Born May 1980, Steven George Gerrard plays for the Liverpool football club of the British Premier League. He is also a regular member of the English National Team, playing striker for Team England since 2006. While he was comfortable in his role as a center midfielder for Liverpool, the advent of Fernando Torres at Anfield has shuffled the pack a little and Gerrard now frequently finds himself in the role of second striker.

Unlike many pro footballers that seem to bounce around from team to team, across oceans and onto different continents, Gerrard is local hero. He made his career debut in Liverpool back in 1998 and he has had a regular spot on the Liverpool first team since the 2001/2002 Season. He became team captain in 2003.

Gerrard didn’t get to suit of for his first international match until 2000, and was part of the English squad in the UEFA European Championships in 2000 and 2004. He was the squad’s top scorer in their 2006 FIFA World Cup appearance. Due to an injury to this year’s English World Cup Team’s Captain, Rio Ferdinand, Gerrard was bumped up from Vice Captain to Captain and is probably still reveling over the team’s defeat of the US (a long-standing rivalry). While the injury to Ferdinand is regrettable, Gerrard’s experience and his outstanding play were crucial to helping the team qualify for Cup play. He scored two important goals as Team England beat Croatia in the qualifying match.

Having accumulated numerous awards, achieved milestones and proven to be a footballer of the highest caliber, it is sad that most people will best remember Gerrard’s «invisible goal» to win over the US on June 12th. Much to the consternation and indignation of fans around the world, the broadcaster covering the match inadvertently ran a commercial during that precise moment and, alas, one of Gerrard’s most glorious accomplishments on a soccer field were missed by those not so fortunate enough as to have been present. Let us hope, however, that he will have many more shining moments and that, in each of these, the camera and the crew will be televising them for all to see.