Player Number One: Leo Messi Country: Argentina Position: Forward Club Team: FC Barcelona American-Based Professional Athlete Soulmate: Kobe Bryant, Guard, Los Angeles Lakers By the time our # 1 Player to Watch at the 2010 World Cup reaches his 23rd birthday, his national team, the Albiceleste, will be finished with group play and, sitting as I write on three points, more than likely awaiting the runner-up from Group A in the Round of… Read more
Number 2: Cristiano Ronaldo Country: Portugal Position: Midfielder/Wing Forward Club Team: Real Madrid American-Based Professional Sport “Soulmate”: Alex Rodriguez, 3B, New York Yankees He may only be our number two player to watch at the World Cup, but Portugal’s most important man is without a doubt the most widely hated footballer on earth. How hated is C-Ron within the walls of The Yanks Are Coming home offices? Suffice it to… Read more
Number 3: Kaka Country: Brazil Position: Central Midfield Club Team: Real Madrid American-Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota Twins What is a superstar? Traditionally, the narrative goes like this: glamour position, great talent. Media-savvy if not personable. Almost always (not always), but almost always a leader and a household name—sometimes to the point where you simply say his first name, or his… Read more
Number 4: Steven Gerrard (a.k.a. Captain Fantastic) Country: England Position: Midfielder (CMF, LMF), Captain Club Team: Liverpool FC American Based Professional Sports “Soulmate”: A mutt between Lebron James and Paul Pierce from 1998 – 2006 With regard to Stevie G, my favorite player in the world (with all due respect to Sacha Kljestan), I could not think of a single American athlete to do him justice. In fact, none of us at… Read more
Number 5: Fernando Torres and David Villa (The Spanish Strikers) Position: Forward Country: Spain Club Teams: Liverpool FC, EPL and FC Barcelona, La Liga American based Professional Athlete “Soulmates”: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburg Penguin We could have written about Fernando Torres and David Villa independently as two unique “Players to Watch,” but it just didn’t seem right. Based on these talented strikers’ individual… Read more
Number 6: Wayne Rooney Position: Forward Country: England Club Team: Manchester United, English Premier League American-based Professional Sports Athlete “Soulmate”: Jonathan Papelbon, RP, Boston Red Sox When Chancellor Seco, in his “infinite wisdom,” assigned me this player to watch piece my initial reaction was one of complete disgust. “You want me, a fan of the only real team in Manchester to write about this jackleg,… Read more
Number 7: Carlos Tévez Position: Forward Country: Argentina Club Team: Manchester City American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Alexander Ovechkin, LW, Washington Capitals What can I say about Carlos Tévez besides the fact that he’s our number seven player to watch at the upcoming World Cup? I suppose we should get the full disclosure part of this post out of the way right here. I love Carlos Tévez, he’s my dawg. Not in a… Read more
Number 8: Didier Drogba Position: Forward Country: Ivory Coast Club Team: Chelsea FC, English Premier League American-Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings Beyond the questions about South Africa’s post-Apartheid future, beyond the security concerns (now alleviated) about the possible visit of President Barack Obama, beyond the concerns about tourists being victims of crime, beyond the very… Read more
Number 9: Robinho Position: Forward Country: Brazil Club Team: Santos, Brazil Serie A, on loan from Manchester City FC, EPL American-based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Manny Ramirez, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers The World Cup produces all manner of fascinating plot lines. A recurring one, yet one that always compels, is the tale of the player who rebounds from disappointing club form to find a measure of vindication wearing the shirt for… Read more
Number 10: Franck Ribéry Position: Winger Country: France Club Team: Bayern Munich American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Chris Paul, Guard, New Orleans Hornets Franck “Don’t Call Me Frank” Ribéry is an offensive dynamo, capable of dictating the flow of an entire football match from the wing, something that can’t be said about more than a few players in the world. He’s the most relevant “Franck” since Martin Short’s… Read more
Number 11: Tim Howard Position: Goalkeeper Country: United States of America Club Team: Everton, English Premier League American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Brian Urlacher, Linebacker, Chicago Bears Let’s face it – we all knew that another American was going to make this list of 32 players to watch. Some considered Landon as the obvious next choice, but all American soccer fans will be watching the… Read more
Number 12: Gianluigi Buffon Position: Goalkeeper Country: Italy Club Team: Juventus, Italian Serie A American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: Martin Brodeur, Goaltender, New Jersey Devils World Cup Final. Berlin 2006. It’s the wee moments of stoppage time at the end of one of the most physically grueling, fiercely contested title matches in the history of the beautiful game. The French have dominated the run of play in the… Read more
Number 13: Frank Lampard Country: England Position: Midfielder Club Team: Chelsea American-Based Professional Sport “Soulmate”: Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants It is 2:15 AM on a Sunday night and I’m still wide awake. Being awake at this hour is not uncommon for me; as Puck would say, “Sorry for partying.” Being this wide awake this late on a Sunday though – this is kind of weird. The reason I’m still awake, is that over the… Read more
Number 14: Daniele De Rossi Country: Italy Position: Midfielder Club Team: Roma American-Based Professional Sport “Soulmate”: Brian McCann, C, Atlanta Braves Daniele De Rossi is lucky to be alive. No one bloodies Brian McBride’s face with a flying elbow and lives to tell about, except this particular Italian. Yeah, De Rossi is that guy. But don’t be fooled by his moment of violence against an American hero in 2006, De Rossi’s not… Read more
