Gerd Muller…Where are you? Beckenbauer, Pelé, Jairzinho, Eusébio, George Best, Gordon Banks, the Charlton brothers and captain Cruijff…These were my childhood heroes and I miss them; I got hooked watching the 1970 anf 1974 world cups with my dad in Tehran like most soccer crazy Persians (well maybe not the mullahs). Number 13, 10 and 7 were sacred numbers…

Watching Euro 2008,  I am constantly reminded of these great champions I admired as a little girl. I felt nostalgic today and put together these images  just to have these guys in the same place one more time – even if it’s only in my blog.

I knew der Kaiser since he was a mere prinz  beckenbauer (above)!

I don’t understand/like baseball and American football is only tolerated when USC is playing but soccer stays close to my heart…There is a hierarchy of course like in any sport: we have princes and kings, Brazilian Gods and black pearls and panthers,  even a black spider (the Russian Yashin)!

There is  hand of God (Maradona) and real God (Pele):

There was Jairzinho,

The Charlton brothers,

The beatle George best,

Eusébio,

The great Platini (aka the sun king in cleats):

Watching today’s players is exciting but they come and go or become media’s pretty boys while bending it like you know who…

My favorite team is Germany (after Brazil of course) – I don’t like the cheating Italians/Argentines – the British exasperate me with great national clubs but poor national teams and the French are annoying with their inconsistencies – I like great soccer and whoever plays best is my champion.

Beckenbauer and Muller  are mere children in the above  picture. It took hours to put these images together but it was a labor of love…