vol. 7 #12 – 03 June 2014

The SentinelAmsterdamIntegrity, heart, humour

feature

SPAIN:CATALONIA IS GAUDI

WORLD CUP 2014: PREVIEWPT II

sport CULTUREPERSPECTIVESLIFESTYLESTRAVELOPINIONREVIEWTECHNOLOGYARTFILMMUSICTRENDSRECOMMENDEDSPORT

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E-mail: sentineldesk@gmail.comWebsite: www.thesentinel.eu

Contributors: Sam van Dam, Ana Cullo-Augustijn, The Observer, Dirkje Bakker-Pierre E.R. Muntrem, Evelina Kvartunaite and Andrei Barburas

Editor: Denson PierreDesign: Dirkje Bakker-Pierre - no-office.nlRealisation: Andrei Barburas Webmaster:www.sio-bytes.tumblr.comWebhost: Andrei Barburas

The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photos/illustrations that are subject to copyright. If you consider your copyright to have been infringed, please contact us at sentineldesk@gmail.com.

The Sentinel Amsterdam

feature - p.04

perspectives - p.56 amsterdam city life - p.60 star beer guide - p.62

recommended - p.64 spotted - p.66 film - p.67

perspectives - p.70 health & well-being - p.74trends - p.68

fifa world cup 2014 - p.81

Spain: Catalonia is Gaudi

Water Bring Back Bons Voeux

Where is this in Amsterdam? Room2c

It is not easy How healthy is it?Trainers for President

Sentinel super selections

‘Trip to the 100 kilometre long Costa Barcelona’ ‘This giant display of Dutch

horticultural architecture’

technology - p.76

User Interface

‘Central to the narrative of Catalonia’

‘The Australian dream coming true’

Dam in 60 minutes! Keukenhof

Australia: in parts

Catalonia – Costa Barcelona

The Gold Room

perspectives - p.18

travel - p.46

culture - p.32

sport - p.100

more

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By Denson Pierre

It has been precisely two years since I myself learned that what is truly outstanding about Barcelona is not so much the city which now leads Europe in terms of short-stay tourist visits, but the province itself and certainly its people. Back then I was invited to be assisted in discovering the wonders that lay not very well hidden across this vast province and autonomous region of Spain (Sentinel5-12.pdf) and I have not looked back since. Barcelona city is fine and busied with sufficiently interesting events, activities and cultural curiosities but, just like anywhere else which has switched a focus onto mass tourism, has lost something in the magic of the urban area with its business now more centred on horde management.

Spain: Catalonia is

Gaudi

‘One of the more spectacular stories around modern culture and creativity

in all of Europe’

‘You are suddenly deposited in areas of natural beauty with settlements that are

scaled to be charming and inviting’

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My advice is to plan a trip to Barcelona but do so having arranged that your transport from the airport, should you have flown there, takes you along any of the three highways that dissect the city in any direction outward, for at least 20 minutes. What you find then is that you are suddenly deposited in areas of natural beauty with settlements that are scaled to be charming and inviting. Depending on the direction or route you take you will also realise that the region is also dotted with less spectacular but more functional towns and cities around which various industrial parks have been, and some are still located. The region is one of the more dynamic in terms of job creation within Spain, even if the unemployment figures are still stubbornly and shockingly close to 20% here as well.On this press trip to the 100 kilometre long Costa Barcelona, as a group, we headed straight to one of the villages right at the heart of one of the more spectacular stories around modern culture and creativity in all of Europe. Just some 20 minutes drive away from the airport you can arrive at Santa Coloma de Cervello, a village that is in itself more than historical and attractive enough to spend a day and night there. This is not all however, this is a former colonial-styled factory village, set-up by the in the main, industrialist and devout Catholic, Count Eusebi de Guell, in the 19th century. Textiles was the name of the game and Guell managed to develop a particularly successful and comprehensive encampment for his workers who were, at the time so desperate for the paid work, any work, that they could not see that the entire

village was self-serving to Señor Guell. Modern philanthropy it could not be called as even though workers and their families could be said to have been treated well by there being work, accommodation and basic education provided, the truth is that this steam age type of feudalism virtually entrapped the workers as everything about their lives was facilitated and exploited by the masters from the family Guell. Just imagine working extremely long hours in extremely harsh conditions for very low wages, only to have to pay for all life and family necessities you could not grow or make yourself indirectly right back to your overlord and employer.It is always interesting to have to turn true stories on their head to be able to tell better and longer lasting versions. Part of the absolute fun and learning you can do if you were to get to this village is ask at the modern tourism office and museum to be tagged in to a tour of the village guided by local legend and ‘multi-lingual’ guide Ramon. Meeting and listening to this man means you glide through the history of his village with highly-entertaining ease. The journey of the villagers from subsistence to factory work, to now being a hot spot for Japanese visitors are all explained and nothing beats walking around a village with a professional guide when seemingly and most likely, actually, everyone knows him, from a village of more than 7,000 people.The highlight of a tour with Ramon is to end up at the UNESCO spectacular of the (unfinished) Church of Calonia Guell by Antoni Gaudi. Viewing buildings and

‘It is always interesting to have to turn true stories on their head to be able to tell better and longer lasting versions’

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architecture can at the best of times seem slightly difficult in terms of being properly able to appreciate the intention of the designer or engineer. Gaudi himself was clearly an eccentric and peerless genius within his lifetime (1852-1926). His visions and modernist style is deservingly world famous but once you have the opportunity to learn about the man, his beliefs, almost bizarre talents and fortune in having the, for a time, seemingly unending sponsorship from the House of Guell, you are likely to elevate him to the very summit of the pantheon of those who created perception altering art, design and engineering. As you begin to appreciate Gaudi you find it increasingly difficult to imagine the modern, man-made world interacting with nature and being free of his input, while being as beautiful and even functional.In such a setting and in the knowledge that this experimental structure provided about 10% of design and engineering ideas to have gone into the original ‘plan’ for the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona (also unfinished), you can only be left fully amazed by the extraordinary nature of the man and his ideas. Despite Gaudi coming to his a death under circumstances that could be said to have been quirky or similar to that of so many other highly original thinkers and creators (Molière, Dillon Thomas, Roland Barthes, Doctor Atkins, H.R. Giger et al) it is no great surprise that the Japanese flock here as this story and the work of Gaudi is so way out that it must come close to their own more abstract (to us) interpretation of material art, function and beauty in form. They seem

wise to the fact, as I also recommend, that it is better to start your immersion into the wonderful world of Gaudi here. Ramon and the welcoming people will make the story come alive in your imagination and then you will have a totally enhanced appreciation of the artist and even find yourself feeling acceptance of the workings of the family Guell during that period of history. One of the greatest stories around culture in the modern era is best told here in Costa Barcelona. I now have about two years of Gaudi study ahead of me, so I feel privileged and inspired by this visit.

