One Hundred And Rising.

It is time to celebrate as according to my calculations this is my 100th post. Because of that, I´m bringing you a new lay out. I do not remember what I was searching when I stumbled on to the palm picture, but I liked it and you´ll see it as the header for a while. The lyrics are from the Chris Cornell song (Follow My Way) and I thought they might fit in quite nice. A blue lay out this time in a way it reminds me of winter but at the same time it´s the bright blue skies of summer. You decide what you see. Let me know what you think of it.

I am also dropping the four letters from the end. Not because I don´t think they are funny or stand behind what they mean or... I do, but I think it´s time to drop the inside joke. Instead of them you´ll get to know what I´m listening to as I´m writing these entries.

Like I told yesterday, I have a topic for today´s post. I was so wanting to post it earlier, but I decided to keep it to myself until I reach the 100 post mark. So now you get it too. I´m bringing you my Top 10 football icons of all time -listing. While reading it, please remember I´m 19 and haven´t been watching football that long. And when I´ve been watching I´ve had periods during which I haven´t paid that much attenttion. There won´t be Maradona or the likes on the list. And when I´m using the word icon I´m merely referring to the fact that these men (if I´d done this with women it would have had like only Marta on it...) have been the ones that represent their country or club to me or that I just remember particularly well. But some of them are legends. No one can deny that. Here we go.

Raúl.
The captain and symbol of Real Madrid, who used to captain La Seleccion too. You don´t need the family names to know who I´m talking about. I remember that for years he was the Spanish football to me. I guess it was because his name was short and thus easy to remember, maybe also because as a striker he was always in a way leading the pack. When I was younger I used to think he was amazing, scoring beautiful goals. I can not even tell when I first saw him and started to think he was brilliant but I´ve been young because Raúl is one of those footballers I have known ever since I have watched the games. I still think he is great, and respect him much.

Ronaldo.
The original Brazilian one. I remember him from the 2002 World Cup final, scoring two goals. I was at Grandmother´s, watching the match and when I saw him perfrom his magic I was sold. He became the icon of Brazilian football to me. I never was interested in which team he played or any other stuff, but when it was time for the international´s, it was Brazil that I was interested in. He might be past his prime by now, but no one can deny he wasn´t fantastic when he was on the top of his career.

Luis Figo.
One of the very few Portuguese players I have ever liked at least a bit. Once again, it must have been some World Cup or Euro tournament where I have first seen him do his fine tricks. When I was watching a Inter Milan match a weekend or two ago I saw him enter the pitch and suddenly remembered how he had been somehow "hot" (meaning the press was praising him and that kind of things) in the past years. He is still doing quite fine, which is no surprise. If you have the skills, they cannot be taken away. He might have slowed down, but is one of the greatest footballers of all time.

David Beckham.
What can I say, of course he is on the list. He was the one that made football more than just a sport. He was the one who brought it to everyone, the one that made everyone watch his every move be it his new hair style or his latest goal. I don´t know, but I´d be willing to bet he is the best known footballer in the whole world. Even to those who know nothing about the beautiful game. Of course, he is also on the list because he is one hell of a player. I started watching what he was doing when he was still playing in Manchester United and have observed his actions more or less ever since.

Michael Owen.
Maybe the odd one out on this list. Even I am not able to tell why I remember him so well. First and foremost he is an England national team player to me as Finn´s have always seemed to like that NT much. I do not remember him from any of the clubs he´s played with, I just remember him scoring for England. These are the worst reasons ever to get on a list, but I cannot come up with better ones.

Alessandro Del Piero.
Like I have stated, Juventus has a special place in my heart. It was the first Italian team I ever learned to know and of course Del Piero was the first player whose name I was told. Oh what a player he is. Amazing, simple as that. To me, Juventus is Alex. All the other players might leave the club when it´s hard, but not him. I respect him (and some of the other Juventus players for that matter too) playing the one season in Serie B instead of leaving the club in order to play in the highest levels. He isn´t that young anymore, but who needs young when you have brilliant talent that will make people admire you, when you can perform the kind of magic that makes even the opponents fan´s give you a standing ovation.

Zinedine Zidane.
Zizou was French football to me. And he is one of the best footballers of all times too, no doubt of that. I don´t even know what to say about him. As a player he was great and I am not a bit surprised when every new talent is France in compared to him, he is one of the biggest stars ever. It was a huge shame his career ended the way it did and I think people should remember all the other performances he has given, not the one unfortunate incident. I can say, the French football hasn´t been the same since he quit and I think that for a while it won´t be. It will take long to find a new Zizou.

Oliver Kahn.
We make it back to the 2002 World Cup once again. It was there when I first noticed the scary German goalkeeper. And after that, Kahn has been German football to me. I think I have never seen him perform badly, he has always made incredible saves that some of the other goalkeepers would have not stopped. If I was ever asked the best goalkeeper in the world, Kahn would be my answer. Germany has done well after he retired, but their goalkeeper hasn´t been the icon of the team. I am glad I saw his last Bundesliga match last spring and I think I really had tears in my eyes when he was substituted. I think he was one of the biggest reasons Bayern München has done so freaking well. One of the biggest indeed.

Edgar Davids.
Okay, maybe he is the odd one out on this list. I admit, it was the glasses and the hair that made me remember him. But you cannot say that he hasn´t done hard work on the Dutch NT midfield.
He was the one I kept watching whenever The Netherlands were playing because he was the colour the game needed. If it´s any consolation to anyone, Ruud Van Nistelrooy is on my bubbling under list, al the way back from his Man United days.

Jari Litmanen.
A Finn on the list. I might not be his fan, I cannot say he isn´t the best and biggest footballer Finland has ever had. He is way past his prime by now, but when he was younger he was good. In Finland, he is called "The King". That says pretty well how much appreciated he is here.

I am sorry this is heavy with pictures and might take some time to load, but I wanted to do this properly. I also hope the pictures are on the places I wanted them to be when I wrote this.

There will be a lot of post after this one, but right now I have spent so much time writing this one that I´ll need to do something else in order to be able to provide you with some quality the next time I post. I would really like to hear your thoughts about the icons listing, maybe you´d like to share your list with me and also opinions on the new lay out are more than welcomed.

Until next time, take care!

Listening to: Amigos de Iker vs. Amigos de Rafael