Emile Heskey
He has come in for more stick than many of the under performers in the England squad in recent times but unlike the others Emile Heskey has had the good grace to announce his retirement from international football today.
Although Heskey was prominent in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign the player hardly played a game for his club side Aston Villa last season.
Despite his lack of first team football Fabio Capello chose to ignore his own warning that players not playing regular football would not be considered for England and made the most awful decision to not only include Heskey in the squad but to include him in the starting line up for the first two qualifiers.
To his credit Heskey did what he does best and worked tirelessly for the team, even setting up the England goal scored by Steven Gerrard in the first few minutes of the opening match against USA.
But at 32 years old and lacking match fitness at club level Heskey soon became sluggish and England one dimensional as the game wore on.
I doubt there are many England fans who will be crying in their beer over Heskey’s decision to quit the international scene, but we should remember that he was at the World Cup out of the choice of Capello.
Capello is not the first England manager to see something in Heskey’s play that the general football fan cannot see and despite ‘experimenting’ with other players in his position, England invariably fall back on the player to hold up the ball for the livelier players in the team.
Seven goals in 62 England games for a big centre forward is not impressive, but Heskey can at least be honest and say he gave his best and wore the England shirt with pride.
5 comments so far
1 Football Banter // Jul 15, 2010 at 11:02 pm
He held the ball up better than anyone else. Defoe and Crouch are laughable when it comes to holding the ball up. You knew what you would get with Heskey, the rest you’d just hope they’d play well and then be disappointed when they didn’t.
He took a hammering for missing a one on one against the USA, Wayne Rooney did the same against Slovenia and got away very lightly indeed. He outplayed Rooney in every match at the World Cup but he’s still the one that gets it in the neck.
I don’t blame him for retiring.
2 The Football Merchandise Store // Jul 17, 2010 at 5:56 pm
His goals per game ratio was simply not good enough and International teams cannot afford to carry a shot shy striker, this WC it was highlighted by Rooney’s lack of form
3 sorin // Jul 18, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Heskey did not played too well at this World Cup and I think he wont be missed too much. Anyway he is a great striker and a real fear reason for any defender
4 Football Memorabilia // Jul 23, 2010 at 8:06 pm
One of the better players at our World Cup effort this year, mocked and derided by most but performed better than the rest of his teammates.
I don’t blame him for retiring either.
5 Football Gifts // Jul 27, 2010 at 9:58 pm
It supised many that Heskey was selected to play in the WC but to be fair to him he played reasonably well during the tournament – certainly better than many of his team mates.