Storyline: The game of football has seen many bold characters, predominantly from Europe and South America. But many great players have graced America’s soil, too. Here is my list.
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene, the dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear: Full many a flow’r is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.” From “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray (circa 1746)
A few of them stand in the cage surrounded by spells and cages of loneliness, only to keep the ball at bay (Goal Keeper).
A few in them are in open outfield, of the middle, to bolster the team in keeping the opposition at bay (Midfielder).
A countable few are near that cage, awaiting the ball to festinate it into the net (Strikers).
And a few, in the field felted, offering the much needed assistance.
USA Today Sports
They are the footballers. Obscured beneath their souls, many a time, are stories unknown and tales unheard. The phummock keeps peeping out of the ivy bushes. But they hardly care for all they dream is playing with kindred spirits and maintaining the much needed composure.
If they console themselves with a few pints in the course of a defeat, they embrace themselves during victory with the same. Their tears are but confined to themselves. A few of them would get a mention in the national daily, a few hardly get any mention, and the most go unnoticed, uncelebrated, and unsung.
For someone like me, who grew up watching the likes of Juventus, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bayern Munich, it’s easy to pick one player and write a full length column. But this column is about my favorite list of Footballers–those from the great nation, America, who have inspired me the most.
Dear readers, I have picked the players based on my understanding of the game and my voracious reading of football in American.
Across the ages, the game of football has seen many a bold character, predominantly across Europe and South America. Here, below, is a list of sportsmen involved with football those whom I personally believe are ahead of everyone. It’s now left for you, dear readers, to kindly understand that my list is in not abruptly made-to-order.
Courtesy: the18.com
Michelle Akers: An employer of the art in midfield, she graced the game in a way like no one else. History will tell that nobody was her equal. She influenced the game with presence and understanding. Arkers had a knack for reading the opposition within minutes of the game. On any day she could single-handedly take the game away to safe waters, which is what inspires me the most about.
Clint Dempsey: My first instances of watching him play dates back to the early 2008 where he made The Craven Cottage his home ground. I was engaging myself in the demolition that Manchester United does so often and was celebrating it time and again until one day I found Dempsey literally taking the game away from my team. I was pushed into spells of absquatulation during the match. But, later and a few months into the season, I had developed huge respect towards him. Extremely competitive and a striker with an altered pace, Dempsey is no doubt one of the greatest legions of the game in America.
Courtesy: usasoccer.com
Tab Ramos: The current head coach of the United States U-20 team and a sprinter by birth, it’s hardly a wonder to see if a talent like him doesn’t excel on the field. Many of you may remember him for being one of the major influences between the strikers and defenders. But I remember him for his athleticism on the field. Football demands and curves and spells of athleticism, but this Uruguyan-born international legend performed his duties beyond distinction. They say that we can’t deny the blessings of Father Time. Yet, I feel really sorry for him for the brutal injury to the skull during the ’94 World Cup. A true fighter, in him, hasn’t slept then. How can one forget that goal against a Costa Rican side during the World Cup in France? May he serve the game as coach, just as he did as player. May he achieve everything he deserves in the life and times ahead.
Hugo Perez: Another midfielder, Perez was an inspirational character for seeing America qualify for the 1990 World Cup. A vast silence would creep through crowd as he danced and glanced with the ball in the field. And the solemn and pompous monotony of the modern day life would straight away put itself into the oblivion–should anyone wish to see him game. His was a game of brilliance and passion.
Courtesy: telegraph.co.uk
Landon Donovan: With bookish precision and professional peculiarity Donovan drinks to the spirits of the universe’s blessings, Donovan has rightly earned himself a place in the pantheon of the greats. At Everton he turned time in his favor. At LA Galaxy he showed his true colors via despicable spells inside the 90 minutes. A moving figure with bold presence, he strikes fear in the opposition.
Alexis Lalas: The evening star–silvery and solitary on the girdle of the early night–would certainly shine bright should one mention the name of Lalas. I watched a very little of his game to be frank, but I hardly doubt we can decipher defenders from America who would rank above his greatness. To me he is the equal of Paul Scholes and Andrea Pirlo.
Lastly, dear readers, I request that you forgive me if you think my column doesn’t mention your any of your heroes.
Regards,
A Winger in Disguise
