Greatest Football stories

[Don Sharma]

We shall run a series of great footballing stories of yesteryears in this thread. To kick it off we have the finals of the 1954 world cup between one of the all time best teams - the Magyars of 1950s and the ever resolute Germans. Going into the match, Hungary never lost a match in four years and they had set an unbeaten run of 32 matches which stood unmatched until the Spanish broke it early this year. Their Elo rating of 2166 remains the highest ever awarded. Miracle of Bern

A very confident Hungarian side ran on the pitch in Berne for the 1954 World Cup final in Berne, Switzerland: they had not lost a match in four years, and in the four previous matches to reach the final had scored a staggering 25 goals, among them, an 8-3 victory against the other finalists, West Germany, in the first round of the tournament. In that match the Germans, under the legendary coach Sepp Herberger, had nevertheless lined almost only subsitute, not wanting to face Brazil in the quarterfinals, and also played a harsh match to injure the biggest Hungarians stars, notably Ferenc Puskas, who was unable to play until the final. The Uruguayans in the semifinal had also shown that the mighty Hungarians could be shaken by strong fight and a solid defense, so the Germans went into the final as confident underdogs, willing to play their chance, after defeating Yugoslavia 2-0 in the quarterfinals, and destroying their Austrian brethren 6-1 in the semifinal. Among the German stars were the captain Fritz Walter, the legenderay Nüremberg striker Max Morlock, and the striker Helmuth Rahn, who was only called up by Sepp Herberger after the tournament had started. The Hungarians decided to line up a not wholly recovered Ferenc Puskas for the final, which demanded some changes in a team that until then had been quite solid, but may have proven fatal seen in hindsight against a very solid German team. However, none of this seemed to matter as the match (which was the first World Cup final that was transmitted live on TV) started: within eight minutes Hungary was up 2-0 on goals by Ference Puskas and Zoltán Czibor, the second goal being a huge mistake by the German goalkeeper Toni Turek. The Hungarian goals just seemed to make the Germans better though. Within ten minutes Max Morlock and Helmuth Rahn had brought balance to the match, and the Germans dominated the rest of the first half, and things were looking good for the Germans, although nobody really thought that the Hungarians could lose! Hungary did attack feverishly in the second half, but the Germans defended heroically, and in particular Toni Turek seemed impenetrable on the goal. Only six minutes before the end of the match Helmuth Rahn received a return ball at the edge of the German area, made one quick move around a Hungarian defender and shot hard and flat towards the lower right goal-corner. The German commentators screams of “TOOOOOR!†are legendary among commentators. This remains one of the most legendary goals in German history, as it gave the West Germans the impossible victory against Hungary. The victory meant a lot for Germans, who had been stygmatised after WWII (they had not even been allowed to participate in the 1950 World Cup), but this gave them something to be proud of, and came to symbolize the recovery of a nation. It was recreated in a 2003 German movie with huge succes, “Das Wunder von Bern†(“The Miracle of Bernâ€). Germany has since remained one of the mightiest football nations in the world. The situation was completely different for the Hungarians. The Hungary team of 1954 is arguably one of the best teams in the history of football, and surely the best team never to become world champion. Many of the players from the team had many excuses after the match, from a bad referee (who had disallowed a Puskas-goal for off-side in the dying second of the match), to drugs and black magic. But truth is that on the day, the German fighting spirit was the best, something that is surely more important to win a World Championship. The Hungarian “Dream Team†was soon to be dissolved because of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, when most of the players went into exile, such as Kocsis, Puskas, Czibor. Hungarian football, that gave the world such a team, never really recovered from these events.

[Don Sharma]

