A player I didn't include in the 50's list but who I think is a good candidate is Lennart 'Nacka' Skoglund of Sweden: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDQNAs3EGaY"]Lennart Nacka Skoglund playing for Inter Milan - YouTube[/ame] One I did include in the 60's was Georgi Asparukhov and this is the sort of goal he was capable of: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veimjKY5f14"]Georgi Asparukhov vs. England - YouTube[/ame] And here's some good compilations for the 3 I chose as the top 3 for the 60's Pele, Best and Eusebio: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7-J0XsQIao"]Pele 'The World's Greatest' - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QqL-ljMoo"]The best of George Best - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIqrnkKo1Hc"]Eusébio "The Black Panther" - YouTube[/ame]
OK mate If we considering late 40's is clear that for missing matches, Matthews shouldn't be nominated in Best XI in 2 seasons.
I think I could've placed Franz Binder in a slightly too early period (early 30's) after re-checking his details and career etc but he had broken through as a top player I think by the end of that period. Here's a radio discussion about Binder's one-time team-mate Josef Bican who is a candidate for one of the very best players in the 30's and 40's - it includes most of the famous facts about him: http://www.thefootballramble.com/dwhof/entrant/josef-bican Another player that I didn't include for the 50's (he may have even peaked and certainly achieved the most success with his club in the early 60's) but who'd be a candidate is Danny Blanchflower and here's a nice obituary of him: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-danny-blanchflower-1466455.html And to add to my top 3 of the 60's videos here's my top 3 for the 90's (Michael Laudrup, Ronaldo and Figo) plus Zico who would be a fair choice to be in the top 3 of the 80's or 70's too maybe but I didn't quite include him in a top 3 myself (other decades to follow): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tFPSTJE07E"]Michael Laudrup Compilation - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iXOMPo7cEI"]ronaldo - barcelona - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiza8OF9mSs"]Luis Figo in Barcelona - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARpEnjZIWko"]zico goals - YouTube[/ame]
My choice of top 3 for the 70's: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRlE9V23ad0&feature=g-hist&context=G2ac045aAHTxMF0gASAA"]Johan Cruyff Tribute - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu1Zhpde-2E&feature=g-hist&context=G23c8f20AHTxMJaQABAA"]FRANZ BECKENBAUER - THE LEGEND - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DBqE--j_tE&feature=g-hist&context=G21fa10fAHTxMJkQAQAA"]Gerd Müller Dann macht es bumm - YouTube[/ame] And for the 80's: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqzB-JefIUc&feature=g-hist&context=G29c059eAHTxMJvAAJAA"]Diego Maradona - The Best Of El Pibe de Oro - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXPqEbvIkpM&feature=g-hist&context=G2f01f8bAHTxMKgAAFAA"]Michel Platini - Great passes and Goals Juventus - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Da2ADkkEGs&feature=g-hist&context=G2d4a86bAHTxMKuQAJAA"]Marco Van Basten - A Career in Goals - YouTube[/ame] Another player from my 80's list: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHWPyUNb45A&feature=g-hist&context=G28aed13AHTxMK6AAGAA"]Preben Elkjaer - Forgotten Footballers Part 1 (4Dfoot) - YouTube[/ame] A great goal from a player in the 70's list: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1axsnMRbbo"]Archie Gemmill vs. Holland 1978 - YouTube[/ame] And one from a player in the 90's list: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZkCFoqSBs"]Netherlands - Argentina: Bergkamp Goal 1998 (HD) - YouTube[/ame]
The compilations etc aren't as good the further we go back but I thought these would make nice additions to the thread too (decided to post the 'Footballs Greatest' episodes for 2 of the top 3 I chose for the 50's): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1s06rU5P8Q"]Football's Greates : Alfredo Di Stefano - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STBQTqMnd8o"]Footballs Greatest - Ferenc Puskas - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47fTQnYMnTY&feature=related"]lev yashin ,el mas grande - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpaPQaTC-J0&feature=related"]Sir Stanley MATTHEWS dribbling compilation - christinayan - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8LgRq-QkE"]Sir Tom Finney - M.O.M - England 9 Ireland 2 - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgBBaKMb5E"]Meazza Sfide - YouTube[/ame]
Finally videos for the top 3 I chose for the 00's: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZV-q-nxBkk"]Zidane best moves, tricks and goals - When we were kings - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tflOSUnx3mw"]Ronaldinho Show - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Eq4x5vQhM"]Thierry Henry: Legend - YouTube[/ame] And the final extras: Shevchenko who was an early to mid 00's candidate (there was a good Dynamo Kiev compilation for him before but that would be 90's anyway): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ESpUmgG_j8"]Andriy Shevchenko - Tutti i gol col Milan / All goals with AC Milan (1999-2000) - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6X4FsOSxqQ"]Andriy Shevchenko - Tutti i gol col Milan / All goals with AC Milan (2000-2001) - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gprcg0jUdU"]Shevchenko Best Goal [vs Juventus] - YouTube[/ame] And Messi who is a valid mid to late 00's candidate and the front-runner for 2009 onwards can have the final video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrao0ROwpAM"]Messi goal vs Getafe - YouTube[/ame]
PDG, Maybe you also like this compilation: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL91nz8i-44"]Marco van Basten Tribute - YouTube[/ame]
It comes back to the old question of covering years against seasons, but Pancev would have been a very worthy winner. Everything went for him in 1990/1. Top scorer in Europe with 34 goals in 32 games. Scored 10 goals in 6 Euro 92 qualifiers.
