Greatest World Cup Team of All Time

[Luis Enrique Muereté]

1982 National Spanish Team

[lasoccervegas2002]

USA WC 2002 team is the best team in the world ever !!

[lasoccervegas2002]

Holland during Johan Cruyf, Johan Neskens, Hensenbrink, Johnny Repp, Rene Van De Kerkof, I wasn't live in that era but i watched the tape, over and over , it was a great team with tottal football style thats what they called it.

[junjunforever]

Originally posted by Awe-Inspiring
South Korea couldn't beat Turkey (or the USA, for that matter).



i dont want to go off topic, but even if you take the reffing away, korea still showed to be better than the US (my personal opinion, we did dominate against the US despite being scored on first). Its an unknown how Korea would have fared against turkey, but if turkey played the way they played japan, korea would have possibly won.


with that being said, i dont think any team that didnt win the world cup should be considered. The GREATEST TEAM EVER should have won the World cup no matter what.

[Big Football]

Listen to a 41 y.o. who has seen a lot of football in his lifetime:

BRASIL 1970, HANDS DOWN, NO DOUBT!!
A team with Felix, Clodoaldo, Carlos Alberto, Brito, Paulo Cesar, Gerson, Everaldo, Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and some other guy named Pelé had no equal.
The great Magyars of Hungary of 1954 with Puskas, Kocsis, Czibor, Hiddeguti and the Clockwork Orange of Cruyff, Neeskens, Rep, Krol, Haan of 1974 are tied for 2nd IMHO.

Brasil had another wonderful team in Chile 1962 with Garrincha, Vavá, Didí, Gilmar, Nilton Santos, Djalma Santos, Zózimo and Pelé, who pulled a hamstring in the 2nd match against Checkoslovakia and was replaced by a kid named Amarildo who became a sensation of his own.
The 1982 version with Zico, Falcao, Socrates, Toninho Cerezo, Eder played some fantastic football but the defense led by Valdir Peres was brutal, Paolo Rossi tored them to shreds that aweful day.

[Merengue]

Good to see my favorite Bigsoccer thread still has some life in it!

Many pages back I gave my all time best World Cup winners since 1982 (when I first starting watching the World Cup closely) but I've since had the chance to see some tapes of the 1970, 74 & 78 Finals. Obviously all 3 of those champions, especially the 1970 Brazil and 1974 West Germany were excellent teams and I'd probably rank the 70 and 74 champs above the team I rated the best I've seen since 1982- the 82 Italy team but again it's so difficult to comapre teams from different eras. Could a defense like Brazil 1970 have withstood the pressure a more modern team could place on it?

It's a difficult question to answer but remember even the last season's Real Madrid team, a squad many compared to the 1970 Brazil team because of their galaxy of attacking talent and beautiful play, was beaten by teams who took advantage of their defensive frailities. The same fate befell Brazil 1982.

[Big Football]

Merengue, Brasil '70 had a much better defense than the '82 version, or Real Madrid for that matter, Gerson was a pitbull in midfield and in the back was none other than Carlos Alberto and the dependable "El Gato" Felix (Felix the Cat) in goal.

Besides, back then the Scratch loved to play more of a 4-3-3 that was favored at the time: you'd see Rivelino as a left winger, Tostao on the right and Jairzinho, the typical old-school Centre-forward just pouncing on any opportunity, with "O Rei" (The King) doing his magic as a classic 10.

[striker]

Originally posted by Big Football
Merengue, Brasil '70 ......... and the dependable "El Gato" Felix (Felix the Cat) in goal.


I thought Felix was the worst Brazilian keeper that I have seen. In fact, I would rate him as one of the worst keepers who played for a powerful team. Well, at least that's what I recall from my viewing 30 some years ago.

[Merengue]

Originally posted by Big Football
Merengue, Brasil '70 had a much better defense than the '82 version, or Real Madrid for that matter, Gerson was a pitbull in midfield and in the back was none other than Carlos Alberto and the dependable "El Gato" Felix (Felix the Cat) in goal.

Besides, back then the Scratch loved to play more of a 4-3-3 that was favored at the time: you'd see Rivelino as a left winger, Tostao on the right and Jairzinho, the typical old-school Centre-forward just pouncing on any opportunity, with "O Rei" (The King) doing his magic as a classic 10.

You've confused Tostao and Jairzinho, Tostao was the #9 for Brazil while Jairzinho was the right winger.

