By Myles Palmer
Michael Owen, that ruthless little goal machine, was on TV tonight.
Liverpool had beaten Derby 1-0 and he scored.Then Dudek saved Ravanelli’s penalty
Owen said, “Who cares about the performance when you get the three points?”
He is a national hero and he reminds us what professional football is about.
Profesional football is about winning. It’s not about playing stylishly or showing off or becoming rich.
Today’s World Cup draw gave Sven Sweden on Sunday June 2, Argentina on the Friday 7th and Nigeria on Wednesday 12th.
I like Argentina because I admire speeedy Claudio Lopez and I respect hard man Simeone.
Zanetti is a two-footed powerhouse who could play for any club.
Ayala is the best centreback in Europe.
Veron is a phenomenal talent who saves his most inspired games for his country.
Batistuta’s knee does not allow him to train on Mondays or Tuesdays but he is still an awesome player.The finest centre forward since Marco van Basten.
But,most of all, I love Crespo.
He is fast, enthusiatic, brave and agile.
For two years at Parma he looked to me like a long-haired Steve Bull, not a skilful striker but very determined.
But during his next two years Crespo improved more than any striker I’ve ever seen. He scored a lot of goals – and many fantastic goals.
I found his improvement remarkable and commendable.
When I watched him train at Wembley I saw that he was enjoying it more than the other players.
His body language, his facial expressions, his shouting when he was shooting, and indeed when the other strikers were shooting, spoke volumes to me.
Crespo is not a small guy or a big guy. He is medium, like a Latin Klinsmann – two-footed, springy,bouncy, fearless, improvisational at times.
I once watched Denis Law train at The Cliff in 1965 and he was like Crespo that night at Wembley. So Crespo, in some ways, is a throwback.
Argentinian football has its faults but at its best it is audacious and spectacular.
France have a stronger defence. But they need a Crespo. If they had Crespo they would walk it.
Years ago, lifetimes ago, I knew the Faces and wrote a piece about them them larking around at Olympic Studios one night, after we had done In Concert at the BBC.
This was their early days during the recording of A Nod’s A Good As A Wink.
Ronnie Lane gave me a lift from Shepherds Bush to Barnes in his Sunbeam Alpine and Rod gave me a lift home at 4 a.m.in his white Roller. It was a good night.
I wrote that Rod Stewart and his merrie men made being in a rock band seem like the last great adventure left on earth.
And that is my impression of Crespo. He makes being a pro footballer seem like the last great adventure left on earth.
And in this cynical, mercenary, mad, materialistic world, that is refreshing.
If Hernan Crespo can bring his bubbly,boyish enthusiasm to the greatest TV show on earth he will be doing us all a favour.
I have a feeling that he will have a major role to play next June
I may write about the World Cup here. I might not. We don’t know yet.
Maybe that’s why I’m writing this now. In case I don’t write anything in the future.
G’nite!
December 2nd, 2001