Hammer Francesco eyes Open glory
WHUFC.com
West Ham United supporting golfer Francesco Molinari tees off in his US Open
challenge today
12.06.2014
Francesco Molinari's tilt at the US Open crown gets underway on Thursday
evening at Pinewood in North Carolina, with the West Ham United supporter
hopeful of giving the favourites for glory a run for their money. The
Italian, a three time winner on the European Tour, has never placed higher
than 27th at the US Open, but will use his positive experience of helping
Europe win the Ryder Cup in 2012 as inspiration for this attempt. Turin-born
Molinari took up his support of the Hammers upon moving to London, and tees
off alongside America's Hunter Mahan and Welshman Jamie Donaldson at 6.58pm.
He told ESPN.co.uk: "It's hard to know [about my chances in majors]. If you
look at the guys who have won them there are all different kinds of stories;
there are guys who have been in contention a few times before winning and
guys who have won at their first real chance. "I don't want to say I will
win, but I hope to do well and if I happen to be there on the final day I
will do my best to win, if not I will just be happy playing well and getting
a good result. "I want to try and focus on doing as well as I can in the
tournaments I play in. I will probably try to win one or two in the summer
and then things will take care of themselves in regards to [the Ryder Cup
at] Gleneagles."
As for the Hammers, Molinari had praise for the job done by Sam Allardyce in
turning the 2013/14 season around after Christmas. He added: "When I moved
to London Gianfranco Zola was manager of West Ham and my coach, Denis Pugh,
supports them - as do a few other friends of mine in London. "It was the
right move to keep Sam on as manager. At the moment it's about maintaining
their place in the division and Allardyce has a good history of getting the
result."
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Stijn ready for World Cup duty
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's head of medical Stijn Vandenbroucke will join Cameroon at
the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals
12.06.2014
West Ham United head of medical Stijn Vandenbroucke will make sure the Club
has a presence at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals. Vandenbroucke will travel
to South America to work with the Cameroon national squad, having previously
struck up a close relationship with Indomitable Lions striker Samuel Eto'o
during a previous post at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala. The Belgian, who
returned to West Ham from Russia earlier this year after a spell as the
Club's head of rehabilitation between 2009 and 2012, is looking forward to
his first FIFA World Cup finals experience. "I could have gone with Russia
to the World Cup, while I would have preferred to go with Belgium but that
was not an option," Vandenbroucke said with a smile. "I have a lot of work
to do with West Ham in the off-season, but I had an offer to go with
Cameroon that will allow me to go later and come back earlier. "I didn't
want to miss the World Cup, because this is an engagement I took before I
came back to Wes t Ham. My priority is West Ham and I will keep in close
contact with the players and staff and prepare them for next season as best
I can. "I've been to the Asian Cup with China and the European Championship
finals with Netherlands before, but this will be my first World Cup. It's
great for the Club because our sports therapist Taka Yamamoto is going with
Italy and our player liaison officer Tim De'ath is going with England.
Cameroon is in the same group as Brazil, so I cannot wait for that game."
"I've had an atypical career journey, having worked everywhere - in China,
the Middle East, Iran, Albania, Italy, France, Germany and England and now
I'm going to the World Cup. I've learned a lot during my travels and now I
want some stability in my life with West Ham." Vandenbroucke said with
firmness that his Cameroon commitments will not be at the expense of his
work with the Hammers, as he will be keeping in close contact with the
players during his time in Brazil. "The squad had a good injury record
during the final months of the season, which was encouraging. This was down
to the hard work of the medical staff and also because we had less fixture
congestion and less games during that period. "For me, it has been nice to
come back to West Ham and change a little bit of the way we work. I'm now
head of medical and sports science and I brought two people with me on my
return - a head physio Dominic Rogan and a rehab fitness coach Eduardo Parra
- because it makes it easier for me if I can split the job. We now have
three people instead of one doing the job and that gives me the freedom to
work and prioritise on the important things. "I haven't changed that much.
We have a brilliant medical team, but we have changed the philosophy of how
we train and how we rehab and prevent injuries. These have been little
rather than major changes. "We have sent the players away with personal
fitness plans and we will be in email contact with them throughout the
summer. They will get videos, too, so it's all individualised."
West Ham's players will spend the next few weeks recharging their batteries
in preparation for their third season back in the Barclays Premier League.
In conjunction with the coaching staff, Vandenbroucke has helped put
together a structured pre-season programme that will see the squad spend a
week in France, nine days in New Zealand and a long weekend in Germany, as
well as contesting a series of matches in England. The head of medical
believes the players will be better prepared for 2014/15 than any other
season he has been involved with during his two spells with the Club. "We
will start pre-season training earlier than the other teams and it's very
well-planned this summer. We are going to France, New Zealand and Germany
and I'm looking forward to it."
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West Ham United at the World Cup - '62
WHUFC.com
A look back at Bobby Moore's first FIFA World Cup finals appearance in Chile
52 years ago
12.06.2014
When Ron Greenwood called him into his office ahead of the Hammers' summer
trip to Rhodesia and Nigeria, Bobby Moore had no idea that he was about to
become the first-ever West Ham United player to represent the club at the
FIFA World Cup finals. "You won't be coming with us on tour," the
stern-faced Hammers' boss mischievously told his perplexed, uncapped
21-year-old star in the making, before breaking into a smile. "Walter
Winterbottom wants you to go with him to Chile!" Moore, a late, late,
surprise call-up for the 1962 finals, recalled: "I thought that it would
just be an experience to train with the England players, see them play
against some of the best teams in the world and generally be with them
preparing for a tournament."
