My 7th selection is: BERND SCHUSTER http://www.wldcup.com/euro/2004/players_past/506_bernd_schuster.html Name: Bernd Surname: Schuster Date of Birth: 22 Dec 1959 Birth Place: Augsburg Career Position: Midfielder Clubs: FV Hammerschiede Augsbourg, FC Augsbourg, FC Cologne (1978-80), Barcelona (Spa/1980-88), Real Madrid (Spa/1988-90), Atletico Madrid (Spa/1990-93), Bayer Leverkusen (1993-96), UNAM-Mexico (9 matches in 1997) International appearances: 21 International goals: 4 International debut: 22/05/1979, Ireland-Germany (1-3) Last international appearance: 29/02/1984, Belgium-Germany First international goal: 13/05/1980, Germany-Poland (3-1) Last international goal: 07/06/1983, Germany-Yugoslavia (1-3) European Championships Winner (1980) Spanish Championship Winner (1985, 1989, 1990) Spanish Cup Winner (1981, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991) Spanish League Cup Winner (1983, 1986) Spanish Supercup Winner (1983, 1988, 1989) Coaching Career Fortuna Cologne (1997-1998), FC Cologne (1998-1999), Barcelona (Spa/technical advisor/2000-2001), Jerez (Spa/D2/2001-2003), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr/since 2003) Biography The 'enfant terrible' of German football A loner who was known for being introverted and sensitive, Bernd Schuster was considered the "enfant terrible" of German football during the 1980's. It was said that you couldn't meet a nicer player on the park, however off the field he was known to have shocked the public with his carefree behaviour and outspoken manner. When it came to carrying out the football side of his contract, Schuster was irreproachable. From FC Cologne, where he began his career in 1978, to Bayer Leverkusen, the "blond angel" fulfilled his midfield remit with regular defence-splitting passes. Quickly, his talent at club level opened the doors to the national squad, and an impressive awakening during the Euro-80 tournament in Italy. In the final against Belgium he provided the pass which allowed teammate Horst Hrubesch to score Germany's opener as they marched to the title by a 2-1 scoreline. At the end of the competition, Schuster was touted as the next big thing and he decided to leave Germany. He began his adventure in Spain, where he stayed a lengthy 13 years. With Barcelona he won all the major national titles including the championship in 1985 and six domestic Cups. Disagreements with his Catalan employers led to a move to rivals Real Madrid in 1988, with his title-winning ways following suit (Spanish Cup in 1988, league titles in 1989 and 1990,) before completing his voyage at his last big club in Spain - Atletico Madrid. Quarrels by the bucketload Brilliant at club level, Schuster never really fulfilled his potential in the black and white of the national team. Differences with the coach, Jupp Derwall, kept him on the outside of the "Mannschaft" and his personal caps tally stopped at 21. He returned to Germany in 1993 to play at Bayer Leverkusen. But once again difficulties emerged with the team manager - at that time Erich Ribbeck and Schuster closed the door on his playing days for good. His next foray was in the field of coaching, leading to a successful spell at Fortuna Cologne, then with city rivals FC Cologne (D2), who he failed to take into the Bundesliga. Schuster was not, as one might imagine, much thanked for his services. Spanish giants Barcelona employed him as a technical advisor until 2001 before he coached second division outfit Jerez and now finds himself at Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Willem "Wim" Suurbier “When we played for Holland I always used to make a 50 guilder bet with Wim Suurbier. The first one to knock an opponent down so that a doctor had to come onto the pitch won.” Hugo Hovenkamp Wim Suurbier is generally regarded as one of the greatest defenders in Ajax history. He was born on 16 January 1945 in, remarkably, Eindhoven. However, he developed into an Amsterdammer after having entered the Ajax youth system in 1962. He was a rocket-fast right fullback, who could do 100 metres in 11.2 seconds. He was famous for his rushes over the right flank, often making it all the way to the goal-line for the cross. Suurbier made his Ajax-1 début on 05 January 1964 in the Eredivisie away game at ADO. Until his transfer to German side Schalke '04 in October 1977 he played the stunning number of 363 Eredivisie games for Ajax, winning eight Dutch championships. He also played 43 domestic cup games, winning the KNVB Cup four times. His 63 European games brought him to no less than four European Champions Cup finals. He got to lift the 'big one' in three consecutive seasons: 1971, 1972 and 1973. He played the full 90 minutes in each of those finals. Suurbier also won the European Super Cup with the 'Golden Ajax' in 1972 and 1973 and, finally, the World Cup for club teams in 1972. In total Wim Suurbier played a flabbergasting 509 official games for Ajax, a number only surpassed by his team-mate, 'Mister Ajax' Sjaak Swart. Suurbier wasn't known as a goalscorer: in total he netted 16 times in the Eredivisie and three times in European competition. Almost naturally, Suurbier was also a key member of the Dutch national team of the 1970s. In total he played 60 games for Holland, including two World Cup finals (1974 and 1978). Both were lost by the Dutch, but the tournament of 1974 brought a personal triumph for Suurbier: he was voted Best Defender in the World that season. After his Schalke years Wim Suurbier played in France, China and the United States, before ending his career as a professional player and becoming a coach. His move to Florida is actually a return: in the 1987-1988 season he coached the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. He also worked in Qatar and, most recently, served as the coach of SC Heerenveen's reserves team.
Round: 7 127th overall pick Patrick Vieira Midfielder Height: 1.91m. Weight: 83.00kg. Nationality: France Caps: 83 Goals: 4 Born: 23/06/1976 in Dakar ( Senegal ) First professional match: Nantes - Cannes : 0-0 on 20/11/1993 Born in Senegal in the Cape Verdian community, Vieira's family moved to Paris when he was aged 8; he did not return to Senegal until 2003. Vieira first played for AS Cannes, where he made his debut at the age of 17 and captained the team aged only 19. Soon after that, in the summer of 1995, he was snapped up by Italian giants AC Milan, though he mainly stayed in the reserves and only made two appearances for the first team. In September 1996, the incoming Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger asked for him to be bought from AC Milan before he took up his position. Vieira's height, stamina and physical strength meant he settled in England quickly, while his composure and the quality of his passing meant he became an integral part of Wenger's stylish attacking side. While at Arsenal, he made his debut for the French national side, in 1997 against the Netherlands. Forming a midfield partnership with compatriot Emmanuel Petit, Vieira won the Premiership and FA Cup Double in 1998, his first full season at the club. That summer, he was called up to France's 1998 World Cup squad. Vieira came on as a substitute for Youri Djorkaeff in the final against Brazil, and set up Petit for France's third goal in a 3-0 win. Vieira's time at Arsenal was beset by disciplinary problems - in 2000-01 he was sent off twice in two consecutive matches, though after returning he didn't accrue a card for 28 matches. In all he has been sent off eleven times in his career (nine for Arsenal, once for Juventus and once for France). Vieira would go on to win Euro 2000 with France, as well as a second Double with Arsenal in 2002. After Tony Adams's retirement in 2002, Vieira (already vice-captain) became club captain, since which his temper and associated disciplinary problems cooled somewhat. Though he missed Arsenal's 2003 FA Cup final win with injury, Vieira lifted the trophy jointly with captain for the day David Seaman. In 2003-04 at Arsenal, he captained the side on a historic unbeaten season in the Premier League, and in the 2005 FA Cup Final he scored the winning kick in a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw with Manchester United. In total, Vieira played 407 times for Arsenal and scored 33 times. For France, Vieira has appeared 83 times, scoring four goals as of December 2005. Vieira's starring performances for Arsenal earned the attention of several major clubs abroad. In the 2003 and 2004 offseasons, he was strongly linked with a move to Spanish superpower Real Madrid. The Spanish side reportedly offered Arsenal £23 million for him, which Arsenal had agreed to, but after much deliberation Vieira decided to stay at the club where he made his name. However, a year later Vieira was finally tempted away from Highbury. Arsenal accepted a bid of €20m (£13.7m) from Italian giants Juventus on July 14, 2005, and Vieira agreed a five-year contract with the Serie A side the following day. In his new tell-all autobiography, he cited the main reason to his leaving Arsenal to the board's 'neutral' position over the Juventus bid. With Vieira, Juventus coach Fabio Capello hopes to improve a midfield around consisting of Brazilian Emerson and Czech Pavel Nedved. He started his new season with Juventus in a remarkable fashion, scoring goals and helping Juventus to its record best start with consecutive victories. Meanwhile without him, his old club, Arsenal, begins to falter in the Premier League, looking to end its 1-2 domination in the league table. 93-94 Cannes 5 Games 94-95 Cannes 31 Games 2 Goals 95-96 Cannes 13 Games 95-96 Milan 2 Games 96-97 Arsenal 31 Games 2 Goals 97-98 Arsenal 33 Games 2 Goals 98-99 Arsenal 34 Games 3 Goals 99-00 Arsenal 30 Games 2 Goals 00-01 Arsenal 30 Games 6 Goals 01-02 Arsenal 36 Games 2 Goals 02-03 Arsenal 24 Games 3 Goals 03-04 Arsenal 29 Games 3 Goals 04-05 Arsenal 32 Games 6 Goals 05-06 Juventus 21 Games 4 Goals Honours 1998 World Cup winner (France) 2000 European Championship winner (France) 1996 Serie A.. Champions (Milan) 1998 Premiership Champions (Arsenal) 2002 Premiership Champions (Arsenal) 2004 Premiership Champions (Arsenal) 1998 FA Cup winner (Arsenal) 2002 FA Cup winner (Arsenal) 1995 Gambardella Cup winner (Cannes) Bio from Wikipedia
ChaChaFut chooses: Pick by: ChaChaFut Round: 7 Selection: 14 (128th overall pick) ---------------------------------- WILLIAM RALPH "DIXIE" DEAN Born: 22.01.1907, Birkenhead, England Position: Centre Forward Height: 1.78m (5'-10") [other sources list different heights, ranging from 5'-8 to 6'-0"] ---------------------------------- One of the most prolific forwards in English football history, and the best one Everton ever had, Dixie Dean scored goals at incredible rates. He is 3rd in the all-time top goalscoring individual table in the English leaghe history. Born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Dean initially played for his local club, Tranmere Rovers, before moving to Everton for a fee of £3,000 in 1925, and immediately made an impact, scoring 32 goals in his first full season. Despite a serious motorcycle accident in 1926, in which he suffered a fractured skull and jaw, Dean fully recovered and went on to greater success at the club. He is still the only player in English football to have scored 60 League goals in one season (1927/28); in the same season Everton won the Division One title. Although Everton were relegated to Division Two in 1930, Dean stayed with them, and the club subsequently won the Second Division in 1931, followed by the First Division again in 1932, and the FA Cup in 1933. By then, Dean was captain of the side. However, the harsh physical demands of the game took their toll, and he was dropped from the first team in 1937. Dean went on to play for Notts County and then Sligo Rovers in Ireland. After retiring, he went on to run a pub and work as a security manager for Littlewoods. In total, Dean scored a total of 383 goals for Everton, in 433 appearances, a strike rate of 0.88 goals per match. With modern scoring rates being much lower, both that record, and the record of 60 League goals in a season, are unlikely to ever be broken. Only Arthur Rowley has scored more English league career goals. In addition, Dean was never booked or sent off throughout his entire career. He also made 16 appearances for England, scoring 18 goals (1.13 avg.) His nickname "Dixie" is said to have been given to him by fans due to his dark complexion and curly black hair, which was, in their perception, similar to that of African-Americans in the Southern United States. Dean himself deeply disliked the moniker, preferring to be known as Bill. Dean died in 1980 at Goodison Park, Everton's home ground, of heart failure, whilst watching a match against their closest rivals, Liverpool. In 2001, a statue of Dean was erected outside the Park End of the stadium. In 2002 Dean became an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame. This article is a modification of the Wikipedia article found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Dean Other sources: "Dixie Dean a legend amongst the greats" http://www.bluekipper.com/dixie/legend.htm http://www.11v11.co.uk/page286-50 NATIONAL TEAM STATISTICS England NT record 1927-1932 Matches played: 16 Goals scored: 18 OTHER CAREER INFORMATION* Top Scorer, England, 1928, 1932 369 league appearances, 320 goals 1924-1925 Tranmere Rovers 1925-1938 Everton FC 1938-1939 Notts County *Stats by Gregoriak
