23 May 2005(Mon)

(May 20): It had to come, sooner rather than later.

The announcement of the retirement of Patrick Mboma was inevitable, given his long fight against a variety of niggling injuries.

In fact, there's probably a few J.League fans who didn't even know he was still in Japan, with Vissel Kobe.

Even so, Patrick will be missed.

If ever a player befitted the nickname of "The Gentle Giant", that man was Patrick Mboma. Perhaps "Gentleman Giant" might be more appropriate, as anyone who met him could not fail to warm to his engaging personality.

The big and fearless Cameroonian set the J.League alight in his first season with Gamba Osaka, scoring a succession of magnificent goals that had the TV commentators drooling.

He was crashing them into the net from all angles, with such power you felt that if the goalkeeper got in the way, he would travel into the back of the net still clutching the ball. Or maybe he would end up through the net!

These goals came to the attention of the European clubs, even though Mboma had been in France for several seasons without making the grade.

During the 1998 World Cup in France, I attended the Cameroon-Austria match on a chilly night at Toulouse, and all the talk after the game was of Mboma leaving Gamba for Cagliari in Italy.

At the top of his game, Mboma had to test himself at the highest level, so left Japan midway through the 1998 season.

When he returned to Japan, to join Tokyo Verdy, I must admit I was a bit surprised.

He had struggled in Italy, lately with a poor Parma team, and also in England with Sunderland, and was playing in Libya when Verdy stepped in.

Mboma did a solid rather than spectacular job, taking over from Edmundo as an experienced leader for the others to follow, but again injuries interrupted his availability.

Vissel, despite being stung by the expensive mistake of signing Ilhan Mansiz, still chose to give Mboma one last chance.

It didn't work.

Nevertheless, Mboma will always be held in great affection by the Japanese fans. He will always be in debt to Japan, too, because the J.League launched his career.

I remember being in the Cameroon team hotel at Niigata, during the 2001 Confederations Cup.

The players, like a big, happy family, were sitting around in the lobby, when Mboma's mobile phone rang.

Out of respect, the other players fell silent, and Mboma adopted a child's voice in answering, "Moshi! Moshi!"

His teammates were practically rolling around on the floor in hysterics.

Mboma gave a lot to Japanese football, and Japan gave a lot to him too.

The era of Cameroon's "Gentleman Giant" is finally over, but will never be forgotten.

ends