Man Ciity 2008-2009

With the Eastlands pitch having to be relaid following the recent pop concert the return game in the UEFA cup against EB Streymur had to be played at the Oakwell ground in Barnsley so the 'home' supporters were given a free coach ride from COMS to Barnsley. I cannot remember another occasion when City have had to play a home game away and so with the attendance of 7304 being below the original low 'home 'attendance of 8015 at the Swindon home defeat in January 1965 at Maine Road it now looks like a trick question has come up.
I was at the original game against Swindon Town so I have had the 'pleasure' of seeing City play in front of their two lowest attendances. Actually that's a hat trick as I also saw their third lowest the season before - 8053 against Middlesbrough (1-0). Harry Dowd was off injured for the last 30 minutes in that game. Can't remember who replaced him in goal though.
Back to the present and after a two hour drive through the mist and successful negotiation of the Yorkshire customs we arrived at the Barnsley home ground. I had not intended to take many pics for once but as this was a special occasion there are a few below taken with my reserve camera. Good view from the upper tier but really sad to see all the empty seats behind the goal.

Our escort to the ground was ready and waiting

There were a few dedicated supporters ( in dark blue) from the Faroe islands

A cross from Petrov ended with a clever flick from Vassell but the ball was saved by the keeper

From the resultant corner taken by Elano, Corluka headed over from a good position

Djurhuus goes down injured and the stretcher bearers appeared - but were not needed

During an injury break Manager Hughes dishes out some instructions with Elano in close proximity

After keeper Torgard had kept City at bay in the first half with a series of saves the second half began with a goal - thank goodness!
I am afraid a latecomer blocked my view of the actual goal but yes it was City Man-of-the-Match Petrov who scored it following a cross from Vassell. and good work by Sturridge. Phew! At last the deadlock had been broken.

....... and when the ball was returned by Elano Sturridge's effort was cleared off the line!
So half time came with no score but many chances

Yet another corner and yet another chance missed when Richards heads over!

After an Elano shot had been deflected for a corner just before half time the ball was headed clear by a defender .........

......the ball ran to Petrov who shot through a bunch of players and rebounded off the post.......

Torgard was soon back in action pushing aside a shot from Sturridge

Torgard again saving - this time from Elano who really should have scored.

Corluka spent more time in the opposition half and had plenty of practice crossing the ball

Daniel Sturridge did not out of place in the City side and as soon as he starts to find the net he will be in contention for a regular place

A great through ball by Johnson inside the defender gave Petrov a chance as the keeper came dashing out but the Bulgarian's shot just skidded over the bar

Torgard punches clear a Petrov corner

Another cross from the right wing is cleared by the visitors defence

Kelvin Etuhu ( on for Petrov) crosses Ched Evans -another very promising youngster was on for Sturridge.

We had to wait for the final moments of the game for City's second goal. A flick from Evans put Vassell in the clear and his pace took him beyond the keeper and he was able to slot the ball home to make it 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.

This was in essence an attack versus defence exercise and if it had been a boxing match the referee would have deemed it no contest. The visitors just packed their penalty area from the first whistle and Joe Hart must have had the easiest game of his life. City will now play Danish side Midjylland in the next round
City passed the ball around Ok but it's in the last third - in and about the opposition penalty area that things need to speed up. We also need to be more dangerous at corners too .

Earlier on the page I wrote that the game at Barnsley was probably the lowest 'home' attendance and I suppose it was for Premiership, Football first division league, Cup and European games but back in 1998 in the Auto Windscreens Shield competition a mere three thousand and seven turned up to see City lose 2-1 to Mansfield. However it was not considered a priority by both clubs and supporters.
It was not a match I watched - thank goodness!
Thanks to Garry James for the info.

Further to City having to play a home game away from home in a European game back in 1977 -78 season United had to play their 'home' game with St Etienne in Plymouth! This was due to crowd trouble in the first leg in France!
So is Manchester the first city where both teams have had to play their home ties away in European competitions. Replies from Milan on a postcard !

The absence of Corluka at the Milan game was not good news for City supporters as it looked like we would be llosing him to Spurs but now City have officially announced that he is NOT leaving. Hurrah! He is too good a player and he will get better under Mark Hughes. Whether we will have enough money for another striker etc is another matter but the form of Bojinov since his return from injury is good news. Bad news is that 110% Vassell suffered an injury at the Milan game so we have to hope he is Ok for the Villa game as he always scores against them!