William Alexander "Willie" Woodburn Born August 8 1919 Edinburgh Scotland 24 Caps Clubs 1938-1954 Rangers 325 games 1 goal Honours 4 Scottish League Titles 4 Scottish Cups 2 Scottish League Cups Selected in the first intake for the Scottish Football Hall of Fame Taken from http://ayeready.com/features/woodburn.html THE LIFER by Gordon Thomson In the car on the way to school matches, on the pages of odorous football annuals, on a sun-kissed Glasgow terrace, drifting into sleep... his name was everywhere. He was my creepy uncle, though I never met him, my ghoulish invisible friend, though I never spoke to him, my Keyser Soze. though I never feared him. In truth, he was a mystery to me, and the most beguiling football player I have never known. Wrapped inside this enigma was a scapegoat of the Scottish football disciplinary system, a man deemed so evil it is hard to imagine him as a man at all. But when we are nine or ten the story is everything; the truth inconsequential. That his story also taught me a Latin phrase was equally unimportant. Except sine die didn't, sound like a learn-it-by-rote classroom clause. It was much more than that. It sounded like the end. To me Willie Woodburn was sine die. He defined it. This was more than just a misguided presumption: Woodburn took the full brunt of a broadsword wielded by a footballing body swayed not by reason but by some indefinable sense of 'duty'. By doing so he made it easy for those who followed in his wake. Eric Cantona and Paolo Di Canio take note. Woodburn was - is - the last great victim of football's puritan disciplinary power-brokers. You should know his name. But it's unlikely that you do. Between 1938 and 1954 Woodburn played 325 games for Rangers, scoring a solitary goal. He won four League titles, four Scottish Cups and two league Cups: three Doubles and a Treble. And he was capped 24 times for Scotland. Such facts and figures are easily disposed of by a fading memory. Tragically, the stigma of sine die would live with Woodburn forever. Willie Woodburn first walked through the gates of Ibrox as a player in October 1937. Though he had played juvenile football with Edinburgh Ashton and hailed from the capital (He supported Hearts as a boy), Woodburn was immediately a Rangers man. It was his first club. And his last. He was well-liked by the Ibrox fraternity. who later christened him 'Big Ben'. not as you might expect in tribute to his size and reliability, but as a result of Woodburn's impassioned and prolonged celebration of a Gers victory over Benfica in Lisbon during the late 1940s. Woodburn, with a joyful innocence that typified his deep love of winning, insisted on raising his glass every few minutes and bellowing: 'Viva Benfica!' His chant continued through the night and into the next day, and the Rangers players felt his performance merited some kind of permanent commemoration. So Big Ben it was. Far from being a prototype bruiser, in his early days at Rangers the sinewy, beautifully balanced Woodburn was criticised for dallying on the ball too long. keen on proving himself to his Ibrox idols as a 'player'. when really all manager Bill Struth wanted was a human brick wall. 'You've got this juvenile habit of holding the ball in the penalty area and inviting trouble,' Struth told Woodburn after the 19-yearold's first Old Firm derby had ended in heavy defeat for Rangers. 'All we expect of you here is that you clear your lines. Leave the wing-halves to play the football.' Woodburn found himself able to absorb only a diluted version of Struth's advice. Although he developed a striking economy in his play. he remained a footballing centre-half, a rarity in 1990s Britain and a breed unheard of in 1940s and 1950s Scotland. 'Woodburn for me was a guy that could have played in the modern game,' says Alec Willoughby, a wispy striker who followed his idol onto the Ibrox pitch in 1962. 'Because not only could he play, he was also a guy that could organise and talk, and when you play in the middle at the back that's crucial' If you read the game well and talk well. you save your legs, because you're playing with your head. And Willie was that sort of player.' Ralph 'Fire' Brand, a legend to legions of forty- and fifty-something Rangers fans. was a starry-eyed ('and snotty-nosed') teenage reserve at Ibrox during Woodburn's final years at the club. He says that the big man - to whom he remains close - never lost his majestic poise and enviable technique. 'Willie had everything,' says Brand. 'Apart from being one of the hardest men. he was also one of the most cultured centre-halves in the country". He could bring the ball down, or he could clear it, or he could head a first-time ball to the likes of Sammy Cox (Gers full-back). He played it with skill. Which was rare because in those days centre-halves were all-out stoppers, they were chop-eaters, y'know? But Willie made you play. too, cos if you didnae, he just ran right over the top of ye.' During his career Woodburn ran over some of the most distinguished heads in Scottish football. Eric Caldow's was one. And that despite the fact Caldow was on the same team as Woodbum. 'My first ever game for Rangers was at Ibrox in September 1953 against Ayr United,' says the softly spoken full-back of a match that tool place exactly a year before Woodburn's final game. 'Willie made his presence felt right away. I went for a ball with him and he shouted. "That's my ball!" But it was too late - I got in his road and when he got the ball I went with it. He was that kind of player. On the ground or in the air he took the lot - man. ball. everything. But he wisnae dirty, he would have gone through a brick wall for Ranger y'know, and always encouraged us young players to do the same. Despite leaving an indelible mark - often a little too literally - on his Rangers colleagues and on the burgeoning post-war Scottish scene in general, Woodburn's career was not as strewn with episodes of mindless misadventure as his unprecedented fate would later imply. Instead it glittered with the spoils of champions. Rangers, inspired by the almost despotic back-line of Young. Shaw, McColl, Woodburn and Cox. won virtually every domestic honour in the ten years following the war. They cleaned up. But then, that was their job. Enshrined in Ibrox lore as the 'Iron Curtain'. the Rangers back five drew plaudits from every corner of the globe (save for small enclave of east Glasgow where a deathly pallor prevailed). While a rudderless Celtic pulled the blinds down on their decadus horriblis their Govan counterparts, anchored by the Iron Curtain and the impermeable rock that was Woodburn, sailed a steady and favourable course. Great things lay ahead. Or at least so it seemed. Struth's temperamental yet skilful centre-half made his Scotland debut against England in 1947 and took a final bow in the dark blue jersey after a match with the USA in 1953. The magisterial England striker Tom Finney faced Woodbum on four occasions and hasn't forgotten the frequently earth-shuddering encounters. 'Scotland were a formidable side at the time,' chortles the diminutive hero of Deepdale in recollection. 'And Willie was this towering centre-half who was very, very strong in the air and on the ground. And of course he was a fanatical Scotchman [sic], who played his heart out in every game, but partly when he was playing us... generally when Willie Woodburn was involved in a Scotland-England match it was blood and thunder right up to the end.' Woodburn was a fearsome defender but much of his reputation as a hothead is apocryphal. Certainly, prior to the early 1950s it has little credence. Woodburn could mix it with the best. but until 1948 - ten years into his Rangers career and aged 29 - he had never been sent off or suspended in a professional match. Still, the 'wicked Willie' tag had mileage and the Scottish media made no apologies for pinning it to the big man's chest. 'Oh, he was a hard player and he had a short fuse and people played on that,' admits Finney, 'but there was so many of those players about in our day... a helluva lot. Back then the tackle from behind was allowed and it was generally a much tougher game. You had hard men who got away with a lot. I remember games against Willie when I got hit hard, but you expected it - it was part and parcel of the game. 'I think challenges were made to look a lot worse in his case, adds journalist John Quinn, 'because he was such a giant. If you were 5ft 6in playing against Willie or Big George Young, then obviously you're going to go down John McPhail, Lisbon Lion, Celtic striker and long time adversary to Woodburn on the Old Firm battlefields, agrees it was Scotland's pint-sized strikers who really irked Big Ben. 'It was the wee fellas that really niggled him, doing things to hiss ankles, y'know, getting in about his legs, he had a problem with them, and the guy who got to him in his last game was a wee guy who did that.' Woodburn's size and command of the penalty' area intimidated his opponents, and their dramatic slumps to the turf no doubt tricked many an able referee into awarding decisions against Big Ben, hut even his most ardent fans admit Woodburn's make-up was fundamentally flawed. 'There was a deep reservoir of violence in the man,' say's journalist Hugh McIlvanney with typical restraint. 'And anyone who opened the sluice gates had better be a good swimmer, His explosive temper? It was always part of him.' One man who knew that better than most was Willie Waddell, Woodburn's friend and team-mate with Rangers and Scotland. 'He was always a fierce competitor,' said Waddell, years after Woodburn's lonely departure from the game. 'But I think that basic determination was distorted by the mystique of Rangers. There is no doubt that in our time the very act of pulling that blue jersey over your head did something to you. All the talk about tradition, about the privilege and responsibility that went with being a Rangers player, definitely had its effect. I think Willie felt it more than any of us. I am sure that obsession with winning for Rangers had a lot to do with his troubles. 'Still, it would be absolutely ridiculous to think of him as maliciously violent. You couldn't meet a more likeable, generous man. He could be wild, but when I was best man at his wedding I had to hold his hand through the ceremony.' At the high altar of Ibrox - and anywhere else for that matter -Woodburn hated losing and it showed. The South African Johnny Hubbard, known as 'the penalty king' in his Rangers heyday (54 successful spot kicks out of 57 more than justified that particular moniker), remembers 'one or two incidents' soon after the war when Woodburn simply snapped rather than face up to the realities of defeat. 'He actually threw his boots though a window at Hampden after we lost a Scottish Cup semi-final there,' recalls Hubbard. 'He just lost his head. I mean, I'm sure he didn't actually know what he was doing. but he did it all the same. He was so passionate about Rangers, we all knew what he was like. Sadly. by the Indian summer of 1954, the rest of the country' had also come to realise the full extent of the big defender's intolerance. Woodburn already had a touchpaper temper. In September of that year he found the tinder and lit the spark. It had been coming for some time. Back in August 1948 Woodburn had been involved in a 'violent exchange' with Dave Mathie. the Motherwell centre-forward, and was subsequently suspended for 14 days. That made it almost five years of unbroken good behaviour, which was undone on 7 March 1953 when Rangers played Clyde - and Woodburn played the fool. 'He actually had a swing at Billy McPhail,' says Hubbard, who was also on the pitch that day, 'but missed him. He was sent off and banned [for 21 days]. I don't know what he would have got had he made contact.' On 26 September 1953 came the first of two ugly confrontations with Stirling Albion, highly improbable arch-rivals. 