Valderrama

Valderrama

 

Carlos Alberto Valderrama Palacio (born September 2, 1961) is a Colombian football (soccer) player.

Nicknamed "El Pibe", Valderrama is recognizable for his enormous blond bush of hair and is known for his skillful passing and shielding. Valderrama was born in Santa Marta and captained his national team during the 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups, before announcing his international retirement after the 1998 competition having received 94 caps and scored seven times.

He began his career at Union Magdalena of Colombia's First Division in 1981. He also played for Millionarios and Deportivo Cali before joining Montpellier of French First Division in 1988. He was transferred to Real Valladolid in 1990 before returning to Colombia in 1992 to play for Deportivo Independiete Medellin and Atletico Juniors from 1993-96 before going to the US in 1998 to play for Miami (1998-99), Tampa Bay (2000-01) and currently Colorado. In the American Major League Soccer (MLS), Valderrama scores relatively few goals (8) for a midfielder, but has many assists (62).

On February 30 2004, Valderrama ended his 22-year career in a homage match with some of the most important football players of south america, such as Diego Maradona (he couldn't play but stayed in the tribune), Enzo Francescoli and José Luis Chilavert.

He is married and has three children.

Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola

Guardiola came through the Barça youth ranks (6 years) and stayed with the club for eleven years, winning the Primera División title six times and the European Champion Clubs' Cup once.

Guardiola was groomed to run the Barcelona side shortly after joining the youth ranks of the club. After being handed his debut by Johan Cruyff in 1990 he went on to become the vital piece of the talented and successful Dream Team that won the European Cup in 1992 and four successive Spanish league titles.

He played just in front of the back four, linking the play between Ronald Koeman at the back, through to Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov further forward. Cruyff gave him the first chance to show his talent and he immediately became one of the most important parts of the "Dream Team" being the brain, the soul and the mouth of Barça and by the age of 20, he was the undisputed leader of Barça. 

He played many roles by being a great organizer, distributing the play, keeping hold of the ball and displaying the face of the team both in the good and bad situations. Later in his Barça career, he was the player who supplied the passes for devastating Brazilian forward Romario. Both of them had developed a system of signals worked out so Guardiola would know when, and exactly where, to supply the pass. 

He also played alongside Ronaldo in his single year at the Nou Camp and under Louis van Gaal, where he was the key component in the Dutch coach's ultimately doomed attempt to play his own unique brand of "total football." It was under the helm of Louis van Gaal, that Pep was awarded with the captain’s band in 1997.

Consequently, he won a total of six league titles with Barcelona, as well as the European Cup Winners' Cup, two Spanish Cups, two European Super Cups and four Spanish Super Cups.

Capped over 40 times by Spain, a knee injury erased any lingering doubt that he may make his country's 2002 FIFA World Cup, a harsh blow to a player who also sat out the 1998 World Cup through injury. He did guide Spain to the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics which was hosted by Barcelona.

In April of 2001, Guardiola decided to quit Barcelona at the end of the season after seventeen years with the Catalans. He will forever be remembered in the hearts of the fans as one of their favorite sons who represented the Cules with pride and honor

Diego Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona

 

 

 

Diego Armando Maradona is arguably the greatest footballer that has ever put on a pair of boots. He is born in the slums of Villa Fiorito near Buenos Aires as the fifth of eight children. Maradona enters professional football at the astonishing age of 15. By the time he turns 16, Diego is called in the senior national squad of Argentina. Regardless of his talent, Diego is considered too young by coach Cesar Menotti, who rejects him from his selection for the 1978 World Cup. Bitterly disappointed, Maradona watches the tournament from home as his country wins gold. In the following four years, Diego dominates his country's domestic league and is eventually added to the Argentine squad for Spain 1982. Argentina advances from the first stage of the tournament by losing to Belgium, but beating Hungary and Salvador. 

Maradona manages to leave his mark with two beautiful, yet not critical goals. In the the second stage of the tournament, Maradona is manhandled by his Italian marker Claudio Gentile. Diego's frustration gets him sent off. Argentina fails to advance and Diego is again suppressed from unleashing his full potential. Although unsuccessful, the brilliance of the Argentine footballer does not go unnoticed and after the World Cup, he is picked up by European powerhouse Barcelona. By 1984, Maradona had established himself in Barca and is picked up by the Italian club Napoli. At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona makes his return on the World stage in a spectacular fashion. After leading his team to a quarter final against England, Diego steals the attention of millions with both his controversial character and technical brilliance. The fuss around the Argentina-England encounter is further elevated by the Falkland Islands conflict, which at that time had turned both countries against each other. Diego opens the game 1-0 by striking the ball with his hand over the English goalkeeper Shilton. Unnoticed by the referees, the mishap is ruled a goal. Five minutes later, Maradona single handedly takes the ball through the entire English defense with a slalom from midfield right down to the goal line. After the match, when confronted with the video footage of the illegal goal, Maradona replies simply "Even if there was a hand, it must have been the hand of God." Maradona silenced his critics by deciding the following semi and final matches. By scoring two goals in the first and with an assist in the second, Maradona practically earns the World Cup for his nation.

