Rivaldo. You remember him. Left peg that could open a can of beans. Also, as @Sid_Lambert explains, a bit of shithouse.
Ask any football fan to list the best left foot in the business and, save for the most diehard Steve Guppy enthusiast, there’s a fair chance that somewhere along the line they’ll talk about Rivaldo.
The Brazilian’s story is fairytale stuff. A boy who grew up in the poorest of dirt-poor favelas, selling souvenirs to tourists then playing football into the twilight hours during the long gaps between meals. A boy whose severe malnutrition cost him his teeth and caused him to suffer bow-leggedness due to the lack of essential nutrients.
A boy who walked 15km to training because he couldn’t afford the bus. A boy whose father died in a car accident before he ever saw his son play professional football. A boy who blossomed into a footballer so gifted that Pele himself named him amongst the best 100 living players.
This was a boy who came from precisely nothing and achieved everything.
He also scored what may be the greatest hat-trick ever scored. Watching his three goals against Valencia – a free-kick, a fine solo effort and a bicycle kick that flouts the laws of gravity – you get the sense this is more than just a footballer. This is an artist of the highest calibre.
Sure, Da Vinci was good with a paintbrush. But could he score a last-minute overhead kick to secure Champions League football? Not for me, Jeff.
Yet just a year later, Rivaldo had gone from hero to zero. His legacy tarnished forever thanks to one night in South Korea.
Turkey: From despair to delight
The night of June 3, 2002 was symbolic for Turkey, whose record on World Cup qualification made their efforts on human rights look fairly respectable in comparison.
It had been 48 years since they’d had the chance to contest the Jules Rimet trophy. The eighties – which included an 8-0 shellacking at home to Bobby Robson’s England – had been the nadir, though mercifully…
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