Sunday, April 4, 2010

Don't believe the hype

It was absolutely thrilling for me to be back in Ghana for my 2010 Spring break. I got the opportunity to watch football at Epo spot and drink several bottles of Guinness all over again. One of the things that make our country such an exciting place is the group of local language radio stations. Most of the comments, especially on the sports programs, border on the ludicrous. It is not uncommon to hear comments from these stations that make you go like "What! Did he actually say that?" So it turned out that as I listened to the morning sports show on one of these stations, a serious argument broke out between the co-hosts. The cause? One of them stated emphatically that “Sergio Aguero is better than both Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo combined”. Wow! And before you ask, these sports hosts are very, very up to date with what's happening in the football world. They watch almost all the important matches live on T.V and even travel to cover some of them at the stadiums. So why will a football expert make a pronouncement of such idiotic proportions? Hype. Football is one of the industries that is able to hype up its stars to the skies and unfortunately, it's easy to buy into the hype.


With my fury at the argument on the radio as a backdrop, I've made a list of the top ten most overrated players going to the world cup. This is also officially my first world cup countdown article. (I think I've let Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marouane Chamack & David Beckham escape by limiting this article to only the players going to the world cup).

10. Steven Gerrard (England): He's one of two good players in a very mediocre Liverpool team. He has salvaged the team on many occasions and is a legend in Merseyside. One can however count on his fingertips the number of good games Gerrard has had in the last two years. I think the Gerrard vs Lampard (statistically the best Premier League Player of the last 10 years) debate was settled when Capello decided that the former better leaves the latter alone in the middle of the park. Stevie G will therefore be playing in left midfield in SA, but expect him to be drifting into central midfield on many occasions, to detrimental effect on England's performance.


09. Deco (Portugal): He's finished - simple as that. He was a fabulous player at Porto, played brilliantly for the first two seasons at Barca and has been pants since. Why he gets anywhere near the Chelsea team is hard for me to understand. Even harder for me to understand is why he's one of the highest paid players in the world, even above the likes of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres.


08. Franck Ribery (France): He was the discovery of the last world cup, no doubt. However I think his pace and some trickery make way too many people think he's a Messi of a sort. If he was just regarded as a good player, I'd have no qualms but the fact that connoisseurs of the game rate him at the same level as Ronaldo and Messi leaves me flummoxed. If Ribery is worth the 100 million Euros that Bayern is quoting, then Tarek Djibril should be worth at least 50 million.


07. Kolo Toure / Joleon Lescott (Cote d'Ivoire/England): The worst footballing decision made by management may be Real Madrid selling Clause Makelele to make way for David Beckham. In the future I hope Man City's sale of Richard Dunne for Lescott and Kolo Toure is mentioned in the same category. To put it in perspective, Aston Villa, with Richard Dunne in defence has the third best defensive record in the EPL this season, much better than what City has achieved with the tragic combo. So long as Cote d'Ivoire continues to play the wrong Toure in central defence, their talented squad will never fulfill its potential.


06. Glen Johnson (England): Liverpool finished the whole of the 2008/2009 Premier League with 27 goals conceded. With five matches still to go in the 2009/2010 season, they have already conceded 33. The only difference in the back four for those two seasons is Mr. Johnson. Liverpool have basically paid 18 million pounds so they could concede more goals?


05. Eric Abidal (France): Patrice Evra is three times the player he is. Can't tackle, can't run, can't dribble, overly clumsy.


04. Karim Benzema (France): He can't hit a ten feet thick wall from two yards out. Ok, this may not be an accurate description of the French galactico but still he's got to be one of the most overrated players in the 21st century. He's no better than Huntelaar yet Real released the Dutchman to make way for him. He's not as good as Higuain, yet the Argentine was benched for long periods so Benzema would adapt to the Madrid side. As Mauel Pellegrini found out at last, the problem has nothing to do with adaptation and everything to do with Benzema's abilities. He is just not that good.


03. Robinho (Brazil): I have a question: If you are overrated and eventually found out, are you still overrated? If the answer is no, then I'd say I have put Robinho here unfairly. I however think some people (read Dunga) still believe he's a good player so his place on this list is merited. The truth is Robinho is a decent player with fancy footworks, nothing more. He can't be in the Brazil team on merit, but as we all know, he'll be there playing behind Luis Fabiano. They may as well be playing with 10 men.


02. Sergio Aguero (Argentina): The instigator of this article. One queer thing with Argentine football is the “Maradona syndrome”. Ever since the legendary Diego took the world by storm, Argentina has been obsessed with diminutive, tiny players with outrageous skill. If you fit the bill, you are labelled “the next Maradona”. I can think of Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola, Lionel Messi, just to name three. Sergio Aguero is one of such players who have profited unduly from the “Maradona syndrome”. Sure he can turn on the style sometimes, he's got a powerful shot and he's engaged to the daughter of the man himself, but these don't make him a 100 million pound player. He's not as prolific as even team mate Diego Forlan, provides fewer assists than Dirk Kuyt, doesn't have the pace of a Salomon Kalou and gets injured often. How on earth such a player gets so much hype is still beyond me.


01. Dani Alves (Brazil): One of the best right backs of the modern era. I have been a huge fan of Dani's since he lightened up UAE 2003. I however don't understand why Barcelona would pay over 30 million pounds for him and why most people still rate him higher than Maicon. He can't defend, has got to have one of the worst crossing success rates in the game (by the way, the worst crosser of the ball still playing the game has to be Gael Clichy of Arsenal) and has atrocious free kick technique. He's firmly behind Maicon in the fight for the Brazil right back slot and rightly so. He will still come to the World Cup with more publicity than the Inter star for some reasons that need explaining.

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