GoalChatter: Blast From the Past

This Day in Football: Belgium 3-3 Netherlands

7:00 AM

Andy Cole Billy McKinlay Blackburn Rovers

This Day in Football: Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester United

10:20 PM

Blast From the Past

Sir Alex Ferguson celebrating during United's win against Blackburn in April 1997.

The 12th of April is a big day in world history. In 1961, it was the day that Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel into outer space. In football, it is the birthday of Italian coach Marcello Lippi and legendary England captain Bobby Moore. It also marks a fiery Premier League match between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. Despite winning the championship two years before, Blackburn were not having the best of times, with caretaker manager Tony Parkes's sixth month in charge after the sacking of Ray Harford. The team were in 14th place, with only one win in their last six games. By contrast, it was Sir Alex Ferguson's 11th season in his historic run at Manchester United. And yes, he was still chewing gum. "It took awhile for the trophies to start to flow," said Jon Champion during the match commentary. "Now they're coming in a flood." Indeed, the 1990's saw a very memorable United team, starring Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers. It would be surprising to see today's United with three players up front, but not in '97. Cantona had a great opportunity in the first half that he sent wide. Blackburn's captain Tim Sherwood was booked early on for a reckless challenge on Phil Neville in United's penalty area. A Scholes corner led to close calls for Gary Pallister and Roy Keane, the former sending the ball rattling against the crossbar, the latter hitting the post. The Reds' one-two touches on the ball gave Andy Cole a shot over the bar. United's command of the midfield was like a well-tuned orchestra; the players moved about with great precision and understanding of where they were in relation to one another. A penalty was awarded after Nicky Butt went down in the box, but Cantona's shot was easily saved by Tim Flowers, and no follow-up came from United. The King redeemed himself soon with a pass to Cole, who opened the score with a perfect ball in the lower right corner. Blackburn didn't waste too much time looking for the equalizer. A free kick punched out by van der Gouw was taken up by an unmarked Billy McKinlay, who almost immediately sent the ball past the unsuspecting keeper. There was still some time before the end of the first 45, and United made good use of it. Cole outplayed a defender to send the ball to an oncoming Scholes, whose far-post shot made it 2:1 in favor of the Reds. Amusingly, the PA announcer mistook him for Solskjaer, who had scored in United's 2:2 draw against Blackburn earlier in the season. Scholes and Solskjaer both had long-range efforts in the second half, answered by Blackburn with a wide attempt from captain Sherwood. United proved they were better on the ball with quite a few fantastic combinations. Gary Neville got the ball to Cole on the right wing. The latter followed with another assist when he ran past two defenders along the end line, passing to Cantona. The one-touch finish at the near post gave United a two-goal lead. Blackburn struggled, but managed to take up possession. A pass from the left by Per Pedersen to Paul Warhurst caught an idle Phil Neville off-guard, and van der Gouw was helpless in net. The two teams played end-to-end before a young David Beckham came on as a late substitute for Scholes. Beckham made his mark with a cross to Cole, who sent the ball into the stands. Although Blackburn were 30 points short of the leading Reds, they fought until the end. Pedersen was quite active in their effort, but was unable to get past the defense, and couldn't put a header past van der Gouw. The game was settled, a 3:2 win for Manchester United against a side that narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the season. The result was proof, however, that a match between the league's front-runners and their polar opposite is not always a one-sided affair. Top-flight football can be played by teams near the bottom of the table, making for 90 minutes of a rightly-called beautiful game.

Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester United - 2:3 (1:2)

Saturday 12 April 1997 - 1996/97 Premier League

Blackburn - Ewood Park

Attendance: 30,476

Referee: Martin Bodenham

Goals: 0:1 Cole (32), 1:1 McKinlay (34), 1:2 Scholes (43), 1:3 Cantona (80), 2:3 Warhurst (88)

Blackburn XI: Flowers, Kenna, Hendry, Berg, Warhurst, Le Saux, Flitcroft, McKinlay, Wilcox, Sherwood, Gallacher

Manchester United XI: van der Gouw, G. Neville, P. Neville, Johnsen, Keane, Pallister, Cantona, Butt, Cole, Scholes (Beckham, 88), Solskjaer

Fact Sheet

* Just two years before, Blackburn Rovers had won the Premier League one point ahead of Manchester United and 11 points ahead of third-place Nottingham Forest. Although the Rovers managed to escape relegation in '97, Forest were bottom of the table and relegated at the end of the season.

* The last 3-2 face-off between Manchester United and Blackburn ended in favor of the Rovers at Old Trafford in December 2011 on Sir Alex's birthday.

* United's biggest win against Blackburn was a 7:1 thrashing in 2010. Their biggest loss in the matchup was 7:0 on 10 April 1926.

* Both Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers were eliminated in the Fourth Round Proper of the 1996/97 FA Cup.
* Alan Shearer's record-breaking transfer from Blackburn to his hometown club Newcastle for £15 million was seen by many as one of the reasons for Blackburn's failures the following season. Newcastle were runners-up in the 1996/97 season, 7 points short of league winners Manchester United. Shearer had numerous achievements during his Newcastle career and is still the club's top goalscorer, with 206 goals during his 10-year spell.
* Manchester United's Eric Cantona decided to retire at the end of the season to pursue his acting career.

* The season marked United's second Premier League title under Sir Alex.

* United reached the semi-final of the Champions League in April 1997, losing out to Borussia Dortmund 2:0 on aggregate.

