#the coach of Algeria

[gossipinfo]

Algeria's coach, Djamel Belmadi, resigns in the wake of their AFCON elimination, succumbing to a surprising loss against underdogs Mauritania.

Djamel Belmadi, the coach of Algeria, has resigned from his position as head coach of the national team following their elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations finals on Tuesday. While there has been no official announcement from Belmadi or the Algerian football federation, Algerie Presse Service, a state-run news agency, reported on Wednesday that Belmadi disclosed his decision in the…

[reasonsforhope]

"Fencing offers a ray of hope to young people living in Nairobi's poorest neighbourhoods.

Despite a lack of equipment, the sword fighting sport is growing in popularity in Kenya.

They cut a striking group as they wander through Huruma in their pristine white outfits.

These young people are heading for their favourite hang-out spot: the Tsavora Fencing club at the local community centre.

The street becomes their arena as they parry and riposte in front of passers-by.

This is not just a hobby for them: it's a force for good in their lives.

Fencing has helped carve a path away from crime, drugs and other social pressures.

"I used to be a gangster," says Mburu Wanyoike, who is now a coach for Kenya's National Fencing team.

"I was in crime and crime makes you feel isolated. It actually puts you in a place where you are isolated, making you feel depressed, having stress and I chose fencing as a way for me to escape out of the hood and escape that lifestyle."

His journey from delinquency to fencing coach and senior athlete in Kenya's national team has been transformative.

Inspired by the personal tragedy of the death of two friends, Wanyoike pursued training and education in South Africa, ultimately founding Tsavora Fencing in 2021.

Tsavora Fencing has made significant strides.

The team has produced 15 talented fencers who have earned spots in the national squad, with plans to represent Kenya in the African Olympic Qualifiers in Algeria this year.

However, challenges persist, particularly regarding the affordability of fencing equipment.

"Sometimes it is tough when it comes to competing with well-equipped international countries that are well organized, so what we do is just to move on with enthusiasm and obsession. The fact that we don't have the equipment, the limited ones we have, we use them. We don't complain that we do not have equipment, we just use what we got and put in the obsession and the enthusiasm and the passion combined, that's what we do, we fence," says Wanyoike.

Tsavora Fencing Mtaani, an initiative under Tsavora Fencing, offers mentorship and training in fencing to the youth of these impoverished neighbourhoods, shielding them from the dangers of their environment.

With 45 members, most of whom are students, the team serves as a beacon of hope in the community.

Participants are required to become disciplined and put on integrity.

"Initially I had bad company at home but now that I am in fencing, it has kept me busy and now it is a better option for me because I feel happy doing it," says Jemimah Njeri, a 17-year-old member of Tsavora Fencing.

"I cannot imagine myself without this sport because it has kept me very busy. In my area many girls have become teenage mothers and that is not a wonderful life," adds 16-year-old Allen Grace...

As Tsavora Fencing continues to thrive, fuelled by the determination of its members and the support of the community, it stands as a testament to the transformative power of sport in, even the most challenging environments."

-via Africanews, April 1, 2024

[theanticool]

The good story. Khelif’s success at the Olympics has inspired a ton of young women to take up boxing in the country.

In Ain Taya, the seaside town east of Algiers where Amina boxes, what local media have termed “Khelifmania” is on full display.

Behind a door wallpapered with a large photograph of the gold medalist, punching bags hang from the ceiling of the local gym, and young girls warm up near a boxing ring surrounded by shelves of masks, gloves and mouth guards.

The 23 young women and girls who train at the gym — an old converted church — all dream of becoming the next Khelif, their coach Malika Abassi said.

Abassi said the women imitate Khelif’s post-win celebrations, hopping around the boxing ring and saluting fans. She’s worried that the interest in boxing will grow so rapidly that her gym won’t be able to handle it.

“We’re getting calls from parents wanting to sign up their daughters,” she said. “I’m the only coach and our gym is small.”

This is the important thing to take away from the 2024 Olympics. The positive impact all these athletes had on the youth.

[saphfoe]

SAPH RANT SAPH RANT SAPH RANT SAPH RANT

The olympics is centre stage at the minute in a massive misinformation smear campaign against a cisgender boxer for the nation of Algeria, Imane Khelif, who is a 25 year old amateur boxer (42w 9l), after defeating Italian🤌 boxer, Angela Carini, she has been subject to a media onslaught of trans-vestigations with russian media falsely reporting she has a 'Y' chromosome, in the midst of this the IOC (international olympic committee) reaffirmed her eligibility to compete, denying outright these false claims as being misleading.