'I'm never certain what it was about Stirling,' says Robert McElroy, editor of the Rangers Historian, 'but there was an intensity about those contests at the time that you had to see to believe.' Woodburn. this time to nobody's real surprise, showed that even the most undistinguished opposition were more than capable of getting a rise out of him. Then again, he never did have much truck with the ignoble art of brinkmanship. 'It was a chap called McBain, I think.' remembers Hubbard, 'and he actually gave Willie the fisticuffs. Willie retaliated with the head. It was just a spur of the moment thing.' It was also one step closer to oblivion for Woodburn. The SFA banned him for six weeks, making it clear that 'a very serious view would be taken of any subsequent action'. Unfortunately for the powder-keg defender, the authorities were as good, nay better, than their word. On 28 August 1954 Woodburn then 34 years of age. Not a young man, but ferociously fit (when McIlvanney met Woodburn in 1968, aged 50. he was astounded by his 'exceptional physical condition... in former terms there is something of the same magic as [the boxer] Jack Dempsey' about Woodburn'). Younger players waited in the wings but there is no doubt that there they would have continued to wait for a good while. 'There was still this masterful, domineering personality at centre-half who would have been the sheet anchor of my new team, said Scot Symon as he took over from Struth as manager in the summer of 1954. Woodburn himself intended to continue playing until he dropped. 'That he deprived himself of the opportunity to sport flowing locks and wear his shirt tucked out and his socks rolled down was nothing short of a personal tradgey. Ralph Brand watched his hero self-destruct that autumn afternoon at Ibrox. 'I was at the game, sitting in the stand. Firstly what a lot of people don't understand is that Willie was nursing a knee injury' and played with strapping on his leg. In those days you played with injuries, you didnae bloody sit the game out, you played for your cash and your bonus, or else somebody else got the money. Willie just declared himself fit and that was that. Stirling had a young centre-forward [Alec Paterson] who was obviously trying to make his mark. 'I can see the incident right in front of me even now. Willie had a few tussles with this guy during the game, and this guy was trying to be the big shot at Ibrox - playing against Rangers and Willie Woodburn. With about a minute to go they went for a ball together and Willie won the tackle, fair and square, no problem. But as Willie was turning to go this fella locked his legs around Willie's injured leg and of course when Willie went to pull away he jerked his knee and aggravated the injury. It must have been painful. But it didn't end there. On top of that the fella got up and stood chest to chest with Willie Woodburn, right in his face, giving it some lip, yap, yap. yap. yap. 'Willie just dropped the head. Bang. I remember the whole thing so clearly. It was right on the centre line. right in front of the stand. right in front of I suppose. the whole referee committee. 'It was all over the papers. of course. and then it came up in front of the committee. They banned Willie sine die, which was shocking, absolutely' shocking. There was no need fur that. To end a great man's career like that was just unforgivable...' He trails off, '...unforgivable. Finney well remembers the general amazement that greeted the news of Woodburn's fate. 'We just couldn't believe it. An international player of some standing and he's been banned from the game completely'? It just didn't make sense at all. There was a feeling that a grave injustice had been done. I'm sure he wasn't given the help from the people with influence. Brand expands on Finney's hunch. claiming that Rangers were wilfully negligent in their defence of Big Ben. ''If it had been Bill Struth that had been manager I think Willie would have remained a Rangers player. Struth was an iron man - he would have told Scottish football to away and ravel themselves. But Scot Symon was manager and that was that. Despite Brand's obvious resentment. Symon was there for Woodburn when it mattered. He waited nervously in a stark corridor as his player endured perhaps the shortest and. as it transpired, one of the most conclusive disciplinary hearings in the whole History of British football. Utter humiliation was the outcome. 'When the door of the committee opened.' Symon recalled later, 'one look at Willie's face was enough to tell me the verdict. 'That's it all finished. he shrugged. My own feelings were immediate. I felt as if "The Castle" which once perched so proudly on top of the Ibrox grandstand had come tumbling to the ground around my ears. If Symons' sentiments were genuine enough. they were in no way, backed up by restorative action. Woodburn, Symon and the vast majority of Scottish football fully expected a reprieve. and the legal experts tried, unsuccessfully in the end, to persuade Woodburn that his ease would be favourably received in the courts. John Cameron QC informed Woodburn by letter that the SFA was legally obliged by a clause in its Articles to give Woodburn a definite date on which he may 'resume the right to play' and consequently earn money. no matter that the suspension was sine die. For 30 months, Woodburn later recalled, Cameron's letter lay in his desk 'like a smouldering fuse'. He ignored it. Instead, turning to the men he trusted and heavily swayed by his deep feelings of personal loyalty, toward Rangers, Woodburn bided his time. 'Rangers are behind you and we don't want to take it to court,' pleaded the club chairman John Wilson. Woodburn, of course, had no desire to go where his beloved Gers feared to tread. 'The club had been generous to me.' he later wrote, 'and the last thing I wanted to do was bring it into open conflict with the SFA. I was sure that after a reasonable period the ban would be lifted. I knew my offence merited a stiff punishment but when the sentence was pronounced, words failed me completely. It was obvious I didn't have many years left at the top of football and the stigma of sine die was punishment enough. I had good grounds for believing that the SFA might relent after a few months. There was a top legislator who phoned me with an urgent plea not to take legal action.' "Don't do it. Willie [go to court]. Things will work out for the good, you'll see. They didn't. Woodburn appealed to the SFA every six months (as was his right) but to no avail. 'I know one thing.' he told MeIlvanney some years later. 'If I was faced with the same decision today I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to carry my fight for justice to the lifting: When the Scottish Football Association lifted Woodburn's sine die ban on 23 April l957 he was 38 years old. It was too late. In the midst of all the appealing and protesting and hoping. Woodburn had become an ex-player. Time had finally taken its toll on Big Ben. 'I never fancied playing for another club anyway .' he told FourFourTwo recently from his home in Edinburgh. Instead he ducked away, from football completely. presumably because the bad feeling which had accompanied his final days at Rangers didn't square too well with the joyous memories that he savoured of his long and prodigious career in the game. Sine die had simply shattered Willie Woodburn. In the 1950s and 1960s Woodburn ran a garage with his brother. In the I 980s he even returned to the football grounds of Scotland. though not to Ibrox ('I was there l7 years. You'd think they would have one day in the year when all the old players go back, but they never do.' he says sadly.) Quinn worked alongside Big Ben in the press box as Woodburn enjoyed a brief career as a reporter for the News of the World. 'He used to sit behind me and I'd get these big knees in my back whenever he got excited. Every time the ball came into the box he would say: "Oh-mammy-daddy, oh-mammy-daddy." It was his kind of involuntary reaction to the game. He still cleared every ball when it came into the box. He was a lovely man - a real gentleman. 'Willie's getting on a wee bit now: he's 77,' says Brand, who 'pops in to see how he's doing now and again. He's very healthy,. he looks great, it's just... he forgets things sometimes that's all'. Sir Tom Finney last saw Woodburn at the funeral of his great defensive partner George Young. 'He's not in very good health, is he?' ventures the England goal hero with touching concern A few of the boys were saying that Willie wasn't too well One of the best there has ever been and a kind man. It's sad. isn't it? Very sad.' Tom, it's a crime.
Name: Graeme James Souness Nationality: Scottish Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Date of birth: 06.05.1953 National team: Scotland (54 matches, 4 goals) Graeme James Souness (born Edinburgh, Scotland, May 6, 1953) was the captain of the all-conquering Liverpool football team of the early 1980s who later returned to the club as manager. One of the most committed players of his generation, Souness won five League Championships, three European Cups and four League Cups during seven eventful seasons at Anfield. He started his career as an apprentice at Tottenham Hotspur under Bill Nicholson but grew impatient at his lack of first team chances even though he was only a teenager, famously telling Nicholson that he thought he was the best player at the club and should be in the first team. During the summer of 1972, the nineteen-year-old Souness played in the North American Soccer League for the Montreal Olympique. He appeared in 10 of his team’s 14 games, and was named to the league’s first-team All-Star team for that season. Back in England, Souness had played just once for Spurs prior to a move to Middlesbrough in 1973 and he became a much-admired and feared, hard-as-nails midfielder who led a strong side over five seasons. In 1974, he won his first cap for Scotland in a 3-0 victory over East Germany. After winning their first European Cup in 1977, Liverpool decided to seek reinforcements for defending their crown, not to mention the League title they'd also just won, and three Scottish players in their 20s were all purchased by manager Bob Paisley over the next six months. First came Alan Hansen, then Kenny Dalglish, and then finally Souness, who cost £350,000 in January 1978. These three would supply a superb spine in the side for seven glory-filled campaigns to come. Souness settled in at Anfield quickly as Liverpool stoutly defended their European crown. He didn't feature in their European campaign until the semi-final, but was instrumental in the final at Wembley when his delicate pass set up Dalglish for the only goal of the game against FC Bruges. That summer, Souness was selected by Ally McLeod for Scotland's squad for the World Cup in Argentina. He had only won six caps by this stage and injury robbed of him of a place in Scotland's first two group games against Peru and Iran. With a defeat and a draw in his absence, his return was crucial as Scotland chased a victory by three goals or more in their final group match against the Netherlands but a 3-2 victory turned out not to be enough. The following year Souness picked up his first League title medal as Liverpool coasted to victory and then retained it with equal aplomb in 1980. In 1981, Liverpool lost their League title to Aston Villa but won their first League Cup and their third European Cup with victory over Real Madrid; Souness scored a hat-trick in the quarter-final against CSKA Sofia. Paisley decided to move the captaincy that summer and, much to incumbent Phil Thompson's disappointment, he lost the armband to Souness, who duly lifted two trophies the following summer as Liverpool got the League championship back and regained the League Cup. Souness went to the 1982 World Cup in Spain with Scotland and played in all three group games - versus New Zealand, Brazil and the USSR. He scored his first international goal in the game against the USSR but again Scotland failed to progress. The following year Liverpool again won the League championship and League Cup but Souness relinquished his right as captain to lift the League Cup at Wembley after the 2-1 win over Manchester United, instead insisting that Paisley collected the trophy in his retirement season. In 1984, Souness lifted three trophies as Liverpool retained the League title and won the League Cup against fierce Merseyside rivals Everton. A goalless first game was followed by a 1-0 win in the replay, with Souness hitting the only goal with a fabulous long-range strike. The European Cup was regained after a penalty shoot-out win over AS Roma before Souness, who had publicly expressed his wish to play abroad, was sold to Sampdoria for 650,000 pounds. His Liverpool career ended after 358 appearances and 56 goals. Souness stayed in Italy for two seasons and wound down his international career at the same time as his flirtation with continental football. Caretaker manager Alex Ferguson put Souness in his squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and Souness played in two of the group games against Denmark and West Germany, both of which Scotland lost, again resulting in an early exit. Souness had crucially been unfit for the game against Uruguay, a team whose tactics relied almost entirely on kicking the opposition as much as the ball - many feel that Souness' own reputation as a hard player may have helped Scotland's cause. Others felt his absence was a good thing as his temperament may have got the better of him in such volatile circumstances. Souness had scored the only goal of the game in a tremendous Scotland win over England just before that World Cup - two caps later and his international career was over after 54 appearances and four goals in almost 12 years. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Souness]
