Henrik Larsson

Henrik Larsson (born September 20, 1971 in Helsingborg, Sweden) is a Swedish international football player.

Having completed seven very successful years with Celtic in Glasgow, Scotland, after the end of the 2003/04 season he signed a 1 year contract with an option for a second year for Spanish giants FC Barcelona.

He started his professional career playing for Högaborg at the age of 17. He subsequently played for Helsingsborgs IF and Feyenoord. He was signed by Celtic in July 1997 for a fee of £650,000. His debut, playing Hibernian at Easter Road, was less than spectacular; he inadvertently passed the ball to the other side, resulting in a 2-1 loss for Celtic.

Larsson scored 242 goals for Celtic, in 315 matches, and in 2001 he won the "Golden Shoe" award for being Europe's top goal scorer. In 2003 Sweden nominated Larsson as the greatest Swedish football player of the last 50 years.

His decision to retire from international football met with much dismay in his homeland and there was much clamouring for him to return to the team for their campaign at the 2004 European Championships in Portugal. Despite initially maintaining his decision to retire, turning down overtures from UEFA President Lennart Johannsen and the Swedish Prime Minister in the process, he eventually returned to the national side to great effect, scoring 3 goals in 4 matches and leading Sweden to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated in a penalty shootout by the Dutch.

Larsson's international record is impressive with 27 goals in 77 games, many of which he played in midfield or as a winger. He has always made his mark on big occasions and has scored at 2 World Cups (1994 at which Sweden came 3rd, and 2002), and 2 European Championships (2000 and 2004). For Celtic his finest moment (if not his happiest) came in the UEFA Cup final of 2003 in which he scored two goals in a 3-2 extra time defeat to Porto of Portugal. His goalscoring feats on the contintent for Celtic mean he holds the record for number of goals scored for a British club in European matches.

He is married, and has two children, Jordan (born 1997) and Janine (born 2002).

George Best

George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish football international who is mainly remembered for his time with Manchester United F.C. and widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He played for United between 1963 and 1974, helping them to win the Football League Championship in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968. The same year, he was named European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year.

Playing career

George Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United Scout Bob Bishop aged 15. He was subsequently given a trial and signed up by chief scout Joe Armstrong in 1961. He turned professional and made his debut for Manchester United in 1963.

He made 466 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions, scoring 178 goals (including six in one game against Northampton Town). In 1974, the 27-year-old Best was sacked by United for excessive drinking and persistent failure to attend training sessions and matches. Over the next decade, Best drifted between several football clubs including Fulham, Stockport County, Dunstable Town, Hibernian, Los Angeles Aztecs, San Jose Earthquakes and finally Bournemouth until he retired from the game in 1983 at the age of 37.

He was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals. He played mainly as a winger and was known for his dribbling skills and accurate passing.

Best has often been called the most naturally gifted player from the British Isles, rivaled only by Pelé and Diego Maradona on the world stage. Maradona himself has frequently named Best as his all-time favourite player [1]. Pelé once stated that George Best was the best player he ever saw play and named him as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. His talent might have been recognised more on the world stage had his national team not been a relative "minnow" (Best often said that he would like to see a United Ireland soccer team like those in rugby and hockey).

Celebrity

While at Manchester United, Best's talent and showmanship made him a crowd and media favourite. He was dubbed "the fifth Beatle" for his long hair and good looks, but his extravagant celebrity lifestyle led to problems with gambling, womanising and alcoholism. Best often told the story of a bellboy who entered his hotel room with breakfast in the early 1970s. Seeing Best in bed with the current Miss World, a magnum of champagne and several thousand pounds of cash won from a night's gambling, the youth exclaimed, "George, where did it all go wrong?"

In 1984, Best made a keep fit video with former Miss World Mary Stavin called Shape Up And Dance.

In 1988, a testimonial match was held for Best at Windsor Park, Belfast. Amongst the crowd were Sir Matt Busby and players including Ossie Ardiles and Pat Jennings.

In November 2004 Best agreed to join FA Premier League club Portsmouth F.C. as youth coach, citing his desire to get involved in football again.

June 9, 2005 Best was arrested for sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13. He was cleared of all charges on July 6, 2005.

George Best had a son, Calum Best, from his first marriage.

Alcoholism

In 1984, Best received a three-month prison sentence for drunk driving, assaulting a police officer and failing to answer bail. He spent Christmas 1984 behind bars and turned out as a player for Ford Open Prison. In 1991, he appeared on an edition of prime time BBC chat show Wogan in which he swore and was clearly drunk. He later apologised and said this was one of the worst episodes of his alcoholism.

In 2002, he had a liver transplant. In 2003 he was the focus of much criticism when, despite his transplant, he openly drank white wine spritzers and was accused of being selfish and having no regard for other people's feelings.

In 2003, his second wife Alex Best appeared as a contestant on the reality television programme I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and made allegations about their relationship. On 3 January 2004, Best was convicted of another drunk driving offence and banned from driving for 20 months.

Illness and death

Best continued to drink, and was often seen at his local pub in Petersfield, Hampshire.

On 3 October 2005 Best was admitted to intensive care at the private Cromwell Hospital in London, suffering from kidney problems caused by the side-effects of drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. (The drugs specifically suppress the immune system, reducing the chance of rejection, but increasing the risk of other infections).

On 27 October 2005 there were early editions of the morning newspapers which stated that Best was close to death and had sent farewell messages to loved ones. Best's condition did seem to improve, but in November 2005, his condition deteriorated.

On 20 November 2005 the British tabloid News of the World published a picture portraying Best in the hospital bed, along with what was reported to be his final message: "Don't die like me".

In the early hours of 25 November 2005 Best's treatment was stopped; he eventually died, after a valiant battle that lasted longer than doctors had expected, at 12.55pm (GMT) of lung infection and organ failure. [2] [3]. His father, four sisters, brother, son and agent were all at his bedside, as was his ex-United team-mate Denis Law.

The FA Premier League announced that a minute's silence would be observed before all Premiership games to be held over the weekend of his death.

Quotes

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered."
"I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World..."
(On David Beckham) "He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's alright."
"If I had been born ugly, you would never have heard of Pelé"
"In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol. It was the worst 20 minutes of my life."
"Pelé called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life."

Diego Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona (El Diego) (born October 30, 1960) is a former Argentine football player. With the possible exception of Pele, he is widely regarded as the finest and greatest player of all times.

Maradona was born in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of humble origin. He first played in the Argentine Championship, for Argentinos Juniors (1976-81) and then for Boca Juniors (1981-82). He then went to Spain, where, playing for FC Barcelona, he won a Copa del Rey. On July 5, 1984 he went to Naples, Italy to join SSC Napoli, where he won two Italian Championships (1986/87 and 1989/1990), a Coppa Italia (1987), a UEFA Cup (1989) and an Italian Supercup (1990), plus Napoli were runners-up in the Italian Championship twice.

Maradona led the Argentine national team to victory in the World Cup in 1986, the team winning 3-2 in the final against West Germany. In this tournament, he became notorious for a goal in the quarter-final game against the England, which video evidence later clearly revealed he had scored with the aid of his hand. He later claimed it was the "Hand of God" which had caused him to score the goal, to the general derision of the English public and in particular the tabloid newspapers, who still resurrect the incident occasionally even today, branding him a cheat. However, Maradona showed the other side of his nature just a couple of minutes later in the same match, by running half the length of the pitch and beating almost the entire English team along the way, to score what is widely regarded as the most exceptional goal of all time.

Maradona also captained Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, leading a far weaker team to the final again, where they lost 1-0 to West Germany. In the 1994 World Cup he was sent home in disgrace after failing a drugs test for ephedrine doping.

In Naples, where he is still beloved (having brought the local team their first scudetto), he also faced a scandal regarding an illegitimate son and was the object of some suspicion over his friendship with the Camorra, the local mafia.

Maradona left Napoli in 1992, after serving a 15 month ban for failing a drug test, and played for Sevilla FC (1992-93), Newell's Old Boys (1993) and Boca Juniors (1995-97). He also attempted to work as a coach on two short occasions, leading Mandiyú of Corrientes (1994) and Racing Club (1995) . He retired from football on October 30, 1997.

Maradona spent much of the 1990s battling a cocaine addiction, which included a well-publicized spell in a detox clinic in Cuba. He apparently surmounted the problem for the time being, and then embarked upon a new career as a talk-show host, with which he had great success.

In 2000, Maradona was voted FIFA's Player of the Century by Internet users in a millennium poll, garnering 53.60% of the votes. In a reconciliatory gesture, FIFA appointed a footballing committee which voted in favor of Pelé alongside the Argentine.

In 2002, the Argentine Football Association asked FIFA for authorization to retire shirt number 10, the number Maradona used, as an homage. At first, FIFA authorized it only to reverse their decision soon after. While retiring a shirt number used by a great athlete is common practice in American sports, there were no cases of this happening in Football.

