The argument for Reinaldo Elias da Costa

There is no more frustrating forward in the A-League then Heynaldo at times. He can miss glorious chances that seem be easier to score then to fuck up while other times produce goals of outrageous skill which very few other players could match.

The quote by the great Bill Shankly about Rodger Hunt springs to mind when thinking about Heynaldo – “Sure Rodger misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them”.

How often does Heynaldo score, and is it enough? To answer that question, which is at the crux of any argument involving the big man, first his position has to be understood. Many detractors will claim that Heynaldo does not score enough for a striker; which is well and good. If he was a striker. To my view however Heynaldo is a forward, not a striker.

What is the difference between a forward and a striker? To give an example Mark Viduka’s role for Australia is as a forward; a target man, alone up front being raped by three defenders while attempting to win headers and hold up the ball and bring others into play. A striker is someone like Scott McDonald; who takes opportunities given to him, sits on the last man and finishes off opportunities created by the rest of the team.

Often the best striking partnerships contain both a forward and a target man. Melbourne swept all before them when their forward Danny Allsopp and their striker Archie Thompson worked together in a formidable partnership in A-League season 2. Heynaldo was viewed at the beginning of season 3 to work with Simon Lynch in a similar striking partnership. Cranky Frankie tried this for the first seven rounds to little success. The Scotsman failing to make the promised goal scoring impact and forced Farina into changing his formation to a 451 with attacking wingers. With Zullo and Kruse attacking the wings one of the forwards was required to make way. Frankie went with Heynaldo as the loan forward, leaving Lynch as a bit part player for the remainder of the season. If a striker does nothing for 90 minutes except score the match winning goal, then he is doing his job; Lynch quite simply didn’t; hence the formation change.

Playing the lone role up front for any team is a challenging task. The 4 backs have 1 man to mark. Extra defensive attention is ensured and it’s a tough ask for one player to fill two roles. Take Viduka for example. In his club career he has mostly been partnered up front with a second forward and his club goal scoring record stands as something like 180 goals in 370 games (0.43 goals a game); a remarkable record for a forward (as opposed to a striker) no doubt. When Dukes is employed as a lone forward with Australia his goal scoring record is a more modest 11 goals in 43 games (0.25 goals a game). This highlights the difference in expected goal returns from a lone forward as opposed to a duel forward partnership.

The role Viduka plays for Australia is similar to that asked of Heynaldo for the Roar. Heynaldo’s record stands at 15 goals in 47 games (0.32 goals a game); a slightly better, but comparable statistic to that achieved by Dukes in his Australian solo forward role. Another comparative forward Danny Allsopp’s goal scoring record is 21 goals in 61 games for Melbourne (0.34 goals per game); which is almost identical to Heynaldo’s 0.32 goals per game statistic.

So it could be argued that Heynaldo is scoring the amount of goals expected of a forward (as opposed to a striker). It seems it is the lack of a genuine goal scoring striker was the problem for the Roar, more than Heynaldo’s record. For that look at Simon Lynch, not the big Brazilian front men.

The loan frontman’s job is more than scoring goals. Its occupying and holding off defenders, winning headers and bringing others into play. The defenders Heynaldo draws gave the space for our speedy wingers to exploit. His skill at challenging multiple defenders for long balls out of our defence helps relieve opposition attacking pressure.

The success of Zullo and Kruse in their first season could be partly attributed to both their natural skill and Heynaldo’s hard work in occupying the opposition’s defenders. Take a look at a game from last season and notice how many defenders are raping Heynaldo every time the ball approaches him.

Heynaldo allowed Frank to play a formation that without the Heynaldo type of target man, just would not have been possible. Queensland almost won the league, made the Grand Final and qualified for Asia. While near enough doesn’t quite cut it; the improvement in the Queensland results from round 7 onwards can be attributed to a large degree to the formation that Heynaldo allowed Queensland to play.

It is his misses in great positions and shots that sail up into row Z which fans notice and remember, not the tireless work he does so that the team in general can benefit. His goal scoring record is pillared, despite being comparable with other sole forwards, but it should be better, and it has improved as the young man has matured. Towards the end of last season Heynaldo was starting to knock in more goals and his wonder goal led to his lucrative (by A-League standards) transfer to Korean team Buscan I’Park; even if I do wonder if they only ever did see his audacious wonder goal against Sydney in the semi-final at Lang Park.

So this season, with more competent forward partners I am hoping Heynaldo will do more of what fans remember – score goals. So come on big man, I’ve done my bit to talk you up, do your bit and prove my belief in you correct.