Eusebio de Silva Ferreira

Posted on Friday, July 27, 2012 by

Eusebio de Silva Ferreira is recognised worldwide as one of the greatest African players ever to have lived. His fame is marked by the fact that he is known by anyone with an interest in football simply by his first name. He has two main nicknames, neither of which would be readily taken up by the press now. They are the Black Panther and the Black Pearl, these references to his race stemming from him being the first famous African player to represent Portugal. He is the most successful player to have come from the nation and is one of the best strikers the world has seen.
Eusebio was born on January 25th 1942 in the then Portuguese territory Laurenco Marquez (now Mapatu in Mozambique). He began his career with the team Sporting Laurenco Marquez who were a feeder team for the Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon. He was spotted by scouts for Sporting Lisbon who brought him to Portugal in 1961. His talent had already been noted by other Portuguese teams, notably Benfica. The team's coach Bela Guttmann had already flown to see Eusebio, having been tipped off about him by the Sao Paulo coach at the hairdressers.
Guttmann paid £7,500 to Sporting Lisbon for Eusebio and he made an instant impact with Lisbon's rivals Benfica. This move was not seen as particularly sporting on the side of Benfica. He was reported to have been effectively kidnapped and taken to a small fishing village in the Algarve by Benfica while the deal was being negotiated.
It did not take long for Eusebio to make his mark in the Portuguese League. He scored a hat-trick in his début for the club and Benfica finished top in the league thanks to his impressive scoring record. In 1962, his second season at the club, he led the team to victory in the European Cup. He scored two goals in the final against Real Madrid, both of which he created with little help from his team mates.
In the first decade since Eusebio joined the club, Benfica won the league every year except 1962, 1968 and 1970. Eusebio was the club's top scorer seven times in this period of glory. The team followed up their European Cup title win by coming third in the competition in 1963, 1965 and 1968. Their record in the Portuguese Cup reflected their league dominance with them winning the competition in 1962, 1964, 1969, 1970 and 1972.
Eusebio played for Portugal from the time he moved to the country. By the time of the 1966 World Cup he had established himself as the focus of the team's strike force. It was in this tournament that he became recognised as a world-class player. It was the first time that Portugal had ever qualified for the competition, but they ploughed through their early matches with determination and style. In the quarter finals Portugal were trailing to North Korea by three goals to nil when Eusebio stepped up to win the match for Portugal. He scored four blinding goals and Portugal managed to stay in the competition with a 5-3 win.
The four goals that he scored in the previous match were sadly only matched by four disallowed goals against England in the semi-finals. It was a closely contested match but Eusebio scored the team's only goal from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute. Eusebio left the pitch in tears but had made such an impact that he was immortalised in wax in Madame Tussauds. Portugal managed to beat the Soviet Union in the 3rd place play-offs and Eusebio finished as the top goal scorer in the tournament. This was to be the high point of Portugal's career with Eusebio up front. He only played in the qualifying stages of the following two World Cups. He still remained the top goal scorer for the team until 2005.
Having played for a few minor Portuguese teams, Eusebio moved across the Atlantic to play in the North American Soccer League. Like many players of his generation who made this transition, it proved to be a far less successful move than people had hoped. By the mid seventies Eusebio was receiving continual medical attention for his knee injuries. These marred his performance for the most part while he played for both the Toronto Metros and Las Vegas Quiksilver. In 1976 he scored in the league final for the Metros, helping them to a 3-0 win. After a brief spell with a Mexican team, Eusebio moved to the second division New Jersey's Americans. It was a sad end to his career with him playing few matches and scoring even fewer goals before his eventual retirement in 1978.

