September 26, 2022
The brief from today:
Seedorf raises some valid questions
Former Milan midfielder, Clarence Seedorf, brought up an important subject regarding coaching in Italy at a recent sports festival in Turin. While the focus of his statements was the country he spent 14 years as a player, it also applies to many other countries in Europe. While discussing the subject of coaching in Europe’s top leagues, the 46-year-old highlighted the drastically low numbers of black coaches being afforded opportunities at various clubs. Seedorf, for his part, spent five months as coach of Milan immediately after his retirement as a player in 2014. During his time at his former club, he put together a run of five straight wins for the first time at the club since 2011, and also oversaw Milan’s first derby win over Inter in three years. Despite this moderate success, he was sacked and replaced by his former Milan teammate Filippo Inzaghi. Following this, Seedorf would go on to coach clubs in China, Brazil, and Spain before landing the Cameroon national team position. The Dutchman’s affinity for Italy, however, left him to highlight the lack of opportunities he has been afforded in the country during the eight years he has been a manager. Speaking at the Turin Sports Festival he said, “I wondered why I have not had other opportunities in Italy, I have two children born here. If one looks at what happened, there is little basis to understand that those who arrived [as head coach] after me at Milan immediately found a team [after then leaving Milan], and I didn’t even have one proposal. After 20 years in Italy [as a player and resident] … or they told me they didn’t want to offend me with a proposal [thought to be beneath him].” He believes, and probably rightly so, that race may be playing a role in this, but he would like to think that shouldn’t be a determining factor. Looking at the role of manager across Europe’s top five leagues, the story is quite similar outside Italy unfortunately. There are far too many roles for there to be so little representation for people color. It’s important that Seedorf made these public statements because at the very least the subject should be discussed more candidly, and hopefully some changes can occur sooner than later.
Clarence Seedorf raised an important question about the lack of diversity in coaching today
Mats Hummels makes a diet change
Borussia Dortmund defender, Mats Hummels, has been in fine form early into the Bundesliga season. The 33-year-old Germany international was struggling over the past two seasons often alternating between the starting lineup and the bench. His inconsistent form eventually led Dortmund to invest heavily this past summer in the central defense department by signing: Niklas Sule from Bayern Munich, and Nico Schlotterbeck from Freiburg. The two younger defenders were meant to bring stability to Dortmund’s defense, but Hummels has suddenly hit a rich vein of form resulting in Sule being relegated to the bench thus far. The reason for the uptick in the performance level displayed by Hummels has now been revealed, and it isn’t simply down to more rigorous work in training. While he did admit to cutting his summer holiday short to start preparing for the season, the real secret has been his change in diet. His new nutritionist, Nahni Franke, has been credited with curbing the sweet tooth Hummels has that was seeing him ingest foods like chocolate and ice cream, which apparently affected how he played. Franke came up with “food balls” containing energy providing ingredients that gave Hummels a sweet flavor, but didn’t contain the the sugar levels of the aforementioned treats he enjoyed. The defender credited the food balls for helping tame his affinity for sweets, while also mentioning his shift away from meat and wheat, as all factors playing a role in his early season form. With the World Cup getting closer, Hummels and his new diet might actually make a case for his inclusion Germany’s final squad for Qatar.
Hummels is currently reaping the benefits of his new diet