Johan Cruyff

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff, best known as Johan Cruyff, is a former Dutch soccer player who can be considered as the second best player behind King Pele. His soccer career began at a local club Ajax in 1964 where he soon became a star. His superp skills on the ball, ability to control the pace of game, and to boost up his teammates to a higher level made him a very priceless player, and made a major contribution to the team in conquering Europe.

Cruyff helped his team to reach where it has never been before, winning six Dutch league championships, four domestic cup titles, and three straight European Cup from 1971 - 1973 on top of the Super Cup and World Club Cup title. This was the era of Cruyff, taking over Pele's legacy and being named the second best player of the world.

Cruyff transferred to Barcelona after scoring 250 goals in 318 matches for Ajax when his teammates voted Piet Keizer as the team captain. As soon as he got to Spain, he helped Barca to win the Spanish league championship for the first time in 14 years.

In 1974, Cruyff captained the Netherlands national team, impressing all soccer fans in West Germany. "Total-Soccer", Netherlands' style of game playing where all players move at the same time, somehow outnumbered all the opponents in their penalty areas, beating strong opponents such as Brazil and Argentina. Cruyff and his army advanced to finals facing the host nation West Germany. Cruyff and Neesken put up a goal first, however, Germany came back and beat Netherlands 2-1. Even though Netherlands lost the game, all the fans supported and loved them for making such good impressions.

After 1974, he never played in another World Cup, retiring soon after taking part in World Cup qualifiers against Argentina in 1978. However, shortly after his retirement, Cruyff came back to play soccer in North America and played for LA Aztecs and Washington Diplomats for 3 years. Then he moved back to his first team Ajax in 1981, winning two more Dutch league championships and another domestic title. In 1984, his magnificent soccer carrer ended as he beat his rival team, Feyenoord.

At the age of 37, Johan Cruyff retired with 752 official game appearance and 425 goals, three times of European Footballer of the Year, and his legendary move, the "Cruyff turn". Who he is, and what he did, and what he left to the game of soccer, will never be forgotten by us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pTgHDjf_4I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pTgHDjf_4I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1VWSntqRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1VWSntqRg

Ferenc Puskas

Ferenc Puskas was a Hungarian soccer player who is regarded as one of the greatest players to the world. He was also known as the "Galloping Major" due to the fact that he was an army officer playing for an army team. Puskas started his soccer career in 1943 in Hungary, playing for Kispest and Budapest Honved. He became the top scorer in the Hungarian League for four times, scoring 514 goals in 529 games. He is the best goal scorer if you look at the goals per match ratio.

At the age of 18 in 1945, he made his first debut for Hungary national team against Austria in his country's first post match. In 1953, Puskas led the invincible Hungary team beating The Great Britain 6-3 at their house, becoming the first team to beat them at their home.

The Hungary team led by Puskas were unbeaten for four years in international matches, until they got to Switzerland in 1954. They beat South Korea 9-0 and Germany 8-3, however, Puskas missed quarter and semi-finals due to an innjury. His teammates still took care of the business beating Brazil and Uruguay, proving that they are the undisputed champions until they met West Germany at the finals.

Even though he was injured, Puskas insisted to play, taking over the game in 8 minutes by 2-0, scoring 1 goal. However, the Germans came back and beat Hungary 2-3, ending Hungary's 9-0 winning streak. Galloping Major played in 85 international games, storming 84 goals in. Just look at his statistics, it proves that he is the best goals per games scorer. He passed away in 2006 after diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, leaving his legacy on the field.

R.I.P The Galloping Major

Cha Bum-Kun

Cha Bum-Kun, also known as the "Cha Boom" in Germany, is a former South Korean player who played for South Korea national soccer team and clubs in Germany. He went to Bundesliga at the age of 25 in 1978 to play for Eintracht Frankfurt. He made an immediate impact on the team and the league scoring in three consecutive games.

Thanks to Cha's contributions, his team won the UEFA Championship Cup in 1980. He was also considered as one of the best fowards in the league during that time, however, his career almost ended as he got a critical knee injury in 1981. In 1983 he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, scoring a game equalizer to tie the game 3:3 against Espanyol in UEFA Cup finals, and eventually winning the game in penalty kicks.

Not like his club career, his international career wasn't that remarkable. He was part of South Korea national soccer team in 1986 in Mexico, where they lost to Argentina and England and tied to Bulgaria. The opponents knew that Cha was a good goal scorer, so they put two men to mark Cha, not letting Cha score a goal in the tournament. He is retired from the field and now is coaching a strong team in K-League.

Diego Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona is a former Argentine soccer player who is also known as "El Pibe de Oro", or the "Golden Boy". He was born in 1960 in Lanus right outside of Buenos Aires, where he played for Los Cebollitos. He became the youngest Argentine international player when he played against Hungary at the age of 16.

Two years later he captained the World Youth Cup winning team and was transferred to Boca Juniors for €1,000,000, winning South American Player of the year twice in 1979 and 1980. In 1982, Maradona moved to Spain to join Barcelona for a world record transferring fee of €5,000,000. In the same year the World Cup was held in Spain, and Maradona made a debut on his new homeground. However, Argentina didn't finish as what they wished for. In his first season with Barca, Maradona made a huge contribution to the team to win all three league, league cup, and the super cup. Two years later, he moved to S.S.C Napoli in Italy, winning both the league and the league cup.

