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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 27 2001 : 8:56:19 PM
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Zeppo
Good article about the world's best strikers
Sat Oct 27 17:18:09 2001
FORWARD THINKING
by Rob Hughes
Apparently, English clubs field the best three centre-forwards in world football, and none of them is Michael Owen. Like boys in the schoolyard, each boasting the smartest designer-label object of desire, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and Claudio Ranieri claim that their man is incomparable. Ranieri began the hype when he annointed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink the most complete striker in the world. Ferguson then declared that Ruud van Nistelrooy is the best. No, said Wenger. Thierry Henry is better.
The managers are engaging in pyschological babble. They praise their own imported jewels. Henry cost Arsenal £10m, Hasselbaink went to Chelsea for £15m and Manchester United paid £19m for Van Nistelrooy. In truth, the managers are bragging about their own eye for a goalscorer, their own ability to identify the finest in the business.
Fine, let them praise their acquisitions. It is preferable to bickering over the politics or rules of sport. But the spat reveals the insularity of the managers. Ferguson and Wenger are among the few in their profession unlikely to be sacked sometime soon; indeed there is credible speculation that when Ferguson retires after this season, Wenger could inherit his job. In that context, would he then acknowledge that the knight of Old Trafford chose well, would he seek to replace Dutch athleticism with French flair, or might he conceivably combine the two in a pairing that would represent the endgame in goalscoring?
"I do not agree with Alex Ferguson," says Wenger. "I think we have the best striker in Europe. They are both great, but Thierry is the top. I wouldn't swap him for anybody." Not for any goalscorer? What about Raul, the prince of marksmen at Real Madrid? What price Gabriel Batistuta, ageing but as cunning as he is venomous around goal? If money is no object, why not Owen, who is speed personified? Or Patrick Kluivert, or Andrei Shevchenko?
And on Ranieri's recommendation, Hasselbaink would be a predator to back with your last penny. His 35 goals in 51 games for Chelsea, including seven penalties, defines the striker's currency - it's all about goals.
Yet strikers are dependent on the service they get. And in Europe you need a batch of them, men to put pressure on others, to keep them sharp, motivated, keen.
In Germany last week Ottmar Hitzfeld, the artful coach of Bayern Munich, made a surprising selection. He dropped Giovane Elber, the Brazilian striker who had scored 10 times in six games, for the kid, Roque Santa Cruz. The critics sniggered at Hitzfeld, but he is on the training ground day in, day out. He sees who is hot and who is not. Santa Cruz, tall and rangy and just 20 years old, scored twice and Munich beat Feyenoord 3-1 to qualify for the second phase of the Champions League. "Elber told me I had to make the most of the opportunity," said Santa Cruz. "I did that."
Come the World Cup in 2002, watch out for Santa Cruz, whose goals are helping Paraguay to move more convincingly than Brazil towards that Holy Grail. A young man with Latin instincts, groomed in the Bundesliga, and judiciously given his chances when Hitzfeld sees that time and form are ripe, is going to be worth millions.
Ultimately, talent is in the eye of the beholder. Ferguson likes a big, strong, old- fashioned centre-forward who can force defenders out of the way (as Alex used to do with Rangers). Wenger goes for stealth and intelligence. Ranieri likes arrogance in a No 9.
And, if we stick to out-and-out scorers, if we exclude play-makers who strike exquisite and imaginative goals, such as Rivaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero and, still, Roberto Baggio, in what order might we rank the strikers?
Raul Gonzales Blanco heads my list. He is slender, almost secretive in movement. He could not drag defenders around, or thrust them off the ball as Van Nistelrooy does. He operates in the shadows and off the shoulders of men. But Real Madrid know his worth. The club has him tied to a contract that would take £190m to buy out.
They call him the Prince of the Bernabeu because a regal touch often suffices for him to score. His quick mind calculates all the options, all the capabilities of colleagues and opponents. Raul missed "easy" chances against Roma last Wednesday. Why? Because the result did not matter to Madrid. His club had already won the group.
Raul contributes when it counts. His record is imperious: 22 goals in 48 internationals, 130 in 259 Spanish league games and an untouchable 32 goals from 60 appearances in the Champions League. He has eclipsed every Spanish record bar that of Alfredo di Stefano, and the great man retired a generation ago. Raul is aged 24.
