When Brazilian Ronaldo gracefully sidefooted past Oliver Kahn to make the score 2-0 in the Fifa World Cup final, there was no question regarding who was the star of the moment. Having led the scoring charts for the tournament with 8 goals, Ronaldo also went on to win the Ballon D'Or that year, engraving his name ever more firmly into the list of the greatest players the world had ever seen.
But 12 years later when Mario Gotze half-volleyed past a despairing Sergio Romero, the landscape of football had changed completely. Top scorer James Rodriguez (6 goals) and next highest goalscorer Thomas Muller (5 goals) were not strikers for their teams; in fact, even 3rd placed Lionel Messi could not be categorised as a striker for the role he played in the Argentina team.
Just as with the final, not many games were decided by world class strikers with a moment of magic – in fact, eventual winners Germany were particularly noted for their lack of strikers, relying occasionally on a 36-year-old Miroslav Klose or opting to line up without a striker altogether.
Though not as prominently, the struggles faced by strikers as compared to previous years is evident in the Premier League as well – despite being arguably the best individual players at their respective clubs, Sergio Aguero and Daniel Sturridge need a couple of absences to ascertain their place in the starting 11. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp prefers Roberto Firmino to any of his traditional striking options, and Arsene Wenger has struck gold with his experiment of Alexis Sanchez as centre forward.
So why do we have such a dearth for elite strikers across the world of football? Here we take a look at a few possible reasons:
#1 Team game
Among other things, the evolution of football over the years has meant a staggering increase in focus on the 'team' aspect of the game. 10 players no longer line up on the pitch just to support an elite teammate; the mantra of winning and losing as a team has broadened to even include the coaching and backroom staff along with the players.
“We defend as a team, We attack as a team,” proclaim most modern-minded managers in world football, like Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. When a goal is conceded, fingers are pointed all the way starting from a striker who did not press at the right time.
While this is obviously great for the spirit of the game as a whole, it robs freakishly talented individual players of the arrogance they used to boast in earlier decades. Alex Ferguson famously exempted Eric Cantona from his hairdryer treatment even after kung-fu kicking a fan against Crystal Palace – it is difficult to imagine similar treatment being meted out to any player in football today.
#2 Intense media scrutiny, pressure
Strikers, due to the very nature of the unique demands placed on them, miss chances. On bad days, they may even miss an awful lot. During an era when football was far less under the spotlight, this hardly mattered – not many of us seem to remember that Ronaldo missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities in the World Cup final before going on to settle the game eventually.
But even recent football fans will describe to you vividly the string of chances Gonzalo Higuain missed in the 2014 WC final. With tweets and reactions flooding the media for every action in the game, strikers are facing far more pressure than they ever had before.
Players like Fernando Torres might have found it easier to come back from a slump 15 years ago – but today, the casting off of a player can happen so fast and with such an air of finality that huge mental resolve is required to keep faith in your abilities when things are going against you.
#3 Evolving use of lone striker / no striker formations
Two striker formations used to be in vogue in the Premier League in the early 2000s, before inevitably succumbing to the variation in tactics adopted by the rest of Europe. It speaks volumes about the change football has seen that the most widely adopted formations of our time are 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, both lone striker formations, with the latter suitable even with a false nine.
Teams such as Leicester City (last season) and Monaco (this season) remind us that when executed properly, a 4-4-2 still has a place in elite football – but it is too difficult when opposition managers flood the midfield to take control of the game. There is, of course, no point fielding two strikers if you cannot provide service to them.
Simple logic – When teams require fewer strikers in their starting 11, they require less in their squad, and eventually they scout less for talented strikers and groom less number of forwards in their academy. Striking is perhaps the one department that has been most affected by modern football's obsession with midfield – to the extent that midfielders like Cesc Fabregas are asked to play as a striker even in a match as crucial as the Euro 2012 final.
#4 Work rate, physicality and fitness
Back to Sturridge and Aguero now – their woes serve to depict clearly the struggles of a specialised penalty box poacher. A striker is so much more than a goal scorer today – asked to drop deep, run into the channels, press the centre-backs, hold the ball up and bring teammates into play – and all this while leading the line on his own.
All of this demands exceptional work rate, perhaps even at the expense of talent – and not every day does a Luis Suarez come along; an ingeniously talented workhorse.
Many of the strikers who were celebrated in their day – Robbie Fowler, Dimitar Berbatov and the like – would have been looked upon with far less forgiving eyes by a modern manager.
#5 Migration to Europe at a young age
There is a certain beauty with playing football in your home country, especially if you are from the continent of South America. Whether it is on the streets or for local football clubs, outrageous talent reigns all over the continent – and it is on those shores that players learn to enjoy football. The joy of football is – lest we forget – that every single player whom we love to watch loves the game far more himself.
With all the money flowing into football, however, the landscape has changed – players are migrating to Europe far earlier in their careers, involving an instant shift from playing for the joy of it to playing for a living. Their natural skill and flair is suppressed to some extent with the tactical demands forced on them.
One need only look at Neymar to understand the benefits of staying in the domestic league for a while more – the Barcelona forward still plays with the same joy as he did for the Santos crowd back in his home country. While change is always inevitable and for the best, let us accord the best young talents more breathing space – perhaps they can love the game more, and in turn make us fall more in love with it.
