Benelux-A 2 France-A 1 (after extra-time) (Rep 27, Platini 82, Cruyff 117: assists Gullit, Kopa, Overmars: MOTM Gullit) Argentina-A 2 Brazil-B 3 (Zico 35, Jairzinho 53, Batistuta 58, Ronaldo 67, Di Stefano 84: assists Falcao, Ronaldinho, Redondo, Zico, Maradona: MOTM Zico)
Fontaine seems to have the Golden Boot sewn up, but would really need to go some in the 3rd Place Play-Off this time to challenge his 1958 total of goals. Meanwhile Cruyff's main aim would be I guess orchestrating a Benelux triumph (as much as he might still feel/state that bringing joy through the performances is more important and memorable than taking the trophy), rather than overtaking or joining Maradona as top assister which would seem a steep task anyway...but who knows whether orchestrating the Benelux victory could help him do it if he sets up a bunch of goals in the process...! Goalscorers 8 - Just Fontaine 5 - Gabriel Batistuta, Alfredo Di Stefano, Gerd Muller, Pele, Ronaldo 4 - Josef Bican, Bobby Charlton, Eusebio, Jimmy Greaves, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Marco van Basten 3 - Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Lionel Messi, Silvio Piola, Michel Platini, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, David Villa, Zico 2 - Roberto Baggio, Preben Elkjaer, Gheorghe Hagi, Jairzinho, Mario Kempes, Jari Litmanen, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Giussepe Meazza, Pavel Nedved, Raimundo Orsi, Daniel Passarella, Raul, Rob Rensenbrink, Arjen Robben, Andriy Shevchenko, Alberto Spencer, Ruud van Nistelrooy 1 - Ademir, Adriano, Michael Ballack, Ferenc Bene, George Best, Oleg Blokhin, Alen Boksic, Andreas Brehme, Emilio Butragueno, Eric Cantona, Careca, Edinson Cavani, Jan Ceulemans, Teofilo Cubillas, Kenny Dalglish, Edgar Davids, Dixie Dean, Youri Djorkaeff, Dragan Dzajic, Arsenio Erico, Samuel Eto'o, Tom Finney, Diego Forlan, Enzo Francescoli, Garrincha, Ryan Giggs, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Fernando Hierro, Andres Iniesta, Juan Joya, Jurgen Klinsmann, Sandor Kocsis, Ronald Koeman, Laszlo Kubala, Frank Lampard, Gzregorz Lato, Denis Law, Robert Lewandowski, Wlodzimierz Lubanski, Maicon, Valentino Mazzola, Thomas Muller, Gunnar Nordahl, Jean-Pierre Papin, Robert Pires, Pierino Prati, Ferenc Puskas, Helmut Rahn, Johnny Rep, Juan Roman Riquelme, Luigi Riva, Roberto Rivelino, Pedro Rocha, Romario, Ronaldinho, Paolo Rossi, Mohamed Salah, Hugo Sanchez, Gyorgy Sarosi, Uwe Seeler, Alan Shearer, Davor Suker, Lajos Tichy, Carlos Valderrama, Robin van Persie, George Weah, Zinedine Zidane, Zizinho Assisters (incl. pens/free-kicks won, but not deflections or secondary assists) 8 - Diego Maradona 5 - Johan Cruyff, Raymond Kopa, Zico 4 - Luis Figo, Michael Laudrup, Juan Schiaffino 3 - Kazimierz Deyna, Ruud Gullit, Stanley Matthews, Michel Platini, Arjen Robben, Matthias Sindelar 2 - Francisco Arce, Dennis Bergkamp, George Best, Oleg Blokhin, Paul Breitner, Kenny Dalglish, Alfredo Di Stefano, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Garrincha, Francisco Gento, Gheorghe Hagi, Pierre Littbarski, Lionel Messi, Bobby Moore, Ferenc Puskas, Fernando Redondo, Rob Rensenbrink, Ronaldinho, Tostao, Francesco Totti, Fritz Walter 1 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Jose Augusto, Michael Ballack, Bebeto, Franz Beckenbauer, David Beckham, Ferenc Bene, Dimitar Berbatov, Zvonimir Boban, Emilio Butragueno, Careca, Omar Corbatta, Teofilo Cubillas, Alessandro Del Piero, Didi, Youri Djorkaeff, Dragan Dzajic, Giacinto Facchetti, Paul Gascoigne, Steven Gerrard, Gerson, Josep Guardiola, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Nandor Hidegkuti, Andres Iniesta, Jorginho, Mario Kempes, Sandor Kocsis, Jan Koller, Brian Laudrup, Denis Law, Lothar Matthaus, Michel, Jose Manuel Moreno, Gerd Muller, Pavel Nedved, Gunter Netzer, Ernst Ocwirk, Marc Overmars, Daniel Passarella, Pele, Andrea Pirlo, Juan Roman Riquelme, Gianni Rivera, Dominique Rocheteau, Romario, Ronaldo, Paolo Rossi, Rui Costa, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Marcelo Salas, Clarence Seedorf, Uwe Seeler, Alan Shearer, Alexis Sanchez, David Silva, Omar Sivori, Wesley Sneijder, Socrates, Dragan Stojkovic, Jean Tigana, Yaya Toure, Patrick Vieira, Rudi Voller, George Weah, Faas Wilkes, Xavi, Zinedine Zidane, Zizinho, Gianfranco Zola Man of the Match 3 - Johan Cruyff, Alfredo Di Stefano 