Atomic Rooster

Soccer Fever Tribute

If you're a soccer (or the "real" football) fan you'd make sense out of these nicknames given to some of the most famous football players:

Edson Arantes do Nascimento = Pele
(Used to pretend he was a goal-keeper and would say, 'I'm am Bile' -name of a goal-keeper of those times, after each save. 'Pele' came from the wrong pronunciation of 'Bile')

Manoel dos Santos = Garrincha
(One of the greatest forwards to play for Brazil with Pele. 'Garrincha' is the name of a bird that Manoel liked to hunt when he was a child)

Diego Maradona = El Pibe de Oro

Lev Yashin = The Black Spider USSR
(Had the best anticipation ever seen in a goalkeeper)

Franz Beckenbauer = The Kaiser

Gerd Muller = Bomber

Ferenc Puskas = The Galloping Major (A little left footed genius from the famous Hungary side of the early 1950's)

Jack Charlton = The Giraffe

Marco Van Basten = The Swan of Utrecht

Ruud Gullit = Il Tulipo Nero
(The black tulip)

Stuart Pearce = Psycho
(Would run through a brick wall for his team)

Paul Gascoigne = Gazza

David Beckham = Goldenballs
(Named by his wife ' Posh' in her autobiography)

Eusebio = The 'Black Panther'

Zinedine Zidane = 'Zizou'

Kevin Keegan = Mighty Mouse

SOCCER PEARLS:

*It's now 4-3 to Oldham, the goals are going in like dominoes

*I felt a lump in my mouth as the ball went in

*It slid away from his left boot which was poised with the trigger cocked

*We have been saying this, both pre-season and before the season started

*But as you know, the result for City is not as bad as it sounds on paper

*Well actually we got the winner up there with three minutes to go, but then they equalised

*Ian Rush, deadly ten times out of ten, but that wasn't one of them

*It was a fair decision, the penalty, even though it was debatable whether it was inside or outside the box

*Believe it or not, goals can change a game

*You'll be hoping that this run of injuries will stop earlier than it started

*Ian Durant has grown both physically and metaphorically in the close season

*It will be a shame if either side lose, and that applies to both sides

*Peter Shilton conceded five, you don't get many of those to the dozen

*Everything in our favour was against us

*I think everyone in the stadium went home happy, except all those people in Rumania

*We've got nothing to lose, and there's no point losing this game

*Who ever wins today will win the championship no matter who wins

*I am a firm believer that if you score one goal the other team have to score two to win

*Here's Brian Flynn. His official height is five feet five and he doesn't look much taller than that

*Wilkins sends an inch perfect pass to no one in particular

*Even when you're dead you shouldn't lie down and let yourself be buried

*And Ritchie has now scored 11 goals, exactly double the number he scored last year

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