august 2014michel

3 // Sexism in football

5 // O Captain! My Captain!

11 // Head Games

15 // Velez ’94: El Camino Emprendido

19 // Qatar 2022. To be and to not to be

August 2014

25 // Stadio Artemio Franchi – A Brief Encounter

27 // Paul Caligiuri. The Forgotten Hero

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ABOUT US«michel» is an old fashioned monthly magazine about the beautiful game of football. «michel» football magazine was founded in August 2013 by Rolands Juhna and Cristian Liberum.

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Twitter - @lemichelmagAnna-Louise Adams

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SexiSmThese kind of incidents, particularly the Scudamore scandal send a clear message to wom-en, which is, “this is a boys club, you’re not welcome here, I can say whatever I like, and pretty much get away with it.”

For many women, even those who would love a career in any aspect of football, the idea of putting up with derogatory, objectifying and downright sexist comment may well be very off-putting.

Another example of sexism in football is the recent hiring and resignation of Helena Costa as manager of French football team, Clermont Foot 63. Costa, the first female professional football team manager, quit her job after decisions on matches and players had been made without her input, and male colleagues had left her believing she was merely a face to attract publicity and stated that it was clear she was not going to be respected or listened to. This incident may leave some women believing that if they do find a career in football, it could be for reasons other than their ability at the job.

However, if we take a look behind the scenes, these claims can easily be dispelled. The statistic for female sports jour-nalist’s lies somewhere in between 10% and 13%, meaning that roughly only one in ten sports journalists in the Unit-ed Kingdom are female. When we look over to football agents, we see that only 3.4% are women. Out of every three football coaches, there is only one woman, with the ratio for qualifying as a coach even worse – with only one female for every five. Only one woman has been titled manager of a professional football team within Europe. In 2011 there were only 853 female referees registered with the FA compared to 26,000 males.

So why, when females make up a quarter of all football fans, are we not seeing similar statistics within industry jobs? Initially, one can respond by saying that perhaps a majority of women do not want to work in football. This would be a fair argument if it were to be backed up with evidence.

The only evidence I have found is that a number of women do want to work in football, shown by events such as Kick It Out’s Women’s Raise Your Game event, hosted in No-vember 2013. The event attracted women from all over the country interested in working in football media, agen-cy, administration, officiating, coaching and other sectors within the industry.

One of the key factors as to why women make up such a small percentage of workers within football could be that there a lack of role models to aspire to.

While men have ample choice for role models within the industry, such as media stars like Gary Lineker, Geoff Stel-ling and Guillem Balague, coaches such as the ones who develop them into footballers from children, the referees who officiate almost every single televised match of foot-ball they watch, women have a distinct lack of these peo-ple to aspire to.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t any female role models – there are, just look at Karren Brady, Jacqui Oatley, Hope Powell and Sian Massey, there are far fewer than their male counterparts.

In turn, this could have the potential to portray football as something still of a ‘mans game’ with no place for women, which could lead women to rule football out as a possible career, or not even consider it.

For those women who do consider a career in football, their hopes could be quashed by the constant sexism related scandals, or sexist statements made by those with power.

Examples of these would include the infamous Gray and Keyes incident(s), where sexist comments were directed to both reporter Claire Tomlinson and referee Sian Massey, as well as Gray’s inappropriate suggestion to Charlotte Jack-son on Sky Sports. More recently, Richard Scudamore, the Premier League boss avoided punishment from the Pre-mier League (coincidentally), and the FA despite a string of extremely sexist emails he had sent and received being released into the public domain.

WRITTEN BY ANNA-LOUISE ADAMS

A s t h e g A m e o f w o m e n ’ s f o o t b A l l c o n t i n u e s t o g r o w A n d d e v e l o p , t h e r e A r e c l A i m s t h A t g e n d e r e q u A l -

i t y w i t h i n t h e i n d u s t r y i s r i s i n g .

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in footballSo what is the solution in increasing the number of females in the working world of football?

Firstly, the answer is definitely no to quotas. Quotas would mean that a company would have to employ a certain number of females to abide by the law. Women should be hired because they are excellent at what they do – not because they are a woman.

A step in the right direction would be more events hosted by organisations such as Kick It Out, and the FA, to not only encourage and inspire women, but to show them that a career in football is more than possible.

These events would benefit from talks by leading women currently in the game, who can share with other women their stories of entering the indus-try and help to build their confidence.

Furthermore, scandals such as Scudamore’s sexist remarks need to be rep-rimanded in a just and fair way. No female is going to be encouraged by the boss of the Premier League making misogynistic comments, especially when comments of a racist or homophobic nature would be dealt with entirely differently – namely by the loss of a job.

However, while these things may help more women break into the foot-ball industry, the problem of sexism is a product of the society we live in – not a problem inherent of football.

Therefore the best way to deal with this issue is through education start-ing with schools. A greater emphasis on teaching gender equality would mean that the next generation is likely to grow up with more respect for women, and therefore more acceptances of women in predominantly male industries.

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O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!CASSIDY GABRIEL LOOKS BACK ON THE COLORFUL CAREER OF USA NATIONAL TEAM CAPTAIN CLINT DEMPSEY, WHO IS THE COvER HERO OF THE AUGUST EDITION.

It’s been four years since Antonio Chi-menti watched a lazy, chipped effort sail past him into Craven Cottage’s north end goal. Four years, since the unlikely scorer ran alongside the ad-vertising hoardings of a vociferous Hammersmith End crowd in some-thing of a victory lap, as Juventus’ third-string goalkeeper cowered at his error, the fourth fatal conception of an unrelenting night between the posts for the aging Italian. The elated tenants of the Cottage’s northernmost concourse clung tighter to their im-possible dream of a Europa League title, shouting choruses of, “He scores with his left! He scores with his right! That boy Clint Dempsey, Makes Drogba look shite!” As with any prop-er Fulham chant, the lyrics – gaudy and unpolished as they may have been - stylishly insulted Chelsea, Ful-ham’s notoriously rivaled neighbors of London’s SW6 district, and that night, the praises, adoring sentiments, and

larger-than-life comparisons were all for Clint Dempsey.

On the southwestern banks of the River Thames, that moment still lingers in the air; a quiet relic of the recent past, and a monumental footprint ingrained in Fulham’s 135-year-old history. However, four years have un-doubtedly brought change in the Eng-lish capital, where the Premiership’s oldest London club has buoyed be-tween 8th place and relegation since that triumph over Italy’s finest, facing the latter scenario for the first time after 13 consecutive years in the top flight. In four years, plans to expand the club’s sacred stadium grounds have evolved from whimsical blueprints into in-motion renovation concepts, com-plete with the installment of a mod-ernized pitch featuring engineered, hybrid materials and “fibrelastic” sod, replacing the stadium’s all-natural sur-face of old. The club has changed its kit

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manufacturing partner twice since that night in 2010 - from Nike to Kap-pa, and then once more to Adidas - and championed for a host of en-terprises in out-of-place, chest-borne advertisements, from LG Electronics, to MarathonBet gaming, to FxPro Financial. There has been an active turnstile in the director’s box; from the softly-spoken, revolutionary era of Roy Hodgson to the presently flam-boyant and eccentric Felix Magath, five managers have led semi-sumptu-ous squads of Cottagers to pseudo cli-maxes and mundane league finishes in the past four campaigns. At Craven Cottage, even the façade has been altered since that semifinal: a transi-tional period between chairmen pro-duced an impromptu and ominously kitschy plaster-and-resin tribute to Michael Jackson outside of the sta-dium grounds - a feat uncomfortably received by Cottagers until the statue was unceremoniously laid to rest 217

miles away in a Manchester museum. Indeed, plenty has changed since that surreal night four years ago.