Maradona's brother is also a soccer player and his alleged illegitimate child is now trying to start a career in football, but he does not appear to have inherited his father's skills.

On April 18, 2004, doctors reported that Maradona had suffered a major heart attack following a cocaine overdose and was in intensive care in a Buenos Aires hospital. Dozens of fans gathered around the clinic indicating his popularity even in 2004. Days after the heart attack, a male nurse was caught taking photos of Maradona in his grave condition, with a cellular telephone. The nurse had received an offer of six thousand US dollars by a tabloid newspaper to take the photos. He was, however, promptly fired by hospital directors. Maradona was hospitalized in a floor that was closed so he could be attended to exclusively.

After he showed improvement, he was taken off a respirator on April 23, and remained in intensive care for several days before being discharged on April 29. However, he returned to the hospital on May 5. Since then, he has entered a psychiatric facility for substance abuse treatment in Cuba.

Maradona is also known in Argentina as "El Pibe de Oro" (The Golden Boy). In 2002, Maradona published his autobiography Yo Soy El Diego, which became an instant bestseller in his home-country.

Career Statistics

Clubs

Argentinos Juniors (1976-1981) - 166 matches (116 goals)
Boca Juniors (1981-1982, 1995-1997) - 71 matches (35 goals)
Barcelona (1982-1984) - 58 matches (38 goals)
SSC Napoli (1984-1991) - 259 matches (115 goals)
Sevilla (1992-1993) - 29 matches (7 goals)
Newell's Old Boys (1993) - 5 matches (0 goals)

International

1977-94 Argentina (91 appearances, 34 goals)
21 appearances in four FIFA World Cup finals
Argentina's second highest goal-scorer

Club honours

1981 Argentine league championship
1987 Italian league championship
1987 Italian Cup
1989 UEFA Cup
1990 Italian league championship

International honours

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
1986 FIFA World Cup winner
1990 FIFA World Cup runner-up
1993 Copa Artemio Franchi

Coaching career

1994 Mandiyú de Corrientes
1995 Racing Club de Avellaneda

Individual honours

1979-81 Argentine Football Writers' Footballer of the Year
1979-81, 1986 Argentine Sports Writers' Footballer of the Year
1979-80, 1986 Argentine Sports Personality of the Year
1979, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992 South American Footballer of the Year (El Mundo, Caracas)
1986 Golden Ball for Best Player of the FIFA World Cup
1986 European Footballer of the Year (France Football)
1986-7 Best Footballer in the World (Onze)
1996 Golden Ball for services to football (France Football)
1999 Best World Cup goal (1986 (2-0) v. England)
1999 Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of the Century
2000 "FIFA best football player of the century", people's choice.

David Beckham

David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. He is a midfielder for Real Madrid and captain of the English national team. He is noted for the quality of his crossing and ability to hit free-kicks and corners, particularly at long-range free-kicks and also for his marriage to a Spice Girl. He has played most of his career for Manchester United. Although there are arguably many better current players in world football none are as famous.

Manchester United 1995-2003

Beckham first signed a YTS (youth training scheme) contract (this is similar to an apprenticeship) with United in 1991, and made his League debut in 1995, aged 19. The next year he helped the side to the Premiership and FA Cup trophies and to their dominance of domestic football. In the 1998-99 season, he was part of the United team that won the "treble" - Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a feat unprecedented in English football, which earned the club's manager, Alex Ferguson, a knighthood.

In total, Beckham scored 86 goals in 397 games for Man United, a rate of roughly 2 goals every 9 games, highly commendable for a midfielder.

Club Career

Real Madrid 2003-present

On June 17, 2003, Beckham signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid of Spain, potentially worth up to €35 million (£25 million, USD 41 million). Plus 2.

Apart from benefiting from his football ability, this transfer gives the Spanish club an opportunity to profit from merchandising, especially in the Far East, where Beckham is enormously popular, and Manchester United have until now had the lion's share of interest. It is probably no coincidence that Beckham was transferred just before Real started a far-eastern tour, but it would be very unfair to say that his marketing potential alone was the only reason for his transfer. At the time of the announcement of his transfer to Real Madrid, Beckham and his wife (Victoria) were on a week-long tour of Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand promoting beauty products, chocolate, motor oil, and mobile phones, which it was reported would earn them more than the entire first year of his Real Madrid contract. (Western journalists are excluded from the Japanese "press conferences" organised by his sponsors because of the embarrassment they would cause him in the West.)

He successfully completed the transfer on July 1 and was presented with the squad number of 23 on July 2. He is believed to have chosen the number as a tribute to his idol, Michael Jordan, who made number 23 famous with the Chicago Bulls. Real Madrid shirts bearing his name and number were sold out in Madrid on the day his transfer was completed and Real Madrid were expected to receive €624,000 for the sale of the shirts.

His transfer to Real Madrid has proven very fruitful for both Beckham and the club. Beckham scored five times in his first 16 matches (including Real's 600th goal in the European Cup/Champions League, against Olympique Marseille on 26 November 2003), a higher scoring rate than his last year at Manchester United (11 goals in 52 games). He has become a favourite of the notoriously fickle Real Madrid crowd, and established an excellent playing relationship with Ronaldo.

During the summer of 2004, Real also signed Englishmen Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate.

International Career - England

By 1998 he was a regular international, and travelled with the England squad to the FIFA World Cup. In the second round of that competition he received a red-card for retaliation, following a foul challenge by the Argentine Diego Simeone. This act arguably cost England the game (which they lost on penalties) and the chance of advancing in the tournament. On returning home, Beckham became the target of criticism, sometimes justified (the accusation of petulance, for example) but much merely gratuitous. He received a similar vilification following his dismissal for a dangerous challenge in the World Club Championships the next year.

Following England's poor performance in the 2000 European Championship (from which Beckham was one of the few players to emerge with credit) and later poor performances, the departure of Kevin Keegan as manager saw Beckham promoted to captain, initially under caretaker manager Peter Taylor and maintained by Sven-Göran Eriksson. His leadership, mainly by example due to his fitness and workrate helped England to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals and the 1-5 defeat of Germany in Munich during a qualifier (a pivotal event for English football fans). The final step in Beckham's conversion from villain to hero happened in England's 2-2 draw against Greece. Needing only one point from the match in order to qualify for the World Cup, Beckham dragged an otherwise poor England side to qualification with sheer determination and a perfectly executed, last-minute free kick. Meanwhile, taking the role of captain seems to have helped mature him, in both skill and temperament.

Beckham played in all England's matches at Euro 2004, but failed to shine. He had his penalty saved by former Manchester United team-mate Fabien Barthez in his side's 2-1 defeat to France in their opening group game. Then, when England's Quarter-Final against hosts Portugal went to a penalty shootout, he was the first England player to attempt a shot. Beckham fired his shot far over the crossbar and England went on to lose the shoot-out 6-5 after Englishman Darius Vassell also missed. Beckham later blamed the miss on the poor state of the pitch, the British press blamed referee Urs Meier for the loss (he had earlier disallowed a contentious goal by Sol Campbell) even publishing his phone number and postal address.

The Spanish spectator who caught Beckham's miss put the ball up for auction on eBay España. eBay soon determined that virtually all of the bids, including one for €10million , were fake. When bidding closed on 22 July, the winning bid of €28,050 was made by the Canadian internet casino GoldenPalace.com, which announced that it plans to exhibit the ball around the world for charitable purposes.

Beckham's celebrity lifestyle

Beckham's highly publicised marriage to Spice Girl and media celebrity Victoria Adams, otherwise known as Posh Spice, has made them both popular targets for the tabloid press, which has dubbed the couple "Posh and Becks". They have two sons, Brooklyn, born March 4, 1999 and Romeo, born September 1, 2002, with a third child due to be born in March 2005. Beckham is well-known for his frequent hairstyle changes and has changed his hairstyle for many times after being criticised for influencing teenagers' hairstyle.

David Beckham is, according to the Google search engine, the most famous sports personality in the world, however the producers of The Simpsons decided that he wasn't famous enough to make a cameo appearance in an episode of the show set in London. He is also the most famous metrosexual.

However, he has become more well known in North America since the success of the British film Bend It Like Beckham. It is about a Sikh girl whose ambition is to be a football player because she can play like David Beckham.

In 2001, Beckham became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In the summer of 2003, Beckham was made an OBE in Queen Elizabeth II's honours list.

In May of 2003 Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ordered David Beckham not to wear his hair band during matches. It has been speculated that he believed it to be too effeminate.

In April 2004, the British tabloid News of the World carried claims by his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos that he and Loos had had an extramarital affair. A week later, a second woman, Malaysian-born Australian model Sarah Marbeck, claimed that she had slept with Beckham on two occasions. Beckham has denied both allegations, describing them as "ludicrous".

