Do any of you feel like things used to be magical when we were young and crazy? Yeah, all the old fellows I meet in the pub before game day talk about their college days and how they partied harder than Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Wahlberg. I have that feeling when I watch football these days as I don’t see a classic number 10. I don’t see the great strikers of the 90s. I want to convey what I feel to the newer kids just for the kick of it.
I know football has evolved greatly; pace, physique meshed into every single aspect of the game. Cristianos, Drogbas, Boatengs (debatable) will be dominating the field, physical beasts who would be able to dish out punishment at high rate in the final third. I know big strikers with no nonsense attitude existed before my time. Natural gifts were valued before parity in conditioning was achieved in football. I know I am underselling their technical and all round footballing abilities; call it being nostalgic or being old.
A striker I always wanted to watch was Gunnar Nordahl who clearly showed how dominating you can become when a great footballing brain is molded into a Greek god like frame, a mighty Swede who scored 210 goals in 257 games. His goals highlights shows what a physical, fast, menacing and professional striker he was. He was just a beast who dominated for Milan.
I already went off track on this subject, so I am planing to write a series on a couple of strikers who are special in their own way and whom I have watched while growing up. Its neither a ranking nor an exhaustive list. I could be very far from the truth on every single striker bar one and you are more than welcome to chip in with some suggestions. If any of you want to add their favorite strikers into the list you are more than welcome.
1. Tip of The Spear: Super Pippo
He is master class in movement, he is the one guy who will push the envelope to its limit, flirting with offside consistently. My commentator for my dismay utters “he was born offside” – Alex Ferguson’s comment – every single day. He was supremely intelligent and developed a knack for decisive movements. When I watch the game I only see Pippo scoring and his open mouth celebration. I couldn’t figure out what that dude was doing until I watched the replay. Stretch the defense to its limit, exploit the match ups. Every number 10s friend, every overrated long ball specialists’ dream and fans love him because he makes the stadium erupt. He is crazy effective with solid side kicks, he can score something special even on his death bed. Oh well, last time I heard his scoring exploits off the field was out of the world.
He reminds me of Baresi’s quote on himself as to how he was able to maintain his standard for a long time, “I think better than others”. Similar to that, Inzaghi’s career was built on intelligence, experience and sheer determination. He is adored by Milan fans not because he had a great career but because those moments he created from nothing will be cherished forever. The 2007 Champions League final win was needed to complete Pippo Inzaghi.
He may not be the greatest in this list but his instincts and movement made him unforgettable. He was injured for most of his Milan career and he only had one or two standout years where he smacked goals top and bottom but like I mentioned, overall stats don’t define Mister Inzaghi. I am not even a big Pippo fan, I was heavily annoyed by his injury prone career, his frustrating offsides and his productivity in later years but he was a special player.
Somehow he is compatible with every other player who is not an out and out striker like him. Pippo eats up competition; as mentioned in Ancelotti’s biography, Pippo and Del Piero had their falling out. The only time I saw Pippo take a mentoring role was in spring 2009 with Pato and one Huntelaar 5 minute cameo at the end with Catania, he moved in and out of the box and thus created an opportunity for the younger striker.
He was exquisite with kaka, seedorf and rui costa because all three of them loved the center lane creating so much space for Mr. Offside to stay onside. I want to pay a better homage than this but everybody knows about Inzaghi especially in the Milan realm. You can go also go through a couple of articles on this blog and outside of it to get a feeling for it.
To conclude, Inzaghi was a highly intelligent, cunning, compatible, selfish, passionate, persistent big game player for Milan who produced magic. I see so many quotes on Facebook but I think this one fits right here: “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” (Hilary Cooper)