For the former savior of the Ham-mersmith End, the four years since his self-described “lucky” lobbed goal have fallen into place almost system-atically. After extinguishing the flame to a decade-long romance period between Fulham and a rotating cast of American players (an era better-known by its portmanteau “Ful-hamerica”) by making the forsaken, 14-mile trek northward to Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane, Clint Dempsey has traversed across The Pond and back, for a whisk-away loan spell, in a chaotically-organized sequence of club transfers and playing endeavors. After becoming the first player to achieve a half-centurion of goals in Fulham white during the Premiership era, Dempsey brought ceremonious closure to his London

adventure and altered the trajectory of the ever-active pursuit to transform the state of soccer in the United States. Today, Dempsey is something of a folk-loric American hero, recognized by the shadow-rimmed eyes, crooked smirk, and constant, endearing scowl to sup-porters of The Beautiful Game across the globe. The beloved son of Fulham’s Hammersmith End has spiraled into the tangible superhero of a nation and a real-life Captain America to gen-erations - from impressionable young kids to potbellied, bandanna-laden avengers.

Since Jürgen Klinsmann’s appoint-ment as head coach of the United States Men’s National Team in 2011, his philosophy has been clear: to trans-form the United States Men’s National Team into something of a next-level, international powerhouse – sophisti-cated, clearly-defined, dauntless, and nestled into the highest echelons of

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football. While Klinsmann’s first chance to test the USMNT’s evolved image and reshaped tactical output against the world’s finest footballing machines ended abruptly during the Round of 16 this summer in Brazil, the German has found a working bal-ance between personnel relics of his predecessor Bob Bradley’s tenure and younger squad additions - the pawns of his electrifying soccer revolution. Those implanting themselves into challenging surroundings abroad not only earned respect from the German international upon his arrival three years ago, but were crowned as the focal points of the latest national team picture. At the time, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were both work-ing towards stardom in the Premier League, while Michael Bradley en-dured a stint in Italy’s Serie A, and Jer-maine Jones his own in the Bundesliga, together forming a synergistic com-pilation of U.S. Soccer’s most daring

expatriated crusaders. While he’s of-ten been relegated to playing second fiddle to Landon Donovan in recog-nition, notoriety, and international goals (Donovan – 57, Dempsey – 38), no player embodied, embraced, and tested the boundaries of Jürgen Klinsmann’s nebulous, shapeless phi-losophy of reaching the “next level” through foreign competition like Clint Dempsey. By the climax of the USMNT’s World Cup qualifying Hex-agonal, it was Dempsey’s flair and well-established foothold in the Pre-mier League (playing for Tottenham Hotspur, at the time) that earned him the captain’s armband. In Bra-zil, the spot-light belonged solely to the American captain from the 29th second of the United States’ opening match against Ghana – without Do-novan’s central prowess, Dempsey’s freedom was practically boundless. He seized the moment by scoring the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history.

In the American soccer market, a mi-crocosmic environment where every ebb and flow is measured, catego-rized, and contrasted to a catastroph-ic extent, Clint Dempsey is a refreshing and much-needed outlier. For Klins-mann, appointing Dempsey to the USMNT captaincy meant placing the prime accountability of the USMNT’s on-field progression in the hands of one of the squad’s most unpredict-able and individually skillful facets, “Behind making Clint Dempsey the captain was the simple thought [of taking] on leadership, [taking] on re-sponsibility,” Klinsmann revealed. The risk proved rewarding: by expanding the responsibilities of the soft-spoken, austere, and cerebral Dempsey, a self-coined “leader by example,” the versatility, positional awareness, and inexhaustible nature of those around him improved as well. Dempsey is the pinnacle of unconventionalism; pro-viding a transcendental centerpiece

During his five years at Craven Cottage, Clint Dempsey was a beloved son of the Hammersmith End supporters.

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to any formation, a pseudo poacher in extreme situations like Jozy Altidore’s untimely injury during the World Cup, and clinical, dedicated roam-ing trequartista, with the freedom to produce world class moments of pure intimacy with the ball. His com-mitment mirrors the kid from dusty, hard-edged Nacogdoches pick-up matches, transformed by sacrifice, and saturated in the culture of The Beautiful Game via countless hours of indulging in South American leagues on television,“Even at five years old… you could see that Clint got it, un-derstood what you’re supposed to be doing,” Dempsey’s older brother Ryan told The Atlantic. “He’d mimic all the guys we’d just seen on Tv—Marado-na, Caniggia, valderamma, Brazilian, Argentine, and Colombian players.”

In a budding system where exceptions are looked to as benchmarks and trendsetters, Clint Dempsey’s decision

to move back to Major League Soccer shed the unspoken burden of using a foreign setting as an essential to “grow the [American] game.” An American player, and captain no less, had final-ly made a decision that altered per-spectives on the “greater good” of soc-cer in the United States, rather than adhering to a somewhat strict his-torical agenda of moving abroad for the highest competition. At the exact moment that Clint Dempsey stood in the center of the artificial pitch at Seattle Sounders’ CenturyLink Field before thousands of adoring Emer-ald City faithful and unveiled his own Sounders kit from beneath sweatshirt, his successes, and those of the United States and soccer became separate entities.

That was last August. Recovered from an uneventful loan spell back to Craven Cottage and an early goal-drought during his MLS return, Clint

Dempsey has since re-acclimated himself into the volatile, face-making, rampant goal-scorer and personality he’s always been. Alongside Nigerian international Obafemi Martins, with whom he’s developed an almost sub-conscious on-field awareness with, Dempsey’s quality has been a nov-elty in MLS, especially for the Seattle Sounders who sit atop the league’s Western conference, and in the cur-rent lead for the Supporter’s Shield race.

As a fan of rap music and a budding performer himself, Dempsey’s move back to the United States has also fueled some of his accolades in one of his many fascinating realms of inter-est– the music industry. After taking a scroll through the YouTube comments on Dempsey’s latest collaboration single, “It’s Poppin’” the response to Dempsey’s rap infatuation is plenty: the USMNT captain has a healthy

Clint Dempsey scored 50 Premiership goals at Fulham, a club record

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following and a decent stream of feedback-packed comments, any number of which are laden with jibes of approval tinged with internet slang or patriotic sentiments of a particular-ly soccer-oriented persuasion. In the song, in 37 lines of minimally-explicit, broken metrical verse, Dempsey ad-dresses everything from his Instagram following to a dodgy self-comparison to Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch.