HANS-PETER BRIEGEL Born: 11 October 1955. Nick name: Big Briegel, Walz aus der Pfalz. Position: Left full back and midfielder. Caps: 72 (1979-1986) / 4 goals League Games: 346 (1975-1988) / 68 goals International Club games: UEFA Cup 34 (1976-1983) / 10 goals Champions’ Cup 4 (1985) / 0 goals Total 38 (1976-1985) / 10 goals European Footballer of the Year: 1984 (14th), 1985 (8th) German Footballer of the Year: 1985 Trophies & Tournaments: World Cup beaten finalist: 1982, 1986 World Cup participant: 1982, 1986 European Champion: 1980 European Championship participant: 1980, 1984 Italian Champion: 1985 Italian Cup winner: 1988 Hans-Peter Briegel to many observes was the player that best symbolized German football during the 1980s with his emphasis being more on the physical than the technical aspects of the game. On the pitch Briegel was always expected to steamroll over his opponents, as he had the body shape of a model athlete (hence his nickname, "the Palatinate Steamroller"), which was no surprise since he was a pentathlete, a long and triple jumper and finally a decathlete before he started his football career! Briegel’s father didn’t want his son to become a footballer and thus young Hans-Peter had to force a career in track-and-field. While Briegel certainly had a talent for these sports – he proved to be a class athlete in youth championships, constantly achieving over 7,000 points in each decathlon he participated in plus jumping up to 7,5 metres (24,6 feet, 8,2 yard) – his true love was always football. By the age of 17, he finally was allowed to join a football club, his native SV Rodenbach, at the same time he started an apprenticeship as machine builder. Two years later, in 1975, Briegel signed for Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern, a club that had always been his first true love since he first visited a Kaiserslautern game at the age of seven. At first, Briegel was depending on his power, less on his skill, which made his life in professional football hard during the first years, as the fans were at times amused by this “athlete” that tried to play football. But soon the fans took a special liking to this unlikely player and after coach Erich Ribbeck decided that Briegel was better suited to playing left back or left midfield instead of outside left, he rapidly blossomed as a footballer. By 1979, Briegel had become the dominating player at Kaiserslautern, who did not only impress everybody with his stamina, forcefulness and incredible strength, but also with his versatility, as he could be used as a full back, a center back and a midfielder. Hence it came as no surprise when German national team coach Jupp Derwall called Briegel up for the important Euro qualifier game vs. Wales in October 1979 (5-1 to West Germany). The 1980 European Championship was the first major tournament for Briegel, who had become a regular as a leftsided midfielder during the first six months of the year, with left back Bernhard Dietz behind him. Briegel managed his international breakthrough in that tournament after West Germany beat Belgium in the final (where Briegel had to be subbed due to injury). For the next six years, Briegel was to be a permanent starter for West Germany, earning 72 caps either as a left back or as a left wing back (who could also play on the right if needed). In 1982 Briegel was a member of the team that reached the final of the World Cup in Spain and that got beaten by Italy in Madrid. Briegel and his teammates were to suffer a similar fate in the next World Cup four years later, this time beaten by Maradona’s Argentina in Mexico-City. In between laid the 1984 Euro Championship, in which West Germany were untypically eliminated in the group stage, rather unluckily by a Spanish goal in the 90th minute after Briegel had hit the post twice with a header (in the third and 21st minute) and Brehme once (in the 27th minute). After the 1986 World Cup Briegel finished his international career with West Germany rather bitterly, having lost two World Cup finals in a row, he accused some of his teammates of having lost 2-3 to Argentina in the dying minutes of the final due to an immature, childish way of play by trying to score the 3-2 winner themselves instead of playing defensively to reach extra-time, where he claimed the better German fitness would have been the decisive trump card. At his club in Kaiserslautern, Briegel developed into an icon, as he led the small town club (actually the smallest town to ever have a first division side in Germany) to a very impressive run in the Bundesliga, finishing in the Top 4 for four straight seasons. One of the most memorable games was a 5-0 win over Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup in March 1982. By 1984, the Briegel era at Kaiserslautern had come to an end, as he signed a two-year contract with Hellas Verona. In his first season in Serie A, Briegel was very instrumental in leading the low-rated Hellas team to a sensational Scudetto, a team who’s other stars next to Briegel were Dane Preben Elkjaer-Larsen and Italians di Gennaro and Galderisi. Briegel managed to score 9 goals in 27 games that season, underlining his offensive strengths in a defensive league. In 1985, Briegel became the first ever player to win the “German Footballer of the Year” award that was not playing in Germany. After his contract at Hellas ended, Briegel joined Sampdoria with whom he won the Coppa Italia in his last professional season in 1988 (Briegel scored a goal in the first leg of the two finals). At the age of 32, Briegel decided to call it quits and he then moved into a managing career. League Statistics per Season Season - Club - Games – Goals 1975/76 1. FC Kaiserslautern.....................07 / 01 1976/77 1. FC Kaiserslautern.....................15 / 01 1977/78 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................22 / 04 1978/79 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................31 / 04 1979/80 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................33 / 07 1980/81 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................34 / 06 1981/82 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................32 / 13 1982/83 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................33 / 08 1983/84 1. FC Kaiserslautern ....................33 / 03 1984/85 Hellas Verona .............................27 / 09 1985/86 Hellas Verona .............................28 / 03 1986/87 Sampdoria Genoa ........................24 / 06 1987/88 Sampdoria Genoa ........................27 / 03 European Cup Games 1976/77 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...03 / 01 1979/80 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...07 / 00 1980/81 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...04 / 01 1981/82 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...10 / 03 1982/83 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...08 / 05 1983/84 1. FC Kaiserslautern .....UEFA Cup...02 / 00 1985/86 Hellas Verona ..............EC 1..........04 / 00
Ernst ‘Clockwork’ Ocwirk - The model professional Born: 07/03/1926, Vienna Died: 23/01/1980, Kleinpöchlarn, Lower Austria National Team: Austria (19/8/1945 to 5/1/1962; 62 matches, 6 goals, 3 goals in WC 1954) Clubs: SC Stadlau, Floridsdorfer AC, FK Austria Vienna, Sampdoria Genova Ernst Ocwirk was a model athlete known for his esthetic and technically perfect style of playing, his headers and his exact long passes. He had great vision and an outstanding ability to read the game. He played his club football for Austria Vienna and was a key member of the Austrian side of the 1950s. The fans loved him for his modest and fair personality. During the 1950s his elegant ball skills made the international media regard him as one of the world’s finest players. His international successes earned him the honor of being named captain of the FIFA World team twice. He was also selected as a sweeper in the 1954 WC Best XI. In 1956 he left FK Austria Vienna to sign with Sampdoria Genova where he was a successful player, captain, and later, coach. Upon his return to his home town Vienna, he led FK Austria Vienna to two Championship titles and two Cup titles. Ernst Ocwirk died in 1980 from multiple sclerosis. He was only 53 years old. References: http://www.thefa.com/England/Senior...ings/2004/07/England_vAustria_ErnstOcwirk.htm http://www.geocities.com/jwf1200/ocwirk.html http://www.geocities.com/jwf1200/austriahist.html http://www.fk-austria.at/magnoliaPublic/Austria-English/Klub/Hall-of-Fame/Ocwirk.html http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/oost-recintlp.html
Name: Gérson de Oliveira Nunes Nationality: Brazil Date of Birth: 11/01/1941 Place of Birth: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Position: Midfielder Official International Games/Goals: 70/14 (between 1961 and 1972) Other National Team Games/Goals: 28/14 World Cups: played in 1966 and 1970; won in 1970 Clubs: 1958 - 1963 Flamengo (Brazil) 1963 - 1969 Botafogo (Brazil) 1969 - 1972 São Paulo (Brazil) 1972 - 1974 Fluminense Principal Titles: Carioca championship: 1963 (Flamengo), 1967 and 1968 (Botafogo), 1973 (Fluminense) Rio-São Paulo Tournament: 1961 (Flamengo), 1964 and 1966 (Botafogo) Brazilian Championship (Campeão Brasileiro, Taca Brazil): 1968 (Botafogo) Paulista Championship: 1970 and 1971 (São Paulo) Campeão do Torneio Independência do Brasil: 1972 Gérson is a Brazilian footballer who played for Brazil in the 1966 and 1970 World Cups. He is considered one the best passers in the history of football. He was the mastermind behind the whole Brazilian national team in the 1970 World Cup tournament. He was regarded as the best passer and midfielder in that Cup and the best player in the finals against Italy. Overall, he played 70 official games, scoring 14 goals for his country. The field general for the great 1970 World Cup champs, Gerson was instrumental in re-establishing Brazil as the world power after their disappointing 1966 performance. Known as "the Canhotinha de Ouro", Gérson had great strategic and organization skills, in addition to being the most perfect passer of the football, capable of placing the ball on the chest of an aggressor as far as 40 meters away. Known for his on-field banter, he was also nicknamed the "Parrot". The spotlight shown on him at 19 in the 1960 Rome Olympics, and he never left it his entire career. He helped Flamengo win the state title in 1961, and then after transferring to Botafogo, he steered them to Rio championships in 1967 and 1968. Following those titles, he was sent to Sao Paulo, where he won two Paulista state championships. A left-footed midfielder, he was the key to the success of Brazilian forwards Pele, Tostao and Jairzinho. In his career, Gérson broke the leg of three players. One of them was accidental (Vaguinho, of the Corinthians, in 1971). The other two were not. One of them was Mauro, in training for the youth team of the Flamengo. The other was in a game at the Maracanã between Brazil and Peru. The midfielder now works as a radio broadcaster. Recently he was angered by Pélé for not being included in the top 125 living players of all time. References: http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/braz-recintlp.html http://www.worldxi.com/gerson_bz.html http://www.us.terra.com/shared/worldcup2006/eng/grandes/7023.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rson_de_Oliveira_Nunes http://www.ynw62.dial.pipex.com/caught16.htm http://www.botafogopaixao.kit.net/gerson.htm
