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| Relatives of Famous Players | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 18 2007, 11:43 PM (2,190 Views) | |
| Merengue | Aug 18 2007, 11:43 PM Post #1 |
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In the Brasil forum there is a thread (Campeonato Brasileiro) where there's a discussion about Lionel Messi's cousin Maxi Biancucchi now playing with Flamengo in Brasil and thinking of that reminds me of how few relatives, such as sons, brothers, cousins of famous players have been able to have successful careers. I'm trying to think if there has been another close relative of a star who had a really successful career and I figured with the collective knowledge on this board we could come up with some. There are plenty of players who couldn't live up to the tremendous burden of their more famous relatives, Edinho (Pele's son who ended up getting involved with drug traffickers), Hugo Maradona, Diego's brother, Jordi Cruyff, Johan's son had a few years where he showed some promise then just faded away. Off the top of my head I can think of four cases where there were successful players from one family. Two of them involve sons who probably went on to have even more successful careers than their fathers, Paolo Maldini and his father Cesare and the 1970's Italian star Sandro Mazzola whose father (Valentino?) was a star in the 50's but was killed in the tragic Superga plane crash. Among brothers there's the World Cup winning Charltons, Bobby and Jack with Bobby of course the star but Jack still was a starter on a World Cup winning team. Coming close to that was the van der Kerkoff brothers Rene and Willy who were World Cup runenrs up in 1978 with Holland. Miguel Reina, the father of Liverpool's current goalie Pepe Reina was the starting goalie on an Atletico Madrid league championship team which also was European Cup runner up (to Bayern Munich) in the 70's. And former Real Madrid star, and current coach of the Madrid reserve team, Michel (aka Michel Gonzalez) has his son Adrian on Real Madrid B and Adrian also made Spain's U-20 team this year, although as a reserve so the question of his development is still up in the air. But right now I can't think of any more. can anybody else come up with some more examples of successful players from the same family? And no Kenny and Bruce Arena do not count! |
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| hobbes | Aug 19 2007, 12:22 AM Post #2 |
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Eidur Gudjohnsen's dad was apparently the greatest Icelandic player ever and now his son has arguably replaced him. They also played an international together! Other than that all I can think of are a couple of decent soccer players whose first cousins are decent hockey players. Paul Peschisolido and Mike Ricchi are cousins and so are John van't Schip and Joe Nieuwendyk. cheers, hobbes |
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| rosarino | Aug 19 2007, 08:02 AM Post #3 |
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Interesting topic, well today I was talking about the irony of Peter Schmeichel's son Kasper being Manchester City's starting goalkeeper in their victory over his father's former club in the Manchester derby. |
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| dafyd | Aug 19 2007, 08:38 AM Post #4 |
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I know it's a different sport, but the father son combo of Gordie Howe and his two sons is the one that stands out for me. Gordie played Ice Hockey, starting his career with the Detroit Red Wings on the right side of the famous Production Line of the fifties/sixties. He is one of the all time greats of the sport, and many consider him the best ever. Late in his career he join an upstart league, playing for a team that also featured his two sons, Mark and Marty. During their time playing on the same team, they actually played a few games on the same forward line, though Marty was better off as a defenseman. Eventually the NHL swallowed up this upstart league, accepting a few of the teams in as expansion teams. Gordie continued to play, until retiring at the age of 54! During his last season, he was limited to the forth line, but still managed to score 15 goals with his limited playing time. Upon gaining entry into the NHL, Marty faded away, only managing to hang on for a season or two. Mark Howe was converted to an offensive minded defenseman, and had a successful career as such. He was in fact one of the best scoring defensemen in the NHL during his career. His defensive work wasn't shabby, either. |
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| alabastergremlin | Aug 19 2007, 09:30 AM Post #5 |
