COMPILING any list of the top-10 football players in Asia – past or present – is fraught with danger.
Comparisons are odious and there can be no definitive and objective criteria for an Asian Football Hall of Fame. But they make up for great and often controversial subject-matter, reflecting the various delights football offers to its followers.
One of the pre-dominant topics of discussion in the-afc.com newsroom hovers around the best of Asia - the best strikers, the best midfielders, the best defenders, the best coaches, and the best goalkeepers - essentially, the top of the heap in their areas of expertise.
The-afc.com bravely invites Asian football fans to vote for who they think is the best of the best goal-scorer from our list of 10 players.
The inclusion or exclusion of each and every name has been weighed carefully and taken place on the back of animated and, at times, heated deliberations, while every effort has been made to ensure that the-afc.com news room’s prejudices don’t overwhelm the chart!
Majed Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)Majed Abdullah is a true legend of Asian football, having amassed an incredible 500-plus goals for club and country during a career that spanned more than two decades.
A devoted one-club man, Abdullah dedicated his footballing life to Al Nasr, for whom he scored well in excess of 300 goals.
During his time with Al-Nasr, he helped the club to five Saudi league titles, four King’s Cup triumphs, two Gulf Club Champions titles and the Asian Cup Winners Cup.
He was the Saudi League’s top scorer on six occasions and won the Arabian Golden Boot two times.
Apart from outstanding club success, he led Saudi Arabia to the Asian Cup crown in 1984 and 1988 as well as helping his country qualify for the 1984 Olympics and 1994 FIFA World Cup.
In 1999, he was honoured by AFC as the Player for the Century for Asia.
Cha Bum-kun (Korea Republic)Cha Bum-kun was one of the pioneers of Asian football as he blazed a trail for successive generations from the continent with his fine performances for top club teams in Germany during the 70s and 80s.
After a spell with the Korean Air Force team, Cha played one match for SV Darmstadt before being snapped up by Eintracht Frankfurt.
He became a popular figure at Frankfurt, earning the nickname “Cha Boom” for his powerful shots, playing 122 games, scoring 46 goals and helping his side to the 1980 Uefa Cup title.
He moved to Bayer Leverkusen in 1983, going on to play 185 matches for them and contributing 52 goals. He also picked up his second UEFA Cup winner’s medal in 1988.
His 55 goals in 121 games for the national team makes him the top goal-scorer in Korea Republic history.
Ali Daei (Iran)No list of leading Asian strikers would be complete without the name of Iran’s goal-machine Ali Daei.
His striking prowess has yielded a world record 109 goals from 149 appearances for Team Melli and helped the national team qualify for the 1998 and 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
Daei was one of the first Iranians to play professionally in Germany, turning out for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin before returning to Asia for successful spells with Al-Shabab, Piroozi, Saba Battery and Saipa.
Hao Haidong (China)With 41 goals in 115 international matches, Hao Haidong is considered to be one of the best strikers China has produced.
The Shandong native played an important role in helping China qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2002, the country’s first and, so far, only appearance in the finals.
He also had a successful club career, scoring 19 goals in 48 appearances for Bayi Zhengbang before banging in 78 in 130 outings for Dalian Shide. Hao was the league’s highest goal-scorer four times – in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001.
Hao joined Chengdu Blades, the team bought by English side Sheffield United, in 2005 but injuries prevented him from making any appearances and he eventually became a coach
Sami Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia)Sami Al Jaber is one of Saud Arabia’s most influential players, helping his country reach four consecutive FIFA World Cup finals and earning a reputation as a striker who scores decisive goals late in a match.
He played 163 matches for the national team and scored 44 goals. At club level, he represented Riyadh giants Al-Hilal for 10 years, scoring 184 goals in 305 matches and winning six league titles.
In addition, he helped Al-Hilal win the Asian Club Championship (now AFC Champions League) twice as well as two Asian Super Cup titles.