Fans have adopted his stage name “Deuce” as a term of endearment, and as the midfielder continues to grow into himself as both a player and captain, reflecting elements of his beloved hometown roots and rap music both on the pitch as much as he does off of it, the nickname couldn’t be more fitting, “I’m focused on soccer, trying to make the most of my career but, I enjoy rapping. The first vehicle I ever had didn’t have a radio in it so I would rap to go to school. My younger brother used to always tell me to shut up but, it’s just something I’ve always

enjoyed… I grew up on Houston rap… that really shaped me as a person, that’s what I like to listen to before games,” Dempsey says. Since the re-lease of his first single in 2006, Demp-sey’s rebellious, scowl-faced rap per-sona has long since parted with a shaggier, leonine hairdo for an edgier, no-nonsense buzzcut. He’s also elabo-rated on the beginnings of his trade-mark tattoo half-sleeve, now an intri-cate, winding work of art that trails up and around his chest, with a range of symbols from an inverted silhouette of the state of Texas to a tombstone and tennis racquet, a somber ode to his late sister, Jennifer. A scripted paragraph of Psalm 23, sits just below a depiction of the War in Heaven scene, where the archangel Michael leads a most notori-ous battle against the Devil. His off-field charisma tends to be the polar opposite of his usually steely, warrior’s persona; a quiet, friendly guy, doused in a healthy, soft-edged Eastern Texas drawl. But don’t be fooled: he’s ferocious, he’s in-quisitive, he’s multidimensional, and he’s here to make a statement.

Today, the American-sized void in Fulham’s senior team has found an heir to the “Fulhamerica” torch in 18-year-old Emerson Hyndman, a youngster who made his unofficial first appearance for the Cottagers this summer. Ironically, like the man who came before him, Hyndman’s roots lie over 4,700 miles away - in Texas – but the mystery remains where his winding career will take him. Dated ‘DEMPSEY’ kits still linger around White Hart Lane as they do around Craven Cottage, even while the man himself has taken up play-ing, living, and raising his children an ocean away in Seattle. But, it’s the Hammersmith End version of “That Boy Clint Dempsey” still comes up as a common search query in YouTube; as do clips from that rainy night at Craven Cottage and the audacious lob over Antonio Chimenti, the re-cord 57 Premier League goals, the countless interviews and skill com-pilations, and even the music video to Dempsey’s first rap single, “Don’t Tread:”

“Clint played abroad for many years and decided to come back to MLS for an amaz-ing amount of money… a huge deal. It was for me, from a purely soccer perspective very difficult to take because for the national team environment, you want your best

players playing in the best teams in the world… and they are in Europe.” – Jürgen Klinsmann, on Dempsey’s return to Major League Soccer

“In the beginning, we were those kidsThat played on the dirt fields

But with determinationWe came from the bottom

And rose to the topWe chased and grabbed

A hold of our dreamsNow we play on the fieldsWhere the grass is greens

And we can tell by theLooks on their face

When they find out what theDream is we chased

They hateBut we as a team

Have a phrase we say whenNegativity comes our way

Don’t tread on this.”-Clint “Deuce” Dempsey, “Don’t Tread,” 2006

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HeadGameS

As with any contact sport, there are risks a player takes each time he takes the pitch. But not very many of those risks involve long term damage to the brain or even death. A concussion oc-curs when a blow to the head causes the brain to hit the skull. Normally, the cerebrospinal fluid cushions most impacts, but when the head is hit hard enough and with enough force, it is simply not enough. The shock wave caused by the impact will pass through the brain and bounce off of the back of the skull, so the concussion will actu-ally usually occur on the opposite side of the point of impact. Obvious im-mediate physical damage can include bruising of the brain, tearing of blood vessels and even nerve damage.

Long term effects of a concussion vary a lot from player to player and from incident to incident. As medicine and technology, advance, we are learn-ing more and more about some of the

long term side effects. In addition to players who have died as a direct re-sult of brain trauma caused by concus-sions incurred on the field of play, there are new studies linking CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) with foot-ball head injuries. CTE is a degenera-tive brain disease with symptoms such as dementia, memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, and even-tually death. It is caused by repeated blows to the head and has long been linked to deaths in boxing, American football, and other sports, but is now being linked with the early deaths of some footballers, too. Unfortunately, it cannot be diagnosed at this point until after the patient has died, which post mortem diagnosis also inhibits the treatment of it. For now, it is some-thing that can only be prevented.

So what can be done to stop this trend of serious head injuries in football? How can we stop players from developing

CTE? Because no one wants to see the sport watered down. Yet as play-ers have become faster, bigger, and stronger, the injuries grow along with it in number and severity. And wear-ing protective headgear has not been proven to prevent injuries, either. Al-though it is sometimes worn after a severe head injury such as a skull frac-ture to protect from further injury.

While referees could call more fouls when players come in too hard, too fast, or otherwise risk serious head in-juries to players in the air, in goal, or otherwise having their heads in dan-ger, this kind of policing is more likely to impact the game negatively than it would lower the number and severity of head injuries. And when you factor in those who believe that simply head-ing the ball can lead to brain trauma, then the game without headers at all loses a lot of its appeal for both players and fans.

WRITTEN BY ELAINE LEONE

“re f , i s t h i s t h e f i n A l?” A c l e A r l y d A z e d A n d c o n f u s e d ch r i s t o p h Kr A m e r h A d A p-p r o A c h e d t h e r e f e r e e , n i c o l A r i z z o l i . “ i n e e d t o K n o w i f t h i s i s r e A l l y t h e f i n A l .” Af t e r r i z z o l i A s s u r e d h i m i t w A s , h e r e p l i e d “th A n K s , i t w A s i m p o r t A n t t o K n o w.” At t h i s p o i n t , r i z z o l i r e A l i z e d t h A t Kr A m e r s h o u l d n o l o n g e r c o n t i n u e , f o l l o w-i n g h i s c o l l i s i o n w i t h gA r A y i n t h e wo r l d cu p f i n A l . cl e A r l y , h e w A s s u f f e r i n g f r o m A c o n c u s s i o n, A n i n j u r y t h A t h A s b e c o m e d A n g e r o u s l y c o m m o n i n f o o t b A l l .

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Besides, as many advocates for the health of players and their brains will tell you, it’s not the game that is causing the problems, it is the mismanagement of the injuries themselves that cause players long term damage and even cost them their careers or lives. Injuries are always going to be a part of the beautiful game, they are a justifiable risk. During the World Cup this summer, for example, we saw a number of players with head injuries. Unlike Kramer, who initially returned to play but was wisely subbed off after his conversation with the ref, many re-turned to play the rest of their matches, even though fans and pundits questioned their abil-ity to do so. This led to widespread criticism of FIFA and its policies on head injuries.

