Bleacher Report - Articles by Indran Goncalves Edirenko

Child Soldiers: The Casualities in Football

Indran Goncalves Edirenko — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:05:55 -0400

Once a person is labeled as a prodigy, the future, or the next (whatever), that person, no matter his age, origin or race, is already destined to carry a great load of responsibility.

Not everyone can handle that kind of pressure, some may fail because the load of expectation is too big for them, injuries also might get into the way, wrong decisions made by parents, agent or ultimately the player himself or just sheer luck that did not turn to their way.

Fortunately, players like Fernando Torres, Joe Cole, Andrea Pirlo, Lionel Messi and almost all the players we know now have already went through that difficult period of time and have now succeeded to become one of the best football players on the planet.

That’s all we know now right, the players who have succeeded in their live and now have turned into millionaires.

But, what about the players who did not make it, players who were also labeled the next best thing to come out, but never showed up?

What went wrong with these players? Why they never made it? How come they have been forgotten? Was over-confident a factor for their failures? I did some research and found out that there are so many factors that can affect a player’s future.

So, I decided to write an article to honor these forgotten former child soldiers, who, unfortunately, have become the causalities in the war of football.

So this is the list of players (countdown style) who I think could have made it big time with our current stars if situations have allowed it.

5) Johnnier Montaño –Colombia, attacking midfielder

Born in 14 January 1983, this midfield player already looked like a world beater at the tender age of 15.

He first started his career at America de Cali as a youngster and after playing 6 games for them he was quickly snapped up by Argentinean club Quilmes Athelico Club.

He showed great form for them at the young age of 14 years and 8 months.

He did so well for them, that at the age of 15 he was selected to represent his country at the 1999 Copa America. He even scored a goal for them against Argentina, in a game that Martin Palermo famously missed three penalty kicks. Colombia eventually won that game 3-0.

With all the hype surrounding him at the tournament, Parma, a once upon a time giant club in Italy, manage to get his signature after fighting for it with other elite clubs around Europe.

That’s when hell broke loose (for Montano, at least). He never managed to break in to the already strong looking Parma side and was repeatedly loaned out to other clubs.

Coincidently, both the clubs he was loaned out to was relegated out of the division while he was playing there. I say coincidently because he did not manage to play much for them, either.

After that, he was terminated of his contract and he went on to have a nomadic life, changing clubs often, and venturing into unknown parts of the world.

A great player he would have turned to be but now at the age of 26, he is already forgotten, even in Colombia.

4) Owen Price- England, winger

Owen Price, a former England school boy player was highly regarded to be the next David Beckham at the young age of 14.

Tottenham had so much trust on this youngster, that they splashed half a million to Charlton Athletic to take him away from them.

There was so much hype around him that he made into the back pages of newspapers more often than any other Tottenham stars at the time.

He never managed a single game for Tottenham and is now playing for non league Northwich Victoria.

Half a million paid for a 14-year-old, expectations from all over England to be the next David Beckham, scouts, media, manager, coach, fans from all over England breathing down his neck?

I don’t need to tell you what I think was his failure.

According to some pundits now, they are telling that Owen Price was never a big talent anyway. He was just over hyped by local media to sell stories.

This was also backed up by Peter Suddaby, his head coach at Tottenham, who told that he definitely had a lot of talent but by no means was he going to make the grade.

Anyway, now at the age of 23 he still can be proud of the achievement he did nine years ago; he pushed Rooney out of the England school boy team. Yeah, look where Rooney is now.

3) Sonny Pike- England, position unknown.

The only reason Sonny Pike is higher than Owen Price in this list is because Sonny had more hype around him than of Owen Price.

Also, Owen Price became famous at the age of 14 only, where else Sonny Pike made the headlines when he was 7 years old. I’ll repeat that, 7 years old.

I don’t even know the position he played because he was so young when the media dubbed him as the next Maradona. So, I guess he was an attacking minded, 7 year old kid.

Not 17, but 7.

Ajax, who has one of the best youth system, school, coaches, organization and record, offered to take Sonny Pike to their stride and give him a chance to train with them.

