FOOTBALL NEWS AND TRANSFER TALK
Sometimes, former professional footballers in England discuss their careers and surprisingly mention that they played with or against Pelè, Franz Beckenbauer, and Johan Cruyff.
Shoot Magazine from that time frequently updated on NASL, making it interesting to see major rivals in English football playing in different settings and together in teams of that league.
Continue reading “Heritage NASL; The Melting Pot And Special Fairytales”Alan Hudson left Arsenal in 1978 to be part of the NASL adventure. He had earlier been capped twice for England. He was one of the great players of English football during the 70’s. Many said England’s absence from the 1974 and 1978 World Cup’s was because this genius footballer was overlooked.
Hudson was banned from international football after refusing to tour with the England under-23 side. As a result, he did not make his England debut until 1975. His sparkling performances earned him two call-ups by then England manager Don Revie. He starred in the team that beat 1974 FIFA World Cup champions West Germany 2–0 at Wembley. Then, he excelled in the 5–0 destruction of Cyprus. However, injuries and clashes with Revie meant that those two caps were the only ones he earned. He was called up as a late replacement by Ron Greenwood in 1978 for a match against Brazil. Hudson refused to join up as he did not feel fit to play. He was not in the original squad.
He helped Arsenal reach the 1978 FA Cup Final. He played at Wembley Stadium in the final, which they lost 1–0 to Ipswich. He had fitness issues. There were personal differences with Arsenal manager Terry Neill. This meant he made only 36 appearances over his two seasons at Arsenal. He was then sold to Seattle Sounders of the NASL for £100,000. 27 years old when moving to Seattle.
Continue reading “Heritage NASL; Alan Hudson”Imagine Real Madrid or Manchester United. Any sports club for that matter could play 49 matches across 27 countries. This competition would span five continents in a seven-month period.
It may seem logistically impossible. It may seem brutal for the athletes and staff alike. But the Dallas Tornado did just that in 1967. They played in front of tens of thousands of fans in war-torn Vietnam. The team missed a flight that would eventually be blown up by Greek-Cypriot terrorists. They lost half the team in the Bengali jungle without food or water. They were stoned by anti-American fans in Singapore.
Continue reading “Heritage NASL; Dallas Tornado”
