George Best, in Omonia's jersey, in a charity game, held in 1987 in Cyprus. George Best. He was a magician on the pitch . He lit the world up with his looks and football
Sport. Football. pic: 19th October 1969. Manchester United and Northern Ireland,"superstar" George Best shows his skills to the " Blinkers" girls team (named after the George Best nightclub in Manchester). George Best is training the girls for a charity match.
FootballGeorge Best holds a bottle of champagne as he prepares for a party to celebrate the sale of his house in Cheshire, September 1972.
Even after 40 years, it never gets old! Today marks the 40th anniversary of the greatest goal scored by one of the top 3-4 players on earth. I can describe it as if it were yesterday and I'll never forget it as I attended the match. The game was played on a warm Wednesday evening, July 22, 1981 Spartan Stadium with an attendance of 11629. The match was between the San Jose Earthquakes and George Best's former team, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The Quakes lineup was as follows: GK Phil Parkes , right Back Mike Hunter, Left Back Jim McAlister , Stopper Paul Cahill , Defensive mid Joe Silveira Right midfielder Gary Etherington, Midfielder József Horváth Midfielder Mustava Hukic , Forward Tony Crescitelli left wing Slavko Licinar subs Mid Tim Schultz , Forward David Irving Forward Easy Perez. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers lineup was: GK Jan van Beveren D Ken Fogarty D-Jon Pot D- Thomas Rongen D- Colin Fowles M- Bernd Holzenbein M-F Branko Segota M -Keith Weller Weller subs Steve Ralbovsky , Bob Bolitho , Robert Meschbach and Gerd Mueller The goals were scored two by Best, one by Mustafa Hukic. Scoring for the Strikers were Ray Hudson and Bernd Holzenbein. Best woke up that morning and told his wife Angie that there would be no way he could play that night as he was hurt. When he looked around the dressing room and saw all the injured bodies he figured, "I'll try and go for as long as I can". I believe the Quakes were down 0-2 to the Ft Lauderdale Strikers on goals by Englishman Ray Hudson and West German Bernd Holzenbein. Bernd was the man who drew the pk against Holland in the 1974 WC final where W. Germany won. Then after the Strikers scored, Best was shown a yellow card for dissent. After the yellow, he then got mad, channeled his anger into a sort of revenge towards the ref and took off for his famous goal. He took a pass from Gary Etherington on the wing and turned on the magic. He out dribbled 7 defenders (one guy twice). Among them an Englishman Ken Fogarty and two Dutchmen Jon Pot and ,Thomas Rongen. He kept juking Fogarty a former roommate when he was with the Strikers I believe who told him to “shoot the ball already” and then put the ball in the back of the net behind Dutch GK Jan van Beveren. West German WC scoring great Gerd Mueller was on the bench injured, stood up and applauded and head coach Eckhard Krautzun got mad and told him in German to sit his ass down.... Then towards the end of regulation, forward Tony Crescitelli was brought down in the box and referee Ian Foote signaled for a pk, as the San Jose Mercury news mentioned, ‘Best beat a ‘horde of defenders and slotted the ball home for the equalizer’. Foote at first pointed to the pk spot but then gave Best the advantage goal. In those days of the NASL, they gave two sudden death overtime periods with a golden goal. In the first period, Best took a pass from David Irving and shot a ball from point blank range where GK Jan van Beveren was lucky to parry and Yugoslav Mustafa Hukić was there to pounce on the rebound to score the game winner and the Quakes won 3-2 in Overtime. Quakes Gk that night was Englishman Phil Parkes (who played for the Wolverhampton Wanderers) said of Best’s goal, “I was on the other side of the field and he even faked me off of my feet”! At that point, right after George scored, on the bench, West Germany’s all-time greatest forward Gerd Mueller got up and applauded. German coach Eckhard Krautzun was then told Mueller (in German I believe) to “shut up and sit down”! It was an incredible July evening in 1981 and Best literally won the game by himself. To this day, after the coming and going of the old NASL, the World Cup played in USA and the new MLS, I've yet seen a player like Best. I for one consider it a privilege that I got to witness such a genius play in San Jose. doubt there will ever be another player like him.
I posted the you tube video on Geroge's wife , Angie's Facebook wall as I'm friends with her and she stated this about the goal he scored....
Manchester United v Manchester City George Best of Manchester United (red shirt) is tackled by Manchester City defender George Heslop during their 1st Division match at Old Trafford in Manchester, 27th March 1968. What fantastic dribbler was GEORGE BEST!!! INSUPERABLE GEORGE.
GEORGE BEST DEFINITELY THE BEST FOOTBALLER EVER BORN ON THIS PLANET Football. 1970+s. Manchester United+s George Best in action for United against Chelsea watched by Ron "Chopper" Harris (left). George Best of Manchester United moves past Tottenham Hotspur defender Mike England during the First Division match at Old Trafford in Manchester, 22nd November 1969. Manchester United won 3-1.
NASL Action: San Jose Earthquakes midfielder George Best tries to turn past Los Angeles Aztecs midfielder Todd Saldana at Memorial Coliseum.