Iliman Ndiaye, Globetrotters-Style Skills and Sobering Soccer Statistics

IS THERE REALLY A POSSIBILITY?

Unless you’ve missed the video of Iliman Ndiaye executing a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, it’s worth viewing. In executing a move so impressive that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a casual practice to conclude what had been – up to that point – an revealing conversation about how amateur players can get another opportunity after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who featured in non-league games directly before being signed by Sheffield United at 19, is expertly placed to speak on this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to arrive,” he informed a young player shortly before using said ninja move on his victim, in doing so vividly showing the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.

Ndiaye joins a list of professional footballer to push the boundaries. A younger Michael Owen happily embarrassing a teenage keeper in front of a smouldering Neville Southall is undoubtedly the prime example in this unique area – but the former Liverpool man is just one of many culprits. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have made young children cry with a series of harsh skills, although it’s believed that the latter was at least motivated by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “this frustration makes a person stronger” – and the accompanying hashtag of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the good grace to suffer a loss against 100 children when the group lined up during the interval of their farewell game for BVB. A Real Madrid XI that featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Xabi Alonso were not so generous when they played against 109 Chinese kids in a comparable scenario. But returning to the beginning, it’s approximated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing structured junior soccer in England will ever play in the Premier League, a sobering statistic for aspiring footballers across the country.

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DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“The game guided me but it never abandoned me because I never stopped believing. I went from team to team. The passion for soccer propels you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the solution” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his training to discuss his journey.

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