Who On Earth Is Leicester City?
By Jimmy Lee
“Who on earth is Leicester City?!?!?!?!?!? And why can’t we beat them?!?!?!?!?!”
Above is the exact text message sent to me by one of my best friends, a Manchester United fan, soon after their loss on Sunday to Leicester City. Well my friend, Leicester City (pronounced Lester not Lie-cester) is one of the three newly promoted clubs in the Premier League this season.
After being in the Premier League on three other occasions, The Foxes were relegated all the way down to League One (England’s third division) in 2008 before making their way back to the EPL this season after spending the previous five seasons in the Championship (England’s second division). Last season, Leicester won the Championship by 9 points over second place Burnley which automatically qualified them for this season’s EPL.
Last Sunday, many new EPL fans may have been treated to Leicester City for the first time as they witnessed The Foxes come back from a two goal deficit on two separate occasions to beat Manchester United. Leicester City scored 4 consecutive goals to give them a 5-3 victory over one of the most famous teams in the world.
So I go back to my friend’s question above – who on earth is Leicester City? Well instead of going into deep detail of each of their players, I want to highlight three of the four men who scored this past week against the Red Devils.
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Esteban Cambiasso
Cambiasso is bald. He is most famous for the 10 seasons he spent in Italy with Internazionale, Cambiasso is an Argentine international who joined Leicester City just a month ago. Before joining Inter, Cambiasso played in his native Argentina for four seasons before moving to Real Madrid for two seasons. The highlight of his career came in 2010 when Inter won the Champions League title. He is beloved by Inter fans and is considered by many to be one of the best players to ever put on an Inter shirt. He brings a perfect mix of skill and experience to this newly promoted club.
Leandro Ulloa
Another Argentina, but the major difference between Ulloa and Cambiasso is that Ulloa has hair. But not just on his head, Ulloa sports a soul patch. If Cambiasso’s bald head and Ulloa’s soul patch had a child, it would for sure look like Howie Mandel. Ulloa has been quite a journeyman in his career. He started in Argentina’s second division before making his way up to the Primera Division de Argentina where he played for 3 different clubs. Eventually he made his move to Spain’s second division and a couple years later up to the top division in Spain. Finally Ulloa made the move to England’s second division before signing with Leicester this off season. His signing for eight million Euros was a new record for Leicester. No his 8 million euros is nothing near what United paid for his fellow countryman Angel di Maria, but after five goals in five matches, Ulloa is proving that he may turn out to be the best buy of the transfer window.
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Jamie Vardy
Finally, someone who isn’t an Argentine. Vardy is English. And Vardy has a full head of hair. As recent as 4 seasons ago he played with Stocksbridge Park Steels, a team which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One South which is essentially the eighth division of English football. He later played for two other clubs, neither of whom were at the time playing in one of England’s top four divisions. And in 2012, he signed with Leicester. Now in 2014, he is in the Premier League. And what did he do on Sunday against United. He assisted on the first goal, scored the fourth goal, and drew both penalties. He is currently signed with The Foxes through the end of the 2018 season. So after years down in the lower divisions, it looks like we may get to see Vardy in the EPL for years to come.
Now when you look ahead to the fixtures your team is playing, don’t just glance over Leicester City and count that as a win. They have already drawn with Everton and Arsenal and as discussed in detail, defeated Manchester United. They may be a newly promoted club, but they play with the experience of a college senior, ready to take on the world ahead of them.
Now you know a little but about Leicester City. If I’ve taught you one thing, I hope you now know that it is pronounced Lester. I’ve now saved you from sounding like an idiot around your friends by saying Lie-cester.