Landon Donovan is the first former U-16 WC Golden Ball winner to play in the full WC Finals. He won the award in 1999, the 8th winner of the award. Most of the former winners barely made it to the senior team of their respective NT. However, Kroos and Cesu were winners in 2003 and 2007.
One of the most (internationally) embarrassing moments in Belgian club football happened when Standard Liege team captain Michel Renquin performed the Nazi salute. I mentioned it before I think in another thread but now I've found the video. Difference with someone like Paulo Di Canio or the Greek footballer (2013) is of course that he meant it sarcastically, cynically and not as ideology approval. When Michael Renquin was sent off during a Koln v St Liege UEFA tie in 1981 he performed a Heil Hitler salute. UEFA banned him for 6 games.— Beyond The Last Man (@BeyondTLM) May 18, 2015 Other interesting trivia: much has been said about Dutch players phoning their wives during the 1974 World Cup. Recently released documents (declassified/made public) shows a telephone bill of 13000 Deutschmark on the day before the final (6 July). There was a surveillance programme (fell under the Interior Ministry). http://www.sportgeschiedenis.nl/2014/05/23/nederlandse-voetballers-afgeluisterd-tijdens-wk-1974.aspx
The question I asked (myself) in the other thread brought me here. http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/does-talent-exist-in-football.2023378/page-9#post-32831695 There is a tragic element to all these retired sons you mention, to a greater or lesser degree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Sinagra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_Beckenbauer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edson_Cholbi_Nascimento See this for Jordi Cruyff https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1az07z/jordi_cruyff_was_a_very_good_player_his_only/ http://www.fifa.com/news/y=2009/m=9/news=following-famous-footsteps-1103224.html http://www.espnfc.com/blogs/72/post/1853633/hope-you-dont-guess-my-name Among the players who are (by some or many) top five in their position Peter Schmeichel has done well of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasper_Schmeichel
Eddy Treijtel killed a gull with a goal kick during a match in 1970. The dead gull is now displayed at Feyenoord's museum. This is your territory, PuckVanHeel.
I'll leave out the redundant and obsolete meanings. For example, I bet that 99% of the Dutch don't know what 'basten' means. The following are far from obsolete though, but sometimes it's in old spelling. Sneijder [snijder] - cutter Van der Vaart - 'from the canal' De Jong - the young De Boer - the farmer Winter - winter Kuijt [kuit] - calf (anatomy) Jongbloed - young blood Rijkaard - rich man Bosman - forest man Reiziger - traveler Bergkamp - mountain camp Blind - blind Kluivert - nibbler Schrijvers - writers [plural] Koeman - cow man Van Breukelen - from brooklyn Stam - trunk (of a tree) Van de Kerkhof - from the graveyard Van 't Schip - from the ship Suurbier [Zuurbier] - sour beer Hiele [Hiel] - heel Zenden - sending Israel - Israel Van der Hart - from the heart Van der Kuijlen [Van der Kuilen] - from the hole To name a few. Re: Jordi Cruijff. He scored his only national team goal on 13 June (all nine caps played in the year 1996). It was the opening goal against Switzerland at euro96. At the same day, 13 June, Cruijff met his wife - and Jordi's mother obviously - for the first time (in 1967). An OK video with the goal on the 'NOS' website doesn't seem to work for foreign users (I heard) so I uploaded it to Dailymotion ( http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k43cQQ8XVzTSDpcElHA ). Also nice and true trivia. Real Madrid definitely trying to get DDG decision overturned with Spanish authorities. Knowing their power, don't be surprised if it happens— Daniel Taylor (@DTathletic) August 31, 2015 @DTguardian Like when Netzer travelled to Madrid for his presentation in 73 forgetting his passport - the club had him waved through customs— Beyond The Last Man (@BeyondTLM) August 31, 2015
Beckham's highest earning years were the two years after he retired. http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/564521/David-Beckham-50-8-million-2014-footballing-career
On 13 December 1952, Cardiff City - who had just been promoted from the second division to the English first division - won 4-1 against Sunderland AFC. The next eight games they failed to score a single goal until Manchester City paid a visit to Ninian Park on 21 February 1953, a game which the hosts won spectacularly with 6-0. I don't know if it sounds that fascinating but for the times such a long streak of not scoring a single goal was really unusually, even for mid-table teams. Despite that goal drought, Cardiff managed to avoid relegation by reaching no. 12 in the final table.
Cardiff City managed some remarkable results that season (1952-53). They beat the previous year's champion Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford and also the champion of season 1952-53, Arsenal FC, 1-0 at Highbury. At home they finished off Liverpool FC 4-0 and of course beat Manchester City 6-0. They also won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea FC (champions in 1955).
Sunderland AFC have stunk at the start of every Premier League season of late with amazing consistency: 2011-12: winless first 4 games/ 1 win after 8; 2012-13: winless first 4 games/ 1 win after 10; 2013-14: winless first 8 games; 2014-15: winless first 6 games; 2015-16: winless first 6 games and counting. Pretty bad for a club that were still all good enough to avoid relegation.
