1. Run towards target.
2. Knock ball past said target.
3. Divert trajectory towards target.
4. Kick target.
5. Scream.
6. Fall (don’t over do it - see right).
7. Grimace, writhe, clutch point of contact.
8. Await treatment: magic sponge/spray.
9. Get to your feet - gingerly.
10. Pretend you can’t run until necessary.
Let us salute football’s greatest play actors.
This weekend was the penultimate round of fixtures for this season's Eredivisie, AZ Alkmaar have already clinched an historic second ever title, but elsewhere there are still matters to be settled. So where else better to start the round up than with the clash between Champions elect AZ and second placed FC Twente.
Steve McClaren has most impressively guided FC Twente to the upcoming KNVB Beker (Dutch cup) final. They will face Heerenveen in two weeks time and will start as favourites to win the trophy for the third time in their history. On top of that they reached the last sixteen of the Uefa Cup losing to Marseille on penalties, it was the first time FC Twente had survived European football into the New Year for thirty seasons!
On the face of it there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the 2008-2009 Premier League season. Manchester United are top and on course for their third consecutive title, the remaining Champions League spots are occupied by the usual suspects and West Brom are rooted to the foot of the table.
But with four games remaining almost every team still has something to play for. Does this make it one of the best Premier League seasons ever?
Like the proverbial bus that you wait and wait for only to have two turn up at once, we at 90minutesonline have been tossing and turning at night waiting for someone to correctly spot the footballer, and then three of you do it at once.
Congratulations to Elias the Great, Ana and Jono, who all spotted the barely disguised Brad Friedel.
They’re all invited to write an article for this here website. So once they’ve sent them in to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., you, dear readers, will get a chance to read them.
The Beautiful Game is an over-used phrase: football is often an arduous spectator sport. When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s awful. And when it’s somewhere in-between – which is where it spends most of its time – it’s usually pretty turgid.
Those who pooh-pooh ‘the beautiful game’ point to the fact that in 90 minutes you’d be lucky to see an average of three goals. They point to a raft of 0-0s every week and a lack of genuine excitement. But let me point something out to them: you can have an utterly enthralling 0-0 and goals don’t necessarily equate to a good game.