The Greatest Ever Sweeper?

[comme]

Who is the greatest ever sweeper?

I know it is true of most of the positions but this is one full of truly sensational players.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

There can only be one winner.

[dor02]

Beckenbauer easily. I will put Scirea second and the Romanian sweeper in the 1990s, Miodrag Belodedici third.

[Sempre]

Why do you have Bob Moore as a sweeper? English football
didn't use a sweeper till after his time . . . He was called
a center-half I believe.

By the way it's heartbreaking that Beckenbauer has to win
this poll--which he does, of course. At least let Baresi and
Moore have a go at CB in the other poll, if we're all going
to agree the best sweeper was Beckenbauer . . .

[johno]

how can Rijkard not make it into either CB or Sweeper poll? That's appalling.

[silver bullet]

how can Rijkard not make it into either CB or Sweeper poll? That's appalling.
I expect he'll show up in the poll for the defensive midfielder spot.

[Bertje]

He was a true man-marker so it would have to be the centreback poll. But if he would have been in there he surely would have won. I guess Comme has him as a defensive midfielder. I'd rather have a central defense of Baresi and Rijkaard and have Beckenbauer as a defensive midfielder.

[johno]

He was a true man-marker so it would have to be the centreback poll. But if he would have been in there he surely would have won. I guess Comme has him as a defensive midfielder. I'd rather have a central defense of Baresi and Rijkaard and have Beckenbauer as a defensive midfielder.

I see your point, but really... Baresi, Rijjaard and Franz playing together would never be a traditional set up... in all likelyhood, any team with 2 of those 3 would see the light and not play a defensivemidfielder :D . Or, none of the 3 would have instructions, they'd just be allowed to do their thing.

[comme]

Rijkaard will be in the d-mid poll.

Moore may not have played sweeper, but I use the word "sweeper" figuratively to differentiate between them and a more normal centre-half.

I had to have two polls to give as many options as I wanted.

[Roffadam]

ive a better idea Comme..why dont you open a poll on what kind of poll you should open next?

[Roffadam]

or better yet, first make a poll on if you should make a poll on which poll you should open next..

yeah that would be so interesting

[comme]

If you don't like the polls, either go to another forum or better yet, simply scroll down the page to other threads. Given that I have handily named the polls you can decide what you want to read and what you don't. Now do us all a favour.

[argentine soccer fan]

I see your point, but really... Baresi, Rijjaard and Franz playing together would never be a traditional set up... in all likelyhood, any team with 2 of those 3 would see the light and not play a defensivemidfielder :D . Or, none of the 3 would have instructions, they'd just be allowed to do their thing.

The same would be true of Passarella. There are a handful of central defenders who were strong leaders, you could say the soul of their team, and were not confined to a traditional position. They were intelligent and verstile enough to do whatever it took to win, and to inspire their teammates to do what it took to win. To be fair, it is almost necesary to judge them in a separate category from the very best traditional sweepers, (like for example Scirea.)

If you're making an all-star team, I'd think you want one of these players in your team, rather than a traditional sweeper. And of the very few great ones which make it into this category, Beckembauer is the best.

[lanman]

Beckenbauer gets my vote, but as has been mentioned I would prefer him in midfield. Ocwirk, Passarella and Moore come in close behind.

[Gregoriak]

Talking of traditional sweepers, Willi Schulz of West Germany springs to mind. He took part in three World Cups (1962-1970) and was arguably the best sweeper in the 1966 World Cup, plus he kept Beckenbauer from playing sweeper for Germany throughout the 1960s. No small feat.

[SirManchester]

This is a no brainer...der Kaiser...easily.

Even though he played midfield a lot he really revolutionized the sweeper position and that role for generations to come.

[Gregoriak]

Good results so far.

[Xeneize12]

This is a no brainer...der Kaiser...easily.

Even though he played midfield a lot he really revolutionized the sweeper position and that role for generations to come.

FYI: I know who you really mean...but Passarella's nickname is also "Kaiser"

[comme]

Good results so far.

Well its an overwhelming victory for Beckenbauer.

He is the stand out player, but most of the candidates were superb players.