Just Who is 'Zizou?'

Zinedine Zindance is perhaps most well know for his incredible headbut into the chest of Italian opponent Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup Final.  It was a jaw-dropping moment that tainted the career of one of the world’s finest ever players.

Zinedine grew up in a quiet, rough town, in Marseille called La Castellane and learned how to play football on the streets in the neighbourhood. After playing for local clubs Zidane was discovered at a French Football training camp by AS Cannes recruiter Jean Varraud, and spent the next 3 years honing his skills in Cannes’ youth division.

Zidane and the moment  of madness that tainted his almost perfect  professional career

Zidane was born on June 23^rd 1972 in Marseille, France. He made his professional appearance at Cannes at the age of 17 scoring a goal on his debut. He played for the same club for another 3 years until he transferred to Bordeaux in 1992. At the club he was a master of controlling the ball. He could find a teammate with a pinpoint pass and knew instinctively when to have a shot at goal. 

Although he was a fantastic player, he still had quite a bad temper a result perhaps of his difficult upbringing in Marseille. A few years after his time at Bordeaux he later moved in 1996 to a fantastic Italian club with a tradition of signing talented French players, Juventus FC. Zinedine had an amazing start helping steer Juventus to two Seria A titles and two consecutive Champions League finals.

France hosted the 1998 World Cup during the peak of Zidane’s prowess. Zidane scored 2 goals in the World cup final against Brazil to win 3-0, cementing his place as a French national hero. Two years later, Zidane again held the French team together with a 2-1 win over Italy to win the European Championship. 

Zizou scores a bullet header against Brazil in the final of World Cup 98

Three years after that famous World Cup win Zidane was transferred to the mighty Real Madrid for £46 million, this transfer was a world-record transfer fee at the time.

It was money well spent.  After two previous Champions League final appearances Zidane finally won the competition with Real Madrid in 2002 with an absolute wonder goal at Scotland's national stadium Hampden Park in Glasgow.  Zidane had clearly made an impression that he was all worth the wait and the money. At the height of his success at Real he was 30 years old and showing no sign of losing his touch or sharpness.

Is Zidane's wonder strike in the 2002 final the greatest goal ever seen at Hampden..??

When the world cup in Germany 2006 came along Zidane had indicated that he would retire after the tournament. It had appeared his career was heading for a historic finish when France got through to the final against Italy. Instead of having a fantastic finish to his career with winning the World Cup, he bowed out in disgrace. Italian defender Marco Materazzi allegedly said something about Zidane’s mum, he reacted very violently and head butted Materazzi in the chest. Zidane got sent off straight away and sadly France lost on penalties just to rub salt in the wounds for Zidane and The French National team.

Although he lost the World Cup final on penalties, he still had a fantastic career with 125 goals in his whole career. In 2013, he was appointed assistant coach to Carlos Ancelotti at Real Madrid. Zidane is still helping out at Real Madrid coaching the reserve team now in 2015. Zidane has definitely got himself in the record books for France, Real Madrid and Juventus he was a real legend for these clubs and will surely go down as one of the greatest of all time.

by Owen Lake

Sergio Aguero, the Story so Far

“Balotelli….  Agueroooooooooo!!” screamed Martin Tyler as Manchester City’s number 16 scored the winning goal against Queens Park Rangers in the dying seconds of the match that would win them the 2011/12 Premiership Trophy.

It was a great moment for the whole City team, especially Aguero who scored the winning goal. At the end of that game when Aguero’s teammates were celebrating by wearing their countries flags around their necks Aguero wore a red flag which represented the club he played for as a youngster, ‘Independiente’ who are based just outside the Argentinian city of Buenas Aires. 

Independente, where Aguero learned his trade before becoming one of world football's superstars, is still a club very close to his heart

He grew up in Los Euacalipitos, a rough town in the south of Buenos Aires. His family was poor. They didn’t get much food relying on things like herbal tea and stale bread. Most of his friends from those days are now in jail.

During those tough times Aguero cannot remember a time when a ball was not at his feet, football surrounded him in Argentina. He would play in the sun or after dark. He would play for hours and sometimes he would come home late but he said that time was never a factor.

He was 9 years old when he joined Independiente, “at that age he was still very small , but when we took him to play indoor football on a smaller pitch you could see just what great natural ability and technique he had,” said Ricardo Bochini , the legend of Independiente who became a youth coach at the club. “He had great confidence on the ball and was excellent finisher”.

Aguero has forged an incredible career for himself establishing himself as Man City's best forward

He went from Independiente to Atletico Madrid for around 20 million euros then later moved to Manchester city in 2011. 

Aguero made his Manchester City debut in the second half of a game against Swansea, he started as he would mean to go on bagging an impressive brace against the Swans. Since then Aguero has won 2 Premier League Titles, a FA Cup, and a League Cup with Manchester City and scored the winning goal in the crucial last match of the season against Queens Park Rangers in 2012. 