Read the other day that Alexis Sanchez is the first player to score a hat-trick in the top level of England, Spain and Italy.
That is some achievement even if not the only one, all he needs to do is go to Bayern and then PSG and get all the big five !!!
I just noticed that Tommy Thompson managed to score in 11 consecutive First Division games in 1957-58 for Preston North End. His run: 14.12.57 Arsenal v Preston NE 2-4 (1 goal) 21.12.57 Preston NE v Nottingham F 2-0 (1 goal) 25.12.57 Sheffield W v Preston NE 4-4 (2 goals) 26.12.57 Preston NE v Sheffield W 3-0 (2 goals) 28.12.57 Portsmouth v Preston NE 0-2 (1 goal) 11.01.58 Preston NE v West Bromwich 3-1 (1 goal) 18.01.58 Tottenham v Preston NE 3-3 (2 goals) 01.02.58 Preston NE v Birmingham 8-0 (3 goals) 08.02.58 Chelsea v Preston NE 0-2 (1 goal) 22.02.58 Luton Town v Preston NE 1-3 (1 goal) 01.03.58 Preston NE v Sunderland 3-0 (2 goals) His final stats for that season: 41 games, 34 goals (no penalties).
If we're looking a consecutive games scored, George Camsell had a pretty impressive run in the 1926/27 season (when he scored 59 goals in 37 games in the second division). In a 12 game spell he scored 29 goals - I don't have the opposition but the streak was 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2, 4, 5, 2, 3.
I had a look at Camsell's record during the 1926-27 season as provided by "ENFA" (excerpt see below). Anybody that is interested in English football history should consider subscribing to Enfa because the information available there is second to none. http://www.enfa.co.uk/
OK, here another trivia. Very few Dutch football fans are actually aware that one of the two co-founders of FIFA was a Dutchman. Some would even say that Hirschman was the founder because the idea originated from him, before French co-founder Robert Guerin had the idea, and he was (arguably/perhaps) making the most efforts. At the time the aims and running of FIFA was still very idealistic. After the first World War and the stock exchange crash of 1929 he let the FIFA continue to operate (for an unsuspected source for all of this above: 'FIFA maffia' by Kistner). He was therefore involved in setting up the 1930 World Cup. Another Dutchman succeeded him in 1932 as member of the executive committee, Karel Lotsy. While many Dutch football fans are (at least vaguely) aware of the debate about his role during the Second World War (it's divided between historians who say he was definitely clean with not the remotest relationships, and historians who say he was wrong), and the feuds he had with Bram Appel and Leo Horn, fewer know his role directly after the war ended. He was the director/chairman of the 1949 World Cup organizing committee and re-started the FIFA. It was awarded to Brazil in 1946, and originally planned to have taken place in 1949. At later World Cups it became custom that the boss of the organizers originated from the host country (1954, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978 are the ones I'm certain of) but 1949WC needed a quick but efficient and uncontroversial job. Later, with the sporting successes and reorientation of foreign relations the Netherlands ceased to be a neutral choice, coinciding with Horst Dassler his coup of the FIFA which revolutionized the mode of governance. The likes of Blatter, Platini (through Blatter) and Thomas Bach are his (distant) protegees. A historian on the radio placed Hirschman alongside Cruijff (needs no explanation), MvB (for role in cleaning the sport & professionalization of referees), Lotsy (fighting until his death for amateur football and against professionalism) if you talk about "influential" people.. No bullshit above.. Maybe you already knew.
Italy took a boat to Brazil for the WC Finals in 1950(I actually thought everybody did). Torino President Novo was in charge of organising the trip. he did not want to fly the team after the Superga accident the year before.