Sad to learn of the death of Ken Branagan who mainly played at right full back for City from 1948-60. First saw him play on Christmas Day 1950 in a 3- 1 win over Birmingham City - his third game (Roy Paul scored two penalties that day) .
Also saw his final game at the end of the 1959-60 season. It was a 2-1 defeat against Burnley who won Division One that season. There were nearly 66,000 packed into Maine Road for the game. The City side that day was Trautmann, Branagan., Sear, Barnes,Ewing, Oakes, Barlow, Hannah, Hayes, Law and Colbridge.

At last some movement on the transfer market with the signing of Vincent Kompany from Hamburg . He is a Belgium International defender with 23 caps. This 22 year old 6ft 3in versatile defender played 73 times for Anderlecht coring 5 goals before moving to Hamburger SV. Although he has a reputation as a very good defender he has tended to be injury prone so I hope we don't get a repeat of the Bojinov bad luck .He was also sent off for Belgium against Brazil in the recent Olympic game.

No news yet of a replacement striker. I cannot remember when City had such bad luck to have so many injured strikers at one time. Brazilian Jo will need some time to settle in after his almost non event Olympic excursion and the injury to Bojinov was almost the last straw after Benjani and Vassell had already joined the injured list.

Remember the start of the 2005-2006 season and City were playing Macclesfield in a pre-season friendly. This image taken at the game at Macclesfield marked an important moment in the history of Manchester City. It shows Stuart Pearce alone on the bench deep in conversation having heard that Shaun Wright-Phillips had asked to speak to Chelsea regarding his transfer. Having arrived with the rest of the players for this pre-season friendly SWP went out onto the pitch with his colleagues so it was noticeable that he did not reappear for the warming -up session. Having gone to Chelsea for a record fee he now makes a welcome return to City for a fee considerably less than before.

After 26 goals in 153 games for City he scored just 4 in only 82 appearances for Chelsea.. So with his chances limited in the Chelsea team he will improve his England chances with City. So far he has played 19 games for his country scoring 4 times. With Petrov and the left and SWP on the right at last we shall have a couple of wingers able to run at opponents and put them under pressure. A good buy at the last minute. I think there may be others shortly too. Watch this space!

On the same day SWP was signing City scraped through their UEFA return cup tie in Denmark by the skin of their teeth. City won on penalties after extra time after scoring the all important goal in the last minute of normal time. I must admit watching the game on the box City were rarely on top and I thought they would never score. Fortunately an own goal meant the game went to extra time and two saves by Hart in the final penalty shoot out saved the day. Both Johnson and Ireland missed good chances during the game and Johnson had a penalty saved. Phew City will have to improve to make more progress in this European adventure!

As the hours tick away before the end of the transfer window it looks like the next addition to the squad will be Argentinean Pablo Javier Zabaleta Girod ( his full name ) from Espanyol in La Liga. He is a right sided defender who can play at right back or right midfield . 23 years old he played in all six of Argentina's Olympic Gold games. He played 79 times for Espanyol scoring three times and previously 66 times ( 8 goals) for San Lorenzo.. He is not tall - only 5 ft 81/2in . but makes up for this with his powerful bursts down the wing and strength. He did accumulate 14 yellow cards last season however! . He has good leadership qualities too so all in all will be an asset to the club. Whether this will trigger a move for Corluka to Spurs and then a further deal for another striker remains to be seen.

The Pablo Zabaleta transfer has now been confirmed by the club and in addition there is yet another defensive signing .
Known as Glauber, his full name is Glauber Leandro Honorato Berti . He has come from Nuremberg. and is a 25 year old Brazilian central defender. This 6ft 3 " centre back played 51 times for the Bundesliga club in three seasons with one red and 8 yellow cards. I understand he has an Italian passport so won't require a permit and he has one Brazilian cap. He was a German Cup winner with FC Nuremberg in 2007
It looks as though Johnson will be signing a new deal so that's good news as well. However still no news on the future of Corluka.

