Wow , people in US like soccer ? Too bad i havent met one yet
I know most of you won't know what i'm going to be talking about but i was one of the VERY lucky young guys who was able to experience THE BIG time soccer. in 1995 we played (with our team , Slovan Bratislava (Slovak rep. team) ) in tournament that was in split in France and Spain. We had just finished getting our A$$e$ kicked by Barcelona (1-4) and Real Madrid coach offered friendly game to our coach and opputrunity of life time , handing balls during game Barcelona - Real Madrid. IF any of you know what it's like , you know that most of us (back then 14-15 yr olds) were in total awe. 105 000 screaming , singing fans right behind you. That day WE beat Real madrid 3-2 on their field. (friendly , not tournament)
Tournament finished with total fiasco , as we actually won over Paris SG and very next day were winning over FC Nantes 1-0 'till 92nd minute where paid off official HAD to make sure that at least one French team advanced to the final 16 in Paris, called penalty shot against us even though our player was like good 2 meters away from falling player. Our coached was thrown out of the tournament , as he was throwing just about anything at the referee. ( when i say ANYTHING , i mean wallet , keys , apple that we had for lunch , orange , his shoes etc ...) I know most people are agasint beating up ref but if you had seen the game , you'd throw that azzhole to gas chamber. he robbed 14 yer old BOYs, now that i look back , pretty pathetic. Barcelona and FC Nantes advanced from our group ( out of 6 teams , i think 2 French , 1 British ,1 from Scotland ,Barcelona and us )but we made a huge name for our team and next year , year younger guys than us were invited to same tournament and actually made it to final 16 in Paris.
I think they finished like 8th or 9th from hundred something teams all over the Europe. Of course Barcelona won it all , and Ajax Amsterdam was 2nd , if i remeber correctly. IT was insane how good those guys actually were.
Then at 17 i had my knee f'up and never made it back. At that age if you have 6 month injury and you cant work out , you're pretty much done. OF course girls , drinking were distraction and i just didnt have a will to come back to 7 days a week training.