The following is a listing of the "Football Champions of London" based on the peak position of London clubs in the Football League pyramid since the first appearance of a London club in the Second Division in 1893-94: 1894 Arsenal 1895 Arsenal 1896 Arsenal 1897 Arsenal 1898 Arsenal 1899 Arsenal 1900 Arsenal 1901 Arsenal 1902 Arsenal 1903 Arsenal 1904 Arsenal 1905 Arsenal 1906 Arsenal 1907 Arsenal 1908 Chelsea 1909 Arsenal 1910 Tottenham 1911 Arsenal 1912 Arsenal 1913 Tottenham 1914 Chelsea 1915 Chelsea 1920 Chelsea 1921 Tottenham 1922 Tottenham 1923 Arsenal 1924 Tottenham 1925 Tottenham 1926 Arsenal 1927 West Ham United 1928 Arsenal 1929 Arsenal 1930 West Ham United 1931 Arsenal (League Champions) 1932 Arsenal 1933 Arsenal (League Champions) 1934 Arsenal (League Champions) 1935 Arsenal (League Champions) 1936 Arsenal 1937 Charlton Athletic 1938 Arsenal (League Champions) 1939 Charlton Athletic 1947 Arsenal 1948 Arsenal (League Champions) 1949 Arsenal 1950 Arsenal 1951 Tottenham (League Champions) 1952 Tottenham 1953 Arsenal (League Champions) 1954 Chelsea 1955 Chelsea (League Champions) 1956 Arsenal 1957 Tottenham 1958 Tottenham 1959 Arsenal 1960 Tottenham 1961 Tottenham (League Champions) 1962 Tottenham 1963 Tottenham 1964 Tottenham 1965 Chelsea 1966 Chelsea 1967 Tottenham 1968 Chelsea 1969 Arsenal 1970 Chelsea 1971 Arsenal (League Champions) 1972 Arsenal 1973 Arsenal 1974 Queens Park Rangers 1975 Queens Park Rangers 1976 Queens Park Rangers 1977 Arsenal 1978 Arsenal 1979 Arsenal 1980 Arsenal 1981 Arsenal 1982 Tottenham 1983 Tottenham 1984 Queens Park Rangers 1985 Tottenham 1986 West Ham United 1987 Tottenham 1988 Queens Park Rangers 1989 Arsenal (League Champions) 1990 Tottenham 1991 Arsenal (League Champions) 1992 Arsenal 1993 Queens Park Rangers 1994 Arsenal 1995 Tottenham 1996 Arsenal 1997 Arsenal 1998 Arsenal (League Champions) 1999 Arsenal 2000 Arsenal 2001 Arsenal 2002 Arsenal (League Champions) 2003 Arsenal 2004 Arsenal (League Champions) 2005 Chelsea (League Champions) 2006 Chelsea (League Champions) 2007 Chelsea 2008 Chelsea 2009 Chelsea 2010 Chelsea (League Champions) 2011 Chelsea 2012 Arsenal 2013 Chelsea 2014 Chelsea 2015 Chelsea (League Champions) Summary: Arsenal 58 times Tottenham 22 times Chelsea 20 times Queens Park Rangers 6 times West Ham United 3 times Charlton Athletic 2 times
After the 1994 World Cup, U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper Tony Meola announced that he would try to become a placekicker in the NFL. It never materialized. The New York Jets gave him a tryout, but he never made the roster. Afterward, he bounced back into indoor soccer before joining the Metrostars when MLS finally started play.
It is well-known that Perugia signed Al-Saadi Gaddafi, Colonel Gaddafi's son. Perugia's then-head coach, Serse Cosmi refused to play him, despite Perugia owner's public plea with the coach. Finally 9 months after joining Perugia, Al-Saadi made his debut.... in an important, must-win match against Juventus (a key match for the relegation battle)..... oh well, the Gaddafi's family owned 7% of Juventus. Perugia won the match, but went down at the end of season. Coach Cosmi was sacked, but Al-Saadi Gaddafi was one of two players retained by the club. None of this was actually that weird and "interesting". The most interesting part is this.... Sense Cosmi went to coach Genoa the following season. After spending a year with Genoa, he joined Udinese. What did he do there? He signed Al-Saadi Gaddafi. Yes, Al-Saadi was the very first player he signed for Udinese. Al-Saadi would play his second match in Italy for Udinese under Cosmi. he never played for any other match, except for Cosmi. I thought Cosmi was the one who denied Al-Saadi's debut with Perugia.
Just Fontaine tells about his France-Germany (http://www.francefootball.fr/news/fontaine-a-france-allemagne-un-de-mes-meilleurs-souvenirsa/606504). So it is about the 3rd place match of 1958 : "After the match there was a sort of fair or feast next to the stadium. We were asked to come on stage and to sing something. We started to hum a song called "The balls of my grandfather"/ "Les Couilles de mon grand-père". The Swedes thought it was the Marseillaise and applauded all-will".
A Swedish YouTuber by the screen name "Lemmino" creates a series called Top Ten Facts, which explores trivia on a wide range of topics. His latest is an episode on football/soccer. It explores various primordial versions of the sport, the origin of the word "soccer", and a couple of the more violent moments in football history like the Soccer War and the Battle of Santiago (which led to the use of yellow and red cards). Some of his other episodes are rich in colorful language (he enjoys the F word, for some reason), but I didn't hear any foul language in this one, so I'm embedding it.
This is Yugoslavsia vs East at the semifinal of the World Youth Cup in 1987. Yes, this is the famous Yugoslavia Under-20 team. They went on to beat West Germany in the Final. I posted this because East Germany featured Matthias Sammer in this game. We all knew that Yugoslavian players could not fulfil their potential because of political events a few years later. On the other hand, Sammer benefitted from political events a few years later. If things remained the same for another decade from 1987, perhaps, the players from Yugoslavia might have done a lot internationally while Sammer probably remained an relatively unknown player. East Germany was the European Champion heading to Chile 1987. They won the European Under-18 Championship that was actually held in Yugoslavia. They beat West Germany in the tournament. Yugoslavia actually only finished 5th.
According to "Playfair Annual 1956-57" (covering season 1955-56), Everton FC was the club who had the highest average attendance figures in league games at home in the First Division (42,767) but at the same time, the attendances of Everton's away games were lower than that of any other First Division side!
Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien lets fly at the English after Norway scored a 2-1 victory in 1981. I saw a highlight of it when I was a kid.... I laughed about it even through I barely understood English and never heard of some of the names he screamed out. The actual audio: