Short International Careers, Part Five

1- Stefano Borgonovo

Italian Stefano Borgonovo’s best season was during the 1988/89 where he was on loan at Fiorentina from AC Milan. That season he formed a prolific striking partnership with Roberto Baggio that enabled both of them to be called up for the National team.

Borgonovo earned his three caps within a month in February and March of 1989. (February 22, 1989, Italy 1-Denmark 0 / March 25, 1989, Austria 0-Italy 1 and March 29, 2989, Romania 1-Italy 0).

For the first two matches he came on as substitute replacing strikers Gianluca Vialli and Aldo Serena respectively. He played the entire match vs. Romania.

He returned to AC Milan, but did not recapture his previous form and was never selected again.

He sadly passed away on June 27, 2013 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Photo From: Guerin Sportivo, April 11-18, 1989

(Stefano Borgonovo with Dan Petrescu on the left, March 29, Romania 1-Italy 0)

2- Gregorio Fonseca

Spanish striker Gregorio Fonseca earned all his four caps during the calendar year of 1992.

His first two caps were under Manager Vicente Miera.

As a Real Valladolid player , he earned his first cap in a tie vs. the Commonwealth of Independent States (ex-USSR) on February 19, 1992 that ended in a one to one tie.

Less than a month later on March 11, 1992, he played vs. USA (2 to 0 win).

In the offseason he had joined RCD Espanol.

His third cap was under new Manager Javier Clemente in a Friendly vs. England on September 9, 1992 that Spain won (1 to 0) with Fonseca scoring the winner in the 11^th minute.

He earned his final cap in a World Cup qualifier on September 23, 1992 vs. Latvia at Riga that ended in a scoreless tie.

He was substituted in the 71^st minute and was never selected again.

Photo From: Don Balon, November 15-21, 1994

(Gregorio Fonseca)

3- John Fashanu

Wimbledon striker John Fashanu earned his only two caps for England in May 1989 during the Stanley Rous Cup.

He was beneficiary of the fact that the best teams in the League, Liverpool and Arsenal, did not release any players for the tournament as they were to play their League decider.

For his first cap on May 23, 1989 vs. Chile on Wembley (scoreless tie), Fashanu was replaced by Tony Cottee in the 70^th minute.

For his second cap on May 27, 1989 vs. Scotland at Glasgow (2 to 0 win) , he was replaced in the 31^st minute by Steve Bull.

He was never called up again.

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2394, February 25, 1992

(John Fashanu with Wimbledon)

4- Carmelo Micciche

French striker Carmelo Micciche earned his only two caps in the Spring of 1987. For his first match that coincided as Michel Platini’s last he opened the scoring in a (2 to 0) win vs. Iceland in a European Championship qualifier on April 29, 1987.

For his second and final cap, he was substituted in the 75^th minute in a loss (0 to 2) in European Championship qualifier vs. Norway in Oslo on June 16, 1987.

Photo From: Mondial, new series, Issue 88, July 1987

(Carmelo Micciche, June 16, 1987, EC Qualifier, Norway 2-France 0)

5- Hennie Meijer

Hennie Meijer earned his solitary cap on September 9, 1987 in a Friendly vs. Belgium that ended in a scoreless tie.

He had just joined Ajax that season from Roda JC as an extra attacking option following the departure of Marco van Basten to AC Milan.

During this match with Belgium he replaced Aron Winter in the 67^th minute, therefore his International career lasted 23 minutes only.

Photo From: Rode Duivels & Oranje Leeuwen., 100 jaar Derby der Lage Landen, Authors Ralf Willems, Matty Verkamman

(Hennie Meijer in his only International, on the right is Franky van der Eslt, September 9, 1987, Holland 0-Belgium 0)

Magazine Awards, Part Six

France Football’s Ballon d’Or:

Year 1977:

Player of the year: Allan Simonsen (Denmark and Borussia Moenchengladbach)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 1655, December 27, 1977

(Allan Simonsen)

France Football’s Ballon d’Or

Onze’s Onze d’Or:

Year 1982:

Player of the year: Paolo Rossi (Juventus and Italy)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 84, December 1982

(Paolo Rossi)

Onze d’Or

World Soccer’s Player of the Year:

Year 1987:

Player of the year: Ruud Gullit (AC Milan and Holland)

Manager of the Year: Johann Cruyff (Ajax Amsterdam)

Team of the year: Porto

Photo From: World Soccer, December 1987

 World Soccer Player of the Year

France Football’s African Ballon d’Or:

Year 1981:

Player of the year: Lakhdar Belloumi (GC Mascara and Algeria)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 1865, January 5, 1982

(Lakhdar Belloumi)

France Football’s African Ballon d’Or

Events and Consequences, Part Seven

1- Event:

France’s Albert Parsys, Charles Dujardin, Maurice Bigue, Lucien Gamblin and Auguste Schalbart  refusing an International call-up in 1914 for a match vs. Luxembourg on February 8, 1914 (Luxembourg 5 to 4 win).

