Although football (soccer) has yet to reach mainstream prominence in the US, I still feel compelled to write about the beautiful game on this website to hopefully broaden the horizons of some of our more ‘internationally challenged’ readers out there in Scribeland.
Hence this week’s Five Spot is about the five best, in my humble opinion of course, football (soccer) strikers in the world. For those who aren’t aware of what a striker is or does, it is roughly, one of the attacking forwards who generally plays ahead of everybody else on the field.
Yesterday, after much speculation as to his future, Brazilian attacking midfielder phenom, Kaka (or Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite) finally transferred to Spanish club Real Madrid from Inter Milan for the second highest transfer ever of €68 million.
Seeing as how their arch-rivals Barcalona just pulled off the ‘treble’ (La Liga, Copa del rey, Champions League), making themselves the best team in the world, Real Madrid has been struggling in comparison, hence the massive purchase of the FIFA 2007 Player of the Year.
But apparently, Real Madrid aren’t finished their off-season shopping.
Also rumored to be in the club’s sights are Christiano Ronaldo of Manchester United, and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich, either of whom paired up with Kaka in the middle would pose a massive threat to any other team in the world.
For the first ten minutes of their Champions’ League finals tonight in Rome, Manchester United played like the team they have been hyped to be all season long.
However, this was short lived after a brilliant pass to Barcelona’s phenomenal Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o resulted in him beating world class defender Nemanja Vidic inside the box and slipping the ball past United keeper Edwin van der Sar in the tenth minute of the game.
After this shocking, but well deserved goal by Barcelona, Manchester United all but collapsed for the remainder of the match.
Although slated to be the favorites entering the final with a starting lineup consisting of talents such as Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, Man U played like a division one squad in their domestic league.
When Argentine striker Lionel Messi scored a header off of a beautiful cross from teamate Xavi with twenty minutes remaining the Red Devils’ fate was all but sealed.
Congratulations to the Catalonian side for pulling off the never accomplished treble this season: a triumverate of victories in La Liga, La Copa del Rey and of course the European Champions’ League. They have truly proved to be one of the great squads of our time.
I wish I could say something nice about their opponents on this day. What was disappointing was the general conduct of Manchester United when things started going badly for them, as Vidic, Ronaldo and Paul Scholes all received yellow cards for their flagrant fouls. It would appear that when their legacy was being taken away from them, this side was unable to maintain its composure and accept the loss in a dignified manner. Shame on ya’ lads.
This upcoming May 27 the sports world will witness what might be the biggest matchup of the year. No, I am not talking about any of the handful of teams still scrapping it out in the NBA or NHL conference finals this game looks to be much more serious than any of these North American contests. I am talking about the UEFA Champions League finals in Rome, between English Premiership League champions, Manchester United, and their Spanish league counterparts, Barcelona.
For those of you who have been locked in a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe or happen to just reside in the continental United States, this event has probably escaped your attention, but mark my words this will be the most important sporting event to take place in 2009. Even if you are not a soccer fan, this is an excellent opportunity for you to see what you have been missing all of these years.
Kickoff is at 2:45pm EST, on May 27. I’m calling Barcelona by one goal.
