Packed to the brim with bicycle kicks, flying headers, volleys and Jurgen Klinsmann

You are the ref #7896: On a windy day an outfield player takes a goal kick which blows up in the air, over the flailing goalkeeper and straight back into the net. Do you allow the goal?

One of the best Phoenix From The Flames and it’s good to see Ilunga laughing about it now. Their story is actually quite sad, Zaire were then the first sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the World Cup finals but during the tournament the players discovered they would not be paid. Beyond the  laughable incident against Brazil there was a lot of despair: according to Ilunga, in an interview with Brazilian FourFourTwo magazine, the president’s guards (who were getting the promised money) threatened the players if they lost by more than 3 goals.

A simply unstoppable strike, scored against Sevilla at the unusual time of about 1.30 in the morning. The reason being that Barcelcona had moved the kick-off midnight in the hope of being able to field their star players before they reported for international duty. Being the true pro, Gaúcho dedicated the goal to the fans:

“I didn’t expect so many people to come and watch us at that time. It was like a dream to play in front of so many people considering the time of day.”

“It is one of the few goals I have scored from long distance, as I’m not used to scoring them from long range, and I dedicate the goal to all the people that turned up.”

The complete Panini Italia 90 collection with all 428 stickers. Collected, Swapped and Scanned.

It is scandalously missing Toto Schillaci and Roger Milla and if you look at the Italian side they have had three players who have since managed in the Premiership compared to just two of England’s. Enjoy…

In 1977 Gordon Jago, Millwall’s commercially savvy new manager invited the BBC’s documentary team down to the Den. Jago saw an opportunity to bring in the TV cameras and show the nation that Millwall’s hooligan reputation was nothing but a myth and had been blown out of all aproportion by the press.

According to Eamon Dunphy, the former Millwall player, what the BBC actually intended to do was quite the opposite and prove the theory that football hooliganism was more than just random violence, that it was organised, linked to the the National Front and deeply rooted at Millwall.

Dunphy reports that people closely linked to the club at the time claimed the story was false, a distortion of the truth and the BBC had stuck to their agenda. The full programme is below and you can read more about the fall-out here.

Danny Baker also did a more quirky report from Cold Blow Lane, which can be found here

The surgical masks never really caught on did they?

‘El Loco’ pulled on his old Atletico Nacional shirt to play against a select XI which included the likes of Carlos Valderrama and Faustino Asprilla, but no Roger Milla or Jamie Rednapp.

In an emotional speech, Higuita told fans: ‘It is impossible to know you and not love you. It is impossible not to praise God, who united me with you at this moment. I never imagined this moment, because today I am living both the beginning and the end as active soccer player.

‘I feel the emotion of the beginning, but the nostalgia of leaving a career that I love deeply.’

No one likes a show off

Whilst lighting a cigarette will get you thrown out of a ground in the UK, this is the sort of show they put on at the Kleánthis Vikelídis Stadium in Greece. Amazingly, this is just for a pre-season friendly between Aris Thessaloniki F.C. and Boca Juniors. Incredible.

Ludicrous