Some had boycotted the call up under the pretext that they had to pay their own train fare for France’s previous match vs. Belgium on January 25, 1914 at Lille (4 to 3 France win).

Consequence:

The French authorities suspended the players for 15 days.

This incident forced the Federation to enact a ruling that made it obligatory to honour selections under threat of suspension.

Photo From: Les Bleus Author Denis Chaumier, 2004

(Renzo de Vecchi and Lucien Gamblin, February 20, 1921, France 1-Italy 2 )

2- Event:

German Captain Lothar Matthaus serious injury in December 1994.

Consequence:

Matthaus had established himself as Germany’s libero. The injury forced him to miss the rest of the season. In his absence Germany manager Berti Vogts installed Borussia Dortmund’s Matthias Sammer as his new libero.

Sammer performed so well that Vogts decided to keep faith with the younger Sammer even after Matthaus was back from injury.

For a while this seemed to have excluded Matthaus from the National team permanently.

However, Matthaus was recalled by 1998 after Sammer himself had to retire prematurely due to injury.

Photo From: World Soccer, October 1999

(Lothar Matthaus)

Photo From: World Soccer, May 1997

(Matthias Sammer)

3- Event:

Brazil’s loss vs. Uruguay in the Final of the 1950 World Cup at Maracana on July 16, 1950.

Consequence:

Brazil’s goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa was forever established as the scapegoat and lived a virtually ostracized life in poverty.

He passed away on April 7, 2000.

In an interview he remarked that under Brazilian Law the maximum imprisonment penalty is 30 years but he has been paying for nearly 50 years for his mistake.

Photo From: L'Equipe Magazine, April 25, 1998

(Moacir Barbosa)

Photo From: L'Equipe Magazine, April 25, 1998

(Ghiggia’s winning goal, July 16, 1950, World Cup, Brazil 1-Uruguay 2)

Photo From: O Brasil Na Copa America, Author Airton Silveira Fontenele, 1989

(Moacir Barbosa)

4- Event:

Five Scotland players led by skipper Billy Bremner breaking a 1 AM Curfew and being thrown out of a Copenhagen nightclub for drunken behavior, following Scotland’s victory (1 to 0) vs. Denmark on September 3, 1975 in a European Championship Qualifying match.

Consequence:

The five players in question were Bremner along with Willie Young, Joe Harper, Pat McCluskey and Arthur Graham.

A Scottish official witnessed a drunken Bremner and McCluskey trying to turn a bed upside down as a prank.

As a punishment all five players received life suspensions, though it was later overturned in the following years.

In any case this ended Billy Bremner ‘s international career.

Photo From: Scotland, The Team, 1987

(Billy Bremner)

5- Event:

France’s European Championship qualifier at Bucharest vs. Romania on October 11, 1995.

Consequence:

This match was later described by experts/observers/players/etc as the pivotal turning point in the birth of the golden age of the French national team of late 90’s and early 2000’s.

The French refer to this match as the birth of the ‘Zidane Genration’.

France, under Aime Jacquet,  had to win to have any chance to qualify for the 1996 Euros in England and an away match vs. group leaders Romania seemed a daunting task.

France won this match 3 to 1 and this paved the way to qualification.

 Zidane scored one of the goals, along with partner Youri Djorkaeff, and established himself as the playmaker of this generation.

The backbone of the future France squad was established with players such as Karembeu, Lizarazu, Dugarry, Djorkaeff and veterans such as Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly.

Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez even took part in this match, deputizing for the unavailable starter Bernard Lama.

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 82, November 1995

(Youri Djorkaeff scoring France’s second, October 11, 1995, EC Qualifier, Romania 1-France 3)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 82, November 1995

(Zinedine Zidane, October 11, 1995, EC Qualifier, Romania 1-France 3)

Transfers that did not happen, Part Seven

1- Internazionale Milano tried to sign West Germany’s Uwe Seeler in 1961. Seeler revealed that Inter had offered him a 200,000 British Pounds signing on fee and a Villa and a car.