However, FIFA has very clear policies on the treatment of head injuries. For example, when a player loses consciousness, he is not to return to the pitch that day, or even play again at all for at least five days. They even have a “Pocket Concussion Recognition Tool” for teams, their medics, refs, and more, which spells out how to recognize signs of a possible concussion and reiterates that any player with even one of the symptoms listed is to be removed from play. Additionally, it lists red flag warning signs for when a player needs to be further assessed medically or go to a hospital. All of their guide-lines regarding head injuries and possible con-cussion are considered appropriate medically based on current practices and written with the intent to reduce the trauma from head injuries.

So why aren’t FIFA’s guidelines uniformly en-forced? Simple: they leave it up the medical professionals on hand to enforce it. And medi-cal professionals worldwide have exceptionally varied knowledge of and ideas about head injuries and concussions. Which exposes the big-gest problem with concussions in football: not enough is known about the risks of head trau-mas, and what is known is not being taken seri-ously enough.

It’s easy to understand why they might overlook their medical training, FIFA’s mandates, and common sense in the heat of the moment. For one, what player wouldn’t want to keep playing if they are conscious and physically able to move? Any player who would want to come off after what might seem like a simple knock to the head would need their head examined. So they get pressure from the players themselves. Then, there are only three substitutions per match. Unlike injuries to limbs or other body parts, the player likely has no idea how extensive a head injury is, and neither does anyone else. So naturally the coaching staff would not want to be forced into using a sub-stitution if they don’t believe there is an injury that warrants it.

But the proper care of an athlete post injury makes a huge difference in the amount of trauma to the brain. If treated properly, the trauma can be minimized. If the player is allowed to continue to play in that match or even in matches soon thereafter, not only does the concussion not heal properly, but the injury can be made worse. Obviously, it’s easier to treat an injury where there is visible bleeding, inflammation, pain, etc. Yet those kinds of injuries almost never result in death or long term disabilities like concussions can. It begs the question to be reiterated again, why aren’t head injuries taken more seriously? Until they are, we will likely see more long term damage, which is a shame when we can do something to prevent it.

Concussions are the serious, oft invisible injuries that can end a career or even a life. But most of them do not have to be this way. By raising awareness of the dangers involved and by teams and their medical staff being more responsible and adhering to FIFA’s policies, the trauma from these injuries can be re-duced significantly and players can continue playing longer without as much fear of long term effects such as CTE. The more that teams, their staff, the athletes, and even the fans know about head traumas and concussions, the sooner the treatments will change for the better. And when players are treated properly, fans can enjoy the beautiful game guilt-free, without all of these head games.

Javier Mascherano of Argentina receives treatment after a painful collision in the semi-final game of the 2014 World Cup against Netherlands national team. (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

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Velez ’94:El Camino Emprendido

th e b A r r i o o f l i n i e r s , l o c A t e d i n t h e w e s t o f bu e n o s A i r e s , i s , f o r A l l i n t e n t s A n d p u r p o s e s , A f A i r l y o r d i n A r y l o w e r-m i d d l e c l A s s n e i g h b o u r h o o d. bo r d e r e d o n o n e s i d e b y t h e Av e n i d A ge n e r A l pA z – t h e c h A o t i c r i n g r o A d t h A t e f f e c t i v e l y d e m A r c A t e s t h e A u t o n o m o u s c i t y f r o m t h e pr o v i n c i A – i t c l i n g s t o t h e e d g e o f t h e c A p i t A l ’ s i n n e r c o r e , s e e m i n g l y A w o r l d A w A y f r o m t h e h u s t l e A n d b u s-t l e o f t h e m i c r o c e n t r o, A f A r c r y f r o m t h e c o l o u r f u l c o n v e n t i l l o s o f lA bo c A, t h e s t r e e t t A n g o i n sA n te l m o o r t h e e t e r n A l n i g h t l i f e o f pA l e r m o u s u A l l y A s s o c i A t e d w i t h t h e pA r i s o f t h e so u t h.

Aside from Liniers’ importance as a transport hub and its large Bolivian community, known locally as ‘Pequeña Bolivia’, the barrio’s prin-cipal claim to fame comes from its local foot-ball team: Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield. And thanks to velez, the residents of Liniers have had plenty to shout about in recent years.

Under the stewardship of Ricardo Gareca, velez have enjoyed a highly successful five-year pe-riod, winning three championships and featuring regularly in the knock out stages of continental competition, as well as being crowned 2012-13 Super Champions. This recent spate of titles takes them to joint sixth in the all-time list of Argentinian league winners along with the now defunct Alumni Athletic Club whose ten league triumphs all came in the amateur era at the start of the 20th century. Only the traditional ‘Cinco Grandes’ can boast more domestic silverware.

Given their recent achievements, there is, there-fore, an argument for velez to be considered the sixth ‘grande’. Historically, however, the likes of Estudiantes can point to more continental success while Huracan can count on a bigger fanbase, the same of which can also be said for provincial powerhouses such as Newell’s, Central and even Talleres. Indeed, a perceived lack of support is an oft-used barb aimed at velez by their rivals.

What’s more, though velez may have only spent three seasons outside of the top flight in the pro-fessional era, they had to wait until 1968 to win their first title before promptly experiencing an-other 25-year trophy drought. It was only with the advent of the 1990s that would see velez finally rise to prominence and mark a golden era of unparalleled success in the club’s history, the pinnacle of which would see them win some of the most coveted trophies in world football.

The decade began in auspicious fashion, hinting at the budding potential simmering under the surface at velez. Third place in the 1990 Apertura was followed by finishing fourth in the ‘91 Apertu-ra and then runners up a year later. But it was to be an appointment, at the tail end of 1992, which would prove to be the catalyst for their success.

Carlos Bianchi, then an untested rookie, was given his first managerial role ahead of the 1993 Clausura. A club favourite, the former striker had significantly been a member of squad that had won velez’s sole title back in 1968 before enjoying a prolific spell in France with Reims and PSG. This strong bond forged to his boyhood club would go on to have a major impact on the identity of the club, as well as heavily influencing a number of play-ers, some of whom would, like Bianchi, also later return to make telling contributions to the club.

Bianchi’s impact was immediate. velez se-cured the Clausura title in the penultimate game of the season in a 1-1 draw with Estudi-antes, with Paraguayan goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert scoring his first of many goals for the club. Bianchi, after 25 years, had brought the title back to Liniers. This was just the start.

Thanks to their league win, Velez qualified for the Copa Libertadores for only the second time in their history but were drawn in a tough group containing Boca Juniors and Brazilians Palmeiras and Cruzeiro. Bianchi’s men weren’t given much hope in qualifying let alone going on a decent run.

velez began with a 1-1 draw against Boca in the Estadio Jose Amalfitani, Jose Flores cancelling out Carlos Mac Allister’s opener with an oppor-tunistic lob over a stranded Navarro Montoya. This was followed by another 1-1 creditable draw

away against Cruzeiro, velez once again com-ing from behind, this time Omar Asad rounding the keeper to equalise after a certain 17-year-old Ronaldo had given a Raposa a first minute lead.

