Football: Adriano Starts Superbly

Since the dawn of modern football, the center forward has never been so depopulated. The number nine position has long lost its former glory. Players like Osimhen, Džekeres, and Isaac are now commanding nearly a billion dollars. The two leaders, one a weakling who only knows how to win in tough matches, while the other didn't win his first major championship until he was thirty, having moved to another country. Twenty years ago, this would have been unimaginable. Despite a serious knee injury, Ronaldo lived up to his "alien" persona, still winning two World Cups. Didier Drogba, the "Warcraft," was unstoppable, crushing Premier League defenses with impunity. Filippo Inzaghi and Christian Vieri embodied two distinct styles of center forward, but their off-field saga was equally captivating. Andriy Shevchenko, Gabriel Batistuta, Patrick Kluivert, and Ruud van Nistelrooy... in that group...