My favourite footballer

O desafio lançado pelo pessoal do The Equaliser é simples. Pede-se aos leitores que elejam o seu jogador de futebol favorito e que escrevam um pequeno texto sobre o mesmo. Em Agosto passado, "preso" em Lisboa, com a casa toda submersa em pó, dois moldavos a martelar sem cessar na divisão ao lado, um calor do caraças, sentei-me ao computador e em meia dúzia de minutos saiu este texto. De jacto, sem grandes merdas, apenas uma certeza, Dennis Bergkamp, he's the man! Seguiu por e-mail. Foi aceite. Agradeci e esperei. Foi hoje publicado. Podem lê-lo aqui. Mas façam-me o favor de ler também o que está aqui em baixo. Pois este que aqui está foi aquele que eu enviei, o que eu escrevi. O que lá está foram eles que o escreveram... Grandes cromos! Disse-lhes que se sentissem à vontade para emendar algo que achassem estar errado ou mesmo sem sentido, o meu inglês não é perfeito I confess, mas isto?! Caramba. Mesmo em relação às imagens lembro-me de lhes ter pedido explicitamente para não colocarem nenhuma imagem dele com a camisola dos gunners, além de ter sugerido a que está aqui mais abaixo, e o que é que eles fazem? Pois... Na boa, o que interessa mesmo é louvar o grande Dennis Bergkamp. E sempre posso ter aqui o texto original. Boa leitura {mesmo com erros, gramaticais, sintácticos, gralhas, whatever, mas muito mais genuíno...}!



«I guess it must be Dennis Bergkamp.

The guy never won nothing really worth it. Three UEFA cups, I grant that, but still… No Champions, no Euro Cup, no World Cup. But who cares? Playing football isn’t (shouldn’t be) all about winning trophies. I always preferred the Johaan Cruijff’s “best to be remembered by the style” approach. And Dennis Bergkamp was all about style. The poise, the total control of the ball, of the space, of the thought and action…

And what to say of his sense of fidelity, throughout his career? I also value that. He always seemed well with his life, centered, balanced. He played in three clubs. God, three clubs! We may as well say two, since the Internazionale experience was not all that great (which for me is another extra point… not being totally successful in Serie A can be seen as good sign…). So, two clubs it is! Not that many players pull this one trough. He was born and educated at Ajax (1986-1993) and matured and ended in glory at Arsenal (1995-2006). Being this faithful to one’s teams is not for an average player!

The same goes for the oranje elftal. From 1990 to 2000, those were ten good years I must say (79 apps and 37 goals). Great games, decisive games. One of the best to ever played with the orange jersey. And the luck to ever played with some outstanding Dutch players, such as Kluivert (the only one until now to have surpassed him in most goals scored), Overmars, Bronckhorst, Winter, Koeman, brothers De Boer, Van der Sar, Cocu, Davids, Seedorf and many others.

And, of course, if style, allure, sense of fidelity, integrity and whatnot weren’t enough, for scoring the most brilliant goal ever! Yes, for me, being two years younger than him, I cannot recall another goal so brilliant in the last 40 years. Sorry, I cannot. Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, 4th July 1998. Quarter-finals, Holland vs. Argentina. One minute to the final whistle, and the game is tied 1-1. Frank de Boer makes a 60-yard aerial pass to Bergkamp. With three (!!!) right-footed touches Bergkamp dominates the ball (!), puts it in between Ayala’s legs (!) and fires a volley with the outside of his right foot past the goalkeeper (!), sending Holland to the semi-final against Brazil. That goal is historical, is beyond football. It’s magic. (you can watch it here) I still can hear myself screaming whenever I think of that afternoon! Goosebumps allover! ;D

I even find his aerophobia endearing. Being known as the non-Flying Dutchman is quite something!

He’s a player I’ll never forget as long as live.

PS - I feel I must also praise Garrincha, Maradona, Cruijff and Eusébio (being a Benfica supporter after all…).»