Thanks Roy. Do you recall the games you saw them play or what years they were in? Did you happen to see any of the 1953 game between England and the Rest of Europe XI yourself?
[Yes: that match occured in Oct. of '53 at Wembley. That was when my main "gig" was as a de facto (actually free-lance) staff writer/access provider to the England "camp" for () "The Monthly". This is a good match report and summary by Norman Giller; it's match No.56 IIRC: http://www.englandfootballonline.com/matchrsl/SumsGiller1950-55.html Did you have any particular questions about Kubala or Nordahl, mate?]
This blog entry has some info on Nordahl w/a link to a video of him in action: http://www.theacmilanblog.com/ It's from an AC Milan fan site/blog...
Yeah it'd be interesting to get your impressions and memories about their playing style, particularly in that match as it's I guess earlier than a lot of the footage of both players (not sure exactly though). Did Kubala make a lot of runs into the channels, did he come very deep into midfield, did he run with the ball a lot and how quickly? Did Nordahl play on the last line of defence trying to run in behind a lot, did he prefer to come towards the ball and hold it up, were there many balls played up to his head from out wide or from defence? Was he quite mobile at that stage of his career? I think some good impressions of them playing in that game can be taken from the short highlights of it in the Bernard Vukas video I posted, but it'll be interesting to get your thoughts on them over the 90 minutes and other times (particularly around that period) you might have seen them play. Thanks again.
[If he was playing in a "W-M"/ "W-M" variant/wide attack-oriented team: Nordahl pushed far up on the opposition's back-line; but he usually held position w/his back to the opposition's goal. Besides the obvious advantages of having an athletic, physical No.9 C-F up-front w/his back to goal; it's often forgotten that one the key duties of the centre-forward of that era was to hit diagonal aerial through balls out to one of his wingers w/his back to goal as long as he could consistently pull off those passes.]
Thanks. Seems like he was a good director of his headers as well as powerful from the available goals such as on that 1954/55 Milan compilation (the one you posted with the Milan blog - that was the season he was top scorer I think that I was referring to, but he was also Serie A top scorer in earlier seasons too).
Thank you once again for the kind words, "PDG". !! If you check out that Nordahl Serie A vid there's a few instances or him out-leaping and over-powering poor Italian central defenders when acting as an aerial "target" IIRC. You can also see Nordahl running w/o the ball to either "stick" (usually the near one) if he's even w/the ball, looking for a return pass and the like; which was consistent w/a "W-M"-era/formation No.9...
[Oh yes and you JUST beat me to this w/my observation in post No.132... Once again, you are quite welcome, mate.]
This is an excellent obit & profile of Kubala fr. Brian Glanville in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/may/21/guardianobituaries.brianglanville
Thanks - I'd not come accross that one before and it contains some interesting info, including how Kubala missed out on the crucial qualifier for the 1954 World Cup!
for the 60ies how can you put best at 2 and eusebio at 3 ??? eusebio was (at least in europe the player of the decade and benfica the team of the decade. reaching 5 european finals in 8 years and winning 2 of them (loosing from inter 1-0 with bad luck. the goalkeeper got injured and replacements weren't allowed so a defender had to step in goal). eusebio being topscorer in 1966 WC and winning many personal prizes. the man scored more goals then he played games. all respect for george best but in the 60ies after pele the best in the world was eusebio
Well, I think it is always arguable when comparing spectacular players like these. Pele himself said that Best was the 'best in the world' though at a time when Eusebio would still have been within his prime. Best, playing mainly as a winger, wouldn't be expected to score as many goals as Eusebio to be fair.
50s: DiStefano, Puskas, Schiaffino, Didi, Kubala 60s: Pele, Garrincha, Eusebio, Best, Charlton 70s: Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Kempes, Muller, Deyna 80s: Maradona, Platini, Zico, Van Basten, Rossi 90s: Ronaldo, Baggio, Romario, Stoichkov, Batistuta 00s: Zidane, Rivaldo, Figo, Riquelme, Ronaldinho 10s: Messi, C Ronaldo, Iniesta
Rossi? 43 goals in 151 league games (including the first part of the 1979/80 season) is enough to be one of the 5 best players of the decade?
I would place Laudrup and Bergkamp in top 5 of 1990s overall. Both consistently good either for NT or club for more than five years. Even at lesser periods they showed moments of brilliance (Bergkamp during UEFA Cup campaign of Internazionale and Laudrup at 1998WC when his career was dwindling down). But 1990s had a lot of good players, esp. considering that the career of many was cut short or plagued by troubles. Was a good decade. http://football-ratings.blogspot.com/2012/06/european-footballer-of-year-1990s.html [list is a bit strange though with Klinsmann at #3]
The Italy vs Brazil WC82 match is seminal to the history of football. Also, Rossi had one strong and one excellent WC, it was more than merely three matches. I think six great players for each decade is fairer, so I would add one more: 50s: Kopa 60s: Suarez 70s: Cubillas 80s: Socrates 90s: Laudrup 00s: Nedved Agree with Puck, the 90s also has many other great names (Bergkamp, Klinsmann, Valderrama, Caniggia, Ortega, Boban, Stojkovic, Suker, Savicevic, Zamorano).
Yeah, one was in the 70s, but I think a player has to be situated in a single decade (their strongest) and include their whole career as consideration. Pele and Garrincha could also be part of the 50s, but they played the entire 60s (or most of them) so it's where they belong in such a list.
I could have named Zidane, Figo and Rivaldo, but I have them in the 00s. Not sure why you say it's a random list, these were some of the best players of that decade (I may be missing a few at most).
Zidane yes (from 95 to 99), arguably Rivaldo (97 to 99) and very controversial in Figo (who only started playing great in 99 the last year of that decade)
NOT REALLY :: Zidane best years 97,98, 99, 00,01,02,03 and 04 ... (plus WC06) =5? Rivaldo best years 97,98, 99, 00,01 and 02 (3) Figo best years 99,00,01,02 (3) Ronaldo best years 95, 96, 97, 98 , 99 ... 02, 03 and 04 (3) now compare to : Henry 00, 02, 03,04, 05 , 06 and 07 = 6 Ronaldinho 02, 04, 05 06 and 07 = 5 CR7 best 06, 07, 08, 09 10 = 5 Not hugely different with 1 or 2 years more between them
[Did you have any further questions on Kubala or did that Glanville obit cover it for you, mate? Also, were you trying to figure out how that RoE XI lined-up, what formation they were utilising, etc., back in '53?]