Experience goes a long way (Would Maldini, Cafu, Romario, Blanco, Inzaghi or Beckham play on your team??)
Sunday, 16 December 07, 05:27 PM · Comments(0)
Watching Maldini play I was thinking: maybe there is still some hope for a old guy - ME - to go back to the pitch after the surgery I went through and still perform using less of speed, strengh, force and more of a type of intelligent and cold-blood that only years of experience can provide.
Many times during this FIFA Club World Cup the fact of many of Milan's player had already crossed the line of the 30 years old came up in some topics and chats, some of them are closer to 40, but the reality is that in the end the expereince simply prevailed. Milan and their over 30 roster won the championship.
The truth of the matter is that many times we underestimate the capacity that a 35-year old player of today's football may have to keep his good shape. Of course that comes from a time when great players like Maradona, Socrates, Garrincha, didn't really bother to maintain healthy habits. Somking, drinking, drug using was so common that when the player got to 27, 28 years of age he should already start planning his retirement.
Nowadays we have guys like Cafu, Maldini, Inzaghi, Romario, Blanco, Beckham (?) among others, who are still in good (sometimes GREAT) shape and play a important role in their clubs and not necessarily always on the pitch.
When should a player retire?
Would you like to have any of those I mentioned, or any other 32 + footballer playing for your team?
Beckham is 32
Inzaghi is 34
Blanco is 34
Cafu is 37
Maldini is 39
Romario is 41
TOTAL = 217 YEARS OF FOOTBALL EXPERIENCE!
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Follow the adventures of me, SM, and the two Tokyo Blogging contest winners, manogil and MikeTuckerman, as we take on Japan and cover the FIFA Club World Cup 2007. News, Reviews, Photos and hopefully a few interviews!