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Paul Gascoigne

Posted on Sunday, July 22, 2012 by

Paul Gascoigne commonly known as ‘Gazza’, is a legend of English football, PR nightmare and a player so popular he even had a phenomenon - 'Gazzamania' - named after him. The midfielder has oft been compared to the fated George Best for his charismatic football style, personal battles with alcoholism, colourful social activities and wife beating during the mid 1990s. He has not shied away from this area of his life and his biography Gazza: My Story and subsequent book Being Gazza: Tackling My Demons, show the man behind the football.
Paul John Gascoigne was born in Dunston, Gateshead on 27th May 1967, the son of John Gascoigne and Carol Harold. His early life was traumatic with his father moving to Germany to find work and suffering from a massive brain haemorrhage that left him incapacitated for 8 months. Growing up on the rough streets of the Tyne was never easy but the young Gazza found solace in football and proved his skills from a young age.
A regular fixture in his school team, Gazza also played at U14 level for Redheugh Boys' Club before making his debut for Gateshead Boys. It was here where the young Gazza first caught the eye of the scouts and he went on to have trials at Ipswich, Middlesbrough and Southampton while 13. However, due to his small stature, none of the clubs were prepared to offer a contract. Gazza had his last trial at Newcastle and in the summer of 1980 was signed to the schoolboy squad.
In 1983 he started playing for the youth team, managed by Colin Suggett. His debut for the first team came on April 13th 1984, against QPR. The then manager of the club - Jack Charlton - brought the young Gazza on as a substitute in the second half. However, at that stage Gazza remained first and foremost a stalwart of the Youth team and in 1984, he successfully captained the Newcastle Youth to victory in the FA Youth Cup.
The following season would see Gazza given his first start for the Magpies in the first game of the season against Southampton. Gazza went on to make a further 35 appearances during the rest of the season and scored 8 goals for the club, the first being against Oxford United in a 3-0 home victory. Gazza continued playing in a black and white shirt for a further 2 seasons and the 1987-88 season saw him awarded the Barclays Young Player of the Year.

In the summer of the '88 season Gazza agreed to sign to Spurs for £2.3million and was also awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The then manager Terry Venables displayed a vast enthusiasm for the young Geordie, seeing him as a great addition to the Spurs squad. However, the start was ominous with Gazza arriving both unfit and overweight - an early indication of the difficulties Gazza's name has become synonymous with since.
After much hard work, Venables was proved right about his young signing and his performance in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal has become the stuff of legend for Spurs' fans. Concerns over Gazza's health had again dominated the pre-game commentary as, following the 6th round defeat of Notts County, Gazza had undergone a hernia operation and it was doubtful whether he would be able to start against Arsenal. However, much to the joy of the Tottenham masses, Gazza proved his mettle, scoring a fabulous 35 yard free kick that screamed past David Seaman sealing victory for the Lilywhites.
In the 1991 FA Cup final Gazza was hyped-up by the occasion and some over-zealous tackling was to prove his downfall. In a late tackle against Nottingham Forest's Gary Charles, Gazza ruptured the cruciate ligaments in his right knee and his proposed transfer to Lazio had to be delayed for 12 months.
Lazio forked out £5.5million for Gazza to join and his first game was against Genoa in Rome. However, although his time at the club was heavily publicized, Gazza was plagued by injury, first breaking his cheekbone and then his leg in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
Despite some excellent displays, Gazza is perhaps most famous during his Italian excursion for some of his high-jinks, including burping into microphones, teaching his team-mates to swear in thick Geordie accents and making his minder think that he'd killed himself.
After making just 47 appearances for the Italian club, in June 1995 Gazza announced he was joining Glasgow Rangers for £4.3million. In his first season at the club his performances were startling and he was named Scottish player of the season. However, he continued to struggle with injuries and missed several games at the start of the following season.
In 1997 he returned and Rangers went on to win their ninth league title with Gazza agreeing a new deal to stay at Ibrox until 2000. However, his time at Rangers was also a difficult period in his personal life and after marrying his wife Sheryl in 1996 he was widely lambasted for his violent behavior towards her at home and his poor conduct and irresponsible manner on the pitch.
In 1998, despite 2 years of his contract remaining, Rangers entered into discussions with Crystal Palace and proposed a £3m transfer. However, Gazza rejected the deal and elected to return to Tyneside, signing for £3m to Middlesbrough under the leadership of long-term peer Bryan Robson.
This move actually represented a downgrading from top class football for Gazza, as Middlesbrough were only a first division side. However, the 1998 season was to see 'Boro promoted to the Premiership but Gazza's performances failed to impress Robson and in 2000 he agreed to release him on a free transfer to Walter Smith at Everton, who had formerly managed Gazza at Rangers.
Walter Smith was already wise to the dangerous personality changes that Gazza was capable of and in signing him he openly admitted that he believed he was taking a risk. In order to mitigate this, he ensured that Gazza tied himself to a series of clauses to protect Everton. However, in 2000/01 Gazza ended up checking into an Arizona Rehabilitation Clinic following a lapse into alcoholism.
Gazza's performances at the club were mixed but his second season at the club saw increasing first team appearances despite suffering from a further hernia and thigh problems. However, with the departure of Walter Smith in March 2002, Gazza elected to leave the Blues to move on to Burnley for the remainder of the 2002 season.
After leaving Burnley, Gazza decided to take his talents to China and played for Gansu Tianma for a single season in the Chinese Football League. However, his time at the club was brief due to the SARS scare and he returned to be player/coach of Boston United in 2004. However, Gazza only coached the club until October 2004 and made 3 appearances for the South Lincolnshire Club before announcing his full retirement.
In 1987 Gazza, while at Newcastle, impressed the selectors enough to be included in the England U21 Squad. He went on to have brief spells in the England B team before making his full team debut against Denmark on the 14th September 1988, when he came on as a substitute.
His first goal for England came against Albania in a world cup qualifier for Italia '90 and his performance in the 4-2 victory over Czechoslovakia sealed his place in the squad. It was during the semi-final at the Delle Alpi Stadium, Turin, that the most iconic image of Gazza was beamed around the world - tears flooded down his face as England were knocked out in the semi-final penalty shoot out against long term rivals West Germany. Gazza however, proved a central figure in England's play and was named in the all-star team at the end of the tournament.
The injury problems which Gazza suffered throughout his time at Lazio compromised his ability to play for England and his next tournament of note was Euro '96 under Terry Venables. Gazza's goal against Scotland, where he chipped the ball over Colin Hendry's head before volleying it from 25 yards out past the Scottish keeper Andy Goram, is now the stuff of legend and acknowledged as one of the goals of the tournament.
England again reached the semi-finals before losing but Gazza's tenacity and footballing brilliance had again earned him the respect and love of his country. Gazza's final England performances were under the eye of Glenn Hoddle and he helped the team qualify for France 98. However, his drunken behaviour and lacklustre performances led Glenn Hoddle to leave him out of the final squad, a decision much criticized by the media and fans alike. However, the decision would mean that Gazza's England career officially came to an end with 57 caps and 10 goals being his record.
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Location: New Castle, DE 19720, USA
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Sir Stanley Matthews

