Queens Park Rangers find themselves at the rock bottom of the EPL table with just two points from their opening seven games, but striker Bobby Zamora has been a revelation. By Sean Gallagher.
Amidst Queens Park Rangers’ dismal start to the season Bobby Zamora has been a bright spark.
The 31-year-old front-man, signed by Hoops boss Mark Hughes from former club Fulham in January, has enjoyed a fruitful start to the English Premier League campaign with four goals in eight appearances.
But despite Zamora’s fine form Rangers find themselves at the rock bottom of the EPL table with just two points from their opening seven games.
However, an upbeat Zamora is confident that the West London side can still push for a top-10 finish.
“The new faces are in now and I’ve been impressed with them,” Zamora told the London Evening Standard. “We have played a couple of good teams and it is early days. We are certainly not worried.”
Zamora still harbours hope of a recall to the England squad, having won just two caps for his country so far. In 2005 the striker turned down the chance to represent Trinidad and Tobago — the country of his father’s birth — as he waited for England to call.
Four years had passed and Zamora’s patience had run out, so he agreed to play for the Caribbean country in a World Cup qualifier but injury prevented him from making his international debut.
A year later and after a fine season at Fulham, scoring 19 goals in all competitions and helping them to reach the Europa League final, Zamora was talked of as a contender for Fabio Capello’s squad for the 2010 World Cup.
But a recurrence of an Achilles tendon problem ended any hopes of Zamora boarding the plane to South Africa to play on the biggest stage of all.
His first cap finally came against Hungary at Wembley in August of that year, but a broken leg shortly after again halted his momentum. Zamora had to wait more than a year for his second cap and first start — which came against Sweden in November 2011 at Wembley.
Zamora has revealed that the current England head coach Roy Hodgson, who he played for at Fulham, has assured him that he is still in his thoughts.
“He was not in touch before Euro 2012 but I have spoken to him a few times recently, just touching base really and seeing how I am,” said Zamora. “Obviously, I understand that I am still in the picture. I am just on the fringes so I have just got to keep doing my thing, keep working hard, score some goals and maybe get another look in.”
Zamora is now at his fourth London club after previous spells at Tottenham, West Ham and Fulham.
After joining West Ham as a schoolboy he failed to make the grade at the East London side, so he joined Bristol Rovers and then moved on to Brighton. Zamora became a big favourite with Seagulls fans as he scored 83 goals in 136 appearances.
He was then signed by Tottenham but scored just one goal in 18 appearances before rejoining the Hammers in 2004.
His second spell at Upton Park was far more productive as he scored 40 goals for the club and helped them earn promotion back to the EPL and reach the FA Cup Final in 2006, where they lost to Liverpool on penalties.
Zamora moved across London once again in 2008 to join Fulham and he became a key player for the Cottagers, with the highlight of his spell at the club being a famous run to the Europa League final which ended in a defeat by Atletico Madrid.
That impressive season under now England boss Hodgson led to further interest in Zamora and after Hodgson was replaced by Hughes and then Martin Jol replaced the Welshman, the striker left Craven Cottage in January following a fall-out with the Dutchman.
Zamora linked up with Hughes at QPR, stating he was lured to the club by the ambition of the Loftus Road outfit. For the time being Rangers’ objective is to move up the table and if Zamora maintains his form, they will be hopeful of climbing out of the relegation zone before long.
Zamora is married to Louise, who is the mother of his two twin girls, Gisele and Siena.
FACTFILETHE PLAYER: Bobby Zamora POSITION: Striker CLUB: Queens Park Rangers DOB: 16/01/81 INTERNATIONAL APPEARANCES: 2 GOALS: 0 MOMENT TO REMEMBER: Scoring and giving Fabio Cannavaro a torrid time in Fulham's famous Europa League win over Juventus at Craven Cottage. MOMENT TO FORGET: Breaking his leg in an EPL game against Wolves in 2010, resulting in a lengthy lay-off.
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