Posted on 06/29/2006 10:46:37 PM PDT by soccer_maniac
The Elite Eight!! The quarterfinal round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany gets underway Friday with a pair of highly-anticipated matches. The hosts kick things off against Argentina in Berlin (10:55 a.m. ET; ESPN). Italy will face Ukraine in the day's second game (2:55 p.m.; ESPN2).
Two of the quarterfinals are rematches of championship games: Brazil-France (1998) and Germany-Argentina (1986 and 1990).
(Excerpt) Read more at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ...
I'll take Zico and Platini.
But, where is Kevin Keegan? :-)
They both are great sports.
Hockey too.
But, nothing beats the World Cup ;-)
I have a buddy that has one and we play periodically and it's great. There is a noticable difference in the "control" you have over your shots/passes.
Where is Gerd “Der Bomber” Müller?
It's tough to limit to only 20!! There are so many more!
He's a fool and an idiot and, at times, a cheat, but Maradona was the best. Ever.
I'll take a #18 and a #11 to go please.....;-)
He has a point except that England only really HAVE one striker...
Personally I think Blatter is a blathering idiot.
No Sheffield either.
And for the Scots, "NO KENNY DALGLISH?!?!?"
First red-carded player:
Chile's Carlos Caszely in a match against West Germany on 14/06/1974.
First goalkeeper to be sent-off:
Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy in a match against Norway on 23/06/1994.
Only player to have been sent off in successive finals tournaments:
Cameroon's Rigobert Song who was sent off on 24/06/1994 (against Brazil) and on 23/06/1998 (against Chile).
Only non-playing reserve players to have been sent off in finals:
Yugoslavia's Srecko Katanec on 30/6/90 and Argentina's Claudio Caniggia on 12/6/02.
Fastest sending-off in finals:
Uruguay's Jose Batista who was sent off in the 56th second of a group match against Scotland on 13/06/1986.
Fastest red card to a substitute:
Bolivia's Marco Etcheverry who was sent off after 3 minutes of play as a substitute in the match against Germany on 17/06/1994.
First player to receive a yellow card:
Lovchev of the USSR in the 1970 opening match against Mexico on 31/5/1970.
Fastest yellow card to a player in finals:
Sergei Gorlukovich of Russia who was booked after one minute in a group match against Sweden on 24/6/94.
Fastest yellow card given to a substitute in finals:
Korea Republic's Cha Doo-Ri after 20 seconds in a group match against Poland on 4 June 2002.
Fastest substitution in finals:
Italy's Giuseppe Bergomi replacing Alessandro Nesta in the 4th minute in a First Round match against Austria on 23/6/98.
First substitution of a goalkeeper:
Romania's Necula Raducanu who replaced Steve Adamache in a match against Brazil on 10 June 1970.
First player to take penalty shootout in World Cup finals:
Alain Giresse of France, who scored the first ever penalty in a shootout where France lost 4:5 to West Germany in the semi-final on 8 July 1982.
First player to take penalty shootout in a final:
Franco Baresi of Italy, who was the first player to take the shootout in the 1994 final but blasted it over the bar.
First time numbers were used on players' shirts in World Cup:
In the 1938 finals in France.
Only player to have played in Final for two different countries:
Luis Monti who played for Argentina in the 1930 Final and for Italy in the 1934 Final.
Only player to have scored in finals for two different countries:
Robert Prosinecki who scored for Yugoslavia in 1990 and for Croatia in 1998.
Most goals by a player in a finals match:
5 goals, by Russia's Oleg Salenko against Cameroon on 28/06/1994.
Most goals by a player in a Final
3 goals, by Geoff Hurst of England on 30/07/1966.
Most goals by a player in the same finals:
13 goals, by Just Fontaine of France in 6 matches of the 1958 finals.
Most headed goals by a player in the same finals:
5 goals, by Miroslav Klose of Germany in the 2002 finals.
Most goals by a player in finals in aggregate:
14 goals, by Gerd Mueller of West Germany in the 1970 and 1974 finals.
Most goals conceded by a goalkeeper in the same finals:
16 goals, by Korean goalkeeper Yung Hong Duk in two 1954 finals matches.
Only player to have appeared in the finals before and after the Second World War:
Erik Nilsson of Sweden and Alfred Bickel of Switzerland in the finals of 1938 & 1950.
Only European player to have won 2 World Cups:
Italy's Giuseppe Meazza & Giovanni Ferrari both played in the 1934 & 1938 champion teams.
Only player to have won 3 World Cups:
Pele of Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
First player to score in World Cup:
Lucien Laurent of France in the 19th minute in the first World Cup match on 13/07/1930.
First player to score a penalty goal:
Mexico's Manuel Rocquetas Rosas against Argentina on 19/07/1930.
First player to score an own goal:
Ernst Loertscher of Switzerland against West Germany on 9 June 1938.
First substitute to score a goal
Mexico's Juan Basaguren in the match against El Salvador on 7 June 1970.
First player to score a golden goal:
France's Laurent Blanc in the 113th minute in the Second Round match against Paraquay on 28/6/1998.