Partners on this leg of the press trip:

Restaurant El Captrix, Reicxach, 16, Santa Coloma de Cervello

gaudicoloniaguell.orgbarcelonaismuchmore.com

‘Gaudi himself was clearly an eccentric and peerless genius within his lifetime’

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‘Start your immersion into the wonderful world of Gaudi here’

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Dam in 60 minutes!

By Sam van Dam

Keukenhof

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This time I have a very special treat for you as we are going to visit to the famous Keukenhof, home of the tulip fields and a giant park full of flowers, but before we take off I have a confession to make: Because I would not be able to bike to Lisse, the home of the park, in 60 minutes, and due to the fact that my trusty bike has passed away after 4 years of excellent service, I travelled by bus instead of pedal power, for the first (and last!) time in the history of this column. Having said that, let’s get started. Our journey begins outside the office of one of the major tour operators in Amsterdam on the Damrak, where I line up with a group of fellow flower lovers to await instructions on our transportation to the Keukenhof. A guide brings us to our bus and once everybody has settled in their seats, we take off towards the highway and roll in the general direction of the airport. I should mention here that this is all rather exciting for me as I am not used to driving in automobiles, I am a big fan of bicycles as you will know if you are a regular reader of The Sentinel.

I am sitting in a crawl-space right behind the driver and the tour guide, so that I can shoot photos while we’re rushing towards the Keukenhof and I feel a bit like a kid on a holiday as this is definitely different from my usual trips through the country on my steel horse. We pass the airport with aeroplanes sitting right beside the highway just to enhance my holiday feeling. Soon we see the first signs announcing Lisse and I am all ready for an exciting afternoon surrounded by pretty plants and can’t wait for the bus to roll onto the giant parking area and spill out its load of passengers. The queue at the entrance moves quickly and in no time I am standing at the little pond featuring a fountain around which there are cafes and benches for visitors,

serenaded by a giant organ that sits just in front of the first patches of colourful flowers.

I look at the street signs that point to the different areas of the park; they are named after members of the Dutch royal family and I decide to honour our last Queen, Beatrix, by visiting ‘her’ flowers first. The way there takes me through an actual forest that is the home to hundreds of thousands of manually planted flowers and plants of all sizes, colours and flavours. I have never seen or smelled anything like it, it’s a bit like being in an enchanted place and I am clearly not the only one who feels like that. A general vibe of happiness and wonder has overcome the visitors to the park and it’s a truly pretty sight. I stroll through this marvellous landscape and snap pictures left and right, and so does everyone else. People are hunched over the vegetation for close-up shots, couples take photos of each other sitting among the blooming flowers or standing in giant wooden shoes that are placed strategically throughout the Keukenhof, one of them just outside the windmill that is stationed there. I visit the different royal pavilions and breathe in as much of the mesmerising bouquet of aromas as possible, the park is only open from the end of March until the middle of May and at the time of writing the flowers fields had already been mostly harvested and only the park itself offered the famous overwhelming flowery goodness that you cannot find anywhere else. I sit down on a bench and enjoy a moment of rest while I look at the people around me who came from all around the world to visit our lovely little country and this very special park, and I am happy to see that everybody is having a great time; families, groups of friends and students all enjoy this giant display of Dutch horticultural architecture and I am glad that for once I deviated from my usual manner of travelling or I might have missed out on this excellent experience. Eventually the time is up and I make my way back to the bus where the driver and our tour guide await, ready to safely steer us back towards the big city and as I look at the remaining flower fields from my crawl-space window I have already put the Keukenhof on my to do list for next spring.

‘Definitely different from my usual trips through the country’

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‘Visit the different royal pavilions and breathe in as much of the mesmerising

bouquet of aromas as possible’

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‘The famous overwhelming flowery goodness that you cannot find

anywhere else’

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Costa Barcelona

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By Denson Pierre

With the inspiration of Gaudi as fuel, a deeper look had to be taken into the culture and activities available in this coastal region so well visited by residents from the city of Barcelona as well as Dutch, French and Japanese tourists. Most of these would have done their research and know that, despite this not being the most popular area within the region to visit, that it is in fact one of the more important, given the cultural and historical stories made there.

Costa Barcelona

‘One of the more important, given the cultural and historical

stories made there’

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It was a pleasant sort of surprise to learn that this area (and Barcelona city itself) was such an important centre for textile manufacture and export right up until the 20th century. I had always imagined that these processes were always to be found in climates that were that bit damper than that of the coastal Mediterranean. It is so however, that the textile industry was extremely important to the economy of the province until fully modern methods of production elsewhere made the entire industry disappear from the scene as a viable entity.

What it has left behind are fabulous stories to be told of not just the adventures of hand-crafting textiles and fabrics of great beauty but also about the peculiar sociology of the time when the steam train and machinery was king (19th to early 20th centuries) if you wanted to drive industry. Barcelona and environs were some of the first areas of Europe, outside of the United Kingdom to incorporate a rail network, so ensuring easier access to raw materials and the successful transport of people and products to more lucrative markets even farther away from the areas of production.

Apart from the pleasure of staying and dining at the atmospheric hotel and restaurant Ceferino in Vilanova i la Geltru overnight, we found ourselves within reach by a pleasant morning’s walk across town to the very nicely maintained Museo del Ferrocarril. This is a bit of a honey pot for lovers of locomotives and carriages from the pre- electricity-driven stock age. As always, and because trains always look like oversized toys, the museum is not just popular with the elderly, some of whom recall journeys made on some of the very rolling stock now on display, but children who literally have a scream here. Trains are exciting and this museum is well worth a visit as it compounds the link between the region and its former industrial glory, the awe of steam power, and it even has a well-stocked, specialised library should the entire very well documented history of rail hold your interest.