He is arguably the best striker in the EPL right now and he is without doubt Manchester City’s most valuable player. When he is not on the pitch they don’t play the same football as they do with him, and if Manchester City are to retain this season’s title it is vitally important they keep him fit and scoring goals.

by Blair Malis

Alister McKenzie and Ryan Wilson are Larbert's 'Snow Angels'

It was a cold day at Ochilview where the Larbert High School U-15’s team were taking on Edinburgh School, Bouroughmuir. In the end Larbert won the game convincingly 3-0 with some great goals from the home side and progressed comfortably into the next round where they will face Braidhurst.

Larbert started off the better team with most of the possession and created the most clear-cut chances.  Their hard work got them a goal when Alister McKenzie scored with a good finish with his left foot into the bottom left hand corner which put them 1-0 up. They continued to dominate and would have been disappointed it was only 1-0 as half time approached.

 



Blair and Jamie our Sports Journalists try to do some filming through the snow

 

 

It started snowing heavily as the second half began. Larbert needed another goal if they wanted to win the game and Alister McKenzie provided that long awaited second goal buffer with a brilliant long range finish that made the score 2-0. The snow was really heavy and you could hardly see the park, but there was no stopping Larbert as they scored again with a good finish from Ryan Wilson who put the ball past the Borroughmuir goalkeeper into the bottom left hand corner of the net.  Even more impressive than the finish however was Ryan’s Snow Angel celebration..!! 

 

With only 20 minutes left of the match remaining the park was now completely white prompting one of the spectators to go over the lines of the pitch with a brush.

 

In the end Larbert won the game 3-0 and they went through to the next round while the opposition had to go back to Edinburgh eliminated. It was an all-round great performance from the team in difficult conditions verging on un-playable. Larbert, deserved winners, march into the next round. 

 

by Blair Malis

Larbert Gymnasts Vault into the Nationals

On the 2^nd of December Larbert High took part in the Falkirk Schools Gymnastics Competition at Hallglen Sports centre in Falkirk. Whichever school finished 1^st and 2^nd went to the finals in Perth in 2015. There was a range of pupils at the event from primary schools to secondary schools and a range of abilities from level 1 to 3 (level 3 being the top performers).

 

Larbert Gymnasts successfuly qualify for the National Finals

 

Zoe, Abby, Claire and Romy started on the floor, each of them needed to do 8 moves on the floor for level 1. The girls did very well in each of their own routines and were happy with themselves confident that they done well enough to earn a place in the finals.

Ross, Jordan, and Emma were on straight after for the level 2 Larbert High team. Ross started well with impressive flips, balances, and jumps, as did Jordan and Emma. This team looked very convincing to go through to the finals, and potentially even snatch 1^st place.

After lots of amazing performances from Larbert High they took a break to get something to eat and drink and to replenish energy.

After the break Laura, Amy, Charlotte and Ellie were doing the vaults. They all had a few practice runs and jumps over the vault, and it paid off, with them putting a great performance in the level 1 group.

Ross, Jordan, and Emma were on the vault straight after for the level 2 team. Another good performance and they would surely go through to the finals. As they approached the vault, they looked relaxed and it was obvious they were going to do well. All three performed some amazing handsprings and landed them with expertise making it look easy.

 

The Larbert gymnasts get used to the top step of the podium

 

 It was time for the results, 1^st and 2^nd place in each section were to go through to the national finals. Larbert finished 1^st in the Level 2 section. It was well deserved victory from Ross, Jordan, and Emma.  Next up was the Level 2 team results. Abby, Zoe, Clair and Romy came 2^nd, so they too earned a place at the finals. All the teams who competed for Larbert High will be going through to the finals at Perth in 2015! 

What a performance, and what a day for the Larbert High gymnastics squad.

 

 

by

Owen Lake and Blair Mallis

Cameron Dick's Review of 2014

Sporting Moment of the Year

2014 truly has been a great year for sports.   So far this year we’ve seen the dominant Germans progress through the rounds to win the world cup. We’ve seen Real Madrid win their 10th champions league. But one of the most intriguing events for our nation was to hold the commonwealth games.

For me personally, my sporting moment of the year was the 2014 world cup final where we saw the mighty Germany bagging a late extra time goal to win the greatest award in football.  Argentina came agonisingly close to breaking the 18 year long wait for a world cup trophy.  It’s fair to say that Germany deserved the trophy of trophies by playing some extremely attractive football during the world cup months.  It was Mario Gotze in particular who dug the Germans out of a massive hole in the final, coming on as a substitute and scoring the only goal of the game (not including Gonzallo Higuan’s offside goal) and truly made himself the German hero.

Mario Gotze's historic world cup winning goal

 

Sports Person of the Year

This year has been outstanding for sporting people with Novak Djokavic winning his second Wimbledon championship and Cristiano Ronaldo won his second ballon d’or (European player of the year award). This time one of our nation’s best was Europe winning Ryder cup.

