Euro 2016: Five teams with only one star player
Football is a team sport, so we have been told. While it is indeed true, there are some teams that have one true star player who inspires them to move forward. One cannot win anything major without a well-balanced combination of XI players, yet there are some players who carry the whole burden of their teams on their able shoulders.
In our (my, rather) Chittagong-ian society, a family is called complete when it has a father, mother, son and a daughter. Yet, all the weight of responsibility to earn the bread falls on the hands of the father. Similarly, in some teams, there is a ‘father’ player that does the earning and keeps the team running.
And it is no different on the international stage as well.
The Euro 2016 brings us some fine teams, from the sophisticated Spain to a brutally efficient Germany. It also brings us teams that are mostly inspired by one true standout player. And here are 5 such nations…
Wales
Arsenal fans might be a little annoyed with Wales’ inclusion because of Aaron Ramsey’s presence in the team, but let’s be a little realistic here: Gareth Bale is the only true stand-out player in the team. While the Arsenal midfielder is a great player himself, his luster is nowhere near the level of the Real Madrid star.
The fact that the Blancos splashed close to a 100 million Euros for the former Spurs star is a testament to his extraordinary skills as a footballer.
Also, in the qualifiers, Wales scored 11 goals—9 of which were directly contributed by the Real Madrid wizard via either goals or assists. Coming off the back of a good season with the Galacticos, winning the Champions League in the process, he has already started off his Euro campaign with a brilliant free-kick goal against Slovakia and, with the form he is in and the determination he has, there’s still plenty more to come.