Oblak, the best goalkeeper of the last decade of LaLiga
Oblak’s debut as a rojiblanco could not have been more dire, in the Champions League, against Olympiacos, three goals. He would not play again six months later and because Moyá injured a finger in the eighths of the Champions League, against Leverkusen. I would begin to make the miracle a routine. Nothing would ever get him out of a goal in which he has become a giant, the best. And always surrounded. Great friends. Savic, Vrsaljko, Saponjic …Goalkeepers with the most matches without conceding a goal in the League–Oblak, 99-Bravo, 80–Courtois, 75–Diego Lopez, 68–Iraizoz, 64–Asenjo, 58–Ter Stegen, 58–Victor Valdes, 54–Keylor Navas, 51–Guaita, fifty Jan Oblak (27 years old) came to Atlético in the summer of 2014 with a heavy duty ahead: replacing Courtois. The Belgian, on loan from Chelsea, was forced to return to London after three unforgettable seasons, Zamora of LaLiga in the last two. Today, almost six years later, their numbers are indisputable. Oblak, Zamora in the last four leagues consecutively, second captain of Atlético, their matches are counted by miracles. It is enough to review the last great game in the world before the coronavirus crisis closed him in: he received 27 shots, made 11 stops, on his gloves Cholo built the victory against Liverpool that would later give him two goals from Llorente. Now an Opta study highlights him as the best goalkeeper in LaLiga of the last decade.No other left the goal as many times to zero as the Slovenian (a total of 99), ahead of Bravo, Ter Stegen or Courtois himself. And that his beginnings in Atlético were not easy. Nothing. He revealed it himself a few months ago in an interview in the Sportsman’s Club. “He was a boy who was new, started with Spanish and did not control it to communicate well. I was sad and alone ”, revealed. He landed with trouble on one hip after becoming the signing for a more expensive goalkeeper, Atletico paid 16 million for him to Benfica. Miguel Ángel Moyá, originally signed to be his substitute, took his place from him with great performances, such as in the Spanish Super Cup against Madrid.
Symbol of the freedom of football in Eastern Europe, stateless fled beyond the Iron Curtain, Ladinszky escaped to join the Rot-Weiss Essen of the then Federal Republic of Germany for a few months and then play for the Dutch Feyenoord and Anderlecht, with whom he was top scorer in the Belgian League in 1974. By then, the Hungarian government had already He had withdrawn his nationality, thus making him stateless. In 1975 he was signed by Betis, with whom he played 59 games in which he scored 17 goals.In 1978 the club verdiblanco descended to Second Division and Ladinszky returned to Belgium, to Kortrijk. After several years in France (Valenciennes and Toulouse) and an adventure in Porto’s Amarante, he set up a restaurant in Brussels to return to Hungary in the mid-90s, several years after the fall of the communist regime. Former Hungarian Betis striker Attila Ladinszky, 70, is admitted to the ICU of the Janos hospital in Budapest with serious heart problems. This is not a coronavirus, according to the Magyar daily Nemzeti Sport. Landinsky played in Heliópolis for three seasons (1975-78) and was part of the squad that won the Copa del Rey in the Calderón final in 1977 against Athletic Bilbao. But neither Attila nor the Dutch Mühren, the other foreigner that Betis had then, they were able to play a single match in the KO tournament that campaign because foreigners would be banned until the following season.
After knocking on the door for several years, GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport had their greatest moment at the 122nd staging of the Penn Relays last week with a win and several top-three finishes, ending as the most successful Jamaican college team in Philadelphia. The Maurice Wilson-coached team had its biggest moment in the Championship of America men’s college 4×100 metres. Entering the meet as the second ranked team, the team of Colin King, Chadic Hinds, Everton Clarke, and Brandon Tomlinson clocked 39.31 seconds to defeat the University of Houston, who finished second in 39.49 seconds. Defending champions University of Technology were fifth in 39.73 seconds. Meanwhile, Andre Clarke was second in the collegiate 400 metres hurdles while Aubrey Allen, Orrin Powell and the men’s 4×400 metres team all finished third. Powell threw 70.35 metres in the javelin; Allen cleared 15.83 metres in the triple jump; while the 4x 400 metres team clocked 3:08.19. Wilson was pleased with the team’s achievement. “We have worked hard all year and we are extremely thankful to God who played a pivotal role in our success,” said Wilson, who is also the technical leader of Jamaica’s senior athletics team. Meanwhile, the University of West Indies duo of Fedrick Dacres (65.19) and Traves Smikle (63.42) finished one-two in the college men’s discus. The University of Technology had two individual second places. Megan Simmonds was second in the college women’s 100-metre hurdles in 13.24 seconds, the same time done by winner, Sasha Wallace of the University of Oregon. Shimarya Williams clocked 11.54 seconds in the women’s 100 metres, behind winner Gabrielle Farquharson of Rutgers in 11.36 seconds. UTech’s 4×200 metres female team anchored by Shericka Jackson finished second in 1:32.69, behind Tennessee in 1:31.84.