The debut of SWP at Sunderland could not have been better . Two goals in the three nil win at Sunderland for the 26 year old will have have widened SWP's smile even more than usual. City played really well with an interesting team selection having both Kompany and Hamann playing in front of the back four. The missing Elano now knows he has competition for his place as do the other players. With good movement and passing City controlled the game in the second half and all that without the injured Petrov.

City have made the headlines once more with news of the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) . Apparently the deal is almost done with Dr Khalid Kadfour Al-Muhairy and Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim being involved with the negotiations. If this goes through and it is most likely it will, then City will be in very a sound financial condition and with only hours to go before the transfer window finishes it would not surprise me if there is a late big deal. Rumors abound and to quote a certain KK 'I would love it' if City get Berbatov from Spurs.

Latest departure from the club is Vedran Corluka to Spurs. Sad really - he was a nice lad and very skilful. I would have liked him to stay. He always had an air of calmness while all aroung him was panic.
Caicedo is off too - to Hertha Berlin . He played only 11 games for City and looks like going on a one year loan.

It's gone midnight - well past my bedtime but well worth staying up for the confirmation that City have signed Robinho from Real Madrid for UK record fee of 32 and a half million pounds in a four year deal. We missed out on other targets but this is another big boost for City. Now they join Chelsea and Manchester United as power brokers in the transfer market. They have gazumpted Chelsea for the player and his likely first game will be against Chelsea! The 24 year old Brazilian scored 25 goals for Real Madrid in 101 games .Previously he played 104 games for Santos scoring 44 times. He has played for Brazil 42 times scoring 11. He can play as winger or striker and has a career total of 93 goals in 266 games. So he will scoring his 100th goal for City in a few weeks time!!

This must have been one of the most astonishing days I can remember as a City supporter. The move to buy the club to relieve Thaksin Shinawatra of a difficult position by the Abu Dhabi Group enabled City to offer considerable amounts of money for Berbatov, Gomes , Villa and Robinho.
No doubt Kaka will be a target in January!

Well Kevin Keegan has resigned from Newcastle United after a dispute regarding the role of the manager in transfers. As soon as Denis Wise was appointed 'director of football' this was a disaster waiting to happen.
KK was with them for only 8 months in this second spell as manager. I feel sorry for the Newcastle fans who have given their club massive support over the years despite their lack of progress. They will always be a welcome at Middle Eastlands !
I would be amazed if Kevin takes another managerial position in soccer.

November Notes

Having been out of the country for four weeks doing photography in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona I still managed to keep in touch with City's fortunes missing only the Omonia and Liverpool home games. I was able to listen to the GMR commentary game and see some of the other away games on the llaptop through the wonders of the internet.

Latest rumour to reach me says that permission to extend the ground has now been granted. I understand COMS will eventually hold 70,000 odd! The next job would be to fill it of course. There are probably about 25,000 supporters who rarely miss a game and 16,000 who come and go depending on the weather and whether it's on TV! The ideal solution would be to reduce the cost of a season card in order to double the regulars and then with the success that will come in the next few years the extra supporters needed to fill the stadium and increase the atmosphere will surely flock to the ground. Filling the ground and raising the atmosphere level is so important to success. How do you extend the ground without destroying its look? Well there is plenty of room available behind the North and South stands so I can visualize large high extensions at either end with perhaps the possibility of a steel arch and a retractable roof. Extending the museum and adding a hotel with full conference facilities and restaurants in addition to extra tiers would certainly benefit the club and the area as a whole but how to put the scheme into action without too much aggro is another matter. I feel sure the money will be available so I wait for more news with interest.

With the January transfer window rapidly approaching the rumour list of possible signings grows and grows. Here are just a few names that have been mentioned - Buffon ( Juventus), Podolski and Ribery (Bayern Munich) , Kaka (Milan), Santa Cruz (Blackburn), Toure (Arsenal) Bridge ( Chelsea) Aguero (Athletico Madrid), Alves ( Barcelona) Owen (Newcastle), Turner (Hull), Samba (Blackburn), A. Diarra ( Bordeaux) L. Diarra (Portsmouth), A Cole ( Chelsea), David Villa (Valencia)
I wonder how many of these will be wearing the sky blue of City come February!
I would love to see Messi added to that list.
However there is no truth in the rumour that John Sergeant is on the list - so we can forget to see him demonstrating his fancy footwork down the wing! After all he is going to be the next Dr Who!