In July of 2004, an intruder was arrested at David Beckham's home for scaling a wall with a can of gasoline. The Sun newspaper reported that the man appeared angry with Beckham and intended to burn down the house.

Transfer rumours

Near the end of the 2003-04 season, The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Beckham's major sponsors were trying to arrange for him to return to England for the 2004-05 season. Sources within the family told the Telegraph that Beckham would almost certainly be back in London. Real Madrid denied rumours that they were interested in selling Beckham, and banned British reporters from access to the team.

Because of the extremely high fee that Real Madrid Football team could command for a Beckham deal, and the fact that the other teams that could afford the fee, had financial constraints (Arsenal, Liverpool) or personality issues (Man U) that would have made a deal unlikely, speculation immediately focused on Chelsea, with its billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. Adding fuel to the rumours, Chelsea's manager at that time, Claudio Ranieri, told an Italian newspaper that the club was pursuing both Beckham and Ronaldo, and The Evening Standard of London reported that Chelsea was prepared to pay £40 million for Beckham.

However, on 20 May, Beckham, in a statement issued through his agent, quashed the transfer rumours, stating that he would see out the remaining three years of his contract in Madrid. He added that his wife and sons, who had yet to move to Spain, would join him there. In November 2004 it was reported that Real Madrid intended to offer Beckham a two-year extension to his contract, which would effectively keep him in Madrid for the remainder of his playing career.

Books

Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground: An Autobiography by David Beckham & Tom Watt (ISBN 0060570938)
Beckham: My World by David Beckham & Dean Freeman (ISBN 0340792701)

Bobby Moore

Robert Frederick Chelsea "Bobby" Moore OBE (April 12, 1941 - February 24, 1993) was an English footballer whose place in history is secure.

Moore joined West Ham as a schoolboy and was a regular in the first team by 1960. A composed central defender, Moore was admired more for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Indeed, Moore's ability to tackle, head the ball or keep up with the pace was average at best, but the way he marshalled his team stood him out as world class.

He was in the England squad for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, when England reached the quarter finals, and was captain of his country within another two years. In 1964, he skippered West Ham to success in the FA Cup final at Wembley where they beat Preston North End 3-2, the first of three successive trips to the national stadium in major finals in as many years for Moore, and from which he would emerge undefeated.

In 1965, Wembley hosted West Ham's 2-0 victory over 1860 Munich in the European Cup Winners Cup, then in 1966, Moore was the leader of the side which gave English football its crowning glory and established him as a magnificent player, gentleman and sporting icon. His West Ham team-mate Geoff Hurst scored an historic hat-trick in the 4-2 World Cup final win over West Germany, with Moore supplying pinpoint passes for two of his goals. Of many timeless images from that day, one is of Moore gallantly wiping his hands clean of sweat on his shirt before shaking the hand of Elizabeth II as she presented him with the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Moore faithfully pursued his West Ham and England career and was once again named as captain when England travelled to Mexico to defend the World Cup. There was heavy disruption to preparations, however, when in an almighty fit up, Moore was accused of stealing a bracelet from a jeweller in Colombia, where England had travelled for some warm-up games in order to get acclimatised with altitude conditions. The charges were dropped and Moore was wholly exonerated, and he eventually was permitted to rejoin his team-mates in Mexico.

In the group game against favourites Brazil, there was a defining moment for Moore when he tackled the great Jairzinho with such precision and cleanliness that many cite is a tackle which no-one will ever better. Brazil still won the game, but England also progressed through the group.

Defeat after extra time against West Germany saw England bow out in the last eight, and it would be 12 years before England were to return to a World Cup finals again.

Moore ended up with 108 England caps, breaking the record held by his fellow 1966 hero Bobby Charlton by just two appearances. Only Peter Shilton, with whom Moore also played at international level, has since played more times for his country. Moore's last appearance in an England shirt was in 1973.

A year later, Moore was allowed to leave his beloved West Ham after more than 15 years and joined London rivals Fulham, who were in the second division. Somehow, in his first season, they reached the FA Cup final where they were to play none other than Moore's old club West Ham. It was no farewell ending for Moore, however, as Fulham lost 2-0.

Moore retired from playing in 1977 and had a short spell in football management, but did not succeed. His life after football was eventful and difficult, with business deals going wrong and his marriage ending. Many have since said that the Football Association could have given a role to Moore, as the only Englishman to captain a World Cup winning team, but ignored his claims and abilities. Moore himself kept a dignified silence.

Moore ended up working for radio stations as a summariser and editing a column in the dubious tabloid newspaper the Daily Sport.

In 1993 Moore, who was now remarried, announced he was suffering from bowel cancer. Despite extensive treatment, he succumbed to the illness just two days after commentating on an England match at his spiritual home, Wembley.

The stand replacing the south bank at West Ham's ground The Boleyn Ground in Upton Park has since been named the Bobby Moore Stand.

Alan Shearer Biography

Alan Shearer, OBE (born August 13, 1970) is a successful English footballer. He was born in Newcastle and currently plays for Newcastle United. He joined that club in July 1996 for a then record fee of £15m. He made his club debut on August 17th of that year.

Shearer's previous clubs were Southampton (1988-1992) and Blackburn (1992-1996). He played 63 times for the England team and scored 30 goals. His debut for the national side was on 19th February 1992 versus France at Wembley. He also scored 13 goals in only 11 games for the England Under 21 team.

Shearer's honours include League Championship Winner (Blackburn) 1994/95, PFA Player of the Year 1994/95 & 1996/97, Football Writers Player of the Year 1994/95, Premiership Golden Boot Winner 1994/95 (34), 1995/96 (31) & 1996/97 (25), Awarded Barclaycard Merit Award on 20 April 2002 for reaching the 200 Premiership goal landmark.

One of the most famous players in the game today, Alan was also the world's most expensive footballer at the time of his £15m move from Blackburn to Newcastle in the summer of 1996. He joined Blackburn from Southampton for a then British record £3.6m fee in 1992 and won a championship medal three years later.

Geordie Alan makes no secret of his love for Newcastle United and the partnership is a marriage made in heaven, but one which before the start of this season had borne no trophies, though a few near misses. Many believed Kevin Keegan's addition of Shearer to a squad which had just missed out on the 1995-96 Championship would seal the title, but another second place finish in 1996-97 denied United that honour, and a serious ankle injury then sidelined Alan for half of the 1997-98 campaign. In this season he was controversially cleared by the FA when he kicked Leicester City's Neil Lennon in the head.

However, his regular goal output has continued and a total of 30 in season 1999/2000 underlined his enduring ability in the penalty area. The scorer of a hat-trick on his debut for Southampton against Arsenal as a 17-year-old in 1988, Alan went on to become the first man to score 30 Premier League goals in three successive seasons.

Shearer was English PFA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997. He scored 30 goals in 63 games for the England side before his retirement from international football at the end of Euro 2000.

During 2000/01 Alan's season was disrupted by injury which restricted him to only 23 appearances. He underwent two knee operations to clear up his tendinitis problem, one in December and one in May in the USA. He received a terrific and emotional welcome when he returned to first team action as a sub against Sunderland on 26 August before hitting two goals against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on his first start of the season on 8 September.

Shearer was appointed an OBE for services to Association Football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2001, an honour to go with the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne that was bestowed upon him in March.

His brace against Ipswich Town in the Worthington Cup on 27 November took his United goals tally to 100. The goal against Arsenal on 18/12/01 was his first at Highbury and it also broke United's London jinx. Shearer hit his 200th Premiership goal against Charlton at St. James' Park on 20 April 2002. He was voted North-East Player of Year for 2001/02 and also scored North-East Goal of the Season 2001/02 (versus Aston Villa).

Shearer has announced that the 2004/05 season will be his last as a player. He is currently working on his UEFA coaching qualifications, which are required to manage a team in European competitions.