Anatoliy Konkov Blast From the Past Evgeny Lovchev

Election Day - The New Faces of Football

11:56 PM

Blast From the Past

The new faces of football are really a blast from the past.

GoalChatter takes a stroll down memory lane in its first-ever football history segment, exploring the FFU's new President and the candidates for the President of the RFU.

Amid political unrest and campaigns in the U.S. and around the world, two countries are dealing with two important Presidential elections in the realm of football. Today the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) chose the sole candidate Anatoliy Konkov as its new governing figure after Hryhoriy Surkis decided not to run and defend his presidency. A celebrated defender in his youth, Konkov is probably best known for winning silver alongside the likes of Oleg Blokhin with the Soviet National Team at the 1972 UEFA European Championship. Konkov scored the only goal in the semi-final against Hungary, guaranteeing his team a shot at the finals (the Soviets lost to a famous West Germany squad that included Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer). Konkov also won bronze at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Once again, the talented player made his mark. He was the first to win an Olympic medal playing for his National Team while playing for a second league club (Shakhtar Donetsk was not always as successul as it is today). As an 18-year-old, Konkov transferred from his first club to Donetsk because of the geographic proximity. He played for six years for Shakhtar before his spell at rival club Dynamo Kiev. Known as the unofficial Master of the First Pass, Konkov holds four Soviet championships and one Soviet Cup. In addition, he won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Supercup with Dynamo Kyiv. He went on to have short coaching stints with teams like Shakhtar and Zenit, as well as the Ukraine National Team. Konkov's latest gig was at FC Stal Alchevsk, a club that plays in the Ukrainian First League, where he was Sports Director.

Anatoliy Konkov and Franz Beckenbauer, 1972 UEFA Euro.

Konkov accepting the FFU presidency. Photo: ffu.org

In a 2009 interview with Segodnya Sport, Konkov makes an interesting point about how football and coaching has changed from the 70s. He states that the kind of coaching he was schooled under cannot be compared to anything. According to Konkov, there are no managers today the likes of Nikolay Gulyayev, Vladimir Ponomarev, Valery Lobanovsky, and Konstantin Beskov. Today's managers lack the skill and the ability to become as qualified as the coaches of the Soviet National Team. The attitude of both the management and fans towards big tournaments like the UEFA Euro has changed as well. If a team like the Russia or Ukraine NT is a runners-up in the Euro, the players would be praised beyond belief, or, as Konkov states, carried around all year. Back then, however, the response to winning second place even against the likes of a German team fueled by Muller and Beckenbauer was nothing short of wild. Konkov reminsices about letters that were sent in demanding that he be stripped of his title as Honored Master of Sports. It's an emblem of the tumultuous times he lived in, but it's also a reminder that winning meant a lot more to teams who had lived through the hardships of the Soviet era. Many times emerging victorious in sports parallels a victory in life itself, something that might be difficult to understand given the multi-million-dollar stars that are out and about the fields of the modern era.

Meanwhile, the Russia Football Union will hold its Presidential elections tomorrow at 2:00AM Eastern Time. Convenient for the locals and not so much for RPL supporters on the other side of the world. The RFU presents 7 candidates who will be voted for via secret ballots during tomorrow's RFU conference. Voting will take place over several rounds; in order for candidates to move up from the first round, they'll have to receive 2/3 of the votes. The second round winners will have to have more than 50% of the vote, and in the third round, the majority vote over the rest of the candidates. Among the notable persons are FC SOYUZ-Gazprom President Vladimir Tumayev, who is known for being inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for having been the oldest professional footballer in Russia as well as for scoring his last goal at 58 years of age.

Guinness World Record holder Vladimir Tumayev. Photo: Aleksei Ivanov, Sport-Express

Another interesting candidate is former defender and one-club man Nikolai Tolstykh. Tolstykh played for FC Dynamo Moscow for nine years, appearing in several international games in the UEFA Cups and the Cup Winners' Cup. He played for the Dynamo squad that won two Soviet Cups, the Super Cup and the 1976 Soviet Top League Championship. After a serious injury led him to an early retirement, Tolstykh remained as part of Dynamo's administrative staff. Since then he has held various duties in the club, including General Director, Chief Executive Officer, Vice President, and President. In addition, Tolstykh served as President of the RFPL (Russian Professional Football League) since its founding in 1992. Prior to winter 2010, the RFPL was in charge of conducting the SOGAZ Russian Football Championship (also referred to as the Russian Premier League). His fellow former Dynamo teammate, Evgeny Lovchev, will be running against him. Lovchev played for Spartak before his short spell at Dynamo and Krylia Sovetov. Lovchev, alongside Oleg Blokhin, was part of the Soviet National Team that shared Bronze with East Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Some sources argue that Lovchev was the first-ever player to receive a yellow card at a World Cup when he was booked in the opening match against the host nation Mexico in 1970. As a coach, he had a brief spell at Krylia Sovetov, where he finished his career as a footballer, as well as at other lesser-known teams, including Russia's National Futsal Team. He had more success as a journalist, working for the famous paper Sovetsky Sport as well as for TV channels NTV and Russia-2. He hosts a weekly radio show on Вести ФМ.

Nikolai Tolstykh (center right) with the FC Dynamo Moscow squad, winners of the 1995 Russia Cup. Photo: Personal archive of Nikolai Tolstykh

The full list of candidates, including biographies and more detailed information about the voting process, is available on the official site of the Russia Football Union.

This Day in Football: Belgium 3-3 Netherlands

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This Day in Football: Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester United

Blast From the Past

Election Day - The New Faces of Football

Blast From the Past

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