Five in Midfield

When Robben arrived at Stamford Bridge at the age of just twenty he carried on his shoulders a huge weight of expectation. Fresh from a trailblazing four year spell with Groningen and PSV Eindhoven in his native country, the winger had already been marked as one destined for greatness. By the time he left London he had become one of football’s biggest names, and perhaps the defining ‘inside-out’ winger of his generation.

The origins of Robben’s unique quick-footed, skilful and pacey attacking play can be traced back to his early training as a youngster in his home town of Bedum under the guidance of a forgotten hero of Dutch football: Wiel Coerver. Coerver’s innovative coaching techniques have since spread around the world, and influenced the game at all levels, from the top professional leagues all the way down to the school yard. Yet Robben perhaps remains his most famous graduate.

Wiel Coerver was born in Kerkrade in Limburg, the southernmost province of the Netherlands, on December 3rd 1924, and went on to play for VV Bleijerheide and Rapid JC – now known as Roda JC – with whom he won the Dutch championship in 1956. It was as a coach however that Coerver distinguished himself, winning the Eredivisie and the UEFA Cup with Feyenoord in 1974, before going on to manage the Indonesian national team, and the Go Ahead Eagles, as well as serving as a technical adviser to the Swedish and English national federations, amongst others.

It was during the 1970s that Coerver developed his revolutionary Coerver Method, a detailed coaching program that underpinned the ornate attacking football he pioneered at Feyenoord. The Coerver Method focuses on individual skill progression, and the development of tactical awareness through drills carried out in small groups. Its commanding philosophy is one of control over the ball, and it was developed through Coerver analysing hour upon hour of footage of some of the game’s greatest ever players. Pele was known to be a particular inspiration, and through immersing himself in his project, Coerver came to believe that incredible skill was not simply innate, but could be taught.

In the decades that have followed the Coerver Method has grown and grown, thanks in part to Alfred Galustian and former Chelsea player Charles Cook who, in 1984, founded Coerver Coaching, an organisation that has refined the original teachings of Coerver to form a strict training program which they have since exported around the globe. Books, DVDs and TV shows have been produced and sold in multiple languages, with particular success in developing football nations such as the United States of America, China and Japan. Today it is one of the most widely adopted training programs in world sport, with Manchester United’s René Meulensteen and FC Red Bull Salzburg’s Ricardo Moniz being two of the most famous exponents of the Coerver Method.

Sadly Coerver himself never reached the same dizzying heights. Despite the impact the man has had on the game, he appears in relatively few histories of the sport. Yet there is no doubt he belongs amongst fellow Dutch greats as Rinus Michels, Kees Rivjers, Johan Cruyff, Guus Hiddink, Frank Rijkaard, Leo Beenhakker and Bayern Munich legend Louis Van Gaal, such is the magnitude of his legacy. Curiously he is particularly overlooked in his native country, where stories of his dedication to football that made him notoriously difficult to work with are often cited as the most likely cause for Coerver never having made it to the very top of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), a role in which he would of no doubt excelled.

Tonight Robben will pit his Coerver nurtured ability against a Chelsea side who, though not quite the antithesis of Coerver’s principles, offer a hard working, counter attacking alternative that is based on a minimum amount of touches, and as such offers a vastly different approach to the game. That Chelsea look likely to double up on Robben, with young defender Ryan Bertrand widely expected to start on the left side of midfield, in front of Ashley Cole as Roberto Di Matteo looks to stifle Robben’s creativity and incisive attacking play, speaks volumes of the threat the Dutchman carries.

It is one of the battles of ideology that underlines tonight’s Champions League final, but it is far from the only contrast between the two sides. Indeed the off the pitch differences, such as Bayern Munich’s widely envied fan ownership model versus Chelsea’s Russian oligarch funded excesses, offer us just as many points of interest as the on-field action. Yet it is through Robben, his partner in crime Franck Ribéry, and Chelsea’s handling of the explosive duo that the show-piece final is likely to be won or lost.

Tragically Coerver passed away last year, and so was denied the opportunity of seeing one his greatest disciples contest what promises to be an enthralling encounter. Nevertheless the real success of the man once dubbed “the Albert Einstein of football” extends far beyond tonight’s activities at the Allianz Arena. Given that Coerver was one of the first managers to treat football as a science rather than art, it is perhaps reassuring to think that he would have been more delighted with the wide reaching spread of his beliefs than by the glitzy careers of just one or two of his students. But wouldn’t it be nice to see Robben win it for such a great man?

