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48 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 JULY 2016 Sport FOOTBALL EU FUNDS SUPPORT OFFICER Applications are invited for the positions of EU Funds Support Officer in the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto. Applications together with a detailed CV will be received at the Corporate Services Directorate, Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto, Tal-Pilar, 31B, Marsamxett Road, Valletta, VLT 1850 or submitted through the Online Government Recruitment Portal on http://recruitment.gov.mt by not later than noon of Friday 12 th August 2016. Further details may be obtained from the Government Gazette of 29 th July 2016. Application forms may be downloaded from: https://opm.gov.mt/en/PAHRO/RESOURCING/Pages/Forms%20and%20Templates/Forms-and- Templates.aspx Some of the positions being advertised through this call for applications may be considered for co-financing by European Union Funds Zlatan Ibrahimovic creating 'functional empathy' at Man United - Mourinho ZLATAN Ibrahimovic is play- ing a pivotal role in creating a friendly atmosphere in the Man- chester United dressing room, manager Jose Mourinho has said, adding that the striker should not restrict his role in the squad to goalscorer. "With Zlatan you may see some- one with a big ego, big self-esteem, but it is in a positive way. When he is with the group, he is humble and friendly to everyone -- integration is good," Mourinho told MUTV. "Zlatan is a fantastic player and, immediately in training, we could feel what I call 'functional empa- thy' -- people looking to him, him looking to connect with other players. "He is an amazing link player, an amazing player. He could be anything on the pitch, not just a goalscorer." Ibrahimovic joined up with the first team only recently following his arrival early this month after being given extra time off fol- lowing Euro 2016, where Sweden crashed out in the first round. The 34-year-old looks set to make his first appearance for United in his home country af- ter he was named in the 23-man squad for Saturday's friendly against Turkish side Galatasaray in Gothenburg. Mourinho has already begun re- building at United, having signed defender Eric Bailly and midfield- er Henrikh Mkhitaryan as well as Ibrahimovic and, according to media reports, is nearing the cap- ture of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba. The 53-year-old Portuguese was confident his new recruits would not take long to adapt to the rig- ours of the Premier League as they did not have any language barriers with their team mates. "Zlatan and Henrikh are flu- ent in English and in many other languages. They are good guys and experienced guys," the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager said. "Eric doesn't speak English too well. But he speaks French and Spanish which makes it an easy position in this squad with all his team mates who speak those lan- guages. He is coming up, step by step." Mourinho will mark his return to England's top flight when he takes United to Bournemouth for their first game of the league sea- son on Aug. 14. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Ranieri: Move not good for Mahrez CLAUDIO Ranieri believes it will be in the best interests of Riyad Mahrez to stay with Leicester City. The 25-year-old Algeria inter- national has been with Leicester since 2014 and enjoyed a superb 2015-16 campaign, scoring 17 times for the title-winning Foxes and being crowned PFA Players' Player of the Year. Ranieri has consistently stated Mahrez will not leave Leicester in the summer transfer window but has now expanded on that view, stating his belief that a big-money move to another club could actu- ally be detrimental to the player. "I speak often with him and say stay with us, it's much better for your future, I think he is an intel- ligent man and he will stay," Ra- nieri told Sky Sports News HQ. "We support him very well, this is important, when you change teams maybe you don't find team- mates who help you at the same level. "He improves more if he stays with us for another year, maybe next year he can think about an- other solution. If he goes for a lot of money, everybody will be expecting something special. He can do something special, but with us." Ranieri also confirmed Leices- ter's proposed transfer for Polish midfielder Bartosz Kapustka has not been completed, and hinted there may be further additions to his squad. Leicester have signed Ron-Rob- ert Zieler, Luis Hernandez, Raul Rubio, Nampalys Mendy and Ahmed Musa during the current window and have bid £5.25m to Cracovia for the player, who was a key player for Poland at Euro 2016. "It [the Kapustka deal] is not signed, I will speak when it is done," said Ranieri. "It's difficult to say this is the last player. I say yes, now it's fin- ished, but 90 per cent, 10 per cent something will happen." Riyad Mahrez 50th anniversary leaves English football with mixed feelings FIFTY years on from the greatest day in the history of English football, pessimists fear that the prospect of becoming world champions again is as remote as it has ever been. On that day, Saturday, July 30 1966, the nation came together in a manner rarely seen since the end of the Second World War as Alf Ram- sey's England side defeated West Germany 4-2 after extra time to win the World Cup for the only time. In the intervening years, the event has come to be seen as an important part of British popular culture, ex- emplified in a book published last year titled "1966: The Year the Dec- ade Exploded". As part of the anniversary celebra- tions, British media are devoting acres of newsprint to the triumph and on Saturday BBC Radio 5 Live is broadcasting almost 12 hours of programming based on it. That will include a 90-minute phone-in, in which football fans can be relied upon to offer unfavourable observations about the present state of the national team and most of its predecessors. Sam Allardyce has just been ap- pointed as the 12th full-time man- ager since Ramsey was sacked in 1974. The best any of the other 11 achieved was losing on penalties in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup (Bobby Robson) and Euro 96 (Terry Venables). Germany, taking ample revenge for 1966, won each of those matches and went on to take the trophy. In the last two tournaments, Eng- land under Roy Hodgson won only one game out of seven in total, the 2014 performance being their worst ever at a World Cup. Being knocked out of Euro 2016 by Iceland was particularly humiliat- ing and offered no encouragement towards former Football Associa- tion chairman Greg Dyke's stated aim three years ago of winning the 2022 World Cup. "We should have won a tourna- ment in the last 50 years," he said more recently. "We haven't. But we will win in the next 50 years, hope- fully long before." Others are less convinced. "We are blinded by the Premier League," former striker Alan Shearer told the BBC. "We think it's the best in the world for talent. It's not. We are totally reliant on foreign players and managers for excitement. We are not as good as we think we are."