Mad Props: Top 10 Retirees After The World Cup

March 26th, 2006 | by: Johnny |

One of the reasons I’m so interested in this World Cup is the amount of superstars who will be going into (or probably should) international retirement once it’s over. Of course this is a changing of the guard that happens every four years, but here’s my list of names I’m going to miss and dishonourable mentions for those I’ll be glad to see off the pitch.

Number 10) Edgar Davids

One of my all-time favourite midfielders who, at age 32, is still going strong at Tottenham despite a rash of injuries. I’m hoping he pops a few in before he calls it a night.

Number 9) Zinedine Zidane

At 34 years of age, still a force to be reckoned with, and my fondest wish is for France to put in a good showing with this classy superstar at the helm so that he can put the ghosts of ‘02 behind him.

Number Pavel Nedved

Although a bit of an underachiever, the 34 year-old Nedved’s a talent that will be missed greatly on the International scene, and will create a huge hole on the Czech team when he leaves.

Number 7) Luis Figo

Having shed his prima donna image with a bravura showing at Euro ‘04, 34 year-old Luis Figo has finally come into his own as a team player, and this is the perfect chance for him to make amends for a disappointing end-run at Real Madrid (as well as Portugal’s horrible showing at the last World Cup).

Number 6)Oliver Kahn

Goalkeepers generally retire later on than other players on the pitch, so at 37 years of age, this is Ollie’s last chance at World Cup glory. Though dubbed as a bit of a mad hatter by various publications, he’s nothing if not intensity personified. Germany will miss him more than they know.

Number 5) Fernando Morientes

At 30, I doubt Morientes will make the squad for the next Euro, let alone 2010. Although he’s done poorly at Liverpool, the man has undeniable talent when he’s positioned properly, and I predict this tournament will be his last chance to shine.

Number 4) Ruud Van Nistelrooy

30 year-old Ruud won’t be given the opportunity at Euro ‘08 to compete when Holland has the likes of Robben, Makaay, and Van Persie to throw up front, so this natural goal-scorer will be singing his swan song this summer (and if we’re lucky, may provide us with one of the top 10 goals of the tourney).

Number 3) Alessandro Del Piero

I, for one, will miss this gifted striker, who at age 32, is still going strong as a super-substitute at Juventus when a lot of his peers are put out to pasture. The Bob Gainey of football, here’s hoping that he finds the net a few times this summer to cap off his international career on a high note.

Number 2) Ronaldo

Though not my favourite player for a number of reasons, I still have to applaud the imminent exit of this world-class superstar, now 30 years old and in the process of being weeded out in favour of Ronaldinho, Adriano, and Robinho. He had a non-descript ‘94, a disastrous ‘98, a phoenix uprising in ‘02, and hopefully a prosperous ‘06. You don’t get to be footballer of the year 3 times by being mediocre.

Number 1) Hernan Crespo

This charismatic striker (who’ll be 31 in July) has so much going for him that this summer promises to be his only shot of redeeming Argentina’s miserable ‘02 campaign.

Dishonourable mentions this year go to…

David Beckham

A perennial choker on penalties, a lousy presence on the pitch as a captain, a prima donna who takes far too many stupid penalties, and a media hog. He won’t be able to retire fast enough for me.

Francesco Totti

An undeniable talent as a playmaker, striker, and dribbler, but such a poor sport during crunch times that it’s a wonder he gets picked at all for the National Team. In the words of Robert DeNiro in “Casino” ‘I wouldn’t give the bum a mop-job.’

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http://portugal.worldcupblog.org Luis Paulo

I disagree about Crespo. He hasn’t being a stater in a team since he left Parma. In my opinion he is very overestimated. Now back in Chelsea he has done nothing.
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/group-g/10-things-id-like-to-see-happen-this-summer.html#comment-22 Pedro P

FIGO: I think he’s doing a great job with INTER right now. Still a “class” in itself. That surelly compensates for Real and don’t forget he was an easy scape goat for a team falling into pieces. As a portuguese I feel all of us “tugas” must say MUITO OBRIGADO = Thank you very much, for all he’s done for us.
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/group-g/10-things-id-like-to-see-happen-this-summer.html#comment-22 Pedro P

As far as I’m concerned, Totti (an even bigger prima donna that can hardly spell his own name in is own language) can go somewhere nobody knows, in the search for the meaning of life…
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/group-g/10-things-id-like-to-see-happen-this-summer.html#comment-22 Pedro P

Beckham’s move to Real Madrid (following their strategy of making money not goals) strongly contributed for it to become the richest club. A position previously occupied by Man Utd… So, yeah, the guy sells.

But he also plays, Bob. I’ve never been a big fan of his but he plays. Truth must be said, I’ve also always found him overrated and maybe he’ll never be the same as he was when with Man Utd.

Moreover, if you put such a big emphasis on image and in a strong masculine look, you should at least have a man’s voice and not a baby’s.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/the-blog-goes-on-0327.html The Blog Goes On 03.27 – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

[...] Get these guys a pension. The top 10 retirees after the World Cup (South Korea Blog) [...]
nicholas ohio

I think a couple of people you might of missed include Edwin Van der Sar from Holland. He is an outstanding goalkeeper who will probably playing his last world at his age. Also Gary Neville will be gone from the english team as well, he just played 500th game for ManU, the man must be tired. Also you will probably never see Philip Cocu pull on the orange shirt of Holland again. Thierry Henry will be 30 after the WC, so you might not see him again as well.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/the-end-of-an-era.html The End of an Era – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

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http://www.bensefels.de Bense

As far as I know, Kahn will not stop goalkeeping after the WC. If he can conserve his shape, that bloody bastard will be playing until 2008, so he can finally win another title if Germany doesn’t make it this summer.