With six games of the Premier League season to go Roberto Mancini’s side found themselves eight points adrift of Manchester United. It appeared for all the world that the title would again elude Sheikh Mansour’s team, and was no doubt a low moment in his tenure as Manchester City owner. Whether or not Mansour or Mancini had the the dulcet tones of Terrence Mann cooing encouragements in their ears we can leave up to the imagination, but one thing is certain; they didn’t have Ray Kinsella’s money worries.

In fact, the swing of the title back to Manchester City was powered by eighteen goals scored by nine different players signed in the last four years for a combined total of over £193 million. In comparison, Manchester United’s run over their decisive final six games saw them register just eleven goals, scored by five different players, signed in the last eight years for a total of just over £61 million. For the red half of Manchester therein lies the problem: they are no longer the dominant force in the transfer market that they once were.

But financially out-muscling Manchester United is no guarantee of being able to usurp them in the league, as the post-Jose Mourinho Chelsea – bar the 2010 title under the stewardship of the criminally sacked Carlo Ancelotti – have so dramatically shown us. There will be many who claim Manchester City have simply bought the title but, whilst the vastness of Sheikh Mansour’s wealth and his predisposition for spending have naturally been a contributing factor, winning the league requires something more than simple resources.

Take the example of President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan who, in a moment of sheer demented whimsy that is all too common for the central Asian country, announced last month that his arid desert nation would be launching a new ice hockey league. Though temperatures in Turkmenistan can reach 50C, hugely expensive new ice arenas capable of hosting such fixtures have been erected by state enterprises and departments. President Berdymukhanov has called on Turkmenistan to become an international force in the sport, though few are genuinely convinced that they can topple the might of the Americans, Russians and Canadians on the rink.

You see the might of the squad of Manchester City could only achieve greatness in the right hands, and this season has shown us all – in case anyone had any doubts – that Mancini is really a very good manager indeed. His decision to move Yaya Toure into a more attacking role when his side were being held by Newcastle United was widely heralded after the game as the decision that would win Manchester City the title. Those that have watched City regularly this season will know that its a trick Mancini regularly deploys, but nevertheless introducing a defensive midfielder when many others would thrown more strikers into the fold shows the man’s insight into the game.

Yet the departure of Carlos Tevez following his spat with Mancini during the Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich last September could have derailed Manchester City’s title challenge before it had even truly begun. But Mancini stood firm, and made it be known that he was in charge. His real master-stroke however has been the way he has handled Tevez’s reintroduction into the side. Mancini seems to have known exactly the right moment to start the striker, such as the ravaging of Norwich City in which Tevez scored a hat-trick, and when to deploy him from the bench, as he did to such devastating effect in the last ditch win over Chelsea. Mancini has handled the entire Tevez affair with aplomb, firm enough to take action, wise and humble enough to know when to back down, and strong enough to prevent any ill feeling from proving detrimental to the title challenge.

Mancini has shown similar acumen in the case of Mario Balotelli, from whom he has harvested thirteen league goals this season despite Balotelli constantly threatening to explode at any given second. Indeed he often did. As Balotelli’s already notorious Football Focus interview with Noel Gallagher earlier in the season revealed though, the young Italian striker looks up to his manager and countryman with an affection reserved normally only for a patriarch. Mancini has been exactly that this season.

But what about spirit? You can’t win anything without it. Ray Kinsella had it, and time and time again this season Manchester City have shown it in abundance. The professional performance that sent Manchester United home empty handed. The resilience they showed in – just about – vanquishing Tottenham Hotspur when Harry Redknapp’s side were at their peak. The swagger with which they demolished Manchester United at Old Trafford. The determination to rescue the title when they were just seconds away from losing it. Manchester City have looked like champions all season, and deserved the miracle that Aguero conjured up on Sunday afternoon. To quote John Kinsella “It’s like a dream come true… Is this heaven?” No, it’s the Etihad. But, for Manchester City fans, it sure felt like heaven. It was the place where dreams come true.

As apologies go, it wasn’t the best. Just a single day after Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriages, the Washington Post broke the story that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had orchestrated the homophobic bullying of John Lauber, a fellow pupil at Cranbrook School, when the two were students at the private academy in the early 1960s. The revelation has caused widespread outrage, and was seized upon by the Democrats who branded Romney’s behaviour as “vicious”. For his part, Romney told the press that he had no recollection of the offences, and offered his meagre apology in a radio interview last week.

