World Cuppers who have played for Indian clubs

Macdonald Mukansi

Macdonald Mukansi

The South African represented his country at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan where the Bafana Bafana narrowly missed out on qualification to the knockout stage. Mukansi’s only appearance in the tournament came as a substitute in the opener against Paraguay. The right-sided winger, who wore the number ‘9’ jersey for South Africa, came on as a substitute in the 27th minute and helped South Africa come back from two goals down to draw 2-2. South Africa were level on points with Paraguay after three games but the South Americans progressed to the next round as they netted one additional goal. Five years later, after having spells in South Africa, Cyprus and Bulgaria, Mukansi surprised everyone by joining East Bengal in India.

Nicknamed as the ‘Scooter’, due to his immense pace, Mukansi had explained his move to India as a ‘spontaneous choice’ but eventually it didn’t go according to plan. After showing flashes of brilliance initially in some friendlies and local league games, the South African failed to deliver for the red-and-gold brigade in the newly-launched I-League and soon was benched by then-coach Subroto Bhattacharya. East Bengal entered a relegation battle and by the time Subroto was replaced by Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Mukansi had been released by the Kolkata club.

Densil Theobald

Densil Theobald (far right)

The 30-year-old versatile midfielder was a key member of the Trinidad & Tobago side that qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Theobald started for T&T in all three of their games in Germany 2006, where the Caribbean nation bowed out from the group stage after registering just one point in three matches. Theobald started in central midfield against Sweden in their Group B opener, in which the CONCACAF member managed a goalless draw. He started in a left midfield role in the second game against England and T&T nearly earned another creditable point but two late goals saw the Three Lions prevail.

Theobald was substituted in both of T&T’s first two matches but completed 90 minutes in the final group game against Paraguay which his country lost 2-0. Having spent most of his career with T&T outfit Caledonia AIA, Theobald undertook a new challenge by signing for India’s record champions Dempo in October 2011. The player however was only registered in mid-January 2012 as he had to wait for the reopening of the winter window for his ITC (International Transfer Certificate) to arrive. Nonetheless, Theobald’s class and experience gave force to Dempo’s title charge in the second half of the season and the Goan club went on to lift their record fifth title.

Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez (right)

After representing his country in the youth World Cup, Hernandez started every game in Costa Rica’s 2004 Olympic Games campaign, where the North American outfit reached the quarter-finals. The playmaker was then part of the 2006 World Cup squad in Germany but managed only substitute appearances against Ecuador and Poland with Costa Rica getting eliminated from the group stage after three straight defeats. After becoming a star in Australia’s A-League with Melbourne Victory, Hernandez joined the ambitious Prayag United project in 2012. He became one of the most expensive players in India and was expected to take the I-League by storm. After the first two games it did look like that way as he inspired the purple shirts to back-to-back wins.

But with Prayag replacing Sanjoy Sen with Eelco Schattorie as head coach, Hernandez fell out with the newly-appointed Dutchman and was show caused internally by the club for misconduct in a match in which he was substituted. Even moments of brilliance like the perfectly curled freekick against Dempo didn’t improve relations between Hernandez and Schattorie and the player miffed club officials by agreeing on a contract with Wellington Phoenix of the A-League while on leave due to his father’s death. Hernandez eventually joined the New Zealand club after the end of his contract with Prayag.