Steffi Graf, Tennis Player, - Biography,

Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 64 kg (141 lb)

Born, June 14, 1969, Mannheim, Germany

Turned Pro 1982 Retired 1999
Plays Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money $21,895,277 (1st in all-time rankings)
Results in singles
Career record: 902-115 Career titles: 107
Highest ranking: No. 1 (August 17, 1987)
Grand Slam highlights
Australian Open W (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994)
French Open W (1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999)
Wimbledon W (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996)
U.S. Open W (1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
Results in doubles
Career record: 173-72
Career titles: 11
Highest ranking: No. 5 (November 21, 1988)
Stefanie Maria Graf is a former World No. 1 ranked female tennis player from Germany. She is generally considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player - male or female - has won since the start of the open era. (Margaret Court won the most (24) but only 11 of them were in the open era).
In 1988, Graf became the only player, male or female, to win the "Golden Slam" - capturing all four Grand Slam singles titles & an Olympic gold medal in the same year. She was ranked the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 player for a record 377 weeks - the longest of any player, male or female, since rankings began - & is the only player to have won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments (Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open & the Australian Open) at least four times each.
A notable feature of Graf's game was her versatility across all playing surfaces, exemplified by her winning six French Open singles titles (second to Chris Evert) & seven Wimbledon singles titles (third behind Martina Navratilova & Helen Wills Moody). She is the only singles player, male or female, to have achieved a true Grand Slam across all three types of tennis courts, as the other five true singles Grand Slams occurred when the Australian & U.S. Opens were still played on grass. Graf reached thirteen consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, from the French Open in 1987 through the French Open in 1990, winning nine of them. She played in 36 Grand Slam singles tournaments from the 1987 French Open through the 1996 U.S. Open, reaching the finals 29 times & winning 21 titles. Her French Open title in 1999 left her with a career total of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second only to Margaret Court's 24.
Graf retired in 1999, giving her the distinction of being the highest ranked player to retire.
Graf is married to the former World No. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi.
The main weapon in Graf's game was her powerful forehand, which earned her the nickname "Fräulein Forehand". Over time, Graf also developed a very effective slice backhand, as well as a consistent volley. She built her powerful & accurate serve up to 180 km/h, & at one point, hers would be the fastest serve in the tournaments she would play. She was also very fast & athletic, chasing down balls that seemed unplayable. Her footwork was unique & instantly recognizable. Her powerful strokes, along with those of Monica Seles, are thought by some to have started the current trend of power baseline tennis that is common among women tennis players today.
Steffi was introduced to tennis by her father Peter Graf, a car & insurance salesman & aspiring tennis coach, who taught his three-year-old daughter how to swing a wooden racket in the family's living room. She began practicing on a court at the age of four & played in her first tournament at five. She soon began winning junior tournaments with regularity, & in 1982 she won the European Championships 12s & 18s.
Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at Stuttgart, Germany. She lost her first round match 6-4, 6-0 to Tracy Austin, a two-time U.S. Open champion & former World No. 1 player. Austin remarked of the then-thirteen year old Graf that "there are hundreds of players like her in America." Twelve years later, Graf defeated Austin 6-0, 6-0 during a second round match in Indian Wells, California, which was their second & last match against each other.
At the start of her first full professional season in 1983, the 13-year-old Graf was ranked No. 124. She won no titles in the next three years, but her game improved consistently & her ranking steadily climbed: to No. 98 in 1983, No. 22 in 1984, & No. 6 in 1985. In 1984, she represented West Germany in the tennis demonstration event at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles & won the gold medal. Her schedule was closely controlled by her father, who limited her play so that she would not burn out as many young tennis stars had. In 1985, for instance, she played only 10 events leading up to the US Open, whereas another up-and-coming star, Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, who was a year younger than Graf, played 21. Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. Social invitations on the tour were often declined as Graf's focus was kept very much on practicing & match play. Working with her father & then-coach Pavel Slozil, Graf typically practiced for up to four hours a day, often heading straight from airports to practice courts. This narrow focus meant that Graf, already shy & retiring by nature, made few friends on the tour in her early years, but it led to a steady improvement in her play.
Graf finally won her first tour title in April 1986 at Hilton Head, South Carolina, defeating Chris Evert in the final. She followed this up with seven further tournament victories in 1986 & finished the year ranked No. 3.

Graf's Grand Slam breakthrough came in 1987. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open. In the final, she defeated the World No. 1 Martina Navratilova in an epic battle, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6. Graf lost to Navratilova in the finals at Wimbledon & the US Open later that year. But she won four more tournaments after the French Open, including the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden, & did enough to claim the World No. 1 ranking from Navratilova in August 1987, finishing the year with a 75-2 match record. She also helped West Germany win the Fed Cup that year.
Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Gold 1988 Seoul Singles
Bronze 1988 Seoul Doubles
Silver 1992 Barcelona Singles

1988 is widely considered to be the pinnacle of Graf's career. She started out the year by winning the Australian Open, beating Evert in straight sets (6-1, 7-6) in the final. Then at the French Open, she successfully defended her title by routing Natalia Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 in a 32-minute championship match. Next came Wimbledon, where Navratilova had won six straight titles. After a tight start to the final, Graf took control in the second set & beat Navratilova 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, taking 12 of the last 13 games. She then beat Sabatini in three sets in the US Open final to duplicate the feat of winning all four Grand Slam singles titles in one year, previously achieved by only two women - Maureen Connolly (in 1953) & Margaret Court (in 1970). With tennis becoming a full medal sport at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Graf defeated Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 in the Olympic final to win the gold medal & achieve what the media had dubbed the "Golden Slam." Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles title that year - at Wimbledon partnering Sabatini - & picked up a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal. She was named the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
Graf extended her Grand Slam winning streak to five events at the Australian Open in 1989, where she easily defeated Helena Sukova in the final. The winning streak ended at the 1989 French Open, where 17-year-old Spaniard Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beat Graf in three sets. Graf, however, defeated Martina Navratilova in three-set finals at both Wimbledon & the U.S. Open & in four sets in the final of the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships.
In 1990, most believed Graf would dominate the women's game for years to come when she beat Mary Joe Fernández in the final of the 1990 Australian Open, making it her eighth Grand Slam championship in the last nine she contested. Major personal issues arose, however, when Graf's father Peter was the subject of a fraudulent paternity suit brought by a former Playboy model. The difficulty of answering questions about the matter came to a head at a press conference early in the tournament at Wimbledon, where Graf broke down in tears. Wimbledon authorities then threatened to immediately shut down any subsequent press conferences where questions about the issue were asked. The blackmail scheme eventually failed when DNA tests proved Peter was not the baby's father. In the same year at the French Open, 16-year-old Monica Seles beat Graf in straight sets. At Wimbledon, Graf was unexpectedly beaten in the semifinals by Zina Garrison. She then reached the U.S. Open final, but lost in straight sets to Gabriela Sabatini. Graf remained the top ranked player at the end of 1990, even though she did not win a Grand Slam event after the blackmail scandal broke.
A mixture of injury problems, personal difficulties, & loss of form made 1991 a tough year for Graf. Seles established herself as the new dominant player on the women's tour, winning the Australian Open, French Open, & U.S. Open, & ending Graf's reign as World No. 1 in March. Seles did not play at Wimbledon, where Graf won her only Grand Slam final of the year.
Still struggling with injuries, in 1992 Graf won only one Grand Slam event, Wimbledon. Because of injuries, she did not compete at the Australian Open. Seles & Graf met in the French Open final, which Seles won in a very close battle, taking the third set 10-8. Seles & she met again in the Wimbledon final, with Graf winning 6-2, 6-1, a record for the most lop-sided defeat in Wimbledon history of the number one ranked player.[citation needed] Graf won all five of her Fed Cup matches, helping Germany defeat Spain in the final by defeating Sánchez Vicario 6-4, 6-2. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Graf lost to Jennifer Capriati in the final & claimed the silver medal. At the U.S. Open, Graf was upset in a quarterfinal by Sánchez Vicario 7-6(5), 6-3.
In 1993, Seles beat Graf in three sets in the final of the Australian Open. The burgeoning rivalry between them was then cut short. During a quarterfinal match between Seles & Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by a mentally ill Günter Parche He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the number one ranking. Graf later visited Seles at the hospital. Almost two years elapsed before Seles competed again.
Some wonder whether Seles would have remained number one had she not been attacked. Conversely, some wonder whether Seles would have become the top ranked player if Graf not been plagued by the blackmail scandal & injuries from 1990 through 1992. Head-to-head, Graf never had a losing record versus Seles at any point in her career, & prior to the year the black mail scandal first broke, Graf was undefeated versus Seles in three encounters. Seles, however, won four of the seven matches they played from 1990 through 1993, including a 3-1 advantage over Graf in Grand Slam tournaments. Graf retired with a 10-5 lifetime record over Seles, including a 6-4 winning record versus Seles in Grand Slam singles tournaments.
Graf won three of four Grand Slam events in 1993, & in the beginning of 1994, Graf beat Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final of the Australian Open. For the second time in her career, Graf was the holder of all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. She lost, however, to Mary Pierce in the semifinals of the French Open & then was surprisingly eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon by the American Lori McNeil. Graf reached the final of the U.S. Open, where she lost to Sánchez Vicario in three sets.
Injury kept Graf out of the Australian Open in 1995. She came back to beat Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both the French Open & Wimbledon. The U.S. Open was Seles' first Grand Slam event after the 1993 attack. Seles & Graf met in the final, with Graf winning 7-6, 0-6, 6-3. Graf then capped the year by beating countrywoman Anke Huber in a five-set final at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.
In personal terms, 1995 was a difficult year for Graf as she was accused by German authorities of tax evasion in the early years of her career. In her defense, she stated that her father Peter was her financial manager, & all financial matters relating to her earnings at the time had been under his control. As a result, Peter was sentenced to 45 months in jail. He was eventually released after serving 25 months. Prosecutors dropped their case against Steffi in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government & an unspecified charity.
In 1996, Graf again missed the Australian Open due to injury & then successfully defended the three Grand Slam titles she won the year before. In a close French Open final, Graf again overcame Sánchez Vicario, taking the third-set 10-8. Graf then had straight-sets wins against Sánchez Vicario in the Wimbledon final & Seles in the U.S. Open final. Graf also won her fifth & final WTA Tour Championships title with a five set win over Martina Hingis.
The last few years of Graf's career were beset by injuries; particularly to her knees & back. Injury problems caused Graf to miss much of the season in 1997. She lost the world No. 1 ranking to Martina Hingis & failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time in ten years. After missing almost half the season in 1998, she finished that year ranked No. 9, her lowest ranking since 1984.
At the 1999 French Open, she reached her first Grand Slam final in three years & fought back from a set & two breaks down in the second set to defeat the tennis world's new young star, #1 ranked Martina Hingis, in three sets. She also became the first player in the Open era to beat the #1, #2, & #3 world ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by defeating then #2 ranked Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals & #3 ranked Monica Seles in the semifinals. She then reached her ninth Wimbledon final, where she lost in straight sets to Lindsay Davenport.
Graf announced her retirement from the tour in August 1999. She was ranked the World No. 3 at the time of her retirement.
During her career, Graf won 107 singles titles & 11 doubles titles. Her 22 Grand Slam singles titles are second only to Margaret Court, who won 24. Graf won 7 singles titles at Wimbledon, 6 singles titles at the French Open, 5 singles titles at the US Open, & 4 singles titles at the Australian Open. She is the only person to have won at least 4 singles titles at each Grand Slam event. Her overall record in 56 Grand Slam events was 282-34 (89 percent) (87-10 at the French Open, 75-8 at Wimbledon, 73-10 at the US Open, & 47-6 at the Australian Open). Her career prize-money earnings totalled US$21,895,277. Her singles win-loss record was 902-115 (89 percent). She was ranked No. 1 for 377 weeks (non-consecutive), including a record 186 consecutive weeks (from August 1987-March 1991) - longer than any other man or woman player.
With her father reining in her personal life until the Graf tax scandal in 1995, Graf often declined social invitations & made few friends on tour. Soon after retiring she made headlines off the court for dating Andre Agassi. They married in October 2001 with only their mothers as witnesses. Four days later Steffi gave birth, six weeks prematurely, to their son Jaden Gil (named for Andre's longtime trainer Gil Reyes). Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born in October 2003.Grand Slam singles finals
Wins (22)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1987 French Open Martina Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6
1988 Australian Open Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6
1988 French Open (2) Natalia Zvereva 6-0, 6-0
1988 Wimbledon Martina Navratilova 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
1988 U.S. Open Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
1989 Australian Open (2) Helena Suková 6-4, 6-4
1989 Wimbledon (2) Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
1989 U.S. Open (2) Martina Navratilova 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
1990 Australian Open (3) Mary Joe Fernández 6-3, 6-4
1991 Wimbledon (3) Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 3-6, 8-6
1992 Wimbledon (4) Monica Seles 6-2, 6-1
1993 French Open (3) Mary Joe Fernández 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
1993 Wimbledon (5) Jana Novotná 7-6, 1-6, 6-4
1993 U.S. Open (3) Helena Suková 6-3, 6-3
1994 Australian Open (4) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-0, 6-2
1995 French Open (4) Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario 7-5, 4-6, 6-0
1995 Wimbledon (6) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
1995 U.S. Open (4) Monica Seles 7-6, 0-6, 6-3
1996 French Open (5) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-3, 6-7, 10-8
1996 Wimbledon (7) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-3, 7-5
1996 U.S. Open (5) Monica Seles 7-5, 6-4
1999 French Open (6) Martina Hingis 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
Runner-ups (9)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1987 Wimbledon Martina Navratilova 7-5, 6-3
1987 U.S. Open Martina Navratilova 7-6, 6-1
1989 French Open Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 7-6, 3-6, 7-5
1990 French Open (2) Monica Seles 7-6, 6-4
1990 U.S. Open (2) Gabriela Sabatini 6-2, 7-6
1992 French Open (3) Monica Seles 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
1993 Australian Open Monica Seles 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
1994 U.S. Open (3) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 1-6, 7-6, 6-4
1999 Wimbledon (2) Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-5

