FOOTBALL is the world’s biggest entertainment industry, with players becoming popular due to the on-pitch and off-pitch fun they bring.
When choosing the players for our ‘April Fool’s day team’ I couldn’t decide whether to select players who are walking memes, funny characters, or those with prank-themed names.
But I settled on picking players that put skill, personality and vibrance into their performances, ‘tricksters’ if you like.
So, here is the Solent Sports News five-a-side ‘trickster’ team:
Emiliano Martinez – Goalkeeper
I debated not putting a goalkeeper in this team, but after seeing Emiliano Martinez’s antics vs Brazil last week, he felt like the most obvious choice in any position for this team.
If you haven’t already seen, the world’s number one goalkeeper received the ball when 4-1 up, and started doing keepy-ups.
This is outrageously disrespectful, particularly with the context that Argentina and Brazil are huge rivals.
But we all hate how robotic the sport has become don’t we?
it’s great to see players having fun.
Martinez has so many other moments to name, from dancing in penalty shootouts to hilarious time-wasting methods.
We can all agree football needs players like him!
Gerard Pique – Defender
Gerard Pique probably isn’t the first name that comes into your head when you think of skilful defenders, but I’ve thought up a few good reasons why he’s a perfect fit.
Firstly, he caused a whirlwind of drama in 2017 when he tweeted out a selfie of himself and Neymar with the caption “se queda”, translating to “he stays’’.
This was tweeted at a time when Neymar to PSG rumours were at an all time high – but don’t worry, Pique was there to settle Barcelona nerves.
Neymar, though, did in fact depart in the Summer, with Pique later admitting that he knew that it would happen at the time of the tweet.
Pique, now retired, also founded the Kings League in Spain, a seven-a-side league filled with whacky rules.
The league has been labelled a ‘circus’ by the La Liga president Javier Tebas.
That’s not the April Fool’s Day spirit, Javier!
Antony – Midfielder
No, Antony isn’t just here because he tricked Manchester United into paying 80 million Great British Pounds for him, but also for his skills on the pitch.
He scored five goals in 62 games for United, (I never said those skills were actually effective) but as Brazilians do, he loves to bring entertainment to the pitch, most notably with his spinning moves.
Do the spins actually work in-game? No, not really, but at least it’s funny and that’s all I care about for this team.
Ronaldinho – Midfielder
Brazilian magician Ronaldinho is probably football’s biggest ever entertainer.
As a 21 years-old, I wasn’t really old enough to watch him in his prime, but he is still one of my favourite ever players, and that’s the same for so many other young people.
That’s only the kind of impact a one-of-a-kind footballer has.
His goal vs Chelsea where he stopped, wiggled his body, and casually curled the ball into the corner, epitomises the player he was – an entertainer.
Olivier Giroud – Striker
If I was to show my future children an Olivier Giroud goal compilation, they would probably think he was the best player of all time.
For a player most associated as being a target man, the Frenchman has scored a number of technically brilliant goals over his long career.
His goal-scoring pallet ranges from goals like his superb solo run vs Southampton in the FA Cup final, and that famous scorpion kick vs Crystal Palace.
Those superb shows of skill, though, is only a small part of the reason why he’s in this April Fool’s day team.
The main reason is the biggest joke of all – his crowning of Paddy Power’s 2015 ‘hottest player in the Premier League’.
Phil Jones was right there, lads!