An excellent result against Schalke 04 in Germany puts City on track for an extended run in the UEFA Cup. Without Robinho City dominated the second half and goals from Ireland (continuing his fine form) and Benjani .

Thanks to Ashley for the pic on the left. I notice the view for City supporters was similar to that at Newcastle.

It was not very pleasant to see City in the bottom three on Christmas day but the terrific display against Hull lifted them a few places and as the January Transfer window approaches City supporters and others no doubt will be waiting to see who the new faces are going to be. With Diarra opting for Real Madrid ( I wonder how much the last minute Benjani fiasco influenced the Pompey decision) the holding midfielder possibility is likely to be Senna from Villareal. He is 32 but has a good reputation. Others likely now are Santa Cruz from Blackburn, Bridges from Chelsea to fill the left back problem area, and Bellamy from West Ham as super sub. The big star signing could be David Villa from Valencia. We will have to wait until the summer for the other big ones!

Well the window may be open for a month but City have had the door shut on several attempts to get players in. At least we now have a decent left back. Wayne Michael Bridge has joined us from Chelsea for about 10 million pounds. He played 87 times for Chelsea scoring once and 151 times for his previous club Southampton scoring twice. For England he has played 32 games scoring once ( against Iceland). He will be making his debut against Wigan on the 17th.
Apparently he is a big Star War fan so no doubt he will be storming down that left wing and turning out in his new kit!

Efforts to sign Santa Cruz ,Bellamy and Parker are on hold as Blackburn and West Ham hold out for more cash so the striking position has not changed but I expect City to increase their offer for these players in the coming days so the chances are we will have a new strike force in the near future.

Big news however is that City have made a world highest bid of over £100 million for Kaka of AC Milan. Previous highest was £41 million for Zidane (Juventus to Real Madrid).
Other high ones were Figo ( £38 million) Crespo (£35 million) Buffon (£32 million) and oh yes a certain Robinho!
Kaka or to give him his proper name Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite will be 27 in April and as everybody knows is an attacking midfielder. For Sao Paulo he scored 23 in 59 games and for Milan 62 in 171.
For Brazil he has notched up 23 in 62 matches.
We now wait with baited breathe!

Also to make his debut against Newcastle is Craig Bellamy. Looks as though he will be having a medical on Jan 19th so there is likely to be an increase in the delivery of Welsh Cakes and Larva Bread to Carrington!
The Kaka Saga continues with City making the headlines all over the world Time is of the essence so I think this coming week will see the deal going through with a tremendous commercial boost for City. I have read a lot of negative rubbish in the papers over the past week or so. Other clubs too will benefit as their ground will be filled when City with Kaka come to visit.
I am sure that the City management will not take the opportunity to raise seasoncard prices as our supporters have suffered for too long. Next season I am confident we will see a 'New City'.

I have been fortunate enough to see most of the worlds best footballers - Pele - Matthews - Finney - Puskas - Di Stefano - Best - Eusebio - etc etc so now I would like to add Kaka to that list!

Well the 'January Transfer Window' is now over and while it was disappointing not to have signed Santa Cruz the big plus point was the signing of Shay Given who has already paid off some of his transfer fee with his display against Middlesbrough. The signing of Bridge, Bellamy and de Jong have also improved the squad.
The failure to deliver Kaka was not surprising. I wonder how much the Mafia had to do with the refusal of AC Milan. The AC Milan president Berlusconi has been alleged to have had links with the Mafia in the past and it was his last minute intervention that stopped the move. A year or so ago the Mafia moved North to Milan and last season Inter Milan were caught up in a Mafia scandal - the clubs tailor was revealed to be a convicted murderer and thought to be a cocaine dealer! I understand the Mafia have control of quite a percentage of the business world in Milan. It's quite amazing what a google search will show up.

Now Tony Adams has been given the sack at Pompey - before we play them next week - normally managers get the sack after we play them! Will the new manager be Sven I wonder ?

It was sad to hear about the recent death of Bill Frindall - the bearded wonder of BBC cricket Test Match Special and the stats wizard. When I was a youngster I used to always take a score book to Old Trafford ( cricket ground I hasten to add) and wish I had never chucked them out many years ago. I briefly met Bill in the BBC box at a test match some years ago when I was doing a photo job for LCCC and he lived in a village in Wiltshire where I used to run seminars for many years. He will be sorely missed.

