Committee Chairman

Diego Maradona to the Goal HOF

Nov 13, 2014

This week Goal.com announce that from an online vote, that the greatest player in the history of France, Zinedine Zidane and the best player ever from Brazil (and arguably the world) Pele, has been selected to be a part of their first Hall of Fame class. It should therefore be no shock that the most famous (and infamous player) from Soccer mad Argentina, has also been chosen.

Diego Maradona was raised in a Buenos Aries ghetto and like virtually all South American youngsters he gravitated toward soccer. Maradona would make his Senior cub debut with Argentinos Juniors, a few days before his 16th birthday. Scoring over 100 Goals over his five seasons there, Maradona would be transferred to Boca Juniors, his favorite club team and one of the elite programs in the Argentine League. He was only there for a season and a half, but it was with Boca that he secured his first league championship.

After the 1982 World Cup in which Diego starred for Argentina, he would be transferred to FC Barcelona in the Spain, where his winning ways continued. He would lead them to wins in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup, though Europe was seeing what a hot head Maradona would be and the superstar ran afoul of FC Barcelona management.

Maradona would be transferred to Napoli in the Italian league where he would be viewed as the club’s savior, which essentially is what he would become. Not considered to a top player in Italy, Napoli would ascend to the top of the table and in 1987 would win their first ever Serie A title. They would win again in 1990, and in Naples, Diego Maradona was a God, which considering the year before he was involved with “The Hand of God” was a great label for him.

In 1986, Diego Maradona took Argentina to the World Cup and led the to victory. Maradona was the dominant force in the tournament, scoring five goals and assisting on five more. The most famous goal was the one he netted against England (whom the Argentines were at war with over the Falkland Islands) which replay clearly showed it was deflected off of his hand, hence the “Hand of God” goal. Four minutes later, he would put in another, in a brilliant play that was one of the most beautiful looking scores in the world stage.

On the pitch, there was brilliance on it, but turmoil off of it. Maradona developed a serious cocaine habit and was suspended for fifteen months. He was involved in a scandal over an illegitimate son, and for a few years was considered a disgrace.

Still as time healed his perception, and today Maradona is remembered for what he accomplished as opposed to what he threw away late in his career. We congratulate Diego Maradona for this latest accomplishment.

Pele named to the Goal Hall of Fame

Nov 12, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Yesterday Goal.com announced that Zinedine Zidane was the first man chosen to their website’s Hall of Fame. Each day this week, the largest Soccer site in the world will be announcing a member of their Class of 2014, all of which were voted on the public. It should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that the Pele was announced as another member to the Hall.

The accomplishments of Pele are staggering. He is the only player in FIFA World Cup history to have won the championship three times (Brazil 1958, 1962 and 1970). He is the leading scorer all time for Brazil netting 77 Goals, and had 619 Goals for his Brazillian club team, Santos, the team he took to two Copa Libertadores championships (1962 & 1963). He was named the Player of the Century by multiple publications. Pele would also carry the North American Soccer League on his back, and though the league failed, Pele was a star in the United States at a time when the county had limited interest in the sport.

Calling Pele a star does not seem like enough. He wasn’t just the best Soccer player in the world, he was an international celebrity, and dare we say an icon. Pele’s athletic skills were matched only by his good nature, as there is nobody (and we say nobody) who was a better ambassador for their sport than he was.

We congratulate Pele for adding to his long list of accolades and are thankful that the online voters of Goal.com chose the Brazilian legend. It wouldn’t be a Hall of Fame without him!

RIP: Orlando Thomas

Nov 11, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

It is with much sadness that we learned that Orlando Thomas passed away after a battle with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Thomas played all seven of his National Football League seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, where he played Safety.

Thomas, who was drafted in the Second Round from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette had a very impressive rookie season where he led the National Football League in Interceptions. That was arguably his best season, but he would complete his career with 22 Interceptions and a 457 tackles.

We would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Orlando Thomas at this time.

Zinedine Zidane to the Goal HOF

Nov 10, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

The largest soccer website in the world, Goal.com, is unleashing the first five men of their fan voted Hall of Fame. Every day this week, the international web juggernaut will announce one of the men who will enter what we think will be a very respected Hall of Fame.

The first one chosen was former French superstar, Zinedene Zidane.

Zidane was born in Marseille, France to Algerian immigrants in 1972 where he grew up poor. Quickly showing skill for the game, he was scouted by Cannes and was signed by them and would make his professional debut for the team at the age of 16. Even at such a young age, it was clear to the French soccer pundits that they had something special, and he would help take the team to their first ever UEFA Cup appearance and finish fourth in the French league, which to this day is the highest that Cannes has ever finished.

After being transferred to the much larger Bordeaux team, and now playing nationally for France, Zidane became a national star. In 1996, Bordeaux would be the runner up for the UEFA Cup and Zidane would be named the French Ligue 1 Player of the Year.

It was on to even bigger things for “Zizou” as not only France knew they had a star, the rest of Europe knew there was something special about this young and aggressive player and he was signed by Juventus the defending UEFA Champions League winners. He would help take them to the finals again the next two seasons and he would be named the FIFA Player of the Year in 1998.

That would be considered secondary to what he did Internationally as he would take France to the World Cup Finals where the French would win their first World Cup title cementing Zidane as a national hero for the rest of his life.

Zidane would move on to Real Madrid in 2001 and the following season he finally captured the elusive Champions League Final in an exciting contest over Bayer Leverkusen. He would win the FIFA Player of the Year again 2003, which was his third such honor. He would again take the French to the World Cup Final in 2002, but the headbutt heard around to world aided the Italians in winning the championship.

He would retire in 2006, and take his place as the most decorated player in the history of France. Not bad for a kid who was teased for not being “French” enough.

We would like to congratulate Zinedine Zidane for this honor and Goal.com for creating what we think will become very special.