Football Daily | Gattuso goes on the offensive with Italy at risk of unwanted World C

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Going into their Geopolitics World Cup qualifier against Norway on Sunday, the only way Italy could ensure they overtook Erling Haaland and chums to finish top of Group I was by hammering them by nine clear goals. It was a tough ask against a side who had shipped only four in total during their previous seven qualifiers and despite giving it their best shot the Italians came up woefully short, coming out on the wrong end of an embarrassing 4-1 hiding that prompted Gennaro Gattuso to flag up his side?s ?fear and fragility?. Fairly certain that the automatic qualification jig was up before the match had even started, Italy?s head coach had used his pre-match presser to get his excuses in early by railing at the injustice of a qualification system that dictates European heavyweights such as Italy can win six of their eight qualifiers and get dumped into the fraught hellscape of the playoffs, while teams in other Fifa postcodes (yes you, Paraguay) can win just six of their 18 and nail down a spot at next summer?s dynamically priced jamboree in North America. He also had a moan about the increasing number of African teams (from two in his playing days to nine in the expanded tournament) who get World Cup places, in comments that many on the continent in question and elsewhere considered Eurocentric, dismissive and downright offensive.
Re professionals playing with rank amateurs (Football Daily passim), I ran the second team at a Southern Amateur League club in the 90s (the same one that Max Rushden played for). We ran nine teams every Saturday and the captain of the fifth team told me in the bar one Saturday evening that a mate of a mate from New Zealand had filled in last minute (no subs in those days). They stuck him at left-back and he scored five goals. I told said Kiwi that he would be straight up to the second team the following week (bypassing the club?s strict ?one team at a time? selection rules) but he had to decline as he would be on a week-long trial at Leicester City. Not sure if he ever made it but he is possibly the only player ever to get five goals from left-back (normally the worst player on any amateur team)? ? Ben Gibbes.
At Los Angeles?s Dorsey High School playing field, Saturdays were practice days for a squad I played with on Sundays where the talent varied from ex-internationals, ex-junior internationals, the rest of us and one guy that showed up one day for practice. He had that familiar ?bay? styled hairstyle: short back and sides with a bit of a hill on top. Everything he did happened fast but it barely looked like he ever ran at all. Later after a commanding performance he sat on the passenger side of a new silver S-class Merc changing. A young Mikel John Obi, then between Manchester United and Chelsea? ? Reggie Akpata.
Back in the day I played for teams in the Walsall & District League (Premier Division, no less). I had just signed for Highgate FC but my registration had not come through by the time of our match against deadly rivals New Fullbrook. I was a substitute and told to use the name Tony Smith if I came on. Problem was that at that time in my life I was a solicitor and the referee was a current client. When I was eventually called on to the pitch the referee checked his book and said, ?I can?t see your name Simon!? ?I?m Tony Smith ref,? I said sheepishly. The referee looked perplexed. Fortunately the New Fullbrook players (who had obviously seen me play) shouted at the ref to let me on. I left the legal profession not too long after that? ? Simon Manton.
Sad to hear that former Spurs winger Tony Galvin has suffered a stroke. To most non-Spurs fans, he was probably one of the less familiar faces from the great Keith Burkinshaw teams of the late 70s and first half of the 80s. But as a White Hart Lane regular, watching him fly down the left wing to latch on to a Glenn Hoddle pass was a great sight. Then it was a beeline to the corner flag, from where he?d swing in a cross for the likes of Crooks, Archibald or Falco. Potent combinations. Today?s Spurs players would be envious of his two FA Cups and one Uefa Cup, an excellent team man. Best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery? ? Christian Goldsmith.
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