Retiring footballers

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Michael S Collins
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Retiring footballers

Post by Michael S Collins »

Ok, I thought this might be useful, and couldn't see a similar thread. We have one for transfers, and coach transfers. Here's one to let folk know that relatively big name footballers are retiring from the sport. Maybe international players or ones who did memorable CL/EL stuff, but whose retirement might get lost under the radar?

What inspired this is the news that Kim Kallstrom is retiring, aged 35. Played for Hacken, Djurgardens, Rennes, Lyon, Spartak Moscow, Arsenal (on loan), and Grasshopper. 131 caps for Sweden, 16 goals, and played at the 2006 World Cup, and Euros 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Made 3 assists against Germany in that crazy draw, was part of a really good Lyon side (great fun to watch, that team!) and, I thought Sweden were going to win Euro 2004 at one point. :mrgreen:
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AlanK
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Post by AlanK »

Michael S Collins wrote:Ok, I thought this might be useful, and couldn't see a similar thread. We have one for transfers, and coach transfers. Here's one to let folk know that relatively big name footballers are retiring from the sport. Maybe international players or ones who did memorable CL/EL stuff, but whose retirement might get lost under the radar?

What inspired this is the news that Kim Kallstrom is retiring, aged 35. Played for Hacken, Djurgardens, Rennes, Lyon, Spartak Moscow, Arsenal (on loan), and Grasshopper. 131 caps for Sweden, 16 goals, and played at the 2006 World Cup, and Euros 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Made 3 assists against Germany in that crazy draw, was part of a really good Lyon side (great fun to watch, that team!) and, I thought Sweden were going to win Euro 2004 at one point. :mrgreen:
Ah, lad, that Swedish team :!: I got to attend two of their games at Euro 2004--the 5-0 trouncing of Bulgaria was the only group game they played in Lisboa, so I got to see Larsson score twice. Then, after the famous :mrgreen: 2-2 tie, which was played "up north" :mrgreen: , I hopped a train that crossed the April 25 bridge--the train bridge over the Tejo had opened just before the tournament. Off to the Algarve for the Quarterfinal Sweden-Netherlands. Forty degrees Celsius on the playing field in the Algarve desert :!: And a 0-0 tie, which led to Ibra missing a pk in the shootout, I seem to remember, and Van der Sar carrying his son off the field as the Dutch team celebrated winning the shootout. If the Swedish had won that shootout, I'd have seen them in the semi in Lisboa against Portugal . . . As it was, Maniche scored a wonder-goal and the Portuguese went on to the Final . . .
"Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
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Post by Michael S Collins »

AlanK wrote:
Michael S Collins wrote:Ok, I thought this might be useful, and couldn't see a similar thread. We have one for transfers, and coach transfers. Here's one to let folk know that relatively big name footballers are retiring from the sport. Maybe international players or ones who did memorable CL/EL stuff, but whose retirement might get lost under the radar?

What inspired this is the news that Kim Kallstrom is retiring, aged 35. Played for Hacken, Djurgardens, Rennes, Lyon, Spartak Moscow, Arsenal (on loan), and Grasshopper. 131 caps for Sweden, 16 goals, and played at the 2006 World Cup, and Euros 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Made 3 assists against Germany in that crazy draw, was part of a really good Lyon side (great fun to watch, that team!) and, I thought Sweden were going to win Euro 2004 at one point. :mrgreen:
Ah, lad, that Swedish team :!: I got to attend two of their games at Euro 2004--the 5-0 trouncing of Bulgaria was the only group game they played in Lisboa, so I got to see Larsson score twice. Then, after the famous :mrgreen: 2-2 tie, which was played "up north" :mrgreen: , I hopped a train that crossed the April 25 bridge--the train bridge over the Tejo had opened just before the tournament. Off to the Algarve for the Quarterfinal Sweden-Netherlands. Forty degrees Celsius on the playing field in the Algarve desert :!: And a 0-0 tie, which led to Ibra missing a pk in the shootout, I seem to remember, and Van der Sar carrying his son off the field as the Dutch team celebrated winning the shootout. If the Swedish had won that shootout, I'd have seen them in the semi in Lisboa against Portugal . . . As it was, Maniche scored a wonder-goal and the Portuguese went on to the Final . . .
Yep, the 5-0 is what done it! And they scored a really good goal against Italy too - both of which had Kallstrom on the pitch at the time, so on topic. :lol: I was rooting for the Swedes in the shootout but they couldn't get past Van der Sar.

