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COULD IT ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

If you haven’t seen the footage of Iliman Ndiaye performing a unusual dribbling move at Everton’s training ground, you should check it out. By pulling off a move so nasty that it would have suited perfectly at a Harlem Globetrotters friendly display, the skill quickly concluded what was meant to be a informal game to finish what had been – up to that point – an informative discussion about how amateur players can earn a second chance after being dropped from professional academies.

Ndiaye, who featured in non-league games directly before being recruited by Sheffield United at 19, is ideally suited to address this topic. “Don’t concentrate on the rejection and one day your luck is going to materialize,” he told a young player immediately prior to deploying said spectacular skill on his teammate, in doing so vividly showing the gulf between Premier League and amateur footballers he had been trying to bridge.

Ndiaye is far from the only professional footballer to go slightly overboard. Peak Michael Owen cheerfully overwhelming a 13-year-old goalkeeper in front of a fuming Neville Southall is clearly the benchmark in this particular niche – but the ex-Anfield star is not alone in this. Both Christian Eriksen and Shinji Kagawa have reduced toddlers to actual tears with a series of brutal nutmegs, although it’s considered that the latter was at least driven by the Japanese player’s social media apologetic post – “this frustration makes a person stronger” – and the associated label of #friendship.

Kagawa’s ex-BVB colleagues Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Nuri Sahin at least had the manners to lose their match against 100 children when the group played 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 faced 109 Chinese kids in a similar experiment. But returning to the beginning, it’s estimated that only 180 of the 1.5 million boys currently playing organized youth football in England will ever play in the Premier League, a harsh truth for aspiring footballers across the country.

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Join Scott Murray from evening UK time for hot Geopolitics World Cup qualifying coverage of England versus Serbia, while Luke McLaughlin will be tracking events for the remaining evening matches.

DAILY HIGHLIGHT

“Soccer carried me but it never left me because I never stopped believing. I went from place to place. The passion for soccer propels you. I couldn’t always see where it was directing me. But today I have the solution” – head coach Veljko Paunovic makes time from his training to reflect on his journey.

FAN FEEDBACK

“Nice to hear that Kevin Mac Allister will be included by Argentina. With luck, if he travels to the international competition next year, he’ll study how to travel around the host cities – let’s avoid him being disoriented in New York” – James Humphries.

“Information shows that 1,024 players in the Turkish league have been suspended due to suspected participation in a betting scandal. It would be wonderful if that number could be increased to the same level of typical pedantry associated with Football Daily – that is, 1,057 readers. By my calculation, that’s about 33 more perfectionists. If I offer to be suspended from playing professionally in Turkey (not much of a loss at my age and, um, skill level), are there 32 more folks willing to participate in my quest for balance?” – Mike Wilner.

“As a regular follower and Florida resident, can I proactively complain about the coming period of published letters about which road one uses to get to various locations in your island nation? I mean, I was caught in a traffic jam on I-4 at 2am on a Tuesday night driving through Orlando once, but that’s the entire tale. There’s no rewarding moral to the tale. (I-4 connects Tampa on the Gulf Coast to Daytona on the Atlantic via Orlando/Walt Disney World, and can have congestion problems at any time)” – Rasteen Nowroozi.

“Regarding Wythenshawe FC, I remember many years ago playing for a Sunday, very casual team, Turnpike Lane Hibs, on Clapham Common. One morning a bloke presented as ‘Danny’ turned up to play. I have no idea who invited him. Supposedly he was an actor; he had a good left side. (Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis)” – Jason Steger.

“Together with some co-workers and mates, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our oldest player is approaching eighty, while the most junior are in their late-20s. To ensure a enjoyable experience for everyone, we have a basic guideline regarding the skill level: you can be speedy or technical, but ideally not both. We sometimes have players who break this guideline, but usually typically reduce them to our quality over time” – Lars Esbjerg.