Who were the greatplayers in this WC

[cordobesenUS]

I personally think that the youngsters were very important for the teams. Look at Podolski, Germany bet on a youngster along with Klose and they came out winners. The italians bet on Gilardino and the French bet on Ribery. Cesc for Spain turn out to be their best player along with ninio Torres. We bet on Crespo who basically has been a flop in every WC he participated, hopefully he will step aside, I'm tired of our tradition of playing a guy because he has seniority. this is stupid. .The only players that produced for us were Tevez,Maxi, Masche, all guys in their early twenties, while guys like Riquelme 28, couldn't perform, the game was way too fast for them. Riquelme is not Zidane and will never be anywhere near him. Unfortunately Messi was out of shape, next time he needs to think before putting his foot on the line a couple of months before the WC, the kid is way too impulsive, all our players need to think about this. Unfortunately we were missing a guy like Klose up front, who constantly runs and threatens the defense. I prefer that Argentina in the future find players that are multifunctional, becaus for example when we lost Burdisso we were basically screwed and had absolutely no one to replace him that was worthy, I cannot imagine what would have happened had we lost Ayala in the back or Maxi Rodriguez and Mascherano. We need more players like Sorin, who can play defense and offense without loosing their best qualities.

[Siempre_Albiceleste]

I personally think that the youngsters were very important for the teams. Look at Podolski, Germany bet on a youngster along with Klose and they came out winners. The italians bet on Gilardino and the French bet on Ribery. Cesc for Spain turn out to be their best player along with ninio Torres. We bet on Crespo who basically has been a flop in every WC he participated, hopefully he will step aside, I'm tired of our tradition of playing a guy because he has seniority. this is stupid. .The only players that produced for us were Tevez,Maxi, Masche, all guys in their early twenties, while guys like Riquelme 28, couldn't perform, the game was way too fast for them. Riquelme is not Zidane and will never be anywhere near him. Unfortunately Messi was out of shape, next time he needs to think before putting his foot on the line a couple of months before the WC, the kid is way too impulsive, all our players need to think about this. Unfortunately we were missing a guy like Klose up front, who constantly runs and threatens the defense. I prefer that Argentina in the future find players that are multifunctional, becaus for example when we lost Burdisso we were basically screwed and had absolutely no one to replace him that was worthy, I cannot imagine what would have happened had we lost Ayala in the back or Maxi Rodriguez and Mascherano. We need more players like Sorin, who can play defense and offense without loosing their best qualities.

For someone who writes so much and so often, why is it that I can almost never count on reading something truly profound from you? It's either always the truly obvious or something that shows a total detachment from the game of football. Please don't take this as an attack on you. It's just an expression of my confusion on what you post. By what standards has Crespo been a flop in every world cup he's played? Please explain. I know you're not implying that Klose is a better forward than he is. And Riquelme couldn't perform?
Why can't people just wait until they have something important to contribute before they post? I know everyone has the right to express their thoughts, but should they post any and all things that go through their minds?

[El viejo Matias]

Take it easy here guys, if you don't like a post ignore.:rolleyes:

Anyways for me Maxi was superb, Tevez fun to watch, Riquelme was smooth like chocolate:D , Ayala fantastic, Messi was too erratic, ( still young though ). Anyways only Ribery of France , Podolski impressed me from the rest of the world and Zidane impressed me with what he still has left in the tank.

[cordobesenUS]

For someone who writes so much and so often, why is it that I can almost never count on reading something truly profound from you? It's either always the truly obvious or something that shows a total detachment from the game of football. Please don't take this as an attack on you. It's just an expression of my confusion on what you post. By what standards has Crespo been a flop in every world cup he's played? Please explain. I know you're not implying that Klose is a better forward than he is. And Riquelme couldn't perform?
Why can't people just wait until they have something important to contribute before they post? I know everyone has the right to express their thoughts, but should they post any and all things that go through their minds?


