Draft of Drafts

[tpmazembe]

TEAM C: efernandez, maczebus, martin cutler, tpmazembe

Round: 4 (Week 4)

Selection: 3

Cumulative 18

Player: Giacinto Facchetti

Position: Left Back or Libero

Career Span: 1959-1978

Nationality: Italian (Treviglio, Italy, July 18, 1942)

Caps: 94 caps; 70 caps as Captain of Azurri; 3 goals

Club Teams: Trevigliese (1959 - 1960), Internazionale Milan (1960 - 1978)

Profile / Stats:

4 Serie A Championships (1963, 1965/66, 1971), 1 Italian Cup (1978), 2 European Cups of Champions (1964/65), 2 Intercontinental Championships, 1 European Cup of Nations (1968), 2nd place WC (1970)

One of the rocks of the super Inter Milan team of the 60s – a team often left out of the discussion of club dynasties -- Facchetti was easily the most offensive LB in Europe during his day. He once scored 10 goals in a Serie A season (1965-66) in 32 appearances! A precursor to Maldini, he went on to move to Libero where he paved the way for the Baresi’s of the world, with his ability to marshal a defense and start the offensive counter.

Standing 1.89 meters tall, and built like a rock, Fachetti surprised with his speed and willingness to support the attack, while not compromising on his defensive duties.

Still considered the Azzurri’s greatest ever Captain, Fachetti captained Italy for 10 years.

Scored 59 goals in Serie A career. (475 matches); 3 goals in National Team career.

Participated in 3 WCs.

Majority Selection

Team Status: DiStefano (M), Garrincha (F), Platini (M), Fachetti (LB/CB)



http://soccer-europe.com/Profiles/Facchetti.html (http://soccer-europe.com/Profiles/Facchetti.html)

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/facchett.htm (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/facchett.htm)

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/articles/facchettigg.html (http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/articles/facchettigg.html)

[tpmazembe]

Team C’s first defensive pick is one we are very happy with. His ability to play two positions at the highest level provides us with flexibility as we build our backline.

Its actually quite remarkable how Facchetti’s career path so resembles Maldini’s (or vise-versa). The type of player, the original position, the switch to the center of defence, captain of Azzurri for many years, great number of caps, willingness to go forward and help the attack, etc. Thing is, he was a more prolific goal scorer from his position. His longevity is remarkable.

[CG]

Yall need to have a recap thread where you can see all the picks without having to wade through all the chatter.

[Dark Savante]

Team C’s first defensive pick is one we are very happy with. His ability to play two positions at the highest level provides us with flexibility as we build our backline.

Its actually quite remarkable how Facchetti’s career path so resembles Maldini’s (or vise-versa). The type of player, the original position, the switch to the center of defence, captain of Azzurri for many years, great number of caps, willingness to go forward and help the attack, etc. Thing is, he was a more prolific goal scorer from his position. His longevity is remarkable.

Yes the similarities are incredible. Very nice choice.

[argentine soccer fan]

I think Maldini and Fachetti were both great picks. I would have voted for one of them to be our team's next pick.

For left lateral, I have no doubt that these two Italians were the best of the best. Just like D.Santos on the right side, and Beckenbauer, Pasarella, Moore and Baresi in the middle.

I think that now all the most obvious choices for defense are gone, so the real debate (and the real fun) will begin. There are still some high profile names left, but no clear cut favorite. We'll just have to sharpen our memory as we look for the gems of the past and the present that someone else might overlook.

[Auriaprottu]

Team B selects...

(cut and pasted- I don't have time to do an original write up)

Marco van Basten
Born: 31 October 1964, Utrecht, Holland

International Caps 58
International Goals 24
Teams Ajax, AC Milan
Team Honours European Championship: 1988
European Cup: 1989, 90, 94
Cup Winners Cup: 1987
World Club Championships: 1989, 90
European Super Cup: 1989, 90, 94
Dutch Championship: 1982, 83, 85.
Dutch Cup: 1983, 86, 87.
Italian Championship: 1988, 92, 93, 94.
Individual Honours FIFA World Player of the Year: 1992
World Footballer of the Year: 1988, 92
European Footballer of the Year: 1988, 89, 92
Marco van Basten was the greatest goalscorer of his generation. It wasn't just that he scored lots of goals, nor that many of them were outstanding.
No, what made him the most feared striker in world soccer was a rare ability to perform when it was most needed. Pressure seemed nothing to him. It brought out his best.