The only reason Ajax took all this effort to bring him there is because of only at the age of 7, yes, only at the age of 7 he was already so famous in England. I’ll repeat that again, all of this happened when he was 7 years old.

To me, personally, this is all some kind of sick joke. Take Lionel Messi for an example, he was touted to be a great prospect at a very early age but had health problems. His former club Newells Old Boys could not afford the treatment which is about $ 900 per month.

Barcelona saw great things in that 11 year old kid and offered to pay his medical bill if he is to join them. He agreed and Barcelona knew that great things were to come from that kid but Barcelona, like always, shut their mouth about it.

No hype, no media so, no expectations. He, of course, like well know now, turned out to be the real Maradona’s successor.

Anyway, Sonny Pike did not do to well for the Ajax youth team and was slowly forgotten by the media too.

Slowly he left football and started pursuing his studies at Dundee University and is also currently trying to get his coaching badges.

Sonny says that he's much happier away from professional football. He is open that playing professional football was his childhood dream, but the pressure placed on him by his club, agents, sponsors and, to a lesser extent, the media made him suffer a nervous breakdown in October 2000, whilst still part of the Ajax youth squad.

I feel sorry for that guy.

2) Leandro Bomfim- Brazil, winger/attacking midfielder

This Brazilian superstar was deemed to be next Ronaldo (the fat one) at a very young age. He was a skillful player who made the headlines during the World Cup U-17 in 2001. He has played at every youth level for the Brazil team.

Leandro became the hottest thing in football after some stellar performances for the Brazil team and suddenly there was a bidding war among some big clubs in Europe to get his dreaded signature.

Leandro insisted that he wanted to join PSV to follow the footstep of his idol; Ronaldo. PSV paid 5.5 million euros to snap the 17 year old away from EC Vitoria, although at that time he did not manage a single game for EC Vitoria yet.

At PSV, he managed to have a great debut season under Guus Hiddink and started to draw comparison with his idol Ronaldo, even though they played in different positions.

His skill, passing, positioning, work rate and even his discipline were highly praised by his coaches and team members.

He was turning out to be the next superstar after some stunning performances for PSV and scouts from all over Europe had their eyes on him already.

Just when everything was going great for him, he suffered a rare abdominal injury that needed him to have a surgery. He missed one whole season because of that injury.

By the time he came back to full fitness, PSV has actually brought in a substitute for him, a player by the name of Arjen Robben.

To make matters worse, PSV changed their tactics that did not suit him. It did not stop there, after a few games for PSV, he suffered another injury, this time it was his ankle.

He also had some lawsuit problem with his contract with PSV and it had to be settled in court.

He slowly lost his place in the PSV squad and even though Arjen Robben was transferred to Chelsea, Guus Hiddink changed his team tactics and Leandro was slowly pushed out of the team.

He was later transferred to Porto but did not manage to show his previous form for the club and was loaned to three different Brazil clubs.

Porto then sold him to CR Vasco Da Gama and after a disappointing season he got transferred again to Fluminense FC.

Leandro Bomfim was truly a talented player and certainly would have tuned out to be a world class player, but injuries and some bad luck went againsts him.

And the unfortunate No. 1 spot goes to...

1) Cherno Samba-England, striker

Was there any doubt that who was going to make the No 1 spot on this article?

Samba was an outstanding player during his junior time. He once scored a devastating 132 goals in just 32 games in a junior league when he was just 13 years old.

This made the headlines in the newspapers and suddenly he became the hot topic in town (England).

Although at that time there were no clubs that was after him, but there was gazillions of agents who wanted to take hold of him. There were many agent who, reportedly, offered his father big sums of money to take their offer.

His father declined all the offers because he thought that it looked like he was selling his son to them.

So, he decided to hire his old friend, a person who knew Cherno from at the age of 9, a person who his father trusted and someone who had some experience in professional football, Harry Gebber.

Harry Gebber is a coach turned agent who most certainly had many connections with a lot of clubs. He decided that the best club Cherno can start with is Millwall FC.

It looked like a good decision because Millwall is a small club so there won’t be a lot of pressure, their youth system has a good record of producing players and at a club like this there won’t be much hype around him.