Incidentally, ITV went to a replay of a shot, and missed the Maniche goal live.
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AlanK
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Post by AlanK »

Michael S Collins wrote: Incidentally, ITV went to a replay of a shot, and missed the Maniche goal live.
It was a "blink and you miss it" goal. I didn't blink, but I did sorta say to myself, "Dios mío, how'd he do that :?: :?: :shock: :shock: :!:

I was sitting behind and way above where Maniche was when he shot . . . And I started saying to myself, "Portugal is gonna win this . . ."
"Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
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Post by Thunder_PT »

AlanK wrote:I hopped a train that crossed the April 25 bridge--the train bridge over the Tejo had opened just before the tournament.
Not really, trains started crossing that bridge in 1999. ;)
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Post by AlanK »

Thunder_PT wrote:
AlanK wrote:I hopped a train that crossed the April 25 bridge--the train bridge over the Tejo had opened just before the tournament.
Not really, trains started crossing that bridge in 1999. ;)
Not for passenger trains--I lived in Lisboa in the summer of 2002 for awhile; unless they were lying to me, I was not able to cross the Tejo via passenger train at that time. My friend in whose apartment I stay when I'm in Lisboa told me AFTER I arrived in 2004 for the EuroCup that the passenger service vie the bridge had opened one month earlier.
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Post by Thunder_PT »

AlanK wrote:
Thunder_PT wrote:
AlanK wrote:I hopped a train that crossed the April 25 bridge--the train bridge over the Tejo had opened just before the tournament.
Not really, trains started crossing that bridge in 1999. ;)
Not for passenger trains--I lived in Lisboa in the summer of 2002 for awhile; unless they were lying to me, I was not able to cross the Tejo via passenger train at that time. My friend in whose apartment I stay when I'm in Lisboa told me AFTER I arrived in 2004 for the EuroCup that the passenger service vie the bridge had opened one month earlier.
I'm gonna take your word for it, if you've lived there you probably know more than a northerner. ;)

But it's crazy to think it opened so recently. :o
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Post by Dragonite »

Kaká retired.

Image

Legendary player that played 3 World Cups for Brazil (2002-2006-2010), won two Confederations Cups (2005-2009), and in 2007 won the Champions League (and was the tournament's top scorer), the Super Cup and the Club World Cup for AC Milan. :applause:
Records and Statistics:
:arrow: Champions League (all 141 participants - 1992/1993 to 2019/2020)
:arrow: Europa League (all 215 participants - 2009/2010 to 2019/2020)
:arrow: UEFA Youth League (all 162 participants - 2013/2014 to 2019/2020)
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seso
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Post by seso »

Indeed a great player!!! I liked him most at AC Milan!!
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Post by Michael S Collins »

With Kaka AND Ronaldinho at arguably their peak, I thought Brazil would be the biggest threat to Italy (my bet) at the 2006 World Cup. Never really got out of first gear though. He was immense at Milan though.
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Post by Thunder_PT »

Michael S Collins wrote:With Kaka AND Ronaldinho at arguably their peak, I thought Brazil would be the biggest threat to Italy (my bet) at the 2006 World Cup. Never really got out of first gear though. He was immense at Milan though.
Brazilian friends of mine blame cachaça for that. :mrgreen: Ronaldinho was a phenomenal player, but liked to party a bit too much and in this tournament he was a bad influence to the rest of the team.
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Post by Michael S Collins »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... l-11726356

Tomas Rosicky retires. On form, a fine player. Suffered from too much Arsenal-itis, the condition where any fine player who goes to Arsenal gets permanently injured.


I didn't think starting this thread would lead to everyone retiring at once. Take your time, lads, we've got a World Cup to get through next year! :mrgreen:
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seso
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Post by seso »

Michael S Collins wrote:
I didn't think starting this thread would lead to everyone retiring at once. Take your time, lads, we've got a World Cup to get through next year! :mrgreen:
No worries Michael, I am still in peak form!!
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