This whole narrative around trans people but particularly (let's be honest) trans women being in sports is the latest flavour of transphobia to directly hurt all women, when we start determining who's biology most closely defines womanhood we start policing women's bodies and denying women glory for the hard work they have put into their training because any amount of strength shown by a woman is incorrectly determined to be manly, to be masculine and not the result of hard work, dedication and great coaching.

Transmisogony harms all women.

[mariacallous]

A Bulgarian woman boxer’s defeat at the Olympics has inflamed ongoing disputes about gender identity issues, triggering discriminatory rhetoric from politicians and media misinformation.

Controversy over an old source of discord has erupted again in Bulgaria after Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan defeated Bulgarian woman boxer Svetlana Kamenova Staneva at the Olympics featherweight quarter-final in Paris at the weekend.

Media commentators and politicians have spread ill-informed stereotypes and encouraged discriminatory rhetoric, according to media experts.

There had already been controversy internationally over the inclusion in the Paris Olympics of Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif of Algeria, who had previously been disqualified by another sporting body, the International Boxing Association, from 2023’s boxing World Championships for failing gender eligibility tests. 

The International Olympic Committee, however, questioned the reliability of these tests.

During Sunday’s bout, Kamenova raised the gender question openly by forming the letter “X” with her hands, symbolising female XX chromosomes, while her coach, Borislav Georgiev, held up a banner with the slogan: “Save Woman Sports” (sic). He later claimed that the Bulgarian fighter “was robbed” and referred disparagingly to Lin Yu-ting as “a creature”.

After the fight, Bulgarian President President Rumen Radev joined the fray, saying that Kamenova Staneva “found bravery in fighting not only for victory in what people considered a lost game but also standing up for normalcy”. 

The Bulgarian Olympic Committee criticised the decision to allow Yu-ting and Khelif to participate at the tournament. 

News media and major TV channels – including some credible outlets – also piled in, referring to Yu-ting and Khelif as “transsexuals” and as “intersex” persons, even though they were born female. The controversy even briefly overshadowed Bulgaria’s long-running governance crisis and the difficulties in combatting wildfires across the country.

Many local media outlets cited a statement supportive of Kamenova issued by a Bulgarian organisation reportedly calling itself the Network for Protecting Women’s Rights. 

However, no source for the statement could be traced and the organisation has no online presence. 

The coverage of the dispute prompted the Association for European Journalists – Bulgaria to accuse the country’s media of “negligent” behaviour.

“Under-researched and stereotypical coverage of such topics not only fuels homophobia and misogyny; it may serve external interests to destabilise democracy but could also have a severe impact on the mental state of various groups and individuals. Unfortunately, even respectable outlets were repeatedly negligent in covering the matter,” it said in a statement.

‘Complete disregard for the facts’

The bout in Paris has only highlighted deeper problems with gender issues in Bulgaria, journalist Peter Georgiev of sports podcast Victoria told BIRN.

“For years, Bulgarian society has been extremely sensitive to sex and gender issues, but opinions are often ill-informed. In the case of Khelif and Yu-ting, a number of coaches, politicians and even professional sports commentators reacted emotionally to Kamenova’s loss, showing little understanding of terms such as transgender and intersex,” Georgiev told BIRN. 

“Their complete disregard for the facts and public outrage amplified misinformation and fuelled a wave of unjustified hatred,” he added.

Georgiev sees the case as representative of a wider failure by the media and society to properly tackle gender issues: “This is especially disappointing because it shifts the attention away from the very real debate about fairness in sports,” he said.

He noted that the dispute between the International Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association also caused problems for the boxers themselves.

“The fight between the IOC and international bodies governing boxing illustrates how much athletes suffer, physically and mentally, when there’s no consensus on the eligibility criteria,” Georgiev said.

The IBA’s president, Umar Kremlev, a Russian sports businessman and well-known ally of Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly asserted that the association’s test revealed that the boxers had XY chromosomes, giving them a testosterone advantage over other women fighters. The IOC has contested this, saying the testing was “so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it”.

Politicians play on gender anxieties

In Bulgaria, the issue of gender has often been used and misused for political purposes. 

Since 2017, the so-called Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, has often been interpreted, especially by conservative and anti-Western voices, as promoting LGBTQ+ rights and as focusing on a definition of gender as a social construct rather than a biologically determined factor. 

This has been a main talking point for two of Bulgaria’s pro-Russian parties, the far-right Revival and the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, which in 2023 called for a “referendum on gender ideology”. 

Arguments that liberal reforms might undermine Bulgaria’s “traditional values” and promote the rights of sexual or gender minorities were used against the passage of amendments to the Law on Domestic Violence.

In the last few years, controversial court rulings have limited the rights of transgender people in Bulgaria.