In the third fixture, Velez welcomed Palmeiras to Liniers in what would prove to be the game that truly kick-started their campaign. The free-scoring Brazilians had put six past Boca in the previous game but velez managed to neutralise the Alviverde’s attacking threat and once again it was Asad – nicknamed el Turco (The Turk) for his Arabic heritage despite actually being of Leb-anese/Syrian ethnicity – who proved to be the difference, giving el Fortin a precious 1-0 victory.

victories away to Boca (2-1 with goals from Asad and Jose Basualdo) and at home to Cruzeiro (2-0 Roberto Trotta and Asad again) secured velez’s passage to the knock out stages. Despite a 4-1 loss away to Palmeiras in the final group game, Bianchi’s men finished top with three vic-tories, two draws and one loss. The dream was still well and truly alive.

Entering the knockout stages of the tournament, velez were pitted against Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in the round of 16. A 1-1 draw in first game and 0-0 in the return leg meant that, with no away goal rule, the game went to penalties – the first instance of what would be an important feature of their tournament. With the inspira-tional and imposing Chilavert making two saves and scoring one himself, velez won 4-3 and pro-gressed to the quarter-finals.

Following an enforced break for the 1994 World Cup that summer, the Libertadores resumed at the quarter-final stage in late July. The opposi-tion would be venezuelan upstarts Minerven – the club has since gone out of business – and

WRITTEN BY TOM ROBINSON

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s

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velez managed to negotiate a trip to Puerto Or-daz to claim a respectable 0-0 draw. Back on home soil, goals from young strike duo Flores and Asad gave velez an expected victory to take them into the semi-finals.

Awaiting them were Colombian champions Junior, whose team boasted a number of internationals such as Ivan valenciano and ‘el Pibe’ Carlos valder-rama desperate to make up for their disappointing showing for the national team that summer. In the sweltering first leg in Barranquilla, Velez suf-fered only their second defeat of the competition as valenciano lived up to his nickname, el Gordito de Oro, and netted twice. Turu Flores reduced the deficit but the Fortineros would face an uphill bat-tle in the return leg. Only a victory would suffice.

A week later back at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani, velez responded perfectly, racing into a two goal lead with a header from Chrisitan Bassedas and a close range effort from Flores. However, once again valenciano struck, tying the score 3-3 on aggregate and taking the game to penalties. Both sides expertly despatched their first four pen-alties each and up stepped Flores for the crucial fifth spot kick. Jose Maria Pazo flew to his right and kept it out, leaving velez hanging by a life-line. But with Chilavert between the posts there was always a chance and so it proved as he saved Hector Mendez’s tame effort. Basualdo converted and then Ronald valderrama crashed his again the post and Velez were through to the final in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Now it all came down to the final – also a two-legged affair – in which velez would have to overcome Tele Santana’s reigning champions Sao Paulo, who were looking to complete a hat trick of consecutive Libertadores wins. Their formidable squad contained three World Cup winners in Zetti, Cafu and Muller and o Tricolor were understand-ably huge favourites. Not that this phased velez of course. Omar Asad’s sixth goal of the competition and a perfect defensive display gave el Fortin a 1-0 win in Liniers and a slender advantage going into the second, decisive leg.

In front of around 100,000 fans in the Morumbi, velez faced the biggest game in their history, need-ing only to avoid defeat to be sure of a first Liber-tadores win. However, a Muller penalty after 33 minutes gave Sao Paulo a 1-0 lead and meant that the sides were dead level. Raul Cardozo was sent off but some heroic, backs-to-the-wall defending ensured that the 10 men of velez hung on to force the game, with the aggregate score at one apiece, to penalties for the third time in the competition.

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Velez captain Roberto Trotta was the first to step up; the defender unerringly fired the ball into the bottom left corner and the pressure was passed to the Brazilians. The burden proved too much for Palhinha as his weak effort was comfortably saved by Chilavert. Advantage velez. Then Chilavert, going second as usual, buried his penalty to strike another psychological blow against Santana’s charges. Sao Paulo responded with Andre Luiz, Muller and Euller all converting but velez matched them step for step with Zandona and Almandoz making it four from four and maintaining their one goal advantage. And in emphatic fashion substi-tute Roberto Pompei thumped Velez’s fifth in off the underside of the bar to ensure an improbable first Libertadores victory for Velez. In a stunned Morumbi, the players and coaching staff celebrat-ed wildly with the travelling band of supporters. Chilavert – the difference again – was mobbed by journalists, while Trotta slumped to his knees, overcome by emotion, weeping into the Argentin-ian flag.

In just 18 months Bianchi had brought velez their second league title and first Libertadores. In much the same style as their league triumph, their success was based in a solid defence and a clinical ability to take their chances – hallmarks of Bianchi’s teams later at Boca too – as well as the penalty heroics of Chilavert and goals of Asad and Flores. They may have done it the hard way but nevertheless velez had brought the biggest prize in South American football back home to Liniers.

***

That wasn’t to be the end of their landmark year as the Intercontinental Cup in Japan still beckoned. If velez were second favourites against Sao Paulo, then it would be a gross understatement to sug-gest the Argentinians underdogs had much of a chance against Champions League winners AC Mi-lan. The Italians, though not quite at their Arrigo Sacchi pomp, had secured their 5th European title in consummate fashion after Fabio Capello’s men had dismantled Barcelona 4-0 in the final earlier in the year.

A star-studded line-up included the likes of Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Mar-cel Desailly, Zvonimir Boban, Dejan Savicevic and Daniele Massaro. Velez, fittingly hailing from Ital-ian roots themselves, would have to be at their very best once again.

But that’s exactly what they did, executing their game plan to perfection to claim yet another pres-tigious scalp. The deadlock was broken five minutes

velez then did the unthinkable and doubled their advantage seven minutes later. Costacurta, still reel-ing from giving the penalty away, sent a lazy, undercooked backpass towards Rossi but Asad reacted quickest to nip in and get to the ball. Running away from goal, Asad still had plenty to do but somehow in one movement managed to swivel and hook the ball into the net from an acute angle. Costacurta’s miser-able evening was compounded as he received his marching orders in the 85th minute and velez saw out the game to add another improb-able title to their growing list of sil-verware.

***

velez would go on to win the 1995 Apertura, 1996 Clausura and 1996 Copa Interamericana under ‘virrey’ Bianchi and then a fifth domestic title in the 1998 Clasura under Mar-celo Bielsa in what would go down as the most successful decade in the clubs history. But it is 1994 that will be forever remembered as the crowning glory in those apogeic days of pioneering triumph.

20 years on, the relevancy of that year still resonates today as velez’s recent success has been overseen by sporting director Christian Bassedas and now former manager Ricardo Gareca, both of whom played un-der Bianchi during his spell at velez. Commitment to youth develop-ment – seven of the Libertadores & Intercontinental winning squad were academy products – has re-mained a key aspect of velez’s identity and the club has ensured continuity with Turu Flores (another Bianchi graduate) now in the man-agers dugout after cutting his teeth as ‘Tigre’ Gareca’s assistant.

No-one could have predicted quite how important the path under-taken by Bianchi & co. would be all those years ago but, two decades on from their biggest achievement, its significance remains as pertinent as ever.