One person in particular that stood out for me was Colombian sensation James Rodriguez.  After having a spectacular world cup, scoring a fabulous chest and volley - which was my favourite finish of the year - James went on to play for one of Europe’s biggest and best teams Real Madrid. After heading over to the Bernabeu Rodriguez has improved massively and will only get better with time. In the next few years he could be well up in the rankings with players such as Bale, Ronaldo and Messi.

 

Performance of the Year

There were some great matches played this year and the football was out of this world, almost every match I watched I was on the edge of my seat and wanted to watch more.  Some of the great matches were the Manchester derby, always a good one, Real Madrid vs. Athletico Madrid in the champion’s league was a great game to watch also.

One of the most fascinating matches I witnessed was the thumping of the Brazilians by the Germans with a 7-1 victory in the world cup semi-final.  With goals scored by Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos, Klose, Khederia and Schurle, this thumping of Brazil kicked the hosts out the cup and propelled the to-be champions into the final

In 2015 You Should Watch Out For…

Can 2015 be Jack Wilshere's year..???

2014 has been some year for sport and 2015 will hopefully be a good one too.  2015 will be a big year for emerging young football players such as Raheem Sterling, and Ross Barkley.

One in particular is Jack Wilshire the young England star who plays for Arsenal.  Back in 2008 when he joined the gunners everyone said he was going to be Arsenal’s next superstar but after suffering a severe ankle just after joining the club his talent has been delayed and diminished.  After recovering from the injury, Jack never seemed like the same player he was back when he was 18. Wilshire needs some improving and 2015 is his to prove he is the man.

So, 2014 truly has been a great year, and with the New Year coming up who knows what will come? Liverpool might win a game, Christian Benteke might go a whole game without getting sent off.  2015 will soon tell.

 

 

by Cammy Dick

Alan McLagan rounds up some of the Weekend's big matches

Rooney Secures 3 Points for Man-United

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney secured three points to put Manchester United 4^th just behind Manchester rivals Manchester City. The Red Devils started with former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney at the centre forward position. Luke Shaw limped off in the 17^th minute adding to Manchester United manager Luis Van Gal’s injury problems this season. Arsenal’s Jack Wilshire reacted to a challenge by head-butting United’s Mauroane Fellaini and was lucky to avoid a red card.  Kieran Gibbs own-goal gave Manchester United the lead and then Rooney made it two with 5 minutes left to play.  Oliver Giroud marked his return to Arsenal with a good finish in injury time but it was too little too late and the game finished 2-1.

Ronaldo Scores Two in a 4-0 Win Against Eibar

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals while James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema also got themselves on the score sheet. The club’s victory gave them their 14^th win in a row in all competitions which keeps them top of the la liga table, just two points in front of arch rivals Barcelona. Before the game Eibar goalkeeper Xabi Irureta described Cristiano Ronaldo as ‘unstoppable’ in front of goal, and he was prooved right when Ronaldo doubled the score.  Soon after Benzema scored with his 50^th goal in a row and Ronaldo finished it off by netting a late penalty to bag another 3 points for the capital club.

Champions City Walk all Over the Saints

Manchester City picked up a precious 3 points on their travels with a 3-0 win over Southampton at St. Mary’s stadium. Goals from Yaya Toure, Frank Lampard, and Gael Clichy was enough to give the 10 man Man City team a valuable win. Yaya Toure rocketed the ball into the net for the first goal which came early in the second half. Two goals in the last ten minutes secured the win although having Mangala sent off in the 74^th minute and Vincent Kompany suffering a serious injury it wasn’t a perfect day at the office for City. With Chelsea only managing a draw against Sunderland City slowly creep up the table.

 

 

Jamie Forrester's European Round Up

Munich Galacticos Get the Win.

The Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich thrashed Hoffenheim 4-0 at the formidable Allianz Arena in Munich last Monday night.

Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time with late goals from Arjen Robben and Sebastian Roder making sure there was no doubting Bayern’s superiority. Adam Szalai got a head start to the changing room with a red card for Hoffenheimin the 70^th minute.

That win extends Bayern lead to 7points above Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach.

 

Madrid Extend their lead and Unbeaten Run.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid made history with their 16^th win in all competitions after beating Malaga 2-1 at la Rosaleda in Malaga.

The goals came from Gareth Bale in the 18^th minute and Benzema in the 83^rd minute but Malaga got a goal back in injury time with Santa Cruz scoring just after Malaga’s Isco was sent off for Malaga in the 86^th minute.

Madrid were made to work hard for the points and a 2-1 victory, but the unstoppable Los Blancos kept their winning run going.

 

You Can't Stop the Zlatan

 

Paris St-Germain made it nine wins in a row in all competitions after beating Nice 1-0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first league goal since August scoring a 15^th minute penalty which was the only goal of the game. After a stuttering start to the campaign the win moves PSG to within 1 point of leaders Marseille.