Player Profile: Bobby Charlton

Bobby Charlton

11th October 1937

Country: England

Major Clubs: Manchester United

"I wonder all over again how so much could come to one man simply because he was able to do something, which for him was so natural and easy, and which he knew from the start he loved to do more than anything else", said Bobby Charlton in his autobiography, My Manchester United Years. He was a player whose life was changed in the blink of an eye. One of the original Busby's Babes, Charlton was a Red Devil throughout the extent of his career. He played 759 games for Manchester United, and scored 249 goals in the duration of 17 years at the club.

One thing in Charlton's life that haunts him till date is the Munich air disaster. Seven of his teammates, including the great Duncan Edwards, died in the disaster, but Charlton somehow managed to pull himself out of the injuries he sustained. Later, he along with Matt Busby's assistant Jimmy Murphy, was responsible for the resurrection of the club. He possessed qualities of being a terrific goal-scorer, as well as being able to score splendid goals; something of a rarity in English football at the time.

In 1966, England hosted the FIFA World Cup. The team that year was completely in the hands of Alf Ramsey, who selected Charlton for the side playing the World Cup Finals. His contribution to England was commendable throughout the tournament, as he won himself the Golden Ball that year. However on 30th July 1966 when England played their World Cup Final at Wembley, Charlton was rather quiet. England, though, went on to win the cup.

Two years later, he captained United to remarkable run in the European Cup, leading a team that became the first English side to reach the cup final. The final, played at Wembley against Benfica, was a tight affair, until Charlton scored twice in extra time to hand United a 4-1 victory.

Much later, during his days at Old Trafford, he was a part of the Holy Trinity which included himself alongside Denis Law and George Best. George Best said for Charlton, "I've never seen anyone go past players as easily as he did.". On the individual front, the list of the honours he's won is too long to be written here. But some of the greatest honours such as the Ballon d'Or, FWA Footballer of the Year, among others still dress up his cabinet.

Bobby Charlton went on to manage Preston North End towards the end of his career, and also had a brief spell at Wigan as a caretaker manager. However, he didn't embark on a full fledged career in management. Charlton was conferred with the knighthood in 1994, and is currently on the Board of Directors at Manchester United.

His contribution to the club is and probably will be unmatchable by anyone so far, and even in the future. Despite the many blows he took at Manchester United, starting from the Munich disaster, to the 1958 FA Cup loss, and the 1969 European Cup defeat, Charlton believed in hanging in there, unlike many of the modern footballers who change colours for medals.

-PRANAV MUKUL

Written for India's premier football magazine: 90 minutes (October 2011)

Player Profile: Anwar Ali

Anwar Ali
24th September 1984
Country: India
Major Clubs: JCT, Dempo, Mohun Bagan

At 189 cm, Anwar Ali is one of the tallest players in the Indian national football team. From JCT to Dempo, and now to Mohun Bagan, Anwar has steadily moved up the Indian football ladder, and is also a regular for the national team.

Anwar started playing at the Rurka Kalan Academy in Phagwara, which also happens to be his home town. After graduating from the academy, the 26-year old played for some local teams, before featuring for Punjab in the Santosh Trophy in 2004, where his side reached the finals.

Later that year, he went on to join Punjab Police. And it was during his time there that he started playing as a center back as opposed to his previous position of right back. He grew into the role steadily, and it wasn’t long before JCT were aware of his performances, and signed him up. Since then, he’s managed to make his mark on Indian football, and has forged a good career for himself.

The Durand Cup in 2006 was a big tournament for Anwar, and it would be turn out to be the moment when he burst onto the national scene, thanks to some sterling performances. JCT went all the way to the final, and the Phagwara boy put in another great shift in defence, but couldn’t save his side from losing to Dempo.

After his performances at the Durand Cup, he was awarded the tournament’s ‘Most Promising Player’ award. He then went on to complete a fantastic season, as he helped JCT finish second in the then National Football League (NFL).

