BEWARE THE FAL GUYS
Targeted in the Prem, but will Falcao join the likes of Suarez and Januzaj in scoring against England?
LUIS SUAREZ four years ago, Adnan Januzaj on Thursday — now Radamel Falcao.
England have had their fair share of Premier League fall guys come back to haunt them over the years.
And Colombia’s star striker Falcao – who flopped on loan at Chelsea and Manchester United between 2014-16 – threatens to become the latest Three Lions bogeyman.
The widely-held view is that England should be delighted at pitching up in the easier half of the World Cup draw.
But Falcao, virtually unrecognisable when he pulls on his national team shirt, is out to prove that there are no easy games at this stage of a World Cup.
In England he started a total of just 19 games, only two at Chelsea, and scored just five goals. Since then, for
Monaco and Colombia, he has netted 54 times.
England defender Gary Cahill, a team-mate during his nightmare spell at Chelsea, warned: “Falcao is a top striker, tricky in the box. He likes to come off the shoulder of the defender and he’s a good finisher. If he gets half a chance he normally hits the target. Everyone’s aware of his ability.”
Suarez proved his quality at the last World Cup, the then Liverpool striker hitting a brace for Uruguay to sink England ahead of his move to Barcelona. Januzaj, after his superb winner for Belgium on Thursday night, insisted he’d gone a long way to silencing the critics who said he was a flop at Old Trafford.
Falcao, 32, is a man with a mission after a knee-ligament injury threw his career into doubt four years ago. Before the setback, when he was starring for Atletico Madrid, he was arguably the most fearsome striker on the planet.
Cahill was in the Blues side smashed up by Falcao and Atletico in the 2012 European Super Cup. The Colombian left the then Champions League holders in pieces with a quite brilliant hat-trick. Monaco signed him for £52million in 2013 but he injured his knee on duty for the French side in January 2014 and missed that year’s World Cup. Loan spells at United and Chelsea (below) failed to reignite his genius. But on his return to Monaco he rediscovered his best form. With James Rodriguez a serious doubt for Tuesday’s last-16 showdown in Moscow, Falcao will be Colombia’s biggest goal threat. And Cahill knows what the striker is capable of when he hits top gear. “He had a difficult time in England but outside of England he’s a very highprofile player,” he said. “He’s scored many, many goals. We were on the end of some in the Super Cup, so he’s a goalscorer – he’s proved that. Although he had a difficult time in England, he showed his character by finding his form again.
“I’m sure a huge amount (of what happened in England) was down to confidence. He had that spell at Manchester United, then he had that spell with us, and he was short of sharpness at both clubs.
“It was a bit stop-start for him in England. You don’t get loads of opportunities. You’re in for one or two games, then you’re out.
“So I think he was a little frustrated when he was with us at Chelsea.
“The competition was stiff and I’m sure he found it difficult but he showed his character to go on and find his goalscoring form again. He’s been banging goals in again ever since.
“Colombia are a very good team with some good individual players, some of whom I know well, like Falcao, and Juan Cuadrado. They have some dangerous individual players and it will be a tough game.”