Having seen him perform admirably for both West Ham and the England Under-23
side, however, Winterbottom had other ideas. Indeed, Moore was handed the
first of his 108 caps on 20 May 1962, when he stepped out for the warm-up
match against Peru in Lima. There a hat-trick from future Hammer Jimmy
Greaves eased the Three Lions to a comfortable 4-0 victory. "Walter was
pleased with the defensive performance and kept virtually the same team for
the World Cup," recalled the delighted central defender in his authorised
biography Bobby Moore. Although future West Ham winger Peter Brabrook had
played for England in the 1958 finals in Sweden, he had been on Chelsea's
books at the time. Moore's subsequent outing in the Group Four opener
against Hungary, therefore, was the inaugural appearance by a West Ham
player at the finals. Despite having acclimatised high in the Chilean
mountains for ten days beforehand, Ron Flowers' penalty was still not enough
for a Winterbottom side that suffered a 2-1 defeat against the Magyars in
Rancagua. Moore retained his place for the second match, played just two
days later at the same venue, and another Flowers' penalty, plus strikes
from Greaves and Bobby Charlton, set up a 3-1 victory over Argentina.
Needing only a draw to qualify for the quarter-finals, England found
themselves up against a Bulgarian side looking to avoid an embarrassing
hat-trick of group defeats. Almost inevitably, a goalless draw ensued. "They
played with nine men in their half and, once we knew what they were up to,
we kept nine players in our half, too. It was one of the worst
internationals of all time," conceded Moore, who then found himself lining
up against Brazil in Vina Del Mar with just four full caps to his name. And,
although Gerry Hitchens wiped out Garrincha's opener, the brilliant
Brazilian was in irresistible mood. After Vava restored the lead, the
legendary 'Little Bird' struck again to clinch a 3-1 win for the eventual
champions. "I felt we were doing well against them," insisted Moore, who was
back in England by the time the reigning champions saw off the challenge of
Czechoslovakia in the final to claim back-to-back tournament victories. "But
when we fell behind again, we had to push forward for the equaliser and
Garrincha just used the space to take another goal off us. It was like
taking candy. Goodnight!"
He had gone to Chile as an untried international novice, but he had proudly
returned to the Boleyn Ground with those five full caps after playing in
every match at the finals. Moore's personal joy had been tempered by
England's quarter-final exit, but at least he had 1966 to look forward to...
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TRANSFER TARGET BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT
By Sean Whetstone 12 Jun 2014 at 08:16
West Ham Till I Die
French player Prince Oniangue has emerged as a new transfer target after
previously being linked with Newcastle, Burnley and QPR.
The 25 year defender who can also play the defensive midfielder role scored
eight goals in 20 games last season and is a strong, physical midfielder as
Allardyce type player,
His professional career started with Rennes for whom he made 5 appearances
before joined Angers on loan where he made 30 appearance scoring 1 goal. In
2010 he joined Tours for whom he played 84 times netting 13 goals. He joined
Reims in 2013 scoring 8 goals from 20 starts. He was also spoken about in
the past as being cover for Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal. He is a member Congo
national football team where he has earned 14 caps and scored one goal.
According to a scouting report Oniangue was balanced and brawny during a
play in Reims' 3-2 defeat to Monaco.With his back to goal, he received a
pass from Reims right-winger Odair Fortes, swivelled, skipped past Monaco
centre-back Ricardo Carvalho's challenge and outmuscled Monaco centre-back
Eric Abidal. In Reims' 4-2 win over Bastia, Oniangue's missile of a shot hit
the back of the net before Bastia keeper Mickael Landreau completed his
dive. Lille keeper Vincent Enyeama, one of the best Ligue 1 shot-stoppers,
was bailed out by the crossbar when Oniangue unleashed a shot during Reims'
2-1 win over Lille. Oniangue classily curled the ball around Toulouse
centre-back Serge Aurier and Toulouse keeper Ali Ahamada to score Reims'
only goal in a 2-1 defeat.
The same scouting report described his weaknesses:
Oniangue tends to shirk his defensive duties, as a player of his physical
stature should be averaging more than 1.6 tackles and 0.6 interceptions per
game.
The primary concern with Oniangue's game is his passing. He is not involved
enough in Reims' buildup play, which is why he averages 27 passes per game.
When he does pass, he is careless.
Thanks to WHTID Author EXWHUEmployee for tipping me off on this. He kept
this one quiet but the news appears to have broken now.
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Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku rejects West Ham transfer for second summer running
Jun 12, 2014 16:36 By Darren Lewis
The Mirror
West Ham have had another move for Romelu Lukaku rejected by the Chelsea
striker, with Wolfsburg joining the race for his services. It is the second
summer in a row that the Hammers have been rejected by the Belgian, who
spent last season on loan from the Stamford Bridge club to Everton. Mirror
Sport understands Lukaku will now only consider joining clubs able to offer
him European football. The 21-year-old, set to make his World Cup bow
against Algeria in Brazil on Tuesday, smashed 15 Premier League goals for
the Merseysiders over the past season. That followed a similarly productive
year on loan to West Brom in 2012-13 for the man who moved for £18million
from Anderlecht in his homeland as an 18-year-old in August 2011. Lukaku
remains unconvinced he is still in the plans of Blues boss Jose Mourinho,
who is set to confirm the arrival of Atletico Madrid marksman Diego Costa
this summer. Germans Wolfsburg's sporting director Klaus Allofs believes
Chelsea are preparing to sell Lukaku, and maintains his club - who have
secured a place in the group stage of next season's Europa League - are
among those interested. Allofs said: "If the player is getting cheaper,
maybe this affair is picking up pace. "But even then we won't be the only
club chasing the player's signature. Actually we are looking at top-class
strikers and we do not have any pressure. We are patiently waiting for the
right moment. "There will be some movement in all of this after the World
Cup."
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