Monday, June 20, 2011

INFTH Top 100: Numbers 66 and 65

66. Moussa Sow- There is no question about it, 2010/11 was just as great a year for Lille as it was for Moussa Sow. After popping around French football for a few years, Moussa Sow joined Lille in 2010; cue stunning success and pot fulls of goals.

Sow was Ligue 1's top scorer in 2010/11, netting a fantastic twenty-five times, on his and Lille's way to the French title. The Senegalese international is a terrific finisher, as demonstrated by a remarkable overhead kick against Lyon, as well as on multiple other occasions during the striker's highly prolific season.

For the Senegalese National Team, Sow has a reasonable goalscoring ratio, scoring three in ten appearances for the team, but all of them in fairly comfortable wins.

Many see Sow as having the potential to follow in the footsteps of African players like Eto'o and Drogba, and make a name for himself at a top European club. Teams around the continent of been linked with him, Arsenal, Newcastle and Sunderland all rumored to be chasing his signature quite vigorously. From what little I've seen of him play, Sow looks like he would be a good fit for a Premier League club, after all their aren't many absolute clowns who score twenty-five in the too often goal shy French First Division.


65. Alexandre Pato- Pato has been one of those players just on the verge of something brilliant for quite a while now. The Brazilian striker has flirted with a starting place for the National Team, and only this season has he really been effective for large periods of Serie A. Pato was crucial in Milan's two biggest matches of the season, putting in game winning performances against Scudetto rivals Napoli and Inter.

A respectable fourteen goals helped Milan on their way to the Scudetto, but it was the importance of Pato's goals which really told for the Rossonerri. As mentioned above, he scored against both Napoli and Inter, but a late, solo winner against Chievo the weekend after a home loss in the Champions League was just as crucial.

For the National Team, Pato has scored in a handful of friendlies, but he has yet to fully establish himself as a starter for Menezes' side, maybe the Copa America is the stage that he has been waiting so long for.

Certainly, Pato has the talent to be remembered in the pantheon of great Brazilian players, however, he must curb his propensity to party, too many other footballers have seen their careers drift South because of such habits. I dearly hope that Pato succeeds at the Copa America, his skillful dribbles and mesmerizing goals are a joy to watch, I would love to see them on display at World Cup 2014.

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