The OnionBag was offering free printing of “Terry 6″ on the England Home Jersey through Valentine’s Day.

As reports roll in that Alexander Hleb has stepped down as captain for the Belarusian National Team…one can only wonder what else John Terry has been up to.

Look how babyfaced Giggsy is. It’s like he has no idea how many trophies he’ll win, boots he’ll see kicked into teammates faces and appearances he’ll make in the World Cup.

Whatever happened to Ryan Giggs?

The former Chelsea back and French World Cup winner was there supporting compatriot, Gilles Marini.

LeBoeuf isn’t the only footballer to have been recently featured on an ABC program.

It’s Landon!

Seriously, look at these two…tell me Jason Mesnick shouldn’t be playing Landon in the never to be produced, made for tv movie about the US National Team. They look like they could be brothers.

…and wow…do people hate Jason. I’m not going to dive into the details of the hatred…since I’ve already played my “Yeah, I watch The Bachelor” hand.

The only people who hate Landon are Mexicans.

Drop me a comment if anyone knows anything more about this…I’ve been looking to drop 12k on a bottle opener for some time.

I am not a Manchester United fan…I am a Ryan Giggs fan though. Giggs is a classy, skillfull player who has proven that he can still compete season after season. I really admire players who are loyal to their clubs…players who aren’t swayed so easily by the attraction of a British Pound. I personally hope that Giggs retires after the end of the season. He’s had a great career but he is falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford. Once a regular starter he has now seen his playing time cut short in order to make way for the likes of Park Ji Sung and Anderson. I would rather see Giggs end his time at United gracefully…by deciding when his career is over as opposed to resigning for another year only to make a few occasional appearances.

Giggs will go down as one of the all-time great United players. Giggs holds the record for most appearances by a United player…an honor he has taken from the great Bobby Charlton. Aside from the numerous league titles, fa cup trophies and european championships he’s won with United, Ryan Giggs is also the only player to have scored in every season of the English Premier League since it’s inception.

This shot of Bruce Grobbelaar was taken from the Spring 1995 issue of Eurosport. The former Liverpool number 1 was playing for Southampton when he donned this stylish, bedazzled protective mask.

…and a shot of Grobbelaar’s crazy legs in action:

Cech isn’t the only Blue that has sang to Christine on matchday. John Terry has also gotten in on the fun…the fun ends that when that cheekbone you’re protecting comes into contact with a high elbow…but JT doesn’t know anything about high elbows.

I had a pretty serious relationship with the Archangel Gabriel Omar Batistuta…afectionately known by millions as “Batigoal”…when I was in college. We’d hang out for hours upon hours everday…wrecking my friend Brad…his go to guy, “Chad Deering”…along with the rest of the US Men’s National team in FIFA 98.

For as much as I enjoy playing video games…I’m pretty horrible at video games. I would pick one of the best teams, Argentina, who were armed with two great goalscorers: Batigoal and Hernan Crespo…and Brad would still find a way to make things interesting. For a while we were pretty religious about keeping track of our on pitch battles. I can’t remember who had the better record…I’d like to say that I got the better of Brad but I’m sure he was probably a few games ahead of me.

I know…had I been studying instead of keeping track of my feeble attempts at FIFA dominance I’d be a Cardiologist right now saving lives and dropping my title of “Doctor” anytime I made dinner reservations…instead…I write about old soccer catalogs.

This shot of Batistuta was from the Winter 1993/1994 issue of Eurosport.

The first time I saw Friedel in action was on ESPN’s “Just for Kicks.” Former US MNT Captain Peter Vermes was demonstrating a move, the body swerve. He introduces Brad and both he and Carin Jennings take turns doing the move and trying to score. Vermes scored…Jennings didn’t.

Following the footsteps of Kasey Keller, Brad has solidified defenses in some of the top teams in Europe…a trend that Tim Howard is continuing.

The former Bay Village Bay high school star is currently tending the net for Aston Villa in the English Premier League. I caught Villa’s FA Cup tie with Gillingham this morning. Brad’s face…and hairline…tell the story of a seasoned veteran who has spent years stopping shots from the world’s greatest players. Hairdos aside, Brad is still as nimble and quick as he was during his days at UCLA.

Take a look at Friedel and former US #1, Tony Meola from the Winter 94/Spring 95 issue of Soccer Madness.

What’s in Meola’s hair? Soul Glow or Canola Oil…leave your thoughts in the comments.

Anytime someone brings up Zlatan I tend to talk about two thigns: a) how is “Zlatan Ibrahimovic” Swedish (turns out he’s of Bosnian and Croatian descent) and 2) the gum incident.

Let me drop some science for those that are not familiar with Zlatan and his Hubba Bubba.

Zlatan is going through his typical warm up routine: stretching, light jogging, some 5v2 and some keepy uppy. The big Swede is chewing gum while he’s getting the blood flowing. Out of the blue he spits out his gum…juggles it…kicks it back into the air…catches it with his mouth and continues his warm up.

Zlatan was not knowingly putting on a show. The press loved the skill. One photographer was lucky enough to catch Zlatan in the act and snapped a few shots of the performance. The photos immediately made their way back to Stockholm and eventually spread throughout the soccer community.

Nike produced a piece about the incident for one of their Jogo Bonito ads.

…and speaking of Swedes…here’s a nice shot of Martin Dahlin jostling with Aldair from the November/December 1995 issue of Eurosport.

Before Keane was captaining United and mixing it up in tunnels prior to matches with Patrick Viera…he was scoring goals for Nottingham Forest and being featured in early issues of Eurosport.

This comes from the Fall 1992 Eurosport.