And to be honest: Kahn was a great g/k. But one thing we gladly never lack in Germany are great g/ks.
http://www.bensefels.de Bense

Oh, I forgot to add:

If it were for me, they could keep Becks playing for 4 more years. I love seeing him blown penalties and giving the crows the face afterwards in a way only he can.

He’s actually the only thing who keeps England from being more successfull.
Euler

If Ronaldo plays well in this WC a great number of European clubs will try to hire him. That’s not his international retirement at all. At least that’s what I think.

I just wrote about him in Brazil’s blog.

http://brazil.worldcupblog.org/group-f/how-important-is-ronaldo-now.html
soze

How can you say that Zidane is still a force to be reckoned with. Have you seen him play at Real this season. I do not even understand how he is getting a spot on the pitch to play. Unless the ball is delivered right to his boot, there is no effort at all from this once amazing and gifted player. Zizou should have hung up his boots when he retired after EC2004. He has been a discrace to himself ever since.

And Luis Figo, who is doing a fantastic job over at Inter (apart from a few bad moments..err games) cannot be blamed for a ‘dissapointing’ end run at Real. He was sidelined by one of the worst and vendictive coaches in history. I mean, this guy bounces around from club to club on a yearly basis. He’s with a team long enough to screw up their team spirit and then gets sacked.
Rabotnik

I like this article a lot, but maybe you’re not being completely fair to all the players here. It seems to me you just don’t like Beckham and have done a bit of a hatchet job as a result. Don’t forget he was a large part of Manchester United’s treble winning season and has played well for England more times than he’s disappointed. And that ‘disppointing end-run’ of Figo at Real Madrid was because Beckham took his place from him at right wing.
If I gave Edgar Davids the same treatment as you’ve given Beckham here, all there would be is ‘too many cards, sent home from Euro 96, banned for two years for steroid abuse’.
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/group-g/10-things-id-like-to-see-happen-this-summer.html#comment-22 Pedro P

OK Rabotnik, I’m gonna be 100% honest with you:

1)I’ve never been a huge fan of Bekham’s but I, for one, never said he’s bad.
2)The demise of Real Madrid din’t “just happen”. It was a consequence of the club’s policy. A clear example is that they bought several “stars” for up front, when what they really needed was first and foremost someone to replace Makele and also in the defense. This costed Carlos Queirós’s job as a coach, who went back to Man Utd. This, naturally, affected the whole team. Look at them now. NOBODY there does anything worthwhile watching, theese days. The point is that in Figo’s early days with Real, everybody was more than satisfied with him. He performed poorly at the end, but so did ALL of them. He was smart enough to leave and he should have done so much before.
3)Beckham, with all the ups and downs a player has, didn’t simply “steal” Figo’s place in the squad, because he was not delivering. Beckham, being still a very good player, was more of an investment. And he never really played as a true winger there. He did at ManUtd. In Real he was a right midfielder and, for what I saw, was clearly inferior to Figo AS A WINGER. Not necessarily as a player.
4)I also think that the english are worse to him with the critics, than all the others. In the POR ENG match (EC04), Rui Costa also failed a penaltie and said exactly the same as Beckham about the lawn. Rui Costa NEVER fails penalties and giving bad excuses has never been his style, so I’ll take his word. The english, press and fans, almost cruxified Beckham. And I don’t really believe he’s all that worried…
5) Maybe there has been a bit of a so called “hatchet job”, but you must see that he’s clearly been asking for it.
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org Greekfreak

Wow! Didn’t expect so many comments, so thanks to all and keep ‘em coming.

Regarding Van Der Sar and Henry, they were not excluded out of malice; it was, after all, only a ‘top 10′ and they surely would have made a top 15 or 20 list. There are quite a few more names you could make a case for, including Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Kluivert (although who would notice?, Barthez, Veron, etc.

Regarding Becks; the man’s been overrated for years in my opinion. Midfielders like Zidane, Deisler, Ballack, and Figo deserve more credit for not only being able to take a free kick but being able to draw fouls, create spaces/chances, and leading by example. Doesn’t mean Beckham has had a crap career as a whole, but he’s seemingly intent on ending it badly.
zizan

no defenders mentioned here…

cafu for brazil,javier zannetti and roberto ayala for argentina, jaap stam of netherlands, thuram for france should also be mentioned…they are world class and international soccer will surely miss them too…
zizan

roberto carlos still going to play major roles for brazil after world cup…he is so fit and there are not much good leftback in brazil to replace him….

cafu has found his successor… cicinho….i thought of sol campbell for england (great performance last world cup)too…with terry and ferdinand brothers…we might not be seing too much of campbell in the future
Mahdi

No love for Michael Ballack or Sol Campbell?
Greekfreak

If Ballack is still healthy, count on him being a sub in 2010 (Germany has had a history of keeping older players around past their expiry date). I’ve never been a great admirer of Campbell, and don’t think he’ll be missed as much as some others I’ve mentioned.
http://southkorea.worldcupblog.org/group-g/to-go-or-not-togo-that-is-the-question.html To go or not Togo; that is the question…. – FIFA World Cup 2006 – Korea Republic World Cup Team Blog

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