Bulgarian superstar HristoStoichkov played on the great Barcelona squad of the early 1990s. He is best known, however, for this free kick, which helped knock the defending World Champion Germany out of the 1994 tournament. Bulgaria went on to lose to Italy in the semi-finals.
Note-- I believe that the man you can hear shouting before the kick is taken is Germany goalkeeper BodoIllgner yelling at teammate LotharMatthaus to move more to the left.
This game had everything-- Michael Owen's most famous goal, Argentina's clever goal off the free kick, Beckham's red card. Everybody knew about it and everybody watched it, even my wife at work, I think.
In just a few months, we will all be watching the World Cup finals from South Africa. In preparation for this important event, Ape Canyon News Service will be featuring some of the most exciting moments from past World Cups.
Our first installment is from the group stage of the 1990 World Cup held in Italy. Germany were already through to the next round, but Colombia needed a win or tie to advance. Germany were leading late in the match when Freddy Rincon scored one of my all-time favorite goals in stoppage time. Later that day, I created a fish stew in his honor and called it Guisado para Freddy Rincon. I seem to recall sending the recipe to him care of the Colombian Embassy in Washington, DC. I am not sure, however, if he ever received it.
Malaria Dreams: An African Adventure (Large Print Edition)- Stuart Stevens
I originally read this book almost twenty years ago. It is about a guy who drives his friend's car across the Sahara desert.
Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry - Todd Farley
Todd Farley worked for a long time scoring standardized tests. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of inaccuracies, problems, and places for random weirdness in the scoring of standardized tests. This book probably would have been better as a long magazine article.
Driving Like Crazy - P.J. O'Rourke
The title is actually a lot longer than just three words. The book is also.
Vrooom!! Conversations with the Grand Prix Champions - Peter Manso. (No picture available)
This book was written in 1969, I believe. If you would like to learn more about Grand Prix racers and what they think about modern art, H. Rap Brown, and the Vietnam war, this is the book for you.
What happened: Milan controlled the ball for almost the entire game, passing it around to each other in the middle of the field. Ronaldinho hit the crossbar, Ambrosini hit right where the goal post meets the crossbar. Bologna occasionally counter-attacked. No one scored.
Things I have never seen before: Milan wearing red shorts (see photo above); newly signed Mancini starting for Milan.
Things I have not seen in a long time:Bonera back from injury.
Milan players who did well today: Pirlo, Abate
Milan players who basically did nothing worth mentioning today:Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Borriello
Milan players who are still injured:Pato, Nesta
Bizarre interruptions to the broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel: In the 81st minute, the broadcast signal abruptly changed to C-SPAN, where Senator John McCain was talking in a Senate committee room. Then it changed to the Emergency Alert System, on which Civil Authorities were broadcasting a Required Monthly Test. About one minute of the game was interrupted. I was hoping that Milan would score during that time, but they didn't.
What this match teaches us: Sometimes scoring goals seems easy, and sometimes it doesn't.
There is really no point in posting highlights today.
"Hockey ought to be sternly forbidden, as it is not only annoying but dangerous." Halifax Morning Sun, quoted in Michael McKinley's Hockey - A People's History