Match of the century

West Germany entered the 1970 World Cup in Italy with a strong team of quite experienced players. Among them was Franz Beckenbauer, who only 25 years old already was one of the most experienced and established players in international football. The team was still captained by the legendary Uwe Seeler, who was playing his last World Cup, while the Bayern Munich striker Gerd Müller had seemed unstoppable, scoring seven goals in the first three matches, which the Germans won against Peru, Bulgaria and Morocco. In the quartefinals West Germany had played England, in a repeat of the 1966 final. This time though, the Germans were better prepared against an English team that was arguably better than it had been in 1966, but was apparently not well-adapted to the intense Mexican atmosphere. Also, Coach Alf Ramsey made obvious tactical changes when England could have carried the match away. In the end, West Germany won 3-2 after extra time, on a Gerd Müller goal. This was only the second time England lost to West Germany, and as has happened so much since, the English swam over in references to the war. Italy had not had good results for the World Cup for many years, but under coach Feruccio Valccareggi had built up a very strong team playing the reputed “Catenaccio†style, around a highly organised and very strong defense. The midfield led by AC Milan’s Gianni Rivera (who and 1969 had won the “Balon d’or†as best player of the year), and with powerful strikers, notably Gigi Riva from Cagliari (who is still the most scoring player in the history of the Italian national team). In 1968 Italy had won the European championship and was surely one of the best teams of the world at the time. However, the Italians were not popular for their “catennaccio†style after their first round matches where they tied 0-0 with Uruguay and Israel, and defeated Sweden 1-0. In the quarterfinals they had nevertheless shown their attacking power against the hosts of Mexico, and won 4-1, and were now ready to the semifinal, where the winner would play the winner between Brazil and Uruguay. The match in from of a full Azteca Stadium started well for the Italians: only eight minutes into the match the Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna got a return ball at the edge of the German area and resolutely shot and scored. After this, Italy pulled back around its strong defense, and while the Germans had the ball the most, they were unable to open up the defense. It was frustrating for the many spectators as well as for the German players, to see the German team in possession and attacking, but unable to score. In particular Franz Beckenbauer was playing a strong match, and in the second half he dislocated his shoulder in a fearless tackle. However, unwilling to be substituted, the Bayern Munich star continued playing with a bandaged shoulder for the remainder of the match for what must have been a very painful sacrifice. In the 90th minute of the match, the frantic German attacks finally paid off when the AC Milan defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (â€Volkswagenâ€) suddenly found himself alone in front of the Italian goal on a cross by Jurgen Grabowski, and just had to put the foot on the ball, that went straight into the net. It was one of the few mistakes that the well-organized Italian defense had made. West Germany had equalized and now seemed to have everything going for them as the match went into extra time. Only four minutes later, Gerd Müller took advantage of a misunderstanding between the goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi and the defender Fabrizio Pelotti; when either decide to grab the ball, Gerd Müller quickly got in between them and squeezed the ball into goal for a German lead. With the match completely turned on its head, it was now Italy’s turn to start attacking against the partly amputated German defense, and only four minutes later the Inter defender Tarcisio Burgnich scored after receiving a bounced off ball from a German defender. Another defensive mistake had equalized it for the Italians, who nevertheless continued attacking after the goal. At the end of the first half of the extra time, Gigi Riva was given too much space at the edge of the German area, and in spite of it not being a very hard shot, it was well-placed towards the far corner of the goal, and Sepp Maier had no chance. The match had in fifteen minutes turned around twice! Again it was West Germany’s time to attack as the teams went into the last fifteen minutes of the match, and after only a few minutes Gerd Müller scored to 3-3 on a header. But the Italians, immediately when putting the ball into play, scored again, without the Germans even touching the ball: Boninsegna crossed the ball to a Gianni Rivera and the Milan striker made no mistake when carefully placing the ball perfectly behind Sepp Maier! Anything seemed possible in this crazy semifinal, but it was the last goal of the extraordinary drama which Italy won 4-3 and put them in the World Cup final against Brazil. An anecdote of this match tells that the guards at a prison near Acapulco, absorbed in the dramatic match on TV, didn’t notice the escape of 23 prisoners… Surely one of the greatest World Cup dramas! Match Stats: * 17th June 1970, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City * Attendance: 102,000 * Referee: Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado (Peru) West Germany-Italy 3-4 (After extra time) Goals: 0-1 Boninsegna (8), 1-1 Schnellinger (90), 2-1 G. Muller (94), 2-2 Burgnich (98), 2-3 Riva (104), 3-3 G. Muller (110), 3-4 Rivera (111)

I have watched the highlights of this match. Truly remarkable!

[Shane]

I like this Thread, keep it coming Sridev, A Prelude to WC 2010. Nice.

[Don Sharma]

This a bit long but a must read for football fanatics The forgotten story of … Sampdoria's only scudetto