It started last summer with an almost empty stadium in Barnsley and came to an end with a full house (well almost) in April. Details of the game can be found here . The atmosphere was great due to the full house and the club cheap ticket policy. This success will give the management some interesting decisions to make with regard to next season and the desire for more season card holders. Below are some extra pics from the Hamburg game

Manchester Police were quick to question a group of supporters who might have just arrived from Mexico City when at first it looked like one of the group was wearing a sombrero!

It might also have been a ruse to persuade Elano and Robinho that the weather was really warm.

Congratulations to Burnley FC who will be in the Premiership next season. They last won the Premiership (old First Division) back in the 1959/60 season and won it by beating City at Maine Road on May 3rd. I was among the 66, 000 that day to see Joe Hayes score for City and Meridith and Pilkington score for Burnley in their 2-1 win. The City side that day was as follows- Trautmann, Branagan,Sear, Barnes, Ewing, Oakes, Barlow, Hannah, Hayes , Law, Colbridge. I went three times to Turf Moor that season watching Burnley beating Swansea and Bradford City in cup replays and Spurs in the league. Those were the good old days when you could just turn up at a game and get in without any problem.

Average marks for season 2008-2009 minimum of 7 games (all competitions) and at least 15 minutes on pitch

1. Ireland 7.6 ( 22 games)
2. Robinho 7.52 ( 19 games)
3. Wright -Philips 7.42 ( 19 games)
4. Given 7.3 ( 10 games)
5. Kompany 7.25 ( 20 games)
6. Onuoha 7.2 ( 15 games)
7. Elano 7.2 ( 20 games)
8. de Jong 7.0 ( 8 games)
9. Richards 6.9 ( 23 games)
10. Bridge 6.9 ( 10 games)

11. Hart 6.8 ( 16 games)
12. Evans 6.8 ( 7 games )
13. Dunne 6.75 ( 23 games)
14. Vassell 6.7 ( 7 games)
15. Garrido 6.7 ( 11 games)
16. Sturridge 6.6 ( 13 games)
17. Caicedo 6.5 ( 11 games)
18. Jo 6.3 ( 7 games)
19. Hamann 6.1 ( 7 games)
20. Fernandes 6 ( 13 games)

As these games were all home game some players' figures will be higher than if away games were included!

First major signing of the summer has been Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for a fee of £12 million. 28 years old Barry had been at Villa since 1997 playing 364 times and scoring 41 goals in the league (440 -52 goals -all games) . He has also played for England 29 times scoring once. A highly versatile left sided defensive midfielder Barry was captain of Villa for many years and was wanted by Liverpool. However City have signed him and it would not surprise me if he becomes City captain next season. Kompany may move to a central defender role with Richard Dunne moving on. His disciplinary record is not bad - 3 red cards and 50 yellows in his career

I understand Daniel Sturridge is on his way to Chelsea after failing to agree terms with City - I am afraid his father is the major influence with this decision!

So who's next on the arrival and departure platform! It looks likely that Tevez from United will be next to join City and also on Mark Hughes possible shopping list are Samuel Eto'o from Barcelona, Toure (Arsenal) Santa Cruz (Blackburn), Lescott (Everton). Talk about a David Villa Sanchez move from financially strapped Valencia has somewhat diminished but if the other transfers come off then he might be tempted to join the revolution at Eastlands.
Standing near the departure platform are the following - Dunne, Fernandes, Mills, Berti, Hamann, Garrido, Benjani, Bojinov, Elano, Ball, Ben-Haim, Vassell, Schmeichel,
Hart, Evans and Jo might go on loan while Hughes might give up on Johnson and Richards too is hovering.
One thing is certain. The team line-up next season will see many changes.

It looks like Santa Cruz and Tevez will be signing in the next few days. No doubt Roque Santa Cruz will have to pass a pretty tough medical following his absence through injury last season. The Tevez affair looks cut and dried now. City have agreed the £25 million plus buyout and as Tevez and his family are settled in the NWest I am sure we will see the hard working Argentinian in sky blue next season. The Samuel Eto transfer is not quite so straightforward as there are a number of clubs interested. He may choose to play in the Champions League next season but hopefully he will want to be part of the City Plan and probably be the highest soccer earner!