Posted on Saturday, July 21, 2012 by

In the days of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Ryan Giggs, it’s easy to forget that wingers used to be a very rare breed in the earlier days of football. The reason for the change was, in large part, due to the arrival of Sir Stanley ‘The Magician’ Matthews. He was a type of footballer who lived for the game and worked extremely hard on and off the pitch to improve his performance and fitness.
Sir Stanley Matthews was born on February 1st 1915 in Hanley near Stoke. Matthews’ raw pace and quick feet automatically got him recognised and soon he was playing games for England schoolboys. By the age of 17, he had already signed a professional contract with Stoke City and soon started matches regularly.
In his second season, he was a key player in Stoke’s midfield and was duly awarded his first cap for England in 1934 at the age of just 19. Matthews’ England debut could not have gone much better, scoring a goal in a 4-0 thrashing of Wales. In just three years, he was a regular on the right wing for England, with his worth emphasised after scoring a hat-trick against Czechoslovakia.
At only 20, Stanley Matthews was quickly becoming the biggest star in English football. His speed and constant trickery helped him to strike fear into opposition defenders. The ‘Wizard of Dribble’, as he was known, had become a dangerous weapon for both England and Stoke.
During the Second World War, league football was postponed and Matthews was sent to Blackpool to serve in the Royal Air Force. Sir Stanley continued to play friendly matches for many teams around the country such as Manchester United, Glasgow Rangers, Arsenal and Blackpool.
However, it was to Blackpool where his career would take him on a permanent basis. After 262 matches and over 50 goals at Stoke, Matthews was transferred to the Seasiders for £11,500 in 1947. In his first season with Blackpool, Matthews took part in the FA Cup final at Wembley against Manchester United but lost 4-2; however Matthews would have more chances of winning the trophy soon after.
Matthews’ good form was rewarded with a place in England’s World Cup Squad to go to Chile but he was only chosen to play one match. Nevertheless, domestically he was a mainstay for Blackpool and had helped them to another FA Cup Final against Newcastle United in 1951, only to yet again suffer defeat. At the age of 36, most people thought that this was his last chance to win an F.A. Cup medal.

