8 professional footballers with unique traits

Football, like life, can be cruel and unfair at times. An aspiring footballer may put in thousands of hours of practice, sacrifices and hardwork over a period of ten years, hoping to reach the elite level of football that only a handful can dream of.Only, once they get there they realise that all their perseverance and toil has been overshadowed by truly gifted players, players who make the game look ridiculously easy. Making sure people remember your name can be a difficult task for any professional footballer.Why, it’s the Ronaldos and Messi’s that people remember and adulate. Your average fullback hardly gets a shout-out. So, for a footballer to stand out from the crowd in this cut-throat business requires a unique skill-set, one that cannot be matched.A trait so difficult to understand, let alone execute, that makes the viewers get off their seats and take notice. These 8 footballers are remembered for the very same reason. With their special abilities, they have etched their names in the annals of football.

#1 Rory Delap\'s deadly throw-ins

Any football fan worth his salt knows about Rory Delap and his unique methods of causing mass confusion and mayhem in the opposition’s penalty box with his trademark throws. A decent midfielder by trade, the Irishman was noted for his flat, fast and accurate throw-ins over large distances – throw-ins that invariably led to chaos and goals.

Some would go as far as to say that the throwins were better than cornerkicks and freekicks, since the ball travelled at too low a height for the keeper to do anything, leaving the defenders with a nightmare scenario.

in fact, Delap’s precise and flat throw-ins were such a concern for oppositions that teams playing against Stoke would often concede corners when under pressure, lest they concede a throw-in and bring Delap’s fury on to themselves. Teams tried various tricks to stop Delap, ranging from calling for throw-ins to be banned (who else, but Arsene Wenger?) and moving the advertising boards closer to the touchline to minimise the space that Delap needed for his run-up.

The video gives a clear indication of Delap’s unreal skills – some of his throws travelled well over 40 metres at 37 mph. If you think that’s not a big deal, the next time you play football try throwing the ball at least 10 metres without breaking your back.

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#2 The footballer with one arm

Football requires balance, that’s a no-brainer. Dribbling at ful pelt, changing directions and avoiding challenges all requires strength, balance and compusure. Your legs allow you to run and turn, your upper body keeps you balanced and from falling over. Again, these are things that every footballer takes for granted.

Which is why Håkan Söderstjerna, a retired Swedish footballer, is a special footballer. For he played the game, at a professional level mind, with one arm.

Born without a lower right arm, Söderstjerna refused to allow his birth condition to affect his dream of becoming a footballer at the highest level, and went on to play for clubs in Sweden, Denmark, Singapore and Norway.

A truly special player, an outlier in a world of clones.

Here’s a video of Söderstjerna dribbling, turning and scoring – all done with minimum fuss.

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#3 Joop can Daele, the spectacled footballer

When you think of a footballer wearing glasses, one names immediately springs to mind – the Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids. Now while Davids chose to wear incredibly cool shades that made him a style icon among football fans, his were not spectacles but glasses specially made for sportsmen. Because as we all know, spectacles – your standard spectacles that you wear now, a result of watching too much tv, – do not belong on a football field.

Guess what? That’s not quite true.

Joop van Daele, a retired Dutch footballer, was one of the rare footballers who managed to play football at the earliest wearing an average, goofy-looking pair of glasses.

If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.

In fact, van Daele’s glass-wearing antics got under the skin of one of his opponents, Estudiantes player Oscar Malbernat, who destroyed van Daele’s glasses after the later scored the winning goal for Feyenoord against Estudiantes in the 1970 Intercontinental Cup.

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#4 Kerlon\'s seal dribbles

Dribbling, as an art, has been captivating and mesmerizing fans for decades. The best dribblers invariably draw the best crowds and the loudest gasps, and light up a drab game. From Maradona to Laudrup, Iniesta to Messi, the greatest of dribblers and their moments of magic are remembered forever.

But Brazilian midfielder Kerlon Moura souza, better known as Kerlon, had a decidedly unique way of dribbling. You see, Kerlon’s seal dribble was simply undefendable.

The ex-Inter Milan player would lift the ball on his head and while bouncing it on his forehead, run at defenders. There was simply no way of taking the ball off Kerlon without knocking him down.

A juggling act so good, yet so devious, that Kerlon was always the target of a defender’s wrath. To be fair, he did make them look stupid from time to time.

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#5 Sandro Silva\'s cheeky lobs

Another Brazilian on the list, and once again for the right reasons. Sandro Silva, a Vasco da Gama midfielder, is pretty much your average defensive midfielder. Tough, tenacious and decent on the ball. There is simply nothing about him that makes you go “oooh, what a player”.

Nope Sandro Silva is just another footballer plying his trade. Except for his uncanny knack of lobbing a defender and running past him

While some would be satisfied with a stepover, Sandro Silva would choose to draw a defender close, lob the ball over him, run to the other side and take the ball down – a skill-move that earned him plenty of grief from opposition players. Because no one likes being made a fool in Brazil.

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#6 Steve Watson\'s front-flip throws

If you thought Rory Delap’s throw-ins were outrageous, then you probably haven’t heard of Newcastle player Steve Watson. Mr. Watson takes throw-ins like Ashley Young dives – acrobatically and with purpose!

Since the rules of football insist that both feet be touching the ground at the time of release of the ball, throw-ins were pretty much trivial affairs. Until Steve Watson came up with an igenious method that stuck to the rules yet allowed him to launch the ball great distances.

Presenting the Steve Watson front-flip throw-in. Move over, Rory Delap.

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#7 Cuauhtmoc Blanco\'s bunny hop

Cuauhtémoc Blanco, a retired Mexican footballer, had a stellar career as a striker, scoring 158 goals in his 437 matches as a professional footballer.

A creative player by trade, Blanco earned the respect of fans and opposition players in a career that spanned 22 years.

But if you had to remember Blanco for one reason, and one reason alone, it would be for his audacious way of getting past defenders.

It’s called the bunny hop, and you have probably done it too, with varying results. Trap the ball between your legs, jump with the ball and land on the other side, leaving the defenders bemused.

It wasn’t pretty, but by god was it effective.

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#8 Rene Higuita\'s scorpion kick

Up until Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita’s arrival on the football scene, Colombia was famous for two things – gorgeous women and tons of cocaine.

But Higuita put Colombia on the football map for good, with his dare-devil goalkeeping methods. Not content with catching the ball with his hands like a normal, sane goalkeeper, Higuita entertained crowds with his seemingly reckless yet effective Scorpion kick in a friendly against England.

In fact, Higuita’s scorpion kick was voted as one of the top 100 Greatest sporting moments in a poll conducted in UK. With 41 goals (!) to his name, Higuita is also the 4th highest scoring goalkeeper in football history.

Truly a unique footballer, and “a masted of the unpredictable”.

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