2 - Franco Baresi, George Best, Ruud Gullit, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Lionel Messi, Zico 1 - Roberto Baggio, Gordon Banks, Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Hector Chumpitaz, Teofilo Cubillas, Marcel Desailly, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Luis Figo, Elias Figueroa, Tom Finney, Garrincha, Gheorghe Hagi, Raymond Kopa, Ruud Krol, Michael Laudrup, Soren Lerby, Josef Masopust, Stanley Matthews, Bobby Moore, Thomas N'Kono, Wolfgang Overath, Daniel Passarella, Pele, Michel Platini, Frank Rijkaard, Arjen Robben, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Dejan Savicevic, Juan Schiaffino, Gaetano Scirea, Albert Shesternyov, Mauro Silva, Jean Tigana, Yaya Toure, Marco van Basten, Patrick Vieira, David Villa, Xavi, Ricardo Zamora
Results & reports posted on the other thread now, plus the final set of fixtures and the deadlines: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/al...e-ups-results-updates-fixtures.2105346/page-7
Everyone that bet on Cruyff, Kopa or Zico as top assister likes this post! Everyone that bet on Fontaine scoring less than 13, or on Di Stefano or Batistuta as top scorer dislikes this post!
I have the same extra scoreline for Argentina-Brazil 2-3. I did not even know how to judge this one. In the end, I just decided that Tarantino could not hold onto the game.
The much anticipated 3rd Place Play-Off is detailed now on the line-ups thread (oh, and the Final too!!): https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/al...e-ups-results-updates-fixtures.2105346/page-8 Feel free to send votes now. Thanks for taking part in the tournament - I hope it's been fun and/or interesting!
Here is the breaking news in this format (reports to follow on the other thread this evening) for the 3rd Place Play-Off and the Final.... 3rd Place Game France-A 1 Argentina-A 2 (Platini 28, Maradona 32, Batistuta 81: assists Kopa (via winning the free-kick Platini scores from), Pedernera, Bochini: MOTM Tigana) FINAL Benelux-A 3 Brazil-B 2 (after extra-time) (Rep 27, Jairzinho 30, Ronaldo 60, Cruyff 80, Van Nistelrooy 109: assists Rensenbrink, Zico x 2, Gullit, Cruyff: MOTM Cruyff) So the Benelux-A team, guided by @La-Máquina (who also plays his role in France-A achieving 4th place) are crowned the Big Soccer All-Time World Cup Game Champions! @Perú FC takes Brazil-B to the runners-up spot. @msioux75 does field his more experimental '3rd Place game' line-up, and it manages to pick Argentina-A up the bronze medals.
So this was how it was after the semi-finals, and it changes to the final version shown below after the final two games: Goalscorers 8 - Just Fontaine 6 - Gabriel Batistuta, Ronaldo 5 - Alfredo Di Stefano, Gerd Muller, Pele 4 - Josef Bican, Bobby Charlton, Johan Cruyff, Eusebio, Jimmy Greaves, Michel Platini, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Marco van Basten 3 - Ruud Gullit, Jairzinho, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Silvio Piola, Cristiano Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Villa, Zico 2 - Roberto Baggio, Preben Elkjaer, Gheorghe Hagi, Mario Kempes, Jari Litmanen, Lothar Matthaus, Giussepe Meazza, Pavel Nedved, Raimundo Orsi, Daniel Passarella, Raul, Rob Rensenbrink, Johnny Rep, Arjen Robben, Andriy Shevchenko, Alberto Spencer 1 - Ademir, Adriano, Michael Ballack, Ferenc Bene, George Best, Oleg Blokhin, Alen Boksic, Andreas Brehme, Emilio Butragueno, Eric Cantona, Careca, Edinson Cavani, Jan Ceulemans, Teofilo Cubillas, Kenny Dalglish, Edgar Davids, Dixie Dean, Youri Djorkaeff, Dragan Dzajic, Arsenio Erico, Samuel Eto'o, Tom Finney, Diego Forlan, Enzo Francescoli, Garrincha, Ryan Giggs, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Fernando Hierro, Andres Iniesta, Juan Joya, Jurgen Klinsmann, Sandor Kocsis, Ronald Koeman, Laszlo Kubala, Frank Lampard, Gzregorz Lato, Denis Law, Robert Lewandowski, Wlodzimierz Lubanski, Maicon, Valentino Mazzola, Thomas Muller, Gunnar Nordahl, Jean-Pierre Papin, Robert Pires, Pierino Prati, Ferenc Puskas, Helmut Rahn, Juan Roman Riquelme, Luigi Riva, Roberto Rivelino, Pedro Rocha, Romario, Ronaldinho, Paolo Rossi, Mohamed Salah, Hugo Sanchez, Gyorgy Sarosi, Uwe Seeler, Alan Shearer, Davor Suker, Lajos Tichy, Carlos Valderrama, Robin van Persie, George Weah, Zinedine Zidane, Zizinho Assisters (incl. pens/free-kicks won, but not deflections or