1986 "Most Improved Player" WTA TOUR
1987-90 "Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1993-96 "Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1996, 98-99 "Most Exciting Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1987-90 "World Champion" ITF award.
1993, 95-96 "World Champion" ITF award
1988 "BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year"
1989 "Associated press female athlete of the year"
1999 "Prince of Asturias Award" one of the most important awards of Spain named after the apparent heir of Spain, Prince Felipe
1999 "Germany Television Award"
1999 "Athlete of the Century" for the category "female athlete in ballsports" by IOC panel
1999 "Female Athlete of the Year" by German TV broadcaster ARD
1999 "Female Sports Award of the last Decade" by ESPY, Las Vegas
1999 "Olympic Medal of Honor" granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC, Lausanne
2002 "Medal of Honor" decorated by the Prime Minister of Graf's home state Baden-Württemberg, Mr. Erwin Teufel
Steffi Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.
· Steffi is the only female to be selected for Forbes Top-30 "Most recognizable & marketable athletes" list in 1995.
· Selected for "European Heroes" in 2004 by TIME Magazine.
· Voted "Germans greatest role model" by TV14 magazine.
· Voted "Most admirable German woman" by Amica magazine.
· Voted "Germany's Sportswoman of the Century" in 1999 by the German press.
· Steffi is the only person to have won the 'Golden Slam' (1988)
· Steffi is the first German to win the Spain's 'Prince of Asturias' award.
At the 1992 Wimbledon champions banquet, she & husband-to-be Andre Agassi showed no interest in one another. However, in a 2006 Sports Illustrated piece, Agassi - who claimed he had been secretly pining for Graf as far back as 1990 - said that officials would not allow him to dance with her, which was a Wimbledon tradition.
In the first season episode "The Crackpots & these Women" of The West Wing, President Bartlet brings in a ringer for a basketball game with the senior staff. Toby Ziegler mentions that it was like the time he & C.J. were playing doubles with him once & he brought in someone he claimed worked at the American Consulate who (despite his denial) was in fact Steffi Graf. Hugh Laurie sang a song about her on the show A Bit of Fry & Laurie.

Brian Charles Lara-The Prince of Port-of-Spain

Brian Charles Lara (born May 2, 1969) (nicknamed "The Prince of Port-of-Spain" or simply "The Prince") is a West Indies cricketer. Lara has several times topped the Test batting rankings and being the current world record holder for the highest individual innings score and the all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket.

Biography

Brian was born in Cantaro, Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago. He is 10th in a family of 11 children. His father Bunty Lara died in 1988. His mother Pearl Lara suffered from cancer and died in January 2002. He is also the father of an eight-year-old daughter called Sydney whom he had with Trinidadian model Leasel Rovedas.

From an early age, Lara's father Bunty and one of his older sisters Agnes Cyrus enrolled him in the local Harvard Coaching Clinic at the age of six for weekly coaching sessions on Sundays. As a result, Lara had a very early education in proper batting techniques.

Lara's first school was St. Joseph's Roman Catholic primary. He then went to San Juan secondary, but played no cricket there. A year later, at fourteen years old, he moved on to Fatima College. Lara moved in with his fellow Trinidadian Test player Michael Carew in Woodbrook, Port of Spain (a 20 minute drive from Santa Cruz). Michael's father Joey Carew worked with him on his cricketing and personal career development. Michael got Lara his first job at the Angostura Ltd. in the Marketing department. Lara played in Trinidad and Tobago junior soccer and table tennis sides but cricket was the path to recognition in Trinidad at the time. Lara said he wanted to emulate his idols: Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and the left-handed Roy Fredericks.

Lara began his cricket career while at school at Fatima College. When he was 14, he played in the under-16 and First Divisions of national schoolboys' cricket. He amassed 745 runs in the schoolboys' league that year with an average of 126.16 per innings. Afterwards he was selected for the Trinidad national under-16 team. When he was 15 years old, he played in his first West Indian under 19 youth tournament.

In 1984, Lara represented West Indies in Under-19 Test Cricket. 1987 was a breakthrough year for Lara, when he broke the West Indies youth batting record. In January, 1988, Lara made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago in the Red Stripe Cup against Barbados. The Bajan attack contained Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall. Lara made 92.

Later in the same year, he captained the West Indies team in Australia for the Bicentennial Youth World Cup. His innings of 182 as captain of the West Indies under 23 XI against the 1988-89 Indians elevated Lara's reputation even further. He was selected for the Port of Spain Test of that season. He did not play, however, due to suffering the personal setback of the death of his father. In 1989, he captained West Indies B Team in Zimbabwe and scored 145 for the West Indies, a side that included several players with Test experience.

