Which country has the greatest collection of left footed players? I'd say Argentina, Brazil and Yugoslavia in that order. Argentina Fillol Sorin - Samuel - Passarella - Marzolini Redondo - Orsi - Maradona - Loustau Messi - Moreno Brazil Diego Alves Nilton Santos - Edinho - Andre Cruz - Roberto Carlos Marcelo - Falcao - Rivelino - Rivaldo Tostao - Jairzinho
It would be fun to watch those teams play against each other, but I think I could coach a team of BS all-stars to victory against either one of them, simply by directing my team to overplay their opponents and force them to their less-comfortable, weaker right side.
Miroslav Gajdusek (international Czechoslovakian midfielder of the 1970s and 80s who played for Dukla Praha and Vitkovice). Markus Elmer (German left back of the 1970s and 80s who played for VfB Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen).
Was Nilton Santos really left-footed? Falcao? Jairzinho? Sure about them? Interesting idea coming up with left-footed Best XIs. My take at Germany: --------K.Allofs------Kuntz ---------------Overath ------H.Müller----Magath----Flohe ------------Schäfer --Dietz---------Briegel--------Brehme -------------------Kneib
I checked and they were all natural right-footed. Here's an updated Brazilian all-lefties. Diego Alves Sylvinho - Andre Cruz - Edinho - Roberto Carlos Leonardo - Alex - Rivelino - Rivaldo Dirceu - Tostao Is Ozil not left-footed?
Brehme must be the most two footed player I ever saw. Taking a penalty with your wrong foot in the World Cup final takes some doing.
England's team might be pretty reasonable actually (did this off the top of my head just now): Ray Clemence Kenny Sansom Terry Butcher Kevin Beattie Stuart Pearce Bryan Robson Steve Hodge Chris Waddle Tom Finney John Barnes Jimmy Greaves
He sure is. I could say that I left out active players but the truth is, I remember lineups of major teams from the 60s, 70s and 80s much better than recent lineups like, say, Germany's in the 2014 WC final. In short, I forgot to think about Özil! He would deserve a place in that team no doubt, probably instead of Hansi Müller.
Brehme himself has never said whether he's a right-footer who's really good with his left foot or a left-footer who's really good with his right foot. He once stated that with his left foot he has more precision and subtlety while his right foot has more power in shooting (if I remember that correctly!).
I think so - I wasn't sure about Greaves when I first started to see him play but although he could use his right I came to the conclusion he was more left sided and I think I've seen reference to it too probably. Robson scored spectacular goals off both sides I suppose but he definitely seems more left sided overall to me, and I think I always thought of him that way (obviously he's younger than Greaves so his playing days coincided with my childhood). On Brehme - I saw that quoted too somewhere although I wasn't sure whether it was the other way round but maybe I just think of his right footed curled goal in the World Cup. Tom Finney was very much two sided I believe too rather than just exceptional with his 'wrong' side, but I've read he was basically left footed primarily.
Alfred Riedl (Austrian international left winger of the late-1960s to mid-1980s who played for Austria Vienna, St. Truiden, Antwerp, Standard Liège, Metz among other clubs).
Franjo Vladic (Yugoslavian international midfielder of the late-1960s to the mid-1980s who played for Velez Mostar and AEK Athens).
Something I never noticed before but could it be that Roberto Boninsegna is left-footed? I recently watched Yugoslavia vs. Italy from 1974 (friendly) and there he used his left foot for freekicks and when shooting at the goal when he could have used his right foot just as well. I never had him down as a left-footer!
I'd thought he was left footed I remember because it was noticeable that he was playing in the same team as Riva (but out of the two it's Riva I knew was left footed for sure). It's a bit like when Woodcock and Birtles played up front together for Forest (I think Birtles was left footed anyway - and unless I'm mistaken his predecessor Withe too; Woodcock was definitely but was very decent with his right). All left footed strike partnerships are fairly rare I guess. If Vieri and Signori had played together for Italy they could have been another one but not sure they ever did.
I never had Boninsegna down as a probable left-footer. Maybe because when I watched the famous games involving Boninsegna's teams, I did not yet look for left-footed players. I first watched these games (World Cup 1970) about 15-20 years ago. Riva of course is one of the most famous left-footed players of his era. Withe and Birtles I was not aware of being left-footed (but I never watched them that often and not too closely when I watched them in action).
It doesn't seem like Josip Skoblar was mentioned yet, and he's a good 'famous but not really so famous' name to include I'd think.
Avi Assouly (jounalist and politician) talks about Albert Emon who had Skoblar as idol : on Skoblar, "we never knew if he was right-footed or left-footed, but in fact he was a right-footed", "Emon imitated him so much that we could not tell for him too when he was a player" . http://www.lephoceen.fr/infos-om/interview/quot-emon-imitait-skoblar-quot-une-figure-en-lumiere-881 Skoblar for the newspaper La Provence : "right-footed, but, really, for me, that was the same with both feet and all the areas". Before in the article, his shots with the outside of the foot (right or left), even on free-kick, are discussed. He says that he scored a lot like that and that the goal that is talked about by the journalist is not necessarily outstanding (the conversation starts from the souvenir of his goal on free-kick against Saint-Etienne in 1967, for his first competitive match with OM in Marseille, his third in all, so on free-kick with the outside of the left foot). On the matter, he explains his technique of "sudden-shot", with the standing foot (so in the case of that goal on a set-piece, the left foot) that permitted him to surprise the keepers (one step ahead he explains + the chosen foot in itself surely). He remarked that Pelé did it a lot at the time too. This technique applied in the open-play too, with either foot, it depended on the actions as he was confortable with both feet. The author of the article/ interviewer maintains the idea that his left was his second foot as it was his standing foot before shooting, in principle. We believe the concerned player when he says that he had both feet though, that he could make use of the two in an equal maneer, with the same shooting quality, because it is very true. He was known to use the most effective solution in every situations ("with instinct more" maybe as for the goals scored in the open-play, so with quickness too, and more deliberately on the set-pieces, but still with that gain of time in the end). But yes, right-footed (or right-handed, no distinction between the two in the text in French), that's what he says at first. http://www.laprovence.com/article/om/3058194/ah-cet-exter-pied-gauche.html Here's a beautiful 25 mins doc-itw video about Skoblar in the serie "Les Légendes de l'OM" (have not re-watch but I guess that it can illustrate all of this) :
Oh, well me thinking he was left sided primarily, gave you the opportunity to make this excellent and informative post! Yes, the video does show him being very comfortable on both sides I can see, and one part near some footage I had skipped ahead to might contain a comment by him about it (I heard the word 'gauche'). Yes, Pele did take those early shots too didn't he...
I always thought Skoblar was left-footed, too! If he was comfortable with both feet and it was hard to tell which foot he preferred, then I'd say he was a genuine two-footed player.
The moment at which he is talking about his left (son gauche), it must be when he explains that he preferred to use his left when the ball arrived from the right, and vice-versa (we can see that he did this in one touch and we can see that he was good with the head too. + from the right = from Magnusson ofc so it must have happened quite often that he applied this technique). He also explains at this moment in the video that he liked to target the side with less space between the keeper and the goal-post. 90% of the time he scored like that, he says, before adding that when he chose the opposite side, with more space, here he shooted with the outside of the foot ("I scored much like that too"). "It was my advantage on the others" (he must mean on all the other players and the strikers like him maybe, as he had a solution for each situation) "and most of all regarding the keepers" he adds with a smile. That's it. Yes Pele...Pele. (laughs) Comfortable yes.
Always had him down as a left-footed player, mostly seemed to occupy the inside left channels and seemed to favour his left foot more often than not.