Politicians are using the latest boxing controversy as fuel for their populist rhetoric. Centre-right GERB party member and former Sports Minister Krassen Kralev wrote on his personal social media accounts, before the match started, that it was “the most shameful page in the history of the IOC”.

After the match, Kralev criticised the “pink-liberal sect in Bulgaria” for defending the Taiwanese contestant and congratulated Kamenova Staneva for standing against “that thing from Taipei” and calling the match “fixed”. 

There has been no indication that Kralev might face legal action for hate speech. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee has not challenged the outcome of Sunday’s match.

[recovery-gone-rad]

When your own coach puts you on blast for actually being a man in women's boxing.

That said, I want to be totally clear about something. From what this coach has described it sounds like this was a devastating revelation for Khelif when it came to light. I have nothing but sympathy for someone who discovers something like that in the middle of their life and the effects it can have on the trajectory of it. Repeating that, I think they deserve nothing but support and sympathy and respect during this/that time.

Yet that support does not extend to allowing them to participate in a sport they don't belong in. They're free to live and identify however they wish (they may want to consider leaving Algeria due to draconian LGBT laws) but when it comes to something like the Olympics you have to have fair standards or you have nothing.

[rvllybllply2014]

This is amazing. I hope Imane is proud of herself, she’s talked about this very thing and now it’s coming true.

[dinosaurwithablog]

Kaylia Nemour celebrates winning the gold medal 🏅 for the uneven bars with her coach and the flag of Algeria!!! Congratulations, Kaylia!!! You deserve it!! 😊😍

[freifraufischer]

So you've come back to gymnastics since Tokyo because you are excited and French Gymnasitcs is on Fire and Everything is Terrible....

[This original post was written for Reddit to help catch people up on what was happening while they weren't paying attention]

Welcome to an overview of "Everything is not okay in France". Before I get into the details of what is happening in the French Gymnastics Federation (FFG) you should be aware that they are hardly the only French sports establishment gleefully lighting themselves on fire. In mid June the headquarters of the Paris organizing committee was raided by French Police as part of corruption investigations, the head of the French Olympic Committee has resigned after her predecessor announced he was filing a complaint about mismanagement of funds, the French National Assembly has started a commission to investigate abuse and corruption in French sports broadly ... oh and they still haven't signed the contracts for all the Paris Olympic venues including the Stade de France. If you want the lowlights of French Sports scandals this year @darthmelyanna posted a summary.

Specifically the FFG ... before Tokyo it was decided that to give the French team the best training environment all Paris hopefuls would need to move from their home gyms to centralized locations at Pôle Gym St-Etienne (in south central France) or INSEP in Paris. This is not the first time there has been a push to centralize French gymnastics and the last time it didn't go well either. There was a massive sexual abuse case at INSEP which was dropped because of the age of the suspect... so you know it's totally reasonable to trust the environment there.

Anyway... many of the most promising French gymnasts come from a club called Avoine Beaumont Gymnastique and their gymnasts did not want to move (either away from their family or their coaches with whom they saw success). According to the coaches at Avoine-Beaumont the centralization push is about the ambitions of national team staff wanting to take credit for successes at the home Olympics and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest this true. The Avoine-Beaumont coach had been offered a job at INSEP and was previously on the national team staff but when he did not take the job he was forbidden to travel with his gymnasts.

According to Carolann Héduit (a French national champion and a European medalist) the FFG called her weekly to pressure her to move--including while she was in Tokyo at the Olympics--and have told her that her national championships mean nothing and they even pulled her funding only restoring it after there was national press attention. She has described the psychological impact as heavy and her parents and coaches believe the French federation are attempting to break her.

Her team mate Kaylia Nemour was probably the most promising French junior of her generation. She also refused to move and after a surgery when her own doctor approved her return to training the French federation's doctor--without examining her--not only refused to allow her to return to competition, but also said that she could not return to training and initiated an abuse investigation into her coaches. He had the authority to refuse to allow her to compete, he did not have the authority to tell her she could not train. He tried to publicly say he never did that but Nemour's mother had the letter in writing and posted it on twitter. Facing the prospect of not being able to compete Nemour switched to Algeria but the FFG opposed the country change meaning she couldn't compete for a year. That would have prevented her from competing at this year's world championship and most of her best opportunities to qualify for Paris. This was only reversed at the intervention of the French Minister for Sport the literal week before the 2023 African Championships where she qualified for Worlds. She has a VERY good chance of winning a medal on bars in Paris. Yet another Avoine-Beaumont junior's family is voicing that they may also be looking at a country change...