First player to score a hat-trick:
Guillermo Stabile of Argentina in their 6:3 win over Mexico on 19/07/1930.
First substitute to score a hat-trick:
Laszlo Kiss of Hungary in a match agianst El Salvador on 15/06/1982.
Only player to have scored a hat-trick in successive tournaments
Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina on 21/06/1994 and on 21/06/1998.
Only player to have scored in every round of the same finals:
Jairzinho who scored in every Mexico 1970 match Brazil played including the Final.
Only player to have scored in successive Final matches:
Brazilian Vava who scored 2 goals in the 1958 Final & 1 in the 1962 Final
Only brothers playing in a champion team:
Fritz & Otmar Walter of West Germany in 1954 and Jack & Bobby Charlton of England in 1966.
Only brothers to have scored in a finals match:
German brothers Fritz & Otmar Walter who scored 2 goals each in the semi-final against Austria on 30/06/1954.
Only twin brothers to have scored in the same finals:
Netherlands' Rene & Willy Van der Kerkhof who each scored a goal in the 1978 finals.
Only goalkeeping brothers in a World Cup squad:
Viktor and Vyacheslav Chanov of the USSR in World Cup 1982.
Only player to have scored for both teams in a match:
Netherlands' Ernie Brandts who scored an own goal for Italy and later a goal for his country in their 2:1 win on 21/06/1978.
Only champion player to become a champion coach:
Brazilian Mario Zagalo (player in 1958 & 1962 & coach in 1970) and Franz Beckenbauer (player in 1974 & coach in 1990).
Youngest player in finals:
Norman Whiteside who was 17 years & 42 days when he played for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia on 17/06/1982.
Oldest player in finals:
Cameroon's forward Roger Milla who was 42 years & 39 days old when he played against Russia on 28/06/1994.
Oldest player to score in finals:
Cameroon's Roger Milla who was 42 years & 39 days old when he scored in a First Round match against Russia on 28/06/1994.
Youngest player to score in finals:
Pele who was 17 years & 239 days old when he scored for Brazil against Wales in quarter finals on 19/6/58.
Youngest champion player:
Brazil's Pele who was 17 years old when he played in the 1958 Final.
Oldest champion player:
Dino Zoff, the goalkeeper & captain of Italy, who was 40 when he played in the 1982 Final.
Youngest player to have been sent off in finals:
Cameroon's Rigobert Song who was 17 years & 358 days old when he was sent off in the match against Brazil on 24/06/1994.
Oldest player to have been sent off in finals:
Fernando Clavijo of USA who was 37 when he was sent off in the match against Brazil on 4 July 1994.
Longest surname of a player at finals:
Lefter Kucukandonyadis who played for Turkey in the 1954 finals.
Most matches played by a player:
25 matches, by Germany's Lothar Matthaus from 1982 to 1998.
Most complete matches played by a player in finals:
23 matches, by Italy's Paolo Maldini from 9 June 1990 to 18 June 2002.
Most matches played as captain:
16 matches, by Argentina's Diego Maradona.
Most matches by a player as substitute in the same finals:
6 matches, by Poland's Leslaw Cmikiewiez in 1974.
Most appearances in finals by a player:
5 finals, by Mexican goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal 1950-1966 and German Lothar Matthaus 1982-1998.
Longest appearance in finals by a player:
2,172 minutes played by Italy's Paolo Maldini from 9/6/90 to 18/6/02.
Most appearances in Final by a player:
3 times, by Cafu of Brazil, in the final of 1994, 1998 & 2002.
Most finals matches by a goalkeeper without conceding a goal:
10 matches by Peter Shilton of England from 1982 to 1990.
Longest scoreless streak by a goalkeeper:
518 minutes, by Walter Zenga of Italy in the 1986 & 1990 finals.
Most penalty saves by a goalkeeper in the same finals:
2 saves by Poland's Jan Tomaszewski in 1974 (against Sweden & West Germany) and by USA's Friedel in 2002 (against South Korea & Poland).
Most penalty shoot-out saves by a goalkeeper in the same finals:
5 saves by Sergio Goycochea of Argentina in a quarter-final match and a semi-final match in WC 1990.
Klose is one goal away from becoming the 12th player in the tournament’s history to score a total of 10 at World Cup finals. Gerd Muller (14), Juergen Klinsmann (11) and Helmut Rahn (10) are the other Germans on the list.
This will be a HUGE game! Anything is possible! This will be a nail-biter!
My prediction: Argentina 2 - Germany 1
I'm off to watch the game!
Here he is!
And here he was playing for my beloved Strikers.
Germany 
Cheers.
"And here he was playing for my beloved Strikers."
Were the Strikers from Fort Lauderdale?
Who did George Best play for? Was it LA Aztecs?
George Best - another name that arguably should be in the Top 20 or even Top 10!
Best played for the Aztecs originally before coming to Fort Lauderdale. I was there for his first game as a Striker, the place was sold out, and he came out on a motorcycle.
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