A domestic league has surely never been as superior as Serie A in the late 80s and early 90s. It was so seductively chic and suffused with gravitas that the world's best players were drawn to Italy like VIPs to the coolest afterparty. Goals may have been at a premium but the entertainment was of a subtler kind. Serie A wowed its disciples with an intimidatingly high technical and tactical quality. The whole business – and it was business, not pleasure – was so otherworldly, and conducted with such operatic intensity, that you felt it should have been the subject of one of Grandpa's bedtime stories rather than available through a BSB Squarial. It is in this context that we must understand Sampdoria's first and only scudetto in 1990-91, one of football's great modern fairytales. It was a gloriously improbable triumph dripping with enough charm and romance to melt the hardest heart; as incongruous as a love story in a gangster movie, only in a good way. They were the feelgood hit of the spring. Sampdoria were far from greenhorns, but they had never before finished above fourth in Serie A. That should not suggest that their triumph was anything but richly deserved. They lost only three games, they were the top scorers and, by the time the title was won, they had conceded only five goals in 16 away games. They beat both Milan clubs and the champions, Napoli, home and away as well as taking a win and a draw off Juventus. The authoritative European Football Yearbook noted that their triumph "brooked no argument. [They] were far and away the classiest act in the league." And the sassiest. Sampdoria's triumph was characterised by a rich and infectious sense of fun. Their team spirit was not, as Steve Archibald said, an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory: it was in evidence throughout the season as they showed that no challenge should be faced without a little charm and a lot of style. Perhaps the acid test of how likeable they were is that, when they celebrated the title by bleaching their hair en masse for the final game, it didn't seem like the naffest thing ever. They didn't take themselves remotely seriously, cheerily prancing around like something out of the 19th century or on stage in full ****-rock garb miming Europe's The Final Countdown. "[sampdoria's] success was built on an unbreakable squad unity," wrote John Foot in Calcio: A History of Italian Football. "Seven of the championship team used to hang out together, calling themselves the Seven Dwarves." At the start of the season, they were certainly dwarfed by their contemporaries. Sampdoria had four players in Italy's World Cup squad the previous summer but they couldn't wait to say ciao to the tournament. Gianluca Pagliuca and Roberto Mancini did not touch or kick a ball, Pietro Vierchowod started only the third-place play-off and Gianluca Vialli had an unmitigated shocker. He would redeem himself wonderfully, scoring 19 goals in 26 games, including strikingly nerveless penalties to give Sampdoria the lead in the second half of home matches against Internazionale, Juve and Milan. Only Vialli and Mancini scored more than five league goals but then an unlikely triumph needs its unlikely heroes. The left midfielder Beppe Dossena, a 33-year-old journeyman, was the only man to play every league game and scored the opening goal in the epic victory at Inter in May, Giovanni Invernizzi scored a key goal at Torino in the run-in; Marco Branca, the understudy for Vialli and Mancini, scored the only goal in consecutive wins to arrest a mid-season slide; the unobtrusive right-back Moreno Mannini lashed in a glorious volley to ignite the title party against Lecce; and Fausto Pari diligently carried water so that Vialli and Mancini could walk on it. They were not alone in that. A pair of little-known 24-year-olds, the goalkeeper Pagliuca, and the jet-heeled winger Attilio Lombardo, had probably the best seasons of their careers, and were both rewarded with a first cap for the Azzurri, while the teak-tough and absurdly fast Vierchowod, who would play on in Serie A past his 41st birthday, marshalled the defence imperiously. For all that, the major focus was inevitably on Sampdoria's terrible twins, whose always excellent partnership reached its apogee. They complemented each other perfectly: Vialli was ruthless, powerful and irrepressible while the impish genius that was Mancini, always peculiarly underrated in this country, made mischief in the hole behind him. Having such deadly weapons was central to Sampdoria's highly successful counter-attacking strategy. It would be unfair to label them as disciples of catenaccio but equally they knew the value of keeping their sheets clean. In this paper, David Lacey described them as "stealthy, guarded", while the description of Rudi Fuchs, a prominent Dutch art critic, to describe Italian football in general fits this Sampdoria side snugly: "The Italians welcome and lull you and seduce you into their soft embrace, and score a goal like the thrust of a dagger." The blood of opponents was almost exclusively on Italian hands: Sampdoria achieved their triumph with relatively minimal contributions from overseas players. At a time when the three permitted foreigners at each club lorded over the league – Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Matthäus, Brehme, Klinsmann, Maradona, Careca, Caniggia, Sosa, Skuhravy, Aguilera, Völler, Berthold, Simeone, Lacatus, Hässler, Aldair, Branco, Taffarel, Martín Vázquez, Brolin, Francescoli, Aleinikov, Kubik, Detari, Alemao, Strömberg – Sampdoria's triumvirate of Srecko Katanec, Toninho Cerezo and Alexei Mikhailichenko started only three of the 34 league games together. That was a consequence of the 36-year-old Cerezo's injuries and Mikhailichenko drifting out of the starting XI in the second half of the season. He played more than enough to get a winner's medal, however, the second of a staggering seven in a row with Dynamo Kyiv, Sampdoria and Rangers. There was significant foreign influence in their manager, the much-travelled Serb, Vujadin Boskov, who had played for the club in the early 60s. He had guided Sampdoria to the Coppa Italia in 1988 and 1989 and also the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990 but that's what they were: a cup team. Having finished fifth in the previous two seasons, there was no real sense that they were ready for a sustained title challenge. Not least because the opposition was truly formidable. Diego Maradona's Napoli were the champions; Arrigo Sacchi's Milan were the European champions; Giovanni Trapattoni's Internazionale, who in 1988-89 had won the league by 11 points (when it was two points for a win), had the three best players of the world champions, West Germany, in Andy Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann. And Juventus, under their new manager, Gigi Maifredi, had spent a grotesque amount of money on Roberto Baggio, Thomas Hässler and Julio Cesar. Sampdoria would infiltrate this established four and, by coincidence, the fixture computer produced the sort of fascinating double headers that, these days, would explode the Sky Sports hypeometer. (Back then, the BSB coverage