International Football
TEARFUL FAREWELL FOR WORLD CUP LEGEND, ITALY’S BUFFON
Italy will be the only former World Cup winner that will be absent at the 2018 edition of the competition. Not only will it be the first time since the 1958 edition that Italy will be absent, the elimination by Sweden on Monday night has forced the Italian legendary goalkeeper into international retirement.
What an irony. The only World Cup finals that Italy had missed before now was the one held in Sweden in 1958. Paradoxically, it is Sweden the host of that edition that has prevented Italy from the World Cup 60 years later.
Following the FIFA World Cup winner Gianluigi Buffon had been within touching distance of history but ultimately his Italy side fell just short of winning a ticket to Russia 2018.
For Buffon, defeat against Sweden also brought down the curtain on a wonderful career at international level.
A lone first-leg goal for Sweden proved enough for them to progress at Italy’s expense, leaving Gli Azzurri set to miss their first World Cup since 1958.
An appearance at Russia 2018 would have seen the 39-year-old equal the record of five World Cups, a mark previously reached by Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaus. Buffon was also an unused substitute at a sixth World Cup in 1998.
Instead the Juventus icon, who was recently named winner of The Best FIFA Goalkeeper Award, was left to bid an emotional farewell to the international stage after 20 years.
“I’m not sorry for myself but all of the Italian football movement,” said Buffon.
“We failed with our aim, which could have also been really important on a social level. This is the only regret that I have, even if my last competitive game coincides with failure to qualify for the World Cup.”
Buffon’s is comfortably Italy’s most-capped player (175 appearances) amid a host of other distinctions achieved since his debut in 1997.
He was a key figure in 2006, when Italy won the World Cup in 2006 for a fourth time.
“We have pride and strength, we’re stubborn and after the tough falls we find the way to get back up again,” Buffon added.
“I leave a national team with good guys and they’ll speak for themselves, [goalkeepers] Gigione Donnarumma and Mattia Perin won’t make me feel regret.
“Sport teaches you to win and lose together, to share the good and the bad.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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