kingkong1
12 Dec 2008, 08:28 PM
Here's what I don't understand. Why does nobody include Brasil '58 as worthy of top-3 consideration? Mind you this was the only team to win a WC on the rival continent's (Europe) soil, who boasted a rock-solid defense (unlike the samba machine of '70) led by Nilton and Djalma Santos, an elusive playmaker in Didi, and a frontline and wing that consisted of two of football's top ten all-time players in their physical prime.
I honestly think they should be considered first, followed by (if the logic of WC-winning still stands) Brasil '70 and Hungary '54. Perhaps Hungary should be first; they were miles ahead of everybody, with a hugely controversial offside call on Puskas in the final the only thing that separates them from legend statusIt's because if you list Brazil 58, 70 as well as 38, 50, 62, 82 there would be only 4 spots for the others in the top 10 :p...
Seriously now:
1. Brazil 58-62-70
More than a generation - a whole dinasty.
In my opinion it's impossible to dissociate those 3 teams.
The 1st two (58-62) player-by-player are practically the same.
1970 (although only with Pelé and the now coach Zagallo of the original formation) was their tactical crystallization.
Not exactly the same strategy, but its natural development.
The flashy initial 4-2-4 naturally giving way to a supple 4-3-3.
A 12 year long work-in-progress by a same organism.
A law of nature.
In 66 CBD's megalomanyac desorganization (allied, of course, to 66 FIFA WC institutionalized violence) temporarilly derranged it: 4 high-level National Teams were formed a couple of months before the Cup.
Had Feola just picked one of them and trained them appropriately, Brazil would have won its 3rd Cup in a row.
And the 66 world champions unabashedly displayed an apolinean variation of the Brz 4-3-3, the 4-4-2, thereby guaranteeing its continuation.
58-70 was simply the golden generation in the golden epoch of world football.
2. Hungary 52-54
Co-inventors with Brazil of the 4-2-4, and along with the Canarinhos (wish dor02 or not) the matrixes of modern football.
Even not winning the 54 title it marked indelibly the unconscious of the game: monsters of the ball, the Mighty Magiars had they a luckier road ahead (in terms of titles & political atmosphere) might be joining Brazil (or even surpassing it) in that 1st post.
3. Holland 74
The first & latest original contribution to the game's tactics after Hungary's & Brazil intervention in the 50's.
There has been nothing equal to that, not before nor even after.
If the revolution they installed had continued (something very difficult to happen, since it demanded relentless good physical shape allied to great individual ability and superior tactical consciousness dictated by an out-of-this-world coach, and that during generations), they'd probably be the best of all times.
The rest debates itself amidst the heritage of those 3 powerhouses.
I honestly think they should be considered first, followed by (if the logic of WC-winning still stands) Brasil '70 and Hungary '54. Perhaps Hungary should be first; they were miles ahead of everybody, with a hugely controversial offside call on Puskas in the final the only thing that separates them from legend statusIt's because if you list Brazil 58, 70 as well as 38, 50, 62, 82 there would be only 4 spots for the others in the top 10 :p...
Seriously now:
1. Brazil 58-62-70
More than a generation - a whole dinasty.
In my opinion it's impossible to dissociate those 3 teams.
The 1st two (58-62) player-by-player are practically the same.
1970 (although only with Pelé and the now coach Zagallo of the original formation) was their tactical crystallization.
Not exactly the same strategy, but its natural development.
The flashy initial 4-2-4 naturally giving way to a supple 4-3-3.
A 12 year long work-in-progress by a same organism.
A law of nature.
In 66 CBD's megalomanyac desorganization (allied, of course, to 66 FIFA WC institutionalized violence) temporarilly derranged it: 4 high-level National Teams were formed a couple of months before the Cup.
Had Feola just picked one of them and trained them appropriately, Brazil would have won its 3rd Cup in a row.
And the 66 world champions unabashedly displayed an apolinean variation of the Brz 4-3-3, the 4-4-2, thereby guaranteeing its continuation.
58-70 was simply the golden generation in the golden epoch of world football.
2. Hungary 52-54
Co-inventors with Brazil of the 4-2-4, and along with the Canarinhos (wish dor02 or not) the matrixes of modern football.
Even not winning the 54 title it marked indelibly the unconscious of the game: monsters of the ball, the Mighty Magiars had they a luckier road ahead (in terms of titles & political atmosphere) might be joining Brazil (or even surpassing it) in that 1st post.
3. Holland 74
The first & latest original contribution to the game's tactics after Hungary's & Brazil intervention in the 50's.
There has been nothing equal to that, not before nor even after.
If the revolution they installed had continued (something very difficult to happen, since it demanded relentless good physical shape allied to great individual ability and superior tactical consciousness dictated by an out-of-this-world coach, and that during generations), they'd probably be the best of all times.
The rest debates itself amidst the heritage of those 3 powerhouses.