It turned out to be a great decision by Harry because he did really well there. As a 14 year old he was already playing for the under 17. His phenomenon goal scoring abilities continued at the junior level of Millwall FC and he started to make the headlines again.

Ultimately, like always, this is the time when the ‘bigger’ clubs come in with their big offer. Typical, don’t you think.

Anyway, Millwall reluctantly allowed Harry Gebber and Cherno Samba to talk with other clubs and they decided that Liverpool FC was the best choice. Liverpool wanted him so much that they made Michael Owen to call him on the phone and urge him to join the club.

To materialize the move, Harry Gebber hired sports lawyer Mel Stein to broker the deal. It never happened because Millwall took a long time to name a price and eventually Liverpool pulled out of the deal.

It broke the kid’s heart and he lost the interest to play football any more, and he never recovered from that.

Even though he managed to play for England at every youth level, he did not manage to break into the first team of Millwall.

He ventured to Spain to resurrect his career but he had a torrid time at Cadiz CF and Malaga CF B and he came back to England to play for Plymouth Argyle.

It did not work for him there, either, so they loaned him out to Wrexham again for him to disappoint himself there. These moves did not do anything to improve his confidence.

He then joined FC Haka, because he was a surplus requirement for Ian Holloway’s side at Plymouth. Now he plays his international football for Gambia; the country he was born.

At an interview he once told 'I felt tortured. My football went out of the window. Whether you are 10, 15 or 38, when a move to big club falls through, you get low. I started to question myself and there were times I tried to quit football.

'At 14 I played for the under-17s. I was still playing for the under-17s when I was 17, which means I didn't improve my football. '

That says it all brother, that says it all.

There is a lot we can learn from these players now. Honestly, how long more its going to take before players like Freddy Adu and Rhain Davis to join them? Will we ever learn from our past mistakes?

Is there even a lesson to be learned here? Will these casualities continue? I'll never know for sure but I know one thing for certain, all this things reminds me how beautiful and cruel football is.

P.S.: These players differs from players like Nii Lamptey and the ex Real Betis winger Denilson is because these players failed even before the age of 18, where else Denilson and Nii Lamptey failed when they were at their peak of their career.

These Players Should Be Playing For a "Bigger" Club

Indran Goncalves Edirenko — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:09:48 -0500

For the past few years, I have been predicting a few (relatively unknown) players who I thought would do well at a big club.

Obviously, my scouting skills do not match those of Piet de Visser (yet), but I did predict players like Benayoun (during his Racing Santander time), Dean Ashton (Crewe), Rooney (who didn’t) and Leighton Baines (kinda obvious too) to do well in a bigger club, and they are not doing all too bad.

But, honestly, I also failed with many players, too, like the Brazilian Washington (now playing in the Japanese A-League), Italian Aimo Diana (never played for a "big club" anyway), Derby County’s James McEvely (what was I thinking?), Rafael Sobis (no verdict on him yet) and worst of the lot, the Swiss Johann Vogel (actually Milan never gave him a chance, but he also seems to be struggling at Blackburn!)

So this time, after consulting with a few other "scouters," I have come up with a new list (countdown style) of “RELATIVELY UNKNOWN PLAYERS WHO WOULD DO WELL FOR A BIGGER CLUB.”

5) Stéphane Sessegnon (Benin, PSG, defensive midfielder)

Sessegnon is a central or a defensive midfielder who plays for the French club Paris St-Germain. His name came to prominence twice; when he scored a brace against Lyon during his successful time at Le Mans and his display during the latest African Cup of Nations tournament.

He is not known to score goals, but it’s his great "game reading" ability that is his main strength. Sessegnon is only 5-foot-7, but he is a tough-tackling midfielder.

He is superb on the ball which makes him a a good "ball player," even though he is usually a defensive midfielder. His passing range is excellent, and he is considered to be one of the best midfielders in the Ligue 1.

During his time at Le Mans, he was tracked by clubs like Arsenal and Newcastle but opted to sign for PSG, instead.

