Florent Malouda Fan

Chelsea former star FlorentMalouda is set to star for his land of birth when French Guiana faces Jamaica on Thursday June 22nd.

The 37-year old is an established star after years at Stamford Bridge playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. He played for the French national team twice. He featured in Germany 2006 where Les Bleus reached the finals – before the Zinedine Zidane moment and Italy’s subsequent triumph. Malouda also featured in South Africa 2010 where the world gathered for the first time in African soil.

Malouda also worked for perennial French champs Lyon where he won multiple titles playing top level football. The player even won the prestigious Champions League with Chelsea. He believes returning to play in the Caribbean is his response to a higher calling.

“I was born and raised in Cayenne, French Guiana, and I left when I was 15 to go to a football academy in France and everybody knows me because I played with the French national team,” the player said ahead of the semifinal clash. Continue reading “FLORENT MALOUDA TO FEATURE FOR LAND OF HIS BIRTH”

The French side recently won the Ligue 1 title to break PSG’s local dominance for five years.

The coach Leonardo Jardim was bold to consider youngsters; Kylian Mbappe took the opportunity offered to him with both hands, Radamel Falcao provided the necessary experience in the set-up as with the rest of the players that contributed to their brilliant run. The whole piece worked for good but Campos remains a key figure.

He is a former scout for Real Madrid. He used his knowledge of local requirements to piece together that current Monaco team. He scouted and recruited Mbappe, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar, Benjamin Mendy, Djibril Sidibe and many others that were important to Monaco. The title-winning team are essentially a product of Campos’ brilliance and resourcefulness and he deserves all the mentions.

He left Monaco after working from 2013-2016. The Portuguese moved to Lille and now acts as chief advisor to the vice president Vadim Vasilyev. He would work with the management to develop Lille.

Monaco realizing the importance of the role quickly recruited Antonio Cordon as his replacement. Cordon worked at Villareal where he helped Manuel Pellegrini get a strong squad despite a small budget. Where it is increasingly difficult to get top talents at relatively low prices, Monaco was quick to react in selecting such a respected figure.

PSG also had their own share of having and losing talented employees. But the replacements seem ill-advised. After sacking Olivier Letang, Patrick Kluivert was chosen as the replacement when he lacks the network and experience in the role. They are still reeling from the loss of Leonardo who was the sporting director in 2013 when the Arab billions came in.

Lyon are also lagging behind. After developing and losing talents such as Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra et al, the French giant rich in history are still struggling. This summer they have made it a top priority to get a sporting director as they try to play catch-up.

Soccer legend Pablo Aimar, in the company of the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, praised the efforts of Trinidad & Tobago in developing soccer.

Both stars visited the Ato Boldon Stadium for the press conference of the nation’s football association and a goodwill match. They both partook in the game where FIFA/TTFA met with Government/Sportt outfit. The FIFA team won 6-0.

The legends came to join TTFA as they established a national development centre for the game. The project was endorsed by the FIFA president to be part of the FIFA Goal Project.

“Having the National Development Centre will be brilliant for football in Trinidad and Tobago. You can see in other countries how important it is and now for your association and with the help of FIFA, you can turn it into something great for the game here. This will be beautiful for the players and the national teams to have now in your country,” Aimar said gleefully as the project opened. Continue reading “SOCCER LEGEND AIMAR PRAISES EFFORTS IN T & T”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that India has the potential to become the next football transfer country after China.

ISL has been growing in popularity of recent and the league seems like one that could rival China in luring the best footballers despite the Chinese Super League regularly grabbing the headlines in the transfer market at the moment.

“It takes years of culture and work. You don’t create a top league just like that. In England, it was created 150 years ago and we still struggle. But China has moved forward. It tries to promote football and I’m happy that football has become popular in China. I also expect India to come to the game too you know,” Wenger said. Continue reading “WENGER – INDIA CAN RIVAL CHINA”