of Serie A, which included Andy Gray and even Gary Lineker, was happily restrained.) Both Milan-Sampdoria fixtures were played on the same day as Juventus-Inter; both Sampdoria-Inter fixtures were played on the same day as Juventus-Milan; and both Sampdoria-Napoli fixtures were played on the same day as the Milan derby. Juventus would eventually fall away disastrously but were omnipresent in the top four until April, while Napoli, probably distracted by the slow demise of Maradona, were a shambles for the most part. Sampdoria, without the injured Vialli at the start of the season, struggled for goals with only three in the first five games. But in the seventh and final match without Vialli, in late October, they put down a marker by winning 1–0 at Milan, surmounting an atrocious pitch with some impromptu keepy-uppy that allowed Cerezo to rifle a volley through the Milan goalkeeper, Andrea Pazzagli. Sampdoria's victory put them top of Serie A for the first time since 1982. Three weeks later came an extraordinary 4–1 victory at Napoli. Sampdoria were outplayed to a barely fathomable degree, and went a goal down, but won at a canter through two hideous defensive mistakes and then, in the second half, a pair of volleys from Vialli and Mancini that were outrageous in their conception and perfect in their technical execution. That was the second of four straight wins in which 13 goals were scored, yet after the feast came the famine: Samp lost for the first time the following week, 2–1 at home in the derby against Genoa after a Branco special and would win only one of the next eight games. Crucially, that victory came at home to Inter in the first of two storming contests between the sides. Vialli gave Sampdoria the lead after 25 seconds but then Mikhailichenko was sent off after being suckered into an elbow by Giuseppe Bergomi. Sampdoria were left hanging on, particularly when Nicola Berti equalised just after half-time. Then Aldo Serena, one of the better headers of a ball in Italian football history, missed by this much with a downward header from Matthäus's undefendable cross. It was arguably the tipping point of the season: instead of losing and going four points behind Inter, as they surely would have done had Serena scored, Sampdoria stole a 3–1 victory with two late goals. Vialli's superb penalty was followed by an impromptu, carpe-diem surge from Vierchowod that led to Mancini's third. It was a stirring victory but one that could not alter the perception that Sampdoria were living by the seat of their pants. In the next two games they had those pants pulled down, first by Torino – during which Pagliuca lost the plot – and then Lecce. Back-to-back defeats put Sampdoria down to fifth and engendered the widespread perception that they would fall away. This wasn't merely born of a patronising attitude to smaller clubs: Sampdoria had form – or rather lack of it – in this area. Having been within striking distance of the leaders in the second half of each of the previous two seasons, they won, respectively, three of the last 14 and four of the last 11. A home draw with Lazio restored a semblance of order – and then they went on a run of nine wins and a draw from 10 games. That included a 1–0 win over Juventus, the beginning of the end of Juve's title challenge, Mancini's 92nd-minute winner against Parma, and a 2–0 dismantling of Milan that was probably Samp's best performance of the season. Mancini made Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini look like novices to win a penalty, tucked away supremely by Vialli, and then scored an elegant and quick-witted second on the counter. A second, more authentic 4–1 beating of Napoli, a game best remembered for being Diego Maradona's last in Serie A, put Sampdoria three points clear, an advantage they still held six weeks later when they visited second-placed Internazionale with four games to go. The equation was simple: Inter needed to win, Sampdoria not to lose. What unfolded was simply epic. Sampdoria won 2–0 but could feasibly have lost 10–4. The commentator Martin Tyler, not a man given to hyperbole, had gone completely by the end of game, announcing that "In years to come, people will be saying, 'I was here. I was at that game' … Grown men, hardened football-watchers, are scarcely able to turn their eyes to this." Compared to some Italian commentators, he was pretty restrained. It is often said, with artistic licence, that a match has a gladiatorial feel from the very first whistle, but this truly did: Sampdoria idly took the kick-off, whereupon they were swarmed and dispossessed by a rabid Inter. For the first hour Inter absolutely slaughtered Sampdoria – in an unrelenting 10-minute spell after half-time you could almost hear Sampdoria's players gulping for air – but then Samp scored on the break and from thereon in, though still vulnerable defensively, they counter-attacked with the menace of a cobra whose tail has just been molested. The game provided the most magnificent sensory overload. It had everything. A missed penalty, red cards for Bergomi and Mancini for a nothing spat at the end of the first half (after which, as the two men trudged off putting the world to rights, Bergomi was hit by missiles aimed at Mancini by his own fans), a controversially disallowed goal by Klinsmann, millions of missed Inter chances; Lombardo hitting the post and Vialli having a shot cleared off the line in the same attack. And, of course, the goals. The first was pinged in from 20 yards by Dossena of all people; the second came from Vialli, who muscled Ricardo Ferri and coolly, cockily rounded Walter Zenga to seal the game and, effectively, the title. Overall, this was the definitive smash-and-grab victory. Inter had 24 shots to Samp's six. They had 13 corners to Samp's one. The Inter keeper Zenga didn't make a single save; Pagliuca made 14, including, unthinkably, a penalty from Matthäus. He had the game of his life. Inter didn't go quietly, their fans bombarding Pagliuca with missiles and flares. But when the dust and the smoke settled, Samp had all but clinched the title. They needed three points from three games to finish the job. Invernizzi got them one in a tricky away fixture at Torino. Then, in their final home game, they blew Lecce away with three brilliant goals in the first half-hour from Cerezo, Mannini and the inevitable Vialli, prompting a joyous party that would go on for a long, long time. As is so often the case, what appeared to be a beginning was in fact nearer an ending. Sampdoria struggled with the pressure of being champions and were in the relegation zone the following December before eventually finishing sixth. They reached the European Cup final against Barcelona, but, cruelly, Vialli missed three good chances before Ronald Koeman put them to sleep in extra-time. Vialli left that summer, joining Juventus for a world-record fee of £12m. Boskov went too, to Roma, and Cerezo and Pari were also on their way. The decline had begun and Sampdoria were even relegated in 1999. They are back where they belong now, as a decent, generally upper mid-table side in Serie A. For one season only, however, they were so much more.

