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      Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game

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      Diego LFC
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #23: Nov 27, 2012 08:30:57 pm
      Could be wrong here Diego, but didn't Garrincha have a defect in his leg, so it was curved almost? And again I could be wrong, but wasn't he the first to really start with the 'banana' kick when taking a free kick?

      Garrincha ~,~ Mestre do Drible

      Yeah he did have a defect in his leg, and PD is right in saying he was called "angel with bent legs"... I'm not sure about what is a banana kick (can't watch the video right now), but I believe you might be right!
      Diego LFC
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #24: Nov 27, 2012 08:36:19 pm
      Higuita, Chilavert... it seems to me that South American goalkeepers have a tendency to be a lot more "eccentric" than their European counterparts... I see a lot of people looking at Reina's quality on the ball with big surprise, but it's fairly normal here to see keepers who take penalties, free kicks, or are just generally good using their feet.

      Rogério Ceni has scored more than 100 goals in his career, among free kicks and penalties... it's a shame he is such a conservative pr**k outside the pitch - he's the kind of player I would normally love but I just can't stand this guy.

      Does anyone remember Jorge Campos, a Mexican goalkeeper? He's really small for his position but played for the Mexican national side for many years. He was also famous for his colorful jerseys.
      RedWilly
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #25: Nov 27, 2012 08:42:53 pm
      Yeah he did have a defect in his leg, and PD is right in saying he was called "angel with bent legs"... I'm not sure about what is a banana kick (can't watch the video right now), but I believe you might be right!
      Thought it was, I read about him a few years ago and it rang a bell! For banana kick, think of Roberto Carlos free kick vs France!
      Bier
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #26: Feb 02, 2013 03:00:04 pm
      Mate of mine who is a big Ajax supporter linked me this video earlier.

      Johan Cruijff is art

      Football can be such a beautiful game.
      Scotia
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #27: Feb 02, 2013 03:39:17 pm
      Couple that sprung to mind for me - not sure if its exactly what you had in mind PD: -

      (1) Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto (aka Edmundo / aka The Animal

      Edmundo played for Brazil at the 1998 World Cup. For Palmeiras, he won the Campeonato Brasileiro in the beginning of the Nineties. For Vasco da Gama he won 1997's Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, scoring 29 goals. In that same year, Vasco da Gama scored 69 goals. Edmundo also scored 6 goals in the same game in 1997, against a club from São Paulo, União São João.
      In 1999 he faced prosecution by animal welfare groups after hiring an entire circus to perform in his back garden to celebrate his son's first birthday. At the party he was accused by some individuals of the press of having a chimpanzee called Pedrinho drunk on beer and whiskey. Subsequent images of this appeared in the media (including the February, 2004 issue of the UK version of FHM magazine) and have passed into football legend. Days later, Edmundo proved those accusations were false. He also escaped a prison sentence for drinking driving during carnival of the same year after being involved in an accident that resulted in the deaths of his three passengers, for his behaviour he received seven day suspended sentence and was two days late returning to Florence according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

      http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=1kR1dqsL8SI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1kR1dqsL8SI

      (2) Zvonimir Bobin

      Zvonimir Bobanis a Croatian former football midfielder who played most of his professional career for Serie A club Milan, with whom he won four Serie A titles and the Champions League. He was a member of the Croatia national team which attained third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with Boban as captain. He was also a member of the Yugoslavian under 20s team which won the 1987 World Youth Championship. Boban scored three times in this tournament, as well as scoring his penalty in the decisive shootout in the final. Having made his debut for the full Yugoslavian team in 1988, Boban, a fierce patriot, switched to playing for Croatia after the national team's inception, debuting against Romania in December 1990. Having appeared seven times for Yugoslavia, scoring once, Boban was capped 51 times for Croatia, scoring 12 goals. Croatia never lost a match when he scored.
      Since retiring from playing in 2002, Boban gained a history degree from the University of Zagreb. He has also become a football pundit on Croatian and Italian television, working most notably for SKY Italia and RTL Televizija. He has a reputation as an outspoken analyst.

