Players of the Decades

[hemariva]

Who do you think were the players of the decade in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's?

I'll go out on a limb and say the 60's were Pele's decade and the 80's were Maradona. Other than that it gets a little unclear as the other decades seemed to have a handful of players with equal presence.

[MIGkiller]

Originally posted by hemariva
Who do you think were the players of the decade in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's?

I'll go out on a limb and say the 60's were Pele's decade and the 80's were Maradona. Other than that it gets a little unclear as the other decades seemed to have a handful of players with equal presence.

50's- Puskas

60's- Pelé

70's- Cruyff

80s'- Maradona

90s'- Ronaldo

[skipshady]

Originally posted by MIGkiller
90s'- Ronaldo Have to disagree here. Ronaldo was only effective between '96 - '98. Stellar seasons to be sure, but not enough to ear Player of the Decade. You have much more deserving candidates like Baggio, Romario, Stoichkov or Cantona. What is clear is that there is no clear winner for the decade.

[MIGkiller]

Originally posted by skipshady
Have to disagree here. Ronaldo was only effective between '96 - '98. Stellar seasons to be sure, but not enough to ear Player of the Decade. You have much more deserving candidates like Baggio, Romario, Stoichkov or Cantona. What is clear is that there is no clear winner for the decade.

Yeah, I know it's controversial, but yet at this point, when I look at the 90s I also include the first years of the present decade. But even so the other players you've mentioned weren't any greater than Ronaldo.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by MIGkiller
But even so the other players you've mentioned weren't any greater than Ronaldo. Well, that's a matter of opinions, isn't it? At this point in his career, I would rank Cantona and Baggio ahead of Ronaldo, but that's just me.

[condor11]

cantona over ronaldo???
personally ronaldo is twice the player cantona was

i would rank baggio
romario and maldini
higher than ronaldo

[Excape Goat]

Ronaldo might be better than most players mentioned.... but he does not really represent the 90's. Actually, no one does....

[minorthreat]

Originally posted by skipshady
Well, that's a matter of opinions, isn't it? At this point in his career, I would rank Cantona and Baggio ahead of Ronaldo, but that's just me. Eric Cantona is possibly the most overrated player in soccer history. Yes, he lit up the Premier League. But that was when it was in its infancy, and when the English game was still recovering from the Heysel ban. Cantona was basically just a big fish in a small pond - the years of the peak of his career happened to coincide with the years that the English league was the worst that it had been in decades. This world-beater couldn't get a game for his country or for l'OM, and Manchester United under his guidance struggled with teams like Fenerbahce and Rotor Volgograd.

[comme]

Originally posted by MIGkiller
50's- Puskas

60's- Pelé

70's- Cruyff

80s'- Maradona

90s'- Ronaldo

I'll take all of them but have Maldini instead of Ronaldo, and possibly Di Stefano over Puskas.

[lanman]

50's - Puskas (from 1950-1956 he scored 55 international goals in 60 games, lynchpin of three of footballs greatest ever sides)

60's - Pele (no-brainer really)

70's - Cruyff (Beckenbauer loses out as he split the 60's and 70's)

80's - Maradona (another no-brainer)

90's - most difficult of the lot, as there has been no truly outstanding player over most of the decade, Maldini would prboably get my vote on consistancy over the whole 10 years.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by C-towner
Eric Cantona is possibly the most overrated player in soccer history. Yes, he lit up the Premier League. But that was when it was in its infancy, and when the English game was still recovering from the Heysel ban. Cantona was basically just a big fish in a small pond - the years of the peak of his career happened to coincide with the years that the English league was the worst that it had been in decades. This world-beater couldn't get a game for his country or for l'OM, and Manchester United under his guidance struggled with teams like Fenerbahce and Rotor Volgograd. Though of course, you could argue that soccer in general was in a slump from early to mid 90's, which might explain the absence of a clear "player of the decade".
Now, I don't remember the details but didn't his snub from the French NT have more to do with personal issues with the coaching staff than his performance? I honestly can't remember.
And ManU's struggle in Europe had a lot to do with the lack of talent, but my feeling was that it had more to do with inexperience in Europe and playing European styles.

But fair enough. It was his outsized personality rather than play that appealed to me anyway. And I wonder how the players who excelled in the Premiership's early days would do now. I know that Fowler would not be nearly as prolific if he had played his entire career against today's Premiership defenders.

[Bauser]

I'm disappointed by the fact that Eric Cantona keeps popping up on various threads when debating the great stars of the past in the world game. His name doesn't belong in this debate.

[Dark Savante]

A decade is far too long a period of time to say anyone player dominated it when perhaps you refer to one, two maybe even three exceptional seasons that still leaves 7 seasons of a decade.

Also to accredit a single player as the player of decade is to exclude at least 5 players who justifiably could claim some kind of parity for this reason i'll name a number of great players from each decade as one from each doesn't work in my eyes.