[Don Sharma]

Football's Hard men 1. Billy Whitehurst Widely regarded as one of the most brutal players of the 80’s and early 90’s Whitehurst was named by both Neil Ruddock and Vinnie Jones as the hardest man they had ever played against. Indeed it was also claimed that Whitehurst had beaten up Jones whilst team-mates at Sheffield United. After a disappointing spell in his career Whitehurst joined Oxford where he was reported to have been supplementing his football earnings by competing in bare knuckle fights with local gypsies. 2. Andoni Goikoetxea The ‘Butcher of Bilbao’ is probably best remembered for his infamous tackle from behind on Diego Maradona that ruptured the Argentines ankle ligaments. Instead of showing his remorse and wishing Maradona a speedy recovery Goikoetxea ordered a special glass case to be made for his living room. Inside it and pride of place, a single football boot can be found …………. The same one he used to destroy Maradona’s ankle! 3. Dave Mackay In the words of George Best who incidentally had been kicked by almost every would-be hard man of his era; “Mackay was unquestionably the hardest man I ever played against and certainly the bravest.†4. Duncan Ferguson No stranger to controversy and probably clocking up suspensions lasting longer than the average ice age, ‘Big Dunc’ was looked upon by many centre backs as the toughest opponent they had ever faced. Ferguson was even once prosecuted for his aggression on the field when he was jailed in 1995 for head butting Raith’s John McStay. Off the field Ferguson was seemingly just as tough and in 2001 he confronted two intruders in his home. The second man managed to flee empty handed but the unfortunate first man who was collared by Ferguson endured a relaxing 3 night stay in the local infirmary! 5. Ron Harris Looked upon as the enforcer of a very talented Chelsea side in the 60’s and 70’s, Harris earned him self the rather dubious nickname of ‘chopper’. In an era strewn with hard men such as Bremner, Tommy Smith and Norman Hunter, ‘Chopper’ Harris stood tall and never shied away from pain, especially as he was usually inflicting it on yet another would-be attacker. 6. Edmundo Known for his fiery temper, this barmy Brazilian earned himself the nickname of ‘The Animal’. Such was Emerson’s unpredictability that after one particular innocuous challenge by him he was yellow carded. He then caught sight of the remonstrating opposition and proceeded to walk towards the Sau Paulo bench before physically attacking 3 of their substitutes. He slapped the first one, Knocked out the second and kicked the third in the groin. Back in the changing rooms and just for good measure Emerson then gave his team mate Romario a tremendous right hook for questioning his sanity. 7. Chic Charnley The record holder for red cards in British senior football. Chic was once attacked in a Glasgow park by two men with samurai swords, after a brief exchange of words the attackers fled. 8. Leonel Sanchez Sanchez earned his place after playing the lead role in the ‘battle of Santiago’, widely regarded as one of the dirtiest matches in the history of the world cup. During Chile’s 1962 group 2 clash with Italy the bad feeling was so intense that the first foul occurred after 12 seconds and the first sending off after just 12 minutes! The English referee Ken Aston had already overlooked one outrageous punch by Sanchez on Italian Mario David when Sanchez inexplicably turned to Italian captain Humberto Maschio and promptly knocked him out in one punch. 9. Mick Harford Harford was rumored to be the only player at Wimbledon who was never put through the infamous ‘crazy gang’ initiation. Despite it being compulsory for any new Wimbledon player, no one ever plucked up the courage to try and put Harford through it which was probably due to his no nonsense reputation. Harford was truly as hard as nails. 10. Roy Keane The recipient of no less than 13 red cards in his career, former amateur boxer Keane was probably one of the hardest players in the modern era. After one particularly nasty knee high challenge that debatably ended Alf Inge Haalands career, Keane thought it best to bring out a book to set the record straight. In a paragraph that obviously stated his remorse for Haalands decline, Keane said; “I’d waited long enough. I ****ing hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you ****. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuriesâ€

