Toolhead
09 Jun 2004, 01:14 PM
I was just checking out the Euro04 site team previews, and under Denmarks preview it mentioned that coach Olsen used play this position in his days as a player. I've come across this term a handful of times and never truely understood it, although every time I have seen it, the same sentence also seems to include a phrase like "classic" or "from an era gone by" or such. I'll go out on a limb and say that this position/formation/tactic is not used much in today's game, am I correct? Any further info would be much appreciated.
astabooty
09 Jun 2004, 01:25 PM
im pretty sure it means sweeper
Excape Goat
10 Jun 2004, 09:24 AM
Yes, libero as astabo mentioned means sweeper. And yes, not many teams used that tactics anymore.
Beckenbauer was often named as the greatest libero of all time. In the 1970's, besides Beckenbauer, Holland got Krol, Italy got Scirea and Argentina got Passarella.
For years, England was criticized for not playing that position. In 1990, they played with a sweeper. It was very effective. But then, in the last few years, teams do not play that position anymore. Matthaeus "retired" to that position. Gulit also played there for Chelsea. I do not seem to recall any recent high profile sweeper/libero. Sammer might be the last great sweeper.