A year earlier, Maradona captained Argentina national team leading them to the victory. It was the World Cup that will follow Maradona forever to his grave. He scored 5 goals in the tournament, and two of them against England are one of the most controversial goals of all time. The first goal was the notorious "Hand of God", and the second was probably one of the most phenomenal goals in the history as Maradona ran by 7 English players and scored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbsytHDp2o&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbsytHDp2o&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rW-lK9F6TU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rW-lK9F6TU

In 1990 World Cup, Maradona captained Argentina national team taking the team to the finals one more time, However, Germany was too strong opponents for Argentina. After the loss, Maradona's downfall began. Two drugs scandals ruined Maradona's reputations. He tried to come back helping Argentina to qualify for 1994 World Cup and scoring a marvellous goal against Greece, however, the next game against Nigeria, he was caught for a drug abuse again and sent home.

Maradona retired from Argentina national team after 1994 with both good and bad reputation. However, at least for me and his fans, Maradona will remain as the only player who can run around the field beating 7 defenders and tearing the goal nets. Live forever the Golden Boy.

Lev Yashin

Lev Yashin, or the "Black Spider", is a Russian-Soviet soccer player who is considered as the best goalkeeper the history has ever seen. Yashin got his nickname because of his all-black outfit and it seemed like he had eight arms to block all the shots.

Yashin represented for only Dinamo Moscow for 22 seasons winning five league championships and three cup championships. He made a significant contribution to the team, setting a modern standard for goalkeeping. Along with his great athleticism and spectacular reflexes, he was an exceptionally confident player who could completely control the penalty area.

The Black Spider was Soviet Union's goalkeeper from 1954 - 1967. He played in 78 games and played in three World Cups in 1958, 1962, and finally 1966, where Yashin made a great contribution to the team to reach the semi-finals. Also in 1956, Soviet Union won the Olympics at Melbourne and the European Championships in 1960.

The most impressive work done by Yashin is winning the Ballon d'Or award as goalkeeper for the first time, and he still remains as it is. There is also a rumor that he saved more than 150 penalty kicks in his career. Unfortunately, due to complications caused by an amputation of one of his legs after injuring it, Yashin died in 1990 at the age of 60.

R.I.P Black Spider
The Greatest Goalkeeper to Grace the Game...

Why you SHOULD watch soccer

Action - Soccer is a constant and non-stop game which makes it more exciting and easier for the audience to watch. There are lots of crazy plays in football and baseball. However, whenever the plays over and the game stops, it definitely kills the moment.

Skill - Soccer is a sport which requires a tremendous amount of skill to play. Athletes for football or baseball try to get as big as possible so that they could tackle hard or hit the ball hard. And of course getting big does help with soccer, but that does not make you better at beating a defender or keeping the balls away from the others. Soccer is a sport that can be very creative and artistic, depending on the quality of skills of the player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whczJfA7o34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whczJfA7o34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whczJfA7o34

Worldwide sport - Soccer is THE sport that I'm not sure but almost every countries in the world love and play. I bet billions of people turn their tv's on and watch soccer games on their daily basis. Soccer is really huge in Korea, too.

And there's the World Cup. Oh man, the World Cup. People from everywhere, and I mean, EVERYWHERE, come to the host country and enjoy the games and support their countries. And of course, young and attractive women from all over the places are one of the highlights in World Cup, too.

So if you don't watch soccer, well too bad..

Pele

Edison Arantes do Nascimento, or most known as Pele, was a Brazilian soccer player who was simply nicknamed "The King" because of his significant contributions and accomplishments to the soccer community. King Pele is, no doubt, THE true best soccer player that will ever appear in our galaxy.

Pele was born in Tres Coracoes, Brazil, the son of a soccer player Dondinho. He was spotted by a Brazilian soccer star Waldemar de Brito at the age of 15, and was taken to try out for a professional club Santos Futebol Clube after being introduced as a "a 15-year-old boy that will be the greatest football player in the world".

In his debut game against Corinthians, the team had a 7-1 victory with Pele scoring one goal. When the next season started, Pele was given a starting position, and at the age of 16 he became the top scorer of the league. Only after 10 months Pele started his professional career, the teenage boy joined Brazil national team.

In 1958 World Cup, Pele scored a game winning goal in a 1-0 game against Wales in quarter-finals, and he scored a hat-trick in the semi-finals against France. The final game against the host nation Sweden, King Pele scored two more goals and at the age of 17, he became the youngest winner of the World Cup ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1tKmCgF0sE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1tKmCgF0sE

In 1962, the defending champion Brazil had a success keeping other countries away from the Cup. However, Pele got injured early in the tournament, affecting the next season as Brazil was eliminated in the first round. In 1970, Pele came back leading the Brazil team which was at its peak, winning the World Cup for the 3rd time in the history of soccer.

Pele was the type of player who never misses his opportunity. He was a talented and smart goal scorer, but he was also a team player who could create lots of goals for others. He scored an outstanding 77 goals, playing 92 games for Brazil, and according to various sources he put in 1281 goals in 1363 games in his club soccer career.

He retired in 1974, but he was convinced to come out of retirement the following year, playing for New York Cosmos for two more years. On 1 October 1977, King Pele closed out his legacy after having a 2-1 victory over his former team Santos in front of 75,646 fans including his teammates, coaches, rivals, and all the other millions of fans who did not get to be at the stadium.

Pele has achieved more than any other players in the history of World Cup. Even though he has not been awarded the top scorer or the best player, his name is, and will be known for another several more generations, and he will be the same, true King of soccer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QEmnP48PEc&NR=1&feature=fvwp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QEmnP48PEc&NR=1&feature=fvwp
BEST OF PELE (start from about 35 seconds)