Goal king

Spanish coach looks to Raul for goals, leadership

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- If one player has a score to settle going into the World Cup, it's got to be Spain's Raul Gonzalez.

Trailing 2-1 to France in the Euro 2000 quarterfinals, Spain was dramatically awarded a last-minute penalty. Up stepped Raul, Real Madrid's unflappable striker.

Inexplicably, he fired the penalty way over the crossbar, and the Spanish were out. France went on to be crowned champion.

The 24-year-old says the penalty miss was the low point of his illustrious career -- but now he's determined to put the memory behind him.

"Spain is going to try to win this World Cup. I have always had the World Cup in my head and now more so. Spanish football needs to do something big," he says. "I think we can do it. And if there's anybody out there who doesn't believe that, we'll make them believe it."

Such optimism may jar with coach Jose Antonio Camacho's stated goal of reaching the last eight. But Raul has a knack of getting what he wants.

He's already won two European Champions Cup titles and three Spanish league titles with Real, where -- despite his young age -- he's been leading the line for seven years. Last year, he came third in FIFA's Player of the Year award and second for the Europe's Golden Ball Award.

He's already Spain's third most-capped player, having already made more than 50 appearances. Only Fernando Hierro and Miguel Angel Nadal -- two players with at least 10 more years playing experience -- are ahead of him.

Camacho believes Raul could be the star of the World Cup.

"Raul's the player that everyone looks to," Camacho said. "And maybe to be recognized as the world's best player he just needs to do something at national level."

And it's not just goals the coach is looking for.

"I want him to be a leader," Camacho said. "I said to Raul: 'Some years ago I told you to be careful, you're being given too much responsibility, but now it's time for you to pull the cart."'

Former Spanish coach Javier Clemente calls Raul a "dynamic player who gives everything on the pitch."

"His capacity for fighting is enviable, he strives and gets his team out of a fix when it needs it. He's the prototype player everyone wants in their team."

Born in a working class neighborhood of Madrid, Raul started playing with Atletico de Madrid. But in a move Atletico must surely regret, the club scrapped its youth teams and Raul was snapped up by cross-town rival Real. Two years later he was playing in the first team and astounding everyone with his dazzling never-give-up style of attacking soccer.

"You have to look at what (Raul) has done and is doing at 24," said Brescia midfielder and fellow Spanish international teammate Josep Guardiola. "He's the best in the world because he knows his limitations but you never see those limitations."

On the pitch, Raul switches between playing inside right, inside left and centerforward.

Since debuting for Spain in October 1996, he has scored 23 goals in his half-century of matches.

Scanning other international stars' statistics, the leading sports daily Marca pointed out that only Pele had played as many matches at 24, scoring 51 goals. Maradona had played 41 and netted 18, while Luis Figo had starred for Portugal 39 times and scored just seven.

 

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