Top 8 Hard Men in World Football

The old-fashioned enforcer is becoming a dying breed in modern football. 

Gone are the days when every team had its own Claudio Gentile, Roy Keane or Joe Jordan.

There is too much at stake now in the professional game for clubs to give free reign to their most fearsome players.

That is not to say these primal prowlers are extinct altogether, though.

A glance around the globe reveals that football is not totally bereft of old-school hard men or the odd loose cannon.

Here is a selection of the toughest, craziest hombres currently playing the game.

8. Scott Brown

Club: Celtic

Nationality: Scottish

No hard man list would be complete without a fiery Scotsman, and Celtic's Scott Brown fits the description to a tee. 

A yellow and red card magnet, if there is trouble on the pitch, fan-favorite Brown is never far from it.

He's a bustling, high-energy midfielder who, at the age of 28, still hasn't quite figured out the limits of acceptable behavior in a football match.

7. Daniele De Rossi

Club: Roma

Nationality: Italian

Known to many US fans for his brutal elbow to the face of Brian McBride at the 2006 World Cup, De Rossi has since forged a reputation in Italy as one of the great midfielders of modern times.

Fortunately he has usually managed to channel his natural aggression into more productive uses, like bossing the center of the pitch for Roma and the Azzurri with his tough-tackling, unyielding style of play.

Occasionally the old rage boils over, however, making De Rossi an intimidating character indeed.

Witness his calf tattoo to get an idea of what he's all about.

6. Cheick Tiote

Club: Newcastle United

Nationality: Ivorian 

Cheick Tiote often gives the impression that he bundles up every minor frustration that he encounters during the week, every moment of agitation, then releases it in 90 minutes of slow-burning rage on the football pitch.

Some of the fouls he commits are vicious and just plain inexplicable.

It looks like it would really hurt to be on the receiving end of them as well.

5. Pepe

Club: Real Madrid

Nationality: Brazilian/Portuguese

If you're having trouble catching a butterfly, sometimes the best strategy is to launch a cannonball at it.

At times that seemed to be Real Madrid's tactic for handling Barcelona's twinkle-toed magicians over the past few seasons, and the strategy inevitably involved the reliably feisty Pepe.

The snarling, combative defender is a master at getting under the skin of his opponents and generally being disruptive to their game.

Sure, sometimes he loses the plot completely and gets sent off, but nobody's perfect.

4. Nemanja Vidic

Club: Manchester United

Nationality: Serbian

Aside from being a stopper of the highest order, Nemanja Vidic appears to be carved out of granite or some other equally dense rock.

Factor in his hulk-like strength and single-minded commitment to protecting his team's net, and you get a fellow who no striker would enjoy coming up against.

It wouldn't be pleasant to encounter him in a dark alley, either.

3. Diego Lugano

Club: West Bromwich Albion

Nationality: Uruguayan

This angel-faced hatchet man has not calmed down the slightest bit with age.

The Uruguayan veteran has a long rap sheet of lunging tackles, flailing elbows, fights and general mischievousness. 

Premier League referees should soon become familiar with his work.

2. Gary Medel

Club: Cardiff City

Nationality: Chilean

A man who always plays with his aggression levels cranked up to 11, Gary Medel is known as the "Pitbull" for a reason.

His kamikaze-like tackling technique and anger management issues make him a very scary little fellow.

He is one of the most avid collectors of red cards in the game.

1. Salvador Cabanas

Club: General Caballero

Nationality: Paraguayan 

If you want an example of a footballer with true grit and determination, look no further than rugged Paraguayan playmaker Salvador Cabanas.

The 2007 South American Footballer of the Year was shot in the head at point-blank range in a Mexico City nightclub in January of 2010 and not only survived, but returned to football just sixteen months later.

He now plays in Paraguay's Division Intermedia (second division), despite still having a bullet lodged in his skull.

That's what you call a hard man.