The Archive

Only five years after Montserrat was devastated by a volcano, the Caribbean island is set to contest its first World Cup qualifier. David Austrin reports

The tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat is better known for its volatile volcano than its football, but that could be about to change. On Sunday March 5 Montserrat will make World Cup history when they play the Dominican Republic in their first ever World Cup game. The qualifying match in the Dominican Re­public’s Estadio San Cristobal probably won't go down in the annals of the game as one to remember, but it will be re­markable nevertheless.

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Wednesday 2 “There was nothing kick and rush about that,” says Martin O’Neill as a Matt Elliott goal takes Leicester to the Worthington final at the expense of Villa. “We had our chance and we choked,” says John Gregory, who also claims that Leicester are about to take Stan Collymore off his hands, though the clubs are yet to agree on a fee. Swindon, eight points adrift at the bottom of the First, call in the administrators. They are currently losing £25,000 a week. “I believe we’ll be the first of many,” says chairman Cliff Puffett. The football authorities lobby the government to bring in restrictions on the number of non-EU players used by English clubs to two per team. “A Premiership team without one player from the UK sends out the wrong signals,” says the PFA’s Gordon Taylor. Ears burning, Gianluca Vialli says: “A quota might protect young English players but clubs won’t be able to compete in Europe if we stop some non-EU players joining us.”

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Neville Hadsley gets beneath the mask of Coventry City chairman and Gordon Strachan advocate Bryan Richardson

Distinguishing features Lived-in face that does not appear have deprived itself of too much.

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An evening out at the Victoria Ground in Hartlepool would provide Ed Parkinson with an opportunity to see the new ten yard dissent rule in action. Or so he thought… 

As a lifelong Hartlepool United supporter I had made a solemn pledge never to throw good money after bad by attending the dire clutch of virtual friendlies which masquerade as Auto Windscreens Shield matches. This single wise move saves me an average of £60 per season, including petrol.

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Mick Slatter looks back at the highs and lows of Africa’s Cup of Nations which ended with Cameroon being crowned champions following a controversial penalty shoot-out

Maybe Victor Ikpeba will wind up wearing a brown paper bag over his head and advertising stuffed-crust pizza (or whatever the Nigerian equivalent might be). But he doesn’t deserve such ridicule. His penalty hit the crossbar and crossed the line. There was no need for video replays or freeze-frames or any other visual jiggery-pokery; it was clearly a goal. But the Tunisian referee saw it differently and his (obscured?) view cost the Super Eagles the African Cup of Nations.

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