Not many outside Scotland remember Paul Wilson, who played for Celtic and, for one 15-minute appearance, the Scottish national team. In fact, even in the land of celebrated Scots Robert Burns and Sir William Wallace, his name registers with only the most diehard fans of both club and country.
Compared to the pain of missing the event entirely, the tale of the USMNT’s 2006 World Cup can now be viewed in a more favorable light. However, after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 competition and subsequently breezing through CONCACAF qualifying for the ’06 tournament in Germany, it was with huge belief and soaring naivety that we approached the world’s biggest stage.
Mexican international Hugo Sánchez held records only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have surpassed in recent years. One of Real Madrid’s best strikers of all-time, Sánchez was also key for Los Blancos when it came to playing El Clásico.
With El Clásico looming on the horizon, it's time to remember one of the most successful players to ever take part in Spain’s — and arguably the world’s — biggest clash.
Oliver Kahn is a giant of the game. The 2002 World Cup Golden Ball winner with Germany spent 14 years at Bayern Munich, winning eight Bundesliga titles and a Champions League. But what if he had left Germany to play for Manchester United when Alex Ferguson came calling in 2003? The paths of Bayern, United and even U.S. soccer would have played out much differently.
Lionel Messi was never a little-known quantity. When he scored nearly 500 goals for Newell’s Old Boys as a young boy, people took notice. That’s why Barcelona made the highly unusual decision to sign a 13-year-old foreign player. That’s why, aged 17 years, three months and 22 days, he became Barcelona’s youngest-ever representative in an official competition. It’s why he represented La Albiceleste, the two-time world champions, at 18.
When Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at Inter Milan from Juventus for nearly $30 million in August 2006, the 24-year-old Swede was thrilled over the possibility of forming a devastating and prolonged partnership with 24-year-old Brazilian striker Adriano. The two had dominated Italian football since 2004, and the Nerazzurri looked set to rule the competition for years to come with two of the world’s most feared young forwards.