That's very imfomative .. I think Kubala and Suarez scored 2goals each and Di Stefano scored 1 for the team (not so impressive though)
I watched a few highlights of WC2002 a few weeks ago. Yes, Portugal failed but it struck me that Figo still created a few chances which his team-mates wasted. He was still their best player I'd say. Nedved was in 2006 a bit past his prime and not in superb shape.
Yes , and Donovan was also the best player in the US team which created a lot troubles for Portugal ... with 3-2 win, and Figo could never explain why they lost to S.Korea 0-1? It's sometimes funny that some (not you though) claimed Brazil won Wc02 with easy path, but forgot that many big teams (Argentina, Spain, France and Portugal) lost to mini teams ...
Watch the highlights. Pauleta wasted countless of chances in that tournament. Figo was directly involved in one goal against USA btw. Brazil could have and should have lost against a certain red dressed mini team too. But that is just bitterness from my side
Did you have the full listing for Dutch players for this year like you did with the previous one? ie who came in from places 2-10?
1. Schrijvers 2. Lerby 3. Versfeld (another goalkeeper) 4. Jesper Olsen 5-10 in no particular order: Ronald Koeman, Gullit, Edward Metgod (another goalkeeper), Hofman, Maessen Question for PDG1978 (as well): how did Johnny Metgod and Van Breukelen perform in this season for Nottingham?
So this makes: 3 players of Ajax: Schrijvers, Lerby, Olsen ---> became champion 1 player of Feyenoord: Gullit ---> second place on 4 points distance 1 player of Groningen: R. Koeman ---> fifth place on 21 points distance 1 player of Haarlem: E. Metgod ---> seventh place And also Hofman and Maessen.
Metgod was still at Real Madrid in 82/83 actually. I'm also unable to give much detail about Van Breukelen that season as I didn't go to my first game until 1985 and haven't seen or heard a description of him that season. I can only really go by Wikipedia saying he was a successful replacement for Shilton, got injured for a few months then returned and helped the team qualify for the Uefa Cup. I know he was highly regarded by Forest fans in general, and I assume he did well in that first season but hard to be specific. It's maybe worth a shot to enquire about it on Forestforum.co.uk but I guess a lot of posters on there are too young to remember him. Not all though, and some might remember 82/83. They would also be able to give info on Einar Aas for 81/82 (I think I mentined he'd be a possibility before, but not sure whether comme is still adjusting his list for that year now). Aas got an injury anyway but I know ,partly from forestforum.co.uk indeed, that he was seen as a class centre-back who was good on the ball - he was the first Norwegian to play in Germany and first to play in England apparently. Metgod did well at Forest in the mid-80's so maybe in his best season could be a consideration for a national class rating (comme already had him in an earlier list when he was playing for AZ Alkmaar though IIRC).
Just as information, I read some interesting info regarding the 1962 campaign of Spain. That is, the Spanish selection committee thought in January 1962 about dropping Gento, Puskas and Di Stefano from the team for the World Cup in Chile. Reason: too old to play at a tournament and past their prime and in case of Gento a lack of form too. Alternatives were Zoco, Mercelino, Calleja and Aguirre. Eventually, all of them went to Chile and got the backing from newly appointed Helenio Herrera but Di Stefano did not play a single minute of course due to an injury. Gento, Puskas and Di Stefano had strong end of the season as well. Btw, if I look at the goal-scoring profile of Puskas his 1961/62 season I see that the best parts took place at the start and near the end of the season. From October 1961 until January 1962 he did not score a lot except for a hat-trick against Zaragoza, a side that eventually relegated.
