The Hindu : Sport / Football : Tevez: a star in the making

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 08, 2006

Sport

Sport - Football

Tevez: a star in the making

HERZOGENAURACH (Germany): If the World Cup were a beauty contest, Carlos Tevez wouldn't have a prayer.

The squat striker's jagged front teeth are cracked and chipped, impossible to hide behind a constant smile. His chest, right ear and neck are also disfigured from a childhood accident, burned by boiling water at home in a Buenos Aires slum.

The Argentina striker has publicly turned down repeated offers of aesthetic surgery, despite a multimillion-dollar salary with Brazilian club Corinthians. That salary could quadruple if he emerges from the World Cup as one of the stars.

Dreamer

``I wake up dreaming of the World Cup, and I practice dreaming of the World Cup,'' Tevez said this week at the club's training camp in southern Germany. ``I dream this could be my World Cup.''

If he plays as he did in the 2004 Olympics — he led all scorers with eight goals in six games as Argentina won gold — it might be.

The question is, how much will he play?

Argentina is one of the few World Cup teams with six forwards, and 22-year-old Tevez is expected to be on the bench in Saturday's Group C opener against Ivory Coast, with Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola expected to start.

New `Maradona'

But they're vulnerable with Tevez and 18-year-old Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona, both dubbed the new `Maradona,' pushing hard.

So is 24-year-old Rodrigo Palacio, who has only two caps but is Argentina's fastest striker. Julio Ricardo Cruz, 31, is a big striker in the mould of Crespo. The other four are small, in the 1.70-metre (5-foot-7) range.

``You always want to start, you fight so you get the chance,'' Tevez said. ``But I'm know I'm only one of 23 players, and they are all good players. If I don't start, it means I have to be even more prepared so that if I'm sent in I'll be ready to show the coach what I can do.''

Nicknamed ``Carlitos,'' Tevez speaks with a thick, working-class accent and bares a slight physical resemblance to Maradona: stocky and tough to knock off the ball. He has a quick first step, and he hangs back out of the area, making him difficult to mark.

He was voted the best player in Brazil last season (2005), despite the rarity of being an Argentine. Most of Brazil's best players are in European leagues, however.

Most popular

In a recent fan poll, he and Messi were voted Argentina's most popular players.

Tevez's transfer in 2004 from Boca Juniors to Corinthians set at South American record — US$21 million. He's already being courted by English club Chelsea, and by AC Milan, which may buy him to replace Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko, who just moved to Chelsea.

Argentina practiced early on Wednesday behind closed doors, but was expected to train later in the day in a brief open session. Four players were selected for random doping test carried out on Tuesday: Crespo, Palacio, defender Leandro Cufre and midfielder Lionel Scaloni.

Results of the tests were not released. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail