IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 50
Picture : Lucas Zelarayan, MVP of the MLS Cup Final, scored two goals
RIP GERARD HOULLIER
Houllier had a difficult stint as coach of France’s national team in the early 1990s, his short-lived journey ending with an embarrassing failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.
His tenure at Liverpool was far more successful, leading the Reds to the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001. He is one of only three managers — along with Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola — to have won three trophies with an English club in the same season.
Houllier joined Liverpool in 1998, initially as co-manager with Roy Evans before taking sole control within a few months after Evans stepped down. He rebuilt the team, bringing a more disciplined and tactically savvy approach .
Houllier had recovered from heart surgery in 2001 after doctors operated on him for several hours to repair damage to a major artery near his heart. He was in the last years responsible of Red Bull et since 2016, the Consultant of Olympique Lyonnais.
COLOMBUS MLS CUP CHAMPIONS
On Saturday night, December 12th, 2020, the Columbus Crew SC defeated the defending MLS Cup Champions Seattle Sounders FC by three goals to nil at the MAPFRE stadium in what was a one-sided final match.
The performance was inspired by the club record signing, Lucas Zelarayan, the MVP of the match who netted a brace in the 25thand 82nd minute of the game and also provided the assist for Derrick Etienne Jr to score the second goal in the 31st minute of the game.
This is Columbus Crew 2nd MLS Cup Title. Their first success was in 2008 following a 3-1 Win over New York Red Bulls.
STATS
- Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) has scored his 175th goal in his 200th Match with his club !
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) has scored his 79th goal in his 100th match with his club !
- James Tavernier (Glasgow Rangers) is right Defender with fantastic stats : 27 games, 17 goals and 12 Assists ! Totally crazy !
- Angelino (RB Leipzig) is left Defender with crazy stats : 17 games, 7 goals and 5 Assists !
- Marie Antoinette Katoto, the young Goal Scorer of Paris SG (22 years old) has scored on Sunday her 100th goal for PSG. She scored 4 goals in the match against Le Havre and has already 103 goals in 112 games !
HISTORY !
History was made at the MLS Cup final on Saturday night. Kathryn Nesbitt became the first woman to officiate a championship match in a major men’s professional sport in North America.
Nesbitt was one of the assistant referees with Jair Marrufo taking charge as the head referee. In November, Nesbitt was named MLS Assistant Referee of the Year, the first time a woman has won a refereeing award in North America’s top five men’s sports leagues. (Nesbitt also officiated the MLS back Final in August.)
Nesbitt isn’t the only woman making history at the highest levels in men’s soccer. Stéphanie Frappart recently became the first woman to take in charge a men’s UEFA Champions League match, just the latest barrier the French ref has broken.
RIP VIKTOR PONEDELNIK
Former USSR national team striker Viktor Ponedelnik died at the age of 83 on December 5. In 1960, he scored the winning goal in the final of first edition of European Nations' Cup (2-1 vs Yugoslavia), transformed later to UEFA European Championship. He was also finalist of second edition of this tournament in 1964. He has played 29 matches for the USSR national team and scored 20 goals.
At club level, he performed only for two clubs from his native city Rostov-na-Donu (Rostselmash and SKA).
Before his death, Ponedelnik was the last surviving from European champions of 1960. His last name means “Monday” in Russian
CHAN GAMES NEWS
Exactly one month to the start of the 2021 African Football Championships, leaders of separatist forces combating government forces in the two restive English-speaking regions of Cameroon have cautioned organizers against hosting games and teams in those regions for fear of “huge security concerns.” Some of the key leaders living in the diaspora claimed on the weekly ‘The Analyst” two-hour interactive program on their Ambazonia Broadcasting Corporation(ABC-TV) this past week that they had formally written to governments of participating countries to “stay away” from Limbe and Buea, two towns in the South West region expected to host games, training fields and fans of one of the four groups of the competition. Group D(Guinea, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia) matches and the second semi-finals are schedules for the Limbe-Buea.
Although the country’s Prime Minister has assured the Confederation of African Football about adequate security measures taken by the host nation to ensure that the three-week festival goes on hitch-free separatists have drawn inspiration from the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola when the bus transporting the Togo National team was attacked as they drove from the DR Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda killing 4 members and injuring others, to hint at a repeat of history. But they go on to suggest that potential attacks “would come from government forces to give separatists a bad name to the world.”
Separatist fighters bent on what they describe as “fighting to restore our Statehood” have been locked in intermittent gun battle with government forces in the two English-speaking regions of the country since 2017 in what seems to be a potentially long conflict which has so far left thousands killed and many more homeless.