No offense taken.This is very easy to answer, Klose scored 5 goals, to Crespos 3. If that is not effectiveness I do not what is and yes, I measure effectiveness on numbers, if you are a striker you have to score goals and Klose has Crespo for lunch any day in that department. In 2002 Klose scores 5 goals, Crespo 0, it is true that Crespo was in the shadow of Batistuta and hardly played, but Bati also failed to win the contest against Klose as well. Even in England they don't consider Crespo a starter most of the time in his team because Drogba is the best scorer there. Crespo was a even a flop in 1998, you guessed it : 0 goals even though Batistuta, Orteguita, Piojo Lopez Zanetti and Pineda managed to find the net, Crespo had a chance against England, there was a play where the ball passed skimming through the line after a play by Ortega that Crespo only had to move his right foot forward and easily could have been the winning goal but he didn't. Crespo is not the type of player that confronts defenders like Klose does, Crespo sees the defender and doesn't move forward or try to dribble through him, Klose is more complete in this department as well, he will run over anything in front and put it in the net, this is why I said he was superior, he does what Tevez does but even better. About Riquelme, in this tournament he had ups and downs, against Germany he played probably one of his worst games I have seen him play. It is true that he can resolve a game with a single touch but it is also true that we don't see this too often, his team Villareal finished 7th in the Liga this time, but if you look back at when Villareal made it to the top spots the team also had the top scorer of the spanish league that year and that was Forlan, without his effectiveness no way they would have made it there. . If you mark Riquelme well enough he is hardly any threat unless given a freekick and even in this department he has been ineffective lately. I'm not the only one that thinks this about Riquelme, don't forget that neither Bielsa nor Passarella called him in the past, they also think that they can do without him. If Riquelme would at least come down and defend, like Zidane does, it would be a different story, but he doesn't even try, he barely runs I would say.He is a good player I'll admit that, but he will never be a great player, that is why Barcelona got rid of him in the first place and they don't want him back. I respect the fact that you like him as a player but what I'm saying is not totally baseless as you can see. I still think that we were sort of unlucky that we couldn't define the game in 120 minutes and ended up in a penalty shootout but I don't believe in luck, the Germans simply kicked them better and won correctly for the simple reason that they prepared for this more seriously. Fifa just named Ayala and Crespo as among the top 23 players in the tournament, but I think our guys would be subs in that particular team, because of the presence of Cannavaro and Klose. I don't think we had any players that we could consider" great " in our team, guys with a different idea or attitude to tip the scale in our favor. Argentina just functioned well as a team, hardly any individuals and once the tactics were figured out by the opponents our troubles started, this is what happened against Mexico for example, a few more minutes and we would have ended up in a penalty shootout with a team that just came from loosing to Portugal 2-1. After maxi Rodriguez scored his amazing goal he was interviewed about how he did this and he said that he just kicked the hell out of the ball and that normaly those have a 1 out of 10 chances of going to the goal, the other nine, they to the second deck of the stadium, this time it went inn. He basically said that it was simply luck he scored on that ocassion.

[Leon12]

In my opinion there have be no great players in this world cup, the only one who has come close is Zidane. There have been good performances from the likes of Carnavaro/Guttuso/Maxi, but no one has come close to greatness. Ronaldhinio was the one everyone thought would shine but he was dissapointing, the other player I thought would be a star at this wc was Messi, but Peker didn't want to play him.

Perhaps the days of the great individual players is over, the last world cup was a dissapointment, this one started of really well but petered out at the knockout stage. I guess what it does show, if you ever doubted it or needed more proof, was just how great Maradona really was in totally dominating a world cup (which had the likes of Platini/Rumminege/Zico/Socrates) in a way that had never happened before and will never happen again.

I just hope France win it tomorrow, soley because of Zidane, it would be a great way for him to bow out.

[EL MONO MARIO]

Ayala
Saviola
Maxi
Tevez
Messi
Sorin
Heinze


Are the GREAT ones of this world cup for Argentina....

[argentine soccer fan]

Ayala
Saviola
Maxi
Tevez
Messi
Sorin
Heinze


Are the GREAT ones of this world cup for Argentina....

And Abondancieri.

[locoxriver]

And Abondancieri.
And Mascherano.. How can you not mention him? This guy was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

[Pekerman]

a) Try to use PARAGRAPHS. I believe this is taught in primary school. Just think about the torture that our eyes have to endure just to read another one of your posts :rolleyes: I wish it was worth the pain.

b) Your obsession with German football and their national team is very disturbing.

c) Player by player we are superior to any team in this World Cup.