Next, Batistuta. Yes, he's venerable. He will be 33 next birthday, his knees have worn under his pounding frame, and Hernan Crespo spearheaded Argentina's World Cup qualification. An observation made by Helmut Schoen, the late master of German coaching, comes to mind: "You do not cling to old players, they cling to you. You trust those who have done it."
Significantly, Fabio Capello trusted "Batigol" when he wanted to make Roma the Serie A champions. The ageing, Batistuta had notched 152 goals in 243 games for relatively poor Fiorentina, and scored 20 in Roma's title season. He has accumulated more goals for Argentina than Diego Maradona. And last week he was recalled, at Crespo's expense, by his country. Ask Ferguson, honestly, which centre-forward he most coveted. Batistuta is the name.
Now to Shevchenko. From Kiev to Milan, from the harshness of a Ukrainian winter to the riches of one of Europe's most opulent cities, the adaptable Shevchenko proves that goals are the lingua franca of his sport. For reliability and a cool head, for accuracy at controlled speed, for somehow remaining composed and opportunistic when all around are losing the plot, Shevchenko is a goal-a-game banker. Germany cannot relish facing him twice in World Cup playoffs next month.
If only Owen's hamstrings could take the searing acceleration. If ever a player has worked on speed and technique (even on his left side), it is Owen. If anybody is peerless in dedication, it is our Michael. He is not yet 22, he verges on a century of league goals for Liverpool, and his big stage delivery in the FA Cup, the Uefa Cup, the Super Cup and that devastating destruction of Oliver Kahn in Munich put him in pole position for France Football's annual European Footballer of the Year.
Owen also sustains the considerable feat of being Liverpool's No 1, ahead of the more intuitively gifted but less consistent Robbie Fowler.
Ferguson will love seeing Van Nistelrooy placed fifth in this list. Everybody should admire the Dutchman's mental strength in coming back so strongly from what could have been a debilitating knee injury. Anybody can debate how close he is to, or far away from, Marco van Basten. A salient question for Holland is how could a squad containing Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert, Hasselbaink and Roy Makaay not score one goal to stay in the World Cup against Ireland?
As for Henry, they seek him here, they seek him there, the Pimpernel of Arsenal. His movement is sharp, elusive, incisive. He still occupies the wings that were, until Wenger lost Nicolas Anelka and had to convert Henry into a centreforward, his natural habitat. Henry is an Arsenal marvel, no doubt. But France might yet try to harness the sulky Anelka, might opt for David Trezeguet, might ask Henry to strike from the deep or the flanks he knows so well.
Naturally, Wenger is grateful to Henry. Where would the Gunners be without him? Striking one on one against goalkeepers, with his pace and perception, is his forte. But when he misses the target, he can still look like a fabulous footballer in transition.
Those are my six of the best. Yours will be different, possibly prejudiced by the colours they wear. In Glasgow, they will swear nobody finishes like Henrik Larsson. In Sunderland, they dote on Kevin Phillips. And even in Manchester, wasn't it Ferguson who said last week that he would want the ball to fall to nobody other than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer? That of course begs the question why United start most of the big games with Solskjaer on the bench. He is the substitute extraordinaire.
There is no substitute for that knack, but no guarantees. If there were, Ronaldo, the most complete centre-forward most of us have seen, would have been blessed with better health than the undercarriage that has broken down beneath him. The most precious of talents is vulnerable at all times.
Karl |
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Tillamawnin
Moderator
USA
197 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2001 : 12:38:06 AM
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Interesting article. I wish some of our young players could get the chance to see most of these guys as they go about their business of striking.
Tilla
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Live simply so that others may simply live.
Mohandas K. Gandhi |
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Oct 29 2001 : 09:40:38 AM
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quote:
Interesting article. I wish some of our young players could get the chance to see most of these guys as they go about their business of striking.
Tilla
I would think that the JFF must have installed/or requested the installation /or proactively encouraged the installation of a lecture theatre with the necessary audio-visual equipment for the TDs to reinforce any point....using any of the various pieces of equipment, including vidoes, that this modern world provides.
It is the many missing pieces and or overlooked areas that has me screaming for a National Football Program.
Some of the Massive believe that a National Team program is a National Football Program, hence we hear talk of Simeos' National Football Program when in fact there was and still is no National Football Program.
Karl
Edited by - Karl on Oct 29 2001 09:42:24 |
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