Romney’s uneasy and awkward apology could not help but make me think of John Terry, and his own poor handling of his dismissal for his needless and violent attack on Alexis Sanchez at the Nou Camp three weeks ago. Initially Terry alleged “Sanchez was darting in behind me” and “I was trying to protect myself”, before video evidence exposed his comments as utter fabrication. The Chelsea defender later apologised for his actions, but with the impending court case over Terry’s alleged racial abuse of Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand looming large in the public eye, the incident did little for his reputation. Though Terry will remain innocent until proven guilty, he has so far defended himself with an authenticity every bit as feeble as Romney’s.

Into this dreadful situation Roy Hodgson now wades, tasked with choosing between Terry and Rio Ferdinand, brother of Anton and, as much of the sporting press have been quick to point out, no saint himself, for a place in England’s twenty-three man squad for this summer’s European Championships. Ferdinand’s own misdemeanours extend to driving and drink-driving offences, an infamous Radio One interview in 2006 that saw him accused of making homophobic comments, and the eight month ban he received for missing a drugs test in 2003. Hodgson is not so much caught between a rock and a hard place, as he is between the red devil and the deep blue Chelsea.

As the dust settles on Hodgson’s appointment it has become clear that this decision is perhaps the biggest test he will face in the role. Yet to speak to either player, whether Hodgson elects to bring Terry, Ferdinand or both could well be the pivot on which his entire tenure is judged. The choice between their respective playing styles could well give us an indication of the direction Hodgson plans to try and steer England in. The selection could also reveal Hodgson’s and even the Football Association’s own insight into the severity of Terry’s legal situation.

There is, of course, a strong case to be made for the inclusion of neither, both ethically and for purely footballing reasons. With Ferdinand’s on going injury concerns, and Terry’s own form nose diving since his expulsion in the Champions League semi-final, neither of the established defensive pair have had a year as impressive as that of Joleon Lescott, who could – and should – complete a title winning campaign tomorrow afternoon. Lescott currently ranks as the second best defender this season in the Premier League’s official Player Performance Index, behind only Patrice Evra. Lescott’s defensive partner Vincent Kompany, who was yesterday chosen as the Premier League Player of Year, ranks one place below the Englishman.

Amongst the likely candidates for a place in the squad, Joleon Lescott also has the highest tackle success percentage in the league, and impressed when he last started for England in the 1-0 win over reigning World and European champions Spain last November. Lescott’s partner in the heart of the defence that day was Everton’s Phil Jagielka, who performed equally well and has had another solid season at Everton. Jagielka’s ability on the ball might make him the stand-out choice to partner the more physical Lescott, whilst Gary Cahill possess similar qualities to Terry, and performed admirably since being introduced into the Chelsea side by caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo. The versatility of Phil Jones and Micah Richards also makes them attractive options, whilst injury or fitness concerns will see Chris Smalling, Michael Dawson and Ledley King all miss out.

Should Hodgson elect to leave both Terry and Ferdinand at home then it could signal the end of their international careers. Whilst both have, at times, distinguished themselves on the international stage, they both appear to be in decline, and the ill feeling between the two threatens to overshadow England’s preparations for Euro 2012. Hodgson has the experience to know that he is unlikely to gain anything should he try and force the two to reconcile, and will perhaps want to avoid any such distraction, knowing that the likelihood is that things could well descend into a Chisora/Haye-esque PR catastrophe, such is the size of the egos involved.

It is only sensible to reserve judgement of Terry until after the resolution of legal proceedings, and Ferdinand should not be criticised for defending his brother. But the situation is one that benefits nobody involved. The ludicrous decision to move Terry’s trial back to July has not helped. The matter should already have been resolved. Either Terry is guilty and therefore clearly should not be representing his country, or he is acquitted and free to be selected should Hodgson deem him up to scratch. Then the onus would be on Ferdinand to decide whether or not he wants to be involved, with his injury record offering him, or Hodgson, the option of an excuse for leaving him out. Not an ideal scenario sure, but far more palatable than the situation we are in now.

With the squad set to be announced on Wednesday we don’t have long to wait for Hodgson’s decision. Whatever choice he makes, there is no hiding from the fact that this is a dramatically tumultuous time for England. Hodgson, with his decades of experience and no nonsense attitude, may well be the right man to steady the ship, but he still has decide who to cast overboard.

