Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer’s big names came to play

The beautiful game could have a big night here next week — assuming one of its biggest stars is healthy.

Fans have anxiously awaited the appearance of Argentine forward Lionel Messi, captain of Inter Miami, since he joined the Major League Soccer club in June. His team is scheduled to play the Chicago Fire at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday before more than 50,000 fans at Soldier Field. Yet, a nagging injury has kept the 35-year-old off the field for four of his last five matches — including last night’s U.S. Open Cup final.

Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina and received the Golden Ball award for best player in the December tournament, has competed here twice previously — including a 2016 appearance in which he also came off an injury.

If you — like me — are unfamiliar with soccer, then you might wonder what makes Messi so great? And where does his name stand when compared with other stars of the game? I asked two local experts to weigh in.

Chuck Carlson has been club historian for Chicago House AC of the Midwest Premier League since March 2021. He started playing soccer in Chicago’s suburbs at the age of 4 and has been a lifelong fan of the game — especially FC St. Pauli, a Bundesliga 2 team from Hamburg, Germany. Carlson puts Messi on par with our city’s legendary athletes.

“Messi has the elusiveness of Walter Payton at his best, the drive to win of Michael Jordan combined with the commitment to team play of Scottie Pippen and add the command, composure and guile of Greg Maddux. All of that and more in one amazing athlete,” he said.

Peter Wilt is managing partner of Chicago House AC, but also helped launch the Fire, Chicago Red Stars and several lower division teams in the Midwest. Wilt earned six championship rings and is a member of the Fire’s Ring of Fire and the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame. He points to another G.O.A.T. when describing Messi’s movement on the pitch.

“He’s like Wayne Gretzky without skates,” Wilt said. “Like Gretzky, he is not the fastest, strongest or has the hardest shot, but he is graceful, incredibly skilled on the ball, instinctive, can bend the ball, pass well and score well. He actually walks on the field more than most players and always seems to be in the right place to score or create scoring opportunities for teammates.”

Both Carlson and Wilt say some of the best men’s and women’s players in the world have played here through the decades and what follows is a chronological look at how some of them performed. But they also say some surprising names — including Messi’s fellow Argentine Diego Maradona and Netherlands star Johan Cruyff — missed the Windy City altogether. Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, was on vacation when his Real Madrid team defeated a group of MLS all-stars in 2017. Three-time FIFA player of the year Brigid Prinz, French star Wendie Renard and Chinese forward Sun Wen also never played in front of a Chicago crowd.

Let’s hope No. 10 not only makes the trip to Chicago, but also takes the field before an electric crowd.

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April 12, 1931: Bert Patenaude

Patenaude, a star in the American Soccer League beginning in the late 1920s, became the first player in a men’s World Cup to score a hat trick — three goals in one match — against Paraguay on July 17, 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay. On April 12, 1931, Patenaude led his Fall River FC team (which was briefly known as the New York Yankees) against the Chicago Bricklayers in a U.S. Open Cup final played at Mills Stadium in front of 9,500 fans. That match ended in a draw, so Patenaude played in Chicago again a week later. His team beat the Brickies 2-0 to win what was then known as the Challenge Cup. Patenaude scored the opening goal in that match.

Sept. 15, 1970: Pelé

Though almost 30 years old, the world’s greatest player provided a thrilling climax in the last two minutes of a match between his Brazilian club Santos and a group of North American League All-Stars before more than 13,000 fans at Soldier Field.

“Picking up the ball midfield, Pelé maneuvered past several defenders and was off toward the goal, with (John) Cocking in pursuit,” the Tribune reported. “Forced toward the right touch line, Pelé took a hard grass-cutting shot from a difficult angle. Goalie (Vic) Rouse was unable to hold and it was deflected out of the goal line, only to have (Mandel) Maria tap the loose ball in for the winning goal.”

Before the match, the three-time World Cup champion born Edson Arantes do Nascimento was playing canasta in his Chicago hotel room due to rain — and enjoying a little bit of obscurity.

“Before I come over here I prepare myself to know the people will not recognize me the way they do in other places,” he told the Tribune through an interpreter. “It does not bother me. I know that if an American baseball player were to come to Brazil he would not be recognized there, either. Yes, it is good to be free.”

Pelé returned to Chicago on Aug. 4, 1971 — where he enjoyed playing on AstroTurf for only the second time in his career; June 23, 1976 before 28,000 fans in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Sting; and May 11, 1977 where a snafu between Sting goalie Mervyn Cawston and teammate Clive Griffiths led to an own goal. Pelé failed to score in these Chicago matches.

June 28, 1998: Mia Hamm

With hundreds of young fans screaming her name, Hamm notched her eighth career hat trick — three goals in a 20-minute span — when the U.S. women’s national team defeated Germany 4-2 at Soldier Field.

