"Van der Vaart smacks a long ball up field toward Higuain. OH WHAT A TOUCH! He's past his defender, he's past Kameni, he's scored! The substitute has made use of his 15 minutes and has every Madridista in the Bernabeu eating out of his hands once again, as if he was never injured. Magic. Pure class." Now this isn't an actual quote from a TV commentator but if I was narrating the match live for viewers, those would have been my exact words. Simply breathtaking from what some people call, the next Raul.
Born in France, Bread in Argentina, and Groomed by Real Madrid. The combination of these ingredients has created one of Europe’s best strikers at only 22 years of age . His name? Gonzalo Higuain AKA Pipita. "Ronaldo 80 million, Kaka 59 million, Benzema 35 million, Pipita... Priceless." -from my last post. I came up with that (pretty good right?) just moments after the numero 20 tallied the third goal of Real Madrid's thumping of RCD Espanyol in the dying minutes when he came on as a second half sub for Karim Benzema. With all the high profile signings this summer, it was a doubt that the young Argentine would establish his place in the starting lineup but he has silenced critics, and amongst the big names is Real Madrid's leading scorer this season. In La Liga, Pipita has 12 goals in 15 appearences. I read a funny comment on goal.com from a random commenter that made sense to my surprise. Usually all the commenters on that site are just bias fans with some bragging to attend to. Here it is:
Born in France, Bread in Argentina, and Groomed by Real Madrid. The combination of these ingredients has created one of Europe’s best strikers at only 22 years of age . His name? Gonzalo Higuain AKA Pipita. "Ronaldo 80 million, Kaka 59 million, Benzema 35 million, Pipita... Priceless." -from my last post. I came up with that (pretty good right?) just moments after the numero 20 tallied the third goal of Real Madrid's thumping of RCD Espanyol in the dying minutes when he came on as a second half sub for Karim Benzema. With all the high profile signings this summer, it was a doubt that the young Argentine would establish his place in the starting lineup but he has silenced critics, and amongst the big names is Real Madrid's leading scorer this season. In La Liga, Pipita has 12 goals in 15 appearences. I read a funny comment on goal.com from a random commenter that made sense to my surprise. Usually all the commenters on that site are just bias fans with some bragging to attend to. Here it is:
"Higuain scored 12 goals in 15 apps in la liga, while Ibrahimoivc (46m+Eto'o) scored 11 goals in 18 apps. I wonder how many goals Zlatan would have scored in la liga if he didnt have players like messi , iniesta , xavi and alves assisting him ... Pepita The BEST !!!"
I chuckled when I first read it but there is one part of the message that I would like to ignore. The "I wonder how many goals Zlatan would have scored in la liga if he didnt have players like messi , iniesta , xavi and alves assisting him" part. Because no striker, not Higuain, not Jesus, not Batman would score goals without teammates. But, I've had this Higuain vs Ibra argument many times with people I chat football with in my own community. Of course, here in the States many people don't fallow the sport to my level and are biased toward big names and youtube highlight reels so it's hard to explain the true nature of the argument but the stats can back me up. Higuain is easily my pick, call me bias, don't care. Pipita is younger, has more of a career ahead of him at age 22 opposed to Ibra's 28 years of age. Higuain is a notorious hard worker, where as Ibrahimovic is a bit lethargic for me. He runs mainly when he has a chance to score but other than that doesn't do a lot to win the ball back once it's gone except foul. Ibrahimovic is very cocky. I dislike his personality. Listen to this when asked about a move he did against a Liverpool defender. "First I went left, he did too. Then I went right, and he did too. Then I went left again, and he went to buy a hot dog." Some find it funny. I find it arrogant and unprofessional truthfully. Higuain is humble, passionate, and team orientated personality. But I didn't write this article to compare the two. This is Higuain's write up, not Zlatan's.
So let's start from the beginning. Let's take us back to a dark, stormy night on December 10, 1987 in Brest, France. The wind was howling and the rain shot sideways against Stade Brest 29's defender, Jorge "Pipa" Higuain's swerving taxi as he rushed to the hospital. Three sounds rang out into the storm. The first was the abrupt turn of a door knob as Pipa burst into a small hospital room. The second was a loud crack of thunder accompanied by simultaneous flash of lightning that stunned the eyes of everyone awake. The third sound was the cry of a newborn child. Suddenly, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the bright moon created a ray that shined directly in the window of the room on a boy, the boy known as Pipita. Okay, that's not how it happened. I don't really know how that night went about but that's what I picture when I try to fathom how the legend of Pipita began.
Between 2004 and 2006, Higuain made 39 appearances as a teenager for River Plate, scoring 18 goals and setting up teamates with 16 assists. After Gonzalo scored a brace in the October 2006 El Superclasico, River Plate manager, Daniel Pasarella stated that Pipita was "destined for superstardom." Shortly after, Madrid bought the promising prospect from the Argentine giants for 13 million Euros. Reports now say that the Real Madrid striker has tripled his value. He made his debut for los blancos against Real Zaragoza on January 14, 2007 where he had the crucial assist in a 1-0 win. Real Madrid has praised the Argentine international because he has a habit of scoring goals in big matches. His first ever Madrid goal came against none other than cross town rivals Atletico Madrid away which set the match level at 1-1. He scored the La Liga clinching goal deep into a match against Osasuna in Pamplona. Los Meregues were down 1-0, Robben equalized in the 88th minute and Pipita thrashed home a wicked volley two minutes later to win the league. Last season, the boy scored 4 goals against Malaga at the Bernabeu in an edge of your seat, back and forth match that ended 4-3. At this point in time Pipita, at such a young age, in all 120 games he has participated in a Madrid strip, has 49 goals and 18 assists.
El Numero 20 is quickly becoming a legend around the Capital which he calls a second home. He has such a long career ahead of him at only 22. He already stated he would love to finish his career in white and I'd love to have him. Real Madrid is currently renegotiating his contract. As far as international duty, he had the option to play for either France or Argentina but opted for his South American routes. He has recently just kicked off his full international career with Argentina, scoring on his debut against Peru in a vital World Cup Qualifier which ended 2-1 to Argentina. It took Maradona long enough to call him up. When you are the leading scorer for Real Madrid and don't get a call up from your national team, something is wrong. I don't rate Maradona at all as a coach. Can he not see his resources? Front line Higuain/Milito/Messi. It's on a platter... but don't get me started. Pipita has been a vital part of this squad so far this year and I tip him to continue a big contributor in games and seasons to come. I hope that this season he can leave his stamp on the Champions League too. Hala Madrid y Viva Pipita!
Bobby
Ibra's price tag is never going to be justified unless he scores double the amount of goals that Eto'o scored last season, which would be 72 in all competitions. But I dont think Barca were looking at that when they made the swap. Pep saw the only real "addition" needed in their squad but was a tall, fast, strong man upfront who would benefit more from the crosses coming from the flanks. Creativity wise Ibra certainly offers more than Eto'o but what Pep might have forgotten was Eto'o had settled perfectly in his setup. I think the main reasons behind Eto'o exit could have been off the pitch matters because he was one of three players Pep wanted out when he took up the job at the beginning of last season.
ReplyDeleteComing to your discussion of Higuain vs Ibra, there is no doubt at present the Argentine is the better choice. But Higuain has played here for longer so we have to wait and see how they compare against each other over a decent period of time. Although Ibra will never be a teamplayer like Higuain or Eto'o.
I can give Ibra the benefit of the doubt because he hasnt been aclimated to Barca like higuain has for Real for several years.
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