Neighborhood of Liniers in Buenos Aires. (Photo: Federico Cimatti)

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When money decides everything butnothing

to be

and to

not to be

member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. Two FIFA executive committee members were suspended before the vote in relation to allegations of corruption regard-ing their votes. The decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was graded as having “high operational risk”,generated criticism from media commentators, LGBT rights groups and American, Australian and English officials.

Qatar gave a feel of what the World Cup would be like by holding a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina. Furthermore, people coming from different nations visited Qatar for this match and strengthened the image Qatar would depict of their interest in the World Cup 2022.

The biggest question after Qatar got the rights to host World Cup 2022 – what did they offer such so that beat their rivals quite clearly (in all 4 rounds Qatar got advantage over main rivals USA for at least 5 votes). On this question the most popular answer is bribery. Qatar bribed FIFA, bribed Sepp Blatter with a fine money that can’t be measured in millions but billions. However, it can’t be so clear all. Qatar did a lot before actual bidding for up-coming World Cup to make FIFA interested a lot into this country which is full of luxury everywhere. Good impression from Qatar came with Asian games in 2006, where it showed that can host such major tournaments and nation is passionate with football. Also after that country started to invest a lot of money into different stuff connected with football. And also after they got their approval from FIFA to host the World Cup, they didn’t stop. Qatar’s wealth, generated by a $183bn GDP (in 2012) drawn mostly from natural gas, bought French football club PSG, in May 2011. Also in 2011 the Qatar Foundation paid €150m for a five-year deal to become the first ever sponsor of the Bar-celona shirt, arguably the world’s most prestigious advertising space. Just two years into that odd ar-rangement, by which the country’s charitable arm was paying to sponsor a football club, the deal was converted into Barcelona’s first genuinely corpo-rate sponsorship.

To compare Qatar with South Korea or Japan by current football popularity and experience in or-ganizing such level tournaments would be... stu-pid. 2002 many of us remember quite clearly and noone can say that World Cup was organized bad-ly. Also USA and Australia are more football coun-tries than Qatar for the moment. But my opinion

Just few months ago was given start to one of the most complicated, hardest and dramatic football World Cup campaigns in Brazil. We all know what influence on it came from Brazil’s political, eco-nomic and social problems. A lot of pogroms, pro-tests, scandals, angry slogans and more and more negative stuff surrounded this World Cup. By itself it was probably one of the best if we look at its overall performance. Matches were played good if not count some clear mistakes from referees, goals were scored a lot and fans surely enjoyed this ma-jor tournament. The other side of all this – inside problems of Brazil including crimes, corruption and poverty were hidden deep down in each Brazilian football fan during this tournament. Hard to say what situation is now in Brazil, honestly, after the World Cup ended I paid more attention to other things and within that story of Brazil and its prob-lems ended for me. But without any doubt – they have not disappeared, because one football tour-nament, even if it is World Cup, can’t change whole country and system in it. Sad but true.

Next World Cup, in 2018, will be held in Russia and already now there are coming up a lot more nega-tive stuff, conflicting articles and opinions and this will never end until World Cup will be ended also there, same as in Brazil. It is destiny of many coun-tries with specific problems. If it is not Germany, France or USA (mostly), then by rank lower coun-tries, especially, East European and other continent lands, will get more or less critics and negativity.

This article will be bit different though. As we know, World Cup 2022 will be held in.. Qatar. And in this article I will share my personal opinion about how and why Qatar got this tournament to be held in this wealthy land? How comes that such small coun-try with a lot of desert and unfinished sidewalks in it, at the same time being not popular at all in the world of football managed to get it, overgoing such countries like United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea? The answer to all these questions is simple and complicated at the same time.

ROLANDS JUHNA

WRITTEN BY

Qatar2022

conflicting beginning of getting bidsThe bidding procedure to host the 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associa-tions had until 2 February 2009 to register their in-terest. At the end, there were five bids for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States. The twenty-two

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is that FIFA was not so heavily bribed from Qatar as all want to claim it. Let’s get to this from the other side. Why give World Cup 2022 to South Ko-rea or Japan if these countries hosted it 20 years ago? There is no real sense. USA? Yes, they have all infrastructure and stadiums for this tournament but stadiums that would be hosting the games are standing quite far from each other and by expens-es World Cup in North American second biggest country would be quite costly. Maybe Qatar will be even more expensive but one of reasons here is also passion and popularity of football, which with each new year grows in Qatar, while in Australia, for example, World Cup wouldn’t change anything in terms of future development of football.

Of course, we can’t exclude the factor of money.

As it got clear later, Qatar offered a lot more fi-nancial resources to anything than almost all other countries together. If Australia, for example, would be ready to spend around 10 billions, then Qa-tar – at least 20 times more. Maybe it is way too exagerrated, from one side. From the other side, there are needed to put a lot of money on build-ing new stadiums and other infrastructure that has not been started to do yet. At the same time also FIFA would earn more from all this as well. Each new stadium, training ground, facilities give them more profit than it would be in such USA or Japan, where you can almost provide 80% of all World Cup matches even now, just needed bit renovation and improvement of infrastructure.

President of FIFA Sepp Blatter endorsed the idea

A member of Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and

Swiss Unia unions holds a red card reading “A red card for FIFA, no

World Cup without labour rights”

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of having a World Cup in the Arab World, saying in April 2010, “The Arabic world deserves a World Cup. They have 22 countries and have not had any opportunity to organize the tournament.” Blatter also praised Qatar’s progress, “When I was first in Qatar there were 400,000 people here and now there are 1.6 million. In terms of infrastructure, when you are able to organise the Asian Games (in 2006) with more than 30 events for men and women, then that is not in question.” On 2 Decem-ber 2010, it was announced that Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Qatar is the smallest nation by area ever to have been awarded a FIFA World Cup – the next small-est by area is Switzerland, host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which is more than three times as

large as Qatar and only needed to host 16 teams instead of the current 32. On current population, Qatar would be the smallest host country by popu-lation – Uruguay had a population of 1.9 million when it hosted the 1930 World Cup, more than Qatar’s 2013 population of 1.7 million. However, the Qatar Statistical Authority predicts that the total population of Qatar could reach 2.8 million by 2020.

new. New place, new people, new culture, new stadiums. Everything will be new and unknown for usual fan since Qatar has never been close to any such major tournament. And therefore it will give new emotions, new possibilities to learn something more about football in Arabic lands.

From this point comes also second – it is popularity. If we take as an example same USA, then these two countries can’t be compared to each other. World Cup in football in USA – well, that’s good! But USA has also a lot more team sports, leagues, tournaments. Each World Cup is something spe-cial but all I want to say is that in Qatar it will be much more special than in USA because of coun-tries culture and traditions. And from this point of view I suppose popularity will be massive in Qatar.

to be World cup 2022 in Qatar

There are many arguments why it is the right deci-sion for the World Cup 2022 to be hosted in Qatar. First and most important – it will be something

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Knowing also that in Qatar there are getting all more and more luxury and fashioned, as well as there might be built some new impressive build-ings for tourists to look at and feel themselves like in new world, it might be the key for everyone to visit this land and connect the nice one with the valuable one – get to know Qatar more and watch highest level of world football. I can’t skip also elastic distances between host cities in Qatar. It is a dream for each fan that he can watch many World Cup games by spending little time in trav-elling.

