Hero For A Day

By: chris | November 22nd, 2007

The Forgotten Man

Rógvi Jacobsen scored every single one of his team’s goals during the European qualifying campaign. He now holds the all-time record for goals scored for his country. He beat the best keeper on the planet, and nearly took a historic point at home against the Italians, ultimately sending them home to watch the Euros from afar with England. In his hometown, he is seen as somewhat of a legend. His unexplainable goal scoring record has dubbed him his country’s Pippo Inzaghi. Unlike Pippo Inzaghi, he is only moonlighting as a football player. You see, Rogvi is a carpenter.

No, it is not his hobby. Nor does he see it as his true calling. It’s a necessity. Sure, he plays for HB Tórshavn in his native Faroe Islands, but the team is only semi-pro and he pulls down a very modest - by real world standards, not football - 1200-1500 euros per month. How do you think Pippo Inzaghi would feel about this? Of course he has had his shots at the “big time”, playing for Icelandic powerhouse KR Reykjavík and Danish club SønderjyskE. But how many players on either of those teams can claim to have beaten the great Gigi Buffon?

Rogvi scored 4 goals in the past European qualifiers, accounting for all of the Faroe Islands offense. The 3rd, and 10th in his international career, was enough to make him the greatest goal scorer in Faroe Islands history. Surely a far cry from Gerd Muller’s 68 in 62 games, but an accomplishment in itself. Does this make him the most talented? No, and his lack of club action seems to tell the entire story. But isn’t getting the ball into the back of the net, by whatever means necessary, the most important talent of all?

Italy conceded 9 goals in all of European qualifying, while Rogvi accounted for 2 of those. Nearly a quarter of the goals scored against the reigning world champions came at the hands of a carpenter. So I beg the offsiders, get in touch with your clubs, small as they might be, let them know about the diamond in the rough that is Rogvi Jacobsen. If anything, the man knows how to score against the Italians.

Somewhere, Raymond Domenech is desperately reaching for his cell phone.