Carlos Llamosa: Finding the American Dream

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USA

African American Players, German Americans/American Germans
Hispanic/Latino American Players

USA 2010
NY Cosmos, LA Galaxy, DC United,

    Throughout time, people moves to the United States to find their "American Dream".  The story of Carlos Llamosa is about finding that Dream.  He was a native of Colombia who gave up a dream of playing professional soccer in 1991 so that he could join his family in Queens, New York.  He had played for Atletico Huila in Colombia previously.  In 1991, there was no professional soccer in the United States.  The Major League Soccer did not start until 1996.  He worked as a janitor at the World Trade Centre and was present at the building during the 1993 terrorist attack.  In 1995, he started playing again by joining New York Centaurs of the A-League.  Bruce Arena liked what he saw and brought him to DC United in 1997.  From an unknown player from the minor, he made it to the starting lineup of DC United.  In 1998, he earned his first cap for the USA after becoming a citizen and would make the World Cup team in 2002 where he made two appearances.  Colombia did not qualify for the World Cup Finals that year, making Carlos Llamosa, perhaps the only Colombian-born player at the Finals.

February 5th is a special date for Real Madrid

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Real Madrid
Real Madrid All-Time Team Under Florentina Perez
Real Madrid All-Time Team Under Miguel Munoz
Real Madrid Argentine Best XI
Real Madrid Castilla Greatest All-Time
Real Madrid All-Time Team for Foreign Players

Real Madrid All-Time Team for Spanish players

Emilio Butragueno 

On February 5th, 1984, Emilio Butragueno made his debut with Real Madrid.  He would become an icon of his generation.  A year later, a boy was born in Funchai, Portugal on February 5th.  He would grow up to wear Butragueno's number 7 jersey at Real Madrid. His name is Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo

Meanwhile, Neymar, Gheorghe Hagi, Carlos Tevez and  Cesare Maldini all share the same birthday on February 5th.

Hagi also played for Real Madrid.

Wales and Israel's World Cup Qualifiers 1958

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Wales,
Oceania  
United Kingdom.
United Kingdom World Cup 1970
United Kingdom World Cup 1982
France at World Cup1994
USA World Cup 2010
Holland World Cup 2002
England World Cup 1974
What if Argentina sent this team to Sweden 1958
Sweden World Cup 1950

The World Cup Qualifying campaigns for both Wales and Israel were probably the strangest ever.  Israel actually "qualified" for the World Cup Finals in Sweden, but ended up playing in a playoff series vs Wales.  


In the original WC qualifying round, Wales came second behind Czechoslavia in Group 4 of the European zone. Only the group winners qualified for Sweden.

Meanwhile, Israel had a "successful" campaign in the Africa/Asia zone and qualified for the World Cup Finals.



First round
Israel was set to play against Turkey, but Turkey, a Muslim country, refused to play Israel and withdrew. Israel advanced to the next round.

Second round
Israel was set to play against Sudan, Egypt and Indonesia, but the Muslim countries refused to play Israel and withdrew. Israel advanced to the next round.

Final round
Israel was set to play against Sudan, but Sudan, a Muslim country, refused to play Israel and withdrew. Israel technically qualified for Sweden 1958.

But FIFA ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), and Israel had yet to play any. So a special play-off was created between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA Groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying. After Belgium rejected the invitation, Wales played and beat Israel in the special playoff.

Forgotten Player: Julinho

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Argentina World Cup 1958

Julinho was one of the greatest right wing ever lived, but people tended to forget about him.  Perhaps, he played for Brazil in the WC in 1954.  He was Brazil's best player at the tournament. Sandwiched between the ill-fated 1950 WC Finals and the WC-winning Finals in 1958, the WC Finals in 1954 was not a big topic in Brazil.  Brazil's participation at the 1954 World Cup Finals was probably remembered for the game they lost to Hungary.  Three players were sent off during the game and players continued to fight in the locker rooms afterward. The game infamously became known as the Battle of Berne, a game that Brazilian fans wanted to forget.

Julinho started his career with Clube Atlético Juventus, but he never made it there.  He moved to Portuguesa half a season later. He made his debut against Flamengo at the Maracana, on February 18, 1950. Because of the tragic World Cup Finals in 1950, Brazil rebuilt their national team.  They did not play a international match for nearly two years.  On November, 1951, against Corinthians he scored 4 goals. His performance earned him  place on the new national team.  He made his national debut 6 months later when Brazil returned to the international scene and beat Mexico 2-0.  Julinho made his Brazil's debut.  

