Trivia and Facts-Part 6

1-Franz Beckenbauer was not a licensed manager when he was appointed as West Germany’s manager in 1984.

He always managed with a licensed assistant (Holger Osieck, etc).

His title was “Teamchief” and not “Bundestrainer”.

He once had said that why should he get a license from people who could not take a ball away from him with his shoelaces tied.

Photo From: Onze, July 1977

(Franz Beckenbauer in  his NY Cosmos days)

2-Bernd Schuster, Barcelona’s West German midfielder, did not play a single match during the 1986/87 season.

Barcelona had acquired Welshman Mark Hughes and Englishman Gary Lineker. As there was a two foreign player limit in place, Schuster and Scotsman Steve Archibald were de-registered from the first team that season.

The following season Schuster was re-instated as Mark Hughes was loaned and eventually transferred out.

Photo from: Onze, August 1980

(Bernd Schuster, June 14, 1980 European Championships, West Germany 3-Holland 2)

3-Atletico Madrid and Spanish goalkeeper Jose Molina, played his first official match for Spain as an outfield player in a friendly vs. Norway on April 24, 1996. Spanish manager Javier Clemente was forced to send him on as there were no substitutes left and club teammate Juan Lopez was injured.

4-During the 1990 World Cup Third Place match between Italy and England, Italian Roberto Baggio scored a goal which was actually offside. Towards the end of the game, Italian midfielder Nicola Berti scored a valid goal which was erroneously ruled as offside.

These mistakes were only noticed after Television replays, neither team protested either decision.

Photo from: Soccer International, August 1990

(Nicola Berti, June 25, 1990 World Cup Italy 2-Uruguay 0)

Photo : from World Soccer, October 1993

(Roberto Baggio, May 1, 1993 World Cup Qualifier Switzerland 1-Italy 0)

5-Owen Hargreaves is the only English national team player not to have been born in the United Kingdom .  He was born in Calgary, Canada and his first professional club was Germany’s Bayern Munich.

He is also the second player to play for England, having never previously played in the english league (After Scotland based Joe Baker in 1959).

Photo from: World Soccer, February 2003

(Owen Hargreaves in action with Bayern Munich)