The Fall and Rise of Emile Heskey
A look at the international turnaround of Wigan's burly striker
Oct 25, 2008
A little over a year ago, while England were hopelessly adrift in their bid for Euro 2008 qualification, few would have considered international exile Emile Heskey a viable attacking option for a team so desperately short on goals. Indeed, on the terraces confidence had dropped faster than Didier Drogba in the six yard box and the England flags were looking a little weary after years of fluttering to no avail. In short, the nation was in dire need of inspiration. An old timer like Heskey was surely not the man to instil such confidences, nor was he the man to inject life into a lacklustre team.
He was, after all, 29 years old. He played for a desperately unglamorous club in Wigan Athletic, that remote northern outpost of Premiership football. He was also notoriously goal shy; in his previous 43 games for the national team Heskey had scored only five goals, a staggeringly low return for an international striker. No, Heskey was not the man to restore pride in the national team. He was not a predator; he was past tense, a player whose name could not be printed on the back pages without the feared term ‘former England player’ preceding it. His England career, it would seem, was over.
Return from Exile
Reversals of international fortune, however, are not exclusive to 38 year old goalkeepers. When England came away from respective back to back qualifiers against Israel and Russia with a rare six points in the bag there were definite murmurings amongst the tub-thumping England faithful, that none too fickle bunch who are known, on occasion, to change their minds. Something positive, it seemed, was happening on the pitch.
Indeed, if England played with an optimism that had eluded them for much of the campaign then its source was the on-field partnerships developing by virtue of an injury depleted squad. Beleaguered England coach Steve McClaren, sensing danger, had gambled on enforced and unexpected inclusions and the risk had paid dividends; on the right Micah Richards, benefitting from the prolonged absence of Gary Neville, was developing an attack-minded understanding with Shaun Wright-Phillips while Gareth Barry, standing in for the increasingly fragile Owen Hargreaves, became the midfield anchor Steven Gerrard had always craved.
It seemed England had solved the conundrum posed by injury, but it wasn’t just the attributes of Richards and Barry that had the fans talking on the terraces, nor was it the flurry of goals that garnished their contribution. It was the return from exile of an invigorated Emile Heskey after a 3 year absence, working alongside Michael Owen, his paucity of goals more than compensated for by his attrition of Russian and Israeli defences. It was enough for ex-England striker Alan Shearer, live on BBC1’s Match of the Day, to concede: ‘Never in a million years did I expect to be discussing whether Emile Heskey should keep his place ahead of Wayne Rooney but the Wigan striker was outstanding over both games.’
The Road to South Africa
A false dawn may have broken over those games, but while the sacked Steve McClaren worked on his Dutch and England fans stayed home to watch a convincing Spain win Euro’ 2008, new coach Fabio Capello was honing a squad that incorporated and utilised the combative strengths of Heskey alongside the more mercurial talents of Wayne Rooney. Thus far, England have won their opening four World Cup qualifiers on the road to South Africa 2010, a feat that no previous England team could achieve. In the fourth of those games, against Belarus, Heskey won his 50th England cap; not so long ago, very few would have believed it possible. A lot can certainly happen in a year.
