Four Four Two - UK (2022-06)

UPFROnT

T-shirt of choice for Star Tweet and A4 print of

choice for Spine Line, courtesy of Art of Football

338 SPINE LINE: “‘Shevchenko, 88

minutes’ refers to the free-kick that

was dropped in by Russia’s keeper

in Euro 2000 qualifying,” emails in

Alan Gorman... who is damn right.

Cracked the Spine Line? Enter now

via Twitter using #FFTSpineLine or

email [email protected]

WHO IS THE MOST UnDERRATED FOOTBALLER In HISTORY?

WIN!

Michael Laudrup

was rated, but wasn’t talked about

nearly enough as he was before the

YouTube, social media generation.

Such a technically gifted player.

@JReadingAloud87

The answer is Josef ‘Pepi’ Bican, the

1930s Austrian/Czech international

star. Scored 805 goals in 629 senior

games, second only behind Cristiano

Ronaldo. A member of the Austrian

‘Wunderteam’ which reached the

1934 World Cup semi-finals.

@aceofspies64

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The guy

was a goal machine and won

the Golden Boot twice. Even scored

a load of goals for mid-table Boro.

But he never gets mentioned when

it comes to ‘best’ lists.

@philipslattery

Dietmar Hamann rarely put

a foot wrong for Liverpool – and

he was instrumental in turning

around the 2005 Champions

League Final. But never the centre of

attention, just did his job with no fuss.

Pure German efficiency.

@TomCFC87

John Robertson at Forest. If he’d

played for a club like Liverpool or Man

United, he’d have been talked about

as one of the best players of all time.

@warrenallsworth

Henrik Larsson. I know he played for

big clubs but he is still ridiculously

underrated. Ronaldinho said he was

the best he played with.

@derekdavis1987

George Camsell: 18 goals for England

in nine games! 345 goals in 453

appearances; 59 goals in all

competitions in the 1926-27

season, including nine hat-

tricks (a league record today)

• none of them were penalties. He’s
  a Middlesbrough legend.
  @Rovardi

Peter Beardsley. The best player I’ve

ever seen at Newcastle and he gets

hardly any recognition. That first

season in the Premier League with

Andy Cole was absolutely magical.

@Goodall1892

For England in my lifetime, I’d say

David Platt. An amazing box-to-box

midfielder who never really got the

appreciation he deserved. Further

afield, Xabi Alonso made Liverpool’s

midfield tick, excelled at club and

international level, but didn’t get

the praise of higher-profile players.

@RichardGardham

Nat Lofthouse. A one-club man, the

third-most top-flight goals in history,

the seventh-highest England scorer,

and the best goals-per-game ratio

for England. Yet he hardly ever gets

a mention outside of Bolton...

@OldManWinter999

@FOURFOURTWO ASKS...

Paul McGrath never

gets mentioned in

the all-time Premier

League teams, or best

defender lists. But he

was PFA Player of the

Year in the league’s

first season.

@KnowleChris

✱

STA R

TWEET

FourFourTwo June 2022 25

DICTIONARY CORNER Romanian side Politehnica Iasi

wore T-shirts spelling out ‘STOP WAR’, but then lined

up in the wrong order – promoting ‘RAW POTS’ instead

out there on the pitch, but that was his
personal decision to quit football and
everyone has to respect it. I always say
that he’s an out-of-this-world guy with
a huge heart – anyone who knows him
well can tell you about the unbelievable
person he is.

You left Kazakhstan for Denmark this
January by joining Midtjylland – how
did the move come about?
It happened really quickly. I’d become
a free agent after the end of my deal
in Kazakhstan, so the son of my agent,
Evander, who’s been one of the main
players at Midtjylland over the past few
years, spoke to the head coach about
me. The coach, Bo Henriksen, was like,
“Damn, Vagner, yeah, of course I’d be
interested.” Evander couldn’t believe
it, but the coach insisted, “I’m serious.”
So we had a nice chat and I signed for
the rest of the season.

What’s it been like there?
I’m originally from Bangu, the hottest
neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro where
temperatures can easily reach up to 40
degrees, so every time you feel a cold
breeze here, it’s not that easy! [Laughs]
People say you get used to the weather
after so many years away, but it’s not
true. Regardless of that, I enjoy living
here – we play in Herning, a very quiet
city with only 50,000 inhabitants. There
are six other Brazilians in the squad, so
we often spend free time together and
have even played paintball.

Does the number of Brazilians make
it easier to adapt?
Of course! When I arrived in January,
I joked that we had become the Danish
Shakhtar Donetsk! [Laughs] Now we’ve
got to emulate them and make a habit
of winning titles and fighting in Europe.
I have no doubt that we’re on the right
path. Our goal is to be playing in either
the Champions League or the Europa
League every season.

What does the future hold for you?
I’ve got a contract until the end of the
season and don’t yet know the club’s
plans about extending it, but I just let
things happen naturally. I feel very well
physically and mentally, so what I do
know is that I want to continue playing
football. My idea is to remain in Europe,
but if a good thing pops up back home
in Brazil, why not?
Marcus Alves