is relatively low. A lot of Asian teams – and especially Korean teams – their work rate drops after about 60 or 70 minutes. So that is the biggest challenge – we have to train them so that they can play football for the full 90 minutes or even 120 minutes.

SFME: You’ve built up a wealth of experience at major tournaments over the years – more than most players. What sorts of challenges have you learned to deal with over that time?

RV: In the beginning you’re mainly focused on the result but when you get more experienced you’re more and more focussed on the process.

And that happens with a lot of things, not only in football. My challenge now is that given a certain group I have to prepare them as good as possible regardless of the result because there are a lot of things that aren’t in your hands and you don’t have in your control. The main challenge in a tournament is to avoid injury, make them as fit as possible and also as fresh as possible. That in itself is already a challenge and an achievement, the second challenge is the tournament itself.

RV: I work using a technique called ‘periodisation’ – ‘team periodisation’ and ‘individual periodisation’.

In a World Cup situation this approach is even more powerful and crucial than normal. Normally you have a group of players who have more or less the same level of fitness when they start pre-season but now we have some players who stopped playing on April 28th, you have players who missed three months because of injury, you have players who just stopped yesterday. There’s a lot of variety within the team in terms of workload in the last four weeks to two months. So what we do is we make a ‘team periodisation’ fitness plan and within that reference we make one individual programme or for each player, this is ‘individual periodisation’. Based on the characteristics of that player I adjust the team training for him so that it fits better with his current status.

SFME:The period leading up to the World Cup is crucial in terms of preparing the players for the rigours of playing so many games in such a short space of time – how do you achieve this?

SFME: So you have team exercises going on and within that team training you have each individual player doing the exercises to different levels and intensity?

RV: Exactly, so they will be doing a different number of repetitions, different number of minutes work etc. The team as a whole for example might work for 4 x 4 minutes but maybe some players are only doing 2 x 4 minutes, some might do 4 x 2 minutes. Sometimes you want to reduce the number of repetitions and sometimes you want to reduce the volume of one block. That is the type of thing you do to tailor the individual workload for each player.

SFME:There must be quite a lot of preparation involved for you in order to evaluate each individual player before setting out your programme?

RV: Yes, what we do is every morning we decide what we’re going to do as a team. The general reference – the team periodisation – is already there but we fill in all the details – size of the training pitch, number of minutes, number of players etc. Then based on that team periodisation I check each and every player to assess how much they can do. I have a PowerPoint presentation with

the team periodisation and then I have 30 other sheets for each individual player! So we go through each one and decide what they’re going to do.

SFME:That’s a lot to keep tabs on during a session, knowing when to pull players out etc?

RV: It is but over the years I’ve experienced that it’s very difficult to injure players using this technique. It’s almost impossible to get injured – it only happens when a player gets a knock or something but not from over training. Although it’s a lot of work you can also look at it from the other side. A lot of teams and coaches don’t do all this detailed work. So they train them as a group.

You have 30 individuals with 30 different levels of fitness all doing the same work. It’s like a Russian Roulette, that’s why there are so many injuries in football because it’s more like a survival of the fitness. It’s better to do the work first.

SFME: If a player does get injured through the training they’re doing do you get the blame?

RV: It almost never happens, that’s why I use the techniques I do. The reason why coaches phone me to ask me to work with them is they know that if they hire me they can train and play with their strongest team every day. You may have one or two exceptions but generally if you have this detailed individual approach you hardly ever have injuries and that’s the ideal situation for a coach. When he has his best players on the pitch for every training session he gets more team development. That’s basically my job – to create the ideal situation for the coach.

SFME: What’s an underload session?

RV: When you do physical sessions you have certain workloads. Sometimes I want to do an underload session – so I make sure that we keep under 50% of the overload. Lets say that the overload is 4 x 4 minutes then the underload is 2 x 4 minutes or lower to make sure that you don’t create any fatigue or muscle damage after games because recovery is more important at that moment.

SFME: Korean players play at a high intensity, I imagine they train like that too – does that make your job easier or harder?

RV: It’s great to work with them because everything they do is always maximum. But because they play with such intensity – they’re very explosive – their endurance is relatively low. A lot of Asian teams – and especially Korean teams – their work rate drops after about 60 or 70 minutes. So that is the biggest challenge – we have to train them so that they can play football for the full 90 minutes or even 120 minutes.

Because I have a very football specific approach I always say, ‘if you want to play football for a longer period of time, just train football for a longer period of time.’

It’s back to basics – there are a lot of people who make football -– and especially football conditioning – like rocket science. They throw in all kinds of terminology like ‘aneorobic, aerobic, lactic, alactic, v02 max, etc and nobody has a clue any more what they’re supposed to be doing. But football is www.wspglobal.com l Page53

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SFME: What other challenges do you face in terms of keeping players fresh during the World Cup - recovery, alleviating fatigue, keeping them injury-free, etc?

RV: First of all we have a very well balanced training programme. I think that the Koreans will be the team that have done the least training of all the 32 countries in the World Cup because we are very disciplined in having only one session per day and several rest days between games. At certain moments we have conditioning sessions and during those sessions we push them very hard but before and after those sessions we have a lot of recovery time, free days etc. Our approach is much more on quality rather than quantity. a very easy game so you have to go back to basics and say, ‘ok, this is our playing style, this is our playing intensity, which means so many actions per minutes.’ So we start with 3 x 10 minutes, then 4 x 10 minutes, 5 x 10 minutes etc.

By gradually increasing the number of minutes you play a particular playing style you learn to play that style for a longer period of time. A lot of coaches let players run around the pitch and they hope and assume there will be a transfer from running around the pitch to playing football for a longer period of time but it doesn’t work like that.

SFME: How are you preparing for playing at altitude in the World Cup? RV: We did several things. We have an oxygen room on the fourth floor at our training base in Seoul. Every day the players spent some time in there, playing computer games etc. Over the days and weeks we gradually increased the altitude in that room to get them acclimatised. Then, when we moved to Austria, we trained wearing oxygen masks and the same in South Africa.