Arsene Wenger tracked him for an immediate replacement for the outgoing Flamini, and Newcastle wanted to have a reliable defensive midfielder.

Pundits say his playing style resembles that of Makelele, but if you watch his games you would realize that he is better than Makelele in one aspect: his talent on the ball...not just winning the ball like a normal defensive midfielder would do, but his ability to find his team mate with precision.

Only 24, this player's future looks wonderfully bright (to me at least).

Predicted clubs: Newcastle, Arsenal, Hamburger FC, Schalke 04

4) Alessandro Rosina (Italy, Torino, playmaker)

This player first caught my eyes during the U21 England vs. Italy match at the Wembley. His sensational play-making skills were dazzling; and instantly I know that I am witnessing a star in the making.

Even though he was a star of the U21 Italy, he only has one cap to speak of for the full national team.

He is still only 24 and his type of playing style seems to not suit the present Azzuri playing style currently. His previous clubs include Parma and Verona; now he's playing for Torino, where he is their main play-maker.

Rosina is good on either foot and can play at both flank, but his most effective position is the "hole;" just behind the strikers. He scores a decent amount of goals, but it his creativity that is his main strength.

He is well-built, not the tallest (5-foot-6), but certainly not a player you could bully around. His technique of running straight toward the goal strike fears to even to the best defenders in Seria A.

He has great passing abilities, tends to score the odd goals, wonderful dribbling skills, great vision and a lot of determination.

He previously rejected offers from both the Milan teams and also signed a new contract with Torino, but if Rosina continues to play in this form, he is sure to be lured away.

Predicted future club: Deportivo La Coruna, Fiorentina, Juventus, and Tottenham.

3) Antonio Leonel Vilar Nogueira Sousa, aka Tonel (Portugal, Sporting Lisbon; central defender)

Tonel was first recommended by my friend to be put on this list; and I almost rejected it. The reason I did not want to have his name on the list is because of his age; he is 28.

After some persuasion by my friend to watch his games (which I did and was totally mesmerized) is then that I realized that I would have made a great mistake to not have his name up on this list.

It was actually Anderson Polga (Tonel’s defend partner at Sporting Lisbon) that was to be on this list but (as I watched his games) I was more attracted to Tonel’s game-play rather than the Brazilian’s.

Tonel is a composed, well-built, experienced, very reliable and a solid defender. Tonel scores a fairly amount of goal for a defender and he also tends to score acrobatic goals as well.

He is strong in the air, tackles really well, is great with the ball, and is also very good in reading the game.

He has previously played for Porto and more modest clubs like Maritimo and Academica, but with very little success. He then got his chance to join Sporting Lisbon after some impressive display for Maritimo, and he never looked back since.

To many people's surprise, he rarely gets a call up for the national team, even though he is one of the most consistent players in the Portuguese football league (actually only one cap to speak of).

His partnership with Polga has been one of the success stories for Sporting Lisbon. Even though the pundits say he is a late developer, I just think he was never given the chance to shine or to play on a more competitive team.

He is currently being tracked by Rangers and a few other clubs, but I would really like to see him in a more competitive league to show his true abilities. He is truly the one of the rare breed of defenders where you can depend on when the whole team is down.

Predicted club: Villarreal, Rangers, Newcastle, AS Roma and Werder Bremen

2) Deivson Rogério da Silva aka Bobo (Brazil, Besiktas, striker)

I was really considering not having strikers on this list; as to possibility of failure is very high, but Bobo has continued to impress me that gave me the courage to have his name on this list.

Bobo is good on the air, a very composed player, a good finisher and is very skillful with the ball too (typical Brazilian). But what amazes me the most with him is his aerial strength (strangely, not very typical Brazilian).

This makes him a good target man and this ability has made him to adapt to European style of play easily.

His goalscoring prowess is certainly not going unnoticed, as Tottenham FC has been linked heavily with him for the replacement of Berbatov. He has currently scored 53 goals in 97 games for Besiktas and has one cap for his national team.

Bobo should certainly consider playing in another league to prove to current Brazil coach Dunga that he is the real deal after all.