Yes, that's a good one which is in chronological order pretty much. Interesting footage from recent testimonial games etc too - he's obviously not as mobile but his technical skills were still there and he was still pretty good with the diving headers (that was Pirlo crossing for his Milan 'legends' goal wasn't it?).
Yes, technically together with Kluivert and Bergkamp the best Dutch footballer of the past 30 years. He had a kind of elegance, apart from a very ruthless side, which I today rarely see. David Silva has it, perhaps. And Pastore. But not many more. And his goalscoring record is of course legendary and unbreakable. If a player comes *this* close to it, he will be transferred away immediately.
Who do you think will be the best player of the 2010s? In my opinion its defiently out of Messi or Neymar. But we still need to wait a few more years, 2014 World Cup should tell on who is better.
PDG, You might also like this one. [ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj73WeBSmb0[/ame] I prefer the Ajax version though.
Yes that's a good collection. He got almost exactly the same number of assists as goals during his time at Arsenal but with his assists spread a bit more evenly through the seasons (in the latter years he didn't get many goals).
Well, goalscoring wise he was the best with a good CF who can hold up the ball like Pettersson in his Ajax days. Also Ian Wright suited his goalscoring game well, although still a bit less than Pettersson I think. Thierry Henry was a fantastic striker who reminded me of The Master himself (in Dutch publications some comparisons were made with the Ajax of the 1970s with TH14 in the role of the young JC14) but his play wasn't beneficial for Bergkamp his goalscoring stats. The system of Arsenal changed also a bit with no space for Bergkamp at all. As other side-note: when I was researching the career of Van Basten I found some interesting info about the tactics of Holland in 1992 which suggests that the status of Bergkamp was already very high in Holland. The tactic was that Van Basten would act as a luxury version of Pettersson, although with some slight differences of course. I had for a longer time the idea that Van Basten played well even without scoring a single goal, and missing that penalty kick in the shoot-out but now I understood the idea behind it. Bergkamp became joint euro92 topscorer of course and also outclassed other good footballers as Vanenburg, Wouters, Romario, Jonk, Blind, R. De Boer etcetera when he won two consecutive PFA-player of the year awards in Holland. Still, I was a bit surprised about the status he apparently had in 1992.
Reflecting on this I'm come up with some other candidates: For the 40's and before I'd assume I should have included Ricardo Zamora the Spanish goalie - I haven't checked but probably someone has mentioned him in the thread before anyway. For the 50's I think I'd put in the Yugoslavian pair Bernard Vukas and Branko Zebec, probably for Jean Vincent and Victor Rodriguez Andrade. Also the Italian winger/forward/striker/AM type inside forward Gianpiero Boniperti might rival Helmut Rahn for a place. Here is a Boniperti video: Here's another that I haven't watched myself yet in full but it has plenty of his goals on: I know that Pele was a big fan of his (said so in his book I think) and did include him as one of his 75 living former players for his FIFA 100 (and it's a more significant thing for the former players than the current ones at that time I think). Here's a Bernard Vukas video, and in it is footage from the England vs Rest of Europe XI in 1953 where he is playing with the number 10 as an inside forward, while Boniperti and Zebec are the wingers wearing 7 and 11. Zebec ended up being a highly regarded International defender though by the end of the decade. Maybe Boniperti could even be included in the 40's and before group: (Nordahl is number 9 in the video and Kubala number 8 btw, while Ocwirk was captain but I don't think he's involved in the plays shown - so below is a snapshot of him late in his career for Sampdoria....Kubala especially and Nordahl have Youtube videos too): For the 60's I think I'd put in the Brazilian Zito rather than Trappatoni, while possibly Paul van Himst the Belgian forward could be in for example instead of Nicolae Dobrin perhaps but I'm not clued-up quite enough about them to make the call really. For the 70's I would have had them in mind before I suppose but I'd probably fit in the Czechoslovakian goalkeeper Ivo Viktor and his team-mate the defender Anton Ondrus (both stars of Euro '76).
