Arbusers

Everyone knows the superstar Harry Kane and his endless goals for Hotspurs, England and Bayern. But do you remember him as a goalkeeper?
UEFA Europa League, Hotspurs vs. Asteras Tripolis 5:1, he scored three at Asteras and later he became the goalkeeper and conceded one.

A few hours ago, Dr. Ivo Karlović announced his retirement.
Players like Karlović and John Isner have several absolutely unique characteristics, but unlike other tennis players with quite similar playing styles, the right combination of a few selected characteristics in the right Time Series specifically for Karlović & Isner vs the rest players in the Model has resulted in constant money "printing".
Not to mention the games with each other: Karlović vs. Isner 7:6 6:7 7:6 in Houston, 6:7 6:7 in Newport, 7:6 7:6 in Acapulco de Juárez.

The US Open encounter vs Andre Agassi 6:7 6:7 6:7, circa 30 Aces for Ivo Karlović here:




Ivo Karlović sent Ace after Ace to the Big Three - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal & Novak Đoković here:




Because of the mention of John Isner in this posting, do you remember one of the greatest Wimbledon matches in History that lasted three days?
183 games witin 5 sets here. Isner 113 Aces, Nicolas Mahut 103.



A big thanks to all those mentioned players here. Endless joy of watching top-notch sports and great teachers in modeling the game!

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to one of the most glorious modern-day coaching Minds, Julio Velasco!!!

These days I'm enjoying the Women's League of Nations, the Italian Women's Volleyball Team under Velasco. Velasco is a hardworking 72-year-old coach now…

All the glory...






Ettore Messina (Italian Basketball) & Julio Velasco...





Do you remember Pep Guardiola's time at AS Roma and also at Brescia under Carlo Mazzone? In those days he communicated with Velasco...





Last but not least, remember his stint at SS Lazio (Soccer) in a very different sport, as director assisting Sven-Göran Eriksson and the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup achievement?






When I was telling you about Julio Velasco, I thought of another great Argentine Mind connected to Italy, the Great Mastermind Helenio Herrera (Internazionale, Barcelona, AS Roma)...

Copa América, Uruguay under Bielsa's management won the 3rd place. I firmly believe He deserved at least a Final against Argentina.

Have we seen Luis Suárez's last 2 goals scored for Uruguay today or will he stick around until the 2026 World Cup before retiring?

(1) Sometime 2400 years ago, in the ancient territory, 42°01′31″N 35°08′29″E - coordinates somewhere in Paphlagonia and Pontus, Diogenes of Sinope sought Honesty.

(2) Arsène Wenger forced his own Arsenal team into a replay in 1999 vs Sheffield United because fairness had been violated.

(3) In contemporary 2020s Soccer, Marcelo Bielsa is the last Man standing, the one who believes in Fairness and Honesty from a managerial point of view:

(3.1) Bielsa ordered Leeds to let Aston Villa score (Leeds was looking for an EPL promotion at this point):



(3.2) The Explanation of an Honest Man:



(3.3) The exact reasons he left the Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, Chile, and Olympique de Marseille teams.

Full respect for Mr. Bielsa, probably the last Manager in the History of Soccer to defend the Spirit of the Game.

I wish you great success in the 2026 World Cup.

Addendum: The future of Fair Play Spirit in Soccer after Mr. Marcelo Bielsa retires one day in the era of the growing influence of the petrodollar in Soccer? I'm not optimistic at all...

arb12 wrote: ↑

Sun May 19, 2024 11:31 am

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to one of the most glorious modern-day coaching Minds, Julio Velasco!!!

These days I'm enjoying the Women's League of Nations, the Italian Women's Volleyball Team under Velasco. Velasco is a hardworking 72-year-old coach now…

All the glory...

phpBB [video]

Ettore Messina (Italian Basketball) & Julio Velasco...

phpBB [video]

Do you remember Pep Guardiola's time at AS Roma and also at Brescia under Carlo Mazzone? In those days he communicated with Velasco...

phpBB [video]

Last but not least, remember his stint at SS Lazio (Soccer) in a very different sport, as director assisting Sven-Göran Eriksson and the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup achievement?

phpBB [video]

When I was telling you about Julio Velasco, I thought of another great Argentine Mind connected to Italy, the Great Mastermind Helenio Herrera (Internazionale, Barcelona, AS Roma)...