What was to come next I suggest as being a superb, and dare I say it romantic trip to the recently designated as a national cultural monument and estate of the family Cabanyes. Here it is all about the involvement of the family who used Masia de Can Cabanyes, mainly as a summer house, in the Spanish take on Romanticism. Romanticsm as a historical and

creative movement is one of the least properly understood while the meaning of the word itself is certainly poor. It was a movement which influenced so much in art, poetry and intellectual endeavour at a time when Europe needed to look at itself with a softer focus following another series of wars (18th to 19th centuries). Here at The Centre for the Interpretation of Romanticism, you will be able to take a guided tour of this rather impressive mansion in which they have managed to preserve so many aspects that reflect what it must have been like to live and operate creatively from this address. This centre should be much more and better promoted as it forms a superb complex from which your study of Spanish and European Romanticism can be given space to develop and the air of history to breathe.

The history of Catalonia is rather tied-up in a particular form of insularity and their perception of self (as a nation) that makes it slightly difficult for global citizens to sometimes make sense of. Later on that day we headed to the Vilafranca del Penedes to absorb some of the atmosphere which circulates around the architectural mix from the Gothic to the modern. Beyond this aspect of culture all members of the press group could be said to have been more amazed by the entirely fascinating phenomenon of human tower building, famously popular here and apparently forwarded as central to the narrative of Catalonia being a series of support networks and of people, best represented through this feat of strength, organisation and daring. This was said to be ‘the’ cultural statement that shows the true values at the core of their identity within their autonomy in Spain. I really wish to re-visit Vilafranca del Penedes on one of the occasions when these hundreds of people get together to demonstrate this spectacular show, after the many months and years of practice. I wish to return as when the entire story around the human towers and its symbolism was told it did also point out that the most difficult of the towers to form mainly and regularly collapsed before getting close to completion. There was also indeed what seemed like an upper limit to the potential of a human tower. I wish to return as I need to make sure I understand that this is really the limited, limiting and confined symbolic these fine people wish to continue using as a one of the message carrying tokens of national pride.

barcelonaismuchmore.com

‘At The Centre for the Interpretation of Romanticism, you will be able to take

a guided tour’

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‘Absorb some of the atmosphere which circulates around the architectural mix

from the Gothic to the modern’

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‘I was able to dine like a beer-drinking top athlete’

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‘The entirely fascinating phenomenon of human tower

building, famously popular here’

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The Mediterraneanas it once was.

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www.visitgent.be

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classifi eds

AUSTRALIA: IN PARTS

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AUSTRALIA: IN PARTS

‘Naked for Satan is a bar’

‘Melbourne seems to be a fairly multicultural place’

By Anna Auguustijn-Cullo

We arrived in Melbourne and removed our European winter jackets. We headed across to breakfast in the Brunswick district. Years ago it was an area for factories but now it is filled with cafes, restaurants and apartments, making it an enjoyable part of the city. It is all decorated in a modern style; black paint, flashy lights and funny details which helped us enjoy our delicious soya capuccinos.

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Melbourne seems to be a fairly multicultural place. There is Little Italy and Little Saigon on Richmond Street and you can feel the spirit of Greek hospitality, eat great Turkish gozleme or Vietnamese spring rolls at Victoria Market.

Naked for Satan is a bar on Fitzroy Street named after its Russian founder, Leon Satanovich, the grandson of a vodka distiller who emigrated to Melbourne at the beginning of the last century. He managed to work his way up from working as a cleaner to setting up his own distillery. Aussies soon nicknamed him Satan. Legend has it that on hot summer days, when the heat was so unbearable, that he and his helpers would be found working in leggings only. Soon after, the phrase “Let’s get Naked for Satan” came into use. Just as with a few other places I liked, it was not just about design but the back story and the vivid soul of those places that maybe represented the Australian dream coming true.

Local youths wear individually styled, audacious clothing that is colourful. It is rather refreshing to see how new, retro- and - antique shops also blend to form a past and future look of the district. Posters announcing bands, singers and an upcoming comedy festival show that this city knows how to enjoy itself.

A cycle tour around the city took us through the famous Federation Square, with its modern design once more reflecting the zeitgeist of Melbourne. Onward to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Parliament House and the very busy Elizabeth Street, and then to the river Yarra.

We managed to experience White Nights Melbourne, a light festival which takes place on just one night in February, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Amazing to behold and some half a million people came through. Next we visited St Kilda. It is one of those settings that can satisfy city dweller cravings by offering seaside bars, terraces, and cake shops selling ice cream with colourful toppings. The Melbourne climate is similar to that of Europe in late summer and ideal to enjoy.We make it to Sydney and start exploring the city from Pitt Street, close to Chinatown and made it to all of the places we wanted to see. The Royal Botanic Gardens in the heart of the city was just amazing to visit. The view from one side is onto skyscrapers and on the other, to one of most beautiful shells man has created, the Opera House.You can enjoy hours exploring plants, flowers and be amazed by the genius of aboriginal people, their knowledge of nature. Posters inform about the aboriginal people to have always lived here, the injustices they experienced and to learn that they were

‘Local youths wear individually styled, audacious clothing that is colourful’

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‘Get a crocodile to launch with up to half of its body length out of the water’

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not even recognised as citizens here until the second half of the 20th century.

The Art Gallery of NZW is situated just to the side of the Botanic Garden. Here Ionic colonnades, masterfully designed, invite you to explore some more with no entrance fee charged. Art Gallery houses such a spectacular collection of Australian and other artists that it is no surprise that you find yourself being there for hours.

We tripped to the famous Manly and Bondi beaches and burnt ourselves in the sun but it was great to feel the sand and wind at this surfers’ paradise. Next and with the Mardi Gras celebrations due we managed to find a hotel in Pots Point, close to the beautiful and calm Elizabeth Bay. We made it to the picturesque Watson Bay which allows a perfect view of Sydney Harbour from its cliff.

We then departed to tropical Darwin with some wildlife there seemingly used to visitors. Dingos look at you as if to ask: “Where are you from? Is it true, do you think we are wild and dangerous?” Pythons camouflage themselves into this special landscape. The beach in Darwin is pure sand and enjoyable for walking on but jellyfish at this time of the wet season means we can

only imagine what it is like to swim in the Pacific Ocean. Seeing as we wanted to enjoy more of this northern nature, we decided to go to Litchfield and Katherine national parks. The parks are cared for by local people and rangers with a big battle against cane toads raging. The toads are poisonous to other species which tend to eat them and are negatively impacting the fauna population in the region.

