FIFA FIXA

[djones]

djones, my point is that I am quite sure that Maradona, Platini, Hugo Sanchez and other great players at that time would not come to play in USA during eighties no matter what! Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid, etc. were preferred destinations and having WC 1986 in USA would not change that - in my opinion.
Early eighties were already showing signs of economic problems in USA so it is simply hard to believe that WC 1986 would change (for better) the soccer map in North America and attract some of those great players (mentioned in that article) to play in NASL instead of Spain and Italy (two strongest leagues at that time in Europe).

The disappearance of NASL certainly impacted Canadian soccer and you are right about that (as would the disappearance of any other organized league). By the way, does anybody know how many Canadian players played in NASL during seventies, eighties compared to today's MSL numbers?

I didn't imply that they would play in the league. My point was that having those players play in the World Cup in the U.S. in 1986 rather than in Mexico would have created such a buzz (especially the drama around the 'Hand of God' moment and 'That Goal') that it would have breathed new life into the league and it would have been a much more powerful league than and now. With the funds some of those owners were willing to spend, who knows who they would have convinced to stay but nowhere in my post did I say all those players would stay let alone one.

In my opinion, I feel it certainly would be a different soccer community now than what it is presently in both the U.S. and Canada if the league would have continued.

 

[akslop]

Either was Giorgio Chinaglia (29) and Julio Caeser Romero (20) of Paraguay who left the Cosmos for Fluminese before playing for FC Barcelona.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_César_Romero

I can't contribute much here. The pretty sure the only kicking I was doing was in the womb back then.

 

[djones]

Funny thing is that I can only remember 2 Americans... Shep Messing and Kyle Root Jr.

Was Cryuff over-the-hill when he came over?

Pretty sure Rudy Kroll wasn't. Or Beardsley & Grobbelaar

The one American I remember was Ricky Davis of the Cosmos. He missed his shootout goal vs the Whitecaps in the 1979 semifinal



Other players who played at a young age are Hugo Sanchez (went on to play for Atletico and Real Madrid) and Graeme Souness (Rangers and Liverpool)

Locals Gary Ayre, Bruce Twamley and Bruce Wilson all played with Beckenbauer with the Cosmos. I believe Twamley played with Pele in his last season.

 

[Jigsaw]

Funny thing is that I can only remember 2 Americans... Shep Messing and Kyle Root Jr.

Was Cryuff over-the-hill when he came over?

Pretty sure Rudy Kroll wasn't. Or Beardsley & Grobbelaar

Some of the foreign player's might have been in the twilight of their careers, but there were many who were in their prime.
Here are some that came over.
Make your own mind up.

BALL, ALAN
BANKS, GORDON
BEARDSLEY, Peter
BECKENBAUER, FRANZ
BELL, COLIN
BEST, CLYDE
BEST, GEORGE
BETTEGA, ROBERTO
BOGICEVIC, VLADISLAV
BONETTI, PETER
BRAZIL, ALAN
BYRNE, DAVID
CHARLES, CLIVE
CHINAGLIA, GIORGIO
COOKE, CHARLIE
CORRIGAN, JOE
CRUYFF, JOHAN
CUBILLAS,
CUELLAR, LEO
DAVIES, ROGER
DEYNA, KAZIMIERZ
DONACHIE, WILLIE
ENGLAND, MIKE
EUSEBIO
FRANCIS, TREVOR
GEMMILL, ARCHIE
GILES, JOHNNY
GROBBELAAR, BRUCE
HARVEY, DAVID
HATLEY, MARK
HECTOR, KEVIN
HEIGHWAY, STEVE
HILL, GORDON
HINTON, ALAN
HUDSON, ALAN
HUDSON, RAY
HURST, GEOFF

That's just down to "H".
http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/nasl/naslstar2.html
Full list of players here.

 

[Sniffer]

John Oliver's paid TV segment in Trindad & Tobago.

 

[cascadesoccer]

 

[Regs]

Almost feel sorry for the guy.

Almost.

 

[Regs]

FIFA presidential election to take place in February 2016

Sepp Blatter's reign as FIFA president will last another seven months before the governing body elects a new leader Feb. 26, 2016.

FIFA's announcement Monday that an election will take place in the new year was preceded by reports that a majority of the organization's 209 confederations are encouraging UEFA president Michel Platini to run, according to the BBC's Richard Conway.

Under FIFA elections rules, candidates for the presidency must announce their intention to run by Oct. 26.

The election will occur nine months after Blatter surprisingly announced his intention to step down from the position he's held since 1998 amid the corruption scandal that rocked the governing body in May.

Blatter won re-election for a fifth term just two days after several high-ranking officials were indicted by Swiss authorities on corruption charges at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The 79-year-old Swiss international stunned the world four days later when he explained his plans to resign.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who ran against and lost to Blatter during the May election, called for Blatter's immediate departure and urged the organization to find a figure from outside the sport to spearhead the process of coordinating the election.

"President Blatter's resignation cannot be dragged out any longer. He must leave now," Prince Ali said in a statement to the The Associated Press.

Prince Ali is expected to enter the presidential race once again, along with other high-profile candidates, which could include World Cup winner Diego Maradona.

 

[Regs]

Maradona?

Why not Cantona? That would be an awesome campaign

 

[Regs]

So Platini has thrown his hat into the ring.

This is the guy I think to clean up the mess FIFA is in.

 

[dezza]

I don't think Platini is immune to the geopolitics at play when it comes to FIFA.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/qatar-hero-michel-platini-might-5783843

 

[Regs]

I need a coles notes version, fcuk me!

 

[dezza]

I need a coles notes version, fcuk me!

He voted for Qatar. What more do you need to know?

 

[Regs]

8 year bans for Blatter & Platini announced today.

 

[Rangerforever]

The Jig's up.

 

[akslop]

Why not life time bans?

 

[Rangerforever]

Because Platini gets paid every eight years.

 

[cascadesoccer]

My brother in laws neighbour grew up in Bulgaria, his dad was good friends with puskas (FIFA goal of the year guy) this is the ball puskas used to play with as a kid

 

[Regs]

I thought Puskas was Hungarian?

 

[cascadesoccer]

Yup he is, the beers had me type Bulgaria, it's hungry