The other thing is that I did a lot of research on this topic and travelled to see specialists in South Africa, Australia, America and England to study how to deal with it. All of those specialists, independently of each other, suggested to me that if you have to play, for example, at 1,700 metres in Joburg you better not put your base camp there as well. Stay a little lower at say, 1200 metres, because then you still adapt to altitude and the gap from 1200 to 1700 isn’t that big. But at the

same time you don’t have the disadvantages of 1700 metres – when you’re at that height it’s well documented that although you gain red blood cells you lose explosivity. The other thing is that when you’ve played a World Cup game – which is very tough – the next game is only four days away so recovery between the games is crucial. If your base camp is at 1700 metres with less oxygen in the air you have a problem in terms of quick recovery between games.

SFME: What other challenges do you face in terms of keeping players fresh during the World Cup – recovery, alleviating fatigue, keeping them injuryfree, etc?

RV: First of all we have a very well balanced training programme. I think that the Koreans will be the team that have done the least training of all the 32 countries in the World Cup because we are very disciplined in having only one session per day and several rest days between games. At certain moments we have conditioning sessions and during those sessions we push them very hard but before and after those sessions we have a lot of recovery time, free days, etc.

Our approach is much more on quality rather than quantity. The speed of the actions is the key characteristic of football because at the highest level you have less time and space to make your actions during a game so the speed at which you make them is crucial. From that perspective fatigue is your worst enemy because if you are fatigued your handling speed – the speed of your actions

– goes down. So the main thing that you have to create is freshness – you have to keep your players fresh. A lot of teams and a lot of coaches train for too long and too frequently. We only train once a day, a maximum of 75 minutes, with everything executed maximally. From my experience that’s the best fitness training.

SFME: What’s your own background, how did you get into football conditioning?

RV: I was playing football myself as a boy at the highest level and like any other boy I dreamed of becoming a professional. Until I was 16 I was doing really well and I had the illusion that I was going to make it but when I was 17 I got a bad hip injury so I had to stop playing. At that stage it was heartbreaking but I started to do my coaching licenses when I was 18 and I became a football coach quite young.

I started to study exercise physiology at the free University in Amsterdam. That’s my advantage – normally you have a fitness coach with a fitness reference and fitness terminology who steps into the world of football. He has to learn football. I’m not a fitness coach who has learned football, I’m a footballer who has learned exercise physiology.

Therefore my communication with coaches and my understanding of the whole process is so much better, which makes my work very efficient and effective.

I’ve also been a Head Coach at First Division level (third level from top) and I was the coach of the second team of Feyenoord in Rotterdam.

www.wspglobal.com l Page55

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“

When the Premier League started Manchester City was No.1 in the Pro Zone stats for number of sprints, sprinting distance etc. I thought it was a joke at first because there was a gap of 20% to the next best team, which is incredible. Those statistics kept going until December, we were always top and we had by far the best injury record with only one injury in the first fIve months.

I developed myself as a coach but I specialised in fitness training. When I was 19 and went to University I studied ‘through football glasses’ as we say in Holland. At the end of my studies I wrote the book ‘Conditioning For Soccer’ and shortly afterwards the Dutch Football Association started using it for their Pro License and A License coaching courses.

A few months later they asked me if I wanted to be the instructor because they were using my book anyway and that’s how I got involved with the Dutch FA. The funny thing was that the first class I instructed was a special class with Ruud Gullitt, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman and Johan Neeskens. They threw me in the deepest water available but it went really well and the good thing was the next year Frank Rijkaard became the National Coach in Holland and he asked me to be his assistant. From there it all went very quickly.

I worked at Euro 2000 with Holland then Mr Hiddink asked me to join him with Korea for the World Cup in 2002. From then on I worked at all these tournaments with all these coaches.

SFME: It’s quite an accolade that the Dutch FA decided to use your book at such an early stage in your career!

RV: Definitely, I recently wrote a new book as well called ‘Periodisation in Football’ and the Dutch FA are the publishers. They embrace the philosophy so every coach in Holland – now from the lower levels to the top – is educated in this way, using my techniques. So it’s a big complement.

SFME: How did you find the experience of working with Manchester City last season?

RV: I started in July with Mark Hughes and it was a great experience. We introduced this approach, with only one session per day in pre-season which is very unusual in England. The players were very

sceptical. For example Craig Bellamy, who is one of the best professionals I’ve ever worked with, was very blunt in his opinion that it was impossible to work like that. But after six weeks the players were very honest in saying that it had been the best preseason in their career and they had never felt fitter.

That was very interesting because the reality was they were not fitter but fresher.

Normally players are exhausted in pre-season and all we did was we trained quality over quantity.

When the Premier League started, Manchester City was No.1 in the Pro Zone stats for number of sprints, sprinting distance, etc. I thought it was a joke at first because there was a gap of 20% to the next best team, which is incredible. Those statistics kept going until December, we were always top and we had by far the best injury record with only one injury in the first five months.

SFME:: Your techniques certainly worked on Craig Bellamy – he enjoyed the most injury-free season of his career didn’t he?

RV: When I joined they explained to me about Bellamy’s bad injury record so I made him my special project and after pre-season he said it was the first time in his career he hadn’t picked up an injury in pre-season.

So there was already a good start. Secondly, he had the best high intensity statistics of the whole Premier League and the third thing is before last season he had never played more than 15 games without an injury for 14 years. This season he played 43 games without an injury and scored 14 goals.

SFME: When Roberto Mancini came in he changed things back to longer sessions, which I believe caused some friction?

RV: When Mancini came I think he didn’t even check the statistics or the training programme

“

– RAYMOND Verheijen

or the injury record, he just copied the way he normally works in Italy. Within a week I could sense that the situation was going to explode so I decided to step back and thank god I did because during the second half of the season there was a big clash, especially in the media.

I was very lucky that I had already stepped back.

I was not involved with the first team any more.

One of my other roles at the club was to educate people in my philosophies so I kept doing that but I wasn’t working with the first team. By the time the real friction happened I wasn’t there at all anymore.

If you compare the injury record in the first half of the season with the second half of the season, it speaks volumes.

There was also a big drop in the work rate statistics in the last 15 minutes of games. I watched the City v Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur) match to decide fourth place and even the Dutch commentator said that Spurs steamrollered City in the last 15 minutes. It could have been 2 or 3-0. I felt really sorry for the guys because that situation could have been avoided.

SFME: What’s next for you after the World Cup? RV: I don’t know yet. I always focus on one thing at a time because otherwise you have too much in your head. After the World Cup I will have a break with my family and then consider what’s next.

There will always be a new challenge somewhere.