However, he was reluctant to be tied to Inter contractually for a substantial amount of time, therefore he asked that he be granted a 150,000 British Pounds payoff at the end of three years and a free transfer back to West Germany.

This broke the deal as Inter found this too demanding.

Photo From:  World Soccer, December 1995

(Uwe Seeler, July 23, 1966, World Cup, West Germany 4-Uruguay 0)

2- Russian striker Oleg Salenko, who was the joint top goalscorer of 1994 World Cup, had signed for Tottenham Hotspur from Dinamo Kiev in January 1993. However, the deal was cancelled after he was not able to obtain a work permit from the British Government.

The rule at the time was that foreign player (not from the European Community) should at least played in 75% of their respective national team’s matches from the previous two years to be considered and Salenko did not meet the quota.

Photo From:  Onze-Mondial, Issue 66, July 1994

(Oleg Salenko with Roger Milla, June 28, 1994, World Cup, Russia 6-Cameroon 1)

3- Around 1978 Nottingham Forest Manager Brian Clough attempted to sign Kevin Keegan, however, Keegan chose to remain at SV Hamburg.

Photo From:  Onze, Issue 35, November 1978

(Kevin Keegan with SV Hamburg, 1978/79)

Photo From:  World Soccer, November 1980

(Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor)

4-Arsene Wenger was approached in 1994 by Bayern Munich to be their Manager for the 1994/95, but he declined choosing to stay at AS Monaco.

Bayern turned instead to Italian Giovanni Trapattoni.

Photo From:  World Soccer, September 1976

(Arsene Wenger with AS Monaco’s two new English signings in 1987, Mark Hateley and Glenn Hoddle)

5-Sir Alex Ferguson tried on numerous occasions to sign Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst. However, Sheffield Wednesday Manager Trevor Francis was not willing to sell.

Finally, Ferguson opted to sign Eric Cantona instead in November of 1992.

Photo From:  England, Player by Player, Author Graham Betts

(Sheffield Wednesday’s David Hirst)

Eric Batty, Brian Glanville and other World Soccer Columns- Part Eight

I.  Eric Batty

WS Magazine Issue: April 1964                 

Article Title(s): ‘Defence is the order’

-Eric Batty’s analysis on how good defense has taken over      

WS Magazine Issue: December 1972

Article Title(s): ‘England could produce better wingers’

-Eric Batty’s Analysis on wingers

WS Magazine Issue: May 1981     

Article Title(s): ‘England found sadly lacking’

-Eric Batty’s analysis of the English National Team

WS Magazine Issue: August 1974 and October 1975  

Article Title(s):  ‘No Cruyff or Neeskens’ and ‘World XI’

-The World XI selections for the years 1974 and 1975.

Eric Batty Columns-Part 8

II.   Brian Glanville

WS Magazine Issue: July 1964

Article Title(s): ‘How to save the next World Cup’

-Discussing ideas on improvements for future World Cups

WS Magazine Issue: April 1971

Article Title(s): ‘Common Market poses a problem’ and ‘Sights sets firmly on Europe’

-Brian Glanville’s regular ‘Looking at Soccer’ column and under his pseudonym of Andre Duclos reporting on the French scene

WS Magazine Issue: December 1981

Article Title(s): ‘Liverpool can retain European Cup despite unpredictable Grobbelaar’ and ‘Is Hidalgo Bold or…’

- His regular Column and under his pseudonym of Andre Duclos reporting on the French scene

WS Magazine Issue: May 1991

Article Title(s): ‘Sudden Death should stay

- His regular Column

Brian Glanville Columns -Part 8

III.  Other Writers:

a) Martin Rodgers

WS Magazine Issue: July 1965

Article Title(s): ‘Why World Cup will elude hosts’

-Martin Rodgers predicting (erroneously) that England will not win the 1966 World Cup

b) Leslie Vernon

WS Magazine Issue: October 1972

Article Title(s): ‘Are Olympics a Farce?’

c) Paul Parish

WS Magazine Issue: January 1984

Article Title(s): ‘If England are not inferior, why have we failed?’

-Discussing England’s failure to qualify for the 1984 Euros

Other Writers’ Columns-Part 8

Soccer Books, Part Eight-Belgium National team

The best books about the History of the Belgian National Team.