The Olympics 2024,
Volleyball Final Italy Ladies vs USA Ladies right now,
Is that the last Zenit for legendary Argentine Soccer & Volleyball Sensei Julio Velasco? Or maybe not?
Remember the way Velasco protected Paola Egonu from utter nonsense and saved her for Italy. The result is quite visible.

Addendum:
When Coach Julio Velasco defies all critical voices and supports the decision to put Egonu on the volleyball pitch:
"We are taking a bad path. I refuse to reduce everything to the Egonu-Antropova dualism. It will not revolve around names. You in the press will do that; I respect your work, but I am clear from the start: I will never answer on the issue. We are the women’s Italy. Period. We are a team, you have to talk about a group that has to achieve great results. All our thinking must be about winning without thinking about anything else".

In memory of Sven-Göran Eriksson,

Everyone knows his managerial work at Sampdoria, Roma, Lazio, Manchester City, Leicester, Benfica, England and so forth.

His farewell at Anfield:


thisisanfield.com/2024/03/x-best-photos-as-sven-goran-eriksson-liverpool-xxx/







But in my opinion, the biggest miracle of his managerial career was winning the UEFA Cup as manager of IFK Göteborg. Why? None of IFK Göteborg's players have had a solitary full-time professional commitment to the club. All of these players worked full-time in various professions outside of Soccer, and IFK training and matches took second place at that time.






I think nowadays it is (almost) "impossible" for a semi-professional club to win a UEFA competition. But "impossible" events happen every now and then, for example, Claudio Ranieri's EPL title as a Leicester manager, Richard Møller Nielsen's UEFA EURO title as a Denmark manager, Otto Rehhagel's Bundesliga title as a manager of the newcomers K'lautern, Otto Rehhagel's UEFA EURO title as a Hellenic manager, stunning FA Cup trophies achieved by Wimbledon (Bobby Gould), Portsmouth (Harry Redknapp), Wigan (Roberto Martínez) and so on.

The rare events give us research impulses and teach us the reasons for the variety of Life outcomes in general...

Thank you, Mr. Eriksson.

In 2024, the "Basketball Mozart" Dražen Petrović would be 60 years old if he were alive today.

The Dražen Petrović Legacy Match will begin on September 5th in Zagreb. Croatia led by Aleksandar Petrović vs All-Stars led by Željko Obradović, OMG!!! We're likely to see Walter Tavares, Luka Dončić, Mario Hezonja, Mathias Lessort, Shane Larkin, Džanan Musa, etc on the pitch. I hope Nikola Jokić will also appear.


A talented youngster scores eight three-pointers in a row in the 1980s when the massive three-point mania didn't exist and the grand mastery was under the hoop full of defenders:






Some notable moments from the 1992 Olympics Final Croatia vs the USA Dream Team:






Behind the scenes, 1992 Olympics Final Croatia vs the USA Dream Team:






Random match Michael Jordan vs. Dražen Petrović.
The "I Love This Game" Show happened as expected. Great craftsmanship under the hoop in the 2-point zone, saturated with notable skillful players. Those moments never happen anymore these days:





Dražen Petrović's story in a random brief video, for youngsters who have never heard of him, if any:






According to that article by a reputable Basketball source:

eurohoops.net/en/heba/98790/98790/

the Owner Giannakopoulos had prepared an unstoppable duo of Nikos Galis & Dražen Petrović for PAO!!!
I wonder about the following:
- To what extent would have the Petrović-Galis partnership developed in the mid-1990s?
- In both seasons 93/94 and 94/95 PAO were third in the EuroLeague. How about a likelihood of fast improvement or all the opponents would have played to the max against this star-studded PAO?
- Exactly how Nikos Galis & Dražen Petrović would have integrated into Božidar Maljković's PAO? He won the first EuroLeague title for Panathinaikos.
In my opinion, that coach is not a big fan of attractive offensive basketball. Galis due to his age would adapt to play fewer minutes, but Petrović in a defensive team?
- Dražen Petrović in his mid to late thirties, even 40 yo within the most creative Panathinaikos era (Diamantidis, Bodiroga, Alvertis etc) under Željko Obradović / Dimitris Itoudis would have been a spectacular sight, I think.