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Again, a different sport... But for some reason, it seems the there are a lot of family connections in the NFL. Sometimes, it seems as if everybody who is playing now had or has a cousin, brother, uncle, or father who played or plays. The family that usually gets the most hype would be the Mannings. Archie was a standout at Ole Miss and wasn't exactly terrible in the NFL while playing most of his career with the Aints. Peyton was great at Tennessee and is the best pure QB in the NFL and I think he will be considered "one of if not" the best of all time---with Montana, Elway, Unitas, and such. Eli was pretty impressive following his fathers footsteps at Ole Miss and has shown some signs of that at New York, but his dedication and desire for the sport has always been a question. They had an older brother named Cooper who was a great WR out of high school and looked like he would have done the same in college. He was diagnosed with a spinal stenosis and never played again. Cooper also went to Ole Miss and would have played there. Peyton has said in interviews that had Cooper been playing at Ole Miss when he graduated from high school, he too would have gone there to play. As a Broncos fan, the Griese's come to mind. And as a Broncos fan, that is about where that stops, LOL. There just seems to be a lot of connections like that in the NFL. |
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| xeneize | Aug 19 2007, 08:38 PM Post #6 |
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Well from Argentina I can think of the Solari brothers Eduardo and his more famous brother Jorge. Eduardo mainly played with Rosario Central while Jorge was with River and made Argentina's 1966 World Cup team. He then went on to coach Saudi Arabia at USA 1994 and Eduardo's son Santiago Solari of course is a well known current player with Inter Milan. A couple of younger brothers of Santiago also play, Esteban with UNAM in Mexico and David a young reserve with Independiente. In the Argentina forum we have a history thread and there rosarino talked about Daniel and Mario Killer a pair of brothers who played for Rosario Central in the 70's and both went on to represent Argentina with Daniel Killer becoming a sub on the 1978 World Cup winning team. More currently there is the numerous Zarate brothers who've become professional players, all of them forwards and most of them started off with Velez. Sergio Raton Zarate was the first and went on to play many years in Mexico, Ariel bounced around a lot of clubs and Rolando was most recently in Mexico while youngest brother Mauro scored Argentina's game winning goal in this year's U-20 World Cup Final. |
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| rosarino | Aug 20 2007, 10:38 AM Post #7 |
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Thanks for picking up on those old posts I made in the Argentina history forum xeneize. I forgot to mention about the Solaris and Killers here. dafyd has brought up Aldo Poy before, a former Rosario Central star from the 70's whose son Mauro is a current player, once with Central and last season with Godoy Cruz in Argentina. This summer with his club's relegation, Poy left for Skoda Xanthi in Greece! But truth is like many of the other examples given here, the son was not as good a player as the father. Other recent examples of that from England are the sons of Ray Clemence and Kenny Dalglish. |
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| Yogi | Aug 20 2007, 03:44 PM Post #8 |
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A very interetsing topic and as usual on this message baord I am learning a lot by reading it. Paolo and Cesare Maldini and Sandro and Valentino Mazzola were the first two names that came to my mind. Here's another one although it is more remote as he is a step son and not a biological one but Chelsea's Shaun Wright Phillips is the step son of former Arsenal and England forward Ian Wright. |
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| shelsoccer | Aug 22 2007, 06:15 AM Post #9 |
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I'll add a couple of American father-son examples, both out of St. Louis -- Harry and Ty Keough, and Tim and Taylor Twellman. Then, there was Walter Bahr and his three boys. His oldest, Casey, played on the 1972 Olympic team. Another, I think it was Chris, was a ROY in the NASL and Matt was a good college player before electing to kick in the NFL. |
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| SuperEagle | Aug 22 2007, 08:42 PM Post #10 |
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I am learning a lot by reading this topic. I'll add one here, Ghana's most famous player Abedi Pele Ayew played professionally in the 80's and 90's and his brother Kwame Ayew was playing up until last year. Now Abedi Pele's son , Andre "Dede" Ayew, a reserve with Marseille, his father's old club, just made his international debut at 17 for Ghana when he came on as a sub in the 1-1 tie this week between Ghana and Senegal. |
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| Radio | Aug 23 2007, 10:01 AM Post #11 |