For me there has been no true stars in this World Cup. Only few consistently great players I can think of. Ayala, Carnavaro and you can add buffon to that list. There has been some good performances by some players that have been already mentionned.

[Castroman]

I actually think the Germans didnt play good football but were lucky it was on their home field, i think they didnt play a tough opponent except for Argentina which they won Penalties and Italy and they were dominated! to me the stars were

Ayala, Canavaro, Buffon, Iquanita, Zidane, Mascherano

[Pekerman]

As much as I admire Zidane I think that his performances were overblown by the media because he has not been the star of this World Cup. He had some brilliant moments against Brazil and Portugal but he has not been nearly as dominant as he is being hyped to be, which is understandable because he is 32 unlike a certain Riquelme :rolleyes:

But it is good marketing for the final I guess.

[Dr. Know]

And Mascherano.. How can you not mention him? This guy was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Yep, Mascherano was easily top 3 best players for Argentina. Along with Maxi and Ayala.

As for other teams Cannavaro has been all over the place for Italy as has Zambrotta.

[argentine soccer fan]

Zidane, of course, showed glympses of his greatness at the best possible time. But looking at France, I was impressed with Ribery. I didn't know much about him before the cup.

Also, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robben showed some great skill, although they are selfish players. And Klose showed great opportunism to score goals.

Defensively, Cannavaro was the best, no doubt.

Of our players, I agree with all the ones mentioned above. Of course, Messi could have done much more, if given the chance. Maybe we'd still be watching them if he'd been allowed to play more. And Maxi was the biggest surprise.

But if you have to pick one Argentine, I'd say Ayala.

[Leon12]

Pekerman, Zidane is 34, his performance against Brazil was brilliant, a real rolling back of the years. There would be something quite amusing about seeing a side as old as France winning the world cup, especially as everyone had written them off.

Nothing is going to change my opinion that we had the best team in this tournament (and we scored the 2 best goals), just a shame we couldn't look forward to us turning out tomorrow.

[Pekerman]

Yea Zidane is 34, just slipped out of my mind.

I still do not think his performances are worth all that hype. For me the best thing about France has been the defensive midfielders, particularly Vieira, and Ribery's (aka Quasimondo) dribbling and speed.

[Siempre_Albiceleste]

No offense taken.This is very easy to answer, Klose scored 5 goals, to Crespos 3. If that is not effectiveness I do not what is and yes, I measure effectiveness on numbers, if you are a striker you have to score goals and Klose has Crespo for lunch any day in that department. In 2002 Klose scores 5 goals, Crespo 0, it is true that Crespo was in the shadow of Batistuta and hardly played, but Bati also failed to win the contest against Klose as well. Even in England they don't consider Crespo a starter most of the time in his team because Drogba is the best scorer there. Crespo was a even a flop in 1998, you guessed it : 0 goals even though Batistuta, Orteguita, Piojo Lopez Zanetti and Pineda managed to find the net, Crespo had a chance against England, there was a play where the ball passed skimming through the line after a play by Ortega that Crespo only had to move his right foot forward and easily could have been the winning goal but he didn't. Crespo is not the type of player that confronts defenders like Klose does, Crespo sees the defender and doesn't move forward or try to dribble through him, Klose is more complete in this department as well, he will run over anything in front and put it in the net, this is why I said he was superior, he does what Tevez does but even better. About Riquelme, in this tournament he had ups and downs, against Germany he played probably one of his worst games I have seen him play. It is true that he can resolve a game with a single touch but it is also true that we don't see this too often, his team Villareal finished 7th in the Liga this time, but if you look back at when Villareal made it to the top spots the team also had the top scorer of the spanish league that year and that was Forlan, without his effectiveness no way they would have made it there. . If you mark Riquelme well enough he is hardly any threat unless given a freekick and even in this department he has been ineffective lately. I'm not the only one that thinks this about Riquelme, don't forget that neither Bielsa nor Passarella called him in the past, they also think that they can do without him. If Riquelme would at least come down and defend, like Zidane does, it would be a different story, but he doesn't even try, he barely runs I would say.He is a good player I'll admit that, but he will never be a great player, that is why Barcelona got rid of him in the first place and they don't want him back. I respect the fact that you like him as a player but what I'm saying is not totally baseless as you can see. I still think that we were sort of unlucky that we couldn't define the game in 120 minutes and ended up in a penalty shootout but I don't believe in luck, the Germans simply kicked them better and won correctly for the simple reason that they prepared for this more seriously. Fifa just named Ayala and Crespo as among the top 23 players in the tournament, but I think our guys would be subs in that particular team, because of the presence of Cannavaro and Klose. I don't think we had any players that we could consider" great " in our team, guys with a different idea or attitude to tip the scale in our favor. Argentina just functioned well as a team, hardly any individuals and once the tactics were figured out by the opponents our troubles started, this is what happened against Mexico for example, a few more minutes and we would have ended up in a penalty shootout with a team that just came from loosing to Portugal 2-1. After maxi Rodriguez scored his amazing goal he was interviewed about how he did this and he said that he just kicked the hell out of the ball and that normaly those have a 1 out of 10 chances of going to the goal, the other nine, they to the second deck of the stadium, this time it went inn. He basically said that it was simply luck he scored on that ocassion.