Maradona's influence on his teammates was carried over to his club side Napoli, as they reached unprecedented heights, winning their very first and second Scudetto (1997 and 1990) and the UEFA Cup in 1988/99.

At Italy 1990, all eyes are on Argentina and its brightest star Diego Maradona. Diego comes close to replicating his success from four years ago. With Maradona's ability, Argentina defeats Brazil, Yugoslavia and Italy on its way to the final. Most memorable is the semi-final match between Argentina and Italy played at Diego's club home Naples. To the torment of Maradona, the fans at his own club stadium boo him during the match. Nevertheless, Argentina eliminates Italy after a penalty shootout. The final of the 1990 World Cup, leaves Diego helpless as Argentina are defeated 0-1 by West Germany with a goal from a questionable penalty.

After the loss against West Germany, Maradona's career plummets. In March of 1991, he tested positive for doping and is banned from football for 15 months. Maradona refuses to return back to Napoli after the World Cup incident and transferrs to Sevilla for a year. He eventually goes back to Argentina with Newell's Old Boys.

The 1994 World Cup confirms that Diego's career in international football is over. He is suspended again after failing yet another doping test. Hurt by his absence, Argentina is eventually eliminated by Romania in the second stage.

Shortly after, Diego takes on a new career path as a coach. He fails miserably again, unable to remain at a single club for more than four months. By 1995, Maradona is forced to return to the game as a player. He goes back to his former club Boca Juniors, and remains there until his last match on 25th of October 1997. Five days later, during his 37th birthday, Maradona announces his retirement from football. Up until 2001, Diego remains away from the playing pitch, periodically entering rehab for cocaine abuse. Diego plays his farewell match on the 10th of November 2001 against a select team comprised by some of the greatest footballers in the game including Ferrara, Suker, Stoichkov, Cantona, Higuita, and Romario. One year earlier, Maradona is voted Best Football Player of the Century by a global Internet poll. Controversy is stirred yet again, by his nearly unanimous victory. FIFA, who find Maradona's personal image as the 'King of Football' unacceptable, decide to give the same award to Pelé as the Best Footballer for the first half of the century.

Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio

 

 

Roberto Baggio is one of the tragical figures in football. He was an astute forward with immense abilities. He was fearsome forward in world football during 90’s.he won both the FIFA world player of the year as well as European footballer of the year in 1993.He was once the world’s expensive football player and that shows how talented he was. Baggio had cult fan following across the world. His ponytail was best feature that will come to mind when one think about Baggio.

Roberto Baggio was born on 18^th February 1967 at Caldogno in Italy. At an age of 14, in 1982 he started his football journey with Vicenza .At that time they were in Serie C1. He scored 13 goals for Vicenza. Baggio moved to Fiorentina in 1985.In 1986, while playing against Sampadoria he made his debut for Fiorentina in Serie A. His first goal was against Maradona’s scudetto winning Napoli on 1oth may in the year 1987.During his stint with Fiorentina he score 39 goals. He became so popular among Fiorentina fans. He was instrumental in Fiorentina’s UEFA cup run in 1989.They reached the final and lost to their Italian opponent Juventus. He scored 17 goals in Serie A that season. His progress with Fiorentina caught attention of Juventus. In 1990 Juventus paid, then world record fee of $ 17 million for acquiring the services of Baggio. Fiorentina’s decision to sell Baggio evoked sharp reactions from their fans.

He had good goals per match ratio while playing for Juventus considering the fact that he played in most technically defensive league in the world. Baggio’s first success with Juventus was winning UEFA cup in 1993.His performances in 1993 earned him European as well as FIFA accolades. He scored six vital goals in that European campaign, while he scored 21 goals in Serie A that season. In 1995, he won his first scudetto, with Juventus. Juventus won Italian cup also that year. Baggio had an injury-hit season, which effectively reduced his playing time in that season. However, Del Piero’s emergence made the Juventus management to sideline Baggio with a reduced wage deal Baggio scored 80 goals for Juventus. Baggio captained Juventus in many matches.