Predicted future clubs: Tottenham, Sevilla, and Valencia

And the No. 1 spot goes to….

1)Taye Taiwo (Nigeria, Olimpique de Marseille, left back)

Okay, I know he is NOT "relatively unknown" but still he is not as famous with the media and fans alike as he should be. Taiwo gained international recognition when he was nominated as the third-best player in the FIFA Youth World Cup; only behind Messi and Obi Mikel.

He plays at the left back position for Marseille and although regarded as one of their best players, he is often overshadowed by the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa and Mamadou Niang.

Even though only at the tender age of 23, he has played almost 130 games for Marseille and has experience playing in the Champions League.

He is also a first-team member for the Nigeria national team. In 2006, he won the African Young Player award.

For a left back, he scores quite frequently and has thunderous shoots and along with his determined runs, great physical attributes, sweet left foot, great defending abilities, tons of pace to burn, and wonderful dribbling skills, this player should be the top of every manager's transfer list.

Predicted future club: Tottenham, Valencia (probably even better clubs in the future)

These players were chosen after my friends and I watched a few of their games but for some other players, I could only manage to watch the highlights, as I could not find the right "resources" to watch their games. (None of the players that I watched through highlights are on the list anyway).

In this list, there were many other players that were "nominated" such as De La Pena, Mark Noble, Luisao, Naldo, Heiko Westermann, John Mensah and many more, but I thought that these top 5 players that I would rather put my money on.

So if you think that I missed a few other better players, or some of the players above not worth mentioning, please do leave a comment.

For Cryin Out Loud, Give them A Chance!!!

Indran Goncalves Edirenko — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:09:47 -0500

When I look at the Liverpool squad, on paper, it always surprises me to see same names that are there; and it is usually not a pleasant one. For example, Alvaro Arbeloa.

Is there really not a better right back for us that could take his place. Arbeloa was purchased by Liverpool for around 5 million euros, cheap considering the talent and experience he brings to the squad. But does anyone remember David Raven; probably not.

Raven was a former player for the Liverpool reserve team, captaining the side, touted as the future Liverpool and England right back, and along with David Mannix and Danny Guthrie, they were expected to break the Liverpool squad real soon. That was told approximately 2-3 years ago by football pundits, but presently David Raven is plying his trades at Car lisle Utd, David Mannix is playing for Chester City and Guthrie is playing for the toons.

Why managers are going for foreign imports rather than players that have been playing for the clubs youth team then reserves for almost 5-9 years, players that love the club, passionate for the club and if he stays long enough; eventually becoming a legend for the club?

What they might say is the lack of talent that is coming through the clubs youth system. Yeah right. David Raven won the most improved player award and at the tender age of 22 is being chased by a host of Championship sides, and thrust me, if you have watched him plays you will know he will be playing at a PL side soon.

And also Danny Guthrie is a player with immense future, one of the better player for Newcastle Utd FC this season. Probably Arbeloa is better than Raven, but is he really 5 million euros better than him, I’m sorry, but I don’t think so. Maybe Guthrie could not fight places with Alonso, Gerrard or Masch but with Lucas, is Lucas really better than him? Well, probably its not the time to compare just yet because Lucas is still adjusting to the pace of PL. Right...

Last night I watched Arse-nal vs Astoon Villains and I noticed Astoons best player on the pitch, Steve Sidwell. A former Arsenal promising reserve player, who never got the chance to play for the club he so dearly loved as he was blocked by the likes of Viera’s, Edu’s? and Ray Parlour.

Okay probably Viera, who I still consider as the most complete midfielder in the world; is much more better than him in so many ways, but the how about present players like Song, Diaby or the cash-lover Flamini who left to AC Milan just to have more greens in his pocket? Arsenal rather purchase Gareth Barry or Alonso now rather than actually thinking to keep their own gem.

What the pundits may now say is that Steve Sidwell has improved way too much for the managers to realize then of what he might became. Easier being said that he improved as a player that was never expected by the manager and the manager made a human error. Yeah right.

What I think is that managers are looking the easy way out by purchasing experienced players rather than giving youngsters a chance to play. For example All of the players that came through Arsenal’s youth system and playing for the first team now are foreigners.

