Al-Baloun’s Official Account Sparks Controversy
The Ballon d’Or account has been stirring up controversy for the past two days and published a report titled “Can You Win the Ballon d’Or Without Winning Any Titles?”
The surprise was that the Ballon d’Or account listed six players out of 69 who were able to win the Ballon d’Or without winning any titles during the season, namely
= Stanley Matthews: 1956
= Denis Law: 1964
= Gerd Müller: 1970
= Kevin Keegan: 1978
= Luis Figo: 2000
= Cristiano Ronaldo: 2013
Of course, the Ballon d’Or account asked this specific question to hint at the possibility of Mbappé winning the Ballon d’Or, as he is the only player to have achieved such impressive numbers without winning any major titles—Mbappé has contributed 63 goals and is the top scorer in La Liga, the Champions League, and the World Cup!
This impressive photo in front of you was taken today of Zinedine Zidane at the official press conference introducing him as the coach of the French national team—where he made remarks that really make you respect him so much!
Zidane said he’d received offers from many clubs over the past five years but turned them all down because he had only one goal: to coach the French national team. He chose to be prudent in his decision and didn’t rush into the job like most coaches do, in order to preserve his reputation and take the time to set a clear goal!
Zidane also said, “I was a playmaker, and what motivates me is scoring goals. I also lived in Spain for 25 years, so you know what I mean.” He’s saying you’ll see a distinctive and entertaining style of play, and France will have a clear identity on the field!
Finally, Zidane said, “What I’ll do here will be similar to what I did at Real Madrid. The coaching staff working with me is the same one that worked with me at Real Madrid—a sense of loyalty to the people who helped me, as well as stability to ensure a repeat of my achievements with Real Madrid.”
With his grace, charisma, and historic legacy, Zidane is the coach the French national team deserves. Zizou is back, folks!
Inter Milan pulled off a steal today—in every sense of the word!
Inter officially signed English defender John Stones today—and for free, too, after his contract with Manchester City expired. Stones signed a two-year deal worth 4 million euros a year, down from the 13 million he was earning at City!
The thing is, English clubs are now regretting missing out on Stones, because according to Sky Sports, Arsenal and Chelsea were interested, and Juventus also reached out to the player—but Inter beat them all to it and sealed the deal tonight in a matter of seconds!
Stones will be a huge asset for Inter. First, he’ll be a player with a winning mentality, just as Keiva requested. Second, Stones can switch from defender to midfielder depending on the phase of play, and if Inzaghi were still there with the central rotation they used to employ, he would have worked wonders with Stones!
Bastoni, Akanji, Stones, Piszczek, and soon Romero—Inter now has the strongest defense in Italy.
Chabi Alonso played his first game today as Chelsea’s coach and managed to win 6–4, but let’s put the score aside for now because there’s something more important!
In this match, Chelsea was trailing Western Sydney 3–2 until the 63rd minute, when João Pedro came on and turned the game around completely. He scored a hat trick and set up another goal after a dazzling individual effort, leading to a 6–4 victory for Chelsea.
What I’m trying to say is that João Pedro is expected to be the player who shines the most under Alonso, since Alonso is one of the coaches who makes the best use of pure strikers. For example, Boniface and Patrik Ček contributed 59 goals under Alonso in just two Bundesliga seasons. not to mention Gonzalo García, who became the top scorer in the Club World Cup before Mbappé returned from injury and took over!
The point is that João Pedro, under Rosinier at the end of last season, became a true striker, and the entire game revolved around him to the point that he contributed 14 goals in 17 Premier League matches. and the play you see here will happen a lot: Palmer receives the ball as a right-sided inside forward, makes an over-the-top run to pull the defense apart, changes the direction of play, and passes to João Pedro—one-on-one, then a goal!
Wait for the João Pedro-Chabi Alonso combo.
Of course, as soon as you saw the photo of Raphaël Varane, you started asking, “Where did he go?” Let me tell you the story.
Varane retired from soccer exactly two years ago after transferring to the Italian club Como, due to a knee injury and a series of injuries in general. Varane is currently a member of Como’s board of directors and is in charge of youth development, and he made a very important decision that he announced two days ago!
The decision is to prohibit youth players under the age of 10 from heading the ball, in order to protect them from concussions and brain damage that can occur over time, since the brain at that age is still developing. The same rule applies to players under 11, with the exception that by the end of the season, they will be introduced to heading using a lightweight rubber ball.
