The Forgotten men of modern football

We all love a hero. Even more so we, especially the media, love to see the downfall of one. In today’s day and age the rise and fall of such heroes come about in the blink of a second. Football is no different.

Below are some players in our modern game who as of today, though still pursue football professionally, their current stature just leaves you baffled. They make you wonder “What in the world happened to all that talent?” Some of them had the world at their feet at one point of time, some formed pillars of trophy-winning teams. But these days they simply have to contend with revelling in their largely anonymous and forgotten lives.

And no, they are not the Beckhams and Henrys of this world trying to prolong the dusk of their careers. They simply can’t make it back to the very top level for some reason, be it injury or otherwise. Or we simply haven’t heard of them in a long while!

HERNAN CRESPO

Alright, he is 36. But for a guy who was worth the then-world transfer record fee of £35 million(Parma to Lazio), surely we could have heard more of him in the last few years or so. This 3-time Scudetto , once Champions League and Premier League winning goal machine was the Serie A top scorer in 2000-01 and a part of the FIFA top 100 all time list.

After successful spells with Lazio,Inter and Chelsea, he moved to Milan on loan and scored twice in the memorable Champions League final in 2005.His second goal,a sublime chip over Dudek after a fine pass from Kaka, will always go down as one of the great Champions League goals.

He moved to Genoa in 2009 and then subsequently again to Parma, where he scored 11 last season. He still plays with Parma.

LUIS GARCIA SANZ

He was one of the most vital figures in the 2005 Champions League triumph of Liverpool, scoring five in the knockout stages, including that screaming volley against Juventus and the controversial “ghost goal against Chelsea”. Even before joining Liverpool that he had fairly successful spells at big clubs like Barcelona and Atletico. Unfortunately during a 3-6 loss against Arsenal in the League Cup he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament after which he never seemed to regain his full form or confidence.

He moved back to Atletico in 2007(2 goals in 30 League appearances) and then to Racing Santander and Panathanaikos. Now at age 33, he plays for Puebla in the Mexican Primera Division.

IAN HARTE and ALAN SMITH

Now here are some interesting names. Takes us back to the good old days of Leeds playing in Europe. Both of them were integral members of the semi-final reaching Leeds United teams of both UEFA Cup and Champions-League, in 1999-2000 and 2000-01 respectively.

Harte played regularly at left back and was a free kick specialist and penalty taker. Harte scored three years in succession at Highbury from 2001 to 2003, none more important than the one in the penultimate and pulsating Premier League match of 2003. After Leeds were relegated in 2004, Harte moved to Levante in Spain and scored their first goal in the top flight in 41 years. He played 65 times for Ireland scoring 11 goals. After injury laden seasons and consequent moves to Sunderland, Blackpool and Carlisle United he plays nowadays with Reading.

Alan Smith is still around the scene, though not so much as we would have wished him to be. Having played for all the 3 major Uniteds (Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle), his career has greatly been cut short by injury. A passionate Leeds supporter, he joined Manchester United for a fee of £7 million after Leeds relegated in 2004.

He was initially deployed in the centre of midfield despite by Sir Alex although he was later reverted back to a more natural forward position. His time there at Old Trafford was hampered by a horrific broken leg and ankle dislocation injury that kept him out for more than a year. After failing to live up to the billing as a very bright prospect for both club and country, he left for Newcastle United where he won back promotion to the top flight, but experiences very rare first team football.

MANICHE

He is a UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup ,Scudetto, Premier League winner plus Euro 2004 runner-Up, never mind the numerous Portugese domestic trophies he won with Porto and the semi-finals he reached in 2006 World cup. In all of these teams he was a regular starter, playing pivotal roles specially in the Portugese and Porto teams.

He scored one of the goals of the tournament in Euro 2004 when he scored a spectacular long range effort against the Netherlands in the semis to put Portugal through to the final. But since then he has hardly looked the player he was , moving to Dynamo Moscow, Chelsea, Atletico, Inter, and Koln. He is back in Portugal these days, seemingly a free agent.

ROBBIE FOWLER

He was “God”. For the Kop faithful, he could do no wrong just as Maradona could do no wrong at Napoli. But he did. He moved to Leeds United in a controversial £12 million move in 2001.

He was simply phenomenal. His goal scoring ability, his special volleying technique, and the deification that he enjoyed with the supporters got him out of all the troubles that seemed to entail his fame. He scored 120 times in 236 appearances for Liverpool from 1993-2001. He scored 14 times more in two years at Leeds and similarly for Manchester City, scoring 20 times in 3 years. But all this while he struggled for fitness as a consequence of a hip injury and its aggrevation.

He returned to Anfield in 2006, and he was greeted with banners saying ‘God – number eleven, welcome back to heaven’. But at 31 failed to make replicate the impact he once had at the hallowed stadium.

Since, he has plied his trade in Australia and Thailand, where he currently plays for Muangthong United.

ANDRIY SHEVCHENKO

He is the third-highest scorer in the history of European club competition with 67 goals. He is a Ballon d’Or winner in 2004. He won the Champions League with Milan in 2003 and was the top scorer in the same competition twice in 1998–99 and 2005–06 and was the UEFA Champions League Best Forward in 1999.

He was the hottest striker in the world in and around 2005-06 and I still vividly remember the Times of India carrying a front page photo of him with the headline “This man’s feet worth is worth €75.2 million” ! That’s how in-demand he was. However Milan refused the offer of sum of €75.2 million and striker Hernan Crespo in 2005, though he eventually moved to Chelsea in 2006.

And then he simply forgot how to score goals. He looked a pale shadow of his former self. He barely managed 9 goals in 3 years where he struggled with the frequent changes in the managerial post at the club. A loan move back to Milan in 2008 failed to resurrect his career in an unsuccessful second spell at San Siro.

Since he has moved back to Dynamo Kiev, where he is usually seen gracing the European football scene in Europa League matches. But the fall from such dizzying heights has been truly incredible and nowadays he is largely a forgotten figure.

MICHEAL OWEN and DIMITAR BERBATOV

These two need no introduction. They still can be seen once in a while in a Carling cup game or rather inconsequential Champions League games, or at best can be seen making a late substitute entry at the dying stages of a Man United Premier League game. But they were not supposed to.

A while back they were supposed to grace the European footballing scene night in night out, scoring goals for fun. So dramatic has been their fall from grace, that they both are 4^th and 5^th choice strikers at Old Trafford.

For Berbatov it seems that the lazy elegance he possesses, which so allured Sir Alex and attracted comparison with the great Zidane for the same attribute, has suddenly gone against him. He simply cannot get into the starting line-up despite finishing the joint top-scorer last season.

For Owen, it was always a case of getting back to full-fitness after having an injury plagued career and trying to recuperate it. His move to Real Madrid in 2004 did not help where he spent most of his time on the bench. Since then his career has been frequently marred by more injuries at Newcastle and Manchester United managing to score a few goals along the way.