However, on May 2nd 1953, Sir Stanley Matthews was to make FA Cup folklore. Playing Bolton Wanderers, Matthews’ Blackpool were 3-1 down at half time and almost certain to lose. Then, at the start of the second half Matthews dribbled past Bolton’s left back and brilliantly crossed in for Stan Mortensen to pull the score back to 3-2. Throughout the second half, Matthews continued to terrorise the Bolton defence and eventually Blackpool equalised with only a few minutes to play.
Then, deep into stoppage time, Matthews picked up the ball on Bolton’s half-way line. After beating a few players, he closed in to Bolton’s goal-line, bamboozled his opponent with his trademark trick - faking to go to the left before taking the ball past the left back - and then crossed the ball straight to Blackpool’s Bill Perry who scored the winning goal and secured a winners medal for Stanley Matthews at the age of 38. Despite a hat-trick from Stan Mortensen, this game has been dubbed as the ‘Matthews Final’ and is widely recognised as one of the greatest FA Cup finals ever.
Matthews continued his good form for Blackpool, helping them to second position in the football league in 1955 and was chosen for England’s World Cup squad in 1954. In 1956, Matthews became the first ever winner of UEFA’s European Player of the year award at 41.
Matthews was a thoroughly professional player and ahead of the game in terms of fitness. Whilst at Blackpool, he went jogging on the beach every day and never drank alcohol at all. A true testament to his fitness is the fact that he was able to play top-flight football until he was 46 and carry on playing until 50. He stayed a regular starter for England for 23 years, until he was 42. This is an achievement even today when most players retire completely at around 33 years old.
Matthews eventually re-joined Stoke City in 1961 and got them promoted from the second tier of football in his first season there. At the age of 50, a knee injury made him retire although he maintained that he could have carried on.
In April 1965, a testimonial was played for the great man in front of 35,000 people in Stoke’s Victoria Ground. This match attracted world stars of the time such as Lev Yashin and Ferenc Puskás. Later that year, he would become the first ever football player to be knighted. A true sportsman to the end, Matthews never received a yellow card in 701 games.
After retiring from football, Matthews stayed in the game, managing Port Vale for three years and Maltese side Hibernians. Finally, Sir Stanley Matthews died in 2000 at the age of 85. His funeral procession drove through Stoke’s old Victoria Ground. A statue of him has been erected outside Stoke’s new Brittania Stadium and a stand at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road has been named after him. He has even been granted his own collection of memorabilia at the National Football Museum in Preston.
To find a player in the mould of Sir Stanley is almost impossible nowadays. With all the press and media hype that surrounds today’s celebrity players such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, Matthews was the first real football celebrity. Unlike any other players, he was able to maintain his professionalism at all times and lived only to play the game. Matthews at the time was only earning £20 per week in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of pounds nowadays.
Sir Stanley Matthews will always be remembered as one of the best players in the history of the game, and one of its consummate gentlemen.
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Ian Edward Wright

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If you had told the 21 year old Ian Wright in 1985 that he would become one of the greatest ever English goal-scorers, a household name, and be awarded an MBE he would probably have given you the same look of contempt he gave to many a referee over the years and return to plastering walls.
Ian Edward Wright was born on the 3rd November 1963 in Woolwich, London. He quickly developed a love of football and was impressive for his school and local youth teams. However, in his late teens he had unsuccessful trials with Brighton and Southend and began to give up on his dream of being a professional footballer. He looked set for a full-time job as a plasterer in London, whilst playing non-league football.
It was during his spell at Dulwich Hamlet FC that he was spotted by Crystal Palace scout Peter Prentice and was invited for a trial at Selhurst Park, where he impressed rookie manager Steve Coppell. Wright was soon a regular in the Palace first team and finished second top scorer in his first season with 9 goals.
Wright’s career took another leap forward in the summer of 1986 with the arrival of Mark Bright from Leicester City. The two of them formed a formidable striking partnership and were the main factor in Palace’s forthcoming success.
After two seasons of consolidation, followed by narrowly missing out on a playoff spot in 1988, Palace managed to reach the playoffs in 1989. Wright was Palace’s top scorer in the 1987-88 season with 23 league goals and followed this with 33 in the promotion season, as he was voted the club’s player of the year.
Within five years, Wright had gone from playing on a park to playing in the country's top flight. Despite an injury blighted season, he notched 13 goals in Palace’s first campaign in the First Division and his return from a broken shin helped the team avoid relegation.
Wright capped the season with two goals after coming on from the substitutes bench in a 3-3 draw in the 1990 FA Cup final against Manchester Utd. Palace sadly lost the replay 1-0.
The next season was Palace’s most successful in recent memory as the club finished third in the league and won the Zenith Data Systems Cup. Wright scored 25 goals, including two in the ZDS cup final against Everton. He also made his debut for England in February 1991 as Graham Taylor started him in a friendly against Cameroon