All while this is going on Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos was given leave to train in the United States at WCC. No one is clear why she was given this exception. Some fans have speculated that it is because she is from Martinique which is in the Caribbean and she wants to be closer to her family... but it is neither cheaper nor faster to travel from Houston to Martinique then from Paris to Martinique. MDJDS has talked about how it takes basically 24 hours for her to travel from Martinique to basically anywhere and because Martinique is a French department there are direct flights from Paris and no such thing from Houston. As of this post it would cost between $690-730 to fly from Paris to Martinique and almost $1200 to fly from Houston to Martinique. MDJDS is also not been treated super well when she has gone home to compete. Her WCC coaches were not allowed to stay with her in the week before the Paris World Challenge Cup and when she showed up the French National Team staff decided they didn't like her technique on one of her releases and decided to retrain it. A week before competition. It did not go well. She had a generally good 2023 French Championship but the difference between her being allowed to train in the states while the Avoine-Beaumont gymnasts are being put through hell to force them to leave home is... a choice. And not one I think anyone can explain.

While this was going on the Pôle Marseille was closed down after it's head was convicted of "moral harassment." One of the longest running French gymnastics meets Gym Massilia was abruptly cancelled last year and though it was said it would be back this spring... it's July and that hasn't happened.

All of this has been about WAG but it's also worth mentioning that the French federation hired Vitaly Marinitch to be the head coach of the French team. He had been publicly fired from USAG for drunkenly groping the wife of an athlete. In under 2 years the French also fired him for "alcohol related incidents".

A lot of this came to a head last month when a French sports television program aired a segment including many former French national team members describing physical and verbal abuse. It's... a hard listen if you can find a copy though the versions on youtube have been copywrite striked so I can't link it. The French Minister of Sport acted the next day ordering Nemour to be released to compete for Algeria and investigations into the coaches described in the report, as well as a "speedy conclusion" to the investigation into Avoine-Beaumont. The FFG has down played and been dismissive of the entire thing. Even claiming that the TV team did their investigation... because of Larry Nassar. But hey... the French gym fed president gets to spend a lot of time now answering questions before the National Assembly's investigative commission.

That's pretty much the state of everything right now... but please indulge me as I give a brief explainer about how France does not work the way you think it might. France is divided into administrative units called departments (think provinces or states). There are two "kinds" of departments those of Metropolitan France (the area you probably think of when you think of a map of France) and the départements et régions d'outre-mer or Overseas Departments. There is NO difference under French law between the two. Marine Boyer is from the French department of Réunion which is in the Indian ocean and MDJDS is from the French department of Martinique in the Caribbean. They are both full French citizens and their home departments have representation in the European Parliament. Does this sound very Colonialism-y or Empire-y to you? Of course it does. You wouldn't be wrong. But this does not change the reality of how French citizens are treated under the law. French political society highly values the idea that all French citizens are equal under the law and it would be deeply offensive to that power structure to suggest that a French citizen should be treated differently based on if they came from a Metropolitan Department or DROM.

One other side note: Many believe Avoine-Beaumont pushes too much difficulty too young. I am among the people who believes that. But there is also no evidence that they are doing anything different than would be done at INSEP. It's completely possible to side eye the pacing at Avoine-Beaumont and also think that they are the victims of a power grab. While I do not know of any complaints by current gymnasts against Avoine-Beaumont there is some evidence from the London quad of restrictive diets and abuse.

[sapphicshart]

my friend jiji who i met several years ago when i was her english conversation coach has been wanting to come to the us to study linguistics for quite a while but now things are coming to a head and she needs some help to get out of algeria. i couldnt attach this to the gofundme itself but here are some documents

they are all in french or arabic because those are the languages of algeria but it should still be pretty obvious what they are. if you could share this that would be greatly appreciated. if you want to avoid gofundme my cashapp is $dralokyn and all donations will be forwarded to jiji so she can get out of her situation

[jessethegoat]

Jesse's first article of WC 2022

it's really interesting to read, so I put it below (Athletic does have awesome articles about football and do subscribe if you can ❤️). Also his thought about Pulisic is very interesting.

I had the perfect seat. Upper deck, front row.

All around me at the sold-out Meadowlands there were people in soccer jerseys. They were singing songs and chanting. I felt like I was in Europe. I was a college student at Princeton University in 1994 when the World Cup came to the U.S. and I remember going to the hotel to pick up my tickets for the semi-final from a Princeton alum, Charlie Stillitano. The whole Italian team was sitting in the lobby drinking espressos, of course. Maldini. Costacurta. Albertini. Baggio.