GYÖRGY SAROSI Born: 16 September 1912. Died: 20 June 1993. Nick name: Gyuri, King of Football. Position: Inside forward, center forward and center half. Caps: 61 (1931-1943) / 42 goals League Games: 383 (1930-1948) / 351 goals Trophies & Tournaments: World Cup beaten finalist: 1938 World Cup participant: 1934, 1938 Mitropa Cup: 1937 Hungarian Champion: 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941 Hungarian runner-up: 1935, 1937, 1939, 1944, 1945 Hungarian Cup winner: 1933, 1935, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946 Hungarian Cup beaten finalist: 1931, 1932 Top Scorer Hungary: 1936, 1940, 1941 Dr. György Sarosi was one of the world’s greatest footballers between the two World Wars. During his career, he scored 393 goals for Hungary and his club Ferencvaros in 444 games over a period spanning 18 years (1930 to 1948). Of the great generation of Hungarians that came before the Magic Magyars of the 1950s, Sarosi led his teammates to the 1938 World Cup final in which his team lost to the defending champions Italy despite him scoring a goal. Possessing a superb technique and supreme football intelligence, Sarosi was a sophisticated person on and off the pitch, equally adept at playing center forward and at dropping back creating opportunities for his teammates as inside right or inside left and since he was also very strong in the air, Sarosi was known be a very good center half as well. Sarosi played his first game for Hungary on May 21 1931 in Belgrade vs Yugoslavia, which the Magyars lost 2-3. His last game he played in November 1943 against Sweden (2-7 defeat). His personal highlight while playing for Hungary came on 19 September 1937, when he scored seven goals against Frantisek Planicka in Hungary’s 8-3 victory over World Cup runners-up Czechoslovakia. Sarosi played his first World Cup in 1934 but missed the first game vs. Egypt. In the second round against the strong Austrians Sarosi could not prevent a 1-2 defeat, scoring Hungary’s only goal. Things went better for the Magyars four years later, in the first round they crushed the Dutch East Indies 6-0 (two goals by Sarosi), then eliminated the Swiss by winning 2-1 (Sarosi scoring once). In the semi final, the Swedes were annihilated in a 5-1 rout (one goal by Sarosi) but in the final, they met an Italy side that proved too strong for them that day, but again Sarosi scored a goal in the 2-4 defeat, having thus managed to score in every World Cup game he played in (6 goals in 5 games). Sarosi went on to play for Ferencvaros during the war, but left his country at the beginning of the communist era. He moved to the United States for a while but then decided to become a manager in Italy with no less a club than the mighty Juventus who he led to a Scudetto in 1952. Italy was to become his new home, changing his Christian name from György to Giorgio as well as becoming Italian citizen. He eventually died in Genoa in 1993 at the age of 80. This profile was written with the help of this website. League Statistics per Season Season - Club - Games – Goals 1930/31 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................07 / 02 1931/32 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 04 1932/33 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................21 / 08 1933/34 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................22 / 24 1934/35 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................21 / 22 1935/36 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................20 / 37 1936/37 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 29 1937/38 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 29 1938/39 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 26 1939/40 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................23 / 23 1940/41 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................22 / 30 1941/42 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................18 / 19 1942/43 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................15 / 06 1943/44 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................27 / 11 1944/45 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................15 / 14 1945.... Ferencvaros Budapest ....................18 / 16 1945/46 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................32 / 31 1946/47 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................29 / 15 1947/48 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 05
DENIS LAW Date of Birth: 24th Feb 1940 Place of Birth: Aberdeen Position: Forward Height: 5ft 9 PROFILE In the 1960's when Eric Cantona was still in his cradle, Denis Law was the King of Old Trafford. When it came to scoring goals, from long-range, from headers, overhead kicks, close in poachers - Law was the master, a mercurial genius when it came to putting a ball in the back of the net. He was a player all the fans loved because he gave absolutely everything when on the pitch. This fierce Scotsman fought for everything and was afraid of nobody, few players could match this man's competitive instincts. Of only medium height and slim in build, Law had a lions heart and a salmons leap. Always playing with his long shirt sleeves distinctively gripped in each fist, he could frequently out-jump much taller men to score with his head. Denis could score from anywhere and close in he was lethal. If the keeper fumbled he pounced and within seconds the Law-man was wheeling off, arm up in celebration. George Best said of him "Denis was the best in the business, he could score goals from a hundredth of a chance never mind half of one". As well as goal-scoring he was also an incisive passer of the ball contributing to others around him. Ironically, Denis Law and Jimmy Greaves where born within four days of each other and both spent years as rivals and supreme entertainers. A lot of great players use their minds as much as their physical attributes. Law's most important abilities were awareness and anticipation. He always seemed to see the action slightly ahead of everyone else and with his superb reflexes he knew how to use that to deadly advantage. He started his footballing career with Huddersfield town in 1956. After an unhappy time in Italy with Torino he joined United with a new British record transfer fee of £115,000 in August 1962. He scored two goals on his debut in 1962 and after scoring in United's FA Cup Final win of 1963, a stream of goals followed. 160 of them in only 222 games over his first five seasons. Many of them were outrageous, some seemingly impossible, but everything was done with a confident arrogant style the fans found irresistible. Law won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1964 and captained the team on several occasions. He helped United win the league twice, 1965 and 1967, forming the legendary trio of Best, Law and Charlton. On the International scene he was a regular up front with Scotland. Law played in many a clash with England, most famously when they beat the then World Champions 3-2 at Wembley in 1967. Sadly, such was his fierce competitiveness he was sometimes injured, no more costly than when he missed the 1968 European Cup triumph because of a knee injury. Controversially, in 1973 he was given a free transfer by Tommy Docherty but had more good times with Manchester City and Scotland. In an infamous incident at Old Trafford 1974 with United deep in trouble at the foot of the league and playing City, Law in the 85th minute half-heartedly back-heeled the ball into United's net. It won the game for City 1-0 and United were consequently relegated (although they were down regardless of the result). The devastation on Law's face after the goal showed the bond he still had with his old club. In fact, it was his last ever kick in League football as he was so downcast he retired straight after the game. The fact the United fans never blamed him for it showed their great affection and respect for him also. His career in football ended after playing for Scotland in the 1974 World Cup. Since then he's been involved in media work and works currently for Radio 5. Denis Law will always be remembered as a great, a player to set the passions and imagination of every fan on fire. The ultimate United goal-scorer, the first and some may still maintain, King of Old Trafford. Career summary Clubs: Huddersfield Town (1956–1960) Manchester City (1960–1961) Torino (1961–1962) Manchester United (1962–1973) Manchester City (1973–1974) Honours: FA Cup (1963) Football League Championship (1965, 1967) European Footballer of the Year (1964) (Law was a Manchester United player when the team won the European Cup in 1968, but he missed the match through injury). Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame (2002) Club appearances and goals by season In all competitions: Season Club Appearances Goals 1956-57 Huddersfield Town 18 3 1957-58 Huddersfield Town 20 6 1958-59 Huddersfield Town 26 2 1959-60 Huddersfield Town 27 8 1959-60 Manchester City 7 2 1960-61 Manchester City 43 21 1961-62 Torino 27 10 1962-63 Manchester United 44 29 1963-64 Manchester United 41 45 1964-65 Manchester United 52 39 1965-66 Manchester United 48 24 1966-67 Manchester United 38 25 1967-68 Manchester United 27 9 1968-69 Manchester United 36 21 1969-70 Manchester United 20 12 1970-71 Manchester United 34 16 1971-72 Manchester United 41 13 1972-73 Manchester United 12 3 1973-74 Manchester City 26 12 TOTAL 587 300 Courtesy of wikipedia.com and manutdzone.com Blame listen_up_fergie for any errors...
Charles Murray "Charlie" Buchan Born September 22 1891 in Plumstead, London Died June 25 1960 in Monte Carlo England 6 caps 4 goals Clubs 1910/11 Sunderland 6 games 1 goal 1911/12 Sunderland 31 6 1912/13 Sunderland 36 27 1913/14 Sunderland 36 13 1914/15 Sunderland 37 23 No League Play - WWI 1919/20 Sunderland 36 22 1920/21 Sunderland 39 27 1921/22 Sunderland 40 21 1922/23 Sunderland 41 30 1923/24 Sunderland 39 26 1924/25 Sunderland 39 12 1925/26 Arsenal 39 19 1926/27 Arsenal 33 14 1927/28 Arsenal 30 16 Total 482 games 257 goals Profile from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Buchan Born in Plumstead, London, Buchan first played as an amateur for local club Woolwich Arsenal, joining the club in December 1909. However, having impressed in reserve games, he fell out with manager George Morrell over his expenses, and declined to sign to a professional contract. Buchan instead signed for Clapton Orient; whilst playing for them he was spotted and duly signed by Sunderland in March 1911. A tall, elegant centre forward, Buchan became a legend at the Wearside club. Sunderland won the 1912-13 First Division title, and narrowly missed out on the Double, losing the FA Cup final 1-0 to Aston Villa. Frequently described as the best footballer in the country, Buchan was Sunderland's leading scorer for seven consecutive seasons from 1913 to 1924 (excluding the wartime seasons, when full competitive football was suspended). He is Sunderland's all-time record League goalscorer, with 209. Buchan was also capped by England, his debut coming against Ireland in 1913. His appearances were limited by the lack of internationals due to war; he only earned six full caps, scoring four goals. In 1925, when nearly 34, Buchan was re-signed by Arsenal (as they were now called). Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman paid £2,000 plus £100 per goal for his first season; Buchan promptly scored twenty, thus doubling his fee. Just as important was his contribution to Arsenal's tactics; it was Buchan who came up, along with Chapman, of rejigging Arsenal's formation to the "WM", to fully exploit the relaxation of the offside law. Buchan captained Arsenal to their first-ever Cup final in 1927, but again was on the losing side, as Cardiff City beat the Gunners 1-0, thanks to a freak mistake by Arsenal 'keeper Dan Lewis. Buchan finally retired at the end of 1927-28, having scored 16 league goals that season despite being 36 years of age. In all he scored 56 goals in 120 matches for Arsenal; his count of 257 goals in the League, which would have been more had the First World War not intervened, makes him the Football League's sixth-top goalscorer of all time. After retiring, Buchan became a football journalist with the Daily News and News Chronicle, wrote one of the first coaching manuals, and also commentated for the BBC. In 1947, he co-founded the Football Writers' Association, and from 1949 until his death, he edited his own football magazine, Charles Buchan's Football Monthly. He died in 1960, at the age of 68, whilst holidaying in Monte Carlo. My own notes: Buchan was a stylish centre forward whose goalscoring record is even more impressive as all but his final two seasons came under the old offside rule. His sharp footballing brain enabled him to be a huge influence on the establishment of Herbert Chapman's great Arsenal side and he retired still a hugely effective top flight player.
Pick by: ChaChaFut Round: 8 Selection: 6 (139th overall pick) ---------------------------------- BIXENTE LIZARAZU Born: 09.12.1969, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France Position: Left back/midfielder Height: 1.69m (5'-7") ---------------------------------- One of the most honoured and renowned players of recent times, Lizarazu owned the left flank of the France national team during their most successful era, at the end of the XX Century. He made up for his lack of height with a style of play that featured great speed and strenght. He constantly joined or started the team's attack, and was a great crosser, while remaining a superb defender. He formed, along with Thuram, Blanc, and Desailly, the best defense in the world at the time, a back line that helped France win their first World Cup in 1998, and the European Cup in 2000. He is one of the few players ever that have won the World Cup, the European Cup and the ECCC (Champions League). Lizarazu was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in 1969. Although the town is within French borders, it is part of the region known as the Basque Country. His decision to play for France had major repercussions for him. He was a victim of publicised death threats from the Basque terrorist group ETA. Still, he would play a few games in the Spanish league. He started his professional career with FC Girondins Bordeaux in 1988, where he was a teammate of Zinedine Zidane. With Girondins he reached the UEFA cup final in 1995-96, losing to his future club, Bayern Munich. In 1996, He appeared in 16 games for Athletic Bilbao, becoming the first non-Spanish player since World War I to play for the Club. In 1997 he signed for Bayern Munich. It was during his years with Bayern when the he won the most trophies. In his first six seasons at Olympiastadion he won five Bundesliga championships, 3 German Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. After winning the world cup in 1998, He was outstanding during the 1998-99 season, helping Bayern reach the Champions League final, although a knee injury kept him out of that match, which his team ended up losing in the last minute against Manchester United. But in 2001, they came back, and he played a key role when Bayern defeated Valencia to win their first European title since 1976. After seven seasons in Bayern, Lizarazu left in the 2004 offseason, to sign with Olympique Marseille back in France, but he did not settle there and six months later he was back at Bayern. He played 52 official matches for France, of which he only lost 4. He made his debut in 1992, on a 2-1 win over Finland in Paris in the WCQ. He scored one of his only 2 international goals in the 1998 world cup against Saudi Arabia, a spectacular finish after a spectacular pass. In total, he played 95 international matches, being France's 6th most capped player, behind 5 of his former teammates. Sadly, he retired from international play after a 0-1 loss against Greece in the 2004 European Championship. However, he will be remembered as a legendary left back and one of the symbols of the most glorious era in France football history. Sources: http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/lizarazu-intl.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixente_Lizarazu NATIONAL TEAM STATISTICS France NT record* 1992-2004 Matches played: 95 (66-22-9) Goals scored: 2 *Thanks to Roberto Mamrud @ RSSSF WORLD CUP CAREER STATISTICS Code: Year # GP GS Min G A 1998 3 6 6 593 1 1 2002 3 3 3 270 - - [B]Total 9 9 863 1 1[/B] CLUB CAREER STATISTICS** Season / Club / Matches/Goals 2004-05 Marseille FRA 14 / 0 2004-05 FC Bayern GER 13 / 0 2003-04 FC Bayern GER 26 / 1 2002-03 FC Bayern GER 26 / 2 2001-02 FC Bayern GER 25 / 1 2000-01 FC Bayern GER 15 / 0 1999-00 FC Bayern GER 22 / 1 1998-99 FC Bayern GER 18 / 2 1997-98 FC Bayern GER 11 / 0 1996-97 Ath.Bilbao ESP 16 / 0 1995-96 Bordeaux FRA 23 / 3 1994-95 Bordeaux FRA 32 / 2 1993-94 Bordeaux FRA 32 / 9 1992-93 Bordeaux FRA 35 / 4 1991-92 Bordeaux FRA 33 / 0 1990-91 Bordeaux FRA 35 / 2 1989-90 Bordeaux FRA 38 / 2 1988-89 Bordeaux FRA 16 / 0 --------------------------------- 18 Seasons............. 430 / 29 **Source: footballdatabase.com CAREER HONORS 1 World Cup (1998) 1 European Cup (2000) 1 Champions League (2001) 1 Intercontinental Cup (2001) 5 Bundesliga titles (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005) 4 German Cups (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005) 4 League Cups (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004)
Round: 8 Selection: 7 (140th overall pick) Nils Liedholm Born: Valdemarsvik (Sweden), 8/10/22 Position: Midfielder Ht/Wt: 1.83m/82kg Sweden: 23 caps, 10 goals Honours: Swedish Championship (1947, 48) Lo Scudetto (1951, 55, 57, 59) Olympic Gold (1948) World Cup Runner-up (1958) Long before Sven Goran Eriksson was even heard of there was another wily Swede making his mark on Serie A. Both as a player and a Coach Nils Liedholm left a considerable imprint on the Italian game. To this day his opinion is still regularly sought on the present state of the two clubs he most deeply affected - Milan and Roma. Liedholm joined his first club, IK Sleipner in 1942. In 1946, he joined IFK Norrköping, a bigger Swedish club with whom he won two Swedish league titles. During his time with Norrköping, he also earned 18 caps for the Swedish national team, winning an Olympic gold medal. As a player, Liedholm was the kind of straniero clubs nowadays must dream of signing. Influential and mature, he was both a playmaker and scorer of some repute. There was already plenty of silverware in his trophy cabinet when he made the trip to Milan in the summer of 1949. That was only enhanced over 12 memorable seasons with the boys from the San Siro. With domestic League titles in Sweden and Olympic gold for his country already behind him, it was clear new challenges were needed for the talented 26-year-old plying his trade with Norrkoping. There was no better place to do that than with a Milan side desperate to rediscover some success after decades in the doldrums. Just as they would years later, the Rossoneri decided to build their success around a trio of impressive foreign stars. The tactical awareness of Gunnar Gren, the awesome scoring power of Gunnar Nordahl and the character of Liedholm formed the impressive Gre-No-Li partnership. It was to be a model successfully followed by Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit at the club decades afterwards. And the rewards, at least domestically, were not dissimilar. Four League titles came in the fabulous 1950s for the Milan giants and they came close to knocking Real Madrid off their European perch in 1958 - only losing out to that great side in extra time. Liedholm also won the Latin Cup in 1951 and 1956. It was a Golden Age for the club and Liedholm was a vital part of that. An organiser of play the whole of Milan’s game revolved around him for more than a decade. Legend has it was two years before he misplaced his first pass in front of his home fans - prompting a five minute round of applause such was the rarity of the event. In ‘Liddas’ the Rossoneri had something special and a tally of 81 goals in over 350 games is testament to his quality, especially since he arrived in Italy relatively late in his career. But the Swede was a class act and had both the fitness and footballing brain to play at the highest level longer than most. An accomplished sportsman, he was one of the first players to realise the importance of more all-round fitness in the game. This was so much the case that he would carry out additional practice to better prepare him for the football field. That regime was unusual but certainly seems to have worked. "At that time footballers only trained a couple of times a week," he said. "But I used to add two sessions of athletic training including the 100 metres, 3000 metres, javelin, shot put and high jump." He used his physical stature to develop an impressively long throw-in which he used to deadly effect. Almost from the halfway line he was able to catapult the ball towards Nordahl who rarely missed out when a chance came his way inside the penalty box. Perhaps it was this dedicated approach to training that allowed Liedholm to play at the top of the game for so long. In 1958, with his 36th birthday fast approaching, he played a part in taking his country to the World Cup Final in Sweden against Brazil only to lose out to the teenage Pele. And his Serie A career went on until he was close to 40. There was little doubt that such a methodical man could switch his skills to coaching and after spells in the backrooms at Milan he was ready to take charge of clubs of his own. Promotion seasons with Verona and Varese saw him catch the attention of Fiorentina and then the top job back at his old club Milan. Dubbed ‘The Baron’ after marrying a member of the Italian nobility, he was also lucky enough to be in charge of the Rossoneri when they picked up their tenth League title in 1979. An even trickier task proved not to be beyond him when he made his way to Roma. In 1983, playing the zonal system which was unusual for Serie A at the time, he took the capital club to only their second Scudetto. A year later, his team lost out to Liverpool on penalties in the European Cup Final. That must have been his only regret as both player and Coach, never to clinch a title at European level. But his impact on the game in Italy and beyond should not be underestimated. Many of the theories he hatched have become accepted practice today. After leaving the game (but still living in Italy), Liedholm ran a vineyard for a while. This enterprise is now run by his son. His opinions, however, still carry a lot of weight in Italian football. 1942-46 IK Sleipner 1946-49 IFK Norrköping 1949-50 Milan (37/18) 1950-51 Milan (31/13) 1951-52 Milan (38/9) 1952-53 Milan (30/6) 1953-54 Milan (31/10) 1954-55 Milan (28/6) 1955-56 Milan (31/1) 1956-57 Milan (26/4) 1957-58 Milan (24/7) 1958-59 Milan (30/1) 1959-60 Milan (28/3) 1960-61 Milan (25/3) Bio from Calcio Italia and Wikipedia
8th Selection: Albert Shesternev "Ivan the Terrible" was the captain of the forgotten Soviet team of the 60s, and still holds the record for the most caps at 87. He was unlucky to have lost a coin flip in 68, handing a European Championship finals appearance to Italy, having held the home side to a 0-0 draw in the semi-finals. He was able to play both as a sweeper and man marker, and his greatest years probably came as as a sweeper. Shesternev featured in the European Championship best XI twice and won the Soviet Player of the year award in 1970, probably his finest season.
8th Selection: ALAN HANSEN Centerback http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Hansen Alan Hansen (born Alloa, Scotland, June 13, 1955) was one of football's most elegant defenders of his generation and later became a successful television pundit. Hansen turned down the opportunity to study at university in Aberdeen in order to join his brother John at Partick Thistle for whom he played more than 100 times between 1973 and 1977. He quickly established a reputation for himself as a confident central defender and was watched by numerous top clubs. In 1977, Hansen was purchased by Liverpool as the Anfield club pursued a unique treble of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup. They missed out on this, winning the league and in Europe but losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United. Hansen was put into the first team sporadically the following season and was in the side which lost the League Cup final after a replay to Nottingham Forest in 1978 but retained the European Cup with victory over FC Bruges at Wembley. The following year Hansen was in the squad as Liverpool regained the League title and also fully established himself as a first choice central defender when long serving club captain Emlyn Hughes was sold to Wolves. He also made his full debut for Scotland though his international career would prove something of a frustration for him. Liverpool's domination of club football continued in 1980 with another League title, then in 1981 they ended the season with their first League Cup after defeating West Ham United 2-1 in a replay. Hansen scored the winning goal. They also regained the European Cup with a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid. The league title returned to Anfield in 1982, and the team also retained the League Cup with victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Hansen was selected in the Scotland squad for the summer's World Cup in Spain, which proved an enormous disappointment. The team failed to progress beyond the qualifying group and Hansen was guilty, along with central defensive partner Willie Miller, of a catastrophic mix-up which allowed USSR striker Ramoz Shengelia through to score. In 1983, Liverpool once again took the League title and held on to the League Cup, this time defeating Manchester United in the final. The two trophies would remain at Anfield too in 1984, although Hansen was involved in a controversial incident in the League Cup final at Wembley when he appeared to handle a shot on the goal line. Despite protests from opponents and fierce Merseyside rivals Everton, no penalty was given. Liverpool won the final after a replay. The club then completed a treble of trophies when they added another European Cup to the title and League Cup. The final against AS Roma ended 1-1 and went to a penalty shoot-out, which Liverpool won. Liverpool emerged trophyless from the following season, and were banned from all European competition after the 1985 European Cup final at Heysel ended in rioting which caused the deaths of 39 Juventus fans. Though the result of the game was immaterial, Liverpool lost it 1-0. Hansen would never play a European tie again. Manager Joe Fagan resigned after Heysel due to the grief he felt, and Hansen's friend, team-mate and fellow Scotsman Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player manager. He gave Hansen the captaincy and the season ended in triumph, as in 1986 Liverpool became only the third side in the 20th century to complete a League and FA Cup "double", following Tottenham in 1961 and Arsenal in 1971. Hansen lifted both trophies as captain and earned his first FA Cup winners' medal, thereby completing the domestic set. Hansen won his last of a paltry 26 Scotland caps in 1987. The reason given for his lack of caps by Scotland coaches of the late 70s and the whole of the 80s was that a formidable partnership had formed between Miller and Alex McLeish at the dominant Scottish side Aberdeen (managed at the time by Alex Ferguson) and it made sense to keep them together at international level. Indeed, Ferguson (in temporary charge after the sudden death of Jock Stein) dropped Hansen from the whole squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, a decision which led to Dalglish also withdrawing his services. Liverpool won nothing in 1987, losing the League Cup final when Arsenal defeated them 2-1, while arch-rivals Everton took the League title. But in 1988, arguably the most skilled Liverpool team of all, with Hansen as skipper, lost just twice as they coasted to the League title - Hansen's seventh - and reached the FA Cup final, where they were beaten 1-0 by Wimbledon in one of the competition's biggest shocks. Hansen missed much of the 1989 season with a knee injury, but battled back to regain his place in the side in the latter half of an eventful campaign on the pitch and a tragic one off it. In April 1989, after the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans, Hansen was among many Liverpool stars left distraught by the tragedy, attending many funerals and visiting the injured in hospital. Liverpool eventually won the FA Cup against Everton in the final at Wembley, though Hansen didn't lift the trophy - this honour was given to team-mate Ronnie Whelan who had deputised capably in Hansen's absence through injury and retained the role on a basis of continuity and reward even after the club's first choice skipper was fit again. Hansen didn't complain. Liverpool lost the League title and a second "double" thanks to a crucial goal in the final seconds by Arsenal player Michael Thomas which gave the Highbury club the title. Hansen made fewer appearances the following season as his persistent knee problems continued to affect his fitness, but he still captained Liverpool to another League title, which made it eight individually for Hansen, a record which stands to this day alongside ex-Liverpool team-mate Phil Neal and Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs. The club came close to the "double" yet again, but lost a thrilling FA Cup semi final 4-3 to Crystal Palace. Hansen tried to continue the following season but the knee got the better of him, and he quit in 1991. Honours Football League First Division - 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990 FA Cup - 1986, 1989 Football League Cup - 1981, 1983, 1984 Charity Shield - 1977 (Shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987 (Shared), 1989 Screen Sport Super Cup - 1986 European Cup - 1978, 1981, 1984 European Super Cup - 1977 Scottish First Division - 1976 http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=311 "Alan Hansen is the defender with the pedigree of an international striker. He is quite simply the most skilful centre-half I have ever seen in the British game. He is a joy to watch. Alan has always been an excellent footballer, a beautifully balanced player who carries the ball with control and grace. He has a very measured, long stride and is much faster than he looks. I can't think more than a couple of players who could beat him over 100 metres. He has both the ability and the patience to launch attacks from deep positions."