Bats hung like fruit on trees lining the path to one of most beautiful waterfalls where we could have a swim. Florence Falls is not to be missed. All around Litchfield Park we studied the fascinating world of termites, their mounds, colony organisation and engineering. We came across wallabies which looked ready for a cuddle. Interfering with nature is not allowed however, and to be even able to get a crocodile to launch with up to half of its body length out of the water, it takes the boat captain having to dangle bait. Extraordinary.

After experiencing the wet season in northern Australia we noticed that we should prepare to return, to fly halfway around the world to meet the spring in Amsterdam, my new home.

‘The Art Gallery of NZW is situated just to the side of the Botanic Garden’

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Weather you consume it,

Bathe with it,

Baptise with it,

Sit looking at it,

Being surrounded by it,

It’s nice, 

And truly it’s life!

“It never ceases to amaze me that water,

which is life sustaining,

is also often the taker of it.”

Water

by The Observer

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58classifi eds

For complete and world class tours of Prague

Packages include:• Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children)• Literary Prague• Prague Architecture through the ages• Religion and the city• The old city at night

*These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists.

Day segments and rates:PR: 08:00-12:30hrs / AG: 13:30-16:30hrs / UE: 17:30-21:30hrsAll sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult. Group size upper limit = 8. Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25%. Family package rates are negotiable.

Contact:Jaroslav Cernosek+420 602 228 797Mail: jcernosek@centrum.cz

JC Tours

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BRING BACK:

Picture the scene, it is 04:12 in Amsterdam’s historic entertainment district and the later opening bars have just deposited the last of the dipsomaniacs onto the narrow streets. A mixed gender group of very typical and Dutch folk, clearly on their way to either plague a night bus or a train back into the provincial bush, decide that the best thing they could do to ‘enjoy’ their moment of alcohol-fuelled joy is to start screaming in chorus and rattling (somehow they had either crude or improvised rattlers with them) about fire and beckoning the hundreds of persons asleep and within earshot of them with “wakker worden!”

These incidents always take on surreal dynamics when you are yourself present and see in the faces of the young adults, an almost practiced stare of devilment. They are fully aware of what they are up to and there was no space to gently ask for consideration to be shown as the women of the group in particular, seemed particularly worked-up and emboldened to put on a negative performance.

Two minutes into the screaming and rattling it was even more hurtful, as an Amsterdammer, to see a clearly shaken awake visitor in her fourth-floor window of her five-star hotel, craning her neck to see what hell had broken loose. It was nothing but the most inconsiderate and despicable group I have come across at that time of morning in any entertainment district, anywhere, ever.

Amsterdam is extremely well policed but at certain moments you wish to think it would be handy to have the power of arrest to simply round-up this kind of properly anti-social and deliberate group and make sure they had some time at a police station to try explaining what about screaming fire, was interesting or funny, and especially at the time when most people are experiencing their deepest sleep. They are used to a certain amount of noise but not beer banshees schreeching.

Bring back the feeling that you could do something in such a situation although we know it is dangerous to attempt pacifying marauding groups of drunken people. What else can we bring back? I need to check the law around effecting what can be understood as a citizens’ arrest. This kind of behaviour is akin to terrorism.

By Denson Pierre

CITIZENS’ ARREST

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BRING BACK:6

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Star Beer

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At a certain point you have to just accept given products as examples of perfection of their sort. Bon Voeux is in the magical category of beer and is best appreciated when a champagne-styled bottle of it is shared, using the glasses designed to funnel the aromas to where it counts. You can have no reason to not have anyone partial to excellent beer not taste this seemingly conjured drink.

Accompanying a meal with this beer also opens up even more taste and spiritually uplifting opportunities. Standing in wait in the properly strong category you would be advised to ensure that drunkenness is not meant as your objective, should you be fortunate enough to come across this beer.It is my personal luck to behold that my most local quality beer cafe (and clients) now stock these wonders of brewed excellence. Cafe Kostverloren here in Amsterdam, will see a fair bit more of me from now on.

Bons Voeux is brewed by Brouwerij Du Pont, Tourpes, Henegouwen, Belgium.

The SentinelStar beer guide

‘You have to just accept given products as examples of perfection of their sort’

By Denson Pierre

BONS VOEUX (A.B.V. 9.5%)

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RECOMMENDED

Cafe Kostverloren 25/05/14

We fi nd the best, most fun, most typical, exciting, or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you; an easy way to feel like a local.

Café WesterdokSome of the very fi nest and rarest of beers available anywhere in the world. The warmest Amsterdam welcome.Café WesterdokWesterdoksdijk 715A Amsterdamwww.cafewesterdok.nl

Connoisseurs Delight

Café Westerdok

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recommended

EUROGIFTSXenonweg 9 3812 SZ Amersfoort

Tel. 033 - 454 35 75 - Fax 033 - 454 35 79E-mail: �lmproef@eurogifts.nl

Website: www.eurogifts.nl

FILMPROEF

ORDERNUMMER: 6021022ARTIKELNUMMER: 65123

Ware grootte (indien uitgeprint)Kleur opdruk : Wit

Mulligans Irish Music BarAmsterdam’s best address for live Irish music: Five (5) nights a week! Check our agenda for upcoming sessions. Amstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdamwww.mulligans.nl

Café KostverlorenCafé Kostverloren is a contemporary cafe off ering the cosiness of a saloon, an open kitchen and the intimacy of a living room. The large terras is great for sunny days.2e Kostverlorenkade 70 Amsterdamwww.cafekostverloren.nl

GollemGollem’s Proefl okaal, Gollem and Gollem II represent the best addresses serving the fullest range of top Belgian, Dutch and international beers in Amsterdam.Overtoom 160-161 Amsterdamwww.cafegollem.nl

IncantoA restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen. Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with great feeling for nuance.Amstel 2 Amsterdamwww.restaurant-incanto.nl

Cafe restaurant EdelCafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch, dinner or to simply enjoy a drink. Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam.Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdamwww.edelamsterdam.nl

Café OportoCafé Oporto is a traditional Amsterdam ‘brown cafe’. Welcoming tourists and regular customers alike, they off er televised sports, wifi and a wide range of reasonably priced beers and spirits.Zoutsteeg 1 1012 LX Amsterdamwww.cafeoporto.net

