Avenida · Goalkeeper · #1 · 30 yrs
Influential Jewish managers such as Bela Guttman survived the Holocaust. In his new book, David Bolchover explores the great players who did notWho was the best Brazilian player of all time? Pelé comes the answer. Argentina? Maradona or Messi. Hungary? Puskas. Holland? Cruyff. Germany? Beckenbauer. Portugal? Eusébio or Ronaldo – take your pick. France? Zidane? England? Perhaps Bobby Charlton?What about the best Jewish footballer ever? Gotcha! That’s one to send even a group of the most historically literate Jewish football nerds into a prolonged silence. Not even a semblance of a suggestion is likely to emanate from their lips. Maybe they will break into a smile to indicate that we Jews are not very good at football, so choosing the best is probably a pointless exercise anyway, because the best would be rather bad in the broader scheme of things. Continue reading...
Iraq’s No 2 discusses his recipe for a World Cup shock, the players’ singing and his time assisting Alex Ferguson at Manchester UnitedIraq’s journey to their first World Cup finals tournament in 40 years involved sacrifices unmatched by any other side. After 20 qualifiers, the team faced a decisive playoff in the Mexican city of Monterrey but, with Iraq dragged into the Middle East war and airspace closed, several staff and players had an arduous job getting there.“They had to travel from different cities to Baghdad by car or bus,” says René Meulensteen, the assistant to Iraq’s head coach, Graham Arnold. “Some of those journeys took up to eight hours. Then, from Baghdad they travelled roughly 15 hours on bumpy roads to Amman, in Jordan, where occasional flights were still operating. The other Asian‑based players made their own way to Amman, so they could all travel together.” Continue reading...
Plus: biggest points deficit before a shock, worst-performing managers that helped win a title and keepers on cornersMail us with your all of your questions and answers“Which club has had the fewest sponsor logos adorn their shirts?” asks Bob Krag. “My guess is Arsenal, who have only had four (JVC, Dreamcast/Sega, O2 and Emirates). Even Barcelona, who eschewed shirt sponsorship for many years, have had more.”Let’s start with a club who supplied Barcelona with the supernatural talents of Romário and Ronaldo in the 1990s. “PSV Eindhoven have had only three sponsors: Philips (from 1982, when shirt sponsorship was allowed in the Netherlands, to 2016), EnergieDirect (2016-2019) and Brainport Eindhoven (2019-),” writes Stephan Wijnen. Continue reading...
