The Little Football Fan, in his excitement,
forgot this one!
Tuesday 15 July 2014
Monday 14 July 2014
2014 - World Cup Facts
The Little Football Fan's selection of facts
from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Sunday 13 July 2014
Winner of the 2014 World Cup!!!
The Little Football Fan hopes
you have all enjoyed the coverage
of the 2014 World Cup?
It's been hugely enjoyable to do.
Thank you for all of your Likes, and
for taking the time
to respond and comment.
The Little Football Fan will continue to
bring the world of football to
you in it's own unique way -
to entertain, enlighten, educate and
ultimately to encourage reading though a shared
passion for football.
Night night, to all Little Football Fan's everywhere,
it's well past this Little Football Fan's
bedtime!
World Cup Final 2014
in the 2014 World Cup final,
Mario
Gotze's extra-time winner
against Argentina, ensured
Germany were crowned
world champions for the fourth time!
Gotze demonstrated perfect technique
and commendable
calm to chest down
Andre Schurrle's pass and sweep in
a left-foot finish
with the prospect of
a penalty shootout only seven minutes away.
Argentina, with skipper Lionel Messi
looking subdued
despite flashes of his talent,
could not respond and Germany claimed
their first World Cup since they beat
the same opponents in Rome 24
years ago.
The success means Joachim Low's side
have become the first European team t
o win the trophy in South America.
Third place decider!
Brazil's World Cup campaign came
to a miserable end as the hosts
were
convincingly beaten by the Netherlands
in the third-place play-off.
Goals from Robin van Persie, Daley Blind
and Georginio
Wijnaldum
condemned Brazil to back-to-back defeats
on home soil for the
first time since 1940,
following Tuesday's embarrassing 7-1 loss
to Germany in the semi-final.
As an added insult, the hosts must now watch on
as
their fiercest rivals Argentina
take on Germany for the chance to win
the World Cup at Brazilian football's spiritual home,
the Maracana, on
Sunday.
Friday 11 July 2014
Luis Suarez
On the day before Brazil play the Netherlands
for third place, two days before
the World Cup final, and the first day of
the World Cup final, and the first day of
the Premiership is just over a month away,
news has come in that
Liverpool & Barcelona have agreed a deal
for controversial Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez.
Liverpool have agreed to sell the striker
for a fee thought to be about £75m.
The Uruguayan, 27, who is serving a four month
ban
for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup,
will sign a five-year deal.
Suarez scored 31 league goals last season.
Wednesday 9 July 2014
The final two!
Argentina will play Germany
in Sunday's World Cup final
after beating
the Netherlands
on penalties in Sao Paulo.
Second Semi Final
Germany meet Argentina in the
final on Sunday after Argentina
beat the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties
after extra time. It was a hard fought game,
where each team cancelled each other out.
Brazil are to meet the Netherlands
on Saturday for third place.
Tuesday 8 July 2014
"Brazil were never at the game!"
Brazil - shocking exit from the World Cup!
The five-times winners were thrashed
by a German side who were 5-0 up in the first 29 minutes.
It's not as if Germany were brilliant, it's
that Brazil never really turned up.
Considering it was a semi final and Brazil were the
host nation, they were lethargic, unimaginative,
defended very poorly, played out of position...just not the
team everyone is used to.
An extraordinary game, where Brazil
totally capitulated to Germany.
Tearful Brazil captain David Luiz apologised
to his compatriots after the hosts suffered the humiliating defeat.
The Brazilian nation will be in shock tonight.
Brazil 1 Germany 7!
Shocking result at the World Cup as
Brazil lose 7-1 to Germany.
- Germany scored 4 goals in 6 minutes
in the first half.
- Biggest ever World Cup semi-final defeat!
- Klose becomes highest ever scorer in the World Cup
"Brazil
haven't lost a competitive home game since 1975
and nothing as painful
since 1950, when they lost at
home in the final of the World Cup to
Uruguay.
Some of those players that played that day were
never allowed
to forget that defeat.
"But this, without doubt, is the biggest
humiliation
for the Brazilian team ever.
Brazilian football is operating
absurdly below their potential.
The players took the field full of
passion but the test of a team
is when you go behind.
When they did,
they then had no faith in
what they were doing and that bravado was
empty.
"Germany lost 5-1 at home to England 13 years ago
and used that defeat to change,
and Brazil will have to copy that."
Tim Vickery - South American Football expert.
Kicking a Ball - Allan Ahlberg
The Little Football Fan Recommends:
Published by Penguin
this is a wonderful rhyming story to read aloud,
Kicking A Ball will not disappoint fans of Allan
Ahlberg.
First written as a poem, the little boy in the story
has been brought to life
perfectly by artist Sebastien Braun.
Every parent will be able to immediately relate
to the
simple joy felt by a boy simply kicking a ball,
and how there is nothing else quite like
it.
