12/22/24
November 20, 2004
Last dance for samba legend: - an exciting opportunity to step back in time has appeared, for anyone who grew up watching the boys in yellow and blue majestically play the beautiful game, as Brazilian legend Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira gets ready to make his debut for England's Northern Counties East amateur outfit, Garforth Town.
posted by Mr Bismarck to soccer at 07:04 AM - 9 comments
Cool, I got edited. :D Sorry, I should have done a "More inside." Damn n00bs.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:10 AM on November 20, 2004
rcade: Don't worry about England's performance in Spain. We never do well in friendlies. We tend to do OK in competitive qualifiers though. I've given up watching England friendlies for this reason. So..anybody heard how Socrates did? It was a bitterly cold day in England today. I'd be amazed if he was 'up for it'. I certainly wouldn't have been.
posted by salmacis at 12:40 PM on November 20, 2004
Match report here. Poor bugger was shivering on the touchline most of the time.
posted by etagloh at 01:27 PM on November 20, 2004
That was me what said that, Salmacis - rcade just kindly cut my post in two, so that I didn't hog the whole front page... As for young Socrates, he came on for the last 14 minutes of Garforth's 2-2 draw and had one especially thunderous 20 yard effort saved by Tadcaster's keeper. Apparently, Socrates would have been brought on to take the penalty that gave Garforth their second goal, but he didn't have his shinpads in and you aren't allowed on without them anymore.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:29 PM on November 20, 2004
Clifford sounds like a cool, creative guy to me.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:54 PM on November 20, 2004
btw, the Brazilians develop their close control and crazy skills by playing futsal beginning in childhood, so I think Clifford is taking the right steps to "owning the England team". Pro clubs should be looking into this as well, if they want to have more homegrown talent.
posted by worldcup2002 at 03:48 PM on November 21, 2004
Futebol de salão is dying out though, apparently, in favour of Futsal, which plays with a bouncy ball, instead of a weighted unbouncy one. Clifford is about the last serious proponent of futebol de salão and, as anyone who's played playground football with a tennis ball will tell you, playing with a weighted ball is cool and helps develop your skills a lot.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 04:13 AM on November 22, 2004
FIFA Futsal World Cup 2004 is now playing in Taiwan ... err ... Chinese Taipei. Saw the US lose 6-3 to Italy yesterday (wow the Italians had a fat goalie (weight 105kg), but I can see the wisdom of playing him in front of a small goal).
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:10 PM on November 22, 2004
More from Mr. Bismarck: Socrates, the 50 year old veteran of two world cups and 60 international caps, known for both his pitching-wedge style penalty and his penchant for cigarettes, is likely to be joined in the near future by other ex-Brazilian colleagues, Careca and, perhaps most impressively, Zico. The appearance of the three uninamed Brazilians can be put down to Garforth owner Simon Clifford, who turned a £5,000 loan from his teacher's union, into a spread of futebol de salão, (FIFA prefer Futsal), schools, impressive enough for Lego to hand over its entire sponsorship budget for the UK and Ireland. The shy and retiring Clifford claims he wants to make the perfect footballer and, that he will, eventually, "own the England team" through all the players he develops for it. Having seen England's dismal performance in Spain, wednesday, I'm happy to give him the chance. If he can pull Zico out of retirement then I'll be one of the many fools soon parted from their money, in return for a Garforth shirt bearing the famous number 10. Garforth have rocketed to the top of the Northern Counties League Division One on the back of 11 wins in their last 12 games and face Tadcaster today at 3pm. Tickets, £10.