A Few Soccer Games

  Many Soccer games end with very little or no scoring at all. Not all Soccer games are played this way. As I stated yesterday, when two countries get together for a sporting event scores can get out of hand, even in Soccer. We start today on February 18, 1882 at Knock Ground in Belfast, Ireland. The English were playing only their 14th international match and playing the Irish for the very first time. The English had only played the Scottish or Welsh teams before this match. The English scored a 13-1 win over the Irish. Their previous record for most goals was 7 in a match against Scotland in 1878. The leading scorers for the match were Howard Vaughton and Arthur Alfred Brown, both of whom were making their international debuts with the team. Vaughton who scored 5 goals, was just 40 days past his 21st birthday. He would only play in 5 matchs in just over two years, he would score only one more career goal. Brown who scored 4 goals, was a month shy of his 23rd birthday. He would play in only three career matchs with the English National team over the course of the next month, he would not score another goal. Both played for the Aston Villa Club from Birmingham.

   Before the 19th Century was done the two clubs would play each other many times. The last time was on February 18, 1899 at Roker Park in Sunderland during the British Home Championships. If guessed that the English tied their record for most goals in a single match with 13, you would be correct!! They did win the match by a score of 13-2, leaving the Irish still waiting for their first win over the English. The English lead the game at halftime by a score of 5-2. They were led this time by their captain Gilbert Oswald Smith and Jimmy Settle. Smith scored 4 of his career 11 goals in the match, was considered the best soccer player of the century. Settle was like Brown and Vaughton made his international debut against Ireland in a blowout scoring 3 of his career 6 goals in the game. Settle would play only 6 international matchs with half of them against Ireland.

   The English and the Irish are not the only teams that can play a blowout game on February 18th. We move forward into the present century all the way to 2006. The teams for this game at Cap d'Ail, France were Monaco and Chechnya. The club from the breakway Russian Republic of Chechnya scored only one goal. If you guessed that the club from the tiny country of Monaco scored 13 goals, once again you are correct. Three soccer games, three teams scoring 13 goals. The number 13 cant be unlucky for everyone!


   For those of you looking for the answer to yesterdays trivia question here it is: Of the ten Major League ballparks in history that are at 10 feet in altitude or less the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum has hosted the most games by far with 3413. The ballpark sits at sea level and is the lowest MLB ballpark in elevation ever. My thanks to the folks at Seamheads.com for that question. Todays trivia question is The Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and the Los Angeles Kings hockey team shared the Forum in Inglewood, California from the end of 1967 until their seasons ended in early 1999. The question is which  team played their first game in the new facility first? Tomorrow the answer to todays question and a look at one of baseballs more interesting owners ever.