These guys were my heroes. My coach at Princeton, Bob Bradley, had basically modelled us to play like AC Milan. I knew those Italian players inside and out. And then to be in the stadium watching them play against Hristo Stoitchkov and Bulgaria, to see the fanfare. It was eye-opening for me. It was exciting, the possibility of having that kind of soccer culture back home. We absolutely needed that 1994 World Cup in our country to give our sport a chance. The fact so many people were so excited about it gave us the idea that a league could be successful. It made us dream — even if I never could’ve imagined I’d be team-mates with Stoitchkov just a few years later.

This U.S. men’s national team gives me that same feeling. Inside the business of professional soccer in the U.S., the World Cup has always been a litmus test of where we are in our development of the sport in our country. Outside of the business, for the fans and the public, it’s more about the momentum and overall outlook of the sport. It’s about the potential of where we can go.

When you’re there at the World Cup, you can miss some of that big picture. I remember when Landon Donovan scored that goal against Algeria in South Africa in 2010. In the locker room, we were pumped. I remember the power and excitement of winning the group. Of mentally getting ready for the next match. But the movement back home that it created? We didn’t anticipate that. And then we saw the videos coming out of all of these celebrations in the bars back home.

That’s what the World Cup is about.

And this U.S. team has a chance to be inspiring again. That’s the best thing that can happen for our sport. How the team plays, the tactics, the performance? That’s the litmus test. But we need that momentum. We need a team that’s inspiring.

Certainly one of the talking points around the U.S. team in Qatar is that only one player on the squad (DeAndre Yedlin) has been to the World Cup. It’s a young group that doesn’t know anything about the tournament — what the rhythm is like, the pressure. They’ve played in the youth tournaments, but now they’re on the big stage. I’ve seen some of the quotes from some of the guys this week saying it hasn’t really even sunk in yet that they’re at the World Cup because I think for all of them it’s been a dream.

I know inexperience will be a factor, but I give big credit to U.S. Soccer and to Gregg Berhalter because it would have been easy to keep veteran guys such as Michael Bradley, Brad Guzan and others, players that were and are still very good players, and feel the security of: “They’ve been there. They know what it takes. They’re going to help lead us into the new phase with these young players.” But Gregg and the federation committed entirely to young players and now when you look at it, of course achieving qualification was a must given the fact we missed out in 2018, but if this group can do well in this tournament, you can use it as a springboard for 2026. It was really well done and really well thought-out and it gives us a chance to be better in 2026.

And youth doesn’t have to be a detriment.

One thing for sure is that over the years fearlessness has been the American identity. I think of the 2002 team that went to the quarter-finals; that was a big part of it. They played with total reckless abandonment and belief. That was certainly part of it for us in 2010, when you think about how we fought and battled back in games against England and Slovenia. And of course that late goal against Algeria. There is this identity of fearlessness and belief in U.S. teams, and soon we will see that in this group. They’re too young to be afraid. Too young to know any better.

And then we will see if it can be matched with clarity — in terms of roles, tactics and intensity. That’s the recipe for success in all the games, and certainly against England.

Planning out how to play in a World Cup is not easy. If I’m the manager, I’m asking myself, “All right, based on the opponent and what the games are going to require, what is necessary in the team?” We did this a lot in 2010. We looked at each game, knowing that we were going to have to have some rotation and use our entire squad the right way. We tried to predict what each game was going to look like and then which players would fit the idea of what the game was, what our match plan was going to be and what the match-ups were going to be on the day.

We would have four-hour conversations about two positions. We’d debate options for scenarios: if the game is tight, if we need a goal, if we make formation changes.

Obviously, there are players who are going to play in every game. Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams fit that category. But then you start to analyze things like: is Tim Ream the right guy for a counter-attacking team like Wales? Or is he a little bit better against England, where he knows the team, he knows all of those players and can sit a little bit deeper? He’s clever in the box defending, and then with the ball, he can make good decisions.

In 2010, in four games we wound up using everyone other than Jonathan Spector — 19 of 20 field players. And I think that’s one of the keys: figuring out how to use the arsenal of players you have. I hate talking about football and tactics like it’s a chess match, but sometimes you’re trying to analyze game by game by game. What do you expect each opponent to look like? And who are the best players to use to maximize your potential in that match?

It’s why Ream is a good match for Aaron Long on the roster. Facing Tim in the Premier League, you see he has really developed an intelligence on the pitch, a savviness and an understanding of games. Tim is incredibly good with the ball, but it’s not just that his technical ability is good, it’s that he’s a good decision-maker. When you watch him play week in and week out in the Premier League, he doesn’t make many mistakes because he’s a very intelligent player. He plays to his strengths and he’s good at that. Long has a bigger arsenal to draw on in terms of qualities and athleticism, but he doesn’t have the experience that Tim has. Now you have one player that has a little bit more athleticism and you have one player with a little bit more experience. And the balance of those two could be good.