Wright continued his form into the next season and, after 5 goals in 8 games, was signed for Arsenal by George Graham for a club record £2.5 million. He had scored 117 goals in 277 games for Palace, making him their most prolific post-war striker, but it was at Highbury that he was to have his best years.
Wright made an incredible start to his Arsenal career. He followed up a debut goal against Leicester in the League Cup with a hatrick in his league debut against Southampton. He was awarded the 1992 Golden Boot, after scoring 31 goals in all competitions for Palace and Arsenal.
Despite this, he was not included in Graham Taylor’s England squad for the 1992 European Championships, as Alan Smith, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Nigel Clough were preferred.
In the 1992-93, the club moved into the newly formed Premier League and Graham opted for more defensive tactics in this season, with the team relying almost totally on Wright to score their goals. Arsenal finished 10th in the inaugural Premier League season and were the lowest scoring club in the whole league.
They managed a meagre 40 goals in 42 games, with Wright getting 17 of them. But Arsenal faired much better in the cup competitions, winning both the League Cup and the FA Cup. These were the first major trophies for Wright, who repeated his feat of 1990 by scoring in the FA cup final and then again in the replay as Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.
The next season brought a further 22 Premier League goals for Wright. These included two hatricks in consecutive away matches against Ipswich and Southampton. He helped Arsenal to fourth in the Premier League and the 1994 Cup Winner’s Cup, although he was suspended for the final in which they beat favourites Parma 1-0. This was the only European medal Wright won during his career.
Wright’s international career also began to blossom as he scored a late equaliser against Poland and then four goals in a 7-1 win over San Marino. However, that summer, Graham Taylor was replaced by Terry Venables, who dropped him from the squad in October 1994.
The 1994-95 season was a tempestuous one for Arsenal, as they recorded their lowest Premier League finish of 12th position. In February 1995, George Graham was sacked after it was discovered he had accepted illegal payments for players. These difficulties did not affect Wright, however, as the striker scored over 25 goals.
He also notched a goal in every round but the final, as Arsenal were runners up in the 1995 Cup Winner's Cup due to a last minute wonder-goal from Real Zaragoza’s Nayim. Wright also bagged his 100th goal for Arsenal that season, ironically against Crystal Palace.
Wright’s Arsenal career faltered somewhat under the management of Bruce Rioch. Despite forging an impressive strike partnership at the start of the 1995/96 season with Dennis Bergkamp, Wright did not get on with the new manager and handed in a transfer request, which he later retracted. Although not playing every game, he still managed 15 Premier League goals as the club finished fifth.
In August 1996, Rioch left the club after a dispute with the board and Arsene Wenger eventually took over. Wright felt much more comfortable under the Frenchman’s management and, despite now being in his mid-thirties, proved he was still one of the most deadly strikers in the league, scoring 28 Premier League goals that season.
Wright was one of the first black players, after John Barnes, to be a huge superstar in the English game. Inevitably he had to deal with racist abuse at certain points in his career. In February 1996, he was embroiled in controversy after a two-footed tackle on Peter Schmeichel in a game against Manchester United.
This challenge sparked the first of many disputes between an incensed Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. The two players were involved in several confrontations throughout the game and, after the final whistle, Wright accused the Dane of racially abusing him in that game and others. The case was eventually dropped and the two seem to have reconciled, as in recent years they have appeared on Match Of The Day together.
The 1997-98 season was Wright’s last for Arsenal. It also brought him his first league winners medal, as the club went on to win the Premier League and FA Cup double. He started the season brilliantly with six goals in his first seven games, including a hatrick in a 4-1 demolition of Bolton. It was during this game that he broke Cliff Bastin’s record of 178 goals for Arsenal.
Wright had prepared a t-shirt with '179 - Just Done It' written on it and when he scored his first he took off the Arsenal shirt to reveal it, only to discover that he had only equalled the record! Undeterred, Wright went on to score again just five minutes later and repeated the celebration.
An unfortunate hamstring injury sustained in January 1998 meant he missed most of the second half of the season and was only an unused substitute at Wembley for the FA Cup victory over Newcastle. Wright scored 11 goals that season, with his last for Arsenal coming in a 2-1 win over West Ham at Upton Park. He was to join the Hammers the following summer for £500,000.
Ian Wright scored 185 goals for Arsenal in 288 games in all competitions. His record has recently been beaten by Thierry Henry but he is still regarded as a hero by Arsenal fans. Wright was Arsenal’s top scorer in his first six seasons with the club, scoring over 30 goals in five of them.
His England career was rejuvenated after the arrival of Glen Hoddle. In November 1996, Wright was drafted back into the squad after two years of being in the international wilderness. He scored a brace in a thrashing of Moldova and the opening goal in England’s 2-0 win over Italy in Le Tournai in 1997.
Most people consider his battling performance to be his best in an England shirt, as he lead the line in the 0-0 draw in Italy which sent England through to the 1998 World Cup. However, a re-occurrence of his groin injury kept him out of the World Cup finals.
Wright played 33 times for his country and scored nine goals. His last game, and Hoddle’s, was a friendly against the Czech Republic at Wembley in November 1999. Remarkably, he never played in a major international tournament.
Post-Arsenal, the remainder of Wright’s career was fairly nomadic. After scoring nine goals in his first season for West Ham, he struggled to get into the team the following season and had spells at Nottingham Forest, Celtic and Burnley before retiring in the summer of 2000 aged 37.
Wright is now the patriarch of a famous footballing family, as his adopted son Shaun Wright Phillips plays for Chelsea and England, and his son Bradley Wright-Phillips plays for Southampton in the Football League Championship. He also has sons in the Reading and Charlton youth academies respectively.
After his retirement from football, Wright has become something of a celebrity. He is a regular pundit for England matches on Match Of The Day, where he has gained popularity for his straight-forward talking style and unerring patriotism.
He also has a show on TalkSport radio and has appeared on popular programmes such as Top Gear, Big Brother Celebrity Hijack and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. He also fronted a campaign to tackle child obesity and is a patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust.
Wright’s professional career spanned 15 years, during which he made 526 appearances scoring 313 goals. In 2000 he was given an MBE for Services to Football. He has a Premier League winners medal, two FA cups, a League Cup and a Cup Winners Cup. Any follower of English football during the nineties will remember him for his explosive pace, cheeky and petulant attitude, dogged determination and, above all, his steely composure in front of goal.
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Luis Arturo Hernández

