MALTESERS "MELLT" IN OUR MOUTHS

Today is the day. England at Wembley with a full house, remarkbly, it's on the tele and I shall be parked in front of some screen in Market Harborough waiting for the phoenix to arise.
I have mentioned the Maltese a few times before and the latest entry has made reference to the upcoming World Cup qualifying draw.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/how-to-make-maltese-cross.html

So let's wish Gareth all the very best in his latest quest and let's hope our boys respond to his experience and to Sammy Lee's wise words. I wonder where Roy and Sam are?

The Republic of Malta, named after it's delicious "honey" "mell", is one of a Mediterranean archipelago of 7 islands (gathering of islands or "fish swimming" in the sea). Three of these are inhabited including Malta itself of course, Gozo and Comino. The rest are not, but they do remind us of the historic rising sea level in the Mediterranean basin since the last Ice Age. We think that Malta will not continue to be inundated though the islands mark what was once a "land bridge" between Sicily and North Africa, so there is evidence that the Med has been "filled up" and even may still be.

With a population of about 450,000, Malta is the 8th most densely populated country in the World. It holds a place in the Guiness Book of Records for the greatest gathering of story book characters, 453. (presumably in costume). It also has no rivers and forests on the island and has given England more points in the Eurovision Song Contest than any other country.

As far as football records go, England has played Malta on three occasions. In February 1971 (won 1-0 away-Martin Peters scored), in May '71 (5-0 at Wembley) and in June 2000 (2-1 away). Goal scorers in the 5-0 win included Chivers 3, Lee and Clarke.
Gareth Southgate played against them in 2000 and was a sub taking over for Martin Keown (who had scored) in a friendly. Heskey got the other goal. Richard Wright (gk) scored their goal.

Scotland beat them 5-1 in the Ta'Qali Stadium in September in our group. One of the Maltese squad was Luke Gamblin, 23,  who plays for Barnet. The first ever international played by the Maltese was in 1957 against Austria which they lost 2-3. They are ranked 179th in FIFA at the moment.

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YOU ARE NEVER TOO YOUNG TO GET A KICKING

There has been some considerable press about the young Karamoko Dembele who has turned out for Celtic U20s development squad recently in a tournament at the ripe old age of 13 years old. He looks quite a prospect, but remember he is playing in Scotland and the film footage was of a match against Hearts. Well you know they might be quite good?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FarMXoDFvKM
But he won the Player of the Tournament performing for the Celtic U15s at St Kevin's Boys Academy in Ireland playing against the likes of Barcelona, West Brom and Lyon, so he may have a bit going for him! His turn of pace reminds of Jerry in his prime.
http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/karamoko-dembele-next-celtic-star-11708412

Below is an article about Mauricio Baldiveso who played for Aurova in the Bolivian league, a team run by his father Julio Cesar. Always a good parent he launched his son's career three days before his 13th birthday against La Paz and the film shows him getting a right old kicking. His father was quoted in the press as saying "I am very proud of him, he has got a lot of talent."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/jul/22/knowledge-youngest-footballers

There was a young man called Fredua Koranteng Adu (b June 1989) who made the news in 2004 when he became the youngest athlete to sign a professional contract in the USA (not  just in soccer). In April 2004 he played for DC United against San Jose Earthquakes in an MLS match aged 14 and a bit. Two weeks later he scored a league goal and that made history too. Referred to as the "next Pele", Freddy sunk into a journeyman's life and played in seven different countries including Finland! he did trial in England but failed to impress the Blackpool staff. In June 2014 he was found in Norway trialling with Staebek managed by USA coach Bob Bradley. Freddy is presently with Tampa Bay Rowdies, presumably avoiding earthquakes. He has 17 international capps though and that is an achievement at any age. Here is Freddy who has put on a bit of weight in his maturity.

NEWS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

A former Syrian international football captain has reportedly been tortured to death whilst in custody, according to news. Jihad Qassab, 41, was a team leader in the 1990s and is a Sunni Muslim from Baba Amr. When protests against the Assad regime started he was taken into custody during the Civil War in 2014 as he was regarded as an anti-regime activist. He has not been seen or heard of since and news is that he had been tortured. Reports from the Homs Media Centre, an activist network, posted a page of mourning in the General Authority for Sport and Youth. His body has not been released but friends have assumed the worst.

