4) Syed Nayeemuddin
When the creator gave us an atrociously talented and elegant football player with enviable Greek God looks, he was named Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, that is now, but Mr Syed Nayeemuddin was back then!
A man who could draw crowds into the stadium as much for his looks as for his skills with a football, Nayeemuddin is probably the most technically gifted defender to have ever donned the Indian jersey.
Nayeem was an integral part of the core of that oft reminisced about all-powerful Indian team of yore along with stars such as Peter Thangaraj, Shyam Thapa and Mohammad Habib, not unlike the big four or big five of the Indian Cricket team of the late 90s and 2000s.
Nayeem’s was a truly glittering career laden with prestigious trophies and honours, both at club and international level (for the record, he is both an Arjuna and a Dronacharya awardee; the only Indian footballer to have received both award till date) but the pride of this pacy wing back’s trophy cabnet is sure to be the 1970 Asian Games medal, the last time when India truly contested for continental supremacy.
Nayeem led his boys from the front and the Indian team displayed a brand of football rarely seen again from the Blue Tigers en route to an unprecedented silver medal. His was a performance to remember, one that has been and will be talked about for aeons and aeons to come.
Nayeem also had tremendous success as a manager, coaching every team he helmed to titles but ultimately fell on hard times due to lack of unemployment, leading him to say, “I’ve become a national beggar!”
However big his troubles may have been, Nayeem has always remained a gentleman par excellence, never compromising on his self respect. The most fitting praise that can be lavished on this Indian hero, who for the first time showed us the menace that can be an overlapping fullback on a football field, is something that he once said of himself, “Tiger kabhi ghaas nahi khata (A Tiger never eats grass!)!”