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Luis Arturo "El Matador" Hernández Carreón (born December 22, 1968 in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico) is a Mexican football striker, the fourth highest goalscorer of all-time for the Mexican national football team, and their highest goalscorer in World Cups. Hernández played with teams in Mexico, Argentina and the United States.
In Mexico, Hernández played with a number of clubs, including Queretaro FC, Cruz Azul, CF Monterrey, Necaxa, Club América, UANL Tigres, CD Veracruz, and Jaguares de Chiapas, and was twice named Mexico's Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998. He also played in Mérida Argentina, when he was signed by South American club Boca Juniors after his brilliant performance in the 1997 Copa America, but he failed to break into the starting line-up and spent the rest of his time on the bench. Returning to Mexico bitterly disappointed, he played with Necaxa and later on with UANL Tigres. It was with these two clubs, that he displayed his stupendous form, scoring 9 goals in 12 matches with Necaxa and 38 goals in 64 games with Tigres. He also became the only player to score goals in the Clásico Regiomontano with both teams from Monterrey.

After a few seasons with Tigres without qualifying to playoffs, Hernández ventured into the United States, in 2000 and signed with Major League Soccer giants Los Angeles Galaxy, thought they landed a coup when they paid the Mexican striker a reported sum of US$ 4,000,000.00 to play with the club. Expected to easily tear the league apart, Hernández was generally considered a disappointment in two seasons with the Los Angeles club. Despite registering 17 goals in 40 games of the regular season and playoff games, the desired rise of attendance was not seen at all. Hernández returned to Mexico in 2002 to play two more seasons with
several clubs, including Club América, C.D. Veracruz and Jaguares de Chiapas, before retiring in 2004.
Known for his long blond hair, number 15 jersey and nickname of El Matador, Hernández had his first international cap against Uruguay on February 1, 1995. Hernández scored his first international goal on November 16, 1995 against Yugoslavia. Hernández gained notability during the Copa América 1997, where he scored six goals and became the tournament's leading goal scorer. At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he finished among the competition's top scorers with four goals, and became the first Mexican player to score more than two goals in World Cup history. The 35 goals he scored for Mexico puts him behind Carlos Hermosillo to trail Cuauhtémoc Blanco (39 goals) and Jared Borgetti (46 goals) as the nation's 3rd highest all-time leading goalscorer.

