Did you know that Didier Drogba’s full name is Didier Yves Drogba Tebily? This talented footballer who hails from a war stricken country called Ivory Coast, where football is sometimes the only respite from bullets and blood has indeed come a long way to win the Golden Boot in arguably the best football league in the world, the English Premier League. Life has come full circle for him.
His struggled early in life when he left his family to take up football in France which is also, by the way, his adopted nation. Le Mans, Guingamp and Marseille have all benefited from his goal poaching skills. In 142 appearances for these three clubs he has scored 49 goals. On the way he won the ‘French Player of the Year’ award in 2004 and a runner-up medal in the UEFA cup also in 2006. His performance, especially, against the English teams Liverpool and Newcastle in the semi finals is what caught the eye of Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager.
In 2004, he came to Chelsea for a then club transfer record of 25 million pounds. But his ability was constantly under question. In the first season he scored only 16 goals in all competitions (10 in the league) while in the second season he scored 16 again (12 for the league). However, it was more due to the tactics of Mourinho that he was scoring less than what he was capable of. His time-spent-on-field to goals ratio was second only to Thiery Henry in both the seasons, notably when Henry won the Golden Boot both times. Actually, Mourinho is accustomed to playing a 4-3-3 formation to enable the wingers to do the work while going in with only one main striker from his Porto days. So Drogba had to compete with Damien Duff and then Hernan Crespo during his first two years for the starting line up.
However, this year things took a turn for the positive. The arrival of Andriy Shevchenko might have raised a ruckus in the Chelsea ranks, but it was a boon for Drogba. Mourinho played a new formation of 4-4-2 to accommodate the 30 million pounds striker from AC Milan. This meant that Drogba almost always started the match as a first choice striker and whenever Shevchenko played, it allowed Drogba more freedom. Opposition defenders marked the fearsome Ukrainian striker, sometimes two or even three shadowing him, leaving Drogba open to do his job. It is also alleged that Drogba benefited more from the long ball style of play Jose’s team excels in, rather than the open ball style of play suited more to Shevchenko.
However, these accusations are only heard from those who neglect to see the evidence of his talent. And there was enough of it this season. 32 goals in all competitions, 20 of which came in the EPL winning him the golden boot, along the way becoming the first Chelsea player to hit the net 30 times a season since Kerry Dixon in 1984-85. These include screaming shots from the edge of the area won Chelsea matches against Everton and Liverpool as also against Barcelona in the Champions league. Two hat tricks, one in the EPL against Watford and the other against Levski Sofia in Europe. He won the man-of-the-match for his stunning performance in the Carling Cup final. And the list doesn’t end here. He was named in the PFA English team of the year, was runner-up to Christiano Ronaldo in the English player of the year award and was also declared the African player of the year ahead of Samuel Eto’o and Michael Essien.
However, his goal tally comes along with a baggage of disappointment. Chelsea gave away their league crown as they lost the title race to Manchester United and then were dumped out from the Champions League in the semi-final against Liverpool. If only Drogba had these two medals to go along with his credentials this season, it would have been a real gala time. But as they say, every thing has a silver lining. He still has the FA cup match lined up plus he can only get better from here. And it is only a matter of time before the Champions League medal is added to his collection, not to mention the league title, such is the resolve of the team he is part of.
Surprisingly, he almost left Chelsea at the start of the season because he felt he had fallen out with the English media. He can only look back at that time and shrug it off in his usual goal scoring celebration style. Life indeed has come full circle for Didier Yves Drogba Tebily.
Via: BBC Sport