[Jadoo]

You forgot one of the best footballers ever to grace the EPL who was also a hard man - ERIC CANTONA. Also Vinnie Jones was some nasty work as well.

[Don Sharma]

You forgot one of the best footballers ever to grace the EPL who was also a hard man - ERIC CANTONA. Also Vinnie Jones was some nasty work as well.

Claudio Gentile > Eric Cantona & Vinnie Jones. But he didn't make the cut. That's not my list btw, it was lifted from one of the websites.

[Don Sharma]

Weird football stories Player gets arrested after game for on-pitch theft! It was 1991 and the derby between Uruguay's two biggest teams was taking place: Penarol-Nacional. The incident involved Panamean international Dely Valdez (now in PSG, France) and Penarol defender Goncalves. Valdez was Nacional's striker and he was known for wearing gold chains and other jewelry on the pitch. Both players were struggling as a corner kick was about to take place for Nacional, Goncalves ripped off one of Valdez's gold-chains and hid it in his sock. Nobody in the stadium saw it but the TV cameras caught the moment, and after the game Valdez and the police were waiting for Goncalvez outside the dressing rooms. Goncalvez was arrested but the charges were later dropped as he had returned the chain. Why did he do it? Goncalvez reply is clear and simple:"I don't know what I was thinking" This derby became known simply as the "golden-chain derby" Dely Valdes Punched For Not Scoring! An international in 1967 between Sweden and Norway. Sweden were 3-1 up with 5 minutes to go. There sriker Heinrickson was clean through on goal with metres of space. Instead of scoring, he cheekily dribbled the ball to the corner flag. The furious Norwejien defender charged at him, landing a fist right in his face. Our Hero walked to the changing room without even looking at the ref!! The sweden attacker had to have stiches and Sweden had made both substitutions so it was 10 verses 10!!! Look No shorts!

I am a coach for one of the oldest and most prestigious soccer clubs in Dallas, Texas. In a state cup game last year one of my players scored the go ahead goal in over-time during our state cup match with her shorts around her knees. My outside midfielder was one of the fastest girls in state and was being covered in the final by one of the slowest girls in the state. The girl knew once the ball was sent through the middle of the 18 yd. box that she was beaten and that she was beaten bad... She reached out her arm and pulled my players shorts down to her knees, but did not break her stride. The referee gave advantage and she pushed the ball past the keeper into the far post side. My player did not realize the extent to which she was exposed until she turned around and started running towards her team-mates and tripped over her own shorts. We won our regional and went on to national.