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I got one that crossed sports, the Bahr's. They may not be super stars, but chould be considered so in the US. Walter Bahr could be considered the first American "great", played in the WC50, sons Chris, Matt, and Casey Bahr played in the NASL but they are probably better known for being place kickers for. Chris was on the USMNT in 76, and played in the NASL along with his brothers Casey and Matt. As place kickers Chris and Matt made a hell of a name for themselves. Matt had the decisive kick in Super Bowl XXV, and held a record that may still stand, something like 5 or 6 field goals in a NFC final. |
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| shelsoccer | Aug 23 2007, 11:53 AM Post #12 |
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Radio, did you see my post about the Bahrs? Also, are you sure that Casey Bahr played in the NASL? That's not my recollection. He went to the US Naval Academy, played on the '72 Olympic team that qualified for Munich and then fulfilled his service obligation, as best I can remember. I also don't believe that Casey ever played professionally as a placekicker. As for dad, Walter, being the "first American great," you need to look back a little further to the 1920's and '30's. Walter was a significant player for his era, but I don't believe even he would compare himself to guys 20-30 years earlier like Billy Gonsalves and Bert Patenaude (the first to ever score a hat-trick in the World Cup). I'm also sure he wouldn't say he was the best player on the 1950 WC team, though he's an extremely modest and engaging person. I once had the pleasure of walking through the Hall of Fame in Oneonta with Walter, and he could tell you stories about his contemporaries and even some of the previous generation. He knew these guys, saw them play and played with them. He's one of the true treasures of American soccer. One of the few remaining that can attest that there was decent soccer in this country long before the NASL and MLS. |
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| Radio | Aug 24 2007, 02:34 AM Post #13 |
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Shel' I noticed after the fact and I apologize. As far as Casey goes, I am almost positive he played in the NASL, I could research it a bit more, but I am pretty sure. When I called Walter the first American great, I was thinking so in the context of a "modern", post WWII era. I would have loved to have been with you when you were with Bahr Sr. at the Hall!!! |
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| siralfred | Aug 24 2007, 03:58 AM Post #14 |
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Forza Zlatan!
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Sweden's most capped interntional, goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli, played alongside his twin brother, central defender Andreas, for many seasons . They started with hometown club Östers IF, winning the Swedish league twice. Then Thomas moved to IFK Göteborg, but Andreas eventually joined him there for a couple of seasons at the end of his top flight career. In the meantime they both featured for Sweden as well, though not in any major tournaments since Andreas didn't make the cut for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. Thomas also played for the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the 1988 and 1989 seasons. Glenn Hysen, contemporary of the Ravelli brothers, was a prolific central defender for Sweden, IFK Göteborg, PSV Eindhoven, Fiorentina and Liverpool. His son, left winger Tobias, was Swedish Champion for Djurgården in 2005 and joined Sunderland at the start of last season, making a modest contribution in their recent Championship success. He's aslo been capped for Sweden a handful of times. Update as of Aug. 25, 07: Tobias Hysen has just signed for IFK Göteborg, following in dad's footsteps. I was aware that Keane didn't fancy him and didn't give him much time on the pitch so this is no big surprise. IFK is still a good club, and a regular championship contender, but any move from the prem to Allsvenskan must be seen as a step down. Somewhat disappointing for a 25-year-old with a few caps. |
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| enganche | Aug 25 2007, 11:11 PM Post #15 |
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Thomas Ravelli I of course remember well and I had a vague recollection of his brother. Good to read more about them both. Thomas was a real showman but had a wonderful World Cup in 1994. I was at the Rose Bowl for two of his games that year, the group game against Cameroon and the semifinal versus Brazil. Ok well here is a contemporary brother act which I am surprised hasn't been mentioned yet, Gabriel and Diego Milito who both were on Argentina's Copa America squad this summer. Last season of course they also were teammates at Zaragoza in Spain but central defender Gabriel Milito was transferred to Barcelona this summer. And curiously the brothers first became known in Argentina playing for rival clubs, Gabriel with Independiente and Diego with Racing! |
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