http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/World-Cup-Legends_Summary.html en-us http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_24318.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:01:18 CST
Roque Gastón Máspoli (October 12, 1917 in Montevideo – February 22, 2004 in Montevideo) was a soccer goalkeeper for Uruguay. Máspoli started his career as a professional football player by the age of 17. He started playing for the team Nacional and after spending some time in Liverpool he finally got to the Peñarol where he developed most of his professional career. Roque Máspoli was hospitalized on February 10, 2004 for heart ailments. He died twelve days later in Montevideo, Uruguay when he was 86 years old.

Roque Máspoli was one of the light-blue ‘heroes’ for the Uruguayan national team of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Máspoli was the goal keeper in the final match, known as the "Maracanazo" for Uruguay's surprising win at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The team played in front of 200,000 noisy Brazilians fans, Máspoli allowed just one goal as the visitors beat huge favorite Brazil 2-1 and took the title home (if the game ended in a tie, Brazil would have won the title).

Máspoli retired as player in 1955 but he remained associated with sports. He coached Uruguayan soccer team Peñarol, winning five national championships, the Copa Libertadores and the 1966 Intercontinental Cup (when his team beat Real Madrid 4-0 on aggregate). Later, Máspoli led teams in Spain, Peru and Ecuador and in the 1980s he spent several years as a coach for the Uruguay national team. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_24317.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:01:02 CST
Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia was born on December 22, 1926. He is an Uruguayan former footballer. Alcides Ghiggia played in the right forward position for the Uruguayan national team in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. For the Uruguayan people, Alcides Ghiggia, was one of the light-blue heroes that disputed the match played on July 16, 1950 in the Maracaná Stadium. He is best remembered for scoring the decisive goal in that final match against Brazil just ten minutes before the end of the match. Uruguay won that match with a final score of 2-1, and won the World Cup.

Thanks to the goal Alcides Ghiggia scored, Uruguay was crowned as champion of the World Cup for the second time (Brazil was the favorite team for that World Cup and would have been crowned if there was a tie). On every match of the World Cup in 1950, Ghiggia scored, making four goals in four games, but these turned out to be his only international goals as he represented Uruguay only 12 times between 1950 and 1952. Later on, he played for the Italian national team from 1957-1959 where he played 5 games and scored one goal. Ghiggia was the oldest living player to attend the opening ceremony of World Cup 2006 of Germany in Munich on June 9, 2006. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23733.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:00:48 CST
Paolo Rossi was born on September 23, 1956 in Santa Lucia, which is in the province of Prato in Tuscany. In 1982, he led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball. Rossi is currently the only player to have won all three honors at a single tournament. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23732.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:00:28 CST
Although Argentina had produced several fine soccer players and its squad was recognized as one of the best in South America (second only to Brazil), it wasn’t until 1978, when the country hosted the World Cup that Argentina truly rose to become a force to be reckoned with. In a team consisting of many of players shone in their own right, it wasn’t easy to standout, and yet Mario Alberto Kempes managed to do so, becoming one of the bastions in the Argentinean team that raised the World Cup for the first time in 1978. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23731.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:00:03 CST
Mario Eteves Coluna is a Mozambican-born Portuguese retired footballer. He was born in 1935 and is probably t midfielder his country has ever had. His footballer nick name is “O Monstro Sagrado” (The sacred monster).

His history can be counted through numbers throughout his 16 years of playing soccer. He moved to Benfica in 1954 -55, where he won ten National Championships from 1954 to 1969 and six Cup of Portugal in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1964, and 1969. With that squad he also won the European Cup Twice in 1961 and 1962, and also played in the finals of 1963, 1965 and 1968, this last time as the captain. For the national team he played 57 games and scored eight goals. His first match was on 1955 and his last game in 1968. Coluna captained the legendary team of the “Magricos” (Portugal national football team), which reached the third place in the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Strong at midfield Coluna was known for the way he played on the field because of his elegant and efficient style. He was also known to score long distance goals with ease. With one of these surprising kicks, he marked a historical goal against Barcelona, in the Benfica first title as champions of Europe in the season 1961.

After his 715 games with Benfica, Coluna played in only two other clubs, the Lourenco Marques of Mozambique and the Lyon of France, where he finished his career, in 1971 at the age of 37. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23729.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:59:31 CST
Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, also known as ‘The Black Pearl”, was born in Lourenco marques, Mozambique in 1942. He is considered one of the best football players of his time and is arguably one of the great all-time players. His trademarks were his speed, quick dribble and a fierce, tremendously accurate right-footed strike.

In 1961 he was brought to Portugal by Benfica’s coach Bela Guttman. The 19 year Old Eusebio became immediately a crucial element of the team. Eusebio was simply one-man- attack. He caused trouble to defenders and was unstoppable in the Portuguese league where he scored 319 goals in 313 appearances. He helped Benfica win 11 Portuguese league championships and five domestic cup titles. He also was six times topscorer in the Portuguese league and twice Golden Boot winner as topscorer in European football and European player of the Year.

In 1966 FIFA World Cup the Portuguese national team reached the third place after a memorable performance eliminating the 1958 and 1962 champions: Brazil in the first round of the tournament. Beside the Portuguese squad lost the semifinal against England, people were so impressed by Eusebio’s performances that he was immediately added to Madame’s Tussaud’s collection of waxwork.

“The Black Pearl” would never play in another World Cup again even though he took part in both the 1970 and 1974 qualifying series. In the 1970s Eusebio headed out west to America to play in the North American Soccer League toward the end of his career, he made appearances for a number of clubs in Mexico and USA. After his retirement in 1978, Eusebio has become a constant presence among the Portuguese national team where the players saw him as a sort of inspiration and source of moral support.

During the 2003 UEFA’s Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23727.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:58:58 CST
Whoever thought that goalkeepers don’t win games on their own, never saw Josef Maier in action. Indeed, Josef-Dieter “Sepp” Maier is one of the few players who can actually claim this statement to be true, and without a doubt, one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. His tenure with Germany’s National Team is the stuff of legend, and some thirty odd years later, the mythic aura that surrounds his name remains intact, as well as many of the records he set. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23686.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:58:34 CST
Few soccer players have become world famous as much for their distinctive look as for their playing, however, Paul Breitner was one of them. Known as “Der Afro” due to his big curly hair, Breitner commanded attention in and out the field, since it was fairly difficult not to see him or hear him speaking his mind about many topics, and he set a precedent for other to follow suit, most notably Colombian star Carlos “Pibe” Valderrama, some two decades later. But his hair notwithstanding, Breitner forged a truly successful career playing with Germany’s National Team during the 1970’s. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23685.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:58:17 CST

Antonio de Oliveira Filho, better known as Careca, was among his country’s most promising players in the early eighties. Careca was on October 5, 1960 and then became notorious because of a powerful right-foot shot and pace made him lethal in front of goal. He started his career in Guarani and would have played up front for Brazil in their magic World Cup team of 1982 had he not been injured before the finals. http://www.bigsportsfanatics.com/articles/Soccer_23637.html Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:55:12 CST
Preben Elkjær Larsen was born on September 11, 1957 in Copenhagen in Denmark. He is a professional Danish football player and is simply referred to as Preben Elkjær. Larsen played as a striker and had an aggressive style of play combined with a calmness and vision known also from a younger Michael Laudrup who used to play side by side with Larsen on the Danish national team from 1982-1988.