Draft of Drafts

[comme]

Another good choice, another wonderful player.

If the next team doesn't pick someone with the initials JC I will eat my head.

[Ombak]

Originally posted by comme
Another good choice, another wonderful player.

If the next team doesn't pick someone with the initials ... I will eat my head.

You should probably avoid hinting at players regardless of how obvious you think their choice should be.

[comme]

Sorry.

[Dark Savante]

Originally posted by Ombak
You should probably avoid hinting at players regardless of how obvious you think their choice should be.

I should think all friendly banter of this sort will stop after the obvious choices of the 1st 2 rounds are taken.

[tpmazembe]

Originally posted by comme
If the next team doesn't pick someone with the initials JC I will eat my head.

Julio Cesar (G) of Flamengo? Pass the salt....

[nicephoras]

Originally posted by comme
Another good choice, another wonderful player.

If the next team doesn't pick someone with the initials JC I will eat my head.

Nah. Christ has a crappy left foot. He has loads of stamina, but his pace is questionable.

[Real Ray]

JC...(hmmm)St Patricks day...possible clue-Christ, it must be-

http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/images/7304charlton.jpg

[Dark Savante]

TEAM D
Dark Savante - captain, Spartak, Real Ray, Mobile


Round: 1 (Week 1)
Selection: 4
4th overall pick

Player: Johan Cruyff

Position: LW/OM/RW/CM/CF/Playmaker-total football, undefineable (number 14)

Career Span: Mid 60's - early 80's
Nationality: Dutch, Born 25 April, 1947, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Caps: 48
Club Teams: Ajax, Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante, Feyenoord

Profile / Stats:

World Club Championship (1972)
European Cup (1971, 72, 73)
Dutch Championship (1966, 67, 68, 72, 73, 82, 84)
Dutch Cup (1967, 70, 71, 72, 83)
Spanish Championship (1974)
Spanish Cup (1978)
33 international goals.
European Footballer of the Year (1971, 73, 74)

If Holland were the team that gave the world Total Football, then Johan Cruyff was THE Total Footballer. Cruyff was seen by many as the natural successor to Pele as the world's greatest player.

He won a hat-trick of European Cups with Ajax, the World Clubs' Cup and was three times European Footballer of the Year. At their peak, the Dutch side he captained were the most exciting and talented team in international football, yet, strangely, they never won a major trophy during his reign.

It was Cruyff's vision, intelligence and versatility that allowed the principle of 'total football' to work so brilliantly. 'Total football' relies on every player having the skills to play in a number of different positions and the wit to swap roles at will. Nominally a centre-forward, Cruyff was as unorthodox as the number 14 he wore suggests - and this unpredictability helped make him a legend. Sublime technique backed up by one of the fastest football brains the world has ever seen made Cruyff a nightmare for defenders. Using any situation presented to him to his advantage was a Cruyff trademark, always seeming to do the
right things at the right times made him practically uncontainable.

[tpmazembe]

Originally posted by Dark Savante
Johan Cruyff

Position: LW/OM/RW/CM/CF/Playmaker-total football, undefineable (number 14)[/B]

Oh....thats the JC comme was talkin' about.

Any thoughts on his refusal to play WC '78? Courageous act of principal......or grandstanding gone awry?

Still, worthy of a first round pick.

Versatility aside, any thoughts on where you plan to play him?

[Dark Savante]

Without him Holland '78 got to the final.
With him they would've won it.

[Dark Savante]

I am curious to team E's first pick. The field will start to open up from now on, but I'm about 80% sure I know who they'll go for.

[Dark Savante]

Originally posted by tpmazembe


Versatility aside, any thoughts on where you plan to play him?

That will be governed by factors that haven't taken affect yet :)

[tpmazembe]

Originally posted by Dark Savante
Without him Holland '78 got to the final.
With him they would've won it.

So....he let his team down? These were guys he played with for many years.

Dark, you still haven't opined on whether you think his decision was principled .....
(not that JC needs to prove squat to any of us, but I've often wondered about his motivation)

[comme]

Originally posted by Dark Savante
I am curious to team E's first pick. The field will start to open up from now on, but I'm about 80% sure I know who they'll go for.

Really? I wish you'd tell me because I have no idea who we will be picking at the moment. Team E are having a difficult time agreeing on who to pick and I have a feeling I may be outvoted. I will see what has been written when I wake up tomorrow morning and try to take the consensus approach. I know who I want though.