The incomparable Allan Ahlberg
The incomparable Allan Ahlberg
takes us on a journey from childhood to
fatherhood full of
humour,
warmth, friendship . . . and football.
Allan Ahlberg has written over 150
books, many illustrated by his late wife Janet
who sadly died in 1994.
All Janet and Allan Ahlberg books are
highly recommended by the Little Football Fan.
Monday 7 July 2014
Four Teams left!
Tuesday 8 July
Brazil v Germany
Estadio Mineirao, Bela Horizonte
Wednesday 9 July
Netherlands v Argentina
Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
Match Facts
BRAZIL
- Brazil committed more fouls (31) against Colombia than they have in any other World Cup match since such data has been recorded (starting in 1966).
- Their only defeat in the last 26 games came against Switzerland last August (W19, D6, L1).
- They are unbeaten in 42 successive home matches, with their last defeat coming against Paraguay in August 2002.
- The Brazilians have reached the last four of the World Cup for the 11th time, although this will only be their eighth semi-final (because of different formats at earlier tournaments).
- The only semi-final they have lost was their first, against Italy in 1938. They have won five times and drawn once - with that draw followed by a penalty shootout win against the Dutch in 1998.
- Injured Brazilian striker Neymar has played a part in 50% of Brazil's 10 goals at this World Cup (four goals, one assist).
GERMANY
- Germany (including West Germany) have reached the last four for the 13th time at a World Cup, although this will be their 12th semi-final (they reached the 1974 final after coming through a second group stage).
- The Germans are the first country to reach four successive World Cup semi-finals.
- Their record in their 11 previous semi-finals is four wins, five defeats and two draws - both of which were followed by penalty shootouts which they won.
- Germany are unbeaten in their last 16 internationals (W11, D5), the best run of any side still involved at the World Cup.
- Germany (three) have kept more clean sheets at this World Cup than any other country. Only Ghana and Algeria have managed to breach the Germans defence so far.
- Miroslav Klose could make his 23rd appearance in a World Cup match, a total bettered only by Lothar Matthaus (25). Paolo Maldini also played 23 games at the tournament.
NETHERLANDS
- That the Dutch reached the World Cup final three times, but never won. Holland lost the World Cups in 1974 to West Germany, in 1978 to Argentina and in 2010 to Spain.
- The Dutch won the European Cup in 1988. Goals of Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten gave the Netherlands a 2-0 victory over USSR. Marco van Basten was the starplayer at that time.
- That the biggest win ever was in 2011 against San Marino. After 90 minutes the score was 11-0. Other big wins were in 1912 against Finland and in 1972 against Norway. Both matches ended in a 9-0 win.
- That the biggest loss ever was in 1912 against England. The final score was 12-2.
- That the most yellow cards ever were drawn in the match between Holland and Portugal during the World Cup 2006: 12 yellow and 2 (4-times-yellow) red cards.
- That the fastest penalty ever given on a World Cup was during the final between Holland and Germany in 1974. The Germans haven’t had any ball contact when the Dutch received a penalty in the first minute.
- That the Dutch team participated in total 8 times at the Olympics of which seven times between 1908 and 1952. In this period they won three bronze medals.
- Edwin van der Sar played the most matches for the Dutch team: 130.
- Patrick Kluivert is the all-time top scorer of the Dutch national football team with 40 goals.
- In the 1970s the Dutch team was famous for its precision passing and it earned them the nickname ‘Clockwork Orange’.
- The Dutch invented “Total Football”. A tactical theory in which every player should be able on every position in the field: defender, midfielder or attacker. A defender can suddenly be an attacker, which creates great confusion for the opponent.
- Orange fans have been nominated several times for the Fair Play Award.
- The Dutch team has been in the top 10 of the FIFA World Ranking for years. In August 2011 Holland was even number one for a few weeks.
ARGENTINA
- Has the following nickname: La Albiceleste (The White and Sky Blue)
- Is the 6th country to win a World Cup
- Has played 4 World Cup Finals in total, but only won 2 Finals
- Lost the very first World Cup Final in 1930 against Uruguay (4-2)
- Encountered rival Germany for the first time in the 1958 World Cup
- Encountered rival England for the first time in the 1962 World Cup
- Encountered rival Brazil for the first time in the 1974 World Cup
- Played an infamous World Cup 1986 Quarter-Final match against England where Diego Maradona scored his famous goal with the hand, or as Maradona stated with La mano de Dios (the hand of God)
- Player Diego Maradona also scored ‘The Goal of the Century’ which was scored a few minutes after the ‘hand of God’ goal
- Goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea has the record of most penalty saves in a World Cup: 4 (1990)
- Lost only 1 penalty shootout of in total 4 World Cup penalty shootouts which was in the 2006 World Cup Quarter-Final match against Germany
Sunday 6 July 2014
The Little F1Fan
While the World Cup continues to the
Semi finals with games on Tuesday and Wednesday next week,
other exciting sport continues around the world.