Third one advantage for this is Qatar’s develop-ment by itself. It is no secret that such major tour-naments can turn around things in the country to a positive way, such like it was in South Africa and Brazil. And even if for that short moment, it is still worth it. Despite Qatar is very, very wealthy, there are more than 90% foreigners in this country living and it is hard for true Qataris to be really proud about his country. But if national team of Qatar will play in such campaign and no difference, if it will stay at the last place or win some games, it will still give quite happiness for its nation and will unite people.

Next one is Qatar’s football development. If all goes like it has to go, then all those new stadiums, built infrastructure, gained popularity on chart might help for their own football system. For the moment Qatar has no problems at all with eco-nomics, biggest problem is that it is small country with not much people resources and not so attrac-tive to all foreign coaches and players to perform there. This all can change after the World Cup. If it gets hosted very well, without doubt there will come more interest from foreigners to cre-ate something big in Qatar. Strengthen its local league, find new native talents in youth acad-emies, create new teams, do everything to make Qatar a regular participant for World Cup tour-naments.

Qatar is the smallest nation by area ever to have been awarded a FIFA World Cup – the next smallest by area is Switzerland, host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which is more than three times as large as Qatar and only needed to host 16 teams instead of the current 32.

Fifth one argument is very simple. It is chance. Chance for Qatar to organize fantastic tournament and prove whole world that those ru-mours about briberies and not honest ways of affection of bids are nothing more than rubbish. That this country knows how to waste their money effective and can shut up all mouths forever. That this country has the best fans who love football with passion. That this country makes all perfect and simple at the same time. Wouldn’t it be nice?

to not to be World cup 2022 in Qatar

No matter how nice would all sound at first look, there are also sev-eral things that bothers many people, including myself too. First one is experience. And here main problem is not that Qatar will host it first time in its history but because this country has no real experi-ence about football overall. It is not developed so much to be a lot into football and for moment on first plan goes money but not real knowledge about how all should be done for major events. And ac-cording to this there might come a lot of mistakes during preparation works and some of them might be crucial. For example, problems with medical stuff or safety.

Second point is very connected to first one. It is stadiums. For moment none of all 12 stadiums is ready. And 9 out of 12 for moment are just planned. There are more than 7 years left to this World Cup but both-ering moment is how all these building works will be done if there is such time limit and bad history for Qatar with buildings. As we know, several hundreds of workers in recent years died during construction works because of lack of safety everywhere and lack of qualification. Qatar mostly hires workers who come from their neighbour Asian countries and therefore they are not so expensive to be employed. But how qualified they are – it is different story.

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Third problem is Qatar’s economic situation. We all know Qatar is very rich country with several billionaires in it and at this point it comes problem to the people who will want to live that time in Qatar when World Cup will be going on. For moment everything in Qatar is very expensive and unless you are not quite rich person, it will be hard for you to live there longer than one week and pay for food, hotel, tickets and some other stuff at the same time. Simply it will be hard to afford live there. Of course, things can change a lot during these 7 years but for this moment it seems to be a big problem.

Finally, Qatar is the dark horse and such it will be all the time till 2022. Similar as Russia, which gets negative opinions about upcoming World Cup 2018, Qatar is an object for many people to be put under anger, doubt, ridicule and worry. Already from the beginning comes this word „bribery” about how Qatar got the rights to host this World Cup and it won’t disappear till the end. Surely there will come more and more „problems” about Qatar, such is human nature. Like I said at the start of this article – such is destiny for smaller or more special countries. And Qatar is more than special in this case. The biggest question here is how Qatar will handle this worldwide pressure, whether at some point their hands will drop down or op-posite – they will struggle even more to prove they are estimable to host World Cup tournament.

...that Qatar could be the right choice as the hosts for World Cup 2022. How it got the rights for it? With its uniqueness. With its passion. With its money. Of course, with all these things. But not only with money for sure. It can decide everything in our lives but at the same time you realize it decides nothing like in this case. Without huge money resources Qatar would never get this chance to prove themselves in this area. Without its uniqueness as a country where are amazing buildings and luxury stuff in the main city and desert all around it there would be no such chance either. All depends on each other.

Why Qatar got it? Just because it can. It has vision, goals and structure how to create a memorable World Cup. Or at least it has all kind of resources and vision how to make those resources working. Will it help to reach their goals and build some struc-ture , their own structure of everything as an unique wild card into Arabian world – only time will show. My thoughts won’t change anyway – football needs to get more popular around the world even if it is such. But traditions of it as strong as they should be are just in a few countries in the world. Qatar at this moment is far from such. And they won’t get any better chance how to make all things going unless they provide a really great tournament. And I am sure they can do it.

at this moment it seems...

Qatar has the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves in excess of 25 billion barrels. Qatar is the world’s richest coun-try per capita and has the highest human develop-ment in the Arab World

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It felt like hours.

The walk from the apartment in the his-toric centre of Florence to the home of ACF Fiorentina is one that should’ve taken no more than half an hour, but in the Septem-ber heat, this was no mean feat. It took an age. Of course, you have to factor in the aimless wandering beforehand and reluc-tance to engage with anything resembling a map.

This obstinacy was a theme of what was a whistle stop tour of Italy, in late 2013. A visit to some of the most beautiful places around with my other half.

“Do you fancy Florence?”, she asked at the start of the year. Instantly, my mind conjures up footballing images, it was the same with previous suggestions. Italy does that to me. For her, Ponte vecchio, shopping and Da-vid. I just knew it. “Why that’s a great idea, darling,” I said, thinking all the time how I would slip another stadium visit into this ex-pedition.

I should mention that David, Ponte vecchio and all the other areas of tourism in Florence are quite spectacular, and I knew how much I would treasure the trip. The Duomo (The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) is particu-larly mesmerising. But visiting Florence, for me, meant only one thing – the Stadio Ar-temi Franchi.

Just the mere mention of some names is enough to produce a smile. Names like

Passarella, Dunga, Cervato, Batistuta…the list goes on; players I had never been able to see in the flesh and have to read about or refer to archive footage. Irrefu-table legends of the game, and in the case of Batistuta, idols I would watch and copy. Just to be at the stadium would be unforgettable, hopelessly romantic, perhaps.

Walking East to the stadium in the heat, the scenery becomes more and more residential as my eyes spot the 230 ft tower that I associate so fondly with Italian foot-ball in general. So often in the 90s I watched games at this vast concrete stadium, so different from the more vertical steel framed structures of Scottish football I played in and watched; the pastel greeny-yellow hue of Florence as the backdrop. Through the steel turnstiles I could see the pitch and purple seats of the viola and with a quiet, almost silent soundtrack, it was perfect.