:woot: Angry Ice Cream Thrower! At a recent match in Cork Ireland,the away team scored a late equaliser to deprive the home team of a much needed 3 points. The goalie who conceeded the goal was so aggrieved at the ref`s decision not to award a free out that he nicked a cornetto of a kid standing by the goal and threw it at the referee. When the ref looked around to find the culprit,he saw the kid and his mate laughing hysterically and proceeded to send the two kids out of the field and,for some strange reason, book the striker who`d just scored. Breaking The Language Barrier? A number of years ago, Scotland were on international duty in Bulgaria. It was an important game and both TV and radio covered the event. On Radio Scotland, the job fell to Bob Crampsey with erstwhile football expert Iain Archer in tow. Bulgarian names, however, were not Bob's forte, and so he relied on Archer's tranalation. So followed this classic altercation; C: (off air) What's the no.4 called? A: (") F**k Knows! C: And so F**knose taking the ball on now...... Lost in the mist A couple of years ago there was a story in the local paper about a Cambridgeshire league match that was played one winter in typically murky fenland conditions. After about 10 minutes, the fog came down so thickly that visibilty was reduced to about half the length of the pitch, so the referee decided to abandon the game. It was only after the players had been enjoying the warmth of the changing rooms for about 20 minutes that a player on one of the teams noticed that their goalkeeper had not come in. When they went out to look for him they discovered him still faithfully guarding his goal, oblivious to the fact that the match had been abandoned. Apparently, he thought his team had been playing particularly well and had managed to keep the play at the other end of the pitch... lulz...

[Jadoo]

:hysterical::hysterical: Pucnhed For Not Scoring One was genius:hysterical:

[Don Sharma]