In 1990, at the age of 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest ever captain and won the one-day Geddes Grant Shield. It was also in 1990 that he made his Test debut for West Indies against Pakistan, scoring 44 and 6.

Lara loves carnivals, Chinese & Italian food, and is known to be a practical joker.

Career Highlights

Lara holds several world records for high scoring. He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994) and Test cricket (400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004). He also holds the record for the highest total number of runs in a Test career, after overtaking Allan Border in November 2005. He is the only man to have reclaimed the Test record score, having scored 375 against England in 1994, a record that stood until Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003. His 400 not out also made him the second player after Don Bradman to score two Test triple-centuries, and the second after Bill Ponsford to score two first-class quadruple-centuries. He has scored nine double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Bradman's twelve.

Lara captained the West Indies from 1997 to 1999. He was reappointed as captain against the touring Australians in 2003, and struck 110 in his first Test match back in charge, showing signs of him returning to his best. In September 2004, West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England under his captaincy.

In March 2005, Lara declined selection for the West Indies team because of a dispute over his personal Cable & Wireless sponsorship deal, which clashed with the Cricket Board's main sponsor, Digicel. Six other players were involved in this dispute, including stars Christopher Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Dwayne Bravo. Lara says he declined selection in a stand of solidarity, when these players were dropped because of their sponsorship deals. The issue was resolved after the first Test of the series against the touring South African team.

Lara returned to the team for the second Test (and scored a huge first innings score of 196), but in the process lost his captaincy indefinitely to the newly-appointed Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In the next Test, against the same opponents, he scored a 176 in the first innings. After a one day series against South Africa, he cored his first Test century against the visiting Pakistanis in the first Test at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados.

On April 26 2006 Lara was reappointed the captain of the West Indies cricket team for the third time. This followed the resignation of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had been captain for thirteen months - in which the West Indies won just one of the 14 Test matches they had competed. In May 2006, Lara led the West Indies to successful One-Day series victories against Zimbabwe and India. Lara's team played Australia in the final for the ICC Champions Trophy and lost.

Sachin Tendulkar Biography

Born April 24, 1973, Bombay [Mumbai], India) Indian professional cricket player, considered by many to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In 2005 he became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries in Test (international) play.

Tendulkar was given his first bat when he was 11. As a 14-year-old, he used it to score 329 out of a world-record stand of 664 in a school match. A year later he scored a century on his first-class debut for Bombay (Mumbai), and at 16 years 205 days he became India's youngest Test cricketer, making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989. When he was 18 he scored two centuries in Australia (148 in Sydney and 114 in Perth), and in 1994 he scored 179 against the West Indies. In August 1996, at age 23, Tendulkar was made captain of his country's team.

Although India was defeated in the semifinals of the 1996 World Cup, Tendulkar emerged as the tournament's top run scorer, with 523 runs. In 1997 he was chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest award given to an Indian athlete, for his outstanding performance in the 1997–98 season. India was defeated by Australia in the 1999 World Cup, failing to advance past the round of six, and was soundly defeated by both Australia and South Africa in series later that year. In the 2003 World Cup, however, Tendulkar helped his team advance as far as the finals. Though India was again defeated by Australia, Tendulkar, who averaged 60.2, was named the man of the tournament.

Tendulkar made history in December 2005 when he scored his record-breaking 35th century in Test play against Sri Lanka. The feat was accomplished in a total of 125 Tests and allowed Tendulkar to surpass the prolific Indian run scorer Sunil Gavaskar. In June 2007 Tendulkar reached another major milestone when he became the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international play. Throughout his long career Tendulkar was consistently ranked among the game's best batsmen. He was often likened to Australia's Don Bradman in his single-minded dedication to scoring runs and the certainty of his strokeplay off both front and back foot.

Carl Lewis Biography

The greatest and most famous athlete of the last century, who formerly won about 20 gold medals in four different events (100 m, 200 m, long jump and 4x100 relay), is called Carl, which is a nick that hides his true identity: Frederick Carlton Lewis.
He was born on 1st July 1961 in Birmingham, Alabama, the same country of Jesse Owens for the will of doom: in fact his parents lived there fleetingly owing to their job. Third of five sons, he spent his childhood in Willingboro together with his younger sister Carol, Bill, his dad and Evelyn, his mother. Since his first years of life he could breath the soft and clean air of sport: his father used to train athletes at university and his mother was 6th at 80 m hurdles in the Pan-American games of 1951.He saw the Olympic games of 1968 on TV and could admire Bob Beamon: he was so impressed that after the jump of 8,90 m he went out with a friend to take the length of a limousine in order to realize how far Bob flied! But for the moment Carl was really thin, so thin that the doctor suggested to make him do sports. His education, beyond studies, embraced a lot of fields. He learnt to play musical instruments, to dance, to sing and applied himself to a large variety of sports: football, soccer (he played with his brother Cleveland as a forward!), diving and, obviously, athletics. As he himself tells, he wasn't good at sport. A lot of boys did better at the same age and he was regularly beaten by his sister Carol in the track his parents constructed for them around the garden of their house!

Amazingly his father was a friend of Jesse Owens and so Carl grew up under the legend of this man who won four gold medals in the Olympic games of Berlin 1936. Carl begun with long jump and after a competition, at the age of 10, he was awarded by Owens himself. But a sad episode made people worry for his career. When he was 12, after having sung in the chorus of the church, he went to play with other children but, not paying the right attention, he stumbled and got a deep wound in the right knee. What worried the most was that his tendon was about to be cut and doctors stated he would have never jumped like before. Fortunately he could go on practicing long jump and at the age of 13 he jumped 5,51 m. Then in the years after he realized a nice progression in this event: 6,07 m, 6,93 m, 7,26 m and 7,85 m when he was 17. Trainers pointed out him as a young promise. In fact in 1979 he was allowed to enter the national team and to take part to the Pan-American games in San Juan, Portorico. He arrived 1 hour late (because trainers gave him the wrong program of the games) but judges made him jump anyway after Carl's explanation. And it was really a worthy decision: he placed third with 8,13 m at the last jump. A prophetic measure as it was formerly Owens' world record (which lasted 25 years). Meanwhile he spent part of his time even to train in 100 m and in 1979 he run 10"67.



Only boycott prevented him to be at the Olympic games of Moscow the following year. In Eugene he gained the ticket for the long jump (2nd with 8,01 m) and 4x100 m relay (4th in 100 m). He improved a lot in 100 m, running 10"21 s while in the long jump he landed at 8,11 m. Then in 1981, the year of his great explosion, a lot of things changed. He settled to Houston, accepting the invite of Tom Tellez, who was among the most famous trainers, and frequents a course of telecommunications at university. At Dallas, in the same day, he wins 100 m stopping chronometers on 10"00, the best time at sea level of ever, and then wins 200 m (20"73) and long jump (8,25)! Then he becomes the national champion at Sacramento in 100 m (beating Sanford and Floyd) and long jump, where with the measure of 8,62 m sets the new the universitary record. Towards the end of the season at Zurich he still has the energies to jump 8,52 m against an opposite wind of 2,2 m/s. Then at Rome, after winning long jump he loses the 100 m thanks to an injury. This was a particular defeat for Carl as trainers told him he couldn't practice sprint and jumping at the same time. So he should have renounced to follow the footprints of Jesse Owens. Carl is stubborn and in 1982 improves in the long jump (8,76 m) and becomes more constant in 100 m. So in 1983 he was ready to do the general attempts for the Olympic games of the following year.



In fact the first edition of the world championship was expected and he qualified for 100 m, 200 m and long jump. He showed all his powerful qualities. On 19th June he runs the semi-final of 200 m in 20"15 s. Then he goes for the long jump. First jump: 8,71 m. Second jump: 8,79 m, leaving at least 20 centimetres before the limit! Carl got dressed again and went away. Two hours later he's ready for the final of 200 m. His acceleration burns the track and, twenty meters far from the goal, raises his arms and greets the spectators. Final time: 19"75!! Journalists, who were astounded, asked him why he didn't try to break the world record (19"72): "I run against opponents not against absents" he replied. So the World Championships of Helsinki confirmed his supremacy: three golds. It wasn't a secret Carl planned to win four gold medals at Los Angeles and he was at top during trials. He won all the competitions running 100 m in 10"06 (-2,2 m/s), 200 m in 19"86 (-0,2 m/s) and jumping 8,71 (+0,1 m/s). Two months later he's successful in winning four golds (100m ,200 m, long jump and 4x100 m relay). Equalizing Jesse Owens he becomes the "son of the wind" and "King Carl", two nicks which will take him up to the end of career. During the outdoor season he was unbeaten, except for a race of 300 m. In 1985 and 1986 Carl's races are rather poor except a 9"98 and a 8,62 in 1985. Then he had even a row with U.S. federation and didn't take part to U.S. championships. He works, together with Jeffrey Marx, on his biography ("Inside the track") and tries to sing. In 1986 he knows a new opponent: Ben Johnson, who humiliated him at Goodwill games running 9"95 against 10"06. In 1987 his father died of cancer.