      Dinamo Zagreb
      Born in Imotski, Boban started his career with Dinamo Zagreb. He made his debut for the team in the 1985/86 season, aged only 16. He went on to play 109 games for the club over six seasons, scoring 45 goals and becoming club captain aged just 19.

      Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot
      In a game against Red Star Belgrade on 13 May 1990, Boban attacked a policeman who was assaulting a Dinamo supporter after a riot had broken out in the stadium This incident made Boban a nationalist icon in Croatia, and is cited by some as the expression of Croatian discontent with the Yugoslav regime. It also earned him a suspension from the Yugoslav national team causing him to miss the 1990 World Cup in Italy. In January 2011, this incident was recognized by CNN as one of the five football games that changed the world.

      Serie A
      A.C. Milan signed Boban in 1991 in a deal worth £8 million. Milan immediately loaned him to Bari, as they felt he needed time to settle in Italy without counting as one of the 3 non-Italian players the club was limited to at the time. Despite his best efforts, Bari were relegated in this season, but Boban ably demonstrated his ability in the team and was recalled to Milan. He stayed in the club for nine seasons, and enjoyed great successes with them, helping the team to the 1994 Champions League title and contributing to the 1995 campaign in which they ended as runners-up. Playing 251 games for Milan and scoring 30 goals, Boban won four Serie A titles, as well as three Italian Supercups. In August 2001, with his role at Milan diminished due to the signing of Rui Costa, he was loaned to La Liga side Celta Vigo where he played in only four league matches. Unhappy with his role as a substitute, he retired in October 2001 and finished his last season earlier than he intended.

      International career -Yugoslavia

      Boban played a big part in Yugoslavia's win in the 1987 World Youth Championship. He scored three goals for Yugoslavia in this tournament, and also scored a decisive penalty in the final's shootout. At the full international level, he earned seven caps for Yugoslavia between 1988 and 1991, debuting against the Republic of Ireland on 27 April 1988. He played his last game for Yugoslavia on 16 May 1991 against the Faroe Islands, during which he scored his first and only goal for Yugoslavia.

      Croatia

      When the nation of Croatia declared its independence of Yugoslavia, Boban left Yugoslavia to play for Croatia. He played his first international match for Croatia in a friendly match against Romania on 22 December 1990. This match was only the second fixture Croatia had played as an independent nation since 1956. Boban played his last match for the national team in a friendly against France on 13 November 1999. He blamed back pain for his decision to quit international football, but would go on to play in two more seasons of club football. In his career with the Croatian national team, Boban won 51 international caps and scored 12 goals.

      1998 World Cup

      Boban was a member of the Croatian team that finished third at the 1998 World Cup, captaining the squad at that tournament, as he had at the 1996 European Football Championship. A mistake he made in the semi-final allowed France to equalize immediately after Croatia had fought hard to earn a one-goal lead. To make matters worse, Boban was injured and wanted to come off at half time but stayed on until the 65th minute, when he was replaced by Silvio Maric. France won the match 2–1 and eventually won the tournament. Croatia went on to defeat the Netherlands, with Boban providing the pass to Davor Šuker to score the winner, allowing Croatia to attain third place and receive the bronze medal.

      Both theses biographies are taken from Wikipedia - but the names were the first two that popped into my head. The images of Bobin and the policeman at the riot in particular really stick out for me.

      http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=NnrLuAzUPMs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DNnrLuAzUPMs

      That said - just the rumour (disproven) that Edmundo got a monkey drunk makes me smile - though Diego would be the man to fill in the blanks there.

      EDIT - For Legal Reasons I've been asked to point out that the reference to Diego was purely in relation to his local knowledge and categorically not related to any unfounded allegations that Diego has been consorting with inebriated simians.
      Aggerdoo
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      Re: Icon's, Mavericks, Heroes and Villains of the beautiful game
      Reply #28: Feb 02, 2013 04:48:12 pm
      Great seeing the Garrincha video. Supposidly the best ever dribbler of a football this planet has ever seen.

      I think its hard to argue with Zidane being my favourite non Liverpool FC football player. However Romario is a close second.

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