BaxA cosy and friendly local café with a focus on special or interesting beers and good quality food.  Open 7 days a week with a professional kitchen off ering a lunch and dinner service.Ten Katestraat 119 Amsterdamwww.cafebax.nl

To be seen and tasted Fun, Drinking & Music

To Be Seen and Tasted

Fun, Drinking & Music

Fun, Drinking & Music

Connoisseurs Delight

Connoisseurs Delight

To Be Seen and Tasted

Fun, drinking and music

ParckGreat fun, beautiful people and simply the best bar food in town!Overtoom 428 Amsterdamwww.cafeparck.nl

To be seen and tasted

Cafe de Toog1890’s grandeur fashioned into Amsterdam-West, grand, brown cafe-restaurant-cool. Classy drinks and meals.Nicolaas Beetsstraat 142 hs Amsterdam www.cafedetoog.com

Café Rose Red - You will not see and sample a better selection of the very best of European beer elsewhere.Cordoeaniersstraat 16 Bruggewww.caferosered.com

Cafe-Restaurant Du CapA spacious and tasty helping to the Mediterranean vibe within Amsterdam’s new ‘West End’ entertainment district. Kwakersplein 2 Amsterdamwww.du-cap.nl

Molly Malone’sAn Irish pub as it should be and a home away from home! Cosy, friendly, and with its very own character!Oudezijds Kolk 9 1012 AL Amsterdamwww.facebook.com/pages/Molly-Malones-Amsterdam/293030997411277

To be seen and tasted To be seen and tasted

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Where is this inAmsterdam?Answer to: sentineldesk@gmail.com

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feature

Room 2cfilm

“You don’t even want to learn how to cook dhal!” Family entertainment around football for ladies in Hounslow, West London. A lithe, super-sexy, Keira Knightley lights up proceedings while the story delves into colourful, cross-cultural strife. Fresh and well-paced comedy, with emotional undertones.

“...Brian Clough über alles” There has not yet been time for an even better true story to be written for the screen about the life and challenges of Diego Simeone, so we have here what is certainly the best football-themed movie ever made.Michael Sheen produces a masterclass in playing the role of the young, charismatic and eccentric genius. All of the grittiness of 1970s, British professional football could not hide the demon that is alcohol however.

By dpmotions

By dpmotions

Bend it like Beckham (2002)

The Damned United (2009)

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trends

‘Louis Van Gaal, with his infamous Dutch charm and ‘made-up’ English’

By Dirkje Bakker-Pierre

With the season now done and the World Cup not quite here yet, trainers are the talk of the town in football land. British journalists are literally shivering with anxiety and stand in line for tension relieving meditation lessons in preparation of next season’s post-match interviews because of Manchester United’s new trainer, Louis Van Gaal, with his infamous Dutch charm and ‘made-up’ English, and of course there is the endless speculation about who is going to be the next trainer at Spurs. A soap opera of rollercoaster-like proportions which will undoubtedly keep us busy with lots of cliff-hangers and unexpected twists and turns until after the World Cup.

Funnily enough, the fashion world is also very busy with trainers in 2014, but in a slightly different sense. Sneakers have come and gone from the fashion scene and the runway, but this year they are definitely back with a vengeance and up there in the must have section. At London Fashion Week the biggest trend was to float around comfortably on totally snow-white

trainers, the brand didn’t even matter, as long as they were crisp, clean and blemish free. Forget about heels in 2014; forget about hip loafers or tiger prints; trainers are where it is at. The nice thing about this phenomenon is that you can just wear some white sneakers, go to London Fashion Week and be cast as trendsetting. If only Larry David or Jerry Springer or all of those elderly people driving around Europe and the USA in camper vans had known this in time, they could have claimed to be fashion forward.

In another part of the world Adidas have developed just about the opposite of a white trainer; the fully customisable trainer – upload your own picture and create your own completely unique pair of shoes. Even more customisable than the competitor, Nike-id… Of course, if you want to be really on trend you could take a picture of crisp white snow and thus create your own white, but different white sneakers.

I wonder what Louis Van Gaal will make his players wear next season?

Trainers for President

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By E.R. Muntrem

As I write this it is mother’s day back in the United States. I could not convince my own mom to visit Amsterdam. Unhappy most of her life, I thought the town might lend her some joy, as it does so many, the elderly included. She died a few years ago while I was here. Loss of function, loss of friends, growing old is not for the faint of heart, but thinking mom prompted me to remember a few past encounters with the city’s matriarchy.

Walking along a narrow street I am flagged down by a woman in her seventies. She has managed to get the laces of her flat-blue tennis sneakers wrapped around the bike pedal, her foot now pinned down to the street. As I investigate and make it clear I do not speak Dutch, my attempt to unwind her requires, she insists, an impossible knee bend, she looks through her purse and

tells me “I have a knife, a good knife.” Only a superior brand would get the job done, I guess.

A little too short with which to hijack a plane, the blade flips open from a lovely wooden case and simple stroke later I have saved her from immobility. “You are very kind,” she says. I request a picture. “Not with my hat on,” she says, removing it with a bit of a flustered smile, telling me the name of the just remembered knife maker and repeating, “it is a very good brand.” We part, my wondering if I have transgressed with the request for her picture. No. Besides, I earned it. ‘Twas I who freed her from her Gazelle-ian Knot.

Walking directly from the Herengracht to the Prinsengracht along one of the nine streets should never take more than a few minutes. For the woman I now stalk it will take upwards of a half an hour. Impeccably dressed, as unbent-over as a person can be, her left foot slides forward after she plants the cane she holds in her right hand. A short pause follows. Then comes a half step with her right foot. Cane. Then the

‘Growing old is not for the faint of heart’

It is not easy

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slide. Pause and step. In this fashion, over and over, the incline of a bridge crossing the Keizersgraght may as well be Everest. And in the midst of pedestrians and bikes and dogs and birds, while trees blow the wind and the sun of this spring day sets the canals to sparkle and brings the brick to life, she barely moves. She is the stillest thing in Amsterdam.

She buys bread. Then another block to buy wine. Now begins the long journey home weighed down by supplies. I approach, my offer of help receiving a deep smile and gentle rebuff. “Thank you my dear,” she says in a tone that is all Dutch yet indicates ancient British schooling, “but I do love to manage.”