As for Cruyff, a great choice, a supreme player but a bit of a knob. Cruyff suffered from his own egotism and the fact that he was controlled by his wife (not a good look for a footballer in the 70s). Gary Lineker described Cruyff as "the biggest know-all I've ever met".

[lanman]

Originally posted by tpmazembe
*Only player to have played under the colors of three NTs: Argentina, Colombia, and Spain. Unfortunately, his only world cup appearance (1962 w/ Spain) was hampered by injury

Sorry to be pedantic but Ladisloa Kubala has FIFA recognised caps for Czechoslovakie, Hungary and Spain. I don't think Di Stefano's Colombia career is offically recognised by FIFA as the league was set up beyond their jurisdiction.
That said I think this is a great idea, and I look forward in particular to the choices made in the latter rounds. The first two or three rounds I imagine will see very little in the way of surprises.

[tpmazembe]

Originally posted by lanman
Sorry to be pedantic but Ladisloa Kubala has FIFA recognised caps for Czechoslovakie, Hungary and Spain. I don't think Di Stefano's Colombia career is offically recognised by FIFA as the league was set up beyond their jurisdiction.
That said I think this is a great idea, and I look forward in particular to the choices made in the latter rounds. The first two or three rounds I imagine will see very little in the way of surprises.

Not pedantic at all Ianman – part of the thoughts on this thread was to surface not just players, but oddities and little known facts.

Totally forgot about Kubala…my bad.

I have no idea if FIFA recognized Distefano’s Colombian national team foray – I only know that he did suit up and play (check out the links on the original post). Doing a quick search at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (always a good source in a pinch), it seems you may be correct about official recognition -- RSSF only recognizes 37 games for two (Arg, Spain) national teams.

http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/distefano-intl.html

If you go further on, there is a link to all players with multiple NT team experiences. Although they caveat the list by stating that it might be incomplete.

http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/double-caps.html

Two other guys do show up as 3 NT’ers, but their situations are more due to disintegration of countries (vs. totally different established squads).

So, we stand corrected at least on the “only player” claim. Thanks for the contribution, and keep it coming.

[comme]

Well after all that I think I will be making a fairly predictable choice anyway, although maybe not for me.

Also tp, Excape Goat says he will be away for some time, so perhaps pololo should join our team? Just a suggestion.

[tpmazembe]

Originally posted by comme
Also tp, Excape Goat says he will be away for some time, so perhaps pololo should join our team? Just a suggestion.

Some previously invited are just coming around to responding. Check updates on Planning and Logistics thread on my PF.

Looking forward to see your picks.

cheers

[Dark Savante]

Originally posted by tpmazembe
So....he let his team down? These were guys he played with for many years.

Dark, you still haven't opined on whether you think his decision was principled .....
(not that JC needs to prove squat to any of us, but I've often wondered about his motivation)

The thing is, Cruyff was a maverick. And if you put someone like that where they don't want to be they are going to throw all their toys out of the proverbial pram and cause as much chaos and disrupition as they can. Cruyff's also a man of principle so if he believes his decision was the right one then I'm not in a position to question that.

I personally feel that if he was with the team in mind, body and soul they would have won at least one world cup, but dragging him along when he doesn't want to be there would be the worst thing you could do to such a free spirit.

[comme]

Team E comme, Auriaprottu, Merengue, Excape Goat

Round 1 (week 1)

Selection 4, overall selection 4

Player: Franz Beckenbauer (Der Kaizer)

Position: Sweeper/ Centre back

Nation: Germany

Career span: 1960s,70s and early 80s

Clubs: Bayern Munich, New York Cosmos, Hamburg

Major Honours: European Championship winner 1972,World Cup winner 1974, European Cup winner 1974,75,76, Cup Winners Cup winner 1967, German titles 5, NASL titles 3, European Player of the year, 1972,76

International caps 103 goals 14

One of the few players to have won 4 out of the 5 (as was) major trophies in European and World football. Beckenbauer was the inspirational captain of the extremely successful Bayern and Germany teams of the 1970s.The inventor of the Libero position, Beckenbauer was able to start attacks from deep and surge forward umarked to participate. Beckenbauer was the first German to 100 caps and the first man ever to captain and manage a World Cup winning side.

http://www.soccer-europe.com/Profiles/Beckenbauer.html
http://www.ifhof.com/hof/beckenbauer.asp