Chad
Active Member
The build-up to this year's World Cup was dominated by questions of whether certain players would be returning from injury. Would England's talismanic forward Wayne Rooney be ready after breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot?
What about Italian playmaker Francesco Totti, who broke his left leg and damaged ankle ligaments in February?
However, beneath the media hype lay one overlooked comeback that outweighs all the others.
Last Saturday, the Ivory Coast goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizie may have become the first footballer with only one testicle to play in the World Cup finals when he took to the field against Argentina.
"It may well be true what you say," chortled the Elephants' number one when I put the question to him.
"That accident was a difficult moment for me but I have since recovered and come back."
In February last year, Tizie lost one of his testicles during a horrendous on-field collision while playing for serial Tunisian champions Esperance.
During a league game, the goalkeeper's clash with an Etoile Sahel player wrecked the forward's knee but Tizie came off worse.
One of the forward's studs cut open Tizie's scrotum and the damage was so bad that the Ivorian lost one testicle and spent two days in intensive care.
"I am lucky to be alive," he announced on leaving hospital.
Through perseverance and courage, the Ivorian returned to the pitch and he played in February's Nations Cup final in Egypt less than a year later.
"When I play now, I don't think about the incident," the 33-year-old told BBC Sport in Germany.
"But I was really scared after it happened and I never thought I would be able to come back so quickly."
Tizie's courage is there for all to see, as exemplified by the way he stepped up in the Elephants' marathon shoot-out victory over Cameroon in the Nations Cup quarter-finals.
After the first 21 penalties were successful, Tizie had to score to keep his team in the tournament and he effortlessly stroked home his kick as though playing with his kids in the garden.
That strength of mind has taken Tizie to the greatest stage in football but can representing his nation in the World Cup make up for that horrific incident in any way?
"It's no recompense at all," he replied sternly.
"I went through a difficult period of my life but I am here today despite those difficulties, and I have to give thanks to God for that.
"I hope that type of accident never happens again but it's in the past now and you have to be positive otherwise life can't go on."
The Ivorian will be hoping fate treats him more kindly when the Elephants look for their first points in Group C against Holland on Friday and against Serbia & Montenegro next week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/ivory_coast/5076750.stm