On an early trip to Amsterdam, in a pre-war bar known (supposedly) for its literary crowd - there’s more than one venue describable this way, of course - I am still the hopeless tourist and wait at the bar, as I think I should, as the B-Tender serves others. Just as he moves towards me, I see the menu-cart on table displaying available beverages and turn my back on him, pivoting again

only to order the cheapest possible beer (€2.10) while producing a bill that forces him to make an absurd amount of change. This he hands to me as I advertise my discovery of exact change in my other pocket. To the table where he would have served me I now slink, putting my jacket on the chair, not the hook on wall. No one thinks me a local.

At the table next to me a woman who might have had her first drink here when the war was on or the literary crowd first established itself, sits speaking with a companion. The two speak nothing but Dutch. Unusual, as even natives often slip into English or words or phrases during long talks. The little stagger she gives when standing up is a sign of drinking too much or living too long, though she removes her own coat (from the hook) and slips it on with practiced grace. Ready to leave she makes deliberate and direct eye contact: ‘It is not easy,” she says, “but it is, it is.”

It is not easy. But it is. It is.

‘The long journey home’‘A bridge crossing the Keizersgraght may as well be Everest’

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With the rash of ‘new age’ health trends and hashtag diets I was wondering where the line is to be drawn and how healthy is healthy? Health seems to have become a commodity along with organic products, health food (and I must state, very highly priced) shops and boosted sales of juicers that are ever so popular in yoga studios and such places.

To be healthy has always been cool, to walk around with a glass of beautiful green juice is indeed way cooler than posing with a cup of American franchise coffee, however, I am not sure I see this healthy movement closing down fast food stores or boosting people’s mood in general. Are we just all health talk?

Howhealthy

is it?By Evelina Kvartunaite

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‘Health seems to have become a commodity’

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A short while ago I started a ‘healthy’ recipe blog and soon realised that a key to its likely success was in not pressuring myself or others into eating what is ‘good’ for them. Simply put, if you do not soil your system as much, you will need to detox less often. If you are aware of what is good for you, then there is no need to have to ‘prove’ it to anyone. My wish to you all is to find the right way to prosper, for yourself: “Age si quid agis” bloom where you are planted despite hashtags on food trends!

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‘I started a ‘healthy’ recipe blog’

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We are all big fans of music yet not a lot of people are willing to pay good money for it, especially in today’s world. So what options do you have?

With the deployment of faster connections, we are noticing an increasing number of services that allow you to stream content rather than download it onto your device; music being one of those types of content. Currently there are a few major players in the music market, that if you do not count those that offer music video streaming as well (YouTube, Vevo, etc.).

Today I will give you some insight about Google Play Music, iTunes and Spotify, those being the biggest players taking the majority of the market.

UserInterface

Music lockers in the 21st century

‘Not a lot of people are willing to pay good money for it’

‘Stream content rather than download it onto your device’

‘Listen offline in high-quality audio and most importantly, with no audio ads’

By Andrei Barburas

I have been a user of Google Play Music for more than year. It was an almost natural choice as I am not an Apple/iOS user but I am a Google/Android fan. According to Google, there are about 15 million songs in their library, both paid and free. You can also upload a maximum of 20 thousand tracks that you can stream from any device. If you opt for All Access, then expect to pay about €7 per month. For this you get unlimited music streaming and custom made radio stations of any track on Google Play Music. The design of the interface is very clean and easy to use, focusing on the tracks, bearing in mind that it is ad free.

The other option is iTunes especially if you are an Apple fan boy/girl. It is one of the oldest and most rigid services out there, despite the number of times that it’s been predicted that Apple will finally change things. There is no web player, no Android support and

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if you want iTunes Match, you will have to pay around €20. iTunes Match uses iCloud, storing all of your music online, even songs you have imported from CDs. Track prices range from €0,69 to €1,29. According to the iTunes website, there are about 25 million tracks DRM free. I used iTunes in the past mostly for podcast subscriptions and music files management, but I discovered that it became extremely sluggish especially when it was scanning the watch folders.

The last option that is quite popular among teenagers, at least with my brother, is Spotify. According to some, it has actually been the most popular choice of streaming services for many years. Spotify’s biggest move was when it launched its mobile service complete with music caching that meant the tunes can keep playing even when you’re out of mobile connectivity range. Spotify does well because it has

apps for just about everything under the sun - Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and a whole bunch of home entertainment devices including Onkyo amps and Sonos speakers. For €9.99, you can play any song, anywhere, download music and listen offline in high-quality audio and most importantly, with no audio ads. Spotify has a library of around 20 million tracks and with the recent design changes, I am inclined to call it the “eye candy”.

Naturally, there are other options, a bit more obscure but still worth looking at. To mention just a few: Pandora, Amazon Cloud Player, Xbox Music.

What service/services are you using? If none, I am curious what should be the unique selling point of a service in order to convince you to subscribe.

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FIFA World Cup 2014: Sentinel Super Selections

In just over a week we will have kicked-off in Brazil. The time for speculation and fantasy is quickly passing. We are now about to see what these super athletes can actually do this time to stamp the magnificence of their skilful performances into our collective sporting memories.

Today we preview the remaining teams representing the other half of the draw. With there being 32 teams at this tournament, it means that the traffic flowing in both directions is heavy. There is no easy path through to progress in this tournament, so let the games truly begin!

By Denson Pierre

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By Graham Maywood

SWITZERLANDSeeded Switzerland will be looking to achieve their best ever World Cup final placing. They comfortably won their qualifying group by 7 points from Iceland and a lowly placed Norway; they will arrive well prepared.Brazil 2014 will represent the third successive World Cup finals for the Swiss, not to mention their regular attendance of the European Cup Finals. Efficient and confident is how you should describe these mountain-dwelling football players.Coach Ottmar Hitzfield certainly has players capable of making a difference, they include the Swiss-Turkish midfielders Granit Xhaka and Gokhan Inler. Another player looking for more playing time than he gains at his club side is Bayern Munich’s Xherdan Shaqiri, although he does have Ribery and Robben for competition there.

Ultimately, Hitzfield will retire after these finals so we should expect a more youthful starting team willing to take their chances. Switzerland have every chance of progressing from their favourable group, even if they lose their second game to France, they should even surprise a few with their tactics.