Hernández also played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, albeit as a substitute in three games, and failed to score. Hernández made his last international cap on June 17, 2002 against the United States.
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David Seaman

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David Andrew Seaman MBE (born 19 September 1963 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire) is a former English football goalkeeper who played for several clubs, most notably Arsenal. He retired from the game on 13 January 2004, following a recurring shoulder injury. He was awarded the MBE in 1997 for services to the sport.

The peak of his career was during his period as Arsenal and England goalkeeper in the 1990s and early 2000s; during his time at Arsenal he won many medals including three league championships (1991, 1998, 2002), four FA Cups (1993, 1998, 2002, 2003), the League Cup in 1993 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994. During this time he also played in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, and Euro 96 and Euro 2000, and is England's second-most capped goalkeeper with 75 caps, after Peter Shilton.

Seaman's career highs came in his successful performance in UEFA Euro 96 and in Arsenal's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Premier League and FA Cup (including a superb save from Paul Peschisolido in the FA Cup 2002–03) campaigns in the mid-90s and early-2000s. Notable lows came with two costly errors, both from long-range efforts — conceding a last-minute goal in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final to Nayim and conceding to a Ronaldinho free-kick in the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarter-final.
Seaman is left-handed, but throws the football with his right arm[8] and kicks with his right foot.
Seaman was brought up in Rotherham where he attended Kimberworth Comprehensive School. He began his career at Leeds United, the club he supported as a boy. However (much to his disappointment), he was not wanted by then-manager Eddie Gray, who had been his favourite player. Seaman went to Division 4 club Peterborough United for a £4,000 fee in August 1982 , where he began to make a name for himself.

Just over two years later, in October 1984, Second Division Birmingham City paid £100,000 for Seaman's services. They ended up winning promotion at the end of that season, but were relegated again at the end of the following season. Seaman was not to follow them back to Division Two, however.


In August 1986, Seaman moved to Queens Park Rangers for £225,000. Playing in a higher profile club on a plastic pitch, he earned his first England cap, which came under Bobby Robson in a friendly against Saudi Arabia in November 1988. Whilst at Q.P.R., Seaman was coached by Arsenal double-winner (of 1971) Bob Wilson, who was to work with him for more than a decade.
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Location: Arsenal, San Antonio, TX, USA
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Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori

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Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori (born 17 February 1968 in Alzano Lombardo, Province of Bergamo) is a retired Italian football striker, one of the top scorers in Serie A history and widely regarded as one of the best football players to have never received a winners medal in competitive football. He was a fast, left footed striker who was prolific goalscorer. During the early part of his career he was used as a left winger, where his accurate crossing and pace were put to good use.

Signori used to squeeze his feet into boots that were too small for him, claiming that this improved his touch and accuracy on the ball. He was also known for his unique style of taking penalty kicks. He would stand next to the ball (without taking any run-up) and shoot.
As a youngster Signori played in the youth system of Internazionale, but was eventually released after being told by the club that he was too small to succeed as a professional. He went on to make his pro debut for Leffe (1984–86), followed by Piacenza (1986–87 and 1988–89), Trento (1987–88), Foggia (1989–92), Lazio (1992–97), Sampdoria (January–June 1998) and Bologna (1998–2004). He then spent two short periods abroad: first in Greece in 2004 with Iraklis Thessaloniki; and then in October 2005 he signed a one-year contract with Hungarian team MFC Sopron.
Signori led Serie A in goals three times, in 1993, 1994, and 1996 (the last title shared with Igor Protti). Overall, he scored 188 goals in Italy's top division, the eighth all-time in league history. Now he is one of suspects in a new betting scandal code named "last bet".

Signori was not able fully to translate his success to the national level, partly due to differences between him and national coach Arrigo Sacchi, who preferred to play him in the midfield. He played for the national side 28 times, scoring seven goals. The only major tournament Signori played in was the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where he set up two crucial goals that allowed Italy to advance.
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Location: Palermo, Italy
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