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Anelka scores Brazil 2000 goal could spark renaissance
Posted: Thursday January 06, 2000 12:07 PM
There's no more relieved player in all of world football right now than Nicolas Anelka. He had to travel halfway 'round the world to gain his moment of relief, but he'd have flown a whole lot farther to end his goal famine. This is a youngster saddled with a price tag of about US$37 million -- a youngster some would say has been led astray by his close advisors, who also happen to be his brothers. A youngster who left London giant Arsenal under a cloud of bitterness, even though the club dragged him from obscurity to wealth, winners' medals and international recognition with world champion France. Considering he complained about the British media's treatment of him, I found it laughable that he should move to Spanish aristocrats Real Madrid, who are continually under intense press scrutiny.
But move there he did, with every intention of scoring the kind of goals that earned him fame and fortune by the age of 20. However, the goals dried up. Anelka could not find the net for the Madrid masters. He was a big-money flop. Real coach John Toshack left him warming the substitute's bench more often than not -- until Toshack himself was fired. Anelka still couldn't find favor, though, with the new boss or the impatient fans. A more promising overall display or two from the sulking French striker just before the Christmas break at least offered hope for a better 2000. And then it came. It wasn't a classic. Far from it. But it was a goal, and it was Anelka's.
The very first Real Madrid goal of the new millennium no less. The very first goal of the new FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil. The very first goal of Anelka's career at Real. The start, perhaps, of an Anelka renaissance. His looping, deflected effort was gilt-edged with good luck. But it set Real on the road to a 3-1 win over Asian champion Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia, and may just have set him on the path to multi-million dollar redemption.
Phil Jones is a co-host of "World Sport," the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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