I might have posted this because I knew this for a long time. Juan Sebestian Veron was the son of another Estudiantes de La Plata legend, Juan Ramon Veron. He was born the day his father played a derby for Estudiantes against cross-town rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima. Juan Sebastian Veron would grow up to be another Estudiantes legend. Both father and son helped the club to win Copa Libertadores. Real Madrid and former Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazilian superstar Neymar, former Barcelona forward Gheorghe Hagi, Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez and Italian legend Cesare Maldini all share the same birthday.
In the old days before the invention of the group stage (thus knock-out from the beginning) Ray Clemence was by far the one with the most appearances in European competitions, including Fairs Cup and UEFA Cup. Note that 'finals' doesn't mean they actually played in there, just that their team reached it while part of roster. Ray Clemence 107 games (6 finals, 2 semi finals) Francisco Gento 95 games (9 finals, 1 semi final) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 95 games (3 finals, 4 semi finals) José Antonio Camacho 90 games (4 finals, 5 semi finals) Klaus Augenthaler 89 games (2 finals, 6 semi finals) Ian Callaghan 89 games (5 finals, 2 semi finals) Johan Cruijff 89 games (4 finals, 4 semi finals) 'Santillana' 87 games (4 finals, 5 semi finals) Gaetano Scirea 86 games (4 finals, 3 semi finals) Dino Zoff 86 games (3 finals, 3 semi finals)
i found something that Argentina and England had in common back in 1982....the year of the Falklands War. Liked Argentina, Ron Greenwood assigned numbers to his squad according to the alphabetical order of their surnames, excepting his captain, Kevin Keegan, and the three goalkeepers. But some of the players happened to be playing in the same numbers as their position. So it was less obvious than Argentina. #2 Anderson #4 Butcher #6 Forster #8 Francis #9 Hoddle #10 McDermott #11 Mariner At least, the defenders received smaller numbers while the attack got the bigger numbers. Argentina. #1 Ardiles #2 Bailey (GK) #4 Bertoni #7 Fillol #8 Galavan
East German football magazine "Fussballwoche" used to publish a ranking of the best East German players in similar style to the "Rangliste" of "Kicker" in West Germany. They dubbed it "Bestenliste" ("List of the Best") and this is their ranking from January 1971: Goalkeepers: Croy Kallenbach Zulkowski Right backs: Kurbjuweit Frässdorf Sackritz Left backs: Ganzera Bransch Hergesell Right central defenders: Urbanczyk Rock Dörner Left central defenders: Sammer Strempel Hamann Right midfielders: Irmscher R.Ducke Pankau Central midfielders: Stein Nöldner Hemp Left midfielders: Kreische Seguin Geisler Outside rights: Löwe Heidler Streich Outside lefts: Vogel Hahn Richter Center forwards: P.Ducke Frenzel Sparwasser
January 1974: Goalkeepers: Croy Blochwitz Friese Libero: Bransch Hamann Dörner Left backs: Fritsche Kurbjuweit Wätzlich Right backs: Sikora Withulz Kische Central defenders: Weise Gräbner Sammer Left midfielders: Franzel Kreische Ganzera Central midfielders: Lauck Seguin Schade Right midfielders: Stein Häfner Pommerenke Outside lefts: Vogel Hoffmann Kotte Center forwards: P.Ducke Sparwasse Matoul Outside rights: Löwe Heidler Schulenberg
Guy Roux, the famous eternal coach of Association Jeunesse Auxerroise, went at the stadium for the first time ever in his life the 5 June 1938. It was at La Meinau, Strasbourg for the lengendary World Cup match Poland v Brazil (5-6). Well, he was in the womb of his mother, pregnant with him who was attending the match amongst the 13.452 other spectators this day. By the way, she rarely attended to the football games as Guy Roux underlined it, it was very exceptional for her. Guy Roux in a interview for KTO TV (a catholic channel). Maybe it was in his book too.
Right now I am researching a bit of Belgian football in the 1960s and I came across a league game from 1963-64 of which I wanted to share the goalscorers as it was either a badly fixed game or arguably one of the strangest games ever played: Beeringen FC 5-0 ARA La Gantoise (AA Gent) (26th April 1964) Scorers: 1-0 De Naeyer (53., own goal) 2-0 Mahieu (58., own goal) 3-0 Segers (60., own goal) 4-0 De Naeyer (70., own goal) 5-0 Embrechts (78., not an own goal!)
Oleg Salenko is well known, but I wasn't aware how terrible his overall international carrer actually was. Biggest 'One game wonder'?
Serie A - 16a Giornata FC Internazionale 5-0 Calcio Catania 29 January 1961 1-0 Morbello 13' 2-0 Giavara (autoreti) 30' 3-0 Giavara (autoreti) 42' 4-0 Grani (autoreti) 69' 5-0 Corti (autoreti) 81' And then, of course, there's that imfamous game with 149 own goals.
Stan van den Buijs of Germinal Ekeren scored three own goals against Anderlecht during the 1994-95 season. Anderlecht won the match 3-2.