These are very hypothetical questions (assumptions) but having watched both stars in the 80s and 90s I would say the following:

Malkovic would not be the best for the role. His destructive defence would require from 3 players to do a very hard job.
Gallis playing 2 and Petrovic playing 1 when playing together. When Gallis would take his breath, Petrovic would move to 2.
Giannakopoulos would not stop with Petrovic. He would bring in another NBA star to create the Galacticos of basketball. He later did it by bringing D. Wilkins.

This duo (Gallis, Petrovic) would make a history and a legacy to be remembered.

In memory of "Eroul de la Sevilla", who from yesterday onwards is demonstrating his best goalkeeping Masterpieces somewhere in a better world...

Helmut Duckadam belongs to the Golden Goalkeepers Generation, making miracles within the zone between the crossbar, left and right posts, of the 1980s alongside Dasayev & Schmeichel-Senior, Southall & Grobbelaar, Shilton & Seaman, Preud'homme & Pfaff, Pumpido & Goycochea (both in the CARP team), Buyo & Zubizarreta and so on, and so forth, the list is endless.

Steaua București won the Champions League overcoming Barça at the end, here's exactly how Mr. Duckadam saved four consecutive penalty kicks in a row, therefore it wasn't necessary at all for Anghel Iordănescu to take the fifth penalty that day:





Regretfully, that Final was Duckadam's last appearance on the pitch at the top-notch level at all. The ruling junta in the country and a member of the dictator's family ordered him to play in a fixed match, and Mr. Duckadam refused to do so and was removed from the team... Honor and bow to this Person!
At the same time, his disease progressed.

I remember this game Steaua București V Barça as a child, and I was impressed by Duckadam. I was always wondering what made him disappear. Google answered to my questions some 15-20 years later.

Please, read carefully the link:

marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2024/12/27/bernabeu-pierde-santiago-efectos-comerciales.html

Quo Vadis, the Real M current pseudo-chiefs? Are you all crazy?

Only zombies who cannot express themselves in more than 3 short sentences and consumers intoxicated by endless 15-second clips would accept this uncritically, but not those deep-thinking and critically thinking people who stand for some values ​​and are not blinded by the current consumer world. Those critically thinking people, unfortunately for you, will never disappear.

Did you know that Santiago, whom you will no longer mention from now on, probably due to your own obsession with petrodollar marketing, is the most iconic figure not only for the Real Madrid team, but also the de facto Co-Founder/Savior of the modern Paris Saint-Germain when they were somewhere in the lower divisions?
Did you forget your roots?
The real name is Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and not Bernabéu!

Ask the most iconic people at Atlético de Madrid, have they ever forgotten the Vicente Calderón, despite the stupid modern name of their current stadium, changed due to the same marketing nonsense? What's the problem with Atletico's new home being called the Vicente Calderón again? Did you forget your roots?
The real name is Estadio Vicente Calderón and not blah-blah.

What about the Highbury? Maine Road? These are the real names, and not the modern blah-blah, used by Arsenal & Man City. Did you forget your roots?

And so on. The teams, blinded by the petrodollar, are too many.

Not to mention the ultimate stupidity when the old & glorious Washington RedSkins team was forced to rename themselves initially to the ordinary Washington Football Team (sounds such as Another Brick in the Wall) and now... to the Commanders (Communists) WTF?????

The polls say that 90 pct of the proud Native Americans themselves support the historical & glorious name, but the most interesting thing is here, the Family of Blackfeet Chief wants the Washington RedSkins again:

foxnews.com/sports/family-blackfeet-chief-face-nfls-redskins-48-years-wants-his-image-back-nfl

HTTR!

Hours ago, Boris Spassky joined Bobby Fischer in another, calmer World.

I would like to ask everyone on the Forum (if there are any) who watched/followed Fischer vs. Spassky's Match of the Century to share their impressions. Everyone knows that it was an incredible match!

It's very pity that Garry Kimovich Kasparov never ever played against Bobby Fischer.

Imgine of the day when the misanthropic regime of the heirs of the Golden Horde finally falls, the Genius Mr. Kasparov returns to his free Country as a free Person and plays at least one game/series, but against whom??? Bobby Fischer is absent...