Thoughts at this stage turn to other sides that had vis-ited the ground and not just the viola legends. Some of the world’s best footballers had graced the pitch in a league that has yielded some of the finest players and sides in the history of the game. Serie A these days is an acquired taste, but his was not always the case of course. The Curva Fiesole have witnessed some fine matches over the years, and for me, particularly against Juventus – a match when the viola Ultras are notably more vocal in their disliking of the opposition.

Roberto Baggio’s return in 1991 after signing for Juve from the viola always sticks in my mind; a match Fiorentina won 1-0. The boos for the Divine Ponytail echoed throughout Tuscany in that match, however the treatment could have been far worse for the striker as he refused to take a penalty he won himself. The pen-alty was subsequently missed and Fiorentina clinched the win. A dangerously exciting look about that match fuelled my passion to watch more and play more.

So I just stood there gazing at the noticeably deteriorat-ing concrete arena, thinking of the history and trying to get across to my other half just how important this was to my growing up and love for Italian football, a concept clearly lost on her.

No tickets. No tour. Just 10 minutes with a stadium and my thoughts. Perfect.

STEvEN BELL

WRITTEN BY

Stadio Artemio Franchi A Brief encounter

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Klinsmann’s work went much more deep. He re-shuffled USMNT, changing the way in which players are trained and prepared. He brought on nutritionists and sports psychologists for the players. He changed team’s attitude. Not all of those thoughts worked as ques-tions have been raised about USA’s physical condition after USMNT was affected by a lot of muscular injuries. But, in general, Klinsmann’s methods well worked. On the field, fans have seen a lot for which to be encouraged. Although Americans were often outplayed by better teams, they even tried to run the game the way they can. They em-braced a new attitude. USA goes home with heads held high. But the was a time in which things were different for soccer…a time when soccer was in a tight spot just to be recognized as a sport.

In November 1989, training camp before pivotal soccer games didn’t mean thrilling and hype. There was no internet or smart phone all around, no glamour, no President speaking about USMNT. FIFA World Cup wasn’t a four-year routine for Americans, and the USA was liv-ing in a World Cup hiatus that lasted for 40 years. In fact, USMNT last World Cup berth dated 1950. Despite all that the even looking for money FIFA decided to award USA the rights to host the following 1994 World Cup, in the way to expand soccer brand to the promising land of America, in the hope to add a new, flourishing market to the world-wide No. 1 sport – in the early ‘90s, with the Cold War to its end, USA were the first economic market in the world. China’s rise will take many years to come…

While USMNT devote fans cheer for Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey or Michael Bradley, they have to know that a huge thanks must to be awarded to a little known Italian-American, Paul Caligiuri.

Born in 1964, Caligiuri was a key part of the USMNT between 1984 and 1998, earning as many as 110 caps and netting 5 goals. Above all, he scored the goal that probably changed the future of soccer in United States. At that time, there was no a professional outdoor soccer league in USA, although it didn’t prevent FIFA to award USA to hold their first World Cup ever: meanwhile, business is business…Caligiuri, a Paisa grown in Westminster, California, raised up watching NASL, the North American Soccer League that became synonym of Elephant Grave-yard as it started to attract a lot of former worldwide soccer stars due to lucrative contracts. In the span between 1968 and 1984, NASL brought on great footballers like as Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Cruyff, Vladislav Bogicevic, Teofilo Cubillas…

Unfortunately, NASL folded as quickly as it was born. That left Caligi-uri, just coming out from the high school, with the only two options to play indoor soccer or to go to the college playing university football. He opted for the latter and went to UCLA, where he was coached by German-American Sigi Schmid, MLS side’s Seattle Sounders coach since 2009. Quickly, Caligiuri emerged as a promising prospect and became part of the USMNT Youth Teams, raising through the rungs up to the big boys selection. Obviously, it wasn’t the only soccer Caligiuri played at that time and, while he was even in college soccer ranks, he started to play for the San Diego Nomads, an amateur team in the Western Soccer Alliance.

Despite the fact America wasn’t the No. 1 soccer land, Caligiuri’s perfor-mances wasn’t unnoticed as he was regarded as US Player of the Year in 1986, the same year in which German Budesliga’s side of Hamburger signed him. However, Caligiuri never managed to play for Hamburger as the German club sent him to Sv Mappen, in the German 2 Bundes-liga, the second Deutschland professional football tier, where Caligiuri played for two seasons. But the moment that changed Caligiuri and USA soccer’s life came at the end of 1989.

A USMNT roster featuring college student-athletes or graduates play-ing indoor or low-level outdoor soccer had to face Trinidad&Tobago in a key qualification game. In November 19, 1989, in Port of Spain, the kids coached by Bob Gansler had just one result at their disposal as a loss or a draw would end their dreams to reach the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals, held in Italy the following summer. The starting XI was fea-turing a lot of unsung heroes as Tony Meola, John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Peter vermes and Caligiuri, of course. They had to play in the tiny but noisy National Stadium, in front of 30,000 Trinidad’s fans cheering for their team. Caligiuri recalled that game many times. He often pointed out as coach Gansler asked him to play as holding midfielder, a role he didn’t play in any of his previous caps. He was a surprising pick made by Gansler that pick Galigiuri in the place of John Stollmeyer. Caligiuri’s order was to control T&T’s attacking midfielder Russell Latapy, not go-ing forward in the way to protect the backline. But after 30 minutes, Caligiuri had the opportunity to disobey his coach. Caligiuri received a ball in the middle of the pitch but, instead to pass or hold it, he de-cided to beat his marker and shoot. Caligiuri shot as hard as he could and it went out from his feet good enough to score. This was “the shot heard round the world,” as the American media described it. That score changed Caligiuri and USA’s soccer life. Meola and USMNT defence get the job done for the remaining minutes.

At the end of the game, history was made and USA get a new hero and a historic World Cup qualification to celebrate. The 40-years of disarray were over. The fact USA ended their World Cup experience in Italy losing all three group games means nothing. And, on the other hand, the World Cup drawn that put USA in a group featuring Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria was prohibitive. But the importance of Caligiuri’s goal goes beyond that. While Joe Gaetjen’s goal against Eng-land in the 1950 World Cup is probably better known, is Caligiuri’s score against T&T to have marked American soccer. It put USA in the soccer World map, leading USA soccer in the modern Era. And that goal was regarded by SportsIllustrated as the biggest goal in USA soccer history.

At the end, another thing remains out from these days. It’s a picture taken after the goal, with forward Bruce Murray celebrating with his arms up. But he didn’t score. The man that made the dream come true is just next to him, focused, almost transcendent, thinking about an unexpected goal. He was the guy that made the big deal. In 2004 Caligiuri joined former teammate Eric Wynalda in the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. It was well deserved.

Article of Michele Tossani | It was a good World Cup for the USA. Although they was forced to book their return flights after they was beaten 2-1 by Belgium, USA were able to get out from a group including Germany, Portugal and Ghana. Jurgen Klinsmann gone right on his decision. He took some risks, but they paid. Klinsmann was bright to leave 32-year-old Landon Donovan at home and to include so many German-Americans into his final 23-man roster.

Paul Caligiuri / The Forgotten Hero /