It was van Basten who scored one of the best goals seen in international competition. And the fact that it won the only football honour ever achieved by Holland is the true measure of his ability.

To understand the significance of that goal in the European Championship Final of 1988, you have to go back to the Dutch side of the 1970s - the masters of "Total Football". That team, led by Johan Cruyff, captivated everyone who saw them. It was football as artistry. They were the best in the world - and they won nothing. Just two losing World Cup Finals to show for their supreme talent.

After Cruyff, Holland fell apart, even failing to qualify for the World Cup in 1982 and 1986. So when the 23-year-old van Basten and the new generation of Dutch players, including Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, competed in the European Championships, it was against a background of thwarted ambitions and desperate disappointments.

Van Basten was only third-choice striker in the squad, but he scored five goals in the tournament and returned home as his country's greatest hero.

First he hit a hat-trick to see off England, then he grabbed a last-gasp winner two minutes from time to overcome hosts West Germany in the semi-finals.

As the Dutch prepared to meet the Soviet Union in the final in Munich's Olympic Stadium, the expectation that a nation's dream was about to be fulfilled was immense. To play under that burden is an enormous strain. But no one, clearly, told van Basten.

Holland were leading 1-0 through Gullit when, from a seemingly impossible angle, van Basten struck a long, looping volley into the Soviet net. It was a classic strike, and it ensured that first and only Dutch international triumph.

It may well have been an omen that van Basten was born on Halloween in 1964. For the boy from Utrecht grew up to struck terror into the heart of international defences. Not for nothing did he become known as "Marco Goalo".

The van Basten story, like that of so many of his country's great stars, began at Ajax who had spotted him playing with Elinkwijk. When he joined Ajax, as an 18-year-old, this famous club were struggling to regain the glory days of the Seventies when Cruyff set the standard with three successive European Cup wins.

He made his international debut in the 1983 World Youth Cup, but his instinctive brilliance was undermined by a vulnerability to injury that was to plague him and ultimately ruin his career.

By 1986 he was the top marksman in Europe, winning the European Golden Boot award. With van Basten leading their attack, Ajax lifted two Dutch Championships, two Dutch Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

That Cup Winners' Cup victory, against Dynamo Dresden, was van Basten's last game for Ajax. He had scored 128 league goals in just 143 games at an unprecedented strike rate.

Those goals, however, came at a heavy price. In that triumphant Cup Winners' Cup year, he injured an ankle which required surgery. But the operation was put off because Ajax decided they could not spare him for those vital European games.

The following season he joined AC Milan who were re-emerging from bankruptcy. Milan, who had won the European Cup in 1963 and 1969, had been rescued from liquidation in 1986 by the media magnate and future Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Milan had been founder members of the Italian Championship in 1898, but now they were living in the shadow of deadly rivals Internazionale with whom they shared the San Siro stadium.

Berlusconi invested £20 million in the club, and some of that money was spent on van Basten, Gullit and Rijkaard. He also brought in leading coach Arrigo Sacchi, who was later in charge of the Italian national team during Euro 96.

Results came quickly. Milan won Serie A for the first time in nine years. They did it, however, without much help from van Basten. The ankle injury flared up again and he played only 11 games.

It was feared, at first, that he might miss the European Championships, but not only was he the tournament's leading scorer, he was voted World Footballer of the Year, just ahead of Gullit and Rijkaard - an unprecedented sweep of the honours by players from the same club and country.

He was already European Footballer of the Year, an award he was to win three times - (1988, 1989 and 1992) - to equal the record of Cruyff and France's Michel Platini.

European Cup glory beckoned for van Basten in 1989, Milan destroying Romanian Champions Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in the final in Barcelona. Van Basten got two of the goals, as did Gullit.

They were to retain their trophy 12 months later with a 1-0 defeat of Benfica in the final, this time in Vienna.

Disappointments lay in wait, however. Holland had a poor World Cup in Italia 90. They failed to win any of their games, drawing all their matches in the group stage before losing 2-1 to Germany in the second round.

Then van Basten had a public falling out with Milan coach Sacchi and was banned by UEFA for four games after violently elbowing an opponent in a European Cup game.

His form suffered that 1990-91 season and he scored only 11 goals in 33 games. The following year, however, he was back on the goal standard with 25 in 31 games.

