Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My 100th post and my favorite #10 players

This is my 100th post!!! J 

wow.

When I started this blog, this was really just my outlet for all my football “obsession” because I don’t really have anyone to talk to about football in where I am based now.  Before, I had a  couple of football-mad friends who, like me, would also stay up all night just to watch live games and the next day we’d talk about anything and everything about the match like analyzing the strategies, reliving the highlights and just sharing the love of the game.

Sadly, Philippines is not (yet) a football-loving country, there are very few people who have a passion for this sport.  So with no one to share my brimming excitement for football and the matches I watched or planned to watch, I decided to start this blog to write things I would have discussed with my football friends.

But I never really thought I’d reach 100 posts or even to be still be blogging up to now.  As with my previous attempts to blog, I thought I wouldn’t be able to sustain this beyond two weeks.  I guess, timing was a major factor as to why I lasted this long. When I started this blog, it was during the end part of the football season where the Champions League is already in the Round of 16, making it very exciting to watch the matches.  It also coincided with the rise (and I do hope it continues) of football and the Azkals in the Philippines.

In honor of my 100th post, here are my favorite number players who donned the number 10 jersey (because there is no number 100 jersey in football J)

Zinedine Zidane
The playmaker.  Love this guy, the 1st time I saw him play was when he was still in Juventus.  I’m amazed at this guy’s vision and creativity on the pitch.  Teammates have said that when they didn’t know what to do with the ball, they just pass it to him and he’ll think of something.


Diego Maradona
Infamous for his “hand of God” goal and his off the pitch issues of alcoholism, drug addition and weight struggle, he is also one of the football legends who I admire for turning his life around and becoming the coach off Argentina in last year’s World Cup.

Pele
The legend.  Of course, I don’t think I need to explain this (even the non-fans know about him).  I love that he continues to promote and be an ambassador for football.


Alessandro Del Piero
Wears number 10 for Juventus and before, for Italy.  I think he peaked in 1998-2002 but when I started to follow football, he was one of the “players-to-watch” and was being compared to Ronaldo at that time but all the talk kinda stopped when he got injured just weeks before the 1998 World Cup and in the same year got sidelined again from a serious injury.  When I watched him return, he wasn’t like before anymore (don’t get me wrong, he’s a great player, but I think he never got to lived up to the earlier hype).  Off the pitch, people say he’s a really classy and nice guy, winning three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct.  And yeah, he’s one hot DILF :P


Luis Figo
Wore the number ten for Real Madrid.  His signing to Real Madrid started the club’s Galactico era.  Very classy player.  He still works with Inter Milan as an ambassador.


Cesc Fabregas
number 10 for Spain.  He is currently Arsenal’s captain and has a reputation as one of the best young players for his position, central midfielder and a playmaker.  Great player… and gorgeous tooJ he has this whole bromance going on with Gerard Pique.


Lionel Messi
Dons the #10 for Barca & Argentina.  I love, love, love this guy.  He’s my new favorite player.  I don’t think I have to explain how good of a football player he is, experts have raved about his “inhuman” football skills, but beyond the football prowess, breaking various records and the numerous awards, what I really like about him is that he seems to be a really genuine nice guy.  Very humble and down to earth.  At 19, he started the Leo Messi Foundation (it started from his experience hospital visit to kids with cancer).  Maradona considers Messi as his successor.

I know there are many football greats who wore the number 10 jersey like Michael Platini, Roberto Baggio, Dennis Bergkamp, Johan Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Drogba, etc. (and the list can go on as usually the best strikers use this number) but I these are the players that I really like and usually, I like a player because of who he is off the pitch.

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