Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Ten is footballs magic number. Pele,Maradona,Platini,Zico,Totti,Ronaldinho,Zidane,Zola and Bergkamp have worn it; Ardiles,Cantona,Van Basten,Gullit,not readily associated with it,have also valorised the creative midfielder who was once assigned the number on-field,till squad numbers broke the inextricable bond between a players position and his jersey. The tendency to downplay the creative midfielder the guy who,more than putting the ball in the net,sets up others to do so was pronounced around Italia 90,in the mercifully short heyday of ultra-defensive football.
The skills of Pele or Maradona may have gone for good,chased away by the sheer speed at which players run with the ball these days,but the Number 10,in name or game,stayed on. The best sides kept him and built around him,none more so than FC Barcelona,arguably footballs greatest success story ever,who currently play four creative midfielders Andres Iniesta,Xavi Hernandez,Cesc Fabregas and,of course,Lionel Messi,the man wholl be the king of Kolkata come Friday. But unlike Pele or Maradona,Messi is in Kolkata in top form,taking over as captain of a star-studded Argentine national squad in a FIFA-approved friendly against Venezuela.
Gerd Muller,Eusebio,Romario,Francescoli,Zico,Rummenigge,Burruchaga,Diego Forlan,et al have graced Kolkata too,and the citys current madness may invoke a sense of deja vu. But never have former world champions looked to the Yuva Bharati Krirangan to revive themselves under a new coach,after their ignominious
exit from Copa America. Messi himself,always accused of under-performing for the national team,has detractors in Buenos Aires to silence,detractors wholl be looking out also for the Spanish-raised stars lip movements in Kolkata when the Argentine anthem plays.