As for older players, they will be gradually introduced to heading, with a limit on the number of headers allowed per training session and a ban on using balls that are overinflated. This is the same procedure adopted by the French Football Federation, The British Football Association has also completely banned heading for players under 12 years old after facing lawsuits due to brain injuries sustained by some players.
Of course, here in Egypt, we let the kids head the ball, and whoever scores 10 goals gets a free meal from the cafeteria as a reward and a day off from practice.
Of course, as soon as you saw the photo of Raphaël Varane, you started asking, “Where did he go?” Let me tell you the story.
Varane retired from soccer exactly two years ago after transferring to the Italian club Como, due to a knee injury and a series of injuries in general. Varane is currently a member of Como’s board of directors and is in charge of youth development, and he made a very important decision that he announced two days ago!
The decision is to prohibit youth players under the age of 10 from heading the ball, in order to protect them from concussions and brain damage that can occur over time, since the brain at that age is still developing. The same rule applies to players under 11, with the exception that by the end of the season, they will be introduced to heading using a lightweight rubber ball.
As for older players, they will be gradually introduced to heading, with a limit on the number of headers allowed per training session and a ban on using balls that are overinflated. This is the same procedure adopted by the French Football Federation, The British Football Association has also completely banned heading for players under 12 years old after facing lawsuits due to brain injuries sustained by some players.
Of course, here in Egypt, we let the kids head the ball, and whoever scores 10 goals gets a free meal from the cafeteria as a reward and a day off from practice.
It’s clear that relations between Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Florentino Pérez are on a rocky path!
Fabrizio Romano said today that Paris Saint-Germain’s management is unhappy with how the Yan Diomande deal played out, and the team finds itself in an awkward position because they’d been working on this for a long time and expected to close the deal!
By the way, Paris had been working on the Diomande deal since the start of the World Cup—meaning they’d been trying for about a month to get the player’s and his club’s approval. Imagine all that effort going down the drain in just a few hours when Real Madrid stepped in and closed the deal!
The thing is, this is the second time in a year that Real Madrid has pulled off the same move against Paris. The first time was the Mastantuno deal—at this same time last year, Paris had the deal all wrapped up, but Real Madrid went on a single trip and, in just one day and one night, got the player to sign with them!
Things have now gotten complicated for Paris, who sold Gonzalo Ramos and Kang-in Lee to sign Diomande. They’ll now have to look for alternative options on the market because their attack needs real reinforcement!
Now that Real Madrid has signed Yan Diomandi, this might just be one of the most heartwarming stories I’ve ever seen in soccer!
Diomandi once said that the first gift he ever received for his birthday was a Manchester United jersey, but unfortunately, he was so broke that he couldn’t afford to have his name and number printed on it!
So what happened was that Diomandi grabbed a black marker and wrote “Cristiano Ronaldo” and the number 7 on the back of the jersey, because Ronaldo was his idol. Every time he wore that jersey, he’d say he imagined himself as Ronaldo, dribbling past everyone and scoring goals!
As Diomandi grew up to become a professional player, he once again cited Ronaldo, saying, “Ronaldo is the best soccer player, especially between 2012 and 2018. He’s the player every kid dreams of becoming like; he’s had a huge impact on our generation.”
Today, Diomandi has fulfilled his dream and will play for Real Madrid—the very same club that his idol retired from. He won’t have to wear a fake jersey and imagine anymore; he’ll wear a real jersey with his name on it.
If you want to know why Kokoria grew out his hair and why he immediately agreed to play for Real Madrid, Kokoria himself answered those two questions!
As for the first question, Kokoria said he has a son named “Mateo,” and unfortunately, the boy suffers from autism. That’s why he decided to grow his hair out—so that if the day ever comes when his son forgets who he is, he’ll be able to recognize his father by his hair. That’s why Kokoria said “I wish I didn’t have money and that my son were in good health. I’m growing out my hair because I love it so much.”
As for the second question, Cocoria said “We wouldn’t have moved to a club that didn’t have suitable schools or where we couldn’t find the conditions to help my son adjust. There were other clubs interested, but we were looking first and foremost for suitable schools for him—that’s the most important thing for us. Fortunately, Real Madrid provides everything, and we’ll find what we need there.”
“In England, my son attended regular schools, but he wasn’t comfortable there and felt very confused, and that affects us a lot. My family is the most important thing in my life.”
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Al-Baloun’s Official Account Sparks Controversy
Al-Baloun’s Official Account Sparks Controversy
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