Weirdest football superstitions From the commonplace tendency of players to touch the ground and cross their heart as they come onto the pitch (Thierry Henry), to the coach who takes players' star signs into consideration before selecting his team (Raymond Domenech); from the player who prepares for matches by reading Dostoevsky on the loo (Gennaro Gattuso), to those players that harbour the frankly ridiculous belief that no harm can come to them because they wear their underwear inside out (Adrian Mutu) – football is full of them. 1. Johan Cruyff The Dutch legend used to slap his goalkeeper Gert Bals in the stomach while he was at Ajax, and then spit his chewing gum into the opposition's half before kick-off. When Cruyff once forgot his gum, in the European Cup final of 1969, Ajax lost to Milan 4-1. Looking back, Cruyff advised managers to ensure that their players are not influenced by superstition. "If it does influence them," he cautioned, "you can't play them in the next match." 2. France in the 1998 World Cup Fabien Barthez's body was treated as a primitive icon, touched for good luck. The French rituals at the World Cup included always occupying the same seats on the team bus, listening to Gloria Gaynor's 1970s hit "I Will Survive" in the changing-room, and the rounded off by defender Laurent Blanc kissing keeper Fabien Barthez's head before kick-off. France won the World Cup. 3. Pelé The Brazil legend once dispatched a friend to track down a fan to whom Pele had given one of his playing shirts with orders to retrieve it at all costs, after suffering a dip in form. A week later the friend handed Pelé his shirt back, and the striker's form immediately returned. His friend decided not to tell him that the search had been futile and he had simply given him back the same shirt he had worn in the previous match. 4. Bobby Moore England's captain of the 1960s and 1970s insisted on being the last person into the changing-room to put on his shorts before kick-off. In 1981 Desmond Morris wrote: "Moore's team-mate Martin Peters was fascinated by the way he stood around holding the shorts, waiting for everyone else to finish dressing." Peters would wait until Moore had put on his shorts, before taking off his own. Moore would respond by taking off his shorts, and waiting until Peters had put his back on. Kevin Keegan, would put his shirt on last, while Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore and Paul Ince would be last out of the dressing room. Kolo Toure, meanwhile, earned himself a yellow card in a Champions League tie against Roma after stubbornly refusing to leave the dressing room before William Gallas, who was receiving treatment for an injury. 5. Urinating Sergio Goycochea, the former Argentina goalkeeper. had a legendary routine for facing penalties – and until the final of Italia '90, it was a remarkably successful one – which involved him urinating on the pitch. “By the rules of the game,†he said “until a match finishes you cannot leave the field of play. And if you have any natural human urges, you have to go on the field. So that is what happened in the 1990 World Cup quarter final against Yugoslavia. I went and we won. There was another shoot out in the semi final against Italy so I went again and we won again. It was my lucky charm and I went before every shoot out. I was very subtle, nobody complained.†6. Gary Neville The Manchester United defender has so many superstitions that he has had to try and banish some of them as they were becoming inhibiting. As well as not changing his boots if he is on a winning run, Neville will wear the same aftershave if the results are going his way. "I've got lots of superstitions," Neville once said. "I try to cut them down as I have too many. I wear the same belts, same shoes, same aftershave – I've worn the same aftershave all season." 7. Gary Lineker The former England striker never took a shot at goal during his match warm ups because he didn't want to waste a goal. Then, if he wouldn't manage to score in the first half he would change his shirt. If the bad run extended, and he was failing to score, he would resort to getting a haircut. 8. David Beckham Image has always been fundamental for Beckham, so it should come as no surprise that he has an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which manifests itself in making sure that certain items are arranged just so. Many might uncharitably suggest that his hair is the most obvious, but in fact his biggest obsession is ensuring that all of the items in his fridge are arranged just so. And if he has just three cans of Pepsi, he will throw one away so that there is an even number. 9. Underwear Adrian Mutu employed his own foolproof method of evading any curse placed upon him. He insisted curses could never touch him because he wore his underwear inside out. Former Colombia shot-stopper Rene Higuita preferred the blue ones. "In the late 1980s, Atletico Nacional just couldn't beat (Colombian rivals) Millonarios," Higuita. "So around that time (former Colombia international defender) Carlos Perea arrived and together we went to see a fortune-teller. She told us that we had been cursed and sent us a belt and blue underpants for all the players. It worked like a dream: we won everything and even claimed the Copa Libertadores. Since then I've always worn them." 10. Midlands Portland Cement In October last year, the players for Zimbabwe's Midlands Portland Cement side were ordered into the crocodile-infested Zambezi by their coach for a spot of ritual cleansing, intended to banish bad spirits. Seventeen went in; 16 came out. And they lost their next match. 11. Stuart Pearce When Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce began the 2006 season rather poorly, his seven-year-old daughter, Chelsea, was quick to offer her small stuffed horse Beanie for support. Beanie joined the man known as 'Psycho' in the technical area, watching a 2-0 win over West Ham: "It's difficult explaining to a seven-year-old that this is the Premiership and I'm known as 'Psycho'. I had to put all that to one side and be the family man." Beanie kept his place til a 4-0 loss to Wigan. 12. Germany's Mario Gomez would never sing the national anthem before matches, and it is not because he does not know the words. This particular ritual has its roots in a Germany U-15 encounter, during which Gomez found the net after abstaining from the anthem. Those who witnessed his displays at UEFA EURO 2008 may question the effectiveness of this routine, though it is not Gomez's only quirk. Indeed, the Stuttgart striker will only use the far-left urinal to relieve himself before matches. 13. John Terry "I'm extremely superstitious," said the player himself. "I always sit in the same seat on the team bus, I always wrap tape round my socks three times, I listen to the same CD on the way to the stadium and I always park in the same spot before every game at Stamford Bridge." As if that were not enough to keep the Blues stalwart busy before a match, Terry also admits to having a lucky pair of shinpads, having lost his previous pair during a UEFA Champions League clash at Barcelona's Camp Nou in 2005. "I'd been using those shinpads for so long that I thought ‘that's it, it's all over'. But Lamps (Frank Lampard) gave me some of his and fortunately we won [our next game, the Carling Cup final against Liverpool] and I've used them ever since. Now they're my lucky charm." 14. Gennaro Gattuso His rituals during the 2006 FIFA World Cup took on extreme proportions, though that particular story certainly ended well for the Azzurri. "Every day I wore the same sweater than I'd worn the first day [of the competition]. I was sweating buckets and in a terrible mood because I couldn't bring myself to take it off." "I was obsessed by superstitions. For example, before the Czech Republic match (in the group phase) I packed all my bags ready to go home," added Gattuso, who subsequently found himself doing the same thing before each and every match. Even more curiously, perhaps, was the tough-tackling midfield man's custom of reading a few pages of the works of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky prior to each game. 15. Rio Ferdinand He pours water down his face in the tunnel before he enters the field and he jumps over every white line every time he steps on the ptich area.

[24x7online]

thanks for nice collection

[Don Sharma]

thanks for nice collection

You are welcome, well, if you're banned yet:icflove:

[Rajma Chawal]

It's not a story but a legendary chant. When Arsenal were getting thrashed by Man Utd at Old Trafford, the Arsenal fans started chanting to the United faithful "We'll race you back to London". Brilliant, will stay with me forever

[Sachinism]

^^ lulz :giggle:

[nadeem1414]

final will be very interested

[nadeem1414]

world cup was very interested

[nadeem1414]

now the teams which have been played so nice will be occesion

[nadeem1414]

what was a match last night

[nadeem1414]

all matches did excellent

[nadeem1414]

now watch final