FRANCEIt seriously looked as though France had fluffed their chances of going to Brazil when trailing 2-0 to Ukraine after the first leg of their play-off. That they pulled off a dramatic 3-0 win in the return leg in Paris means that they can never be written off.‘Les Blues’ have blown hot and cold in recent World Cup finals. Non-qualification in 1994, lifting the trophy in Paris in 1998 and then the infamous ‘Zidane’ final in 2006 seeing them finish as runners-up.Their coach, Didier Deschamps, who played most of his club football in Italy, will set up his team to focus on winning their games rather than playing ‘sexy’ football.Defence could be an issue for the French with a few of their players passing their peak. Patrice Evra and Mathieu Debuchy are at risk although captain Hugo Lloris has had a reasonable season in goal for Tottenham Hotspur.Their key player though has to be Franck Ribery, who arguably should have won the 2014 Ballon d’Or. Another player to keep an eye out for is PSG’s Blaise Mathidi who should use his physical presence to break-up play in critical games.For a welcome change, Deschamps is finally able to take a united French squad to Brazil and cast aside the fractious personalities that have had a negative impact on their country in recent finals, bar some twittering girlfriends of non-selected players. If Deschamps can get the right balance of unity, youth and experience, then France should travel to Brazil with less pressure than previous finals. For Deschamps this is a French side that is a work-in-progress, so shackles off and who knows?

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ECUADOREcuador will arrive in Brazil for their 3rd World Cup finals after 2002 and 2006.It is unfortunate that they are mourning the tragic death of their popular striker Chuco Benitez, who died of heart failure in Qatar last year. Despite the tragedy however, Ecuador managed to safely negotiate their remaining fixtures and avoid a play-off.

In preparation for the finals Ecuador recently played out a friendly 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in Amsterdam.  They also play England before arriving in Brazil, and if they can then again avoid defeat, they will arrive in extremely confident mood.

Colombian Reinaldo Rueda has been appointed coach after 4 years managing Honduras, who ironically Ecuador will face in Group E. Ecuador are actually more used to playing their football 2,800 metres above sea-level so it will be fascinating to see how they cope with more oxygen in Brazil. 

They are another side with their strengths in midfield; Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia and Dynamo Moscow’s Christian Noboa will add width and penetration to their game.  Their Achilles’ heel and potentially what will see them not making it past their group games is their defence, where they have been leaking goals left, right and centre this last season. If they can get 2 or more points on the board against Switzerland and Honduras they will go into their final game against France with belief.  

HONDURASHonduras is simply delighted just to make back-to-back qualification to the Brazilian 2014 World Cup Finals after South Africa in 2010.Their prized dream would be to secure a first win after their famous 1-1 draw with Spain in the 1982 finals. They are managed by another Colombian, Luis Fernando Suarez, and after Rueda’s spell for the country between 2006 and 2010, Suarez has high standards to live up to.

“Bringing down France is the objective” their audacious manager says. Quite how he does that is another matter entirely. Honduras will be defensively minded, simply because they lack any real threat up-front. Without any notable players from the top European leagues it will be a huge effort just to keep the ‘goals against’ statistics down to single figures.That said, they qualified by beating USA 2-1 at home and Mexico 2-1 away to secure 3rd place in their CONCACAF league. On the player front, Celtic’s Emilio Izaghirre, Ranger’s Arnold Peralto and Hull City’s Maynor Figueroa make up the team’s back-bone.

FranceSwitzerlandEcuadorHonduras

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By Denson Pierre

It now seems like tradition that a given group always produces a ‘surprise’ team, or at least a team that performs above all expected levels. For this to fit nicely into the narrative it has to involve a David versus Goliath scenario. Group F consists of a far and away favourite which is likely to go through the first round of matches with a 100% record, and then three other teams that have to come up with something to be remembered by.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA:It is a greater achievement by Bosnia-Herzegovina in qualifying for this tournament than that of any other team. Of a tiny population but some sure-footed and talented players who operate with a certain flair and passion synonymous with Balkan football over the years. It does not appear likely that they will be able to muscle through to the knock-out stages with any ease, if at all, but in Asmir Begovic as the last man in defence and Eden Dzeko leading the line and as their star player, they possess high quality at both sharp ends.

ARGENTINA:Proximity can make the heart grow stronger. These two-time champions appear on paper at least, to have the easiest path through to the finals. It is difficult to find weaknesses in this squad that overflows with robust talent and which can then, quite calmly, release the best footballer seen since another Argentinean back in the 80s - Lionel Messi - to do some proving beyond compiling utterly astounding statistics doing his club-bound day job. Messi is even likely to be challenged for the title of player of the tournament by his teammate, Sergio Aguero.

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IRAN:Could this group of players, all plying their trade away from the glamour leagues, be the team to upset a ‘bigger’ team simply through force of will? This is just the sort of group within which such a stunt could be successful. The more likely scenario involves them having one good game but not securing a maximum return from it.

NIGERIA:I am probably not alone in having grown weary of Africa’s ‘powerhouse’ team getting to tournaments and wilting like delicate flowers in sub-Saharan heat. Nigeria, like all of the West African teams in this competition have, for me at least, to make a new mark by which their football has to be judged into the future. Anything can happen and usually does but with power and athleticism they may be able to find a way through to the second phase and then take themselves seriously and professionally. It is another chance to maybe observe John Obi Mikel playing the number 10 role.

PREDICTION: ArgentinaNigeriaIranBosnia-Hercegovina

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By Denson Pierre

This will no doubt be the ‘emotional’ group during the first phase of the tournament. Each team in here present with a certain arrogance in a football sense, that has them and their fans believing that this time round they should be doing very well and thus find themselves in the last-8, at minimum. Football reality is always that bit more harsh and this group is likely to surprise as it could be that a couple of the self anointed giants are actually not of the class and effectiveness to even get out of what will be a competitive group.

GHANAAn easy and early qualification means that the ‘Black Stars’ have had good time to plot how they wish to do anything approaching their fortuitous landing in the Quarter-Finals of the 2010 tournament. They were dealt an unfair hand by Luis Suarez then but the truth is that the last-16 was the limit for such a team. This time they have many of the players from the 2010 squad represented and at what should be their sporting prime in terms of age. They will have major battles to overcome if they wish to get to the second phase. One of these involves a re-match with USA. Ghana could possibly do well in this tournament but, with there being no world class players in the current squad, you then have to look to a positive team ethos and undoubted, collective athleticism, as the characteristics to move this team forward. What is more likely is that the folly of the decision of their leading striker to leave a competitive league in order to just take a few very good pay-days to help extend his lavish and luxurious lifestyle, will surely haunt them. Ghana might just be a blunt instrument with Asamoah Gyan anywhere close to the first team, playing a United Arab Emirati level of football.

