Prior to 1990 African football was something of a joke, African nations really had not achieved anything of note and they were generally punted out of the World Cup pretty quickly and quietly. 1990 changed this in many respects as Cameroon beat Argentina in the World Cup opener in Milan, stunning the World Cup holders and most of the remainder of the football world with a 1-0 shock win.

Cameroon were a curious mix of amazing athleticism, speed, power and psychotic physicality. As an attacking force they were fast, fluid and had the perfect striker in Roger Milla up front. Defensively they were naive, undisciplined and cynical. They ran all the way to the quarter finals of the World Cup … defeating Argentina, and talented Romania in the group stages before overcoming Columbia in the ’round of sixteen’ before finally bowing out to England in the Quarter finals, somewhat unluckily.

The 1990 World Cup was a cynical old affair with lots of diving, low scoring games, and really negative football and Cameroon were there Cinderella outfit. They provided moments of euphoria for millions of viewers. I personally will never forgot the unbridled joy they displayed when they scored, and Roger Milla dispossessing Colombian Goal Keeper Rene Heguita half way up the field and almost laughing as he slotted the ball into the empty net was just one of those moments that people still talk about today.

They eventually met England, and a ‘Witch Doctor’ that had predicted all of the Cameroon wins to date threw a few bones on the floor on the BBC and declared that Cameroon would beat England 2-1. When Cameroon came from behind to take a 2-1 lead I almost crapped myself – they were brilliant that night, and England only scraped through after winning a couple of penalty kicks to finish the game 3-2.  As much as England fans like to rant about penalty shoot out defeats, in 1990 they were more than a little lucky to make it that far.

Super sub Roger Milla, at 38 years old scored four goals in the World Cup.

For your viewing pleasure:

First half highlights of Cameroon’s win over Argentina:

Second half highlights of Cameroon’s win over Argentina:

Highlights of Cameroon’s win over Romania:

Highlights of Cameroon’s win over Columbia:

Highlights of a truly great game as England squirmed into the Semi-Finals defeating Cameroon by the skin of their teeth:

20 days and 18 hours until the World Cup.  So what the hell, as part of the build up I will be sharing 20 memories that mean something to me to help set the stage.  I am English so there is a slant, but I am also a lover of the game no matter who is playing and there are plenty of players and games in the list that have nothing to do with England what so ever.

#1 Argentina vs England 1986

There are a handful of games that define England’s football psyche.  Angry.  Hostile.  Entitled. Disappointed.

This is one of them.

Most English fans fit this profile, and why not?  I just bought a 1966 World Cup Jersey  – the same one the late great Sir Bobby Moore wore when he hoisted the World Cup Trophy over his head.  In many ways it would have been better if he had never done so because the expectation of greatness has never gone and you have to be 50 years or older to realistically remember the last time England won the World Cup.  This moment of glory came nine years before my birth and yet I can name the complete 1966 World Cup winning team without blinking on a good day — I can’t do that with the team from any other England game but the World Cup Semi Final defeat against West Germany.  

Between 1966 and 2010 there has been a long trail of heartbreak and sorrow. For a nation that refuses not to dream about winning again it is hard to take.

The backdrop to the 1986 Quarter Final between England was different to most games.  Just four years earlier England and Argentina fought not for a spot in the Semi-Finals but the Falklands war and with the memories fresh at heart the game felt like more of a final than a quarter final.  We simply hated “The Argies”, losing to them wasn’t going to sit well and I am guessing they felt the same way about England.

The game simply was a classic, although not high scoring or that tight – but it featured two moments that haunt the average English football fan to this day.  The “Hand of God” goal where Diego Maradona handled the ball from a chip into the box – it landing neatly in the net.  At first I was confused – I thought it actually was a header which is the way the referees saw it.  The second goal for Argentina is consistently voted the best goal of all time in England and is simply a pure moment of genius from the greatest player that I have ever seen play.

Diego Maradona – the only player I ever truly learned to love and hate, all in one game and my first real memory of the bitter sting of supporting England in the World Cup.

Argentina deserved the win …

Independent Supporter Groups exist for the Kansas City Wizard’s are essentially bands of people who have clubbed together to co-ordinate support, social and travel activities surrounding the Wizards. I was made aware of them pretty soon after I started coming to see the Wizards and I sneeringly decided that I was above joining such a group. A few years later I am a paid up member of the Hillcrest Syndicate and while I still like to sneer a bit I am glad that I am.

When I first started going to the odd game at Arrowhead it was largely a social exercise with bands on England friends. We’d sit, laugh at the football and leave drunk. The problem was I actually love the game and as they quit coming, and I started coming more and more I became an isolated band of one. The Wizards moved to Community America Ballpark a couple of years ago, I had season tickets and after a while got bored of coming to games on my own. The problem was I didn’t know anybody. My break through finally came when I went on a road trip to see the Wizards play in St Louis. It was probably the most miserably hot weather I have ever endured at a game and the 0-0 draw with FC Atlas one of the most dour games I can remember however on the trip I got talking to a few guys and from there managed to meet plenty of other people.

I started looking at the Hillcrest Syndicate group as something “the guys belonged” to and after seeing the charitable events they were taking on decided it was finally time to make the leap. Had I elected to join the group earlier my days of watching games essentially alone would have come to an end earlier. These days I look at Wizards games as not only games of soccer but also social events. I turn up early and tailgate, have a few drinks, chat with people that I have come to regard as friends and it just makes the entire experience more fun.

