Ode to football

By Ezequiel Kratsman

What would you do if you read some poems dedicated to some footballers you watched before? Would you start having memories of him? Would you start thinking about how great his skills were or what if you read a poem about a footballer you probably never heard of? Would you start imagining how great he was? In this book of poems, you'll read a lot of poems dedicated to many of the greatest footballers. The author shows his acquired knowledge of the sport based on his investigation and deep study of every footballer mentioned in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ezequiel David Publishing
• Release date: Mar 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781954314276

Ezequiel Kratsman

Ezequiel Kratsman nació en Buenos Argentina, pero se mudó con su familia a Puerto Rico a muy temprana edad. En 2020, se mudó a Carolina del Sur, Estados Unidos. Cuando se mudó a Estados Unidos, decidió fundar su compañía auto-publicadora Ezequiel David Publishing y publicar sus siguientes libros a través de ella. Empezó a escribir a los 20 años como una forma de terapia para canalizar sus sentimientos y pensamientos por las experiencias que ha pasado. Con el pasar del tiempo, la escritura se convirtió en su pasión. Ezequiel Kratsman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but moved to Puerto Rico with his family at a very young age. In 2020, he moved to South Carolina, USA. When to moved to the United States he decide to found his self-publishing company Ezequiel David Publishing and publish his next books through it. He started writing at the age of 20 as a form of therapy to canalize his thoughts and feelings due to experiences he went throught. As time went by, writing became his passion.

Book preview

Prologue

I don’t remember exactly the first time I watched a football game. However, I remember the first time the Argentina national football team. It was at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea when Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0. Then I watched it during the 2006 World Cup where they had good matches. I remember when Argentina blew out Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 and lost to Germany in the quarterfinals. I also remember the final of that 2006 World Cup where Italy beat France in the penalty shootout. I was 15 years old at the time. My knowledge about football was zero. I rarely knew something about the players.

I watched the Argentinian national team at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 World Cups and in several qualification matches. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Argentina had good matches. It was a shame they lost by blowout against Germany. It’s impossible for me to forget the day Argentina beat Netherlands in a dramatic penalty shootout in the 2014 World Cup semifinal to advance to the final. I was obviously sad by Argentina’s loss to Germany in that final in what was an incredible game. I felt sad because I wanted my country Argentina to win the World Cup, but it didn’t happen.

I also started watching the Copa América, starting in 2011, as far as I remember. I was overwhelmingly disappointed that Argentina lost the 2015 and 2016 Copa América finals to Chile in penalty kicks. It was a big disappointment because Argentina had more than caliber and talent to win those cups and it didn’t happen. When Argentina won the Copa America in 2021, it was a great moment of joy for me and millions of Argentinians. Starting in 2014, I started watching more football games to know more about the players and follow the sport a little bit more, since I follow basketball and boxing, which are the sports I watch the most, besides some other sports every once in a while.

Why I decided to write a book of poems dedicated to footballers? As a writer, I like to find ideas and try to improve. I thought: I was able to write a book of poems dedicated to boxers. I was able to write a book of poems dedicated to basketball players in Spanish and in English. Why not write a book of poems dedicated to footballers?. I did it because I thought it was a brilliant idea since football is the most watched sport in the world.

Of all the sports poems books I wrote so far, this was the most difficult and the most challenging. It was the most difficult and the most challenging for some reasons. The first one is that football is a sport where a team is formed by eleven players. With so many players on a team, I had to watch players that played every position. It was an arduous job to analyze the best players in their positions and determine which were the best and were truly worth dedicating a poem to. It wasn’t easy analyzing the legends that played as goalkeepers, midfielders, and forwards, among other positions that played in the sport.

The last reason it was so difficult is many of these players played with two, three or more teams during their careers. Therefore, I had to look on the internet which games I had to watch to look at their playing styles. If some of these greats played on the same team at some point of their careers, it was better for me. In that case, I didn’t have to make a bigger effort. I watched full and fragmented games. If there were games resumed in fragments, it didn’t matter. They were football games and it was worth watching them.

I wrote the Spanish version and the English version of this book. I did it for the same reason I wrote the English version of the book of poems dedicated to basketball players: I wanted to open my possibilities in the market since English is one of the most spoken languages in the world. I did it by sessions. First, I wrote a determined number of poems in Spanish. Then, I stopped to write a version of the same number of mentioned players in English. Many of you may ask: What did you do while you wrote the poems in English by sessions?. It’s very simple: I watched football games.

In this book, there will be poems dedicated to footballers of many countries, different positions and eras they played throughout their careers. There are footballers who played as goalkeepers, midfielders, strikers, centre-forwards, liberos or sweepers, etc. You name the positions and there are players who performed in that position.

There are footballers from Argentina, Brazil, France, England, Colombia, among other countries that gave great athletes in that sport. I wrote this book based on incalculable hours watching football games and reading several articles on the Internet if there were any. I’ve been reading lists of players of several countries and I analyzed and investigated who are the best. However, I based more on the thousands and thousands of games I watched.

