June 25, 2007 9:21 PM
Celtic profiles: Boruc and the goalkeepers
Many people planning to go to Dick's Sporting Goods Park to watch the All-Star Game on July 19 probably will be more familiar with the standouts from Major League Soccer and less familiar with the Scottish visitors, Celtic FC.
I know I will.
So FC Rocky is beginning an occasional series to let Coloradans (or anyone who plans to watch on TV) become more familiar with the Celtic players whom we may see on the pitch in Commerce City.
First a little background about the team. The Celtic Football Club played its first game in 1888, naturally against Glasgow's Rangers. The "brief history" of Celtic on its Web site is more than 11 pages long.
In 2007, Celtic made history when it qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions League for the first time. The achievement came courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Celtic Park when Shunsuke Nakamura fired home a free-kick late in the game. And goalkeeper Artur Boruc saved a last-minute penalty to secure the victory. (In the round of 16, Celtic lost 1-0 to Italian giants AC Milan on aggregate).
Celtic won its second consecutive Scottish Premier League title when Nakamura – voted Scotland’s Player of the Year – scored a last-minute goal against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
And the team secured a double with a 1-0 victory over Dunfermline thanks to a late goal by on-loan defender Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe. The Scottish Cup triumph was also Neil Lennon’s final game for the club. Lennon played more than 300 games for Celtic since joining the team in December 2000. He moved to Nottingham Forest this month (so FC Rocky won't be profiling him).
ARTUR BORUC
Goalkeeper Boruc joined Celtic in July 2005 from the Polish club Legia Warszawa and endeared himself to his new team by saving a penalty kick in the first minute of his debut. He's been the starter ever since.
The goalkeeper's performance as a starter at the 2006 World Cup in Germany was one of the highlights of the tournament for the Poles. Boruc has appeared 20 times for his country.
Although he is signed through 2009, Boruc, 27, recently stated that he won't rule out leaving Celtic for a bigger European club, maybe even this summer. He has attracted interest from AC Milan, Lazio, Aston Villa and Arsenal, and he told a Polish newspaper, "The derby matches against Rangers drive the whole league. Only for those games is it worth staying at Celtic." But he did add that the possibility of repeat trips to the Champions League make remaining at Celtic attractive.
Here's a Daily Record story about Boruc's comments on his future.
And here's a video of a nice Boruc save against Rangers.
And here's a longer collection of Boruc highlights, including the Champions League PK against ManU and some other crazy saves.
He also goes through a pregame ritual that has caused some controversy in Scotland. Apparently, it's outraged people so badly that you can even see a video of him going through the motions at YouTube. And here's another one titled "Scotlands Not So Secret Shame."
If Boruc stays with Celtic, will he play at the All-Star Game? It's unclear. But if he leaves, the starter may be ...
OTHER GOALKEEPERS
David Marshall was the team's starter when Boruc arrived. He also made an instant impact on Celtic and its fan, registering a 1-0 victory over Barcelona as a substitute in the UEFA Cup in 2004.
After Boruc's arrival, however, Marshall was sent to the bench. Then he was sent to Norwich City on loan during the 2006-07 season.
Recently, having served two seasons as Boruc's backup, Marshall has told newspapers that he is unhappy and wants out of Celtic. Glasgow's The Herald went so far as to declare, "Marshall will slip out of Celtic Park almost unnoticed this summer, leaving behind him the embers of a once highly-promising career at at the club."
So if Boruc and Marshall leave, the next likely candidates to start in goal would be 26-year-old Mark Brown, of Scotland, or Michael McGovern, a former U-21 international for Northern Ireland. Brown was Boruc's backup while Marshall was on loan to Norwich City.
Boruc saves a penalty from Manchester United's Louis Saha during a Champions League in November in Glasgow. (PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
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