Well believe me I never meant to discredit Figo at WC02. However, for a player that you rated as best winger, and "tier 2" ... then I would have to critisize him in those big games (whne his NT needed him most - as their best player) Yes Brazil looked shaky against Turkey in 1st game and against Belgium 's counter attack in 1st half! However they found the solution to overcome them at the end! I do not see which mini teams "could have" made Brazil02 losing! Note against Turkey semi, and Belgium 2nd half, Brazil also made a lot of wasted chances created by Ronaldo (Edilson, Cafu, Kleberson ... missed easy goals)
Ok this is my revised attempt, along with ratings. The ratings are pretty rough to be honest. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton (Southampton and England) *** Harald Schumacher (FC Koln and West Germany) *** Rinat Dasayev (Spartak Moscow and USSR) ** Bernd Franke (Eintracht Braunschweig and West Germany) * Jean Marie Pfaff (Bayern Munich and Belgium) * Andoni Zubizaretta (Athletic Bilbao and Spain) * Franco Tancredi (Roma and Italy) * Paco Buyo (Sevilla and Spain) * Thomas N’Kono (Espanyol and Cameroon) * Ivano Bordon (Internazionale and Italy) * Jim Leighton (Aberdeen and Scotland) * Zoran Simovic (Hadjuk Split and Yugoslavia) * Piet Schrivers (Ajax and Netherlands) * Michel Preudhomme (Standard Liege and Belgium) * Fullback Manfred Kaltz (Hamburg and West Germany) *** Rafael Gordillo (Real Betis and Spain) ** Sebastiano Nela (Roma and Italy) ** David Narey (Dundee United and Scotland) * Kenny Sansom (Arsenal and England) * William Ayache (Nantes and France) * Juan Jose (Real Madrid and Spain) * Thierry Tusseau (Nantes and France) * Claudio Gentile (Juventus and Italy) * Phil Neal (Liverpool and England) * Santiago Urquiaga (Athletic Bilbao and Spain) * Alan Kennedy (Liverpool and England) * Antonio Cabrini (Juventus and Italy) * Danny Thomas (Coventry City and England) * Stopper Pietro Vierchowod (Roma and Italy) *** Karlheinz Forster (Stuttgart and West Germany) *** Moreno Ferrario (Napoli and Italy) * Willy Miller (Aberdeen and Scotland) * Francisco Bonet (Real Madrid and Spain) * Ditmar Jakobs (Hamburg and West Germany) * Migueli (Barcelona and Spain) * Andoni Goikotxea (Athletic Bilbao and Spain) * Antonio Alvarez (Sevilla and Spain) * Graham Roberts (Tottenham Hotspur and England) * Libero Alan Hansen (Liverpool and Scotland) *** Antonio Maceda (Sporting Gijon and Spain) ** Roberto Tricella (Hellas Verona and Italy) * Dieter Bast (Bochum and West Germany) * Holger Hieronymus (Hamburg and West Germany) * Glenn Hysen (IFK Gothenberg) * Morten Olsen (Anderlecht and Denmark) * Ronald Koeman (Gronigen and Netherlands) * Maxime Bossis (Nantes and France) * Richard Gough (Dundee United) * Mark Lawrenson (Liverpool and Republic of Ireland) * Johnny Metgod (Real Madrid and Netherlands) * Humberto Coelho (Benfica and Portugal) * Gaetano Scirea (Juventus and Italy) * Edinho (Udinese and Brazil) * Central midfielder Paulo Roberto Falcao (Roma and Brazil) *** Graeme Souness (Liverpool and Scotland) *** Juan Barbas (Real Zaragoza and Argentina) ** Agostino Di Bartolomei (Roma and Italy) ** Soren Lerby (Ajax and Denmark) ** Bryan Robson (Manchester United and England) * Lothar Matthaus (Borussia Moenchengladbach and West Germany) * Paul Breitner (Bayern Munich and West Germany) * Uli Stielike (Real Madrid and West Germany) * Ruud Gullit (Feyenoord and Netherlands) * Jean Tigana (Bordeaux and France) * Gary Mabbutt (Tottenham Hotspur and England) * Miguel de Andres (Athletic Bilbao and Spain) * Ray Wilkins (Manchester United and England) * Carlos Manuel (Benfica and Portugal) * Attacking midfielder Michel Platini (Juventus and France) *** Felix Magath (Hamburg and West Germany) *** Khoren Oganesian (Aarat Yerevan and Soviet Union) ** Liam Brady (Sampdoria and