Soccer Fan Club

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, nicknamed “The Black Panther”, or “The Black Pearl”, is popularly known as Eusébio. He was born on 25th January, 1942 in Lourenço Marques (now its known as Maputo), Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique).

In 1961, Eusébio joined Benfica when he was just 19 years old. He played for Benfica for almost 15 years. And he is the club’s all time top scorer. In 1962 Benfica defeated Real Madrid CF (5-3) in European Cup’s Final. In that final Eusébio scored 2 superb goals. Not only that, in 1963, 1965 and 1968 Benfica finished as the runners-up.

In the year 1965, he was honored with the European Footballer of the Year award. He was the seven times Portuguese First Division’s top scorer (from 1964 to 1973). This is not all, there are many more achievement like,

1) 9th best footballer of the 20th century - A poll was conduted by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) and Eusébio was elected.

2) Golden Boot Award - In 1968 he received the Golden Boot Award as Europe’s leading scorer.

3) Golden Player of Portugal - On November 2003 in UEFA’s Jubilee celebration, he was selected as Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

Its true that a team is not complete without 11 players but Eusébio’s outstading performance not only helped Benfica to gain 11 league championships (1961, 1963-65, 1967-69, 1971-73, 1975) but also won 5 cups (1962, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1972).

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Cruyff) born in Amsterdam 1947, was known for his technical ability : his mesmeric ball skill, sudden accelerating the speed with the ball, changing direction with ball and his tactical insights make him one of the most gifted footballers of all time.

He joined Ajax when he was 10, but the first team debut came when he was 17 years old. And his goalscoring International debut at 19. He used to play in Centre Forward position. His trademark Jersey #14 and was often seen in the midfield and on the wings using his pace and touch to such effect.

It was his luck that he could not win a cup or tournament with his team but his name is written alongside with the best football players of his generation like Garrincha, Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer. He had good precense of mind and two magical feet. He used to play wide on the left or drift in through the middle and run rings round defenders. He took Holland through round after round famously beating Brazil in the last group match. Johan scored Holland’s second and decisive goal in a 2-0 victory. Even though Holland lost the final to West Germany it was the start of a new era in International football. As a Dutch international he played 48 matches, in which he scored 33 goals.
Clubs (played for):-
Ajax Amsterdam (1964-73)
FC Barcelona (1973-78)
Los Angeles Aztecs (1979)
Washington Diplomats (1980-81)
Lavante UD (1981)
Ajax Amsterdam (1981-83)
Feyenoord (1983-84)

Award Won:
1) 3 times winner of European Footballer of the Year award (1971, 1973 and 1974).
2) In 1999, European Player of the Century by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics).

Comments about cruyff:

- “Pelé was the best, but after him comes Johan. He is the best player Europe ever produced” — Franz Beckenbauer

- “Johan Cruyff was my idol. He is the best player I have seen in my lifetime” — Michel Platini

Click here to watch some classic moments:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2f4qBrl5WE&search=cruyff .

Diego Armando Maradona (nickname - Golden Boy) is also regarded as one of the greatest soccer player in the history. He was born in a poor family on October 30th 1960 in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires.

When he was just 10 years old his talent was recognised by a talent scout While he was playing for neibourhood club. In the halftime of the Argentinos Juniors matches, maradona entertained the audience playing and juggling with the ball. People liked to watch his skills and sometimes the audience used to request to the management of the field not to stop him.

At age 15 his football career started in Argentinos Juniors where he made his debut in the Argentina first division. He then joined Boca Juniors and led the Argentina youth team to win the world cup in 1979. He had also played for other clubs like Barcelona (Spain), Napoli (Italy), Sevilla (Spain) and Newell’s Old Boys (Rosario).

He was basically a left footer. Being one of the legendary masters of the ball, he had the ability to control it any time, even while running at full speed. At times it seemed almost impossible for the defenders to stop his advances without any foul activity. Intelligence and vision were his other obvious talents on the field. With the accuracy of his passes and his uncanny executions bypassing a couple of defenders he seemed a conjuror in his own style.

In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona asserted his dominance and was widely regarded as the best player of the tournament. He became the hero of Argentina’s triumph. He scored two goals in the quarter-final game against England which cemented his place as a legend. Action replay footage showed that the first goal was scored with the aid of one of his hands. He later claimed it was the “Hand of God” and described it as “A little of the hand of God, and a little of the head of Maradona,” implying that God was ultimately responsible for the goal, because the referee had missed the handball offense.

In the 1994 World Cup in USA, Maradona was tested after the match against Nigeria and was found to have used “ephedrine”, not permitted by the FIFA. He was suspended from playing soccer for more than a year as a punishment. Although Argentina came in as a strong contender in the 1994 World Cup, all their efforts went downhill and, without their captain, they were defeated soon.

on October 30, 1997, day of his 37th birthday, he retired from football with a gallery of good and bad memories. But he is regarded alongside Pele by the neutral football lovers as the greatest player of all times.

Edson Arantes Do Nascimento (better known as Pele) is well known as a king of Football. He was born on October 23, 1940, in Tres Coracoes, a small village in Brazil. He began playing football at the age of five. He first learned the soccer skills from his father, Dondinho. His father also used to be a good soccer player, whose career came to an early close due to a knee injury. He did not belong to a well off family, therefore he had to adopt to shoe polishing in order to maintain their livelihood.

At the age of eleven Pele was invited by Brazilian premier players, Waldemar de Brito to be part of de Brito’s amateur team, Clube Atletico Bauru. He was the first player who played World Cup at the age 17 years. He scored two goals in the final as Brazil beat Sweden 5–2 in Stockholm. He headed the Brazilian national team for three World Cup titles (’58,’62,’70). He was blessed with speed, great balance, tremendous vision, the ability to control the ball superbly, and the ability to shoot powerfully and accurately with either foot and with his head. His most spectacular signature move was probably the “bicycle kick”.

Did you know?
1) He scored 1281 goals in 1363 matches (all time world record).
2) In 2000, Pelé was honored with “Sportsman of the Century” award. He was the 2nd sportstar for this honor before that the legendary Muhammad Ali got the honors.
3) Pele hated his nickname, and was once suspended from school for 2 days for punching the classmate that coined it.

Since I started my blog, I was feeling that my blog missing something.

Missing something !!!

Ohhh…. really missing the bios of the futball legends. Who are they ? Yup that’s the point.

As far as I remember there are many but out of them I can get the clear view of the true Soccer hero i.e. Edson Arantes do Nascimento (better known as Pele) and Diego Armando Maradona .
So, before world cup starts, I’ll put a brief bios of those two hero.