Martin Palermo, Boca's all time leading goalscorer once took three penalties in a Copa America game for Argentina against Colombia and missed all of them.
Weird things about football that are true but don't sound it
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Despite having 1.35 billion inhabitants, only one Indian player has ever made a top flight appearance outside of India:
From 2014-2017, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu played a total of 3 league games for Norwegian outfit Stabaek.
From 2014-2017, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu played a total of 3 league games for Norwegian outfit Stabaek.
I had no clue.
At Preston I'm assuming.
yes
I actually am having a hard time believing that, but then I'm not exactly a walking encyclopedia on Indian footballers. None have even played in a nearby country's top flight like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Nepal? I imagine data on those leagues would be hard to find to check.
There was a player for Celtic in the 30s. Played 2 games before he got home sick. The papers raved about his performances in those two games but unfortunately the move from India to Scotland was too much for him. He also played in bare feet.
Just top flight European leagues actually. Arata Izumi has played in J-league, Bhaichung Bhutia has played in Malaysian top flight, there have been players who've played in Bhutan, Bermuda, etc.
Mohammed Salim, but those were just friendlies as per most accounts
Damn, that's interesting. Thank you for sharing.
I had no clue.
Us Prestonians are very proud of Beckham coming to Deepdale, and scoring directly from a corner.
Rangers took Sunil Chetri and another Indian player on trial. Didn't work out but Sunil Chetri went to the MLS and Sporting Lisbon but either never played or played for Sporting's B team. Did play against United in a friendly for Kansas (I think it was them).
In terms of just signing for a club there was Subrata Paul as well. Forgot the name, but I remember some Brazilian club signed an Indian defender a few years ago. There are also a few Indians playing in 2nd division in Portugal I believe.
And if we include just a trial, then the number would go up by quite a lot.
But if we're strictly restricting to top flight league games, then there aren't a lot.
Indeed. Subrata Paul was involved in an unfortunate collision on the pitch which resulted in the death of another player. There are players of Indian origin who have played in the top flights but very little o zero who were born and bred in India.
Gareth Bale only scored twice for Real Madrid. The rest are just stuff of legend.
Didn't Bhaichung Bhutia play for Bury FC in the EFL? But yea top flight probably not.
Thats shocking. Anyone care to explain why??
Yes, Bury has had two Indian players even.
I meant a competitive game in a top flight.
Should have added European though, as some have pointed out.
I thought Ramos is topscoring defender in La Liga?
He is. Hierro played as a midfielder for a big chunk of his career
Bruce spent the first 6 out of 7 seasons in the 3rd and 2nd division and was nowhere near an England squad. When he was good enough, the England manager (Taylor) preferred other options and then, when Venables did try to call him up, Bruce rejected the call.
It does look mad that Bruce never played for England but it was only really Graham Taylor who ignored him when he was in his prime and England did have excellent centre back options at the time.
Sean Dyche wasn’t in charge.
Barcelona had their first penalty shootout tonight since 1998.
So only a manager like Dyche would pick him?
Today was the first penalty shootout Barcelona have taken part in since 1998.
I know this post is months old and all, but Graham Taylor picked Keith Curle. Excellent options didn’t stop that.
David Seaman's ponytailed look is his most iconic and you'd presume it spanned a large section of his career, but he only wore it for about three years, these years being his final ones in professional football.
Sneijder spent as much time at Galatasaray as he did at any other club
That's pretty crazy.
Juan Mata has spent as many seasons at Manchester United as he has at Valencia and Chelsea combined.
Sergio Aguero has played profesional football since 2003 and is still just 32 years old.
I thought he was a little bit older. Still a fantastic player.
I thought he was a little bit older. Still a fantastic player.
I actually associate him with you more than Chelsea, despite playing his best football there.
Messi just received his first red card for Barcelona...
After 753 games!
After 753 games!
If Sergio Aguero doesn't play and score against Aston Villa on Wednesday he'll have gone over a year without a goal in the Premier League.
Gary Lineker played around 500 professional games and never had a yellow or red card.
And it took him 43 seconds of his Argentina career to be sent off.
Neville and Carragher + Micah Richards and Roy Keane - are 2 of the strangest couples who seem to get along as pundits. Esp Richards and Keane really seem to get along - God knows how that happened 