Since throwing a world-leading and national record (NR) 68.19 metres in early June, IAAF World Championships discus medal hopeful Jason Morgan has struggled badly, only once breaking the 62-metre mark.Morgan, the bronze-medal winner from last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is, however, remaining positive in the build-up to the August 22-29 meet set for Beijing’s Birds Nest as he points to his experience competing on the Diamond League circuit and improved physical conditioning as factors behind his confidence.”What I threw earlier this year, having the world lead, it’s a good feeling to be back in a good place mentally and physically. I had two aims: to break the national record and qualify for the World Championships. But I have a next aim right now and that is to get a medal. That’s the focus right now – to get my body healthy and be fully prepared mentally also,” Morgan told Gleaner Athletics.The Jamaican has since lost his world leader status to Piotr Malachowski (Poland), who threw 68.29m on August 1, but is encouraged, having faced the Polish Olympic (2008) and World Championships (2009, 2013) silver medallist a few times this year.”I feel really confident going into Beijing. Competing with these guys in Europe has also given me a lot of confidence because I know what they are capable of and I know the conditions. I am more familiar competing with those guys on a regular basis and I am generally more comfortable,” said Morgan.”The European schedule was tough, but that comes when you are throwing well for the year. You will get meets. I have been having some physical issues, and because I don’t have a medical team for massage or for when I have knee or shoulder issues, I have to deal with those myself when I’m on the circuit,” said Morgan, who this year featured at the Shanghai, Paris, and London Diamond League meets.Better physical shape”I am making the best of the opportunity of the medical team that is here (at the Jamaican team camp) to get my body to a point where I can compete well and do my best at the World Championships.”Hopefully, as the days go by, everything will connect and I will be in the best shape to compete well there,” added Morgan. “My main thing is to get my body back into top shape as it was earlier in the year, and it’s getting closer as the days go by, so I am excited about what is to come.”Morgan, who is currently in Tottori, Japan, for a pre-championships camp with other members of Jamaica’s World Championships team, took time out to laud the facilities and hospitality at the Japanese prefecture.”The city and people of Tottori have welcomed us with a homecoming kind of feeling. We definitely feel at home here,” Morgan said.”All the facilities here are up to standard. Everyone on the team is feeling really good about how they are facilitating us – just doing everything on a whole to make sure that we are really comfortable. We are in a really good environment.”
JOCKEY Aaron Chatrie was yesterday hit hard by the stewards of the Jamaica Racing Commission for incidents on last Saturday’s racecard as well as a riding infringement the previous week aboard BOLD AVIATOR. Starting Saturday, the jockey will sit out 10 racedays for what the stewards last Saturday described as “ungentlemanly behaviour” after his mount, first-past-the-post WOMAN IS BOSS, was disqualified. Chatrie was also fined a total $20,000 – slapped with a pair of 10,000 fines – one for WOMAN IS BOSS and the other for the previous Saturday when he also had his number taken down after passing the post in front astride 9-1 outsider BOLD AVIATOR. Unless Chatrie wins an appeal, he will not return to the saddle until Heroes Day, Monday, October 19. A source close to the jockey said he had expected the worst. “I knew he would have got some days. I was 80 per cent sure, based on what I was hearing around the track,” he said. Chatrie was stood down from his last two mounts Saturday, deemed “a danger to himself and others” and “was in no condition to continue riding” for the remainder of the racemeet, the stewards reported. “We could not send him back out there,” said operation steward Eustace Williams, explaining the panel’s reason to stand him down for his two remaining rides on the 10-race card – SEEKING HOPE in the eighth event and STAMP OF AUTHORITY in the nightpan. “He was in no condition to continue riding,” steward Haldene Johansen added.