I hope you like this book a lot and enjoy reading the poems as much as I did writing them.

Index

1. Pelé         15

2. Garrincha        16

3. Nilton        17

4. Djalma        18

5. The Galloping Major      19

6. The Blond Arrow       20

7. Pelusa        21

8. Boniperti         22

9. Big Headed (Of the 1950s and the 1960s)    23

10. Amadeo        24

11. Bomber der Nation (The Bomber of the Nation)  25

12. Die Katze ver Anzing (The Cat of Anzing)   26

13. Der káiser (The Emperor)      27

14. The Black Panther       28

15. San Marco        29

16. Baresi        30

17. Il Capitano (The Captain)      31

18. The Black Spider       32

19. Rijkaard        33

20. The Black Tulip       34

21. Rivelino        35

22. Carlos Alberto       36

23. Canhotinha de ouro (Golden left foot)    37

24. Just        38

25. Little Napoleon       39

26. Sándor        40

27. Tostão        41

28. Jairzinho        42

29. The Ethiopian Prince      43

30. Gilmar        44

31. Kubala        45

32. Cucu        46

33. Czibor        47

34. El Matador (From Argentina)     48

35. The Madman (Goalkeeper from Argentina)   49

36. The Duck (El Pato)      50

37. The Great Captain       51

38. El Bocha        52

39. Labruna        53

40. El Charro        54

41. The Viceroy       55

42. Big Headed (From the 1980s and the 1990s)   56

43. El Bati        57

44. El Goyco        58

45. The Bird        59

46. El Cholo        60

47. Kongen (The King)      61

48. Hristo        62

49. Baixinho (The Shorty)      63

50. Cafu        64

51. Bam-Bam        65

52. The Prince (From Argentina)     66

53. Hugol        67

54. Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail)    68

55. The Tractor       69

56. O Fenómeno (The Phenomenon)      70

57. The Gale of the Cantabrian Sea     71

58. Pinturicchio       72

59. Valdanito        73

60. The Panther       74

61. Il Professore (The Professor)     75

62. The Kid (El Pibe)       76

63. The Madman (From Colombia)     77

64. Il Nazionale (The National)     78

65. The Pitbull        79

66. Il Toro (The Bull)       80

67. The Italian Wall       81

68. Sheva        82

69. Rombo di Tuono (Roar of Thunder)    83

70. Bambino de Oro (Golden Boy)     84

71. Sandro        85

72. Facc        86

73. Il Balilla        87

74. The Czech Fury       88

75. Nordhal        89

76. Il Barone (The Baron)      90

77. Gren        91

78. Mazzola        92

79. Hamrin        93

80. Pablito        94

81. Jopie        95

82. Johan II        96

83. The Rabbit        97

84. Madman (Forward from Argentina)    98

85. Román        99

86. Šukerman        100

87. Cuchu        101

88. Platini        102

89. The Giant of Guadaloupe      103

90. Zizou        104

91. Trezegol        105

92. Kalle        106

93. Der Afro (The Afro)      107

94. Banks        108

95. The King (Forward from Scotland)    109

96. Bobby        110

97. The Fifth Beatle       111

98. Il Gigante Buono (The Gentle Giant)    112

99. The Ghost        113

100. King Kenny       114

101. Jockey        115

102. The Golden Bomber      116

103. Loddar        117

104. The Titan (Der Titan)      118

105. Mighty Mouse       119

106. Greaves        120

107. Lineker        121

108. The Great Dane       122

109. King Eric        123

110. Becks        124

111. Keane        125

112. Giggs        126

113. Shearer        127

114. El Maestro       128

115. The Bullet Man       129

116. Figo        130

117. La Brujita (Little Witch)      131

118. Krol        132

119. Piola-gol        133

120. Papinades       134

121. El Matador (Forward from Chile)    135

122. King George       136

123. Ronaldinho       137

124. The Wall        138

125. Zarra        139

126. De Slangemens (The Snakeman)    140

127. The Maradona of the Carpathians    141

128. Titi        142

129. The Non-Flying Dutchman     143

130. The Octopus       144

131. El Siete        145

132. Moore        146

133. The King of Dribbling      147

134. The White Pelé       148

135. Capacete (Helmet)      149

136. Peito de Aço (Steel Chest)     150

137. Dr. Socrates       151

138. The Eighth King of Rome     152

139. The Mayor of Rome      153

140. Tante Käthe (Aunt Käthe)     154

141. La Penna Bianca (The White Feather)    155

142. Schizzo        156

143. Gentile        157

144. Il Bell’ Antonio (Beautiful Antonio)    158

145. Scirea        159

146. Chila        160

147. Netzer        161

148. Jennings        162

149. Hoddle        163

150. Tulen        164

151. The