The European Championships followed in Sweden and Holland reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by Denmark. In a rare lapse, van Basten missed a penalty in that match, but it did not prevent him being named World Footballer of the Year for a second time.

That autumn, at Milan, van Basten played some of the best football of his life. He scored 13 goals in 15 games against the tightest defences in club football. It was a remarkable run, but van Basten then had to endure two more operations on his damaged ankle. The condition of his injury was becoming chronic.

His last competitive game was Milan's 1-0 defeat by Olympique Marseilles in the 1993 European Cup Final - a match which left a bitter taste. Marseilles, owned by Bernard Tapie, were later discovered to have paid three Valenciennes players to take it easy in a French League game shortly before the European Final. They were stripped of their French title and their European Cup win.

Van Basten spent two years trying to overcome his injuries but in the end he had to face the inevitable, announcing his retirement in August 1995. He had scored 90 goals in 147 games for Milan, twice being the leading marksman in Serie A, and had set a European Cup record of 18 goals in 23 matches for the club.

He won the last of his 58 international caps in October 1992 in a World Cup qualifier against Poland. He had scored 24 times for Holland.

He had played for 10 glorious seasons, but the punishment he received from defenders had brought a gifted career to a premature end.

Van Basten had had it all. He was graceful, yet powerful, two-footed with tremendous close control, and was quick on the turn and supreme in the air.

"Marco always played football like a ballerina, but his ankle eventually couldn't take the strain," said Rene Marti, one of the doctors who treated him.

Unsurprisingly, van Basten has led calls to clean up the game, advancing the view that football should adopt the basketball rule of personal fouls which, after a player has committed five, means he is substituted, even if none of those fouls was bad enough to earn a caution.

"I really believe that only red and yellow cards are not enough anymore," he said. "Defenders have become so subtle nowadays, that a lot of fouls are disguised."

However, he does not see himself as merely the victim of cynical hard men. "The most frustrating thing for me," he said, "is not the way I hurt my ankle, but the way I have been treated by some doctors. The person who damaged my ankle most was not a player but a surgeon."

back to Hall of Fame



©2000 IFHOF West, LLC

[argentine soccer fan]

Nice bio, Auriaprottu. Very informative and complete.

I was hoping Van Basten might last until our turn. I have no doubt he was the best striker left on the board. It seems like we were thinking along the same lines.

Team B is looking very good, but we will beat them. :D Just wait 'till you see our next pick.

[tpmazembe]

Team B selects...
Marco van Basten Great pick.

Widely acknowldeged as best pure striker of his generation...and that goal in Euro 1988 unforgettable. Stellar club career.

But (you knew it was coming), let's analyze his NT career a bit more closely:

Friendlies 6 goals in 16 matches
WC Quals 2 goals in 14 matches
WC Finals 0 goals in 4 matches
Euro Quals 11 goals in 15 matches
Euro Finals 5 goals in 9 matches (all goals in Euro 88, none in Euro 1992)

Total 24 goals in 58 matches

What exactly happened to him in WC 1990? His total lack of effectiveness was startling, and I don't remember him being hurt at the time. The next major championship, Euro 1992, he again failed to score a single goal in the tournament and missed the penalty in the semi-final shoot out against Denmark.

As Team B's post shows, his best NT performance (Euro '88) is when he showed up with little expectations (the third choice striker). When he was supposed to be the man in the following two major internationals he came up goose-eggs. His team's fault?

Yall need to have a recap thread where you can see all the picks without having to wade through all the chatter.
Will do...but please do read the "chatter", as that is were additional insight can be garnered. The thought was that reading through everything would encourage participation. However, as the thread hs grown, I can see the need for an index of sorts. Will put one up at the end of this round.

Feel free to join in with commentary on the picks.

[GunnersBT]

Great pick.

Widely acknowldeged as best pure striker of his generation...and that goal in Euro 1988 unforgettable. Stellar club career.

But (you knew it was coming), let's analyze his NT career a bit more closely:

Friendlies 6 goals in 16 matches
WC Quals 2 goals in 14 matches
WC Finals 0 goals in 4 matches
Euro Quals 11 goals in 15 matches
Euro Finals 5 goals in 9 matches (all goals in Euro 88, none in Euro 1992)

Total 24 goals in 58 matches

What exactly happened to him in WC 1990? His total lack of effectiveness was startling, and I don't remember him being hurt at the time. The next major championship, Euro 1992, he again failed to score a single goal in the tournament and missed the penalty in the semi-final shoot out against Denmark.