The match is seen as a springboard to a professional women’s league in America. (Hamm became the face of the short-lived Women’s United Soccer Association then Women’s Professional Soccer featured her silhouette as its logo.)

“I think for us to continue to grow and improve it’s important for us to play all the time,” the two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist said after the match.

She returned to Soldier Field for a 3-0 rout of Netherlands, in which she scored a left-footed layup from 16 yards away in the 53rd minute, on May 16, 1999; then for a Women’s World Cup match against Nigeria on June 24, 1999 in front of more than 65,000 fans — the largest crowd at a soccer game in Chicago up to that point. The first FIFA Women’s Player of the Year scored two goals against Germany in the first game of the Nike U.S. Cup on Sept. 9, 2001 at Soldier Field, but play was canceled after the September 11 attacks. Hamm’s Soldier Field swan song on Oct. 20, 2004 resulted in an assist when the U.S. women’s national team defeated Ireland 5-1.

Hamm is now a part-owner of Los Angeles Football Club and Angel City Football Club.

• The reluctant icon: Soccer superstar Mia Hamm is the ultimate team player, so much so that she’s extremely elusive when it comes to talking about herself

June 24, 1999: Michelle Akers

Akers appeared 155 times for the U.S. and led the team to victory in the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. She scored two goals in the final, which solidified her place as a star on the biggest global stage. Akers did not combine with Hamm in a 1998 international match at Soldier Field, but she did score against Nigeria on June 24, 1999 when the U.S. played a World Cup group stage match.

The goal gave Akers sole possession of the record for career World Cup goals at the time.

July 16, 2005: David Beckham

Sorry, Journey fans — there was nowhere to park for the band’s Northerly Island concert when nine-time European champion Spanish team Real Madrid made its Soldier Field debut against Mexico’s Chivas Guadalajara. The sold-out match featured five of the world’s richest soccer players on its roster — including Beckham, who looked forward to indulging in some of the city’s perks. It took three years for the game to become a reality — and Real Madrid took less money from this trip than it could have made touring Asia.

“I have heard all about the cheesecake because my wife (Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice) has told me. It’s a must,” he told the Tribune. “She said Chicago was one of the best tour stops she played in American and I don’t know what I’m missing.”

The game was scoreless until the 73rd minute when Francisco Palencia banged one in for 10-time Mexican division champion Chivas. Then in the 77th minute Beckham bent the ball on a free kick to Alvaro Mejia, who headed it into the Chivas goal to tie the score. Two more late goals got Real Madrid the 3-1 win. Beckham gave one lucky local family the jersey off his back.

Beckham return to Chicago with the Los Angeles Galaxy to face the Fire at Toyota Park on Oct. 21, 2007. The injured soccer icon got a chance to leave his mark when the Galaxy was awarded an 89th-minute free kick, but Beckham’s kick was cleared. The Fire won 1-0 in the regular season finale and advanced to the MLS playoffs. The Galaxy also lost in Beckham’s return to Chicago on Sept. 25, 2008, but won behind his goal off a corner kick in the 66th minute of a July 9, 2011 match. His delivery went through a maze of players and Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson — just one day before Beckham’s wife delivered the couple’s fourth child.

Aug. 2, 2009: Marta

The Brazilian star is still competing at the highest levels, and just wrapped up her sixth World Cup appearance in August. Marta has been playing professionally in the U.S. on and off since 2009, so she has many Chicago appearances. But her first as a professional was in August 2009 as her Los Angeles Sol team was on the losing end of a 3-1 match against the Red Stars at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.

June 10, 2016: Lionel Messi

There was fear that Messi wouldn’t play in a June 10, 2016 Copa America Group D match against Panama at Soldier Field because of a lower back injury. So when he entered during the 61st minute, the crowd erupted in cheers. “Every time he touched the ball, it was hard to hear yourself think,” the Tribune reported.

Seven minutes later, Messi had his first goal for Argentina. Two more followed, creating a hat trick during his short appearance. Argentina won 5-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

He scored four goals during July 6, 2013′s Messi & Friends vs. the Rest of the World exhibition.

Sept. 24, 2023: Megan Rapinoe

There never will be another quite like her. Please forgive the cliché — it’s trite but also true. Follow with her accolades, the Olympic gold and bronze medals, the pair of World Cup trophies, the Ballon d’Or. Make a turn to her activism, the lifetime of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, the leadership in a yearslong struggle for equal pay, the solidarity with campaigns against racism and transphobia.

Maybe we can settle on this as a place to start: despised or adored, a hero or a villain, it really doesn’t matter. However you feel about Rapinoe, she could not be denied.

• Megan Rapinoe gets triumphant send-off in Chicago as United States beats South Africa 2-0
• Photo gallery: Farewell to U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe
• From July 8, 2023: Megan Rapinoe says she’ll retire after the NWSL season and her 4th World Cup

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