By Myles Palmer
BECKHAM
We have not seen David Beckham take free-kicks with this new ball yet.Owen and Vassall should win a few free-kicks.And so will Joe Cole as a 20-minute sub.
For years I marvelled at Beckham’s durability.How rarely he was injured.But noticed how his standing foot was in a very unnatural position when he hits those free-kicks.So his metatarsal was no surprise.I thought something like that might happen.He was a stress fracture waiting to happen.
ZIDANE
Hard to believe Zizou will miss Senegal AND Uruguay with that minor thigh strain. If Senegal were playing France with Pires and Zidane, they might come down to earth with a bump. But now they might run,swarm and battle their way to a draw.
VERON
His passes should dismantle Nigeria, no problem.Veron was one of the top five players at France 98. Desailly, Rivaldo and Ronald De Boer were up there with him.He has great feet,long vision, deceptive pace.Sven will need Butt AND Hargreaves to take him out in England’s second game, methinks.If Sven saves Butt on Sunday, that is what he is saving him for.
FIGO
He was only about 60% fit at Hampden when Real Madrid shaded Leverkusen and that was only 15 days ago.They will never tell us the truth about his ankle, so we must wait and see.
I love Figo and fondly recall watching him train at Wembley before two England games.As I stood behind the goal watching their shooting practice one of his 30-yard cannonballs hit the post so hard it rattled the fillings in my teeth.
When he took off a sweaty shirt I could see he had a perfect physique. I remember saying,”He’s got such broad shoulders tapering down to a very narrow waist.”Paddy Barclay laughed and said, “Did you get his phone number?”
I was so disappointed that Rui Costa was not released by Fiorentina for those two friendlies.He has been injured again and again this season
TOTTI
Latest word from Trap is that Vieiri and Totti will play up front in a 4-4-2 with Doni on the left wing, coming in for shots.
When I first saw Totti I thought he was amazing, the only player I had ever seen who combined the cool composure of Dalglish with the robust audacity of Gascoigne.
I thought Totti would do special things and he did. To captain Roma at such a young age was astonishing in a league and a culture where seniority counts for such a lot.
RIVALDO
Injury doubts mean Denilson may start ahead of Rivaldo.I hope not.But he has not played a game for 35 days. For me,Rivaldo has always been better than Zidane because he scores far more goals and has more ways of scoring a goal than any other footballer I have seen, even Maradona.
Booming headers, benders from 30 yards, free-kicks over the wall, one-twos, volleys, flicks – Rivaldo has scored every type of goal for Deportivo and Barcelona. But not so often for Brazil.
He and Ronaldo are on the same wavelength, football-wise and life-wise. Each knows the pressure the other has been under. There is a rapport there which Big Phil must employ and trust.Even if neither of those big men scores, Ronaldino is so hot right now, he will.
DIOUF
El-Hadji Diouf is 20 and Vieira’s mate and a prolific scorer in a poor league in France. Diouf can’t have an impact on this World Cup. But he can have an impact on one game.
Desailly can stop it being Friday’s opening game.But even Desailly can’t stop Lebouef and Barthez doing silly things. As you know, there are two types of silly things in football.The ones you get away with. And the ones where you concede a goal.
Past experience and commonsense tell us that Senegal cannot score against the best defence in the world.But you never know.
LI TIE
China’s Dunga is 24 now and the product of an ambitious and somewhat bizarre cultural experiement that Rob Hughes told me about last week.
Back in 1993 China sent a group of 23 teenage footballers to live in an isolated training camp outside Sao Paulo, to learn football and absorb the Latin football culture.
One player came through. Li Tie is now their midfield kingpin and China;s opening game, in Jeju on Saturday June 8th at 12.30 pm, is against…Brazil! What a fascinating human story. What are his feelings at this moment?
30th May 2002.