50's :Garrincha, Pele, DiStefano, Puskas, Matthews

60's: Garrincha, Best, Charlton, Pele, Eusabio

70's: Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Pele, Muller, Riva

80's: Maradona, Platini, Zico, Van Basten, Mattheus

90's: Batistuta, Romario, Ronaldo, Baggio, Maldini, Weah(special mention)

00-present: Raul, Ronaldo, Zidane, Vieri


:( so many names still missing.

[Excape Goat]

Originally posted by Dark Savante


80's: Maradona, Platini, Zico, Van Basten, Mattheus



I will add Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to the list.

[Matrim55]

Originally posted by Dark Savante
90's: Batistuta, Romario, Ronaldo, Baggio, Maldini, Weah(special mention)
Um. Hi. My name is Marco Van Basten. I was decent.

[Ombak]

Originally posted by skipshady
Now, I don't remember the details but didn't his snub from the French NT have more to do with personal issues with the coaching staff than his performance?

Pretty much. He was hot-headed as everyone knows and Aime Jacquet didn't like him.

Considering they went with an absolutely powerless offense in 98, they certainly could've used him, but some would argue he would have been enough to disrupt the team unity.

Cantona, though not as much as Jean-Pierre Papin and Ginola, was associated with the generation of French players who embarassingly failed to make it to WC94.

[Green Tabasco]

This might not have anything to do with what this thread is about, but here goes:

The 90's was a revolutionary decade if you consider the progression of the game. All of the players mentioned from Puskas to Maradona all had an integral part in the formation of the game today. What I mean by that is that every one of those players were Super-Stars in their respective decades and sad to say the only ones.

In the nineties all that changed. Instead of one bonafied Super Star, many emerged. I'm not going to get into the why's or how's that should be reserved for another thread. (and don't confuse the term "Star" with "Super-Star", there have been many "Stars" but few "Super-Stars")

So to get to the point, the 90's cannot be defined by the lone Super-Star. From Baggio to Cantona to Van Basten to Stoickov. I have a feeling that the era of the lone Super-Star is sadly over.

On a personal note. If someone put a gun to my head and asked me to tell them who was the player that defined the 90's, I would answer Roberto Baggio.

[Dark Savante]

I post this:

A decade is far too long a period of time to say anyone player dominated it when perhaps you refer to one, two maybe even three exceptional seasons that still leaves 7 seasons of a decade.

Also to accredit a single player as the player of decade is to exclude at least 5 players who justifiably could claim some kind of parity for this reason i'll name a number of great players from each decade as one from each doesn't work in my eyes.

50's :Garrincha, Pele, DiStefano, Puskas, Matthews

60's: Garrincha, Best, Charlton, Pele, Eusabio

70's: Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Pele, Muller, Riva

80's: Maradona, Platini, Zico, Van Basten, Mattheus

90's: Batistuta, Romario, Ronaldo, Baggio, Maldini, Weah(special mention)

00-present: Raul, Ronaldo, Zidane, Vieri


so many names still missing.

then you post:

Originally posted by robincd
This might not have anything to do with what this thread is about, but here goes:

The 90's was a revolutionary decade if you consider the progression of the game. All of the players mentioned from Puskas to Maradona all had an integral part in the formation of the game today. What I mean by that is that every one of those players were Super-Stars in their respective decades and sad to say the only ones.

In the nineties all that changed. Instead of one bonafied Super Star, many emerged. I'm not going to get into the why's or how's that should be reserved for another thread. (and don't confuse the term "Star" with "Super-Star", there have been many "Stars" but few "Super-Stars")

So to get to the point, the 90's cannot be defined by the lone Super-Star. From Baggio to Cantona to Van Basten to Stoickov. I have a feeling that the era of the lone Super-Star is sadly over.

On a personal note. If someone put a gun to my head and asked me to tell them who was the player that defined the 90's, I would answer Roberto Baggio.

You've completely lost me here. All the players i listed were super-stars of the respective decades they represent and they're not the only ones.

Could you explain what you mean?

[lanman]

Originally posted by Matrim55
Um. Hi. My name is Marco Van Basten. I was decent.


It's a bit of a stretch to put Van Basten in as a player of the 90's. Although he officially retired in 95, his last game was the 93 Champions League final, and he only played around 20 games that season. Two and a half seasons (although 91-92 was probably his best season) does not rank up there with others achievements in the 90's.

[Green Tabasco]

Dark Savante. It would be my pleasure. But first, you have a point. It is unfair to think of one player per decade. However, if I had to name one player per decade and only had one opportunity, I would do so. And so would many people. But that of course is debatable. (And that's the fun thing about Football, everything is debatable)

My point is that because we live in an information age now, the media has brought to light many many many players that otherwise in eras past, would never have been considered Super-Stars (Not due to lack of skill, but of lack of exposure)

The Sport Exploded world-wide in the nineties, so much so, that the media in its search for the next "Pele" or "Maradona" focused it's light on a whole range of players. And that my friend is a good thing. Therefore the nineties really did not have that one player that everyone can look back on and say, "yeah the eighties was maradona".

Do you know what I mean?