Republic of Ireland) ** Alain Giresse (Bordeaux and France) ** Fyodor Cherekov (Spartak Moscow and Soviet Union) ** Juan Senor (Real Zaragoza and Spain) * Juan Lozano (Anderlecht and Belgium/Spain) * Giancarlo Antognoni (Fiorentina and Italy) * Herbert Prohaska (Roma and Austria) * Carlo Ancelotti (Roma and Italy) * Dirceu (Hellas Verona and Brazil) * Safet Susic (Paris Saint-Germain and Yugoslavia) * Michael Laudrup (Brondby and Denmark) * Winger Gordon Strachan (Aberdeen and Scotland) ** Pierre Littbarski (Koln and West Germany) ** Jesper Olsen (Ajax and Denmark) ** Bruno Conti (Roma and Italy) * John Barnes (Watford and England) * Salvatore Bagni (Internazionale and Italy) * Ludo Coeck (Anderlecht and Belgium) * Ralph Milne (Dundee United and Scotland) * Fernando Chalana (Benfica and Portugal) * Sammy Lee (Liverpool and England) * Geronimo Barbadillo (Avellino and Peru) * Steve Coppell (Manchester United and England) * Forward Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool and Scotland) *** Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich and West Germany) ** Joachim Streich (FC Magdeberg and East Germany) ** Charlie Nicholas (Celtic and Scotland) ** Jan Ceulemans (Club Brugge and Belgium) * Franky Vercauteren (Anderlecht and Belgium) * Tibor Nyilasi (Ferencvaros and Hungary) * Stoycho Mladenov (CSKA Sofia and Bulgaria) * Diego Maradona (Barcelona and Argentina) * Striker Peter Houtman (Feyenoord and Netherlands) ** Rudi Völler (Werder Bremen and West Germany) ** Fernando Gomes (Portugal and Porto) ** Luther Blissett (Watford and England) ** Horst Hrubesch (Hamburg and West Germany) * Ian Rush (Liverpool and Wales) * Hans Krankl (Rapid Vienna and Austria) * Roberto Pruzzo (Roma and Italy) * Vahid Halihodzic (Nantes and Yugoslavia) * Erwin Vandenbergh (Anderlecht and Belgium) * Alessandro Altobelli (Internazionale and Italy) * Andrej Szarmach (Auxerre and Poland) *
Will not question all names although I'm still curious about the reasoning (not the attack it but the reasoning behind the grade is important I feel). Of the ones rated with two stars or more I'm interested in reasoning behind Streich and Gordillo.
Streich was the subject of an article in World Soccer on why he should be the player of the year for 1983. Part of the logic was that almost all of the best players that season had been midfielders, defenders or goalkeepers, so this writer thought an attacker should win. Not saying I agree with that, but it was the prime source behind his ** rating. Gordillo had high ratings from both Don Balon and Mundo Deportivo and an article in WS stated how he had been consistently excellent over recent seasons. To be honest, I'm not hugely happy on the ratings this season. They're quite sketchy and subject to challenge.
José Touré (from FC Nantes) could be a decent pick as well in the forward list I think, though it is usually said that his best season was in 1984-85 during which he formed a promising partnership with Platini in the French NT. Anyway, he was instrumental in the 1983 FC Nantes's victory. He also reached the French Cup final during which he scored that goal (at 4.05 in the video) :
When Genghini came to Saint-Etienne the club had already started to decline due to internal problems, and the fact Platini had just left the club didn't help. He signed for St Etienne at the wrong moment really. His season was considered as a relative failure, and the fact he only stayed there for one year before moving to Monaco -where he played much better- is a good evidence of it.
The revised ranking was (I'm sure I posted this somewhere as I had it in my summary): Platini 1 Daliglish 2 Magath 3 Vierchowod 4 Kaltz 5 Souness 6 Shilton 7 Falcao 8 Fernando Gomes 9 Strachan 10 Forster 11 Schumacher 12 Hansen 13 I think that is right anyway. Need to go through all my documents.