When an offer came from AC Milan’s owner Berlusconi, Baggio did not think twice, he moved to Milan. He had miserable time in Milan, as he never was able to get into coach Capello’s plan. Though he won scudetto in 1996 with AC Milan, he did not have much role in it. Even though when coach moved on, arrival of his rival striker Sacchi did not help his cause. He scored only 12 goals for Milan in 51 matches. To reignite his faltering career, Baggio moved to Bologna in 1997.He struck form with Bologna as he scored 22 goals in just 30 matches for them in that season. In 1998 when Italian giants inter Milan came for him, he moved on again. However, like at AC Milan, he did not do well with Internazionale. He scored only nine goals in 41 matches for Inter Milan. His sliding form cost his place in national team. In 2001, he moved to Brescia in order to force back into Italian team for 2002 world cup. He started his Brescia career by striking eight goals in just nine games. However, injury forced him out of action for many matches. Even though he came back and scored well after recovering from injury, he was not able to get into 2002 world cup squad. He scored 45 goals for Brescia in 95 matches showing that he was good enough. He retired from football in 2004. Brescia retired their jersey number 10 to show their respect to Baggio. He scored over 300 goals in his career.

Baggio played in three world cups. He played bit part role in 1990 world cup. He scored two goals in that world cup. He scored the goal of the 1990 world cup against Czechoslovakia. In 1994 world cup, Baggio became a villain from heroin pre quarter final he scored two goals against Nigeria to help Italy to reach quarterfinals. In the win against Spain in the quarterfinal, he scored one goal. He was influential in the semi-finals for Italy with two goals as they went past Bulgaria to enter final. World will not forget the tearful Baggio after missing the penalty against Brazil in final, which effectively handed them the world cup. He scored five goals in that world cup. In 1998 world cup, again he had bit part role as coach-favoured Del Piero. He scored two goals in that world cup. In quarterfinal match against France, he came as substitute. Though he scored in the penalty shootout this time, Italy was unlucky to exit from the tournament. Baggio scored in three world cups, which is a feat in itself. He scored 27 goals for Italy in 56 matches. He did not get the chance to feature in 2002 world cup. Baggio was one of the most fashionable football team players in the world.

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane was born June 23, 1972, in Marseille, France. Zidane got his start in football (known as soccer in North America) at an early age, when he joined the US Saint-Henri club.

He moved on to Septemes Sports Olympiques after the coach convinced the director of the club to sign him. After leaving Septemes at the age of 14, Zidane participated in the first year junior selection for the league championship, the same year he was discovered.

He was called in for 3 days at the sport regional centre in Aix-en-Provence, where Jean Varraud, Cannes' recruiter, noticed the French/Algerian player. He ventured off to Cannes for what was intended to be a six-week stay, but remained even longer. Playing with professionals at the age of 16, it would only be a matter of time when he too would turn pro, and he knew he was on his way to realizing his dreams.

Showing the determination of an athlete who wants to exceed expectations, Zidane had played his first game in First Division at the age of 17, and it was from then that football went from an ambition to a passion. The Cannes midfielder scored his first goal on February 8th, 1991 (he received a Clio as a promise from the Cannes President, who promised him a car when he scored his first goal as a professional), and his first season with the club was marked by a qualification for the UEFA Cup.


Zidane's second season with Cannes wasn't as promising, but on the non-professional front he met his future wife Veronique, a Spanish dancer. After a lukewarm 91-92 season, Zidane felt it was time for a change and switched to Bordeaux after he was asked to sign a four-year contract. Marseille also wanted Zidane, but Bordeaux proved to want him more.

His beginning with Bordeaux was hard on 24-year-old Zidane, as it forced him to adapt, but once he did, he did so with flying colours. Not only did Bordeaux qualify every year that Zidane played with the team, but Bordeaux also qualified for the UEFA Cup through Intertoto and went to the final in 95-96, Zidane's last year with the team.

At the same time, Juventus sought out Zidane, and after his four crucial seasons with Bordeaux, he moved to Torino. Again, Zidane was forced to adapt to the Italian way of playing as well as to the lifestyle, but after his first year, he was a bona fide star.

It was with Juventus that Zidane won titles, as Winner of the 1996 European Super Cup, the 1996 European/South American Cup, Winner of the 1997 League Super Cup, named 1997 and 1998 Italy Champion, and Finalist of the 1997 and 1998 Champions League.

His individual awards
include the Golden Ball in 1998, and he was named Best Player of the Year by the FIFA in 1998 and 2000.
In 2001, Zizou became the most expensive player in football history when Real Madrid acquired him for 46 million pounds (roughly $66 million US Dollars). Even if he does have to adapt to the Spanish way of life, he certainly won't have to adapt to being the star player, nor the award winner.

Zinedine and Veronique have two sons, Enzo (named after Enzo Francescoli) and Luca. In addition to promoting a slew of sports products, Zidane is also Christian Dior's first male model.