Jihad led his club Al-Karamah SC to runners up in the Asian Champions League in 2006 a time when the club was dominating Syrian football.

More news from the Middle East is that Iranian clerics have asked football authorities to forfeit the country's upcoming World Cup qualifying tie against South Korea for fear that any success would cause the crowd to openly celebrate and offend Allah.

The game against South Korea in Tehran falls within Shia Muslims most emotionally charged religious festival and even the visiting spectators have been asked not to cheer or make any undue noise in the stadium. The two teams are level on points in their group trying to qualify for the 2018 Finals in Russia.

The two day Festival of Tasoo'a Ashura is when Shia Muslims pour on to the streets to express their grief, often through self-flagellation, over the death of prophet Muhammad's grandson Iman Hussein, on October 10th in 680AD. This lies at the heart of the sectarianism between Sunnis and Shias.

Syria, Iraq and the Yemen also respect this date. A change of date for the fixture was requested by the Iran authorities but this did not give South Korea enough time to recover from their game tonight against Qatar. Another complication is that the South Koreans wear red as do many of their fans. Red was the colour worn by the warrior who beheaded Iman Hussein-not good.

On top of this Iran football is football mad but leaders do not like massive celebraions in the streets, women going to matches or men wearing shorts. Panini Stickers, likely to be marketed, are also regarded as "iconography" and this goes against the religion.

Iran first played "internationally" in 1926. The development of the national football really started in August 1941 when a team played against "British India" and a few days later against Afghanistan.

What do you remember about Iran when the country has qualified for a World Cup? Scotland come to mind?

ENJOY YOU TUBE OR PICK YOUR PLAYERS

You will have heard of FC United of Manchester and how the club formed. If not, then go do some research. 

Do you read the Daily Telegraph? If you happen to, then the Sports' Section today devotes a page and a half to Hashtag United, a team dreamt up by Spencer Owen who had hooked nearly 4 million online views of his team performing on You Tube. 

http://spencerfc.wikia.com/wiki/Hashtag_United_FC

Ed Balls on Strictly got only 79,000 viewers. To find out what this is all about tap in Spencer and FC into the You Tube search bar and see what he and his mates are up to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUykdNO-YkA

I have written previously about football clubs "employing" computer nerds to play on their club's behalf in inter club computer football competitions, so nothing surprises me when I heard of United London FC and club that has formed on the Hackney Marshes and plays in the Essex Alliance Premier League where the members of the club, that is those who subscribe to join the club on the internet, PICK THE TEAM!

Players statistics, heat maps of games and all the paraphernalia of computer based assessment is being put to good use in order to give the punters the opportunity fo picking out the best players

Based on the success of Jamie Vardy (remember him?), the brains behind the club is Mark North reckoned it would be a good idea to encourage anyone to come along to trials and get voted onto the team. His squad is 33 strong and will give players a chance of being picked out as they play each week.

The Football Careers Centre (yes there is one) aims to pluck stars from relative obscurity and give them a chance of making it.

Have a look at the video from Sky.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10318572/new-club-united-london-fc-has-no-traditional-manager

GODZONE SPORTING MECCA

As if it wasn't enough having the Tour de France (The Grand Depart) sweeping through the county, the County Cricket Team stuffing most people and the Brownlee Brothers winning the hearts of everyone in Brazil (even Huddersfield Town FC having a revival), we now have the West Yorkshire Amateur Football League representative side making a mark in a European competition.

The "non-professional" representative squad has earned a place in the UEFA Regions Cup by winning the FA Inter League Tournament back in May. The rep. team from STEP 7 on the Pyramid are playing in Romania against other European regions in Bucharest. The competition began for them on the 20th September and they have just competed their qualifying matches. This competition has been played every two years since 1999.

Guernsey FA won the FA Inter League in 2010 and headed off to play in European and based on their experience have survived successfully in the National League pyramid, since joining shortly afterwards.

