Yes he was....
Fernando Hierro is a defense, however he is one of the best free kick executioner and he is excellent with his headers... He has surpassed one of Spain's greatest player (Argentinean born, nationalized Spanish), Alfredo Di Stefano in the goal scoring department for the National team (25).
Here is a profile of his...
fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
Unfortunately, as mentioned in the profile, in all probability this was his last WC. This could be a big problem for Spain as I suspect he is not the only one of the players that won't be present in the next cup... I am not all that familiar with the younger and upcoming players that could replace the retiring ones... And so, assembling a new team for 2006 to be a contender will be difficult. I truly thought this was their year... not so.
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FYI
Re: Alfredo DiStefano
Many consider him the real King of fútbol, over Pelé
DiStéfano was an extraordinary player with an impressive record both as player and coach.
He played for three national teams: Argentina (his country of birth), Colombia (where he went to play (after the Argentinean players went on strike), for club "Millonarios". The Colombian National Federation convinced him to play for the national team, and lastly for Spain, after he moved there and played for Real Madrid for years.
As a player... he concentrated in playing for Real Madrid, which became an incredible force that won just about every single available trophy, including the first "World Cup" (for clubs) called the Inter Continental Cup in 1960, beating Peñarol (Uruguay) in a reciprocal visit set of games in Montevideo (0 x 0) and Madrid (5 x 1)
Real Madrid of those days, included some very impressive line up, made up of players like Kopa, (France) Puskas, (Hungary) Gento, Rial, Santamaría (Uruguay) Granted, it looked more like a team from the world, rather than strictly a Spanish team. The result was an impressive reecord of cups, title, etc. Some of the greatest games ever were between arch-rivals Real Madrid - Barcelona...
Even so... Although DiStefano played for three national teams, he never got to play in a World cup for various reasons... from Spain not qualifying for it,(58) to injury (62) to simply age getting to him and not made the starting line up (66) his age in that last cup.. 40. |