Along with his qualities as a footballer, his physical strength was vital in convincing Bob Houghton he was ‘India material’, and he was called up to the national team for the 2008 SAFF Cup. However, he came into the limelight for the first time as an India player during the AFC Challenge Cup later in the year, where India conceded only thrice in six games. In the tournament, he forged a fine partnership with Gouramangi Singh in central defence, and has since established himself as a regular in the national squad.

The very next season, Anwar left JCT and moved to Goa to join champions Dempo SC. However, he stayed there for only one season, playing 18 matches for the Goan side, after which he shifted base to Kolkata in 2010, as a Mohun Bagan player. His first season with the Bagan wasn’t as successful as he might have hoped, since the Maidan club only managed to finish 6^th in the league. Nonetheless, Anwar feels that things will improve. He recently said, “It was my first year in Kolkata and I’ve gained some good experience which I shall put to use this season. I hope this year’s experience would be even better.”

Interestingly, he’s also the second Indian to have trained with English Championship side Coventry City (Sunil Chhetri had earlier gone there for a trial), as he went there for a training stint last month. His pace, being one of his weaknesses, was apparent to himself when he trained with other footballers in England, and should help him understand his game better and learn to work around it. The knowhow which he gained from Coventry should prove to be extremely beneficial for him, Bagan, and India, and could help the lad who is just coming into his prime as a footballer.

-PRANAV MUKUL

Written for India's premier football magazine: 90 minutes (September 2011)

Player Profile: Alfredo Di Stefano

Alfredo Di Stefano

4th July 1926.

Country: Argentina

Major Clubs: River Plate, Millonarios, Real Madrid, Espanyol

Though you can read his nationality as Argentine, Di Stefano played for three different countries during his gilttering career as a footballer - Argentina, Columbia and Spain. However, he did not play at the World Cup finals even once.

He started his professional career at the age of 17 by playing for River Plate in Buenos Aires where he was born, and from there the journey of this legend started as he only made more than just a mark on Millonarios, Real Madrid and finally Espanyol. His journey from the Americas to Spain has been followed so much in Spain, that a Spanish movie titled as his nickname, "Saeta Rubia", has been produced to portray his life in Spain.

The list of his honours is never ending but what one always remembers him for is his pivotal role in Real Madrid's European success in 1950's. Also, it was the Spanish giants who asked Di Stefano to convert his citizenship to Spanish, so they could utilize their foreign spot for the newly signed Raymond Kopa. The 11 years he spent at Madrid were probably the golden years of his career, as he led a powerful line up from the front, with other star players such as Raymond Kopa, Ferenc Puskas, Francisco Gento, et al.

Di Stefano is essentially considered to be the best 'all-rounder' of all time. Yes, we're still talking about football, nothing else. The remarkable stamina and agility he possessed helped him to be an all-rounder of sorts, on the field. He could roam anywhere over the length of the pitch owing to these qualities, which allowed him to even defend, distribute the ball, give orders to other players and of course, score goals. His presence on the field was so crucial, that his former coach at Madrid, Miguel Munoz said, "The greatness of Di Stefano was that, with him in your side, you had two players in every position."

Apart from the other qualities Saeta Rubia flaunted, his main quality was very straightforward - to take the ball and out it in the back of the net. He scored 307 goals in 397 appearances at Madrid, and won the Pichichi award for scoring the highest goals in a La Liga season five times during his career there. Post Madrid, Di Stefano moved to Espanyol in 1964. He did decently at the Catalan outfit, and two seasons later, he retired from football as a player.

However, he was still connected to the game. He later went on to manage clubs such as Elche, Boca Juniors, Valencia, Real Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Rayo Vallecano, Castellon and River Plate. In 1990, while he was still managing Real Madrid, he was appointed as the advisor to the president of Los Merengues.

Only a year later he was appointed as the president of the former players of Real Madrid. His contribution to the club's administration didn't end there either, as in 2000, he was appointed as the honorary president of the Spanish giants. In 2006, to respect his contribution to the Los Blancos, the "Alfredo Di Stefano stadium" was inaugrated, and is the stadium which the first team uses to train.

Written for India's premier football magazine: 90 minutes (July 2011)

-PRANAV MUKUL