You can find out more about Raymond’s techniques by following him on his wonderfully candid Twitter page twitter.com/raymondverheije You can also email Raymond at info@raymondverheijen.nl for more information about any of his books, including his latest release ‘Periodisation in Football’. www.wspglobal.com l Page57

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ASK SFME I am a female who doesn’t like doing weights as I don’t want to ‘bulk up’ and look like a bodybuilder – why should I include strength training in my workout?

This is such a common concern, but it’s based on a misconception. Weight training should be a key part of everybody’s workout plan. After the age of 20, every decade we age, we start losing 4-5 lbs of muscle mass and we put on 15 lbs of fat. Weight training helps keep you in great shape and increases your metabolic rate. It also helps prevent osteoporosis and there are many other benefits. Don’t worry – building muscle takes much more than simply ‘lifting weights’ so as long as you stick to the plan of 15 reps – where the challenge will come as you perform the last 3 to 4 – you are on the safe side.

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ISSUE7 I find doing cardio so boring, is there anything I can do to make my cardio more interesting?

FIRST, let’s agree on something – you’re right! In the gym, the cardio machines can be the most boring. They don’t have to be this way though.

The best advice we can give is to try interval training to mix things up. Not only does it give the best results, but you can also achieve them in a fraction of the time, allowing you to say goodbye to long (and boring) hours on the treadmill! Whatever you do, don’t abandon cardio altogether – the heart is the most important muscle in your body so you need to keep it strong. And if all else fails – try a GX class!

I’m very busy all day and find it difficult to find the time for exercise – how much time to I really need to put in at the gym to get results?

TRUST us here – all you need to find is a minimum of 30 minutes, 3 times a week. We all have 168 hours each week, and if you can’t spare a couple of hours for something so important, then no weight loss pills or cream is going to help you! Once you’ve found the time to work out, maximise the time you are able to spend by doing interval training for your cardio, by choosing compound exercises where your body will be have to utilise more than one muscle group to create a movement for strength, and by having shorter breaks between exercises.

I’m told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I rarely make time for it – is this true and if so, what should I be eating?

ITS absolutely true that breakfast is the most important meal to start your day. After sleeping for 6-8 hrs, by the time it is lunch, it can be 10-12 hrs since your last meal which is not at all healthy. You should be eating a protein based breakfast which will provide you energy for the bulk of the day. Slow release of energy through intake of complex protein food is the best solution. And in case you don’t have time to eat a big breakfast, have a smoothie with Whey protein or healthy bar which contains carbs and protein.

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IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

TONE UP IT has often become harder for women with modern, busy lifestyles to keep up with their physical maintenance. Poor nutrition leads to cellulite, saddlebags and obesity. Women’s exercise and fitness needs are specific to the female anatomy. They have to eliminate body fat and cellulite in specific areas to produce toned shoulders, arms, abs, thighs and hips. Regular body toning workouts combined with a good diet are the key factors for fat burning and achieving a well toned muscular physique.

Regular toning workouts strengthen the upper body by as much as 20%. They also help condition the muscles and keep the bones from breaking by increasing bone density. They improve flexibility, weight loss and fat burning, targeting problem cellulite areas and promoting mental well being.

WARM UP

ABS AND CORE

The first step in body toning is the warm up. Never forget to warm up your muscles by stretching before starting your routines. Ideally, warm up exercises should last 5–8 minutes.

Remember to target the muscle groups that you intend to start toning. Warm up exercises are beneficial because they help the body in increasing blood circulation and provide more nutrients to the muscles that are about to be exercised.

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold a medicine ball to your chest and have a partner, if you can, stand at your feet (not on them!) Push your lower back into the floor, flattening the arch in your back. Sit up to throw the ball to your partner, hold the crunch as your partner catches the ball and throws it back to you. Catch the ball and slowly return to the start position and repeat.

Tip: Do not sit all the way up as you wait for the return pass, your shoulders should be no more than 6 inches off the floor.

UPPER BODY This intense workout will tone up your arms, chest, and shoulders. All exercises should be done in 10–12 repetitions, for 3 sets. upper arms and shoulders Holding a pair of dumbbells stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms by your side. Raise your left dumbbell up in front of you, above your head without bending your elbow, pause, then slowly lower to the starting position and repeat with your right arm. back and shoulders Holding a pair of dumbbells, stand with your feet slightly apart and bend your knees slightly. Raise both arms sideways from your sides with your palms facing downwards, and without bending your elbows, until at shoulder level, pause, then slowly return to the original position and repeat. arms and chest The best exercise for arms and chest is the push up. Place your arms on the floor and slowly stretch your body while on your knees (for beginners). While on your knees, your hands should be supporting your whole body weight. Keep your back straight and use your hands to lower yourself towards the floor, pause then slowly raise back to the original position by pushing your body weight upwards then repeat. When this gets easier try doing this same exercise on your toes instead of your knees as pictured (right).

If you can’t get a partner to do this exercise with you then you should do it without throwing the medicine ball, curling slowly up and down while simply holding the ball on your chest.

As you progress with the above exercise why not try doing an exercise known as The Plank between sets? Turn over and rest on your elbows, shoulder width apart, on your training mat, pushing up onto your toes, keeping your back straight and hold your core abdominals tight for 30 seconds to a minute, then rest.

Repeat between sets of the medicine ball crunch.

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ALWAYS COOL DOWN Always end any routine with cool down exercises. The cool down should last 5–10 minutes, which is enough time to lower the heart rate and reduce the risk of injury and muscle soreness caused by an intense workout.

Cool down exercises should include walking and stationary bike for cardio sessions and focussed, slow stretching for weight routines.

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Understand nutrition to feel great Your daily diet should be a balance of carbohydrate and protein. As a guide, your plate should contain twice as many carbs as protein. l Base each of your meals on a complex carbohydrate such as potato, wholemeal bread or brown rice, and include vegetables. Finish the meal with fruit, and this should ensure you get a balance of complex and simple carbohydrates. l Use high fibre wholegrain cereals as part of your breakfast, and use wholemeal bread for your toast. l For lunch, choose lean protein such as fish or chicken with only a small amount of carbohydrate to get you through the afternoon. l Large carbohydrate meals will make you slow and sleepy so save your big pasta meal for the evening. l Cut down on the amount of refined white flour products in your diet such as white bread, pizza and white pasta and rice. The refining process produces simple carbohydrates and many vitamins and minerals are lost. l Fruit is naturally high in sugar, which means so are fruit juices and smoothies. In liquid form these sugars can damage your teeth, but these drinks count towards your five a day and contain fibre, vitamins and minerals. To avoid tooth decay, it’s best to drink them with a meal.