As Team B's post shows, his best NT performance (Euro '88) is when he showed up with little expectations (the third choice striker). When he was supposed to be the man in the following two major internationals he came up goose-eggs. His team's fault?



True, but you can't forget his goalscoring exploits for Milan. Arguably the best club team of all-time!

[Ombak]

Unlike our previous picks, you won't have to wait to see this one:

With the fourth pick in the draft of drafts Team A (Ombak, Motterman, skipshady, argentine soccer fan) select Didi.

TEAM A
Ombak, skipshady, Motterman, argentine soccer fan

Round: 4 (Week 4)
Selection: 4
20th overall pick

Player: Didi (Valdir Perreira)

Position: Midfield

Career Span: 50’s – early 60’s
Nationality: Brazilian.
Caps: 74, 21 goals.
Club Teams: Americano, Madureira, Fluminense, Botafogo, Real Madrid

Profile / Stats: Didi played in the 54, 58 and 62 World Cups for Brazil and was always the midfield leader. When Brazil gave up a goal to Sweden in the final in 1958 it was Didi who picked the ball out of the net and walked it to the center of the field, rallying his teammates. Brazil won 5x2.

Didi was considered by many journalists of the time to be as complete a player as Pelé, even better perhaps, but who is forgotten for the lack of TV-media coverage at the time. He is credited with inventing the dipping free-kick known in Brazil as a "folha seca" because it falls so sweetly after clearing the wall.

Didi's went to Real Madrid but found little success there as Puskas and Di Stefano were the stars of the team. In 1962 he helped Brazil past a Spanish side that included his former teammates.

He won 4 Rio de Janeiro titles (1 for Flu, 3 for Botafogo) as well as the two World Cups.

Didi almost had his career ended before even becoming a pro due to a foot infection he ignored that kept him in a wheelchair. At 16 though he began his career with Rio's Americano de Campos.

Didi is nothing short of a steal at this point as those who saw him play might argue he was better than anyone at the time - a generation that included Puskas, Di Stefano and Pelé among other greats.

This selection: Unanimous.

Our team so far:

Moore; Didi, Pelé; Eusébio

[tpmazembe]

With the fourth pick in the draft of drafts Team A (Ombak, Motterman, skipshady, argentine soccer fan) select Didi.Outstanding.

We couldn't select him due to his friction with DiStefano :)

Read extensively about his career, and the few game tapes I've seen of him he exudes class. Pinpoint passing and leadership. Plus, to actually invent something in the game is large -- and as beautiful as the "folha seca".

You guys have definetly strengthened your squad.

I will say that there is another Brasilian midfielder considered even better from a pure skill standpoint....

[Ombak]

Outstanding.

We couldn't select him due to his friction with DiStefano :)

Read extensively about his career, and the few game tapes I've seen of him he exudes class. Pinpoint passing and leadership. Plus, to actually invent something in the game is large -- and as beautiful as the "folha seca".

You guys have definetly strengthened your squad.

I will say that there is another Brasilian midfielder considered even better from a pure skill standpoint....

I would say one of two things:

1- You're crazy, or
2- I can't believe I don't know who the heck you're talking about!!!

[tpmazembe]

Team Re-cap after 4th Round:

TEAM A : Pele, Moore, Eusebio, Didi
TEAM B : Maradona, Passarella, G.Muller, VanBasten
TEAM C : DiStefano, Garrincha, Platini, Fachetti
TEAM D : Cryuff, Baresi, Dj.Santos, Maldini
TEAM E : Beckenbauer, Puskas, Best, Zidane

[comme]

My major with Didi is his lack of success at Real, its not like with Pele or others where you can simply say, "well he didn't have a chance". Didi came over and failed to make any impact at Madrid.

Puskas had not arrived at Real when Didi first started there and it is a sign of our man that he had the personality to fit in with the great Di Stefano.

A very good player but there are certainly blots on his copy book.

[argentine soccer fan]

I will say that there is another Brasilian midfielder considered even better from a pure skill standpoint....

Other than Pele?

I am delighted with our pick. The main reason why Brazil has been the top soccer nation since WW2 is because of their great midfielders. From Zizinho to Ronaldinho, Brasil has always had outstanding midfielders. And we have two of their best (arguably the two best) on our team.