As a mainstay striker for Saudi Arabia, he helped his country win the AFC Asian Cup in 1996 and scored in three FIFA World Cup finals – 1994, 1998 and 2006
Kazuyoshi Miura (Japan)Miura was Japan’s first true global superstar, emerging in the late 80s in tandem with the national team’s rise as an Asian giant.
He won the Asian Player of the Year Award in 1993, having played for clubs in South America before joining the fledgling J.League, where he turned out in Verdy Kawasaki colours for two spells straddling a one-season stint with Genoa in Italy.
Miura had an outstanding career with the Japanese national team, scoring 55 goals in 89 matches and winning the AFC Asian Cup in front of home fans in 1992, when he was voted MVP.
In 2006, at the age of 39, Miura joined Yokohama FC, going on to play more than 100 games. He is still on the club books, though usually stays on the bench
Pak Doo-ik (DPR Korea)Pak Doo-ik is the grandfather of Asian footballing heroes. He burned his name on to the memories of thousands of English football fans during the 1966 World Cup when his goal at Ayresome Park gave the then-unknown DPR Korea a famous 1-0 victory over mighty Italy.
With that single goal, Pak was able to take Asian football to heights never achieved previously as the Koreans went on to reach the quarter-finals of football’s premier tournament.
He later went on to coach the national team and, more recently, was a torch bearer of the Olympic flame during its journey across DPR Korea en route to Beijing for the 2008 Games.
Piyapong Pue-on (Thailand)He may not hail from one of the giants of Asian football, but pound for pound, Piyapong Pue-on’s record marks him out as one of the most prolific goal-scorers in continental history.
Piyapong, an AFC Asian All Star in 1982, remains a legend in Thai football after becoming the first player from his country to play professionally in the competitive Korean League.
He represented Lucky Goldstar from 1984-1986, leading them to the league title in 1985 with 12 goals.
For the national team, he scored an amazing 103 goals in 129 matches and totalled 314 goals in club football for Royal Thai Air Force (two spells), Lucky Goldstar and Pahang FC of Malaysia.
Piyapong’s signature trick that delighted fans was his ability to cross or score by kicking the ball from under his leading leg.
Hussein Saeed (Iraq)Hussein Saeed is a stalwart of Iraqi football, having made his name as one of the country’s best-ever players and now steering their fortunes as president of the Iraq Football Association.
He played 126 matches for Iraq to be ranked 10th in FIFA’s list of most capped international players.
The highlight of his career was when he played for Iraq at their sole appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals in 1986.
Saeed, who turned out for Al-Talaba domestically, also played for Iraq at the Olympic Games of 1980, 1984 and 1988.
In all, he scored 63 goals for his country, with 24 coming in Iraq’s two Gulf Cup triumphs.
He showed much promise as a youngster, finishing as top scorer at the 1976 Asian Youth Championship in Bangkok. Although, they failed to win that year, Saeed and his teammates lifted the title in 1977.
Maksim Shatskikh (Uzbekistan)
Shatskikh is one of the most feared strikers in Asia. A former top-three candidate for AFC Asian Player of the Year, Shatskikh has just completed a successful 10-year stint with Ukrainian side Dymano Kiev, scoring a healthy 142 goals in 328 matches.
This included 97 goals in 215 league matches for the club, for whom he topped the Ukrainian League scoring charts in 2000, with 20 goals, and in 2003, scoring 22.
He has been Uzbekistan’s main striker since making his debut for the national team in 1999 and has so far racked up 30 goals in 45 matches, beating the previous best record of 29 by Mirjalol Kasimov.
Shatskikh originally joined Kiev as a replacement for Andriy Shevchenko and went on to become the second-highest goal-scorer in Ukranian league history, behind Sergei Rebrov’s 123.
This season, he joined Kazakstan side Lokomotiv Astana, for whom he has so far scored six goals in 11 matches.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of AFC.
http://www.the-afc.com/en/features/25380-asias-10-best-strikers-of-alltime-our-list
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น