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CarboHydrates Carbohydrates are an ideal source of energy for the body. This is because they can be converted more readily into glucose, the form of sugar that’s transported and used by the body, than can proteins or fats.

Even so, a diet too high in carbohydrates can upset the delicate balance of your body’s blood sugar level, resulting in fluctuations in energy and mood that leave you feeling irritated and tired.

It is better to balance your intake of carbohydrates with protein, a little fat and fibre. There are two types of carbohydrate: complex and simple.

Complex carbohydrates are often referred to as starch or starchy foods and simple carbohydrates are also known as sugars.

Do carbohydrates make you fat?

Eating too much will lead to weight gain, regardless of what foods you get your energy from. Yet while low carb diets have had much publicity, gram for gram carbohydrates contain less calories than fat, protein and alcohol: l 1g carbohydrate contains 3.75 calories. l 1g protein contains 4 calories. l 1g fat contains 9 calories. l 1g alcohol contains 7 calories.

Sugar and starch are found in both healthy and ‘unhealthy’ foods, so the type of carbohydrates you eat is important for your wellbeing. Many foods high in sugar (cakes, pastries, chocolate) are also high in fat or prepared with fat (chips, roast potatoes, sandwiches).

Starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta etc are rich in fibre, which is essential for digestive health and helps control appetite so you don’t feel hungry.

How much do I need?

Current advice is that we should get half our energy needs from carbohydrates.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, the average adult’s daily diet meets this target with women getting 47.7 per cent of their daily energy from carbs (203g) and men 48.5 per cent (275g).

But not all carbohydrates are equal: refined sugars should make up only 11 per cent of your daily diet.

For adults, the average intake of refined sugars is slightly higher than this recommended level, with men the worst offenders at 13.6 per cent.

The average child’s intake is 16 per cent, with the main culprits being fizzy drinks and confectionery.

Protein Foods containing protein l Meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and eggs l Pulses, nuts and seeds l Soya products and vegetable protein foods Why is protein important?

From hair to fingernails, protein is a major functional and structural component of all our cells. Protein provides the body with roughly 10 to 15 per cent of its dietary energy, and is needed for growth and repair.

Proteins are large molecules made up of long chains of amino acid subunits. Some of these amino acids are nutritionally essential as they cannot be made or stored within the body and so must come from foods in our daily diet. Although all animal and plant cells contain some protein, the amount and quality of this protein can vary widely.

Protein and weight management High-protein diets are sometimes popular with people wanting to lose weight, and there have been many studies looking at the effect of such diets on weight loss. Regardless of the composition of the diet, weight loss will only occur if you expend more energy through activity than your body produces from food.

Protein-rich foods tend to make people feel fuller than foods rich in carbohydrates or fat. This can have a knock-on effect on appetite, minimising feelings of hunger, and helping to reduce overall energy intake. Diets rich in protein at the expense of carbohydrates, for example, have been associated with slightly greater losses of weight in the short term compared with the recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat eating plans. But after one year, studies have found there is no difference in weight loss between the two diets.

How much is enough?

Health professionals suggest men should eat 55.5g protein a day and women 45g. In practical terms, eating a moderate amount of protein - in one or two meals every day – should give you all the protein you need.

Fats Some fat is essential in everyone’s diet.

Fats provide a source of concentrated energy as well as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat transports these vital nutrients around the body.

We also need fat for hormone metabolism, healthy skin and hair, tissue repair, protecting the internal organs and to prevent excessive loss of body heat.There are two main types of fat: saturated and unsaturated.

Saturated fat – Excessive amounts of fat are found in saturated animal fats and transfatty acids. These types of fat raise cholesterol levels and increase your risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.

Unsaturated fats – are generally liquid at room temperature. They come from vegetable sources and are also found in oily fish and in soft margarines labelled ‘high in polyunsaturates’.

Swap saturated fat for unsaturated l Cook with vegetable oil instead of lard, butter or margarine, and use sparingly.

Sesame seed oil is a good choice for stirfrying. l Pour warmed virgin olive oil on bread instead of butter or margarine. l Replace the meat in your Sunday roast with salmon or trout. l Dress your salads with virgin or nut oils instead of mayonnaise. l Instead of reaching for crisps or chocolate, try one of these: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, unsalted nuts or raw vegetables.

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Burn calories, lose fat, shape up with Fitness First’s Dynamic Weight Loss programme; call 800 FITNESS today to learn more. or visit: www.fitnessfirst-me.com www.wspglobal.com l Page63

Wimbledon where the grass is greener

Roger Federer

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HE Wimbledon Championships are like a gift that just keeps on giving. The 2008 Men’s final, in which Rafa Nadal triumphed over Roger Federer, was one of the finest in living memory, but it could be argued that last year’s was even better.

Federer cemented his place as the greatest player of all time with an epic victory over Andy Roddick which saw him claim a record 15th Grand Slam title of his career. The Swiss star eventually prevailed 16-14 in the final set decider after slugging it out for over four hours on Centre Court.

“It was a crazy match with an unbelievable end, it was an unbelievable moment in my career. It’s not one of those goals you set as a little boy but it’s been quite a career,” said Federer after surpassing the record of 14 Slams he shared with Pete Sampras. “This is not why I’m playing tennis – to

break records, and this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop playing tennis. I hope to come back for many years.”

For defending champion, Nadal the final was tough to watch as a knee injury saw him pull out of the tournament at the last minute. However, the Spaniard is back in action this year and is looking forward to returning to Wimbledon.

“This year there is even more motivation because I could not defend my title last year,” said Nadal, who defeated Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in 2008. “No-one was more disappointed than me that I couldn’t play because I love it in England.

It was an amazing feeling to fulfil my dream by winning Wimbledon.

“To not defend my Wimbledon title last year was one of the toughest decisions in my career, but this is a new year and now I have the chance to go back to England and to compete on grass again.”

Meanwhile Roddick has vowed to return a better player following his defeat to Federer. “The more you distance yourself from it, the more you start remembering the better things about it as opposed to the most disappointing things about it,” said the American. “For the crowd to kind of acknowledge my effort was real nice and I certainly appreciated it. I wish more than anything that I would have won that tournament, but I’m still going to move on and keep going with the plan that we’ve set in place, because I feel like it is working.

