Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Humble Hounds

One of the most famous expressions in discussions about the beautiful game is “unsung hero”. This refers to the player who turns up, puts in a shift every day, can be relied upon all the time but somehow fails to get the recognition his abilities deserve. If this lack of credit was among only lay followers of football, it wouldn't be so disturbing. Often, some of these unsung heroes are not given the appropriate credit by experts and even coaches. Today, about 50 days from the opening match of the World Cup, The Beautiful Game is presenting to you a top ten list of such players going to the World Cup. We believe this is important as we expect that per usual, these players will largely go unnoticed. We however want you to remember their names when the event starts and closely follow their geniuses. Making a top ten list of anything is a difficult task so we would appreciate it if you can let us know about other players whose names have not been mentioned on this list:

    10. Branislav Ivanovic, Defender, Serbia. He's strong as an ox, pacy going forward and is a threat from set plays. Strangely, it took him almost a year to get a game for Chelsea. Although a centre back by trade, he has deputised brilliantly for Jose Bosingwa as right back at Chelsea and we expect him to play in that position for Serbia in South Africa. Such has been his competence as a full back that we think he is now among the top 5 right backs in the world.

    09. John Paintsil, Defender, Ghana. Here is another right back who will be playing in Group D. He became infamous throughout the world for waving an Israeli flag after Ghana scored against the Czech Republic in the last tournament. For that and his stop start introduction to the Black Stars team, he has never really been very popular among the extremely demanding football public in Ghana. He is however a very strong full back who rarely puts a foot wrong for either Ghana or his club side, Fulham.

    08. Tim Cahill, Attacker, Australia. He was one of the good performers at the last World Cup. Perhaps the tiniest player among the giants of Australia, he defies logic by being its most dangerous player from set pieces. His last 13 goals or so have been headers. He is also hard working, technically brilliant, possesses a powerful shot and has a good eye for goal.

    07. Jean Makoun, Midfielder, Cameroun. Everything good in the Cameroun team passes through Makoun. Only about 5'7” tall, he has got tremendous stability, craft with either feet, great vision and a thunderous shot. If Cameroun is to do well at this tournament, they need him to link up effectively with Samuel Eto'o. If they do, it is a terrifying prospect for the other teams in Group E.

    06. Park Ji Sung, Midfielder, South Korea. He is so good that his club manager, Alex Ferguson, plays him in only the important matches. Perhaps his lack of plaudits is due to the fact that he is Korean and fans generally underestimate Asian teams and players. Park Ji Sung is however the true unsung hero - all about the performance on the pitch and little about the publicity off it. It surprises me that people forget that he was one of the standout performers at the Japan/Korea fiesta; his brilliance typified by this sumptuous goal against Portugal.

    05. Daniel De Rossi, Midfielder, Italy. Now this is a truly world class player. It took us a long time to appreciate De Rossi's play but in a changing world of football where the anchorman is perhaps evern more important than the playmaker, De Rossi is one of the best of the generation. He breaks up play brilliantly, can spot a pass from 40 yards out and is deadly from set pieces too. So long as De Rossi and others like Adrea Pirlo are grossly underrated, Italy will continue to shock the world at major events.

    04. Steven Pienaar, Attacker, South Africa. One could make a top ten list of underrated players from Everton FC alone. Tim Cahill's team mate is one who took longer than usual to live up to his talents. When he played for Ajax with other youngsters like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rafael van der Vaart and Mido, it seemed Pienaar was going to be the world's best player two years from then. A series of injuries and accompanying loss of form slowed his progress. He has however been completely reinvented at Everton. He is so skilful that even Cristiano Ronaldo has confessed to watching him for some moves. He should definitely be playing for a team with bigger ambitions, especially as we see the likes of Nani and Salomon Kalou playing Champions League football every year. Maybe with the tournament in his home country, this is the time for him to prove his ability to the entire football world. Expect some outrageous tricks, breathtaking runs, a goal or two and innovative celebrations from this little South African.

    03. Javier Zanetti, Defender, Argentina. I am lost for words when it comes to Zanetti. It seems impossible that a player can be so good for so long without being known outside of hardcore footie followers. The Inter Milan captain should be there for his third World Cup, bombing up and down either flank as he always does, even at age 36. If he is required in central defence or midfield, he will also boldly step up and do a job. A true legend of the game and one who deserves a World Cup medal before the sun sets on his career. I am fervently hoping Diego Maradona selects him for the World Cup, unlike Jose Pekerman who dropped Zanetti for the 2006 showdown

    02. Miroslav Klose, Attacker, Germany. He will come, he will see, he will conquer. Klose seems to be someone who is just cut for the big time. Top scorer at the last world cup and second top scorer in the one before, Klose is the one player who poses a genuine threat to Ronaldo's record as the highest world cup goal scorer of all time. With the likes of Michael Ballack and Philip Lahm sweeping crosses on to his head, I expect him to bang a few more goals at this tournament. His talents may not be celebrated today, but posterity will rightfully view him as one of the all time goal scoring greats.

    01. Esteban Cambiasso, Midfielder, Argentina. Maybe not so anymore due to Inter's performance in the Champions' League this year. Cambiasso has been consistently good since he broke on to the scene as a 17 year old at Malaysia '97. He spent so many years in the shadows of other good players from that phenomenal Argentine youth team: Juan Riquelme, Pablo Aimar and even to an extent, Walter Samuel. He is however one of the greatest defensive midfielders in the modern game and he will be extremely crucial to Argentina's play. With all the attacking riches Argentina has, it will need Cambiasso at his best to break up play when teams counter attack against them. Fortunately if anybody can do that, then Cambiasso can. Here's to hoping that he will indeed step up and step out of the shade into the limelight for a change.

Honourable mentions: Jonas Gutierrez (Argentina), Dejan Stankovic (Serbia), Patrice Evra (France), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Joseph Yobo (Nigeria)


In our next article, we will be reviewing the unknown players who are likely to take the World Cup by storm. Every tournament we get a few players who go from relative obscurity at the start to stardom at the end. If you have any such player in mind, let us know about him by sending us an email: tkyeiboateng@gmail.com.

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.