GERMANYNo one seems to label the German national team as machines anymore as over the past couple tournaments they have arrived playing some fancy, explosive and high-skill combinations which has made them exciting to watch and counter-intuitively feared. What this current German team has proven is that by the very nature of not winning outright, and in fact fading quite badly, in the previous major tournaments, is that they are not as very good as they can appear in preliminary rounds. Germany are strong as ever but their best players remain Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neur. Ahead of and around them they have a few exciting but flighty talents who continue to prove that they cannot impose their craft with the necessary power during the later stages of tournaments. Germany will not win the 2014 World Cup.

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PORTUGALEver-present beyond the first phase of tournaments this team will again make it interesting for anyone they come up against during the knock-out phase. This is one of the more solid and exciting squads to return to what is their former colony and hope to build a new empire. With Cristiano Ronaldo being himself the equivalent of two world-class players, I see Portugal being a good bet to be the team to upset at least one of the fancied front-runners as tournament favourites.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAIt would be so great for the World Cup if, with the popularity of football recently increasing exponentially in the USA, that this team would do well. Well could be hard to come by with them being nowhere close to Portugal in terms of class and with a seemingly psychological block when it comes to facing Germany (with a German coach). If they can overcome either of these seemingly immovable objects and get a result, then it just might lead to a most emotionally charged graduation as a football playing power to be reckoned with. Tim Howard has become a world-class goalkeeper and with their Hollywood-star lookalike and captain, Clint Dempsey, leading the line, USA just might...

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PREDICTION: PortugalGermanyUnited StatesGhana

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By Denson Pierre

This could be called ‘the group of doubt’. Teams involved should all feel they can get through the first phase and provide some resistance from this side of the draw later on. It is likely that the group is perceived as being not particularly strong but this plays right into the area of advantage to Algeria, Belgium, Russia or South Korea.

BELGIUMThe most talked about, young, eager European team at Brazil 2014. As if by magic, the Red Devils are suddenly overflowing with talent and are not such dark horses to do very well. Within their ranks they have Eden Hazard, a player who could easily end up being the star of the entire tournament. With the likes of Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen providing world-class defensive work, there will be a lot of room for the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin Miralles and Mousa Dembélé to make names for themselves. Even at this point they also have two of the better goalkeepers who operate at the very top level in Europe to choose between. One cannot help feeling that if they do become unstuck it could be because they came to miss the assured and powerful forward play of Christian Benteke, who had to drop out due to serious injury.

Belgium will provide imposing opposition to any team in Brazil and their fans should be optimistic, as optimistic as they were about Mexico 1986 when their previous ‘golden generation’ were at their peak.

ALGERIAFailure to score a single goal during their three matches at South Africa 2010 meant the only impression they managed to stamp was to do with the level of mediocrity of England then. Algeria held them to a 0-0 draw in a match free of spectacle but full of Wayne Rooney expletives. They have since improved their tournament form by making a reasonable showing at the African Cup of Nations 2013.

Algeria must really wish that at some stage in the near future, that world-class players to be able to qualify to play for them choose to do so. Zenidine Zidane did not and Samir Nasri must now wish he did in the first place, and so be part of Brazil 2014. In previous World Cups Algeria had stand-out players like Rabah Madjer and Nacerdine Drid to look toward for star turns. This year they may have to find inspiration in the ambidexterity and youthful fearlessness of Nabil Bentaleb and the striking of Islam Slimani if they are to sneak into the second phase of competition.

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RUSSIAIt is difficult to put a read on this current Russian team going to Brazil under the guidance of Fabio Capello. It has to be hoped that the Italian can squeeze some interesting and effective football from his charges. Last time out during Euro 2012, Russia were nothing but disappointing. With such a huge support base and the unfulfilled ambition to do really well in a major competition, they have to be treated with respect if not awe.

It is just peculiar to note that Andrei Arshavin, a player many were convinced would become a great, has just allowed his gradual and chronic decline in form to mean that he has not even been picked to go to Brazil. Russia is now just another team in transition and guaranteed to be unpredictable.

SOUTH KOREAThe Reds are now solid veterans of World Cup competition and seem to have maintained their high count of skilful and industrious players who ply their trade around the world and certainly within their well-established national league. Park Ju-Young who is on the books at and trains at times with Arsenal, is the leader of the line, but his failure to make a major impression in the Premier League could mean that this tournament can work for him in building a different legend. The World Cup offers a chance for the least fancied players and teams to create doubt by upsetting odds and maybe even enjoying themselves.

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PREDICTION: BelgiumAlgeriaSouth KoreaRussia

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The Gold Room

By Denson Pierre

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of things by upsetting the British football establishment and that club.

Tim Sherwood: no surprise that this pub entertainer of a manager was relieved of his duties by Tottenham Hotspur as he simply was way out of his league when facing decent teams from the top-6 of the EPL. We can only hope that he drops down a couple divisions and works his way back up while learning the trade.

David Moyes: best to mention him before he sinks further without a trace after the sadness he brought to Manchester United and their millions of fans. He had reached his level at Everton and maybe they will receive offers for Roberto Martinez that they cannot refuse and have to countenance taking Moyes back. Some matches are made in blue heaven.

Mauricio Pochettino: might have brought great relief to the millions of Spurs fans around the world by agreeing to bring his gloriously attacking style to White Hart Lane. This too should be interesting and surely better than anything Tim Sherwood could have done or Andre Villas-Boas could allow himself to do.

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First of all we must congratulate Graham Maywood for pulling off a famous victory with the greatest amount of Arsenal-style possible. The FFG-CL provided much tension and fun over this past season and we now move on to scouting players from the World Cup, who will undoubtedly find themselves picked-up by English Premier League clubs. Photos of the winners of The Sentinel fantasy football games will appear here in the next issue.

We are just busy with fantasy management but always have to pay attention to real world management appointments and dismissals as this directly affects the performances of the players we select to use in this master fantasy manager game. We already have a big gun coming in and a couple pea shooters going out.

Louis van Gaal: his move to Manchester United could mean one of two things. It is either managers here believe he can get a steady team performing there for the start of next season or that he will just make a mess

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