I decided a few weeks ago to run a series on the various supporter groups. Robert Houghton, who leads the Hillcrest Syndicate was the only person to answer the requests for info I sent out. So in a series of one here is the low down on the Hillcrest Syndicate. If you are a member of the other groups, and wish to get some info out drop me a line by sending email to james@kcwfans.com.

Hillcrest Syndicate

Description of the group

Hillcrest Syndicate is made up a mixture of the “old guard” of the Cauldron (several members were part of the original Mystics supporter group from the early days of the Wizards) and newer supporters in the section, we are the largest Independent Supporter Group in the Cauldron. We are open to all Wizards supporters. Annual membership is $20 per person, and that gets you: a Hillcrest Syndicate t-shirt, Syndicate decal for your car, a membership card, Syndicate discounts at official Wizards watch parties, discounted single game tickets, voting rights for Syndicate Leadership positions, an opportunity to present the Man of the Month scarf to a player on field prior to a home match.

How many members do you have?

Current paid membership sits at around 50

What kind of events do you run outside of the Wizards?

Hillcrest Transitional Housing Walk for the Homeless, Pub Crawl for Cancer, Tour de Cure, Relay for Life, Race for the Cure, Light the Night, Memory Walk. Information about the various events is located here: http://www.hillcrestsyndicate.com/getinvolved.html

Meeting places

Where can people meet members of the group? We tailgate prior to Wizards home games in the Northwest corner of the CAB parking lot, and the majority of member stand in the right front area of the Cauldron during the games (no requirement to do so, that’s just where most of us ended up).

Do you have Websites or Facebook profiles that people can check out?

www.hillcrestsyndicate.com and there is a Hillcrest Syndicate Facebook page as well that is updated regularly.

Are you actively recruiting? What kind of people are you looking for?

Yes, we are actively recruiting. We are open to any and all Wizards fans, whether they stand in the Cauldron or not.

How do they join?

There are a couple of ways to join: you can join online, using PayPal, at http://www.hillcrestsyndicate.com/joininfo.html
Or you can join in person at any Wizards game by stopping by the tailgate or at any Wizards away game watch party.

I don’t know how old you are, me?  I am going to be 35 this summer and I am starting to feel it.  I was looking back through some of the old archive footage of Manchester United vs Arsenal battles over the years reliving some of my favorite moments and trying to recapture a bit of the feeling of being at so many of those great games.  I have to admit things are getting a bit cloudier as the years roll on and I almost flinched today as I heard Ryan Giggs referred to as the “Grand Old Man”.  Giggs is only a year and a half older than me.

Like practically any sport football is a young mans game.  Any career where you are effectively done at 35 is rough and as my age has gone upwards I have become more and more aware of my fading childhood memories and am acutely aware of the pain that goes along with seeing them fade. 

Childhood heroes are just that and they never really stop being anything but, and those that are the most keenly hooked into your soul are the ones that instantly transport you back to whatever age you loved them most keenly.  As much as my boyhood home was a terraced house in the East End of London, so was the Northbank at Highbury – a huge terraced stand at the South Side of the stadium where I stood and watched Arsenal for more years than I care to remember.  If I find a quiet place and close my eyes I can still remember the sights and sounds, the smells.   I remember getting their early and watching the “Home of Football” slowly fill up, I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck right before kick off as thousands and thousands of fans yelled encouragement in the second before kick off.  I remember loosing myself in delirium with goals, and I remember looking on jealously as fans of Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool who used to fill at least half of the opposing Clock End celebrate after scoring.  You have never seen anything more beautiful.

This is the world of my youth, that I am slowly and painfully leaning to give it away.  This process started early for me in my early 20s when I realized that “getting in shape and getting back into the game” where probably not going to happen.  I’ll confess that as they years went by I dreamed about being this guy that was finally discovered in his late 20s and somehow managed to play for Arsenal, raise the World Cup for England.  These day dreams used to get me excited enough that I’d lie awake a night to pumped to sleep.  As I approached 30 my fantasy switched to playing in MLS, and then being called over to Arsenal as a controversial old man and then at 35 … suddenly I realize that this grand old man can’t dream anymore.

Watching Ryan Giggs today, I realized that he is one of the very last who played back when I stood at Highbury.  Alan Shearer has come and gone.  Paul Gascoigne.  Chris Waddle.  Tony Adams.  David Rocastle prematurely.  Players I saw enter the game.  I’ll be rooting for the Wizard’s as always in July, but don’t surprised to see me shed a tear if Giggs is subbed in or out of the game, that Grand old Man is one of the last of my standing childhood heroes and when he is gone, I think I will love this game a little bit less.

The good folks over at Wizards HQ have asked that we spread the word on this ….. cut and paste job below is all that needs to be said.

Tomorrow, the USA Bid Committee will present our bid book to FIFA, and to help spread the word and support the bid, the soccer-loving nation will be exploding a “Tweet Bomb” at 1 p.m. CT to let the entire USA know that we’re bidding for the chance to host the World Cup and that we’re pumped about it! We’d like to ask all Kansas City sports fans to take part! It’s very simple. If you’re on Twitter, post the following message as close to 1 p.m. CT as possible. We want to become a trending topic! Here’s the message:

.@goUSAbid gives FIFA their bid to host World Cup. Sign petition to support the USA! http://www.gousabid.com/kc #goUSAbid PLS RT

Note: The “.” in front of the Twitter handle goUSAbid is intentional and not a typo. Make sure to include the “.” so that all of your followers, not just those who also follow the USA Bid Committee, see the Tweet!

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