Column

I am one of those listed right on top in the bad books of luck.

If there’s a single tiny little stone in a pot of rice, rest assured it’ll end up on my plate. I have chipped teeth to prove it. If I carry an umbrella, it never rains. Birds, of all kinds, make me a target for their droppings all the time and even that hasn’t turned my luck.

When my sorry tale is told, sympathetic nods are accompanied by one of the biggest fallacies I’ve ever heard: ‘You make your own luck.’ Hah to that, I say. Do I pick the stone and put it on my plate? And I love birds too. I empathise dearly with those cursed with rotten luck, for they are my fellow sufferers.

Eduardo is one such. Arsenal’s Brazilian-born Croatian striker is a special talent, but gets to show very little of it.

He has been with the English club since July 2007 and has featured in only 17 games. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had high hopes from him as he came with a prolific goal-scoring record, both for his adopted national team and his club Dinamo Zagreb.

If there was one club where a player like him could shine, it was Arsenal. He had skill in abundance and finishing touches that Arsenal so badly needed. But he struggled in his first season, despite getting the opportunities after Robin van Persie was sidelined with injury.

The English weather and physical game can be a challenge for the boys from sunshine land. Rain and slush aren’t perfect game weather for them. Eduardo took time to adjust.

But just when the sun started to peek out a little bit for him, Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor’s mistimed tackle on February 23 last year brought back the cloud of doom. Eduardo broke his left fibula and dislocated his ankle. The injury was so disturbing and graphic that Sky Sports, which was telecasting the game live, didn’t show the replay.

It has taken him almost a year to recover from that horrible tackle. He spoke of months of insecurity and misery, when the future looked bleak and that ankle very brittle. Many surgeons and physiotherapists helped put together the broken man. Arsenal’s fitness coach Tony Colbert worked with him the whole year, training first to get him back on his feet, then walk, then run and then kick that ball.

After playing for Arsenal reserves for a while, just to see if the ankle would hold the pressure of 90 minutes, he finally made his Arsenal comeback in the fourth round FA Cup game against Cardiff City on February 16. And what a dream comeback it was. He scored two goals as fans went delirious and some on the Arsenal bench choked with emotions.

But damn that luck. Just when you think you are finally buddies, it deserts you. Eduardo suffered a hamstring injury in the same game and is likely to miss out on action for another two weeks. The injury isn’t serious but pesky enough to sour the sweet success of hard work.

What can you say? It’s just one of those things. Some people never miss stepping on cow dung, I guess!