“I’ll always want to win that tournament and I view last year as something to build on.”

With Federer, Roddick and Nadal chomping at the bit and the likes of home favourite Andy Murray and World No.3 Novak Djokovic in the mix, the 2010 Men’s Wimbledon Championships is set to be another classic two weeks.

“It was a crazy match with an unbelievable end, it was an unbelievable moment in my career.

It’s not one of those goals you set as a little boy but it’s been quite a career.” – Roger Federer

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Roger Federer celebrates after winning last year’s final at Wimbledon, defeating Andy Roddick.

Will the Willams sisters continue to dominate?

The day before Federer and Roddick’s marathon, Serena and Venus Williams competed against each other for the fourth time in the Ladies Wimbledon final with Serena overcoming big sister Venus 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to claim her third title.

Venus was hoping to win her sixth Wimbledon title and third in succession but was blown away by her sister’s power. However, the duo put aside their competitive edge to team up to win the Ladies Doubles title for the third time.

Venus and Serena are both winners on the 2010 WTA Tour with Serena taking the first Grand Slam event of the season in Australia and Venus winning the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Other winners so far include the rejuvenated Belgian stars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin who both returned to the game recently after taking prolonged breaks. World

Williams sisters

No.5 Elena Dementieva has won twice while World No.3 Caroline Wozniacki is in good form having won the MPS Group Championships in Florida recently. World. No.4 Jelena Jankovic won in Indian Wells recently and former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova is back to her best having picked up titles in Memphis and Starsbourg already this season.

The big names are all in great form but the grass courts of Wimbledon offer their own unique challenge and the biggest one facing the majority of the field will be how to stop the Williams sisters. n

Andy Murray

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Danish Hot Shot CAROLINE Wozniacki

Iain Richardson talks exclusively to the women’s World No.3 who is fast becoming the biggest threat the Williams sisters’ dominance in ladies tennis.

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caroline QUICKFIRE SFME: Which is your favourite surface?

CW: I like playing on hard-court but I have nothing against clay either.

SFME: How important is nutrition to a tennis player?

CW: I like to keep myself well-fed and fuelled for long matches.

I have to treat my body right so it treats me right when I need it the most.

CAROLINE Wozniacki is the hottest player on the women’s tennis circuit right now. The 19year-old Danish beauty is currently ranked No.3 in the world having briefly been in the No.2 spot behind Serena Williams earlier this season.

The product of a sport mad family – her father was a professional footballer, her brother is a current pro footballer and her mother played volleyball for the Polish national team – Wozniacki has turned heads in the tennis world over the last three seasons on the WTA Tour.

She burst onto the scene, winning three times in 2008 to be named WTA Newcomer of the Year, before adding another hat trick of titles last year. She became the first Danish woman ever to reach the final of a Grand Slam at last year’s US Open where she was defeated 7-5, 6-3 by Belgian Kim Clijsters.

She also made her first appearance at the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, which pits the top eight players in the world against each other, where she made it through to the semifinals against Serena Williams despite carrying painful thigh and stomach injuries which eventually forced her to retire.

With smouldering looks to match her dazzling talent, she’s the face of Adidas’ Stella McCartney range, but as she tells Iain Richardson, her focus remains what happens on the court rather than what she’s wearing. Wozniacki, who claimed her seventh WTA victory when she defended her clay court title at the MPS Group Championships in April, has only one thing missing from her trophy cabinet – a Grand Slam. But having claimed the 2006 Junior Wimbledon title she’s looking forward to trying to loosen the Williams sisters’ stranglehold on the title in SW19 this summer.

SFME: Describe your emotions at being so high up the World Rankings at such a young age – does it mean anything to you or do you try not to think about it?

CW: It’s a wonderful feeling to be the third best player in the world at such a young age. However, when I’m asked about rankings, I always say that rankings are only numbers. I believe in performance and performance comes from hard work.

SFME: Does the ranking give you added pressure to win a Grand Slam – how big a goal is it for you to win one?

CW: I would love to win a Grand Slam one day, hopefully soon. If I had to choose, I would say I would want to win a Slam before becoming No. 1.

SFME: You reached the final of the US Open last year, were you disappointed not to win the tournament or were your feelings positive; being the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final and doing it so young?

CW: I was a little disappointed after I lost because I always want to win. However, Kim played some terrific tennis. I had some great matches during those two weeks and I’m really happy that I played the finals. I’m very proud of it as well and I hope that

I will be in similar situations where the result will turn around.

SFME: How much has the experience of getting to the final taught you and prepared you for the next time you are in that situation?

CW: I was a little nervous before the match and I might have played a little differently to how I usually do. I think if I were to be in that same situation again, I would have better weapons now.

SFME: Describe the experience of winning the Junior Wimbledon title in 2006?

CW: Winning Wimbledon is every player’s dream.

I was so young and I defeated many great players along the way. It’s a day I’ll always remember. It actually made me believe that I can be not only a good player, but a great player.

SFME: The Williams sisters have dominated Wimbledon for the past few years. Describe the challenge of trying to depose them and is it something you feel you have the game to do?

CW: Serena and Venus are not only amazing players but they are amazing people. Serena and I have gotten friendly over the past few months and I owe so much respect to her. No matter what her ranking is Serena is the world’s best player at the moment.

SFME: We always like to have a fitness element here at SFME so tell us what kind of work you do to prepare for competitive tennis?

CW: I’ve actually added boxing to my fitness regime so now I do boxing as part of my cross training. It was very funny a few months ago when I got punched in the nose. My boxing partner was really scared that he had hurt me but I just laughed. Nowadays, my right hand punch is really hard. I think it’s helped me with my footwork, endurance and power.

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With their powerful strokes, their big serves and speedy footwork it will be very hard to beat them on grass but I’ll give it my best shot.

SFME: What makes Wimbledon so special?

CW: The atmosphere, the tradition, the strawberries and cream, the Princess of Kent!

Wimbledon is all about tradition and to me it is sacred.

SFME: Describe the feeling of walking out onto court at Wimbledon – what goes through your mind when you’re about to play a match in a tournament with that amount of history and tradition?

CW: It’s an honour stepping onto the grass of Wimbledon. I know that so many champions before me have been in that exact same spot. The crowd never really intimidates me and I love playing in front of many people. In Wimbledon, I often feel like that I’m part of a long standing tradition.