Walker Zimmerman could be good if the game is requiring two center backs that are gonna have to defend in the box and deal with a lot of crosses and manage a lot of tight spaces and some shots and one-v-ones on the outside of the box. These are some of the decisions Gregg and his staff are going to have to make as they plan out the group.

Against Wales, the U.S. is going to see a team that sits in a low block and looks to hit them in transition with players like Daniel James and Gareth Bale. It will likely be similar against Iran. I always say the reason teams play with a low block is that it’s hard to break down. People like to criticize you when you can’t break those teams down, but when they have a low block, that’s the strategy, right? At Leeds, one of the things that we always talk about against teams like this is finishing plays with shots. We want to finish, obviously, with goals, but we say we want to finish plays with shots on frame because that’s another way to create more corners and more set-piece plays. Those can be the difference in these types of games.

Defensively, when those types of teams have a goal kick or the goalkeeper has the ball in his hands, it’s about coming a little bit deeper and inviting your opponent to try to play more. Some teams won’t bite and they go direct, then you have to be good in second-ball situations. Because at that point, if they push forward and go direct and you’re good in second-ball situations, you have created more space behind the opponent where then you can create quick combinations in midfield and look to play more vertically behind them.

One of the most important strategies, for me, when you’re playing a low block is actually losing the balls in certain areas for counter-pressing, so you can win the ball back and create chances. You have to be good at counter-pressing. Incredibly good.

You also have to be good at rest defense, which is marking the opponents while you are in possession. It is crucial to be disciplined in making sure that their players are not standing free, because the tighter you are when you lose the ball, the less you give them room to get out on the run. It requires an acute awareness that every time you lose the ball, you need complete commitment from every player to make sure that you’re running back, that you’re counter-pressing, that you’re smart about fouls, that you do not allow the team to play into the exact strategy that they want. And you have to be aware of the strategy of the opponent the entire match and understand their strengths and eliminate those possibilities.

Even on attacking set pieces, you often have to literally man-mark their transition players because a lot of times these teams want to be effective off defensive set pieces. When I’ve played Liverpool over the years, I’ve man-marked Mohamed Salah on our corner kicks. You get your fastest, most-disciplined players in those roles. You need guys that take pride in that. It’s one of the beauties of Tyler Adams. He takes pride in not allowing his defensive responsibilities to slip. And you need players that are committed to that — that are disciplined, focused, concentrated on exactly those strategies.

All of these things require a very clean and clear tactical awareness of the entire group at all times, and very clear roles on the day for what’s necessary. When you do that well, you can completely dominate the match. If you’re too loose and your awareness is not good enough, then you can look very vulnerable.

England will obviously be a match where they have the ball a little bit more, which could be good for the U.S. This is one of the things with Leeds, too. We like playing against opponents that want the ball because we’re fast, we have athleticism, we like to press, we like to play with intensity. This U.S. player pool can run. They’re young, they’re fit and they have some talent. And most of them, most importantly, are built with fearlessness. A lot of the guys are playing now in the Premier League or in the Champions League week-in and week-out. These guys know what the level of a game like that is. I think if they can be organized against the ball and in pressing, and if they can be good in set-piece situations, defensive and attacking, that will give them the best chance to get a result in that match.

The forward situation is the trickiest for the U.S., especially in a tournament like this. Berhalter likes to overload the wings and create crossing situations, and to do that you need somebody in the middle who can finish, who runs hard in the box, who knows to find space. In the games in CONCACAF when the U.S. have had a lot of possession and have been able to push teams back, they’ve been able to create chances more from that inverted winger position coming inside and creating combinations and scoring goals that way. But against better competition, I think the two ways that they’ll be looking to score will be from crossing and from transition.

Wales have some really good center backs who are strong defending in the box, and so you have to try to find overloads — creating numerical advantages in specific areas of the field — in order to get into the box.

That’s what will be important for me, whether it’s against Wales or Iran, is that we don’t just look like a bunch of attacking players standing outside the box, that we’re putting pressure on them by putting numbers inside the box. By attacking crosses, flat crosses, by creating combinations in the box, by trying to go one-v-one and get penalties. Those things will be vital and good things to watch for in those matches.

It all comes back to one idea: how can you be really dangerous to score goals? For the U.S. in this World Cup, that will be the big question: where are the goals coming from?

Maybe the answer is a simple one: Pulisic.

One of the most difficult things for me is I don’t know Christian well enough. A big part of uncovering the potential of players is uncovering the potential of the people. You have to get to know players to really unearth the potential of their personality, within what their qualities are as a player. And that’s often the fun for me of being a coach. A lot of times with me it’s young players, but that’s not always the case.