The uproar has been triggered by the circulation of images of the detained Tymoshenko with bruises to her body that, she claims, were inflicted by prison guards at the jail in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where she is being held. The photos of Tymoshenko, who is reported to have been on hunger strike since April 20th, have been seized upon by the international media, and though the Ukrainian authorities have claimed her injuries were self-inflicted, the recordings from the CCTV cameras that monitor her cell 24 hours a day have tellingly not been released.

Consequently both EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding announced that they would not be attending the Euro 2012 tournament in protest. With Merkel already outlining Germany’s stance the likelihood is that several other governments will follow, with the Netherlands perhaps the most likely to be the next to confirm they will stay away after party leaders representing a majority in the Dutch parliament said its politicians should avoid the tournament unless there is a dramatic improvement to the situation. Germany’s first fixture at the competition is against the Netherlands in Kharkiv.

It remains unclear whether David Cameron will follow the example of some of his European contemporaries, but with all three of England’s group stage fixtures scheduled to take place in the Ukraine – one in Kiev and two in Donetsk – it is clear he will be unable to dodge the issue. Yanukovych has close allies in Donetsk, including Skakhtar Donetsk owner Rinat Akhmetov, though remains under pressure within his own country not just over the Tymoshenko scandal, but also over concerns relating to the infrastructure of the nation ahead of the show piece tournament and the terrorist attacks in Dnipropetrovsk last week which saw 27 people injured. He may be unable to divert attention away from his shoulders regardless of whether or not Cameron does attend.

Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years last October for abuse of office following court proceedings which her supporters declared as nothing more than a show trial, and still faces another charge of tax evasion, with a second trial set to begin in May. The former prime minister is refusing to attend this second trial however, arguing that Yanukovych is exacting political revenge against her following his defeat in the 2004 presidential elections and the subsequent Orange Revolution that saw Tymoshenko carried to power on a crest of pro-Western support that painted Yanukovych as corrupt.

But if the political situation in the Ukraine is threatening to undermine the country’s preparations for Euro 2012 then yesterday’s statement by Amnesty International that expressed ongoing concerns over the state of the Ukrainian police threw another spanner into the works. The release, titled “Ukraine: Euro 2012 jeopardised by criminal police force”, documented numerous cases in designated host cities of the police force using torture to extort victims or to extract a confession, or, just as alarmingly, simply as a result of the victim’s sexuality or ethnic origin.

The report highlighted the case of two men – Ihor Savchyshyn and Andrei Semenyuk – who were attacked and robbed by six police officers on April 21st in Lviv, the city scheduled to host three matches during the tournament from Group B featuring Germany, Portugal and Denmark. Savchyshyn and Semenyuk were arrested following a disagreement in a bar. Just like Tymoshenko their ordeal was caught on CCTV, and footage of the incident showed the men being robbed of £1500 by the officers, who then subjected their victims to a brutal assault in which they were physically attacked, handcuffed and sprayed with tear gas. They were then kept in custody for twelve hours without access to either medical care or legal advice, before being driven to hospital as neither was able to walk, such was the ferocity of the attack. Initially no legal action was taken against the officers involved, but on April 25th five of the six were arrested.

Amnesty International’s report is set to further incite the backlash against the Ukraine and increase the pressure on European governments to abstain from Euro 2012. But the backlash has already spilt out of the EU, with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton issuing her own statement condemning the treatment of Tymoshenko. Though UEFA may not be overly concerned with America’s stance, such publicity is undermining their decision to award the tournament to a country in such a state of turmoil. It’s clear that Yanukovych is now fighting a battle of contentment. One that he appears to be losing.

Whatever may happen on the football fields of Poland and Ukraine this summer Yanukovych’s critics will continue to argue that he is acting illegally to keep his opponents out of the political game, and that Europe should be taking a much firmer stance. As Europe assembles under UEFA’s banner of competition the whole world will be watching as football weighs into this political minefield where results off the field will matter more than those on it.

Twelve years ago Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona existed only in the mind of Izzy Sheratzky. Haunted by the images of the besieged northern outpost, Tel Aviv born Sheratzky – a millionaire who amassed his fortune through the manufacture of GPS devices – decided he had to do something to restore the pride of the 23,000 long-suffering townspeople. Initially he elected to invest in building the essentials that were so desperately required: a school, dentist’s surgery and soup kitchens for the needy. But with their basic needs met Sheratzky realised he wanted to give his people something more, something which would unite people and provide them with the opportunity to escape from the hardships of their day-to-day lives. After much deliberation, he found his answer on the football field.