With the tenth pick in the seventh round of the all time draft, I select... ANTONIO UBALDO 'EL RATA' RATTIN Antonio Ubaldo ‘El Rata’ Rattin was the inspirational captain and leader of Boca Juniors and Argentina’s national team in the 1960’s. A temperamental but charismatic defensive midfielder of strong character, he remains to this day a symbol of Boca Juniors, and one of the most loved and admired football players who ever played in Argentina. Rattin was an imposing and intimidating figure on the field. Standing tall at 1.93m (about 6’ 4”), he towered over his opponents. He was slim but strong as granite, with feet so large that when he played his first practice game for Boca as a youth, the team was unable to find football shoes that would fit him, so he had to play on his street shoes. Rattin wasn’t particularly skillful with the ball, but he was an instinctively intelligent player with superior tactical sense, a very strong competitor, a fierce marker, a tough intimidator and a great destroyer, a player who consistently outran and outhustled every other player on the field. People used to say he must be magnetic, because the ball always seemed to find its way to him. He fought for it when his opponents had it, and he made himself an outlet when his teammates did. He was also strong heading the ball, dominating with his air game. He wasn’t much of a dribbler, and his passing can be described as simple, expedient and practical. After winning the ball he hardly ever lost it, as he usually looked quickly to make the simple pass to his more creative teammates. Yet when he looked to join the attack he was powerful and surprisingly efficient. Most of the 28 goals he scored for Boca came at the most opportune times. But Rattin’s most important characteristic was his ability to lead. His commanding presence on the field, his strong authoritative voice and his sacrificial attitude were a catalyst that was fundamental in organizing his teams and motivating his teammates to give their best. Rattin always could be counted on to leave his soul on the field of play, He was also a strong leader off the field, mentoring young players, and lecturing them on the significance and responsibility of wearing the shirt of Boca Juniors. Many saw Rattin as a throwback to the old days, comparing him to the legendary ‘caudillos’ of an earlier era, such as Luis Monti and Obdulio Varela of old, and it is certainly a valid comparison. But Rattin was also a player ahead of his time. He pioneered the role of ‘cuevero’, when he realized that he was of more help to his team by withdrawing behind the other midfielders and standing in front of the two central defenders to clog the middle and cut off traffic, thus allowing the other midfielders more freedom to attack. Few coaches at the time understood the tactical significance of the role, but in latter times it became a favored tactic. Rattin was also was a very disciplined athlete who put a premium on training and conditioning, and who carefully watched his diet and his sleep, and shunned the nighttime escapades. He sough an edge by training harder than anybody else, at a time when few of his contemporaries prioritized the physical aspect of the game. The son of Italian immigrants, Antonio Ubaldo Rattin was born on May 16, 1937 in Tigre, a charming small town located by the Parana River Delta, north of Buenos Aires, an area of many islands and channels. Born to a poor family, he began earning money since a very early age by running errands between islands, spending most of his days rowing his small boat, thus developing his great physical strength. Whatever free time he had, he spent playing football, and soon was the dominant player in the area’s youth squad. Because of his size and fighting spirit he quickly came to the attention of scouts and began playing in the youth divisions of Tigre FC. But he was a huge fan of Boca Juniors, and when they offered him a place in their 5th division squad, he agreed to play for free, even though his family needed money, and both Tigre and Chacarita Juniors had offered him a signing bonus to join their club. Rattin made his debut in Boca’s first division squad in 1956, at 18 years of age. The rival was none other than archrival River Plate, featuring stars like Rattin’s childhood idol Pipo Rossi, as well as Angel Labruna, and Omar Sivori. Rattin was assigned to mark Labruna and he did so exceptionally well, earning the veteran’s respect, as Boca Juniors triumphed 2-1. At first Rattin was strongly resisted by Boca’s hard core fans. He was replacing one of the crowd’s favorites, the veteran Eliseo Mourino, who was said to be hurt. When it was discovered by the ‘barras’ that Mourino was not hurt, but in fact was locked in a dispute with the club’s front office, they took their anger towards the executives and channeled it against the young replacement player. As the season went on and Mourino was still absent, the crowd’s resentment against Rattin grew. They greeted him with jeers, insults, and shouts of ‘Eliseo, Eliseo!’ Many talented players over the years have crumbled under the pressure of the notorious Boca Juniors hard core fans. But Rattin took it as a personal challenge. The more they jeered him the more he became determined to fight hard to win them over. And because of his fighting spirit he not only won them over but over time he earned their utmost loyalty and eventually became the club’s biggest idol. ‘I think I beat them (the fans) because they got tired of jeering’, Rattin said. ‘They realized I wasn’t going away.’ Mourino eventually came back, but he was switched to a wide left position, and was soon traded, as the young Rattin had become the unquestionable owner of the central midfield job. When Rattin joined Boca Juniors, the club was going through difficult times. They had won only one league title in twelve years, while eternal rival River Plate was dominating the league. Yet by the time he retired, Rattin had helped Boca regain its place of prominence in Argentina. Led by Rattin, and featuring talented players like goalkeeper Roma, Marzolini, Angelillo, Angel Rojas, as well as Brazilians Orlando and Valentim and Peruvian Melendes, Boca Juniors won league titles in 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1970, while rival River Plate failed to win any title over an 18 year stretch that ended in 1975. Over the course of his career, Rattin played 370 matches for Boca Juniors, from 1956 through 1970, including 357 league appearances, which was a club record at the time. He also scored 28 goals. In league matches against River he had a favorable record of 12 wins, 9 draws, and only 5 loses. Rattin’s only failure with his club was the inability to win the newly created Copa Libertadores. Boca Juniors narrowly lost a memorable final againt the Santos of Pele in 1963, which featured two high level matches that ended 3-2 and 2-1 in favor of the Brazilians. In Rattin’s two other attempts at the Cup, Boca lost in the semifinals. Rattin’s Boca also enbarqued in some successful exhibition tours, which included victories over top foreign squads such as Gerson’s Botafogo, Di Stefano’s Real Madrid and Kubala’s Barcelona. At a tournament in Morocco, during a match against Real Madrid, Rattin so frustruated Ferenc Puskas that the legendary Magyar threw a punch at him and was thrown out of the match. Boca beat Real Madrid 2-1 and won the tournament. Another memorable international match occurred in Ecuador, against Deportivo Quito for Copa Libertadores. Boca’s players were feeling the effect of the altitude, and only the ultra-fit Rattin seemed to be running all over the field and showing no ill-effect. At halftime, most of the players were laying down, out of breath, and complaining about the conditions. Rattin told them, ‘What is this (expletive)? You are a bunch of (expletive)! Just cover my back, and I will win this game by myself. In the second half he scored two goals as Boca won the match 2-1. Rattin made his debut for Argentina’s national team in 1959, in a friendly against Chile. Curiously, Argentina took a 2-0 lead while he was in the lineup. He was replaced at halftime and Chile ended up winning 4-2. The 1962 World Cup was not a good one for Argentina and especially for Rattin. He clashed with coach Toto Lorenzo, as he disagreed about the team’s strategy and in particular with the role Lorenzo wanted for him. He ended up playing only one match, which he considered one of his worst performances ever, as Argentina lost to England 3-1 and was eliminated in the first round. In 1964, for the occasion of the Brazilian Federation’s 50 years anniversary, a four team tournament rich in talent was organized, featuring Pele’s Brazil, Eusebio’s Portugal, Bobby Charlton’s England, and Argentina. It was at this tournament that Rattin asserted himself and became the undisputed leader of the national team, as he was at Boca Juniors. In the first set of matches, Argentina disposed of Portugal 2-0, while Brazil beat England 5-1. As the much anticipated Brazil-Argentina match began, defender Messiano had the job of shadowing Pele. After a couple of strong challenges by the Argentine, Pele retaliated violently, injuring his marker, who had to leave the field only 28 minutes into the match. It is said by Rattin’s teammates that he walked to the bench and in his commanding voice told the coach, ‘Put in Telch (an attacking midfielder), and don’t worry about Pele. I will take care of him. Such was his conviction that the coach complied. When Pele saw that Rattin, a player who looked twice his size, was his new marker, he expected retaliation for his challenge on Messiano. Pele told Rattin, ‘Lets make a deal. With the ball, all is fair, withouth the ball, nothing’. Rattin replied, ‘It’s a deal. But once you get the ball I will kill you.’ Rattin marked Pele fiercely but fairly, and shut him down, as Argentina went on to win 3-0, with two goals from Telch. After the match Pele looked for Rattin to exchange shirts. He gave him a hug and thanked him for marking him well but without bad intentions. They have remained good friends since that day. (An affectionate note by Pele is included in Rattin’s biography ‘El Caudillo’, and Rattin’s commentary can be heard in the spectacular video ‘Pele Eterno’) Argentina went on to beat England 1-0 and win the ‘Nations Cup’ trophy, much to the dismay of the Brazilian federation which had already engraved the Brazilian players names on the prize watches meant for the winners. Led by Rattin, Argentina went into the 1966 World Cup with high expectation. Coach Lorenzo was back at the helm, but by now he understood Rattin’s role in the team, and confirmed him as the captain. Argentina began well, having little trouble in beating a talented Spanish team, which was led by stars like Suarez, Del Sol and Gento. They also disposed of Switzerland, and managed a scoreless draw against the powerful West German squad, which featured a talented young player named Franz Beckenbauer. Because Germany had the better goal differential, it finished first in the group. Argentina drew a tough quarterfinal matchup against the home team, England. It is unfortunate that this is the match for which Rattin is best remembered outside South America. After arguing a call, he was unexpectedly thrown out of the match by the German referee Rudolf Kreitlein, for alleged ‘violence of the tongue’. Believing he was a victim of a conspiracy to help the home team, Rattin lost his cool and refused to leave the field. His actions nearly provoked a walkout by the whole Argentine squad, and the match was delayed for over 20 minutes. As he was finally led of the field, he confiscated the corner flag (which happened to be a British flag), and he sat on the red carpet meant for England’s Queen. Hearing the insults from many in the crowd, he eloquently responded in kind as he was being led away. The match was finally resumed, but without its dynamic leader, Argentina seemed to be missing more than just one player. England eventually scored the game’s only goal and moved on to win the title. This controversial incident had a positive impact on the game of football, as it resulted in FIFA installing the warning system of yellow and red cards. To this day, Rattin maintains he was the victim, but he doesn’t hold any grudges. ‘That match made me famous all over the world’, he often jests, In 1969, during a practice before a key World Cup Eliminatorias match against Peru, Rattin broke a tendon. Unable to play, he could only watch from the bench as Teofilo Cubillas and his Peruvian teammates eliminated Argentina from the World Cup for the only time in history. It was the end of Rattin’s career with the national team. Rattin missed most of the 1970 season with injuries. He was expected by the team and the fans to return, when he surprisingly announced his retirement at the age of 33. During his absence ‘Muneco’ Madurga, a talented young player, had done very well in his spot. Deeming that because of the accumulation of injuries he wouldn’t be able to play at full steam, and remembering well his troubles when as a young player he replaced the veteran Mourino, Rattin decided it would be best for the club and for his young replacement if he didn’t come back to fight for the spot. ‘My time is up.’ He said. On December 10, 1970 a match was organized in honor of Rattin, featuring Boca Juniors against a South American all-star team. Five minutes before the end, Peruvian star Ramon Mifflin allowed Rattin to nutmeg him, after which Rattin kicked the ball to the stands and left the field to a thundering ovation. Thus ended the career of one of the players most worthy of wearing the blue and gold of Boca Juniors. After retiring, Rattin briefly coach Boca Juniors, but he didn’t enjoy coaching and moved on to other things. He worked as a talent scout and player representative, developing a pipeline to England, and was instrumental in helping open up the English Premier League for the first time to Argentine players, such as Ardiles, Villa, Sabella and Tarantini. He also worked in Boca Juniors front office in many capacities. He became successful in several business ventures, and in more recent years also in politics. In 2001, Rattin became the first football player elected to the Argentine Congress, representing his district as a Diputado Nacional. (Member of the the Argentine House of Representatives.) In that capacity he was chosen by Congress to be the head of Argentina’s National Sports Commission. The following story helps illustrate Rattin’s outstanding character: It occurred on June 23, 1968, the most tragic day in Argentine football history. It was the day of a Boca-River superclasico at River’s Monumental Stadium. The match ended scoreless and as always Rattin had left his heart on the field. After the match, a fight broke out among rival fans. The ensuing panic, combined with an exit gate which was mistakenly locked, led to a horrible disaster in which 74 people died and hundreds of others were injured. Unaware of the tragic events, Rattin had taken a shower after the match, and was driving home with a friend, when he turned on the radio and heard the horrible news. Immediately he turned his car around and headed to the local hospital to see if he could help in any way. He heard that there was a shortage of blood, so he offered to donate, but he was rejected by the hospital staff, as they deemed that his body was still too exhausted from his effort in the match to be able to safely draw any blood. But at least his traveling companion was able to donate blood. Ever since that day, Rattin has been a regular blood donor, as he gained awareness of the chronic shortage of blood in Argentine’s public hospitals. He has also taken advantage of his public profile to encourage others to donate blood. As the great Antonio Ubaldo Rattin often says:,‘To give blood is to give life.’ Appropiate words, coming from a man who left his blood on the field every match, and by doing so who brought back life to a proud football club. Rattin, Antonio Ubaldo (“El Rata”, “The Rat”) *1937, Argentina, linkman and center half 34 Caps (1 goal): 1959-1969 World Cup finals 1962, 1966 1956-1970 Boca Juniors
SOL CAMPBELL Position Defender Club Arsenal D.O.B 18.09.74 P.O.B Newham Start 63 Subs 3 Caps 66 Goals 1 Debut v Hun, 05.96 Full Debut v Geo, 11.96 First Goal v Swe, 06.02 There are few more imposing players in international football than Sol, capped initially in one of England’s warm-up matches prior to Euro 96. He is now a mainstay in central defence and a reassuring presence for team-mates and fans alike. His headed goal in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup Finals against Sweden was his first for England, and he formed one of the tournament’s most effective defensive partnerships with Rio Ferdinand. At Euro 2004 Sol was again a commanding presence and was named in the official Euro 2004 All-Star squad by the UEFA technical group. The Arsenal centre-back was the first England player to be named in five consecutive major international tournament squads. http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Players/Postings/2004/03/Sol+Campbell+Arsenal.htm
Drafter: Sempre Pick: 8th Overall Pick: 145 Player: Diego Simeone Position: Midfield Nationality: Argentina International caps: 106 Goals: 11 Brief biography from Wikipedia Diego Pablo Simeone (born April 28, 1970 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football manager and former footballer. A midfielder, he is the most capped player ever for Argentina. In his club career that started in 1987, Simeone played for Vélez Sarsfield, Pisa, Sevilla FC, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Lazio. He ended his playing career for Racing Club, playing his last match on 17 February 2006, and then becoming manager for the same team. For the Argentine team, Simeone, nicknamed El Cholo after his father (active footballer during 1960s), amassed 106 caps, the first coming in 1988. He played in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups. It was in the 1998 Cup that he was part of an incident with David Beckham; the English star kicked Simeone and was sent off. Never a big scorer, Simeone has scored 11 goals for his country. He was considered a great leader on the pitch. He was also a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Although intimidating on the field, Simeone is humble off it, calling it an "embarrassment" when he passed Diego Maradona on the Argentine cap list. Honors and Awards 1991 Vainqueur di la Copa America (ARGENTINE) 1993 Vainqueur di la Copa America (ARGENTINE) 1999 Vainqueur di la Supercoppa Europea (Lazio) 1998 Vainqueur di la Coppa Uefa (Inter) 2000 Vainqueur di la Supercoppa Italiana d'Italie (Lazio) 1996 Campione d'Espagne (Atletico Madrid) 2000 Campione d'Italie (Lazio) 1996 Vainqueur di la Coppa di Spagna (Atletico Madrid) 2000 Vincitore della Coppa Italia (Lazio) 1996 Finaliste des Jeux Olympiques (ARGENTINE) Link to Statistics http://it.sports.yahoo.com/fo/profiles/4247.html Editorial comments: A tough, hard-as-nails midfielder, Simeone was a great leader, and in addition had a decent technique that made him a key aspect of most of his teams. Argentina's all-time caps leader.
Jimmy Armfield Position: Rightback Club: Blackpool 1952-1971 Caps: 43 In a playing career spanning 20 years, Jimmy Armfield represented just two sides - Blackpool and England. He made his greatest impact on the international stage during the 1962 World Cup in Chile, when he was voted by the Press Corps as the best right-back in the world. But the England star was to face severe disappointment four years later. Having played in the pre-1966 World Cup friendlies, he was sidelined by injury for the tournament itself. George Cohen took his place in the victorious side. Born in Denton, Manchester in September 1935, his family moved to Blackpool where he spent his school years at Arnold School where, as an all-round sportsman, he played rugby and was also in the cricket team, swimming team and athletics team. It was as a footballing outside right that he was signed by Blackpool as an amateur in 1952 from the Blackpool Association of Boys' Clubs. He made his first appearance at full back in a game for the 'A' team that he started at outside right; the full back got injured and he was pulled back to deputise and thus began a long and prosperous career in the position. His great attributes were speed, superb distribution, outstanding tackling and an enormous capacity for hard work-which were qualities needed in spades during Blackpool's rough times in the 1960's He would earn 43 caps, a record for a Blackpool player, which included 15 games as captain. As well as the 'best right-back in the world' honour, he was also voted as 'best right-back in Europe' for three successive seasons from 1962-1964. He bowed out of international football in 1966. He moved into management with Bolton, steering them to the Division 3 title in 1972-73, and would later take the Leeds job after the disaster of the Clogh hire, and lead them to the 1975 European Cup final, where they would lose to Bayern Munich. He has served as a commentator for BBC and was awarded an OBE for services to football in 2000.
Round: 8 (Week 8) Wladyslaw ZMUDA Nationality: Poland Pos: Central defense Caps 91 caps 2 goals World Cup: 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 21 games total Club: 1971-1973 Motor Lublin 1973-1975 Gwardia Warsaw 1975-1979 Slask Wroclaw 1979-1982 Widzew Lodz 1982-1984 Hellas Verona 1984-1985 New York Cosmos 1985-1988 US Cremonese From fifa.com When he arrived in Germany for his first FIFA World Cup in June 1974, Wladyslaw Zmuda was not only unfamilar to the footballing world at large, he was also something of an unknown quantity in his own country. Seven matches and several weeks later, the uncompromising defender was being hailed as the revelation of the championship and one of the stalwarts of the Polish national team – all at just 20 years old. Little did the player know that he had he had also just embarked on a 16-year love affair with the world's most prestigious sporting event. Zmuda’s career had effectively started only the season before, but his rise to prominence was spectacular. He spent six years patiently learning his trade with his first club Motor Lublin before finally spreading his wings in 1973 and switching to Gwardia Warsaw, the Polish capital’s second club. The 19-year-old Zmuda was instrumental in Gwardia's UEFA Cup campaign of 1973/74 where they narrowly lost out to eventual winners Feyenoord. Refusing to overlook the emergence of such an incredible talent, Poland coach Kazimierz Gorski took the risk of selecting Zmuda for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The youngster travelled to Germany with what was essentially the team that had taken Olympic gold at the Munich games in 1972. Backbone of a cast-iron defence Such was Gorski’s confidence in the prodigious youngster, he did not hesitate for a moment to deploy Zmuda at the heart of his defence alongside Antoni Szymanowski, Jerzy Gorgon and Adam Musial. In an arduous group that also featured Argentina, Italy and Haiti, the Polish rearguard impressed with their cohesive, solid defending, repeatedly thwarting opposition attacks. Although fans may remember the great attacking displays that produced 12 goals in three group games, the watching world was hugely impressed by a cast-iron defence that conceded just five goals in the tournament. Standing 1.87m tall, Zmuda dictated proceedings in seven full matches without picking up so much as a caution, coping with world-class players like Gerd Muller, Gigi Riva and Mario Kempes. Even the irresistible Brazil, with Dirceu, Rivelino and Jairzinho, were denied by the immovable Polish rearguard as they succumbed 1-0 to the Europeans in the third-place play-off. Had he delivered such a performance in 2002, Zmuda would surely have been inundated with offers from the finest clubs in Europe. In 1974, however, an embargo on player transfers from the Eastern block to Western Europe prevented such upward mobility. Undeterred, Zmuda pursued his career in Poland with Slask Wroclaw and later Widzew Lodz before Italian club Hellas Verona secured permission to sign him from Poland in 1982. At the pinnacle of his game, Zmuda travelled to that year’s FIFA World Cup in Spain where he would enjoy another fairy-tale tournament. Poland finished third again, this time defeating France in the “mini-final”. After two injury-plagued seasons at Verona, Zmuda spent a brief spell with New York Cosmos before returning to Italy with Cremonese, playing two of his three seasons with the club in Serie B. Zmuda ended his playing career in 1987. From a lengthy and successful international career, which brought 91 caps and two goals, it is without doubt his FIFA World Cup heroics that will live longest in the memory. With 21 appearances, Wladyslaw Zmuda holds the Polish record for the most games in the finals of the FIFA World Cup. His four tournaments, in 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986, place him third in the all-time rankings behind Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal and Germany’s Lothar Matthaus and level with such legendary names as Pele, Diego Maradona and Gianni Rivera.
Jan Ceulemans Nickname: "De Caje" Born: 28 Feb 1957 Position: Left Midfield Career Span: 1974-1991 Nationality: Belgian Caps/Goals: 96 / 23 Club Teams: 1974-1978 Lierse SK 1978-1991 FC Bruges Bio(from Planetworldcup): Jan Ceulemans, born in Lierse, is regarded as one of the best players in Europe of his generation. Having started with his local club, he moved to Club Bruges in 1978 where he stayed for thirteen years until he retired. In the meantime he won three league championships and was voted Belgian Player of the Year three times as well. He made his debut for the national team in 1977 and three years later he was impressive when Belgium came runners-up to West Germany in the European Championship. Ceulemans was a workhorse and his tireless running in midfield combined with his long legs made him able to cover lots of ground. He could run fast with the ball at his feet and was good in the air as well. He was very skillful despite being tall (6’3”/191cm) and scored many goals after beating a man or two. Belgium reached the second phase in the World Cup of 1982 and Ceulemans is remembered by many for running 80 yards with the ball before passing to a teammate who scored against Hungary in the first round. However, it was not until four years later in Mexico that Jan really shone on soccer’s greatest stage. He captained Belgium to the semifinals where Maradona and Argentina proved to be too strong. Ceulemans had a great tournament and scored three goals. His diving header in the quarterfinal against Spain was a beauty. At 33, he appeared in his third and last World Cup in Italy in 1990. Neither Jan or the Belgian team reached the level of 1986, but their exit could have been easier to deal with than David Platt’s 119th minute extra-time winner in the second round match against England. Ceulemans said farewell to the national team and retired from professional soccer the following year having won a Belgian record of 96 caps.