These are the books that I have chosen:

Book I

‘Le Dictionnaire des Diables Rouges’

Authors: Bruno Govers, Pierre Bilic, Claude Henrot, Bruno Dubois, Pierre Danvoye

Published in 2000.

Written Language: French

This is absolutely the best book written about the Belgian national Team.

This book has a brief biography and profile of some of the historical players, but also has statistics on every player.

The lineups and players club information of not Belgium but its opponents are shown for every single match.

‘Le Dictionnaire des Diables Rouges’ Cover

Book II

‘Le Siecle des Diables Rouges’

Author: Christian Hubert

Published in 2006.

Written Language: French

This is not a statistical book about matches and results.

This book covers the History of the Belgian National Team with many archival photographs.

‘Le Siecle des Diables Rouges’ Cover

Book III

‘Rode Duivels & Oranje Leeuwen., 100 jaar Derby der Lage Landen’

Authors: Ralf Willems, Matty Verkamman

Published in 2001.

Written Language: Dutch

This book deals exclusively with the history of matches between Holland and neighbours Belgium.

As usual contains lineups, archival photographs and a written description of each encounter.

There is even a section on the unofficial matches between the nations.

‘Rode Duivels & Oranje Leeuwen., 100 jaar Derby der Lage Landen’ Cover

Book IV

‘IFFHS-Belgique/Belgie (1904/1940)

Author:

Published in 2000.

Written Language: English/French/German/Spanish

Excellent book about Belgian national team of the pre-war era with all lineups and full statistics and very interesting anecdotes.

The book contains rare archival photographs.

‘IFFHS-Belgique/Belgie (1904/1940)’ Cover

If any one knows of other books pertaining to this topic, please do not hesitate to leave a post.

Articles on Teams and Events-Part 29

An Article about ‘Footballers in Prison’ 

 (Magazine / Language : Goal, Issue 2, November 1995 / English) 

Photo From: Goal, Issue 2, November 1995

(George Best, onbe of the most famous players to have had run-ins with the law)

Footballers in Prison

Five articles about the Mundialito Tournament held in Uruguay in December 1980-January 1981

(Magazine / Language : France Football, Issue 1813, January 6, 1981 / French) 

(Magazine / Language : World Soccer, February 1981 / English By Eric Weil)  

(Magazine / Language : Onze, Issue 62, February 1981 / French By Francois-Rene Simon) 

(Magazine / Language : Mondial, New series, issue 11, February 1981 / French) 

(Magazine / Language : El Grafico No. 3196, January 1981 / Spanish by Carlos Ferrerira) 

(Magazine / Language : World Soccer, March 1981 / English By Eric Weil, Arthur Rotmil ) 

Photo From: Mondial, New series, issue 11, February 1981

(Claudio Gentile and Victorino, January 3, 1981, Mundialito, Uruguay 2-Italy 0)

Photo From: Mondial, New series, issue 11, February 1981

(Americo Gallego and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, January 1, 1981, Mundialito, Argentina 2-West Germany 1)

Photo From: Mondial, New series, issue 11, February 1981

(Socrates and Americo Gallego, January 4, 1981, Mundialito, Argentina 1-Brazil 1)

Mundialito in Uruguay 1980/81

Four articles about advertising and commercial endorsements in soccer 

(Magazine / Language : Mondial, new series, issue 35, February 1983 / French By Fransois Sorton) 

(Magazine / Language : Mondial, new series, issue 59, February 1985 / French By Michel Diard and Jean-Francois Bourg) 

(Magazine / Language : Guerin Sportivo, September 18-24, 1991 / Italian By Paolo Facchinetti) 

(Magazine / Language : Calcio 2000, Issue 23, October 1999 / Italian By  Marco Benvenuto) 

 Soccer Advertising

An article about the downfall of once great French side Stade Reims

(Magazine / Language : Mirroir du Football, January 24, 1979 / French By Robert Ichah /Albert Batteux / G.Pradels)  

Photo From: Mirroir du Football, January 24, 1979

(Reims squad, Top, left to right: Albert Batteux, Raymond Cicci (injured), Simon Zimny, Robert Jonquet, Michel Leblond, Rene Jacquet, Robert Siatka, Raoul Giraudo, Armand Penverne (injured) , Bottom, left to right: Michel Hidalgo, Leon Glowacki, Raymond Kopa, Rene Bliard, Jean Templin, Paul Sinibaldi (injured), June 13, 1956, Champions Cup, Reims 3-Real Madrid 4)

Downfall of Reims