Thursday, June 24, 2010

“Chile vow to keep faith with attacking philosophy” plus 1 more

“Chile vow to keep faith with attacking philosophy” plus 1 more

Chile vow to keep faith with attacking philosophy

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 05:06 AM PDT

By Gideon Long

NELSPRUIT, June 23 (Reuters) - Chile captain Claudio Bravo said his team would not renege on their attacking philosophy in their final Group H match against Spain, even though they need only a draw to be sure of reaching the last 16 of the World Cup.

Chile arrived in South Africa with a reputation for exciting football having scored a hatful of goals in the qualifiers, and although they have only scored twice in their opening two matches, they have created numerous chances.

According to FIFA statistics, they had 40 shots in those first two games - the third highest total in the tournament behind Spain and Argentina.

Marcelo Bielsa's side regularly start with three forwards and are likely to do so again against Spain in Pretoria on Friday.

"The thing is, that's the way we practice, we don't train to go out and draw, it wouldn't make any sense," Bravo said.

"We're not going to change the way we play just because a certain result would be good for us or not. We'll die by our ideas - the same ideas as always."

Central defender Waldo Ponce echoed the words of his captain.

"We've never changed our playing style. We play the same way in our friendlies, in the matches against the reserves here in training and that's the best way to take on a great team. Our coach would never tell us to go out and play for a draw, because it never works out like that."

Chile will qualify for the last 16 if they win or draw against Spain. If they lose, their future in the competition will depend on the outcome of Friday's other Group H clash between Switzerland and Honduras.

(Writing by Gideon Long; Editing by Nigel Hunt)

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Dutch soccer methods flourishing a world away

Posted: 23 Jun 2010 07:03 AM PDT

By Alexandra Hudson

CAPE TOWN, June 23 (Reuters) - Dutch fans visiting Cape Town will find Dutch football philosophy, a youth training scheme, a Dutch coach and even a familiar club name in Ajax Cape Town, a club which describes itself as a "franchise" of Ajax Amsterdam.

Ajax Cape Town, formed in 1998 through the merger of local clubs Seven Stars and Cape Town Spurs, is 51 percent owned by its famous Dutch namesake, and has attracted much interest among fans who have arrived to see the Netherlands play Cameroon in their final Group E match in Cape Town on Thursday.

For Ajax Amsterdam the link with the South African club allows it access to the cream of local soccer talent, whereas Ajax Cape Town employs the coaching methods and training scheme tried and tested in the Netherlands.

South Africa's Steven Pienaar is a famous example of the path from Ajax Cape Town youth training to Ajax Amsterdam.

The liaison dates from the time when Benni McCarthy, South Africa's all-time leading scorer and a surprise omission from the World Cup squad, was transferred from Seven Stars to Ajax Amsterdam, and the Dutch side expressed interest in forming a partnership in South Africa.

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"The big driver is that we believe we need partners all over the world … Our philosophy at Ajax is that rather than buy players we need to train youngsters and turn them into professionals," Rik van den Boog, chief executive of Ajax Amsterdam, told reporters.

"Of course we'd like to find great players and bring them to Amsterdam … if the Dutch want to be top of the leagues again then we know we need other skills then those we have in the Netherlands," he added.

The Dutch team is working to set up similar arrangements in Russia, China and the United States. Van den Boog said he knew of no other team employing a similar strategy in South Africa.

Rigorous Dutch training methods have brought success—Ajax Cape Town has sold 17 players abroad since 2006.

"All the talent is in the townships. Of the students at the academy about 50 percent are black, 45 percent coloured and 5 percent white," said John Comitis, chairman of Ajax Cape Town.

Many of the students live in extreme poverty in townships on the fringes of Cape Town and have only a poor diet.

"Some of the kids get only one decent meal a day—the one they get at Ajax Cape Town … South African players' technical capacity is the highest in Africa but the under-nourishment is something that will take time to combat," he added.

Comitis said coaching was the weakest point of South African football with the Dutch influence helping boost standards and contrasting with a legacy of "hard and fast" English football coaching methods in South Africa.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)

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