Football Heroes from limited teams

Some of them deserved more. Definitely is not easy to score goals regularly for many years and deciding games for teams that are not part of the elite. Few players got it. They spent most time of their careers playing for second-tier teams and got the feat of scoring many goals for years. Recently, the Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan was top scorer and named best player of the World Cup 2010 being the reference of his technically limited national team. A spectacular feat!We all like players who decide and thrive in adverse circumstances. Check out some of them..

GABRIEL BATISTUTA – Fiorentina 1991 - 2000 (Italy)

During pre-season for the Italian Championship in 1992 the Danish forward Brian Laudrup began his training session at Fiorentina team and remarked about Batistuta to a teammate. “He is surgical shooting to goal”, the answer from teammate was immediate “you have not seen anything, wait until he get in shape”…The Argentine scored goals as breathing. During 9 years playing for a limited team like the Fiorentina, ‘Batigol’ noted shocking 209 goals for the club – and keep his name in the top goal scoring table of the Italian Championship in every season! During that time he never had great players at his side in the same team. The Portuguese midfielder Rui Costa, who arrived in 1994, was the only creative player in the team.Batistuta was unsightly with the ball and it was not technically flashy, but his scoring ability was devastating. Imperial in the air and owner of a powerful shot, he was an invaluable goal scoring and his relationship with Fiorentina was amazing! The fans gifted him a statue with his image..

CARECA – Napoli 1987 – 93 (Italy)

He was synonymous of regularity and a precocious talent who at age 17 won a national championship playing for the modest Guarani FC – until now the only team in the country of Brazil to win the National League.The Brazilian striker also helped Napoli to win the Italian championship in 1990 and keep the small club from the poor south of the country always among the first. His average of goals for the team was 0.5 goal per game over six years (1987-93)!Even playing with a phenomenon like Diego Maradona on the side, the neapolitan team never had a squad with the same level of giants Juventus, AC Milan and Internazionale. And the season that Careca scored more goals for the club was in 1991/92, precisely when Maradona left the team…Careca had a midfield technique and the finishing power of the big top goal scorer. He scored many goals with a light touch on the ball. Perhaps the overwhelming success of Romario and Ronaldo after his time did the brazilian people forget him..

ALAN SHEARER – Newcastle 1996 – 2006 (England)

Another ‘factory goals’ coming from the old Albion. The English is the all-times top scorer in the Premier League with 260 goals! No, he did not play for Manchester United or Arsenal. His amazing brand was designed with Blackburn Rovers, where he was national champion, and especially in Newcastle, his team’s heart and from his idol Kevin Keegan.His goals led him to be striker in England national team beating rivals such as Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole and Les Ferdinand.Equipped with a powerful shot from mid and long distance, Shearer was top scorer three times in the Premier League playing by small clubs. Even at 34 and 35 years old, he kept scoring goals and deciding games for a questionable team like Newcastle and fighting to be the top goal scorer of championship. Something that only the special players can do..

DIEGO FORLÁN – Villarreal and Atletico Madrid 2004 – (Spain)

Many people says he was half of Uruguay in the last World Cup in South Africa. Versatile, technical and predatory instincts. Don’t need to be a genius to understand that is difficult be a protagonist of a limited national team like the Uruguay in a World Cup. But Forlan went further and – without marketing and influence behind the scenes – persuaded FIFA officials to give him the award for best player of the tournament.But the ability to make difference in difficult circumstances for Forlan is not from today. Playing for Villarreal and Atletico Madrid the striker was two times the Spanish League top goal scorer (2005 and 2010) and was one of the protagonists in the epic campaign of Villarreal in the Champions League from 2005/06 and the title of Europe League by ‘colchoneros’ this year. During his entire career, the goals never came out of his DNA.His passing suffered at Manchester United shows he was very young and lacked the maturity to that challenge. Van Nistelrooy was more experienced and much more prepared to be the match-winner of the Red Devils in that time. It is the only spot in the career of Forlan. But nothing to set aside his accomplishments and his ability to make difference in difficult circumstances.