This was all over Twitter two weeks ago. Peter Schmeichel won his Premiership with Man Utd on May 2 1993, at the age of 29, as second-placed Aston Villa failed to defeat Oldham Athleti. And, in a rather bizarre twist, 29-year-old Kasper became a Premier League champion on the same day some 23 years later, as Tottenham, Leicester's nearest challengers, drew 2-2 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
When the Bundesliga started its first season in 1963-64, an interesting pattern evolved regarding the team that would finished in 10th place in the following seasons. That team either won the league the next season or it got relegated! 1963-64 10th Werder Bremen -> champion next season 1964-65 10th Borussia Neunkirchen -> relegated next season 1965-66 10th Eintracht Braunschweig -> champion next season 1966-67 10th 1. FC Nürnberg -> champion next season 1967-68 10th Hannover 96 -> 11th next season (breaking the run) 1968-69 10th TSV 1860 München -> relegated next season Afterwards this mysterious pattern stopped ....
Giuseppe Bergomi 1982: Made his international debut in April '82 in a friendly against East Germany and made three appearances in Italy's victorious World Cup run in Spain. 1986: With Italy automatically qualified as defending champions, he appeared in three of Italy's four World Cup matches in Mexico (missed the South Korea match through suspension). 1990: With Italy automatically qualified as hosts, he captained the Azzurri in all seven of their World Cup matches including the 3rd place match. June 1991: After receiving a 90th minute red card against Norway in a Euro '92 qualifier, Bergomi was not selected to play for Italy for seven years. 1998: Displaying great form for Inter, he was surprisingly called up for the World Cup in France. After failing to appear in the first two matches, he was subbed on against Austria replacing an injured Alessandro Nesta and also playing in Italy's two knockout round matches. Final tally: 16 appearances in four World Cups. Yet he never made a single appearance in a World Cup qualifying match. In similar vein, Mario Kempes made 18 appearances in three World Cups (6 in 1974, 7 in 1978, 5 in 1982) yet appeared in only one World Cup qualifier: 23 September 1973 away to Bolivia. (Argentina automatically qualified for the '78 finals as hosts and the '82 finals as holders.)
Julius Ukrainczyk was in the 1950s and 1960s a very influential broker of (friendly) matches and tournaments. Some would liken him to Mendes of the current age, although he was not a player agent. "Whether it was for the scouting of players, a forecast for a World Cup or the creation of compelling exhibition games, Uki was the right person. He was the "Mino Raiola 'of his time, although he was not a players agent - but a match arranger." http://staantribune.nl/julius-ukrainczyk-bastaardvader-van-de-europa-cup/ Today he is best known for his important role in the formation of the European Cup, next to Gabriel Hanot. On the long term this dwindled his influence because later the clubs did not need him any more. At the height of his powers his most loyal customers consisted of (at least - according to his records) Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Red Star Belgrade and Anderlecht. Some of those happen to form - perhaps by mere accidence - the top of European football some 60-70 years later. * Chelsea declined to participate in the inaugural edition of the European Cup (the FA refused them permission)
Aston Villa played Nottingham Forest earlier today, and the commentator claimed it was the first time that two former European Cup winners had met in a league match outside of a top division. I haven't looked to validate this, but intuition would lead me to believe it is correct.
I heard that as well. Logically as well it makes sense. Of the sides that have ever won the tournament the only ones who have been relegated since their first victory are Milan, Juventus, Marseille, Manchester United, Forest and Villa (I think). United were outside the top flight before Forest and Villa won theirs and Milan were definitely in the top flight when Juve went down for the Calciopoli scandal.
Viv Anderson wrote 21 september 1979 a column for Shoot! with as title: "Forest have Hitler on their side" "Now did you know Forest have Hitler in their forward line? It's true... That is what we call striker Gary Birtles because he looks like the war-time German leader. He doesn't like the tag, so some of the lads have decided on another nickname... Charlie Chaplin, after the silent film star of the 1920s. Gary is the trendy one of the team. He likes to wear all the latest gear. He's also a pop record fan and owns a tremendous collection. Our Hitler has certainly made a sensational impact on the game, but he might find it tougher this season."
Maybe not fully true, but at least half true. Cruyff, Romário and Stoichkov – who's the boss? pic.twitter.com/SNyrwmHvmJ— Mohamed Moallim (@iammoallim) February 8, 2017 (half true = parts of this are correct; matches with other accounts - e.g. doing well in training, demonstrating things by example)
Perivaldo played on the Brazilian national team right before the WC Finals in 1982. he missed the WC through an injury. I do not know if he would make the team if healthy. He ended up losing all his money while looking for a club in Portugal. He ended up a homeless man in Lisbon. http://www.as1001noites.com/en/perivaldo-will-return-to-the-maracana/ http://www.worldsoccer.com/blogs/perivaldo-351927
Libertadores 1991. In those years the first phase would group the champion and runner up teams of two countries to make a group of four. In that year three of the four teams would enter the knockout rounds. In the early 90's the Libertadores was at it's wildest and most even in quality across the different countries. So while there was some surprise that the Bolivian clubs of Bolivar and Oriente Petrolero were able to keep even with the Argentines it wasn't completely unexpected. As fate would have it the last game was between Oriente and Boca with the fate of River depending on the game. Only an Oriente loss at the Bombonera would send River through. As could be expected, the game was a shambles with both teams making few attempts to score. What was more incredible were the Boca fans singing loudly for a tie that would eliminate their hated rivals. Legend has it that there were a very few shots toward goal by the players and they were all met by loud censure from the fans. At the end of the game both teams were sent off with a huge round of applause. I remember watching this game on tv and it was one of the most surreal events in my life. Both teams were camped in their own half. They would make some passes between themselves and then take a shot very wide of goal.