Struck by his vision, takeover deals for local sides Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and Maccabi Kiryat Shmona were completed, before Sheratzky merged the two in 2000 to form Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona. This new team took their place in the Israeli fourth tier, but Sheratzky had big dreams, telling players, fans and the press alike that one day his club would rise to the top. Some thought he was a madman, most were simply glad to have the distraction. Virtually nobody however predicted the incredible journey Sheratzky and this town were about to embark on.

In their first year of existence Hapoel Ironi won the northern division of the Liga Alef and were promoted to the now defunct Liga Artzit. In the 2002-03 season they finished as runners-up to Hakoah Ramat Gan to clinch promotion to Liga Leumit. In their first year in the second tier they missed out on promotion on goal difference after finishing level on points with second placed Hapoel Nazareth Illit. The following year they again finished third, but bounced back to win the league in 2007, earning a place in the Israeli Premier League in the process and becoming the first team from Kiryat Shmona ever to reach the top flight. The same season they also won the Liga Leumit Toto Cup, Israel’s equivalent of the League Cup. That made it three promotions and a piece of major silverware for Sheratzky’s team in just six years. Those who had dismissed him as crazy were now paying attention.

What made this run of achievements all the more impressive was that, despite Sheratzky’s riches, it was achieved without major investment in the first team squad. The players that guided Kiryat Shmona to the top were, for the most part, the same collection of amateurs and semi-pros that had been plying their trade in the fourth and fifth tiers just a few years earlier. Instead of recruiting big name players and bowing to their wage demands, Sheratzky instead poured his vast resources into constructing an academy that has nurtured several players through the ranks and into the first team, most notably club captain Adrian Rochet.

Another decisive move by Sheratzky was the managerial appointment in 2006 of former Israeli international defender Ran Ben Shimon, who clinched the Liga Leumit title in his first season in charge. Incredibly, in their first season in the top flight Ben Shimon guided his team to a third place finish, a result which yielded a place in the UEFA Cup. Though Litex Lovech of Bulgaria defeated Hapoel Ironi in the second qualifying round Ben Shimon had already done enough to impress those at the top of Israeli football, and he was recruited to lead Maccabi Tel Aviv for the 2008-09 season. That same season, his former club were relegated back to the Liga Leumit. To many it appeared that Sheratzky’s dream was over, and that Kiryat Shmona would slide down the football pyramid and back into obscurity.

But fate was to intervene. After a disastrous start with Maccabi Tel Aviv that had seen the Israel’s most successful ever club record just two wins in their first eight fixtures Ben Shimon was sacked. Then, in April 2009 Sheratzky lured his former coach back to Israel’s far north and, though he was too late to save them from relegation, he presided over an instant return to the Premier League as Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona were crowned Liga Leumit league and Toto Cup champions, a remarkable double crown of titles to defy their critics.

But if that was a special achievement what followed was a miracle in the homeland of the miraculous. In their first year back in the Premier League Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the Toto Cup, becoming the first team in history to clinch both the first and second tier Toto Cups in back-to-back seasons. On January 24th this year, they defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv to claim consecutive top flight Toto Cups. Then, just four weeks ago, they went one better. Already the runaway leaders, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona secured a goalless draw against second placed Hapoel Tel Aviv that saw them crowned Premier League champions. The victory was not just one for Sheratzky, or Ben Shimon and his players, but one for all of Kiryat Shmona. It was the first time in nearly thirty years that a team from outside Israel’s three major cities – Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa – had lifted the title. That it was the tiny town in the savaged borders of Galilee that broke this monopoly makes it all the more amazing.

Yet still there is more to the story. In a season which has seen the traditional top four sides of Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem weakened by points deductions for fan violence amongst other discrepancies, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona offer a message of peace that defies their brutal origins. Despite their location in the heart of one of the most volatile regions in the world, the club bridges the divide that plagues the area, featuring as it does both Israeli Arabs and Jews amongst its ranks. Following their first Premier League title Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted the club directly to congratulate them, and released a statement calling their victory “a celebration for all the people of Israel”. A place in the Champions League may now await Sheratzky’s outfit, but sadly they will once again be without Ben Shimon. A much publicised fall out with Sheratzky over a new contract has forced the coach out the door. Such an issue may be unfortunate, but it cannot taint this wonderful story of triumph in the face of adversity, of peace and unity, and of the power of hope. It’s a story Sheratzky has been telling for over a decade and one that has now, at last, come true.