Pro Set made Soccer cards? Who Knew?

Certainly not me. But Fuji knew. Fuji knows a lot of stuff including how to buy a box of cards to finish a set he hadn't started. And he sent me these examples out of the 1990/91 set. There was a set issued the following season as well.

All are Manchester United players. That's my team and I make no apologies. One day I hope to make it to Manchester to see a match at Old Trafford. They are certainly struggling this season as they adjust to a new manager. It just doesn't look to be their year.

Man U. is touring here in the States this summer with matches in D.C. and Denver. I'm trying to figure out a way to make it to one of those. I've only seen Man U play live once, here in Houston against the MSL All Stars. I'd love to see them in an EPL setting.

Anyway here are the cards. None of the three players were stars but all had notable careers. Danny Wallace laft the game after it was discovered he suffered from MS. That hasn't slowed his post-career life any.

Mike Phelan came back to coach and manage with Man U under Alex Ferguson in 2008. He was let go when Sir Alex retired.

Thanks for the cards, Fuji. I hope you get the set(s) finished soon.

OK, Another Futbol post, so sue me.

Deutschland's Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München will take part in the fourth UEFA Champions League final played between clubs from the same country. That's because Barcelona and Real Madrid just simply were not good enough to derail either of the German sides. Bayern München, in fact, scored the largest aggregate win in the UEFA semi-finals history.

That's Thomas Muller on the card above. He's the only guy whose cards I own other than Figo and various Man U players. He scored the third BM goal in the win over Barca.

That's Muller and his wife Lisa in the two pictures below. She is a sweet, wholesome looking young lady. Beautiful  to be sure. 

And another pic, just for luck. This one goes out to Captain Canuck!

Now do you see why they call it 'The Beautiful Game?' Why the hell did I give it up for baseball? 

Warning: Futbol Post

This is Figo. He is the retired Portuguese  star of international and European soccer. He is arguably the biggest star to come out of Portugal (Rolando might argue that..Ana, what say you?). He is was favorite player and the reason I followed World Cup so closely back when he was active. I have a Portugal/Figo shirt and I love it when someone recognizes the meaning and strikes up a conversation.
He also played for both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona which is like playing for the Yanks and Red Sox multiplied by 1000. Those two clubs were on a collision course in the Champions League but both suffered one-sided losses to the strong German sides and now it appears unlikely that Portugal will have to deal with an title game, fueled by a deep rivalry, that would be..well... interesting. We will know after the semis on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here is the pertinent data from Figo's Wikipedia page:

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, OIH, (born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former international footballer. He played as a midfielder for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and  Internazionale. He retired from football on 31 May 2009. He won 127 caps for the Portuguese national football team, making him the most capped Portuguese player in history. Figo was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was named amongst (sic) the FIFA 100.

Here is my favorite line from that page:

When he was born he was a baby and the only son of parents Antonio Caeiro Figo and Maria Joana,

Wikipedia can be a wacky place when you start crossing language barriers.

But as much as I followed Figo and am glad to own a couple of his cards, the real reason to make this entry was to have an excuse to post this picture of Figo's wife, Swedish model Helen Svedin.

You're welcome.