Brazil's 1970 goalkeeper (Felix) was certainly better than their 1982 keeper (Waldir Peres) but he wasn't a particularly good goalkeeper and the rest of the defense weren't real strong either. Carlos Alberto was much better attacking than defending. Brazil 1970 had a great attack and a wonderful midfield but they still were vulnerable defensively. I really wonder how they would have faired against a more balanced team like Italy 82 or West Germany 74? It's an interesting question.

[Ronaldinho11]

How about Argentina '06

[Ronaldinho11]

Originally posted by Luis Enrique Muereté
1982 National Spanish Team

The one that almost lost to Honduras at home and came back to tie it.

[Dark Savante]

This thread must be bumped for all of those who have not had the opportunity to read thru it..It's the best thread i've ever seen on Big Soccer, at the time we were doing it it was perhaps the greatest debate this board has seen...of course the endless Pele vs Maradona 'debate' reared it's ugly head, but all parties bought common sense to the table and no flames...

Read thru it, newbies and veterans alike :)

[MarioKempes]

Originally posted by Germanshepherd
You guys should really rewatch the final before you say Germany sucked there.

Germany had more shots and more corners than Brazil. The final was pretty even and the german team played beautiful football until Kahn made a mistake.

For me the 1990 German team is on top of the all-time World Cup teams. They beat Holland, England and dominated Argentina.
Matthaeus, Klinsmann, Augenthaler, Brehme, Haessler, Buchwald, Voeller and so on, just amazing.

1990 Argentina was very mediocre. They played a boring, defensive style. Maradona was fat and high on cocaine by that time. Germany scored on a very, very dubious penalty that should never have been called. If Argentina had had Caniggia, their only attacking player, Argentina would have won that game!

Germany were a solid side, but lacked imagination. They should not even be considered for one of the all-time great teams. They were certainly a good team, but lacked the magic of a champion.

Germany's best weapon? Rudi Voeller's elbow on Maradona.

[MarioKempes]

Originally posted by DavidPablo
What are you talking about? Did you watch any of Argentina's games?

Yes, it was a failure, but the team played its guts out. They constantly attacked in all three games. You can say that our forwards failed to score when they needed to and it is true. You can say that some of our midfielders underachieved. But you cannot fault the team for a lack of effort. (Unlike France, for example). Our guys played with pride and they left it all on the field. The results weren't there but I am proud of a team which played under a lot of pressure and gave everything they had.

They failed, but they were not an embarrasment.

Argentina was possibly the most talented team at World Cup 2002. But let's face it, Veron was subpar. And the tactics against England were plain stupid. Argentina had a million chances against England, but could not convert one? Why? Because they tried to pass their way into the goal. If they had simply gone to the dribble, which is their strongsuit, then they would have earned at least one PK, and would have gone on to glory. The penetrating dribble into the penalty area, as displayed by Maradona, Mario Kempes, Houseman, even Ortega and Batistuta (vs. Romania 1994), has always been Argentina's mark of excellence. They failed to use their most potent weapon.

[vipnerd]

Hungary '54
Brazil '58
Brazil '70
Holland '74
Brasil '82
France '86
Argentina ' 94
France '98


Bst of all times has to be Brazil '70. Gerson, Pele, Tostao, Jairzinho, Rivelinho. Who couldn't enjoy a team like this?

[soccerfreak #1]

Best WC-teams were:

Hungary 1954

Brazil 1970

Poland 1974(way better than Holland)

[Germanshepherd]

Germany beat Hungary in 1954 and Poland in 1974.

So how are they better teams than Germany?

[soccerfreak #1]

Originally posted by Germanshepherd
Germany beat Hungary in 1954 and Poland in 1974.

So how are they better teams than Germany?

Hungary lost to their ignorance after leading germany 2:0. They thought they had already won the game and didn´t the expect the germans to make such a comeback.

Poland lost in a game that should have never been started, cause of the weather conditions. The water robbed the polish their technical superiority.
Gerd Mueller´s goal also came after the ball got stuck in the water in the middle of the penalty-area, so he could make the easy finish

[Germanshepherd]

Lame excuses.

Germany beat them therefore they have been better.

[soccerfreak #1]

Originally posted by Germanshepherd
Lame excuses.

Germany beat them therefore they have been better.

No, no. Therefor they were more succesful, but not better!