After he made his name at the World Cup Finals, he moved to Fiorentina in 1955.  In his first season, Fiorentina won the scudetti, and then, reched the European Cup Final the following season. He woud become one of Fiorentina's greatest players in history.

In 1950's, most South American national teams did not select their foreign-based players.  However, Brazil asked Julinho to return to the national team for the WC Finals in 1958.  They even suggested that he would meet them in Europe after they arrived for the WC Finals.  However, Julinho did not want to take a spot of a regular player who fought the World Cup Qualifiers and the buildup.  He turned it down.  If he had taken the spot, Brazil would have dropped Garrincha, who was the backup right wing leading up to the WC Finals.  Instead, Brazil met Fiorentina for a pre-tournament friendly match. It was an emotionl match as Julinho faced his national team.  He wept during the game.

In 1958, he returned to Brazil and was recalled back to the national team for a match vs England in May, 1959.  England, in 1959, still commanded respect in Brazil.  Every Brazilian fans expected the new national hero Garrincha to start the game.  However, Garrincha was unfit and Julinho start the game.  When the starting lineup was announced at the Maracana, the fans turned against Julinho.  the jeers got louder and louder as the game approached.  Julinho would weep for the second time in a national team match.  But as soon as the match started, Julinho showed the fans what he was capable of.  He danced through the English defenders.  The jeers became cheers.  At the end of the match, he would score one goal and assist another as Brazil beat England 2-0.  He had won over the fans again.

Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy

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Holland

Surnamese-Dutch
North Holland, South Holand.
The rest of Netherlands excluding North and South Holland
Netherlands All-Time Team After Johan Cruyff
Dutch Players' surnames starting with "Van"
Netherlands 2002

Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy were born on the same day.  Their careers were very different.  Kluivert earned his cap as a 18 years old.  He became the Golden Boy of Dutch football when he scored the winning goal for Ajax at the 1995 Champions' League Final at the age of 18.  He moved to Milan two years later and then, Barcelona in 1998.  However, his career started to fade away quickly.  He left Barcelona in 2004.  Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy was a late bloomer.  He started his career at the lower division and worked his way up.  In the modern world, it is getting rare for anyone who was not discovered at a younger age.  He never played for any Dutch youth national team.  He joined PSV in 1998 Katy the age of 22, which was not too old.  But by then, Kluivert was among the top striker in the world.  He started to become well-known in Europe, but a dream move to Manchester United was delayed for a year due to his knee problems. Van Nistelrooy did not play in a big tournament until Euro 2004.  Coincidentally, it was the same summer that Kluivert left Barcelona for Newcastle United.  One player's career went up and the other went downward.  

From melon seller to WC starter

     Brazil's World Cup team in 1998 was loaded with superstars.   Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Bebeto, Dungo and Cafu were multi-millionaires.  Ze Carlos, however, was different.  He was a career journeyman.  A year before the WC Finals, he was playing for Matonense in the lower division and his salary was not enough to make ends meet.  So he sold melons in the street.  Then, Sao Paulo signed him in 1997.  Somehow, his performance caught the attention of Mario Zagello.  After a series of injuries within Brazil's player pool, Zagello called him up for the WC Finals.  He had never played for Brazil at any level.  Playing against Denmark at the quarterfinal of the World Cup in 1998, Cafu picked up a yellow card that would suspend him for the next match. Suddenly,  Ze Carlos, Brazil's backup rightback, found himself on the starting lineup vs Netherlands in the semi-final.  So the man selling melons a year earlier started for Brazil.

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Brazil
Sao Paulo State, Rio de Janeiro
North/Northeastern Brazil, South/Southeastern Brazil
Brazilian-born players capped by other national teams
Afro-Brazlian Players
Brazil All-Time Team After Pele
Brazil All-Team Under Mari Zagallo
Brazil All-Time Team before 1958

Santos, Flamengo, Sao Paulo, Corithians, Botafogo
Vasco Da Gama, Palmeiras, Internacional

Fluminense, Gremio, Cruzeiro, Atlético Mineiro, Bahia.

Ethiopia's first game at the 1994 WCQers

      Ethiopia's first game at the 1994 WCQers was an away match against Morocco. they traveled to Morocco via Rome, where their best five players deflected. The squad ended up with 8 players to play the match. So they used the backup keeper, the assistant coach and a friend to play. By half time, two more players dropped out. Three more players dropped out early in the second half. The match was stopped with 6 Ethiopian players left on the field.

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Africa All-Time Team