Mes: enero 2022

Internazionale 1 Benfica 0

Jair

Internazionale: Sarti, Burgnich, Guameri, Picchi (capt.), Facchetti, Bedin, Suarez, Corso, Jair, Mazzola, Peiro

Benfica: Costa Pereira, Cavem, Germano, Raul, Cruz, Neto, Coluna (capt.), Jose Augusto, Torres, Eusebio, Simoes

The defending champions Inter Milan found themselves in the final and their opponents this time were the team many expected to carry on the mantle left behind by Real Madrid, Benfica.

Playing the mighty Internazionale in front of 89,000 of their fanatical supporters in a wet San Siro stadium, however, was to prove too much, even for a team as good as Benfica.

The Portuguese club had complained to UEFA beforehand at having to play Inter on their own pitch and had even threatened to send their youth team, but UEFA were never going to change the venue.

Despite an inspirational performance from their captain Coluna in midfield, Benfica were undone by a single goal from Jair just before half-time when his weak shot managed to slip through the arms of Costa Pereira.

Inter with their infamous catenaccio were able to retain their trophy even if their brand of football was universally loathed.

Real Madrid 2 Partizan Belgrade 1

Amancio, Serena Vasovic

Real Madrid: Araquistain, Pachin, De Felipe, Zoco, Sanchis, Pirri, Velazquez, Serena, Amancio, Grosso, Gento (capt.)

Partizan Belgrade: Soskic, Jusufi, Vasovic (capt.), Rasovic, Mihajlovic, Kovacevic, Becejac, Bajic, Hasanagic, Galic, Pirmajer

After a few years of allowing pretenders to take home their thrown, Real Madrid were back to reclaim what they would feel was rightfully theirs.

Without legends such as Di Stefano and Puskas, the Real Madrid side that took to the pitch for the European Cup Final in Brussels was very different to that which European football fans had grown used to over the previous decade.

Composed almost entirely of young and little known players, including five who had come up from the youth team, the youngsters looked to Gento, the one survivor from the 1956 winning side and now the captain, to provide the experience that they so lacked.

Galic, Partizan’s outstanding forward who had obtained special release from the army to play in this his first game of the year, squandered two first half chances, but his persistence on the wing gained Partizan a corner and as Hasanagic nodded back Pirmajer’s kick, the captain Vasovic rose to power the ball home.

Real Madrid’s young players were finally stung into action and, inspired by Gento in midfield, began to finally create chances.

Within 15 minutes Real were level as Amancio, having been sent clear by Grosso’s pass, slotted the ball home.

The Spaniards were now in the ascendancy and it took them only five more minutes to take the lead as Serena hit a shot out of the blue from 30 yards out that flew into the top corner of the net.

Real Madrid were able to hang on, reclaim their thrown and win the cup for the 6th time. But any hopes of a repeat dominance of the great 50’s sides were swiftly dashed as they were not to win the title again for another 30 years.

I have decided to write this little in the pretext to highlight the significance of the financial problems faced by Arsenal and had subsequently affect the team’s performance.

Point: Arsenal’s board lead by Peter Hill-Wood and Co has not kept their promise to hand Wenger and the fans the supposed budget to buy players.

30/08/2008: Hill-Wood says Arsenal have plenty of money to spend and that Wenger’s critics should stop telling the Frenchman how to do his job. He said: Everyone tells Arsene how he ought to run the place but no-one is a better judge than him. We have plenty of money and enough to spend.

19/12/08: Arsenal’s Board have made it clear that funds are available should he wish to spend them next month. Indeed, some reports have suggested that Wenger has been urged to splash the cash by the Club’s hierarchy. At his pre-match press conference, the manager reiterated that HE has the final decision over potential reinforcements. «They [the Board] let me do what I want to do,» said Wenger. «I know how much money I can spend and I will try to do it in a wise way.»

23/12/08: Arsène Wenger admits he is more likely to enter the transfer market next month in the wake of Cesc Fabregas’ knee injury. «Yes [I am more likely to buy], but we also have internal solutions so we are not desperate because of that,» said Wenger.

02/01/09: Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood admits manager Arsene Wenger has a limited budget for the January market. «I don’t think there is a lot of money anywhere,» Hill-Wood said in the papers. «One has got to look ahead – in the future there is probably not going to be much more money coming in.

