8 professional footballers with unique traits
Football, like life, can be cruel and unfair at times. An aspiring footballer may put in thousands of hours of practice, sacrifices and hardwork over a period of ten years, hoping to reach the elite level of football that only a handful can dream of.Only, once they get there they realise that all their perseverance and toil has been overshadowed by truly gifted players, players who make the game look ridiculously easy. Making sure people remember your name can be a difficult task for any professional footballer.Why, it’s the Ronaldos and Messi’s that people remember and adulate. Your average fullback hardly gets a shout-out. So, for a footballer to stand out from the crowd in this cut-throat business requires a unique skill-set, one that cannot be matched.A trait so difficult to understand, let alone execute, that makes the viewers get off their seats and take notice. These 8 footballers are remembered for the very same reason. With their special abilities, they have etched their names in the annals of football.
#1 Rory Delap\'s deadly throw-ins
Any football fan worth his salt knows about Rory Delap and his unique methods of causing mass confusion and mayhem in the opposition’s penalty box with his trademark throws. A decent midfielder by trade, the Irishman was noted for his flat, fast and accurate throw-ins over large distances – throw-ins that invariably led to chaos and goals.
Some would go as far as to say that the throwins were better than cornerkicks and freekicks, since the ball travelled at too low a height for the keeper to do anything, leaving the defenders with a nightmare scenario.
in fact, Delap’s precise and flat throw-ins were such a concern for oppositions that teams playing against Stoke would often concede corners when under pressure, lest they concede a throw-in and bring Delap’s fury on to themselves. Teams tried various tricks to stop Delap, ranging from calling for throw-ins to be banned (who else, but Arsene Wenger?) and moving the advertising boards closer to the touchline to minimise the space that Delap needed for his run-up.
The video gives a clear indication of Delap’s unreal skills – some of his throws travelled well over 40 metres at 37 mph. If you think that’s not a big deal, the next time you play football try throwing the ball at least 10 metres without breaking your back.