Not only Arse-nal are like that, Liverpool, Chelshi* and Manoo are the same. Players like Pacheco, Nacer Barazite, Petrucci, Stoichkov?, Nemeth, Duran, Santo, Rajkovic are all foreign players that was already ready to play for the first team of their respective clubs and some were already playing for their club until they were snapped up by the ‘bigger clubs’.

A reserve player(playing for the “bigger club”), now to play for the club he loves, has to be immensely, outstandingly, greatly and wonderfully talented like Manoo’s Welbeck. I mean really, if the reserve player is NOT THAT talented, outstanding, great and wonderful like our own Raven managers would rather purchase a foreigner who is only moderate rather than giving players like Raven a chance.

It is a pity that players like Raven, Andy Cole (yes, he is from Arse-nal youth team) and Steve Sidwell never got to play for the club that they love even though they are extremely talented players.

Well all I can say that I wish good luck to the likes of Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly, Stephen Darby, Welbeck ,JJ Simpson, Wilshire, Gibbs and a few more who is battling their way to play for the club they so dearly love.

Liverpool: This Should Be Our Year

Indran Goncalves Edirenko — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:47:39 -0500

When my friends and me sat and talked about Liverpool F.C, I as the only Liverpool fan among them couldn't help but feel disgusted of what they thought of us.

A couple of my friends told me that if it wasn't for the Champions League spot, we wouldn't be called the top team in the EPL, as it has been ages since we actually gave Manoo or Chelshi* or even Arse-nal a hard time in EPL games.

We actually usually fight off Evertoons for the last CL spot. But for the last couple of seasons it was Arse-nal that was fighting for "the spot" and we were comfortably sitting on third, still not bothering the top two.

But check out this season, we are on fire! Or are we? We can say that we have never had so many points at this stage of the season since 1996 but is this amount of points sufficient? Is it us being lucky or the other top teams being unlucky?

Okay let's start from Benitez, he is relatively new compared to Sir Alex or Arsene Wenger, he is still learning all the curves of the EPL. For example his ideas on squad rotation backfired, and his zonal marking is still backfiring. Dirk Kuyt? Well for a £10 million striker he is not doing enough. Trying out our reserve players for the first team? Well I'm still 50-50 about it.

Investment on Spanish players is the best idea since 'Fergie's Fledglings'. His attempt to buy Gareth Barry could have created a great partner for Masch and Stevie G, but we would have lost the great Alonso.

There are of course some other ideas that our Mr. Benitez came up with but not all with great success, he is still learning of course but have Liverpool become a club where you can take the risk of experimenting? Hell no!

We are a club that is still being overshadowed by our past, from our great achievements to the Hillsborough disaster; we also seem to be the only English club that never recovered from the European ban on all English teams in the 90s.

I was born in 1988, the only famous footballers that I know who played before I was born are Garrincha, di Stefano, and Puskas (not including Pele, Maradona, and Valderrama of course) but all of the (older) people I have spoken to said football with Liverpool is not what it used to be.

It's a shame considering the players we have now who I think are better than the older generation, for example we have, or had; Torres, Gerrard, Carragher, Owen, Reina, and Kuyt.

They only had Kevin Keegan, Alan Hansen, Ian Rush, Dalglish, McMahon, Grobbelaar, Heighway, Nicol, Barnes, Molby, Clemence, Souness, Hunt, Callaghan, Fairclough, Liddel, and alot more.

Okay, so what if they were better than us, plus I did not add Hyppia or Fowler for us when I was comparing, and I didn't add Lawrenson, Beardsley, Phil Neal, Ian St. John, John Toshack, and Ray Kennedy for them.

Okay I guess they were probably better than us, what I am trying to say is: I am afraid that this year wouldn't be ours. Our squad depth, for me, is not good enough. When fellow Liverpool fans tell me that this COULD be our year I tell them no, I tell them it SHOULD be our year, it simply HAS to be our year.

As for the question earlier, if we are lucky? I don't think so, I REALLY THINK THIS W/C/SHOULD BE OUR YEAR!