Torn and frayed in Manila

Paulino Alcántara: 357 games, 357 goals

Jaydee, who has been single handedly keeping my Philippine football post alive, has alerted me to a video of the great Paulino Alcántara, born in Iloilo (see below). Since Alcántara finished his playing days in 1927, the video is not ESPN quality and I'm not sure what Stevie Wonder has to do with it, but I hope it will give you an idea of this incredible player.

Here is what I wrote about Alcántara last year.

Alcántara had a Spanish father and an Ilongo mother and represented both the Philippines and Spain at football. He played for Barcelona between 1912 and 1927, scoring 357 goals in 357 matches, an almost unbelievable ratio. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this achievement, Gerd Müller, the greatest goalscoring machine of modern times, scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches for Bayern Munich, almost 100 goals more than the second highest scorer. To this day, Alcántara is also the youngest player ever to play for Barcelona.

Alcantara’s total of 357 goals remains the FC Barcelona record 80 years after he hung up his boots and, given the way players chop and change clubs these days, I guess it will probably stay that way forever.

For the benefit of non-football fans, FC Barcelona is one of the largest and most famous football clubs in the world. For a Filipino to be listed in in the “jugadors de llegenda" is something to be proud of, but the fact that he is the club’s leading goal scorer of all time is really something.

Here is a little anecdote from the FC Barcelona website:

His ability to hit the most powerful of shots crossed frontiers on the 30th April 1922 when, in a game between Spain and France, he hit a shot so hard that it ripped right through the net. For many years after, children from Barcelona would recall that moment and would wish to do the same as the man from the Philipines.

And here is the man: Paulino Alcántaraaaa!

Thanks Jaydee.

Football videos: from the ridiculous to the sublime

First up, a collection of goalkeeping blunders, reminiscent of some of my own schoolboy exploits. There are some crackers here, especially towards the end.

And here is probably the greatest player in world football during my youth: Johann Cruijff of Ajax, Barcelona, and Holland.

Le Bisou de Zizou

Zidane had two great headers in the second part of the World Cup final, the first was a bit close to the goalie, but the second was right on target. Where I come from we call this a Glasgow kiss, though actually Zidane's was a bit timid for a native of Glasgow, where anything less than a nose in three little pieces is pretty much kid’s play.

Thanks to Martin for headline and the BBC for the pic.

Postscript: Zidane has now commented on the incident through his agent: ""[Zidane] told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn't tell me what," agent Alain Migliaccio told BBC Five Live Sport." Hmmm. If it was that serious, e.g., a racist comment as some have claimed despite no evidence to support this, you'd think Zidane would be a bit more specific wouldn't you?

Best and Gascoigne: drink for drink

No sooner does one famous British football drunk pass away than another pops his alcohol addled features over the parapet. Paul Gascoigne, the most famous English footballer of the 1990s, had an eventful Monday. First he was sacked as manager of Kettering Town after 39 days in charge, among accusations of drinking. Then he was arrested for assaulting a photographer.

I wonder whether drunks have a better feel for their times than the rest of us. George Best, the “fifth Beatle”, with his sultry good looks, Belfast brogue and string of beautiful blondes was on a par with Twiggy and the mini as a symbol of swinging 1960s Britain. “Gazza”, on the other hand, with his lager lout image, his notorious “friends” (Jimmy “Five Bellies” Gardner), his marriage marred by continual incidents of domestic assault, is from altogether coarser stock, emblematic of the yob culture of Britain in the 1990s.

Despite it all, I feel sorry for Gazza. At least Best seemed to have a good time (“I spent 95% of my money on fast cars, women and alcohol—the rest I wasted”) Gazza just seems a tortured soul. He’s been swimming around in his own private lake of Black Carling lager so publicly for so long that it is hard to believe he is still two years short of his 40th birthday. His comments on the chairman who sacked him sound deranged.

"He's not the chairman, he's Imraan the doctor," added Gascoigne. "I'm Paul Gascoigne and I take charge of this club.

"I'm a multi-millionaire and I'm angry. I've tried to buy him out already. I told him it was the fans and Paul Gascoigne against a doctor - who will win?

"I know that the supporters, the players and the staff of Kettering Town are all behind me, not him.

"Two years ago I would have given in but not now. I'm a genius and I know what's going on the football field."

I don’t see any happy end in sight for this poor bastard. You can read more about the soap opera that is Paul Gascoigne here.

Female footballer signs for Mexican side

I was just amazed at the skills displayed at the last women’s World Cup, so I’m not too surprised that a Mexican second division team has signed the country’s top female goalscorer (an incredible 42 goals in 43 games for the national side). This can only enrich the game — I’m all for it.

China 1 Japan 3 Good manners 0

Enduring animosity towards a second world war enemy is nothing new to the Brits, but I’ve always been struck by the intensity of Chinese hatred for Japan. The behaviour of the Chinese crowd at the last night’s Asia Cup Final between the two countries was a good example:

Any hopes that the Japanese anthem would be respectfully observed evaporated when the announcement of the team line-up was booed down to the last substitute.

Japan went on to win 3-1 but were booed almost every time they had the ball and lifted the cup in a largely deserted Workers' Stadium in Beijing as the disappointed Chinese crowd left immediately after Japan’s third goal. A small number of Chinese fans rioted outside the stadium after the game, burning Japanese flags, shouting obscenities and singing patriotic songs.

The weirdest recent example of the poor state of Sino-Japanese relations was the “hotel orgy” incident in Guangdong last year, which resulted in the two Chinese organizers receiving life sentences for organizing a sex tour with hundreds of Japanese tourists and Chinese prostitutes.