Jump to content

Sol Campbell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.159.101.85 (talk) at 17:04, 24 December 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sol Campbell
Personal information
Full name Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Portsmouth
Number 23
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11:46, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Sulzeer Jeremiah "Sol" Campbell (born 18 September 1974 in Plaistow, London) is an English footballer. He currently plays for Portsmouth in the English Premiership, having previously played for Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. He is the only player to have played for England in six consecutive major tournaments. Campbell is of Jamaican descent, via his Jamaican-born parents.

Early career

Campbell was a prodigious schoolboy talent and was part-educated at the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall, before joining Tottenham Hotspur. Strangely he began his career as a striker. He made his first team debut for Spurs in December 1992, scoring a goal after coming on as a substitute for Nick Barmby, though he did not appear again that season. He played up front and in every defensive position over the course of the next two seasons before settling as a central defender. As club captain Gary Mabbutt's appearances became more limited because of injury and age, Campbell became Spurs' lynchpin defender.

He made his England debut against Hungary on 18 May 1996, coming on as a substitute. Although he had only one cap by the time Terry Venables selected his squad for Euro 96, Campbell made the squad as defensive cover. He came on as a substitute in England's 2-0 win over Scotland for his second cap.

Over the next two years, Campbell became a regular member of new manager Glenn Hoddle's three man England defence, mostly alongside Gareth Southgate and Tony Adams. On 24 May 1998, at 23 years and 248 days, Campbell became what was then England's second-youngest captain after Bobby Moore in a 0-0 draw against Belgium, though Michael Owen has subsequently overtaken Campbell after captaining England against Paraguay in April 2002. Campbell started all four of England's matches in the 1998 World Cup.

During the 1998 World Cup, Campbell was involved in a highly controversial incident in England's second round clash against Argentina. With fewer than ten minutes to go, the score was 2-2 and England were down to ten men after David Beckham was sent off. Campbell headed a corner into the Argentinian net. He wheeled away to celebrate his first international goal, which looked likely to put England into the quarter-finals, but a push by Alan Shearer had caused the referee to blow for a foul. Campbell was still in the corner of the pitch with England supporters as Argentina restarted the game and counter-attacked. England eventually lost the game on penalties.

Campbell played in England's successful qualification campaign for Euro 2000 and in all three group games at the tournament, which England exited after defeat by Romania. He was entering the last year of his contract with Spurs. Although Campbell successfully captained his side to a League Cup final win over Leicester City in 1998-99, Spurs never finished better than eighth during Campbell's time there. This denied him his wish to play at Europe's top level, the Champions League.

Transfer to Arsenal

In the summer of 2001 Campbell's contract expired. Mindful of the Bosman ruling, Tottenham offered him a contract which would have made him the club's highest paid player ever, but after months of negotiations and several public assurances that he would stay at Spurs [citation needed], Campbell stated his wish to leave the club in order to play Champions League football. With several top European clubs courting him, he joined Arsenal. Ever since, he has been labelled "Judas" by Spurs supporters [citation needed], who regard him as a "mercenary" and accused him of prioritising personal gain over club loyalty [citation needed]; Campbell has always maintained that he loved Tottenham, and that his decision was entirely professional [citation needed]. The fact that he left on a Bosman transfer (thus meaning Spurs did not receive a transfer fee) further angered Tottenham fans [citation needed].

In his first season at Arsenal (2001-02), Campbell enjoyed immediate success, as he won both Premiership and FA Cup winners' medals as Arsenal won the Double. His partner at the back, Tony Adams, retired as a player at the end of the season leaving Campbell as the senior defender for both club and country.

Campbell scored his first England goal at the 2002 World Cup in the opening group game against Sweden. England drew the game 1-1, but then beat Argentina in the next match; Campbell was part of a strong defensive performance as England won 1-0. England progressed to the quarter finals, where they lost to eventual winners Brazil. Campbell was the only England player selected for the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.