04/01/09: The Daily Mail reports that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is on a collision course with his higher-ups over the modest transfer budget he has been given this winter. The Frenchman is eager to sign Andrei Arshavin, but Zenit St Petersburg are demanding in excess of 20 million Euros for their star forward – a figure the Gunners have thus far been unable to match.

The North London club have always maintained that they will back Wenger to the hilt in the transfer market, although that claim has rarely been tested due to the gaffer’s low-budget, youth-oriented approach. But now that the ex-Monaco boss has set his sights on a big-money target, the Emirates board are unwilling to free up the funds required to seal the deal. This is is not the first report of friction between Wenger and his bosses to emerge this season. Indeed, it is has been whispered that the 59-year-old could break his contract with Arsenal to join Real Madrid next summer. That remains the remotest of remote possibilities, but if the Gunners fail to secure Champions League qualification this term – they currently sit fifth in the Premier League table – their long-serving manager could consider his options.

May we know where are the 50 million pounds that the board has promised us? Where are the support that was supposedly promised to Wenger, now that we want a player?

Back in 1929, John Tate Riddell started his company armed with a vision of providing better sporting equipment to athletes. And such idea has proven to be very beneficial, not only for J.T. Riddell but for the players as well, for from this concept of his came forth the country’s foremost manufacturer of football headgear.

Removable cleat— the history of Riddell football helmets all began with a removable cleat. Said design was prepared by Riddell back when he was still the Athletic Director and at the same time head of the football coaching staff for a certain high school located in Evanston, Illinois. The year was 1922 when head coach saw the need for developing the current leather-fitted footwear for his team. With the arrival of the rainy season, such condition dictates the necessity of changing cleats and installing a longer mud cleat to adapt with said variable. This process is time consuming, not to mention that the cobbler in-charged of doing such task was also hired by a university ergo not being able to finish all footgear by game time. The invention of removable cleats was openly welcomed and such flamed a string of innovations that led to the groundwork for the history of Riddell football helmets.

Ten years after the formation of the company, Riddell pioneered the fist plastic suspension headgear. This breakthrough caught the attention of the government for it will certainly be to the advantage of the brave men in WW II. This is one of the finest points in the history of Riddell football helmets.

With protection as the main goal, it is hard to believe that helmets, rather than pads, were the last to be accepted in pro football. The former is not even mandatory in football—that is until 1939 when NFL ordered that players wear such protective headgear. Before the dawn of plastic helmets, there was leather. The players may be protected against concussions but not the heat—air can barely circulate inside.

Evolution is inevitable; same applies in the history of Riddell football helmets. RT-2 was the first helmet engineered by the company and sold to the public. Said helmet model was manufactured in 1946, a year after J.T. Riddell’s death. RT-2 was a three-pieced shell using Tenite II with cotton web suspension for the head and neck. Said suspension presents a pocket of air in between the head and the shell of the helmet. Though Riddell wasn’t able to actually see the evolution and expansion of his company, he’ll always live in every noggin he has protected, whether it’s attached to an amateur or professional football player.

Following RT-2 was RK-4. The latter resembles the shape of RT-2, though it’s shell material differs. RK-4 was manufactured utilizing a chemical called Acrilonitrile Butadiene Styrene concocted by US Rubber. The cotton webbing that was present in the RT-2 was substituted by a combo of cotton and nylon. Both models showcased the 3-loop and 6-point regular suspension.

The history of Riddell football helmets includes the models TK-5 and PAC-44. The two shared the same shell composition as that of the RK-4. The difference rests on the interior cushion. TK-5 was originally cushioned with cotton. However, it was altered to that of the interior of RK-4, which was made of cotton and nylon. As for the PAC-44, same was tagged and aimed for the youth. It featured an interior air cushion crafted out of vinyl.

From these forerunners, the company has progressed along with the game. With its ‘firsts’ like the web suspension, air cushion interior and self-contained inflation head gear to name a few, it’s really hard to picture the sports equipment scene without Riddell.

This is the history of Riddell football helmets…so far. With ingenious minds continuously formulating new ideas, it is easy to say that another touchdown is within reach.