With players like Didi and Di Stefano we obviously have to go mostly by their reputation. (Unless you are a fan over 50 year old.) Older people who have been in the game and whom I respect always put Didi near the top, and consider him the unquestionable leader of the 58 Brazilian team which had also Garrincha and a young Pele. And in Argentina Didi is considered a symbol of the 'jogo bonito' (beautiful game) that Brazil used to play.

Once we got Pele I wanted another Brazilian midfielder. Brazilians always play best when they play together. And we were considering who'd be the best of all the great Brazilians to play alongsode Pele. Ombak felt that without a doubt Didi stood out from the rest.

Also Didi might be the best choice of all time to take a free kick. Especially considering the type of ball that they had to use back then. So, if you guys are planning to foul Pele and Eusebio, be forewarned. :D

[argentine soccer fan]

My major with Didi is his lack of success at Real, its not like with Pele or others where you can simply say, "well he didn't have a chance". Didi came over and failed to make any impact at Madrid.

Puskas had not arrived at Real when Didi first started there and it is a sign of our man that he had the personality to fit in with the great Di Stefano.

A very good player but there are certainly blots on his copy book.

That is a good point, Comme. But we are pairing Didi with Pele, not with DiStefano. By all accounts Didi and Pele were a lethal combination.

[tpmazembe]

A couple of thoughts on many fronts:

ASF - you got it, Zizinho is widely regarded (skillwise) as the best player Brasil produced until Pele. Best player of '50 WC which they lost at home, and due to disagreements with the coach was left of '54 squad. By all accounts the complete article. Pele has expressed modeling his game after Maestre Zizinho. If you add the leadership intangible, Didi would probably get the edge for finally marshalling a Brasilian Selecao to the title.

comme - Didi came into a situation where Distefano was THE man on the team, and Distefano shut him out politically. Puskas would not have faired any better if Distef had something against him as well. Additionally, being the only black player on that squad in that time period could not have been comfortable when the team leader publicly expressed his reluctance to have you aboard.

VanBasten - GunnersBT has expressed his view on VanBasten's seemingly poor NT showings at the highest level -- more so referenced his sterling club accomplishment. However, I still see a flaw that other no.9's still available did not have when it came to the big occasions on NT level. What are your views on that?

[GunnersBT]

VanBasten - GunnersBT has expressed his view on VanBasten's seemingly poor NT showings at the highest level -- more so referenced his sterling club accomplishment. However, I still see a flaw that other no.9's still available did not have when it came to the big occasions on NT level. What are your views on that?


I agree that it's a blot on his resume. However, on his day, Van Basten was as good as anyone. He just wasn't as consistent as the strikers who have already been chosen. There were 1 or 2 other "#9's" that haven't yet been chosen that I might have taken ahead of Van Basten, but it's very close. He was slowed by injuries as much as anything. Add him to the 1994 Dutch World Cup team and we might not be talking about (1) the 1994 Brazilian squad as one of the best-ever national sides or (2) the Dutch Nats as underachievers....

[Dark Savante]

I agree that it's a blot on his resume. However, on his day, Van Basten was as good as anyone. He just wasn't as consistent as the strikers who have already been chosen. There were 1 or 2 other "#9's" that haven't yet been chosen that I might have taken ahead of Van Basten, but it's very close. He was slowed by injuries as much as anything. Add him to the 1994 Dutch World Cup team and we might not be talking about (1) the 1994 Brazilian squad as one of the best-ever national sides or (2) the Dutch Nats as underachievers....

Heh I would have something to say here but I'll wait until picks have been made. Not about giving others teams ideas ;)

[comme]

Firstly tp, the point I make about Puskas is that he came into that team where Di Stefano was the boss, yet he was humble enough to not act the star, and Di Stefano took to him. So did other superstars that I won't metion yet.

As for Pele and Didi, when Pele arrived on the Brazil team he was a boy, we are now talking about Pele the best player ever, how would Didi react to such a player?

GunnersBT, firstly i don't think anyone seriously talks about Brazil 94 as a truly great team. They had one great player, other than that they were predominantly workmanlike.

Secondly, the Dutch side of 92 was better than that of 94 and they still didn't win the championship. So even if van Basten had lined up, who knows what would have happened.