With Euro 2012 around the corner, the football fever is on the rise again. Unfortunately, for the likes of Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Bastian Schweinsteiger, the competition will mean sitting out of the playing arena and cheering for their teammates.
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Q.1. In 2010, Borussia Dortmund signed this attacking midfielder from the Japanese club Cerezo Osaka that had only recently been promoted to the J-League first division. It seemed like a somewhat casual signing, but Dortmund struck gold. Dortmund's bargain acquisition, who cost them only €350,000 to sign on from the Japanese club, scored 12 goals in 25 appearances in Bundesliga. His prowess with the ball has attracted so much attention from the big boys of European football, that German tabloid Bild expects the 23 year old to move to a big club in England or Spain, possibly before his Dortmund contract expires in 2013.
Identify the footballer.
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Q.2. |
Q.2. This team photo was captured during the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
From the photograph, you have to identify the player, around whom, the blue circle has been drawn.
He is considered to be the best foreigner ever to have played in India. While he had been studying at Aligarh Muslim University, the spotters of East Bengal Club saw him and two of his friends, Jamshed Nassiri and Khabazi. East Bengal promptly signed the trio. Although Khabazi did not have a particularly impressive career, the other two dominated the Calcutta football scene for quite some time.
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Q.3. Identify this Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC star footballer, who also holds the record for scoring the most number of international goals, 109, in the world.
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Q.4. He is cited as being the player in the Premier League that commits the most fouls. He has committed more offences than any other Premier League player in three consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2007. In the 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons, he was slightly better behaved, committing the second highest number of fouls. In his stint with the current club, he has committed over 1000 fouls, more than any other Premier League player in the competition's history. On 10 September 2011, he received his 100th yellow card in the Premier League. In 2010, at the age of 33, he made his debut for the England National Team.
Who is the footballer?
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Q.5. In the photo mosaic, the three persons, from left to right, are Gary Cole, Karim Bagheri and Archie Thompson. Cole and Bagheri are former Australia and Iranian internationals, while Thompson has also represented Australia National Soccer Team.
All you have to do is connect the three of them.
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Q.6. In one of the most bizarre cases of cheating, this footballer got a friend to phone Graeme Souness, the then manager of Southampton, posing as George Weah, Liberian international and former FIFA World Player of the Year. This supposed "Weah" told Souness that the player concerned was his cousin, had played for Paris Saint-Germain and also had 13 international appearances under his belt. He also suggested that Souness should give his "cousin" a chance. In due course, the "cousin" was invited to train with Southampton and despite having apparently been terrible during training, he found himself on the subs bench for a game against Leeds United in 1996. To top that, he was brought on after 32 minutes and was truly appalling for the following 21 minutes before being hauled off by Souness. He later tried his luck at Gateshead FC but was nowhere near good enough to play even at Conference level!
Identify this "great" footballer.
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Q.7. One from the Fifa World Cup.
Connect the following national teams - Scotland, Brazil, England, Cameroon & Belgium.
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Q.8. This Sampdoria star striker was thought to be destined for World Cup stardom. However, he was substituted towards the end of the first group match. The player who had substituted him had previously played only once for the country, but netted the all important goal and went on to start in all subsequent matches. In the semi finals, the Sampdorian star got his third start of the world cup. However, after an uninspiring performance, he was replaced again. Identify the player.
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Q.9. During the qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup of 1970, riots and killings broke out among the fans of two rival countries. Because of these clashes, ultimately a full-fledged war broke out between the two countries in July 1969. Thousands of people were killed or injured. Historians have called this
"The War of Soccer". Later, both the teams qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, in which one of the two countries in question entered the record books for their performance in the group match against Hungary.
Identify both the rival countries, as well as the feat for which one of the team's name entered the record books.
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Q.10. Identify the legendary footballer shown in the photo on the right hand side.
He started his playing career for Howrah Union in the Calcutta Football League and subsequently shifted to Mohun Bagan. During his stay at Mohun Bagan, he reportedly took only a token amount of Re.1/- per year. During Indian team's visit to London, whenever he took his trademark strong free kicks, the spectators used to chant,
"Oh my foot!" He is the only Asian Footballer ever to be named among the 10 best Captains in the world by the English FA in 1953.
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Q.11. Born at Faridpur of undivided Bengal (now at Bangladesh) in 1896, he started his football career with Kumartuli Club at the age of only 11. A chance discovery by Kalicharan Mitra, one of the only two Indian members in the governing body of IFA, while he was playing at Kumartuli Park took him to Dukhiram Mazumdar and ultimately led him to don the Mohun Bagan jersey a year later in 1912. He was the first footballer to be honoured with the Padmashree in 1962 and in 1998, he became the first Indian footballer on whom a postage stamp was issued.
Identify this legendary player.
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Q.12. Born at a remote village of Assam on 28th January, 1918, this legendary Centre Half was also a qualified doctor after he completed his MBBS from R.G.Kar Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta. He started his footballing career with Maharana Club of Guwahati and subsequently shifted to Mohun Bagan. He was the Captain of the Indian National Team that took part in the London Olympics of 1948.