Tennis at Wimbledon, Cricket, and today in the UK at Silverstone,
the next race in Formula One takes place.
Silverstone organisers expect a crowd of 120,000,
the third-highest in history behind 2011 and 2012.
The race is Silverstone's 50th grand prix!
Nico Rosberg, who is on pole, world champion Sebastian Vettel
starts second and Briton Jenson Button third, with
Lewis Hamilton dropped from first to sixth on the grid
after aborting his
final qualifying lap in rain
on Saturday, only to watch his
rivals
improve as the track then dried.
He's hoping to win his home grand prix
for the first time since 2008,
the year he became world champion.
Saturday 5 July 2014
Netherlands will face Argentina
in the World Cup semi-finals
after beating Costa Rica in
a dramatic penalty shootout
to win 4 - 3!
Costa Rica had progressed as winners
from a group containing Uruguay, Italy and England,
and once again impressed with their
organisation and energy.
Argentina's win denied Belgium
what would have been a place
in the semi-finals of a World Cup
for the first time since 1986.
Chicken
The Little Football Fan would like to
introduce you to
chicken!
chicken! for children is the only
free newspaper
for children in primary school and manages
to combine
newspaper design with children's
content in a thoroughly unique way!
chicken! is published four times a year.
It can be found in some newsagents, schools and cafés.
It was created by Ken Wilson- Max who writes,
illustrates and designs books for children.
He specializes in creating for the very young
having worked on over 60
books so far.
Ken's signature style is bright and bold and fun.
Here's the link to 'chicken!', I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
Friday 4 July 2014
Le Tour de France
The Little Football Fan loves
his bike, and this weekend
the Little Football Fan and his friends
will be pretending to be on
the Tour de France because
the Grand Depart of the world's
most prestigious stage race
will be
hosted by Yorkshire
as the Tour de France returns to England
for the
first time since 2007.
Saturday 5 July's opening stage
takes the 198 riders
from Leeds to Harrogate
via the Yorkshire Dales while Sunday's
second
stage will see the peloton ride
from York to Sheffield, via Holme Moss
before a third stage in England,
finishing on The Mall in London.
Brazil 2014 - Day 23
After two rest days, it is day 23 and
an exciting line-up in Rio and Fortaleza
for the first two
quarter-finals,
France v Germany
Brazil v Colombia
of what has been a fanastic tournament.
Wednesday 2 July 2014
USA - Fine Performances
United States boss Jurgen Klinsmann hailed his
side's heroic
performance after their last-16 exit
to Belgium and says he hopes to
build on their success
at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The US were beaten 2-1 by Belgium after extra time
but came desperately close to taking the game to penalties.
"I'm very proud of our team," said former Germany striker Klinsmann.
"Every player on the field made their country proud
with this performance in this World Cup."
Having captured the imagination of the US public with their displays in Brazil,
Klinsmann is determined to improve even further in four years'
time, adding: "All of the players went beyond their
capabilities and I
told them they should take a lot of very
positive stuff back home with
them.
"We are doing everything we can in every
corner of the country to find the talent.
BBC Sport.
Tuesday 1 July 2014
Loving picture books!
Rockpool Children's Books and it's Little Football Fan,
that encourages reading through a shared passion for football,
would like to thank Walker Books for this
advice on developing a love of books!
Monday 30 June 2014
Algeria run Germany close!
France scored twice in the final
11 minutes in Brasilia to
beat Nigeria and reach
the World Cup quarter-finals.
A very tight exciting game between
Germany and Algeria, that went full term
without a goal. The deadlock was broken
in the second minute of extra time
by Andre Schurrle with a cheeky flick
that found the back of the net.
Mesut Ozi scored in the 119th minute
to make it 2-0.
Then after 120 minutes Abdelmoumene Djabou
arrived on a great cross to bury at the back post
to see the game end 2-1.
The Little Football Fan thought
Rais Mbolhi - Algerian goalkeeper,
was sensational!
Sunday 29 June 2014
Then there were 12!
Costa Rica will play the Netherlands
in the quarter-finals of the World Cup
after defeating Greece on penalties.
Penalty Drama in Brazil!
Wonderful game of football
between Costa Rica and Greece,
but ending in heartache for
the Greeks, as
Theofanis Gekas missed his penalty!
Costa Rica won 5 - 3.
Saturday 28 June 2014
Colombia v Uruguay
James Rodriguez confirmed his status
as the World Cup's newest star
with
a virtuoso display
as Colombia took advantage of
Luis Suarez's absence
to beat Uruguay in Rio.
Brazil v Chile - First of the Knock out stage.