I seem to be rating goalies higher on reflection but I think I might find room for the Belgians Pfaff and Preud'homme from the 80's and 90's respectively too. Maybe I could squeeze in Jennings of Northern Ireland in the 70's, but I'd need to extend the 50's or 60's selection further to add another goalie Gilmar of Brazil or another Northern Irishman Danny Blanchflower I think.
Maybe even more Czechoslovakians would be in the frame or close, including the famous penalty taker Panenka of course but also others who were involved in the '76 Euros and/or went to the 1980 Euros (assuming they were in their prime in the preceeding years). It was a good generation for them. I realised Gyula Grosics wasn't in my list actually so he's another goalie, from Hungary this time, that I might put in on reflection without extending the list. Perhaps he could go into the 40's and before list but I'm not sure what form he was in during the 40's so maybe Boniperti would go into that list. There are other goalies that could be mentioned but another one from the same era that would be a consideration I think would be the Yugoslav keeper Vladimir Beara.
Masny and Nehoda. Viktor was voted as player of the tournament by the press. Yugoslavia was also very good, they looked finally as a coherent unit, but unfortunately they bottled and in extra time against Germany they had no gas left. From a Dutch perspective was the semi-final controversial but Czechoslovakia was overall a deserved winner I think. Quite a few of their players were not fit in the final and that did not improve during the game (i.e. their defender Gogh was dizzy and had a contusion after a kick of Hoeness against his head, which was maybe accidental though). How would you rate the skill of Vukas? It is hard to rate this for 1950s players I think. In case of Nordahl I noticed some spectacular goals though, with great timing and connection.
It's difficult without a lot of footage to go on - is what we have seen typical?, not the very best the player showed?, giving a better impression than the player consistently showed?, etc. At least for these 50's players there is footage of highlights, individual goals and asists and sometimes full games but for some of them it's still limited and the impression of the player is reliant a bit on written sources as it is of course for earlier players. Vukas, according to what I have seen and also read does seem to have been a very skillful player - at least very proficient technically and a smooth runner with the ball who could also twist and turn in tight spaces. The clip from the Rest of Europe game where he collects a Nordahl pass back to him and then plays it with his other foot smoothly and accurately through to Nordahl is probably a good indication of his abilities. The fact he was playing in that game is a positive sign of course, even if the Hungarians weren't available for selection seemingly (they played at Wembley themselves of course later in the year). I felt perhaps Nordahl seemed more mobile from the little we can see of that game (the 1963 game vs the FIFA XI is available, but not that full 1953 game as far as I know) than he did on the AC Milan goal compilations from the later 50's although he did score a few smartly taken goals indeed and was still top scorer in Serie A in 1955/56 I think it was. Kubala was also probably in his physical prime as a runner for the 1953 game (it might be necessary to enlarge the screen - try making it 200% rather than going full screen perhaps to distinguish Kubala (8) from Nordahl (9)). Nordahl was the one who stretched and slid a pass through for Zebec to cross for Boniperti to score. I saw once an impressive driven goal by Nordahl from oustide the box for Sweden assited by Gren IIRC, but I can't find that on Youtube now - I think it may even have been from before he signed for Milan or at least in his early Milan days. I think by the end of his Milan career he had become a bit static and that might be a misleading impression compared to earlier in his career - after all Liedholm stayed on at Milan longer, but with his qualities and maintained fitness that's understandable though I'd expect he still ran a bit less than in his youth.
[EXCELLENT information on "Special K", mate: I was going to point out that Keegan had at least a respectable level of pace and enough goal instinct to line-up as an "out-&-out" front player. But then you went and beat me to it... ]
[I also saw both Kubala and Nordahl in action; so if you happen to have any questions about them as footballers just LMK... IIRC, I've already posted some testimony about Kubala over at XT.org.]