Identify him.
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Q.13. Born on 4th October 1937 in a remote village near Secundrabad, he joined the football division of Army Combined Force in 1955. The legendary coach, Rahim Saab saw his potential and included him in Hyderabad’s Santosh Trophy team that same year. His on field exploits led to a call to attend the training camp of Indian team for 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In a scene straight out of Chak De India, a match was organized between Hyderabad and Bengal to settle the dispute between coach Rahim Saab and AIFF president M Dutta Roy on which state will have a bigger representation in the final team bound for Melbourne. He played for his state in this match and led them to a comfortable 3-0 victory and was promptly selected for the 1956 Olympics, where India attained the 4th position, by far their best finish till date. A year later he was brought to East Bengal by J.C. Guha. In the photo, he is seen in an East Bengal shirt and is shaking hands with Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Identify this great striker.
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Q.14. A truly world class footballer, he won the Best Striker of Asia award in 1962. In the same year, he made his first class debut in the Ranji Trophy. He was a Right Handed Batsman and a Right Arm Medium Pacer. He led his state's cricket team to the Ranji Trophy final twice. during his cricket career, which spanned up to 1972/73 season. He played in a total of 46 first class matches, scoring 1592 runs including one century and also took 47 wickets.
Identify this versatile sportsman.
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Q.15. The first African footballer to have excelled in Indian football was a Nigerian footballer, named David Williams. He plied his trade in India during late 1970s and early 1980s and has played for the Kolkata biggie East Bengal Club. However, he is more famous for a unique footballing achievement, that has not been replicated till date. What is this
"achievement" that I am talking about?
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Please send in your answers to shovon76[at]gmail[dot]com.
The answers, along with the name of the persons with the right answer, will be published on 6th June 2012, Wednesday.
Cheers!
shovon chakraborty
Its time for the Answers to the questions. Along with the answers, the name of the persons who have tried the quiz, are also given below. The number within the parenthesis signifies the number of correct entries for the person.
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Answer Q.1. Shinji Kagawa, who is rumored to be moving to
Manchester United for the new season.
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Answer Q.2. Majid Bishkar
(also spelled Bashkar in Indian media). Majid played at Calcutta, for
East Bengal and
Mohammedan Sporting, only for a handful of seasons before losing his way to the bottle. But his impact on the
maidan has been immense.
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Answer Q.3. Ali Daei, the Iranian goal machine.
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Answer Q.4. Kevin Davies. For a long time, he had remained one of those handful players who, at some point of time in their career, commanded a transfer price of GBP 7 million or above, but never made a senior appearance for the England team.
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Answer Q.5. Gary Cole and Karim Bagheri jointly held the record for scoring the most number of goals in an international match, 7 goals, before Thompson broke the record in 2001, when he scored 13 goals in Australia's 32-0 thrashing of American Samoa.
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Answer Q.6. Ali Dia.
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Answer Q.7. These five teams have been unbeaten but not the champions in the same World Cup finals. Scotland in 1974 (1 win, 2 draws), Brazil in 1978 (4 wins, 3 draws), England in 1982 (3 wins, 2 draws), Cameroon in 1982 (3 draws), Belgium in 1998 (3 draws).
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Answer Q.8. Gianluca Vialli. The player, who had replaced him in the first match was Salvatore "Toto" Schilacci.
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Answer Q.9. The two competing countries were El Salvador and Honduras. In 1982 FIFA World Cup, Hungary thrashed El Salvador by a margin of 10-1, which remains the highest margin of win in a match at the world cup proper.
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Answer Q.10. Sailen Manna. He was also declared Footballer of the Century by AIFF.
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Answer Q.11. Gostha Pal, nicknamed as the "Great Wall of China".
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Answer Q.12. Dr. Talimeran Ao.
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Answer Q.13. Tulsidas Balaram.
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Answer Q.14. Chuni Goswami.
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Answer Q.15. David Williams, a Nigerian, is the only foreigner to have played in
Santosh Trophy, the inter state football tournament of India, held every year. He represented Tamil Nadu in 1976, 1977, 1978 and Bengal in 1979 and scored 7 goals.
1. Identify the lady, who was the very first footballer of Indian origin to have represented England at any level.
3. This Defensive Midfielder is a full international for his country of residence and is nicknamed as his country's "Iniesta". He has plied his trade in the top division clubs of The Netherlands and Denmark, apart from his home country and has also scored some spectacular goals from distance. Identify him.
4. Probably the best of the lot at the current moment, he is a versatile Winger, who can play both at the right or the left flank. He is also a full international for one of the best international teams, but had to miss the last FIFA World Cup due to an injury. Currently, he plays for Dutch Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven. Identify him.
5. He is an English professional footballer of Indian origin who plays as a Defender for League Two club Mansfield Town. He began his career with Walsall and had loan spells with Evesham United and York City. Identify him.