In 2002-03, Campbell maintained his Arsenal and England place, but an injury he suffered towards the end of the season curtailed the Gunners' title chances and he also missed their successful retention of the FA Cup. The following season Campbell regained his place and his defensive performances were instrumental as he helped Arsenal regain the Premiership title without losing a single game. In addition, he helped his country qualify for Euro 2004 in Portugal.

During Euro 2004, Campbell had a late goal disallowed as England fought to make progress in a major tournament. Against hosts Portugal in the quarter finals with the score tied at 1-1, Campbell won a header in the opposition six-yard box to score what seemed to be a late winner for England. However, the referee, Urs Meier, decided that John Terry had pushed Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo and gave a free kick. The game ended 2-2 after extra time, and England lost the penalty shootout. Meier received threats to his life afterwards.

Later career

After Euro 2004, Campbell continued to play for Arsenal, winning an FA Cup winners' medal in 2004-05, as well as England, although his place in the international team had become less secure since the emergence of the central defensive partnership of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, which blossomed during Campbell's period of absence with injury in 2005. Nevertheless, in October 2005 he won his 66th cap and earned himself (jointly) a place in the top 20 most capped England players.

In the 2005-06 season, Campbell was blighted both with injuries and a loss of form[1][2]. In Arsenal's 3-2 home loss to West Ham United on 1 February, Campbell was largely responsible for West Ham's first two goals, before being substituted at half-time. Unusually, he then left the stadium, not staying to watch the second half. His team-mate Robert Pirès commented that Campbell was facing a "big worry" in relation to his private life[3], and Campbell did not make any contact with the club for several days. However, he resumed training with his team-mates on 6 February[4] and after 10 weeks away from first team action made his return in a draw away to Portsmouth on 13 April, although he sustained a broken nose in the process and had a short layoff while it was operated on.

He was back playing on April 25 in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Villarreal in Spain; a 0-0 draw on the night put the Gunners into the final. In the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris, Campbell scored the opening goal, a header from a free kick given after a foul on Emmanuel Eboue. However ten-man Arsenal went on to lose 2-1 to Barcelona.

Campbell was named in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup, but was third-choice centre back, with coach Sven-Göran Eriksson preferring the partnership of Ferdinand and Terry. However, after a knock to Ferdinand, Campbell came on as a substitute in England's group game against Sweden, which made him the first player to represent England on the pitch at six consecutive international tournaments. As of June 20 2006 he has played 69 times for England, scoring one goal. There is confusion as to whether his absence from each squad since the World Cup is due to his own decision to retire from the international game, or entirely down to the new coach, Steve McClaren, choosing to look elsewhere for central defensive strength.

On 8 July 2006 Arsenal announced that Campbell had parted with the club, in order to seek "a fresh challenge"[5]. In all he played 197 times for Arsenal, scoring 11 goals.

Portsmouth

On 8 August 2006 he completed his move to Portsmouth, signing a two year contract. This was seen as a surprising decision by Campbell as he had told Wenger he was leaving Arsenal to play outside of the Premiership and it appeared he would either sign for Olympique de Marseille or Fenerbahçe. His time at Portsmouth started well, forming a successful partnership in the centre of defence with Linvoy Primus and helping them keep five consecutive clean sheet.

He scored his first Portsmouth Goal in the 3-1 win over Sheffield United, on 23 December 2006.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

Arsenal

England

  • Member of FIFA World Cup All-Star Squad – 1998
  • Member of FIFA World Cup All-Star Team – 2002
  • Member of UEFA European Championship All-Star Squad – 2004

References

  1. ^ "The strange case of Sol Campbell, still missing in action". The Guardian. 2006-02-03. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Hansen voices fears over Campbell". BBC Sport. 2006-02-02. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Arsenal offer support to Campbell". BBC Sport. 2006-02-04. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Campbell attends Arsenal training". BBC Sport. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Campbell in surprise Arsenal exit". BBC Sport. 2006-07-08. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sol_Campbell&oldid=96291667"