Posts Tagged 1986
1986 World Cup Quarter-final ~ France vs Brazil (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on December 5, 2011
This, perhaps, is the most beautiful World Cup match in history.
The stars of the early 80′s were well into their 30′s now - Socrates, Platini, Junior, Giresse, Zico, Tigana – and approaching the end of their international careers. But they gave it one final try. One last attempt to conquer the World Cup with their artful approach to football.
The result was a game of football as pleasing to the eye as it was dramatic. If you’re going to watch one classic match, make it this one.
1986 World Cup Round of 16 ~ Belgium vs USSR (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on November 26, 2011
The 1986 World Cup is mostly associated with Maradona’s incredible feats, but the reason why this World Cup is remembered as the greatest of all time is because there was much, much more to enjoy under the Mexican sun.
There was the Danish Dynamite team that set the group stages alight with brilliant attacking football. There were the aged but beautiful teams of France and Brazil, with Socrates, Junior, Zico, Tigana and Platini vying, one last time, for World Cup glory.
And there was another unlikely band of heroes. The Belgians.
Their game against the Soviet Union still features heavily on any list of greatest World Cup games. It featured plenty of drama, goals, and end to end action. This game really had it all.
Legends in the News: Socrates needs a new liver to remain a living contradiction
This article is from October 23rd. Socrates has since passed away.
The Brazilian football legend Socrates is suffering from dangerously poor health. After years of alcohol abuse only a new liver can save his life. The man who beautified football, and as a physician guarded over the health of others, has chronically neglected his own body.
“Socrates, your liver is in a terrible condition. You really need to stop drinking beer”, his physican had told him. The intelligent ex-footballer didn’t hesitate for a moment and followed his doctor’s advice. From that moment, he indulged himself with bottles of wine. It would nearly cost him his life.
This recent anecdote is typical for Socrates’ contradictory personality. A doctor addicted to alcohol and nicotine. A graduated philosopher who earned a living kicking a ball. A fighter for democracy who sympathized with Fidel Castro and Muammer Khadaffi. Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio da Souza Vieira de Oliveira fits all these descriptions.
But above all, Socrates was the king of the casual backheel. A dreamy gaze into the distance followed by a quick flick of the foot to send the ball the opposite way. That’s how Socrates preferred to play. “He plays better backwards than most players forwards” Pelé once concluded strikingly.
Forgotten Footballer – Preben Elkjaer Larsen
Posted by 4Dfoot in Articles, Player Compilations on October 19, 2011
Preben Elkjaer proved three things in his career: You don’t have to be short to be a sensational dribbler. You don’t have to be serious to be successful. And you don’t need shoes to score goals.
With his crazy dribbles, tank-like physique and clownish actions Preben Elkjaer was perhaps Europe’s most eye-catching player in the mid 80’s. He led both club and country to unprecedented success and finished twice on the podium of the Ballon d’Or. But how many football fans today are still familiar with Elkjaer?
Far too few. One place where they’ll never forget him though is the Italian city of Verona. It was there that Elkjaer achieved the greatest upset of not just his career, but the entire history of Italian football. In the 1984-85 season not the great Juventus, or AC Milan, or Inter, or Maradona´s Napoli, or even AS Roma managed to win the Scudetto. Instead, it was Elkjaer’s Hellas Verona. The Danish dribbler stole the show by scoring the iconic goal of that campaign against Platini´s Juventus. As he launched another solo, he lost his right boot, kept going, glided past another defender, and scored with his sock. The footage of this famous goal is included in the special video 4Dfoot created for this edition of Forgotten Footballer:
Elkjaer’s exploits changed Italian football. Read the rest of this entry »
1986 World Cup Quarter-Final ~ Argentina vs England (Full Classic Match)
Posted by 4Dfoot in Full Classic Matches on October 15, 2011
Possibly the most controversial World Cup match of all time. Only four years after the Falkland War, relations between Argentina and England could hardly have been any worse. The Argentines desired nothing more than revenge for the humiliating trashing they had endured on the battlefield. And this time around, they were the ones who could deploy the superior weaponry. By the time the English realized their defenses were not equiped to handle the genius of Diego Armando Maradona, it was already too late. After the game, many Englishmen were ready to declare a real war all over again.
Line-ups:
Argentina
Pumpido – Brown, Cuciuffo, Ruggeri – Batista, Burruchaga, Maradona, Enrique, Giusti, Olarticoechea – Valdano
Coach: Carlos Bilardo
England
Shilton – Stevens, Sansom, Fenwich, Butscher – Hoddle, Reid, Steven, Hodge – Lineker, Beardsley
Coach: Bobby Robson
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