Hosts Brazil knock Chile
out of the 2014 Fifa World Cup
in the second round
with a 3-2 win on penalties.
Friday 27 June 2014
Thursday 26 June 2014
Brazil 2014 - 26th June
Thomas Muller once again made the difference
as Germany qualified as
winners of Group G
with victory over the United States,
who also reached
the last 16 at the World Cup.
A controversial equaliser from Islam Slimani
is enough to secure Algeria
qualification
for the 2014 World Cup last 16
at Russia's expense as
the teams drew 1-1
in Curitiba.
Ten-man Belgium beat South Korea
to top their World Cup group
and set up a last-16 tie against
the United States.
Cristiano Ronaldo's second-half winner
gave Portugal a 2-1 victory over
Ghana,
but the result means that neither team
progress to the World
Cup's last 16.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Brazil - Day 14
France could not maintain their prolific
start to the 2014 Fifa World
Cup but still finished
top of Group E following a goalless draw
with
Ecuador which eliminates
the South Americans.
A hat-trick of left-footed strikes by Xherdan Shaqiri
prove enough to
send Switzerland through
to the knockout stage with a comfortable
3-0 win over Honduras in their final Group E match.
Lionel Messi strikes help Argentina to beat
Nigeria 3-2 in their final Group F game in Porto Alegre.
For the first time in World Cup finals history
both teams scored inside
the opening
five minutes, as both teams
progress to the second round.
Iran's hopes of qualifying for
the World Cup last 16
ended as they lost to
already-eliminated Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Little Football Fan - Encouraging reading
With the Little Football Fan's aim being to encourage children,
particularly boys, to read through a shared passion for football,
the reading doesn't necessarily have to be about football.
Rockpool Children's Books will soon be presenting
the reading doesn't necessarily have to be about football.
Rockpool Children's Books will soon be presenting
books to Little Football Fans around the world -
yes we have got a worldwide audience -
Argentina, Algeria, Botswana, Australia, USA,
Nepal, Nigeria, Morroco...in fact most countries of the world
...in fact World United!...
and as the World Cup brings us all the skills and spills,
one book we have in production is quite relevant
to the hosts and the Amazon rainforest.
It's the Sloth.
Publication date is to be decided.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Rockpool Children's Activity Books
Rockpool Children's Books are publishers of
fine illustrated picture books,
and now I'd like to present Rockpool
Children's Activity Books.
Quality activities, superb illustration, fun, a little challenging,
Quality activities, superb illustration, fun, a little challenging,
and over 100 stickers in each book!
In keeping with The Little Football Fan's aim,
'to encourage reading
through a shared passion for football'
the Little Football Fan Activity
book will do just that,
but with drawing, colouring, counting and much
much more.
Publication date to be decided.
Monday 23 June 2014
Colour Your Team 2
The Little Football Fan's 'Colour Your Team'
colouring sheets. Whoever you support you can
colour the drawings in your team colours!
Colour Your Team 1
The Little Football Fan's 'Colour Your Team'
colouring sheets. Whoever you support you can
colour the drawings in your team colours!
Friday 20 June 2014
Tuesday 17 June 2014
Cricket, explained!
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in
the side that's in goes out,
and when he's out he comes in and the next
man goes in until he's out.
When they are all out, the side that's out
comes in
and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those
coming in, out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out,
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out,
and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they
decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been
in and
all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice
after
all the men have been in, including those who are not out,
that is the
end of the game!
Very straight forward.
Next week, Rugby Union explained!
US Soccer
Football, or soccer, fans have been
celebrating
in their thousands across the United States
as their team
beat their World Cup nemesis, Ghana, 2 - 1 last night.
Ghana have
knocked the USA out of the tournament
at the last two World Cups.
The
increase in popularity of soccer has been credited
to the US being
hosts 20 years ago,
but it's still not as popular as major US sports
like American Football.
However, the US has been one of the top buyers
However, the US has been one of the top buyers
of tickets for this years event, just behind the hosts Brazil.
“The Game for All Kids!”
“The Game for All Kids!”
exploded from 100,000
players
in 1974 to more than 1 million in the early nineties.
Today, US
Youth Soccer registers
more than 3 million players annually,
ages 5 to
19 through its 55 member
US Youth Soccer State Associations.
Little Football Fan Scorecard at the end of day 5.
Congratulations to the USA for their 86th
minute winner
scored by a clearly disbelieving John Brooks against a
much improved
and spirited Ghana in the second half.
Earlier in the evening Thomas Muller scored
Earlier in the evening Thomas Muller scored
a hat-trick in Germany’s 4 – 0 defeat of 10 men Portugal.
The Iran v Nigeria game ended in a draw.
The Iran v Nigeria game ended in a draw.
Monday 16 June 2014
Sunday 15 June 2014
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