The latest FA tournament enabled winners, the West Yorkshire League amateurs to beat hosts Romania 2-1 in their opening game. They then sneaked a 1-1 draw with Serbians before fighting hard to get a 2-2 draw with the Russian representatives, drawn from an area in the south-east of the country. This points total was not enough to get the English representatives to the top of the group and thereby go on in the tournament. The Russians are reported to have tried every trick in the book to waste valuable time as the game and the points drifted away. Shame on you.

Having beaten the Teesside League to earn their trip into Europe, the Yorkshire lads were looked after by the official England C back room staff. The FA is proud to encourage football at all levels and despite the disappointment, these players have had a magnificent experience and were fantastic ambassadors for the English game.

The Republic of Ireland squad (present holders of the trophy won in Dublin in 2015) have earned 7 points out of 9 so far this time, beating Lombardia and NE Macedonia and go on to fight another day, East-West Central Scotland and Northern Ireland play later in the Autumn.

NOT PROGRAMMED

We shall leaving our Tower Villa in a few hours and typically by a process of elimination we got internet back. Well about time too! Some said it Monday and the operatives are back working, we think that pressing the correct button on the router by chance,may have led to connection. So I have missed the next qualifying round of the FA Cup but did get to the local derby of Modica v Scicli in southern Sicily, Gironde H we think. Probably no higher than Step 7 in our pyramid. Hard to judge since the skill level was high and this must be helped by having an artificial pitch.

A drive to the Sicilian town eventually led us to the ancient town centre and up on the hill was the ground. At first we thought it was a school play area because it was surrounded by flats with some substantial municipal blocks that had netting in front of them to stop wayward balls. It cost nothing to get in although posters in Scicly suggested 5€. My friend thought that might have been the charge for getting on the supporters' bus. There seemed to be no facilities.

The ref was neatly turned out in Italian jeans and black shirt with a jacket as he inspected the pitch. It was an Astro surface and had no deviations but understandably he was mentally preparing himself for an emotional 90 minutes. He also had little help from the "linos" who were there just to do in and outs, indeed one of them furthest away from the crowd sat in the dug out! The ref had a word at half time.

The teams came out to a huge welcome from the Ultras, the home fans. There were maybe thirty or so, standing on concrete steps behind the 12 foot wire netting. The youngest of the party, some probably in single figures, no doubt dragged along by their fathers or older brothers, were allowed to stand at the back of the "choir" whilst the seniors were leading from the font. The choir master saw little of the game with his back to play as he led his "troops" with a megaphone and arm gestures.

There appeared to be no visiting fans prepared to stand up and make themselves public. A few did applaud one of Scicli's goal which deserved congratulations. Modica were big and direct, Scicly small and neat with no forwards. Modica had a free kick expert, or the opposing goalie was a tad "heavy" and there were two screamers scored by each team which made the day. Modica won 4-2, deservedly, and when we eventually got back to Scicly, after a post match analysis, we saw the losing team's minibus dropping off players in their home town. They live to fight another day.

You have to love non-league football because it is so personal. The Ultras clearly enjoy doing what they are doing, it was harmless fun and since our party of four is made up from grandfathers, we would want to initiate the youngsters in the world of Calcio as the Italians call it, though we could do with out the lung burning flares let off as the teams came out.

By including the interesting hair pin journey, a lemon soda in a smart boutique cafe and the smiling faces of our loved ones when we got back with the pizzas, then it was day well spent. But no programme!

NETS CAST

YDon't panic. The wifi in Brexit stricken Deep South Sicily is pants and we have not had a signal for two days now. I am sitting in a cafe in the old town of Scicly (pronounced Sickgly) hoping to catch up with calcio news. Unfortunately I also lose all my typing if a press he space bar at the wrong time so it is. It not going terribly well.

This will be short and I hope to resume normal blogging next week.

Today sees the big local derby between Modica and Scicly. That is all I am going to write because the time is running out on the parking ticket and my patience is running thinner than my hot chocolate.

Next time I try to blog maybe I can tell you more about the wonderful world of Prima Categoria Girone F Oggi 15.30. Groundsman is getting his nets ready.