joepinetree posted:

In terms of Photos that are Cool and Good:

Atletico Mineiro is on the verge of winning the Brazilian league for the first time in 50 years.
We've gotten close before. But *something* always happened. For example, in 1977 and 1980 we came very close to it. But here's the thing, during that time we had probably the greatest football player all of you have never heard of. Reinaldo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnCBi6-CVqQ

This guy:



He had an afro, and he celebrated that way because he was inspired by the Black Panthers. In the middle of the dictatorship. In 1978, for example, the Brazilian dictator told him not to celebrate that way in the world cup. He did, and not too long after that he was benched. But, of course, that is not the main thing I wanted to talk about. It's more about how Reinaldo was robbed twice of the Brazilian championship, and how he was hunted on the field.

In 1977, Reinaldo was 20 years old. He put together perhaps the greatest season in modern football history. Brazil still had one of those crazy championship formats with playoffs and all that poo poo. Keep in mind that this was still a good Brazilian league. There were more players based in the Brazilian league in the 1974 WC than in any other league in the world. The season for Atletico was 21 games long. Reinaldo played in 18 of those. And in 18 games he scored 28 goals. No typos there. An average of over 1.5 goals a game. He scored in every single one of the 18 games he played. Why did he miss 3 games? That is where the whole thing goes to poo poo. He received a red card in a game against Fast Club. He then sat out the next game, against Botafogo (which ended in a draw, 0x0), because of that red card. So he came back afterwards and played the next three games for Atletico. But in the middle of the semifinals against Londrina, CBF decided to suspend him for an additional 2 games. So he missed the second leg of the semifinal. The final was a single game, Atletico played without him, tied 0x0 and lost on PKs. Atletico was runner up with 17 wins, 4 ties, no losses. The 4 ties included the 3 games he missed. With him on the field, Atletico win 17 and tied 1.

Reinaldo's career would go on to be derailed by injuries. He was hunted on the field, with the implicit support of CBF. By age 21, he had no meniscus left. He missed a lot of games. Never became what he was destined to be.

But he had one more good season in him. And in 1980 he made it to the finals again. This time against Flamengo. Flamengo was the dictatorship's favorite team. To the point that Flamengo was sponsored by the state oil company, which, at the time, had a monopoly granted by the state. The finals were once again marked by a weirdness in format. The team who did better in the semi finals had the tie advantage in the final. Flamengo won 2 games against the relatively weak Coritiba, Atletico won 1 and tied 1 against defending champions Internacional.

First game of the final was 1 x 0 for Atletico.

Second game was in Rio. Flamengo scored 1st. Reinaldo tied it, Flamengo scored again, Reinaldo tied it again. He was hunted on the field, beaten up, limping, and still scoring. The ref was clearly bought and paid for. Now, I know that every losing fan says this. So I will post a single play and let you see for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eryUiaEMpmE&t=90s

(go to 1:30 if the timed url doesn't work). Game 2x2. Reinaldo is on a break way to score the 3rd goal. Play gets stopped for offsides. Look at the top of the video. He is clearly not offsides, by several meters. On the way back, he touches the ball, stands in front of the player trying to kick the offsides. Obviously a bit of time wasting. So he gets a red card. Not a yellow. Not a warning. A straight red card. 2 other Atletico players get sent off for complaining. 3 down, Flamengo scores, Atletico loses is because flamengo had a better performance in the semi-finals (overall, Atletico still had the better campaign).

Why all of this now?

This is Hulk, yesterday, after scoring his 5th goal in 3 games



This is who he was looking at



a 64 year old Reinaldo.

Atletico has 3 games left. Flamengo has 4. If atletico wins 1, or ties 2, or Flamengo ties any of their remaining games left, Atletico wins it all. 11 points ahead of Flamengo right now.

I didn't cry yesterday. But I did today.

vyelkin posted:

sir alex ferguson

quote:

raheem sterling

greazeball posted:

This is Arsene Wenger though

vyelkin posted:

Jippa posted:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1468112469629583365

goddamnedtwisto posted:

https://twitter.com/sid_lambert/status/1469953933258932225

goddamnedtwisto posted:

I've seen that vid before and I'm sort of disappointed that they don't show the actual flight of the ball, cos 80s keepers could get *insane* length on drop kicks and even place kicks - Ludek Miklosko (LUDO!) could normally get a goal kick to the edge of the opposition's area and often had to dial back his drop kicks to stop them just going straight out at the other end on one bounce - there were quite a few others who could do it too, I still remember Hans Segers getting a (wind-assisted) drop-kick into the crowd behind West Ham's goal with no bounce in one of my first ever games at Upton Park.

I don't know if it's just an evolution of tactics, lighter balls meaning they don't carry as far, or just that mullets and ultra-tight shorts give a weird multiplier effect, but you just don't see those sort of kicks in the modern game. I blame Sky TV.

Honj Steak posted:

It’s because modern goalkeepers generally try to think about where to put the ball on the field whereas many goalies of the olden days just tried to get the ball as far away from their box as possible.

Crazy Ted posted:

Yeah I'd think that if anything with the way the modern ball can fly and modern goalkeeper athleticism if a GK really wanted to hammer the poo poo out of the ball with no concern for landing spot he could probably just boot one straight into the stands at the other end.

sticksy posted:

That reminds me - when some keepers ask a CB or similar to kick the ball for them? How loving embarrassing must that be.

"Yeah I'm 6'4" 235 lbs, been playing this sport my whole life and am paid 100x more than most people but I can't properly do one of the 2 specific things this job mostly entails."

Crazy Ted posted:

Yeah I'd think that if anything with the way the modern ball can fly and modern goalkeeper athleticism if a GK really wanted to hammer the poo poo out of the ball with no concern for landing spot he could probably just boot one straight into the stands at the other end.

quote:

75.35 m
Ederson also holds the Guinness World Record for Longest Football Drop Kick, which he achieved after kicking the ball 75.35 m (247 ft 2 in) across the ground at the Etihad Campus on 10 May 2018.

sticksy posted:

That reminds me - when some keepers ask a CB or similar to kick the ball for them? How loving embarrassing must that be.

"Yeah I'm 6'4" 235 lbs, been playing this sport my whole life and am paid 100x more than most people but I can't properly do one of the 2 specific things this job mostly entails."

pik_d posted:

Real Betis fans throwing stuffed animals at half time for Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children:

https://i.imgur.com/dYffuKA.mp4

the sex ghost posted:

I remember a lad I was at school with who passed with his left and shot with his right. I just assumed he was being a show off to us centre backs who just fired up old righty for panicked punts away from goal and misjudged passes alike but maybe he wasn't a bullshitter after all

Mickolution posted:

Crazy Ted posted:

There might as well just be a thread for him at this point.

Crazy Ted posted:

If you want something really weird, as part of my Sports Information research work my remote work partner and I found a GK for the Portland Timbers reserve team who (confirmed via video) took goal kicks with one foot and drop kicks with the other foot.

It was baffling. Goalkeepers are strange.