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A story only Mourinho can confirm…
Glory days...
Excellent interview today in Gazeta Sporturilor, with Gica Popescu, the footballer I admired as a kid – yes, loved him more than Hagi, as I was considering truly outstading his ability to take the ball from the goalkeeper and brush everybody aside in a powerful, yet elegant run through the middle, deep into the opposition’s half! -, who told a nice little story from the good old days, when he was Barcelona’s captain. Sir Bobby Robson was the coach and Jose Mourinho, his assistant, and I think you all might enjoy it:
“The afternoon training session was over. We were supposed to be on the bus and head back to the hotel for dinner at 7 o’clock sharp. Everybody was there, except Sir Bobby and Mourinho. Xema, the bus driver, asked: “Popi, now what?”. “Vamos!”, I said, and the guys were smiling in disbelief. Xema insists: “What about Mister?”. “He can handle it, he’ll find a cab.” We left. A quarter to eight, Robson gets to the hotel and looks over the players, who were already eating. “Who said that the bus could leave?”, asked on a serious and a bit angry tone. I stood up and said: “I did, Mister!”. He replied instantly: “Very well, that’s the way a captain should handle things!”. He returned to pay the cab and, the next day, he also payed a fine, for being late.”
Romania’s golden generation gets ready for one last show!
Before Leo Messi, there was Gica Hagi
The idea belongs to former Barcelona skipper Gheorghe “Gica” Popescu, who gathered most of his colleagues from the national team that impressed at the American World Cup, in 1994, and proposed over lunch to make a final appearance as a group. The event should close the “Champions’ night” campaign initiated a few years ago by Popescu, which brought in Romania, among others, Brazil’s national team, for charity purposes. Gheorghe Hagi, Adrian Ilie, Bogdan Stelea, Tibor Selymes, Daniel Prodan, Ilie Dumitrescu and Ionut Lupescu were present and agreed to take part to a farewell match that will take place in Timisoara, in May. The choice is fully justified – although it’s quite far from me 😦 -, as Timisoara has the most passionate and civilized crowd in the whole country and probably the opposition will be top class, as every former national team player will try to bring quality players.
Timisoara still looks to replace Gigel Bucur
The start of 2010 convinced Timisoara‘s fans that Bucur’s departure wasn’t properly covered, as the Viola outfit is struggling in front of goal. The poor form of Winston Parks and Sabau’s defensive approach (defensive wide midfielders, two anchormen at the same time on the pitch) left the talented, but so far unlucky Dorin Goga on his own upfront. Also, keeping Magera on the bench, who could be an ideal partner for Goga, isn’t the best decision, but the board seem to understand better than me 😉 Sabau’s choices and announced that they’re looking to strengthen the attacking department for next season… Read more…
