Chuck Moussadick
Evening all,
Quick question for anyone who knows. Did Chuck M ever gain a FULL international cap for Morocco and if so, can anyone provide any details? Writing an article about full internationals to have played for Wycombe, so want to check it wasn't an U21 cap or anything like that. I've done a deep dive, but records aren't exactly great unfortunately.
0
Comments
I think that was a bit of an urban myth and though you can find reports of him playing for Morocco at full and U21 Level, the reports never tally with the facts.
It was reported he played against Brazil in a friendly in 1998. Morocco played Brazil in the WC in 98 but he was not part of the squad. They played Brazil in 97 in a friendly but he was definitely not the goalkeeper as the game can be found on YouTube.
Also reported he was in the 2002 African Cup of Nations squad but his name is not in the official squad list.
Also reported he was in the 1994 WC squad but his name does not appear in the official squad list.
He does not appear in any other list of ex Moroccan International players online
He says he did. https://timesofoman.com/article/31829-on-the-ball-i-feel-blessed-to-play-for-my-country-chuck-martini
Perhaps find a way to mention our GK against Uganda for Wycombe in the 50’s and also the GK in the International XI in the last game at Loakes Park!!
I seem to recall that I was surprised to hear that Chuck was actually involved in our final year at Loakes Park, when is always thought he joined us at Adams Park.
Did John Granville play international?
Morocco never beat Gabon in an international match 2-1.
https://www.11v11.com/teams/morocco/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Gabon/
It could have been the 1993 friendly but the score is wrong and he was not the keeper playing
https://www.11v11.com/matches/morocco-v-gabon-27-september-1993-244702/
He also couldn’t of played or been in the Morocco squad on Sep 27th as he appeared for us against Barnet the following day(On the bench).
Chucky was involved in our first ever game at Adams Park as a trialist in the game against Forest. He was not involved in the final game at LP when George Best played or to my knowledge in any games at LP.
Hmm, happy to give him the benefit of the doubt as unnoficial game records and photographs and such like were probably not what they are now
It's a claim he seems happy to make, as it appears in a Quebec newspaper's match report of a match he played in goal for Wolves (Michigan that is) against Montreal Impact (https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2186259?docsearchtext=chuck martini). It's unlikely the journo who wrote it found out he was Morocco's 3rd keeper at World Cup 98 from the official squad lists, which contains no mentions of a Moussadick or a Martini.
I'm not sure why any of this is relevant when you consider his well-evidenced role in securing the Evening Standard 5-a-side title.
Twice.
What's an international cap or two compared to that?
We upset the big London teams so much they stopped the tournament after our wins
It's a little-known fact Thierry Henry cries into his croissant every morning gutted the tournament was binned before he joined Arsenal. All the while Chuck will always be a double-winner at Wembley.
I was involved in phoning in live updates from that tournament to Alan Cleaver, editor of the Wycombe Star, to put on their fledgling website. We were all very excited that about 11 people tuned into the coverage.
Trailblazing stuff.
I remember there were rumours around the time of the playoff final in our first season in the league that if Chuck played even a minute, he'd get called up.
Might have been made up by a pal of the time though.
And the fact we decided to play a heavily ill Hyde instead of risking a fully fit and well Chuck probably is not one to add to his legend!
I remember Chuck played in the Trophy game at VS Rugby in preference to John Granville. Rugby kept hitting crosses into the Wycombe box that Chuck was getting no where near, the only time I had been that terrified about a Wycombe Keeper was when Ma Kalamby played at Oxford (was he really a keeper ?)
Thanks everyone. I've seen a few different articles, including an interview with the man himself, that claim he got 4 caps at senior level, but I can't find a shred of evidence for any of it. As @wwfcblue says, there is no evidence of him playing that game against Gabon, or the friendly against Brazil (the games don't even appear to have happened) and despite saying he went to the '94 WC (and apparently the '02 AFCON), he is not listed in either squad. Perhaps he travelled as a standby?
All very curious though - this isn't another Ali Dia situation is it?
Anyway, given the amount of different sources saying he was capped, I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt that at least one of those four appearances did actually happen, especially as records don't seem to be particularly great anyway.
Thank you all for your help.
(@username123 Yes, Granville played for Trinidad and Tobago prior to joining the Wanderers.)
An amazing afternoon that was.
bit niche, this screenplay, @Jonny_King
We can't talk about Chuck without mentioning that 5-1 win against runaway league-leaders Kettering. He had a good game that day, including saving a penalty, I think. I arrived, worried that his name was on the team sheet and left thinking that I might have witnessed the start of something very special. Not for Chuck, though he played his modest part, but for Wanderers.
It's difficult to explain a) the size of that tournament b) the kudos that winning that had and c) the madness of seeing some top players of the day taking part in a high risk environment. I can't imagine a certain Mr Klopp would welcome it. Certainly a different era for sport, one where Kevin Keegan (one of Europe's greatest players at the time kids) could fall off a bike on a hard ashfelt track and feck himself up in the hope that he might beat a guy who could do squat thrusts in the final of a TV competition. Google it
!!! I don't need to, @TheAndyGrahamFanClub I was there - or at least, there in front of the television. Brian Jacks, eh?
Trust he didn’t feck himself.
At the Bracknell Leisure centre. Often used to go to the Superstar filming at Handy Cross and would love to see a time where it could make a come back. Footballers rarely did very well if I remember correctly
@our_frank If Chuck managed to blag himself a living as a professional footballer by inventing an entire international career, then he definitely deserves to have a biopic made about him.
I think we got a brick thrown through the coach window for our troubles at Rugby too.
I'm sure there was talk last year of them bringing that back ! I think a load of olympians were up for it. Used to love watching that as a kid
Insurance would be sky high nowadays I suppose. You can still hobble about in Walford with an Ice Dancing knackered ankle not so much Old Trafford.
@Jonny_King thought I should point out as you're writing a piece that the correct spelling of his surname (at least at the time of playing for Wycombe) is Moussadik.
2012 seems to be its latest reboot. Olympians love this sort of thing and often need the cash and profile to get them through the leaner years, unlikely to see top flight football players ever doing this again unless it's in Dubai for multi millions.
One assumes there would need to be a paralympic version as well.
I just took a quick look. Keegan had his very painful bike fall in 76. He was at Liverpool. A current England international. 2 years later was European footballer of the year. Hard to make a comparison to a modern footballer but he was HUGE. Madness
I remember John Conteh being one of the contestants at Handy Cross.
It was a hot day, and Chelsea's Peter Borota was the keeper brought in to face the stars in the dribble and shoot event.
Another thing I remember that day was seeing ex Wanderers defender Mark Hill, sitting on the grassy banks watching Superstars that day.