Western Bureau:Striker Michael ‘Diddy’ Kerr, it seems, can do no wrong for St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).A hat-trick from the hot striker yesterday fired STETHS to a 4-0 rout of Lacovia High in Group E of the 2015 ISSA-FLOW daCosta Cup in Santa Cruz.Kerr has now scored seven goals in his last two matches following a four-timer against Newell on Thursday.Neville Graham added the home team’s fourth goal, which saw STETHS overtaking their opponents to go top of the group on 11 points, the same as BB Coke, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Newell.Also in Group E, Munro College edged Maggotty 1-0 to keep alive their slim hopes of advancing to the next round.In the STETHS-Lacovia clash, Kerr struck the opener with a blistering shot to beat goalkeeper Andre Frater in the 29th minute. His second came from the penalty spot after Lacovia defender Kemar Thomas was issued a red card for intentionally handling the ball in the area.Kerr sent Frater the wrong way to make the score 2-0 in the 66th minute and added his third of the match in the 80th to cap a fine evening for his school. Morgan struck in the 73rd minute, with Kerr providing the assist.PAID OFF HANDSOMELY”We play hard everyday and it paid off handsomely today,” buzzed STETHS coach Omar Wedderburn.”Kerr has been exceptional in attack, especially because we now can play the sort of game we love to play. We are still looking at December 5 – the daCosta Cup final,” reasoned Wedderburn.Meanwhile, defending champions Clarendon College maintained their unbeaten run in Group H by defeating Thompson Town, 3-1, for their tenth point in four matches. Edwin Allen also won yesterday, edging Lennon 2-1.As a result of the win, Edwin Allen moved to within striking distance on nine points, with Lennon dropping to third on seven points. Thompson Town are next with three points.Yesterday’s resultsp Newell 0 BB Coke 0p Herbert Morrison 0 William Knibb 0p Lennon 1 Edwin Allen 2p STETHS 4 Lacovia 0p Porus 2 Garvey Maceo 1p Kemps Hill 3 Central 2p Munro 1 Maggotty 0p Holmwood 1 Spalding 0p Cedric Titus 0 Ocho Rios 1p Tacius Golding 0 Dinthill 6p Knox 0 Alston 1p Port Antonio 1 Titchfield 0p Rusea’s 3 Merlene Ottey 0p Thompson Town 1 Clarendon College 3p Glenmuir 1 Denbigh 1
West Indies cricket is passing through some hard times. For the past 25 years or so, West Indies cricket has been hit by all sorts of problems, what with a senior player walking out of his hotel during a tour, another player sent home during a tour, players refusing to tour, the president of the board forced to fly to London to save a tour, players going on strike for more money, quarrels over the captaincy of the team, players giving up the captaincy, and one captain after another leaving as they do in a game of musical chairs. In 1995, the West Indies lost the crown as champions of the world, and this has been followed by defeat after defeat until it has reached a stage where they will not, or cannot, compete in next year’s Champions Trophy tournament simply because they are no longer ranked among the top-eight teams in the world. To top it all, the West Indies regional tournament is no longer ranked with the best in the world. With the best players occupied elsewhere, with Trinidad and Tobago, for example, playing almost a second-eleven team, regional cricket is now little better than club cricket, with many matches, planned for four days, finishing in two days. The Board cannot and should not be blamed for all of this. Despite doing a few things, such as the playing of return matches and paying players to play the game, they are guilty, however, of many things, including the collapse of West Indies cricket. Things have got to the stage where CARICOM has, quite rightly, called for an Interim Board, although it is still dealing with the Board. It has called for a meeting with the Board, despite already discussing the entire matter with the Board, and the Board will decide, or try to decide, when it meets with CARICOM. The Board may decide to fight CARICOM instead of going quietly, and one of the changes the Interim Board needs to put in place for the future is the way by which the president is elected. It seems unreasonable, for example, that in a region of so many people, of six sovereign nations and in a region where democracy is supposed to rule, that it takes only 12 people – as representative of the affiliates – to vote for the president of such an important organisation. All that is necessary for anyone to win the vote is seven of those 12 votes. Something must be done about that. Looking at West Indies cricket, however, the problem is more than with the president and board members. It is even more than the president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) being a member of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and the chairman of its selection committee; more than the secretary of WIPA being a member of the JCA and also a member of its selection committees. It is even more than the fact that the president of the WICB, the president of WIPA and the secretary of WIPA are from the same country, just like the board’s CEO, are all from the same territory and basically from the same club. The problem, the real problem with West Indies cricket, is the modern-day attitude of the West Indian people. In days of old, West Indians were a proud people; they were poor, but they were proud. The fathers and mothers worked hard, and the children, the boys especially, dressed as nicely as they could. They studied hard, and they dreamed of doing things, of representing people, especially at sports and at cricket. And unless you were a star, you were expected, like the non-playing members, to pay your club dues. The men in charge in those days, the club presidents and club secretaries, were also respected members of the club. Today, however, that is not so, not generally so. Today, everybody is a big shot. Rich or poor, everyone, or almost everyone, goes to work, for example, at his own leisure and in his own time. There is hardly any pride in dress, especially