So in one post, you've managed to say or imply that Klose is better than Crespo, Batigol, & Apache. That is quite an accomplishment, I must say. I can honestly say that I am in shock. Or maybe I simply lost your meaning.
Since you like numbers so much, please consider the following:
Yes, Klose scored 5 in this WC and 5 the last WC...Any idea who those goals were scored against? In 2002, there was the hat trick vs Saudi Arabia, and a goal each vs Ireland & Cameroon...none in the elimination phase. This year, 2 vs CRC, 2 vs Ecuador, & the one against us. Not exactly the best of oppositions.
So it may be true that he's scored in WC more than Valdanito but was Crespo ever really given the chance? Missing a goal in just a few minutes of play in 98...only scoring one goal in 02 in less than a full match of play? And 3 goals in 4 games this year....THAT IS YOUR ARGUMENT? 10 goals in 14 matches is pretty good but 4 in 4 games and a few minutes here and there in a few other matches is not too shabby. That comparison is completely baseless cuz Crespo has not had the chances that Klose has. And it's not because he didn't deserve it.
Argue all you want, Crespo simply has not been handed a fair hand at the national level. This man has shredded all manners of defenses in the top leagues in the world...the all-time leading scorer in south American preliminaries...commanding record breaking transfer fees on numerous occasions (126 million euros is a lot of money). Had he not had the misfortune of coming in the shadows of Batigol, I believe that Ronaldo's record may very well have been his.
But thanks anyway. I believe I've found the only person that would ever compare Klose favorably to 3 great forwards, in my opinion. The truth is Klose is a decent player but from what I've seen of him (which is limited, I'll admit), I would not even put him on Argentina's bench. But hey, to each his own.

[Leon12]

Crespo has been a regular goal scorer in Italy's top division for the best part of a decade, if Klose can match that then I may considser he is worth mentioning in the same breath as Crespo, but he can't and is not fit to tie the boot laces of Crespo.

[Castroman]

Crespo has been a regular goal scorer in Italy's top division for the best part of a decade, if Klose can match that then I may considser he is worth mentioning in the same breath as Crespo, but he can't and is not fit to tie the boot laces of Crespo.


ive seen Klose a lot i dont know why u guys think he's a good player but honestly the guy can only score with his head! he has no goals with feet! and most of his goals are set pieces! i actually think Cavenaghi is even better than him!

[Dr. Know]

Klose was quite efficient playing for Werder Bremen. Based on his last season he would have made it to Argentina's team. He scored something like 25 goals in 26 games and 16 assists. Overall he has 40 goals in 57 games for Bremen. Not too bad. He'll probably go to a mayor club after the WC.

But for now there is no doubt Crespo is better and has proven himself to be more consistent in a better league and on the national level.

[efernandez9]

Cannavaro's work was very Impressive
I will take rinquelme over crespo
the Swiss keeper had a record to remember!

after tomorrow, we will see if any is truly GREAT....for know all average on the good side.