AuthorBoth Outcasts It’s the end to the international break - well for three weeks until some new international games and friendlies roll around - so that means that club football will be back with us very soon. However, to stick with international football theme for a little bit longer, while watching the various internationals that have been on this past week, we noted that Wayne Rooney was close to breaking the all-time most capped England player record. While Rooney has declined somewhat in recent times. He was a phenomenon earlier in his career and you don’t become your country’s top scorer and all time most capped player if you don’t deserve it, but that got us thinking about those players who we thought deserved more of a run out for their respective international teams? Steve Bruce – Uncapped
That’s right, we are starting off the list with a player that was a stalwart for the Manchester Utd defence, playing over 300 games for them and scoring 36 goals, but never got a game for England! It seems ludicrous to think that the defensive partnership of Bruce and Pallister, considered one of the greatest ever, only got 22 caps for England and all of them for Gary. Even when considering the great defenders like Adams, Bould, Wright and Pearce that played instead of them, it still seems crazy that Bruce never got a cap. A nice little stat about him though, Bruce was the first English captain to win the double in the 20th century when Utd won the FA Cup and Premier League in 1993-1994 season. Andy Cole – 15 caps Cole bagged 93 goals in 195 appearances for Manchester United between 1995 and 2001. He scored 187 in total in the EPL, which is the third highest ever amount too. After the retirement of Eric Cantona in the 1998 season Cole stepped up to be the top goal scorer for Utd and in the famous treble season of 1999 Cole and his strike partner Yorke contributed 53 goals between them. It seems odd that a player so prolific at club level did not get more than 15 caps for his country. Cole himself has indicated the reasoning why he thought he didn’t get picked much and that reason came in the form of a certain Mr Teddy Sheringham. The two players may have been brilliant together on the field but famously did not like each other much off it. It seems silly to think that the top scorer in the league in 1998 season - Cole with 18 goals - was not picked to go to the World Cup that year. There would be an outcry if something similar happen today. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – 23 The former Leeds, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea man (he was the latters record transfer in 2000 for £15million) was a quick and powerful player. During his time at the Bridge he went on to score 70 goals in 136 appearances for Chelsea. Amazingly though, Hasselbaink didn’t make his international debut until the tender age of 28! This can partly be put down to him playing a number of years in lower league football and also partly due to some of the players he had to complete with at international level such as Bergkamp, Kluivert, van Hooijdonk, Roy Makaay and Ruud van Nistelrooy. That’s a tough group to crack that, but we think he still probably deserved more caps considering Holland weren't exactly successful during the period of time when he was eligible. Matt Le Tissier - 8 caps This is a man that is referred to as being the footballer than inspired Xavi (yes, the Barcelona and Spain legend)! Matt Le Tissier just enjoyed his football and loved scoring goals. He played at a time when England did have an abundance of quality strikers, but his performances for an unfashionable Southampton side ensured he stood out from the Premier League striker crowd. With a languid style that people often mistook for laziness, he was just simply a quality player and a joy to watch. Le Tissier played his entire career for Southampton and most would say that due to him not playing for one of the so called ‘big teams’ that limited his international opportunities. Such a shame for fans of his and those that enjoy lazy looking footballers that can produce moments of magic. Victor Valdes – 20 caps The ex-Barcelona shot-stopper was a mainstay in the recent Catalan clubs amazing domestic and European dominance. In 2009 he helped Barcelona to an unprecedented treble when they won the La Liga, Champions League and Copa Del Rey Cup. He was a goalkeeper than would walk into most international teams (even now), however he found opportunities hard to come by for the Spain team at the time. Why? Well, the answer to this comes in the form of Iker Casillas. Unfortunately for Valdes it was very difficult to knock Real Madrids Casillas from the number one spot regardless of his club accolades. Valdes is not alone in that situation from the Spanish squad, numerous players could make it on this type of list from their recent squads alone, just ask Cesc Fabregas and Mikel Arteta. Its all well and good being part of a golden generation of players, but the problem comes as only 11 players can start a game! Fabrizio Ravanelli - 22 Ah, it may have only been one season at Middlesbrough in the 1996-7 season but what a season of memories this guy gave us! Ravanelli scored 17 goals that season, but unfortunately couldn’t keep Boro in the top flight. It was his form for his previous club Juventus which made his name, scoring 41 goals in 111 appearances. Ravanelli made 22 appearances for Italy and scored 8 goals but along with Roberto Baggio was a big omission from the 1998 world cup team, with the then Italian boss picking Enrico Chiesa instead for the squad. Ravanelli also had a couple of seasons at Derby too, scoring 14 goals for them, but again couldn’t keep them up in the 2001-2002 season. Bernd Schuster - 22 Nicknamed the “blonde angel” when he played, Schuster was a star for the big boys in La Liga playing 170 games for Barcelona, 61 times for Real Madrid and 85 times for Atletico Madrid. Wow – not a bad line up of sides on the CV! He won many awards during the 1980s and really came into his own during his Real Madrid days helping them to dominate the domestic league. Schuster also won the 1980 European Championships with the then West Germany, but problems with coaching staff and ongoing disagreements off the field resulted in him retiring at the age of just 24 with only 22 caps to his name. He’s a definite case of what could have been? Any other players that we missed let us know. |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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