At Roma, in the second edition of the world championships he achieved two golds (long jump and 4x100 relay) and a silver in 100 m behind Ben Johnson. The Canadian sprinter was his opposite: ugly, short, poor, awful in the running style. But he was powerful: at start he always earned two - three meters of advantage on Carl. So 1988, year of The Olympic games of Seoul, opened under the challenge of these two men. When Carl won the trials with a windy 9"78 and then beat Johnson at Zurich he seemed to be a dangerous rival for the Canadian. However Johnson won again with 9"79 and Carl finished really far with 9"92. Then, while attaining his first gold in the long jump, Johnson was disqualified for drug abuse and so Carl became automatically Olympic champion and owner of the world record (9"92). When Olympic games finished Carl came back home with two golds and one silver. A fact that makes notice for anyone else, but not for Joe. So, since the following year, Carl tried again to sing and continued to draw suits for his club. Meanwhile a sprinter of his clan, Leroy Burrell, brushed against his world record: 9"94 and beats him at Goodwill games. In the long jump Mike Powell becomes dangerous, and Carl won long jump just for 4 centimeters in the same games.

In 1991 he faced these ones at the World championships of Tokyo. He arrived in Japan as the number two of the sprint and the best of the long jump for 1 centimeters. Well, he came out from Japan as the number one of the sprint through a fantastic world record (9"86) and the number two of long jump, as the 8,95 of Mike Powell didn't give him any chance though e reached the measure of 8,91 (windy)! And so finished his record of victories in a row: 65. In 1992 Carl prepared the Olympic games but a strange thyroid's problem made him become weaker during trials and failed the qualifications in the 100 m and 200 m. So he had just the time to beat Powell for three centimeters (but with a set of jumps rather better) and win 4x100 relay achieving the 8th gold medal in the Olympic games.



Then the last years before the Olympic games of Atlanta showed his poorest figures of the career. At Stuttgart he's third in 200 m and 4th in 100 m (he lost, in that season, all the races on 100 m). His apparitions are few and an injury, in 1995, avoided to get a strong defeat at Goeteborg. Meanwhile he's protagonist of successful spots for Pirelli and Citroen. Carl didn't want to effort his body in order to save it for the Olympic games of 1996. But, like four years before, he got injured in 100 m and failed the qualification. In the 200 meters he didn't show a good form. So, for another time, his Olympic games concerned only long jump. In the last competition before the games he jumped only 8,00 m in an awful race and his trainers got a little disappointed for the performance. In fact, looking his high speed, he would have jumped at least 8,50 m. For the first time Joe really suffers. He's not the robot of Los Angeles. He's afraid. In fact in the qualifications of the long jump brushes against the elimination. Then, the third jump of the final is a human masterpiece: 8,50 although the wind blew against him. Now he's a legend in the legend: he joined the record of Al Oerter with the fourth gold in the same event. His professional career finished that day, with his terms of joy which revealed his hidden humanity.

In 1997 he just run some races to greet his fan and officially closed his career at Berlin, winning a relay together with Bailey, Fredericks and Burrell, the fastest men, with him, of ever in 100 m. Some weeks later he hailed his fans of Houston and concluded his history in the field which saw his trainings for 16 years. With a total of 17 golds between Olympic games and World championships he's the best athlete of every time. Someone could hardly do better in the future. Now Joe works as a stylist and manage his society, the "King Carl" always showing the diligence which made him the "son of the wind". He's even trying a successful actor's career and he's going to shoot his first movie.



Who has been the greatest rival of Carl among the three events he competed ? Was there a guy who used often to contend his crown ? We could treat this subject through different perspectives: splitting his career through time or through events... Anyway we'll speak about Ben Johnson who most people consider the greatest contender of Carl. In my opinion Ben was all but a real adversary since he used to take drug; since Seoul he became a sort of meteorite in Carl's track and field walkthrough as he was never stronger than him, he revealed to be a trick of the doom and just a shadow over Carl's victories. A normal Ben Johnson couldn't ever compete with Joe and he just disappointed Carl for two seasons in a total of 16! He was his greatest rival between Rome and Seoul, but after finding out the cheating of the Canadian their rivalry lost consistence comprehensively enough. So, looking from the top of Carl's career his agonistic appearance is useless. Generally we can say he had no rivals as strong as him that could try hard him for more of 5 seasons in the most lucky case. At the beginning of his career which saw the golds of Helsinki and Los Angeles Calvin Smith in the 100 m was the most strong after him and was able to run sometimes as fast as him. Anyway he was not so continuous as King Carl and often lost when running next to his shoulder. Calvin belongs to the same generation of Carl (they are both of 1961) and he had been always the number two of sprint since 1982 to 1988 never beating Carl in an important competition. Anyway he showed to be an hard opponent sometimes like in 1983. That year Carl renounced to take part to the 200 m in Helsinki and Smith won with 20"16s. Some people noted he gained the gold just for Carl's forfeit as this one already run 19"75s easily. At Zurich they run the 200 m shoulder to shoulder and Smith was victorious with 19"99s against 20"21s of Carl, which finished second. The same day Smith was even able to run the 100 m in 10"04 against a wind blowing at -2,2 m/s. This was really a great performance for Calvin and demonstrated that he could be a valorous rival for Carl. And in fact it has been so even if he was widely defeated in the most important competitions that Carl used to prepare demandingly. He was his main rival during 80s in the 100 m, while in the 200 m he was the strongest even if his races were poor in number. No one during 80s run 200 m so fast and easily as him with continuity, neither Joe De Loach (protagonist just in one season) did it (even if he unfortunately got injured!). The same happened for the long jump: no one was able to jump his great distances so often and he never lost a race. Emmyan and Myricks had been the eternal number two. So during this first stage of Carl's career no one was strong and continuous like him and used to beat him often.

At the beginning of 90s his executioners seem to take form: Leroy Burrell and Mike Powell. The first one is able to run 9"94, close to the world record Carl set up at 9"92 and he's Carl's team mate at Santa Monica Track club. The latter is a cheerful boy of Philadelphia who jumps 8,66 m at Lausanne in 1990. To tell the truth they've been the greatest rivals of Carl, but not for many time. Carl and Leroy had the direct challenge in 1991 trough two stages: in the first, at U.S. championships in New York, Leroy beat Carl sneaking the world record: 9"90. Carl is second with 9"93. In the same competition just one centimeter prevents his defeat from Powell! At Tokyo Carl must face these guys. We know the story: Carl saved the throne of 100 m but not the one of the long jump, losing the gold and the world record. Anyway let the statistics speak: Carl's balance against Powell is of 17 victories against 5 defeats. And Mike just beat Carl in an important event one time. Leroy Burrell, one of the most talented sprinter of the 90s hadn't any more chances to challenge Carl. He suffered a lot of injuries and he was compelled to close his career early. Anyway he was able to run 9"85 in 1994, beating Carl's record! In my opinion they've been different sprinters, more powerful Leroy and more elegant and aggressive Carl, which remains the strongest. I think Leroy is the most skilled opponent Carl found in the lanes of the 100 m. Don't speak me about Linford Christie: another 17 - 5 for Carl! Then think that before Gaetshead 1993 the balance was 16 - 1! I've no doubt the most dangerous opponents have been Burrell, Smith and Powell (this one in the last 4 years of Carl). We must not forget other great rivals: Kirk Baptiste (silver in the 200 m in Los Angeles and Carl's team mate), Myricks and Dennis Mitchell are good examples. The balance is however always heavily points out Carl as the strongest.

Eventually I'd underline Michael Johnson has not been Carl's rival. He revealed to the world of athletics when Carl was going to finish is career and run scarcely 200 m. Among their direct challenges I'd remember the victory of Michael at New Orleans (1992) and Carl's success in Lausanne in 1993. they never lived a considerable agonistic rivalry to tell the truth. Just press used to compare them as they were king of their own events. However Michael Johnson proved to be stronger than Carl in the 200 m and merits to be one of the greatest athletes of the century picking Carl's inheritance as number one in track and field.