among boys. All their time, for most of them, is spent going to parties and to night clubs doing nothing progressive. There is hardly any pride in doing anything, except may be, schoolboy sports. On top of it all, the players pay not a cent for their own development and enjoyment. The clubs which encourage it are broke, and there is hardly any respect for anyone, including the doctor, the preacher, the lawyer, and the teacher, much less the club president or the club secretary. Whereas once upon a time, the president of the club or club secretary was a big boy in the society and, more or less, highly respected, someone who could, for example, get a job for anyone, today, the president or secretary is a just another member and treated as such by the member whose skill sees him earning more than the president or the secretary. Thanks to those who went before, all that has changed, and thank God for that. It is, however, part of the changing times and part of what has happened to West Indies cricket. These are some of the things which have affected the West Indian society and West Indies cricket. Some things, some changes, have been great, but some things have been bad. The better payment of the athletes, although not as good as elsewhere in the world, has been great for West Indies cricket, but it has made the good player lose respect for those in charge as they make greater demands, and made some of them, most of them, have little or no respect for those in charge. The will to train and to practice is missing, the willingness to follow instructions is absent, and the pride of performance is sadly lacking. All that is left is the urge to go where the money is, something that is allowed by a weak board, and one which has failed to control the players, to make them understand commitment and loyalty. Although they are contracted to West Indies cricket, or to their territory’s cricket, the West Indies players are the only players who turn up almost everywhere to play in other countries’ domestic cricket, and at the expense of their own cricket. The West Indies is also a relatively poor region, and because of all these things, cricket may never change, except the players somehow change their attitude and train and practise, or unless the gods smile on the Caribbean and the region suddenly becomes rich, rich enough to spend some more money on sport, particularly on cricket, without sacrificing the necessities of life, necessities such as health care, food, housing, education, and safety. A proud people
DURBAN, South Africa (AP):James Taylor led England’s fightback on the first day of the first test against South Africa as his half-century took the tourists out of trouble and to 179-4 at stumps yesterday.The 5-foot-6 Taylor – affectionately nicknamed ‘Titch’ – stood tall for England to make 70 after Dale Steyn’s fiery early burst had the tourists struggling at 12-2 in overcast, fast-bowler-friendly conditions in Durban.”It couldn’t have been more perfect conditions for the South African bowling unit, so, overall, I thought it was a pretty solid day for us,” Taylor said.Steyn struck the first blows with the dismissals of England captain Alastair Cook for a duck and Test debutant Alex Hales for 10. Joe Root’s aggressive innings of 24 ended swiftly, leaving Taylor and Nick Compton to steady the innings.Compton was 63 not out and helped Taylor rescue England with a 125-run partnership on the opening day of the four-Test series against the top-ranked Proteas.Steyn ended their resistance when he tempted Taylor to hang his bat out and feather an edge to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers right at the end of the day.”I loved batting today. It’s just a shame I couldn’t kick on,” Taylor said.
Points standingP W D L GF GA GD Pts1. Leicester 28 16 9 3 51 31 20 572. Tottenham 28 15 9 4 49 22 27 543. Arsenal 28 15 6 7 44 28 6 514. Man City 27 14 5 8 48 31 17 475. Man United 28 13 8 7 37 26 11 476. West Ham 28 12 10 6 42 31 11 467. Stoke City 28 12 6 10 30 33 -3 428. Liverpool 27 11 8 8 41 36 5 419. Southampton 28 11 7 10 35 28 7 4010. Chelsea 28 10 9 9 42 38 4 3911. Everton 27 9 11 7 49 36 13 3812. Watford 28 10 7 11 29 29 0 3713. West Brom 28 9 9 10 29 36 -7 3614. Crystal Palace 28 9 6 13 31 37 -6 3315. Bournemouth 28 8 8 12 32 44 -12 3216. Swansea City 28 7 9 12 27 37 -10 3017. Sunderland 28 6 6 16 34 53 -19 2418. Norwich City 28 6 6 16 31 53 -22 2419. Newcastle United 27 6 6 15 27 50 -23 2420. Aston Villa 28 3 7 18 22 51 -29 16
Two-time national champions Waterhouse FC are in a must-win situation when they face-off against Portmore United on match-day 31 in the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) at Juici Park,Clarendon, tomorrow, starting at 3:30 p.m.Waterhouse are sitting in the cellar position in the 12-team league on 28 points from 30 games and find themselves in a tense fight to avoid relegation.With three games remaining in the preliminary stage, Portmore United lead on 57 points, followed by Montego Bay United (56) and defending champions Arnett Gardens (54) as the teams battling for the $1 million incentive awarded to the team that ends on most points.Portmore will be looking for maximum points against Waterhouse in order to continue their impressive run. On the other hand, Waterhouse’s season is on the line, so spectators could be in for a good game.”It is going to be a tough one, but we are up to the challenge on Sunday,” coach of Waterhouse Anthony Patrick said during the RSPL’s weekly press conference last Thursday at Red Stripe.”We have to stay disciplined. We are very confident as a team and training has been going well,” Patrick disclosed.Meanwhile, manager of Portmore United Clive Marshall says his team’s confidence his high following a sweep of Montego Bay United.”We needed back our confidence and it is coming at the right time. We prefer to have this level of confidence going to this stage,” Marshall said.Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, Marshall added that: “We are fully aware that all games will be tough because teams have different objectives at this stage.”