At last the Roque Luis Santa Cruz saga ended when he passed the medical at Carrington.
I cannot remember a day when we had so many strikers! There may be more to come too!
Santa Cruz will be 28 in a month or so and signed for Bayern Munich in 1999 after starting his career with Olimpia Asuncion . He scored 31 goals in 155 games for them before joining Blackburn Rovers in 2007. For the Rovers he netted 23 times in 57 games and for his country Paraguay he has found the net 20 times in 61 matches. Last season his appearances ( 6 in 16) were limited for Blackburn due to a knee injury. So a career total of 85 in 294 games. I expect him to pass the century mark for City next season. He is likely to make his debut on the first game of the season against Blackburn away!

With Joe Hart departing for Birmingham City on loan for the season City have signed Stuart Taylor from Aston Villa as deputy to Given. 28 year old Taylor previously played for Arsenal 30 times in 8 years before moving to Villa. He has mainly been used as a number 2 and went out on loan to several clubs.
The first time I saw him was back in February 2003 when he played a blinder for Arsenal at Maine Road. If he can repeat his form on that day for City we should be well pleased with the signing.

He also played for Villa against us in November 2005 when he came in at the last minute when Sorensen was injured in the warm-up. He didn't have such a good game on this occasion -a couple of pics below - number 13 wasn't lucky that day

As July approaches so does the transfer to City of both Tevez and Eto. The Tevez affair is pretty well sorted with an official announcement to be made in the next few days.
I understand City have made a £25 million offer for Samuel Eto a prolific scorer for Barcelona ( 108 in 145). The reported wages are mere £200,000 A WEEK ! - probably a world record - but although Barcelona are likely to agree the transfer, getting Eto to leave Champions League football is another matter. If he does sign then City are likely to be a top four club next season and Eastlands will be full every week - or should be.
Then attention will change to the defence with several names including Lescott from Everton being in the frame.

Carlos Tevez has now officially signed for City from United and will wear number 32 ( same as at United) . LIke many other ex United players who have joined City I am sure he will be given a great welcome by the sky blue faithful. The negotiations for this five year deal have been going on for some time now so at last things have been sorted before the tour to South Africa.
He has signed a five year deal and I am sure his technical skill and workrate will make him a firm City favourite.

Other interesting possible transfers include Terry from Chelsea and Adebayor from Arsenal the latter looking the more likely as the clubs are in talks already.

On the day that a Man City team lost 0-2 to Orlando Pirates in the Vodacom Challenge competition in South Africa back at Eastlands Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor signed a five year contract for the Sky Blues. Transfer fee was about £25 million for the Arsenal striker. 25 year old 6ft 3 " Adebayor seen above playing for Arsenal against City, previously played for Metz and Monaco in France after leaving his first club in Togo. His scoring record for Arsenal of 46 in 105 league games is pretty good including several against City! He was African Footballer of the Year in 2008 and has scored 16 goals in 38 games for his country. Wearing number 25 he now joins Santa Cruz, Tevez, Bojinov, Bellamy, Benjani and Caicedo for the strikers role at City! Now we have sorted the attack, attention can now turn to defensive matters. Terry and Lescott are high on the wanted list so no doubt Chelsea and Everton supporters must be just a little concerned!

Kolo Toure is the latest City signing. Pictured on the left playing for Arsenal against City in 2006 he has signed a four year contract at a fee reported to be £16 million.
A 6 ft 28 year old central defender he played 225 games for Arsenal scoring 9 times.

With Onuoha signing a new 5 year contract it looks like he will be staying - thank goodness - so perhaps the next signing will be Lescott from Everton now that Terry has decided to stay at Chelsea. Will that be the end or will there be one more big money spend?
Looks like Bojinov is going out on loan to Parma in Italy and Elano has gone to Galatasaray in Turkey for 8 million

All football supporters will today be mourning the passing of Sir Bobby Robson who lost his battle with cancer. I first saw him play on Christmas Day 1951 at Maine Road playing for Fulham and later for West Brom in 1959. I also saw him play when he returned to Fulham and was fortunate to see him play for England against Spain in 1961 at Wembley (4-2) and the world cup qualifier against Portugal (2-0) the following year. He will be sorely missed.