Sir Donald Bradman Biography

Sir Donald George Bradman (August 27, 1908 - February 25, 2001) was an Australian cricket player who is universally regarded as the greatest cricket player of all time, and one of Australia's greatest popular heroes. Cricket career Early years Born in Cootamundra, but raised in Bowral where the Bradman Museum and Bradman Oval are sited, he was noted as a youth for his obsessive practice, often hitting a ball repeatedly against a wall using only a cricket stump. After a brief dalliance with tennis he dedicated himself to cricket, playing for local sides before attracting sufficient attention to be drafted in grade cricket in Sydney at the age of 18. Within a year he was representing New South Wales and within three he had made his Test debut. Test cricket Receiving some criticism in his first Ashes series in 1928-1929 he worked constantly to remove the few weaknesses in his game and by the time of the Bodyline series was without peer as a batsman. Possessing a great stillness whilst awaiting the delivery, his shotmaking was based on a combination of excellent vision, speed of both thought and footwork and a decisive, powerful bat motion with a pronounced follow-through. Technically his play was almost flawless, strong on both sides of the wicket with only his sternest critics noting a tendency for his backlift to be slightly angled toward the slip cordon. Despite occasional battles with illness, he continued to dominate world cricket throughout the 1930s and is credited with raising the spirit of a nation suffering under the vagaries of the economic depression, until war intervened. Over an international career spanning nearly 20 years from 1930 to 1948, Bradman's statistical achievements were unparalleled. He broke scoring records for both first-class and Test cricket; his highest international score (334) stood for decades as the highest ever test score by an Australian. It was then equalled by Mark Taylor, who declared with his score at 334 not out in what many regard as a deliberate tribute to Bradman. In 2003 it was once more equalled then surpassed by another fellow Australian, Matthew Hayden, who fittingly went on to gain the highest score in Test cricket (380) up to that time. For decades, Bradman was the only player with two Test triple centuries in a career. He was joined by West Indian Brian Lara in 2004; Lara broke Hayden's record, and recorded the first Test quadruple century in history, in the process of joining Bradman in this exclusive club. Later career Approaching forty years of age (most players are retired by their mid-30s), he returned to play cricket after World War II, leading one of the most talented teams in Australia's history. In his farewell 1948 tour of England the team he led, dubbed "the Invincibles", went undefeated throughout the tour, a feat unmatched before or since. On the occasion of his last international innings, Bradman needed four runs to be able to retire with a batting average of 100, but was dismissed for nought (in cricketing parlance, "a duck") by spin bowler Eric Hollies. Applauded onto the pitch by both teams, it was sometimes claimed that he was unable to see the ball due to the tears welling in his eyes, a claim Bradman always dismissed as sentimental nonsense. "I knew it would be my last test match after a career spanning 20-years", he said, "but to suggest I got out as some people did, because I had tears in my eyes is to belittle the bowler and is quite untrue." Regardless, he was given a guard of honor by players and spectators alike as he left the ground with a batting average of 99.94 from his 52 tests, nearly double the average of any other player before or since. His average is immortalised as the post office box number of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - "Box 9994 in your capital city". Skill Bradman so dominated the game that special bowling tactics, known as fast leg theory or Bodyline, regarded by many as unsporting and dangerous, were devised by England captain Douglas Jardine to reduce his dominance in a series of international matches against England in the Australian summer of 1932 - 1933. The principal English exponent of Bodyline was the Nottinghamshire pace bowler Harold Larwood, and the contest between Bradman and Larwood was to prove to be the focal point of the contest. Some indication of his superlative skill was that his average for that series, 56.57, is above the career averages of all but a handful of international players in the 125-odd years of international cricket matches. Statistical analyses give some credence to the claim that Bradman dominated his sport more than Pelé, Ty Cobb, Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan, amongst other champions of their disciplines. Regardless, his impact on a nation's psyche is arguably unmatched. After cricket After retiring from playing cricket, Bradman continued working as a stockbroker. Allegations that he had acted improperly during the collapse of his employer's firm and the subsequent establishment of his own, were made behind closed doors until his death, were publicised in November, 2001. He became heavily involved in cricket administration, serving as a selector for the national team for nearly 30 years. He was selector (and acknowledged as a force urging the players of both teams to play entertaining, attacking cricket) for the famous Australia - West Indies test series of 1960-61. As a member of the Australian Cricket Board, and, reportedly, their de facto leader, he was also involved in negotiations with the World Series Cricket schism in the late 1970s. Ian Chappell, former test captain and selected to lead the rebel Australian side, has stated that he places much responsibility for the split on Bradman, who in his opinion had forgotten his own difficulties with the cricket authorities of the time. He was also famous for answering innumerable letters from cricket fans across the world, which he continued to do until well into his eighties. Personal Bradman married his childhood sweetheart, Jessie, and had two children, John and Lorraine. An intensely private person, probably because of the intense media scrutiny he suffered under, he was regarded as aloof even by teammates, particularly in later years. A strict Methodist, he had occasionally been accused of anti-Catholicism in his actions as captain and selector - however, it should be pointed out that at that time sectarian prejudice was very widespread in Australia. Bradman is immortalised in two popular songs of very different styles and eras, "Our Don Bradman", a jaunty 1930's ditty by Jack O'Hagan, and the folk-influenced rock of Paul Kelly in the 1980's. The story of the Bodyline series was also told in a television series. He also wrote several books on cricket technique and tactics, which are regarded as classics. Honours He was awarded a knighthood in 1949, and a Companion of the Order of Australia (Australia's highest civil honor) in 1979.

Biography Of Pele

Many U.S. Citizens are unfamiliar with Pele, (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), also known as 'Goddess Pele' . This may seem surprising; since during December 1999, The World's National Olympics Commitees (NOC) voted Pele (who is widely considered to be the most accomplished male soccer player to date) as Number 1 among their top five athletes of the Century. Pele was the only athlete among the top five named who didn't compete in the Olympics. Ranking behind Pele among the list of top five athletes of the century were: Athlete, Boxing Superstar - Muhammad Ali, Olympic light-heavyweight boxing champ 1960 Athlete, Runner Extraordinaire - Carl Lewis, Winner of 9 gold medals in four Olympic Game Competitions between 1984 and 1996. Athlete, Basketball Superstar - Michael Jordan, Basketball Superstar who was a part of the Dream Team gold medalists during 1992. Athlete, Swimmer Superstar - Mark Spitz, Winner of seven Olympic Gold Titles at the 1972 Olympic Games.

Currently, in the United States, soccer is an extremely popular participation sport, especially among young people; however, it is not a popular sport to watch on television. Perhaps, because this sport does not typically have high scoring and watching it requires a longer attention span than watching many other sports does. Why would the World's National Olympic Committees, recognize his achievements above so many other incredibly talented athletes, you may wonder. Unlike many other team sports, such as baseball or football the team sport of soccer requires that its team members be quite versatile. In football, a team is usually composed of a group of players who are specialized. Each member is usually extremely talented at one or two, sometimes more of the positons on the team, such as a linebacker or a quarterback. Each team member, however, is not usually able to play every position on the field at a professionally competitive level. Usually baseball teams have some team members who are extremely good pitchers or catchers and tend to play those positions most of the time. Those players are usually not as valuable to their team when they play many of the other positions on the field.

It is believed that one of the reasons Pele was considered to be so astonishingly talented and such an incredible athlete was because everything he did on the soccer field was remarkable. He could play any position. During his career that lasted from 1956 to 1977, he played 1,363 matches and scored 1,282 goals. He scored his 1,000th goal during 1969. His best season was during the year of 1958, when he scored 139 times.

Pele won the following awards: 1958: World cup Brazil 1958: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1960: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1961: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1962: World Cup (Brazil) 1962: World Club Cup (Santos) 1962: South American Club Cup (Santos) 1962: Sao Paulo Championship (Santos) 1963: World Club Cup (Santos) 1963: South American Club Cup (Santos) 1963: Brazilian Cup (Santos) 1964: Brazilian Cup (Santos) 1964: Sao Paola Championship (Santos) 1965: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1967: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1968: Brazilian Cup (Santos) 1969: Sao Paolo Championship (Santos) 1970: World Cup (Brazil) Pele ranks 3rd among the list of all-time top goal scorers in International matches. 1. Ali Daei, Iran, 104 goals, 136 games, (1993-2005) 2. Ferenc Puskas, Hungary/Spain, 84 goals, 89 games, (1945 - 1956) 3. Pele, Brazil, 77 goals, 92 games, (1957-1971)

Pele was the youngest player ever to participate in a world cup final. He was 17 years and 239 days old on June 19, 1958 during that competition. (Born: October 23, 1940, Birthplace: Tres Coracos, Brazil) * He is the youngest player ever to score in a world cup final. * He has been featured on the cover of Life Magazine. * He has published several bestselling auto-biographies, starred in documentary and semi-documentary films and has composed various musical pieces. He acted in the film 'Escape to Victory'. The documentary about his life is called 'Pele Eterno'. Soccer is an extremely popular sport worldwide, especially in Spanish speaking Countries.

If you are on a quest to learn as much as you can about playing soccer, coaching soccer, coaching soccer youth or any other facets regarding the sport of soccer; studying Goddess Pele and other soccer players from countries other than the U.S. could prove to be very beneficial for you.