Last week, the new (foreign) coach of Indian national soccer/football team, Bob Houghton, came with an interesting theory that to do well in World Football India needs to have only tall players. I completely disagreed with this theory that short people cannot play football well and for the last few days, I did some research about this matter. Here, I have made list of 10 great players who were short in height but played much better than most tall players. I have tried to include the players of the past and the present in this list so that Mr. Houghton cannot dismiss it easily.
Here are the ten short players who outperformed almost all the tall players they played with:
1. Diego Maradona: Height- 166 cm (5 ft 5 in)- Argentina
To millions of football fans, Diego Maradona is the greatest footballer of all time (along with Pele of Brazil). I do not know of any other footballer who dominated the game in our own time. He single handedly made Argentina World Cup champion in 1986. He also single handedly took Italian club Napoli to the top of Italian football and European Football. Thanks God, Bob Houghton was not coach of any of the teams that Maradona played. Otherwise, we may have been deprived of watching the greatest player of our time.
2. Garrincha- Brazil
His real name was Manuel Dos Santos Francisco and he was called 'little bird' ' because of his short stature and movement, which was remarkable for the bursts of speed.' To many people, he was the best Brazilian footballer ever- even better than the great Pele. Along with Pele, Garrincha contributed immensely to make Brazil world champion in 1958 and 1962. He was a very attractive and unpredictable player and the opponents were at a loss on how to stop him.
3. Vava- 5 ft 5½ in (167 cm)- Brazil
Vava was a contemporary player of Pele and Garrincha and another great Brazilian short player. He was a member of Brazilian national team both in 1958 and 1962 World Cup and scored total 9 goals in these two events. As a striker, he was smart and he could come and score goals out of no where. Vava's fame was deeply overshadowed because of being a contemporary of Pele.
4. Roberto Carlos- 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)- Brazil
Roberto Carlos is still playing. He is getting old and after he retires both Brazil and Real Madrid will find it extremely difficult to replace him. He is famous for his great free kicks and speed. He has been playing in Real Madrid for 10 years as a foreign player and this alone states of his talent.
5. Javier Saviola: Height- 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)- Argentina
Saviola played very well during World Cup 2006 for Argentina. Before that he was a member of the Argentine squad that won the gold medal in 2004 Olympic. He was also a member of the Argentine youth team that won World Youth Cup in 2001.
6. Nobby Stiles: Height 5 ft 6 in (168 cm)- England
England became World Cup champion only once- in 1966. Nobby Stiles was ' the toothless midfield ballwinner of England's 1966 World Cup winning side.' He was small in size but big in performance. He was a famous player of Manchester United and played 392 matches for the team.
7. Romario: Height: 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)- Brazil
Romario had a major contribution behind Brazil's becoming champion in 1994 World Cup Football. He is now 40 years old but still playing and he has scored more than 950 goals so far (Fifa recognized goals) and he may become the second player in the history of football to score 1,000 goals. Only Pele has this record. A great achievement for such a short player! He is also in the club of international footballers who have scored more than 50 goals in international matches.
8. Fabio Cannavaro: Height- 5 ft 9 1/2 in (176 cm)- Italy
The name sounds familiar- isn't it? It is because he was the captain of Italian team that won the 2006 World Cup (just 6 weeks ago). He is rather short for a central defender but often tall opponents are no match for him. If Zinedine Zidane did not receive the golden ball then he would get it this time as he got the second highest vote as the best player of the tournament.
9. George Best: 5'8"- England
George Best was the most famous footballer who played in English league. He was simply a great player who could perform magic with the ball. He played 466 matches for Manchester United. Pele spoke about him very highly while he was the most favorite player of Maradona. Best was a genius. Interesting thing is that at the beginning of his career, his local club Glentoran discarded him as "too small and light".
10. Lionel Messi: Height 169cm- Argentina
He is often called as the 'Next Maradona' by the media and in World Cup 2006, many of us realized that he has a great future. He is only 19 years old but has become an important player for his club Barcelona. He was the youngest scorer of World Cup 2006.
As you can see that I did some research to find out some of the short players who played or are playing much better than the taller players of their generation. I do not know if Bob Houghton will read this blog entry of mine or not. I just wish that someone reads it and informs him about his wrong approach. Bob Houghton should focus more on finding talented people than trying to find taller players only.
Cricket has already become a multi billion dollar industry in India and football has the potential to become even a bigger industry and generate more jobs. However, for it, people like Bob Houghton must stop focusing on the height of players alone.
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