We have Rodrigo at Leeds, and he’s 31 and I’ve even had a conversation with him at one point and said it’s too bad I didn’t know him when he was 18 because I could have helped make him one of the best players in the world — I truly believe that. But in the process at Leeds, we’re still uncovering new potentials for him and he’s committed and adapted incredibly well. But to do that I’ve had to really get to know Rodrigo as a person and what makes him tick. What are his vulnerabilities? What are his insecurities? What things make him stronger? What are the things he likes?

With Christian, I don’t know him well enough, and I’ve said in the past that I would love to get to know him more because I can see that there’s so much potential there. But I often wonder how to tap into it, truly.

If we look at what Christian can bring to the U.S. at this World Cup, from a purely tactical perspective, he’s best in space. So in transition moments and when he can be on the run and use his combination of agility and speed and technical ability, that’s when he’s able to be at his best. That feeds more into the games where the U.S. are able to be a little bit more in pressing phases and are in more transition phases. We could see more of that in the England game.

The key, though, is that Christian has also got to find ways to be dynamic running off the ball in the box, not just being satisfied with wanting to get the ball wide in spaces. What I like to say to attacking players in those situations is that our good players can handle the ball in wide spaces — on the wing or in deeper spaces in the midfield. Our best players need to put themselves in dangerous spots that the other players aren’t as good in. And so that involves being more in and around the box, being in and around the center backs and using your cleverness and ability in tight spaces, using your quick first step and then obviously your finishing ability. If Pulisic can do that, the U.S. will be far more dangerous.

In just a few days, we’ll see which way it goes, but as I think about that first game, I keep coming back to that feeling I had way back in 1994 at the Meadowlands. That feeling of the potential that is there for the sport in our country.

They won’t want to talk about it right now, but in reality, this World Cup is a stepping stone for the team going into 2026. We all want to see the team do really well now, but everyone back home is looking at 2026 and imagining what this can really become when the World Cup comes back to the U.S.

It’s a foolish thing to even say out loud, but can we be contenders at home? To even say that out loud is ridiculous. But we do think this is a golden generation of players. We do think that — on pure potential — this is the best group we’ve ever had. So can they develop and grow in a way where, in three and a half years, they can be talked about as semi-finalists? Finalists?

That is the hope of what 2026 can mean.

Inside the business and outside it, too.

[jayessentialsblog]

former coach of the Super Eagles, Rohr has disclosed his best game

Gernot Rohr, former head coach of Nigeria's Super Eagles, has revealed his favorite game as head coach, stating that his favorite game was the 2017 World Cup qualifier victory against Zambia. Rohr is currently the manager of the Benin Republic national team. Nigeria secured a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup through qualification in a specific match, according to Rohr, who spoke at a news conference before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Benin Republic. “The matches you spoke about were fantastic. My first match was here, against Tanzania, we won it. We had to go to Zambia and we won it. We started with victories here against the team you talked about,” Rohr said. “The victory against newly crowned African champions Cameroon was a big one, particularly wonderful for us. “The 1-0 victory against Zambia which gave us qualification for the World Cup was the best one. After we went to Algeria, we played a good match, drawing but lost on the green carpet. “Fortunately for everybody, we were already qualified.” Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) terminated Rohr's five-year contract with the Super Eagles just before the 2021 AFCON. Rohr's tenure saw Nigeria win crucial games against Argentina, Poland, Zambia, Algeria, Cameroon, Libya, and Brazil and Ukraine. Read the full article

[allthenewzworld]

In the weeks since Algeria's Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women's boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women.

Khelif's image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight's success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete.

by Anis Belghoul

[bllsbailey]

Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling Named In Cyberbullying Lawsuit Filed By Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif

J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have been named in a lawsuit filed by controversial Olympic boxer Imane Khelif.

Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, announced on Wednesday that they had sent a criminal complaint to the Paris public prosecutor’s office on August 9th regarding alleged “acts of cyber-harassment.”

According to Variety, the lawsuit was brought against X. Under French law, it means it was filed against unknown persons.

The lawsuit states that, “misogynistic, racist, and sexist” cyberbullies targeted the 25-year-old.

“That ensures that the prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate all people, including those who may have written hateful messages under pseudonyms,” Boudi said.

The lawyer added that the complaint mentioned other famous figures too. 

“JK Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” he said, adding that Donald Trump could also be part of the investigation.

“Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution,” he continued. 

During her Olympic career, Khelif became Algeria’s first female gold medalist in boxing and its first boxer to win an Olympic gold medal overall since 1996.

When it was revealed that Khelif had failed the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender eligibility test, she was disqualified from competing in the 2023 Boxing World Championships, raising questions about her gender.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has disputed this test, and before the Paris events, it stripped the IBA of recognition as boxing’s governing body and expelled it from the Olympics over issues including corruption, financial transparency, and governance.