We know how the FIFA U-17 World Cups sucks. Here are some of the players I recognised for each edition 1985 Bolivia: Edwin Sanchez, Marco Etcheverry, Maurice Ramos. Argentina: Redondo Costa Rico: Medford Brazil: Andre Cruz, Bismark(just because of his name) Mexico: Luis Garcia 1987 Italy: Pessotto Canada: Peschisolido Korea: Noh Jung-yoon, Seo Jung won (just because I followed Asian football) USA: Mike Burns, Troy Dayak, Steve Snow(actually remembered for failure later in his career ) Brazil: Sonny Anderson France: E. Petit Boloivia: Marco Etcheverry 1989 Ghana: Nill Lamptey(you know what happened to him) Australia: Schwarzer, Kalac, Popovic USA: Reyna, (I also recognized a few, but they never made it big in the senior level) ArgentinaL Abbondanzieri China: Li Ming, Gao Feng, Su Maozhen(they were star in China only) Nigeria: Ikpeba Colombia: Henry Zambrano(only because he played in MLS when I was living in the US) Saud Arabia: Al-Deayea(probably the greatest keeper ever from Asia) Portugal: Figo, Abel Xavier 1991 Italy: Del Piero, Birindelli, Luigi Sartor. USA: I recognized a few from NCAA soccer, but nobody made any impact on US Soccer later on. Argentina: Veron, Claudio Husain, Australia: Craig Moore Ghana: Kuffour 1993 Japan: Nakata, Naoki Matsuda, Kazuyuki Toda. Ghana: Kuffour Italy: Buffon, Totti, Coco. Canada: Jason Bent Nigeria: Kanu, Babayaro. Colombia: Jorge Bolaño USA: John O'Brien, Czechoslovakia: Marek Jankulovski Chile: Sebastián Rozental China: I knew a few. 1995 USA: Tim Howard, Nick Rimando. Ghana: Stephen Appiah Japan: I knew three. Argentina: Aimar, Esteban Cambiasso. Portugal: Nuno Gomes Australia: Emerton, Kewell, Spain: Mista Brazil: Julio Cesar, Juan, Renato. Germant: Ernst, 1997 Germany: Sebastian Kehl, Sebastian Deisler Mali: Mahamadou Diarra, Seydou Keita Spain: Iker Casillas, Xavi. USA: Califf, Twellman Austria: Martin Stranzl. Brazil: Geovanni(later Barcelona), Ronaldinho Argentina: Gabriel Milito 1999 USA: Donovan, Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Bobby Convey, Beckerman. Ghana: Essien Spain : Pepe Reina, Arteta, Brazil: Adriano(WC 2006), Germany: Thomas Hitzlsperger, Hinkel 2001 Croatia: Niko Kranjčar Brazil: Diego USA: Eddie Johnson Spain: Iniesta, F.Torres. Argentina: Tevez, Mascherano, Zabaleta, Maxi Lopez. 2003 Mexico: Jonathan Orozco Colombia: Cristián Zapata, Freddy Guarin. Argebtina: Gago, Garay. Costa Riuca: Keylor Navas. Nigeria: John Obi Mikel Portugal: Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso. Cameroon: Alexandre Song, Stéphane Mbia. USA: Freddy Adu, Spector. Spain: David Silva, Cesu Fàbregas, Javi Garcia. 2005 Costa Rica: Celso Borges USA: Jozy Altidore, Omar Gonzalez, Neven Subotić. Holland: Krul. Mexico: Giovani dos Santos, Carkos Vela. Turkey: Nuri Sahin Brazil: Marcelo, Renato Augusto, 2007 Braqzil: Rafael(Man Utd), Fabio (Man utd), Alex Teixeira Engald: Welbeck Spoaiun: Nacho, De Gea, Bojan. France: Sakho, M'Vila. Belgium: Ed Hazard, Christian Benteke. Colombia: James Germany: Kroos, 2009 Germany: Shkodran Mustafi, Ter Stegen, Mario Gotze, Brazil: Neymar, Casemiro, Philippe Coutinho, Costa Rica: Joel Campbell Spain: Koke, Iker Munian, Morata, Isco, Sergi Roberto, USA: Juan Agudelo Italy: Stephan El Shaarawy 2011: England: Sterling Holland: Memphis Depay