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SFME: How do you rate your chances of winning Wimbledon this year and what would it mean to you to win?

CW: I don’t really like to rate chances or name favourites. As long as the ball is in play, anyone can win. What I think is important though is that I enjoy myself and improve match by match.

SFME: How is your game at the moment and how will you prepare for Wimbledon?

CW: Grass court is very different from any other surface. It’s faster, the ball bounces differently, and having a good serve and a great slice is a weapon. I will play a couple of tune-up events before Wimbledon and I will try to get as much practice on grass as possible. I’m not planning to change my game at all though; I’ll just have to adjust a little bit.

SFME: You did well at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha last year – was it a bittersweet experience having to retire with injury after doing so well to qualify then making it to the semi-finals?

CW: Doha was a wonderful experience. It was my first ever WTA Championships, but I hope I’ll play many more in the future. I played some great matches, some long and hard fought battles.

The footage of me cramping up has been on the web ever since. I have never felt something

caroline QUICKFIRE SFME: You wear Stella McCartney’s Adidas range. What do you like about her designs?

CW: I love how Stella’s outfits are feminine but very functional. It’s important that I feel pretty and comfortable on court. Stella’s outfits combine style and performance and with Adidas’ technology and Stella’s design, I think I have a great combination. I’m really glad I’m a part of the Adidas by Stella team.

SFME: How do you like Doha and how does the tournament rate compared to others you’ve played?

CW: Doha is a wonderful city and I love the event.

We had this great hotel we stayed at – the people were very nice and I had a great time there.

Hopefully I’ll get some time off again this year to actually see the city a bit more.

like it before. My entire body was in pain, but I wanted to win so badly. I didn’t want to quit, but unfortunately, I had to in my next match. I don’t like retiring; I never give up matches unless I cannot play at all. It was unfortunate but I’m happy and proud I was there.

SFME: How big a goal is it for you to get back there this year and are you confident you can take the title?

CW: Taking part in the year-ending WTA Championships is an honour and it’s only for the selected few. Obviously if you have good results, you will make it there. If I do well this year, being there again will be a bonus. As for chances to win it, the season is still very long so I don’t think there will be a point in naming a favourite right now.

SFME: What was it like growing up in such a sporty family? Was it extra competitive whenever you played against each other in anything?

CW: My father was a soccer player and my mother was a volleyball player in Poland. When we were young, Patrik, my brother and I would be playing tennis and I always wanted to play on.

My dad would have to stay out there until dusk to hit balls with me. I was driven to be the best I can be, and growing up in an athletic family definitely helped to fuel this drive.

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CAROLINE QUICKFIRE SFME: Your good looks combined with your talent on the tennis courts make you a marketing man’s dream – does that side of your career interest you and how do you keep a balance to ensure that it doesn’t take over and start affecting your tennis as it has with some other players?

CW: I like doing photo shoots but I try to stay balanced and grounded. I consider myself an athlete and I will not compromise this for the off-court glamour and glitz. It’s nice to be noticed but I love playing tennis and I wouldn’t want to trade it for anything.

SFME: You’re a big football fan, how do you rate Denmark’s chances in the World Cup? CW: Ha ha, funny you should ask. I think they have a good team and I hope we will go very far! www.wspglobal.com l Page71

Dan Carter The All Blacks’ Top 10 Mike Gallemore talks to, arguably, rugby union’s greatest fly-half of all time, New Zealand’s ‘Golden Boot’Daniel William Carter, who has broken most of the scoring records in the game: the most prolific points-scorer in All Blacks Test history, and the highest scorer in Super 14 Rugby with the Canterbury Crusaders, who lost in the semi-final 24-39 to the defending Champions, The Bulls. In the all South African final The Bulls beat The Stormers 25-17 to win the title for the third time in four years. Carter has a lot to look forward to this summer with the All Blacks campaign in the Investec Tri Nations and a tough global schedule. But Carter is a superhero – both on and off the field.

T

HE Golden Boy of world rugby may be more of a mature superhero these days but Dan Carter believes his best is yet to come. The New Zealand superstar, whose 2009 season with Perpignan was cut short by a painful Achilles tendon injury, has been back on the glory trail with Canterbury Crusaders chasing the Rebel Sport Super 14 title.

Carter, who took the international game by storm after making a dramatic debut against Wales in Hamilton in 2003, is the supreme athlete, bringing grace and pace to the raw power of the All Blacks pack. He’s the gazelle among the Kiwi rhinos and the man with the golden boot, who has broken just about every record in the game.

“I still believe I’ve got a lot to offer but I don’t play rugby to break records – although it’s good when they come along,” says the Adidas-sponsored player, who broke his former Canterbury team-mate’s Andrew Mehrtens’ record as the All Blacks’ leading all-time Test points-scorer. Earlier this year Carter also broke Mehrtens’ Club record by becoming the first player to score more than 1,000 points in Super 14 Rugby. He’s also surpassed Australian Stirling Mortlock’s record this season as the all-time leading points scorer in Super Rugby history.

“It’s playing the game I love and not setting new statistics that matters,” says Dan. “Mind you, I guess Johnny Wilkinson has some records I could still beat.”

On the field, Carter is a dedicated, determined winner but off the field he’s a fun-loving character with a sense of humour and a penchant for the absurd. Asked whether the tales of his dressing up have been wildly exaggerated by the media he simply admits he enjoys it.

“It’s just good natured fun,” he says. “I’m a pretty relaxed kind of guy and I try to enjoy life as

much as I can. I’ve always had a wide selection of fancy dress costumes and wigs.

“Me and my mates often get dressed up as superheroes and go out for the night. It’s a bit of fun and a great way to relax. Even my All Blacks team-mates dress up sometimes to go out but my great mate Ali Williams is the keenest of them all. He favours Spiderman and Superman and my favourite costume is probably the Phantom or Wolverine.

“We don’t do it on a regular basis but we all have a laugh when we go out together dressed as superheroes. It always gives the people we meet a good laugh as well.”

One of Dan’s other off the field activities is DeeJaying. “I love being a DJ,” he says. “It’s great fun and I’d like to do a lot more of it if I have the time.”

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Carter’s rise to the top of the game has been astronomical. In 2003, at the age of 21, he made his Super 14 Rugby debut for his home-town club, Canterbury Crusaders, and later that year played his first game for New Zealand, scoring a try and six conversions in the Kiwis’ 55-3 hammering of Wales. “That was an amazing experience for me, playing in my first All Blacks match. It’s a game I will never forget and to get on the scoring list was fantastic.”

Suddenly, the rugby world was sitting up and taking notice of this huge talent who had burst onto the international scene. Inevitably, Carter’s performances earned him a place in the All Blacks’ World Cup squad later that year, although he spent much of the competition on the bench.

New Zealand were beaten in the semi-final by arch-enemy Australia but Carter made the final of the Super 14 with the Crusaders.

He was pivotal in Crusaders making the final in successive years from 2003-2006, winning the title in 2005 and 2006 and again 2008. Carter contributed a record 221 points in Crusaders’ triumphant 2006 season.

In 2004 he continued to make a name for himself on the international stage. He picked up awards for the Kelvin Tremain Memorial Trophy of the Year and the Rebel Sport Super 14 Player of the Year. Carter also made the breakthrough in taking over the No.10 shirt from the legendary Carlos Spencer during the All Blacks’ Tour of England and France. Since then Carter has been virtually unopposed in being recognised as the game’s greatest fly-half.

After just two years at the summit of international rugby Carter made 2005 his own.

The British and Irish Lions provided tough opposition to the Kiwis but in the first Test Carter scored 11 points in the All Blacks 21-3 victory.

Then in the second Test Carter was majestic in clinching the series for New Zealand. He directed operations with total control, scoring two tries, five penalties and four conversions for a personal

FACT scoring two tries, five penalties and four conversions for a personal tally of 33 points – smashing the previous record of 18 points in a Lions Test. His total of 44 points in the first two Tests was just two points shy of the most points scored by any player in all Tests against the Lions.

tally of 33 points – smashing the previous record of 18 points scored in a Lions Test. His total of 44 points in the first two Tests was just two points shy of the most points scored by any player in all Tests against the Lions. We can only imagine what Carter’s total would have been had he not missed the third Test through injury.

“I suppose I have to regard that second Test against the Lions as the best match I have ever played in,” says Carter. “It was one of those games when just about everything went right for me. Everything I did seemed to work.”

Being the best also has the downside of being a target. Many teams opted for the tactic of ‘stop Carter playing and you’ll stop the opposition.’ But Carter was well aware of what was happening.

“At that level it’s very challenging. I know that opposing teams study how I play and try to work out ways of shutting me down. Shut me down, shut the team down – they see it as a legitimate objective to take me out of the game. But I’m fortunate that I’ve always played in teams where I’ve had total support from my team-mates who make it possible for me to play my own game, and I appreciate that.”

“ I suppose I have to regard that second Test against the Lions as the best match I have ever played in, It was one of those games when just about everything went right for me.

Everything I did seemed to work.”

– DAN CARTER In 2005 Carter was also a guiding influence in the All Blacks’ Tri Nations Cup with Australia and South Africa. Dan deservedly collected the awards for the IRB Player of the Year and New Zealand’s Player of the Year.

Dan has also collected awards as New Zealand’s Sexiest Man of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and in 2008 he was judged by the American cable channel, E!, the 11th Sexiest Man in the World and earlier this year the same channel voted Dan the third Sexiest Male Athlete in the World.

“That’s all good fun,” says Dan. “I do some underwear modelling with my partner, Honor Dillon for Jockey, which I’ve done for the past five years. I’ve got a clothing store and I’m also involved in a health foods company for water and

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salads, called Premium NZ Trading Company, with my team-mates Ali Williams and Richie McCaw, which is doing very well here in New Zealand.”

In 2006 Carter continued to glide along the glory trail. He helped New Zealand to another Tri Nations title, scoring 25 points in the defeat of South Africa, which tied the All Blacks singlematch scoring record against the Springboks.

The following year Carter enjoyed a third successive Tri Nations triumph and went to the World Cup in France with New Zealand on a roll as firm favourites. But the fun had to end some time and to everyone’s surprise, including the French, the All Blacks crashed out in the quarterfinals to the home side.

“Before we lost against France I’d been flying high. I’d been the IRB Player of the Year and won several internationals, Tri Nations and Super Rugby matches, so it had been pretty plain sailing for me. But it’s how you bounce back from your disappointments that shows your true character.

I’ve learned a lot more from my defeats than from my victories. When you suffer setbacks it builds motivation and gives you more drive to succeed.”

It was business as usual for Carter and the All Blacks in 2008 with another Tri Nations triumph and another Grand Slam end-of-season tour.

The following season the New Zealand RFU granted Carter a sabbatical to enable him to sign a six-month contract for leading French side Perpignon for a reported £500,000. Sadly, Carter’s French leave lasted only five games as he suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury in a match against Stade Francais.

It’s typical of the character of Carter that he loyally opted to stay in France and help the coaching staff and the players achieve victory in the French Championship.

“That was an unbelievable mind-blowing experience for me to play for Perpignan, despite the fact that it was cut short by the injury,” says Carter. “It was a great opportunity for me to live life outside New Zealand for the first time. I could have gone to other clubs but I chose Perpignan for a number of reasons.

“It was fantastic. A new challenge, a new lifestyle, a completely different experience from anything I’d ever done before. I nearly went to Toulon but it was in my comfort zone. I wanted to enjoy the French culture and there were too many Kiwis and other players I knew at Toulon. It wouldn’t have been different enough.

www.wspglobal.com l Page75

Play it. Follow it. Read it.

There are things you’d never skip to look good...

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Get your motor running!

DISTANCE running unfortunately is an exercise that’s never appealed to me over the years as most of my cardio work has been sweated out on a bike. The low impact benefits of the bike and the fact you can free-wheel has meant the trainers have remained locked away for many years. However, we had a rare opportunity to talk to Haile Gabrselassie as he prepares to defend his Dubai Marathon crown and bag the £250,000 winner’s cheque.

After putting the feature together I decided to dust off the running shoes and start on my cardio conditioning. I’d been cycling four days a week so I knew my lungs would be up to the job but my legs didn’t know what had hit them. I managed four miles before my legs turned to jelly and I realised my ambition level was set a lot higher than my actual capability. I remember a famous runner once saying: “Without the wheels a good engine means nothing!” The phrase rattled round my brain for days and every step I made still felt like my calves and thighs were about to explode. In this issue we’ve continued the Haile Gabrselassie feature to focus on essential training tips for those looking to put some miles in their legs, the latest footwear and what action to take if an injury occurs. If only I’d read all this before I laced up my trainers!

I did return to my comfort zone when I interviewed Steve Peat just one month after he’d won the prestigious, illusive 2009 UCI Downhill Mountain Bike Championship title.

At 35 Steve is a legend of his sport who continues to rewrite the record books as he powers down the treacherous slopes fending off riders nearly half his age. A rigorous training programme and two young children has certainly kept him fit and alert.

From one slope to another, Richard Bevan caught up with the bubbly Jenny Jones about becoming the only Brit to win gold at the Winter X Games. That’s an astonishing feat considering her first encounter with a snowboard was on an artificial slope in her hometown of Bristol at the age of 17.

In our fitness section Rob Richards from Fitness First explains just how to go about achieving that six pack while pointing out the most common mistakes we make in trying to achieve stunning body status. After reading our nutritional guide you will never look at a banana the same again.

For those with the courage to run or even walk the Dubai Marathon on the 22nd of January I take my hat off to you and wish you all the best of luck. If I manage to keep on track with my training I’d like to think I’ll be joining you all next year...or maybe 2012.

So why skip breakfast!

Alex Gallemore Editor

Breakfast eaters weigh less!

Hard to believe? We thought so too. But research shows that women who regularly have a low-fat breakfast, such as Kellogg’s , tend to be slimmer than those who skip breakfast altogether. So be a breakfast eater, not a breakfast cheater.

Visit www.SpecialKAlarabi.com to know more. www.sportnfitnessme.com l Page1

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“ I’m still open to ideas about playing overseas but right now I’ve got a lot of goals I want to achieve back home.”

– DAN CARTER “I received a fanatical welcome at Perpignan, it was absolutely amazing. When I arrived it looked like the whole town had turned out. I threw myself into it. I took French lessons every week and I just soaked up the atmosphere.

“I was so disappointed not to be able to play more games for them but I was pleased to stay on and help the players and the coach.

They went on to win the title for the first time in more than 50 years and I was happy to have played a part in their success.

“Staying in France might also have been a blessing in disguise regarding the injury. The break I had in France did me a lot of good and allowed my foot to heal. It gave me a chance to return to action gradually with a slow build up to fitness.

“I’ve been using the Synapse Tendonworks machine on my Achilles tendon and I find it easy to use. It certainly helped me recover faster and made the foot stronger so that I could get back on the field sooner.

“I’ve also used other forms of training and cardio work, such as swimming and cycling, which has helped to keep me fit.”

Carter returned to New Zealand to play the 2009-10 season for Crusaders and was immediately drafted into the All Blacks side for the Tri Nations match against Australia.

Despite being out of the game for nearly six

months Carter came back to kick a last-ditch match-winning penalty to seal a dramatic 19-18 victory. He has since played an integral part in Crusaders’ campaign this year, despite suffering a painful hip injury.

“When I came back from France last year I had a number of options but I wanted to play for the Crusaders again and give something back to the club to repay them for all the support they’ve given me over recent years.

“I’m still open to ideas about playing overseas but right now I’ve got a lot of goals I want to achieve back home.

“New Zealand rugby has had a tough 18 months but the game is still very strong and I think we will come roaring back in time to make an impact at next season’s Rugby World Cup. Kiwis are still fanatical rugby supporters and even with the football World Cup coming up I think the future is looking good for rugby.

“I like football and I’ve played the game socially but not at club level. I’m pleased that our footballers have done so well in qualifying for the World Cup but they’re in a really tough group with Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia to play.

“Still, I wish the team the best of luck.

Wouldn’t it be great if the New Zealand football team had a really successful World Cup and the All Blacks win next year’s Rugby World Cup?” n www.wspglobal.com l Page77

Reby SKY

Reby Sky, fitness model and New York Giants ‘super fan’ has an unusual but very effective way of getting her cardio fix and staying in fantastic shape – she belly dances!

Vital Stats Height: 5’ 5” Weight: 107 lbs Measurements: 34-26-36

www.wspglobal.com l Page79

SFME: You were the principal dancer in the “Belly Dance Your Way to Cardio” instructional DVD, tell us about the programme and what makes belly dancing such a great way of keeping fit?

RS: Shooting the DVD was a great experience. The fusion style of belly dance we demonstrated is by far my favourite way to get my cardio in. While I’m doing a dance workout, I don’t realise how hard I’m working, especially in belly dance, where the main focus is body isolation. It takes a lot of body control but it’s something I believe nearly everyone would have a blast doing.

SFME: Aside from dancing, what else do you do to keep fit?

RS: Other than dancing and my Wii Balance Board (which I’m loving right now!) my workout routine is pretty conventional. I like to do 45 minutes of cardio on the treadmill and/or elliptical machine, followed by strength exercises with free weights.

SFME: What kind of diet do you have to maintain such a great figure?

RS: I stick to a high protein, low carb diet with lots of fruits and veggies and try to avoid alcohol and late-night snacking.

SFME: What’s the most difficult aspect of modelling?

RS: The hardest part for me is the constant travelling and sometimes not being able to stick to a regular schedule.

“I don’t have many things in my life other than work and it’s a great outlet to go a little crazy every now and then.” – Reby Sky SFME: You’re a ‘NY Giants Girl’ – what does that involve?

RS: The NY Giants Girl is sort of an alternate persona I’ve created. I’ve taken my extreme fanaticism and channelled it into something that not only I can enjoy, but into something that I can share with fellow fans.

Although I’m currently living in Tampa, Florida, I travel back North for every home game throughout the football season. I also run a fan site, www.NYGiantsGirl. com, which chronicles my “adventures” in following the team; on the site I blog about my experiences, regularly update fan content and post photos of myself both at games and in-studio for professional photo shoots. I conduct player/staff interviews, host football related events and am involved in many local charities.

SFME: So it’s clear that you’re a keen NFL fan – what is it about American Football that you love so much?

RS: Aside from the actual game, what I enjoy most about American Football is the feeling of community and camaraderie. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in my extreme passion for my team and it feels good to interact with fellow fans at games and events. I don’t have many things in my life other than work and it’s a great outlet to go a little crazy every now and then.

SFME: What’s next for Reby Sky – how do you see your career developing?

RS: I’ve been blessed with opportunities to be able to do what I love for a living and hope to continue to do so. My ultimate goal is to work in sports broadcasting, specifically sports radio, which is a goal I’ve been working towards for the last few years. n

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