Khelif was born a female and has never claimed to be intersex or transgender. “Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman,” the IOC declared, indicating her gender.

After Italian boxer Angela Carini pulled out of her 66 kg boxing competition match against Khelif after just 46 seconds, saying, “I have never felt a punch like this,” the issue gained national attention.

Rowling posted on X after the fight, calling the boxer a “male who knows he’s protected.”

“The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered,” she stated.

In another post, the author said, “I don’t claim Khelif is trans. My objection, and that of many others, is to male violence against women becoming an Olympic sport.”

Additionally, Musk shared a post from the U.S. swimmer Riley Gaines that said “men don’t belong in women’s sports” and added, “Absolutely.”

Meanwhile, Trump posted a picture from the fight accompanied by the message: “I will keep men out of women’s sports!”

Boudi told Variety that although the complaint mentioned names, “what we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary.”

“If the case goes to court, they will stand trial,” he added. 

The lawyer said that while the lawsuit was filed in France, “it could target personalities overseas.”

Khelif’s coach, Pedro Diaz, said the bullying the boxer endured during the Olympics “incredibly affected her” and “everyone around her.”

“The first time she fought in the Olympics, there was this crazy storm outside of the ring,” said Diaz, who has helped train 21 Olympic champions prior to Khelif. “I had never seen anything so disgusting in my life.”

Khelif also released her own statement following the fight that sparked the outrage. 

“I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I have lived as a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks,” she said. 

If Khelif wins the case, Rowling, Musk, and others named in the suit could face maximum of five-year behind bars and fines of up to £214,000 (approximately $236,074). 

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[scrapesaladofficial]

British doctors save Uzbek coach after cardiac arrest during Olympic gold medal celebration

British doctor Harj Singh and physiotherapist Robbie Lillis avert tragedy amid celebration as they save Uzbek coach Tulkin Kilichev from a cardiac arrest immediately after an Olympic gold medal win PARIS, France – Two-time Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov on Saturday, August 10, thanked medical staff from the British team for their help in treating Uzbekistan coach Tulkin Kilichev when he suffered a cardiac arrest on Thursday, August 8. Kilichev was celebrating Hasanboy Dusmatov’s win over Billal Bennama in the men’s flyweight boxing final when he required assistance. “Two members of GB Boxing’s medical team have helped to save the life of the Uzbekistan boxing head coach after he suffered a cardiac arrest at Paris 2024,” Team GB said in a statement. “Doctor Harj Singh and physio Robbie Lillis were the first to respond when Tulkin Kilichev was celebrating a gold medal for Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov in the warm-up area at Stade Roland Garros on Thursday suddenly went into cardiac arrest.” Pestered by worldwide discussions on her gender for the entirety of the Paris Olympics, Algeria's first woman gold medal-winning boxer Imane Khelif savors the sweet feeling of championing women's sports with her platform Filipino fighter Dave Apolinario loses after 20 wins, suffering from a barrage of body punches against Mexican Angel Ayala Lardizabal in their IBF title bout Algeria's Imane Khelif moves on the cusp of a gold medal in the Paris Olympics as she advances to the women's 66kg final after a unanimous decision win over Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng “Singh performed CPR whilst Lillis was able to use a defibrillator to bring Kilichev back to consciousness.” The body added that Kilichev was taken to hospital and is in stable condition. “He is my personal coach. He is a great coach. He is very good now. Thank you very much for all the help that the doctors have given in France,” Jalolov told reporters after his win over Spain’s Ayoub Ghadfa in the men’s super heavyweight final. “Now he feels better. He is fine. And of course, thanks to the doctors from England, because it was the English who helped first, until the other doctors came. Thank you very much for all this help. “He is always in contact. Before and after the fight, we were always on video. He was with me in my heart. Tomorrow we will all go together to see him at the hospital.” Read the full article

[snommelp]

It's amazing how easy it can be to get people to prove they don't have a damn clue what they're talking about

The weirdos on Twitter are still on about Imane Khelif

And one jackass, in response to the picture of her coach holding her on his shoulders, said something about how "women aren't allowed to be touched by men like that"

With very little prompting, this jackass revealed:

He's an "expert" because he's from Lebanon - which, for those who are geographically challenged, is not Algeria

He lived in Lebanon for 11 years

Those 11 years were the first 11 years of his life

He moved away in 2010

Yes, I'm really going to trust the expertise of a guy who lived in a completely different country when he was a child, that sounds like someone who knows exactly what's going on

Like, I lived in Georgia (the state) for the first 14 years of my life, and I don't pretend that makes me an expert on Florida