secondary assists) 8 - Diego Maradona 7 - Zico 6 - Johan Cruyff, Raymond Kopa 4 - Luis Figo, Ruud Gullit, Michael Laudrup, Juan Schiaffino 3 - Kazimierz Deyna, Stanley Matthews, Michel Platini, Rob Rensenbrink, Arjen Robben, Matthias Sindelar 2 - Francisco Arce, Dennis Bergkamp, George Best, Oleg Blokhin, Paul Breitner, Kenny Dalglish, Alfredo Di Stefano, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Garrincha, Francisco Gento, Gheorghe Hagi, Pierre Littbarski, Lionel Messi, Bobby Moore, Ferenc Puskas, Fernando Redondo, Ronaldinho, Tostao, Francesco Totti, Fritz Walter 1 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Jose Augusto, Michael Ballack, Bebeto, Franz Beckenbauer, David Beckham, Ferenc Bene, Dimitar Berbatov, Zvonimir Boban, Ricardo Bochini, Emilio Butragueno, Careca, Omar Corbatta, Teofilo Cubillas, Alessandro Del Piero, Didi, Youri Djorkaeff, Dragan Dzajic, Giacinto Facchetti, Paul Gascoigne, Steven Gerrard, Gerson, Josep Guardiola, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Nandor Hidegkuti, Andres Iniesta, Jorginho, Mario Kempes, Sandor Kocsis, Jan Koller, Brian Laudrup, Denis Law, Lothar Matthaus, Michel, Jose Manuel Moreno, Gerd Muller, Pavel Nedved, Gunter Netzer, Ernst Ocwirk, Marc Overmars, Daniel Passarella, Adolfo Pedernera, Pele, Andrea Pirlo, Juan Roman Riquelme, Gianni Rivera, Dominique Rocheteau, Romario, Ronaldo, Paolo Rossi, Rui Costa, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Marcelo Salas, Clarence Seedorf, Uwe Seeler, Alan Shearer, Alexis Sanchez, David Silva, Omar Sivori, Wesley Sneijder, Socrates, Dragan Stojkovic, Jean Tigana, Yaya Toure, Patrick Vieira, Rudi Voller, George Weah, Faas Wilkes, Xavi, Zinedine Zidane, Zizinho, Gianfranco Zola Man of the Match 4 - Johan Cruyff 3 - Alfredo Di Stefano 2 - Franco Baresi, George Best, Ruud Gullit, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Lionel Messi, Jean Tigana, Zico 1 - Roberto Baggio, Gordon Banks, Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Hector Chumpitaz, Teofilo Cubillas, Marcel Desailly, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Luis Figo, Elias Figueroa, Tom Finney, Garrincha, Gheorghe Hagi, Raymond Kopa, Ruud Krol, Michael Laudrup, Soren Lerby, Josef Masopust, Stanley Matthews, Bobby Moore, Thomas N'Kono, Wolfgang Overath, Daniel Passarella, Pele, Michel Platini, Frank Rijkaard, Arjen Robben, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Dejan Savicevic, Juan Schiaffino, Gaetano Scirea, Albert Shesternyov, Mauro Silva, Yaya Toure, Marco van Basten, Patrick Vieira, David Villa, Xavi, Ricardo Zamora
Thanks @PDG1978 for all your effort I would love to be involved in more drafts, it helps expand knowledge and learn about players I have no knowledge of Especially South American players
Contrats to @La-Máquina as the best manager with the winning team and other semifinalist side. Thanks to @PDG1978 for running the game.
I love that Bennelux side I think I had them winning every game? The Argentina side with Maradona and Di stefano was my second favourite
Yes, I think so - I just checked my spreadsheet for the knockout stage and you voted for Benelux-A to win in normal time in each round.
Final reports up now: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/al...e-ups-results-updates-fixtures.2105346/page-8
Amazing work @PDG1978 - thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy World Cup. It was very competitive throughout (which we wanted). Thanks for the votes guys.
Congratulations my son … I taught you very well, however, in the next tournament I will kick your ass with mastered.
Just got a PM from PuckVanHeel thanking me for helping the Netherlands.. I mean Benelux finally lift the World Cup!
Judging by the stats he'd be a likely candidate for MVP I guess (especially being on the winning team). If calculating 3 points for MOTM, 2 for a goal, and 1 for an assist as a rough estimation he'd have 26. Maradona would be on 20 for example. I've not calculated all the others obviously, but I'd think Cruyff might well be top with that methodology.
Did anyone end up thinking they made a wrong team selection in any games (I'm mainly thinking in terms of players left out rather than formation etc)? It was tricky with the requirement to be playing all players eventually (which was what I intended, although the idea came from msioux a little bit after how he did things in the 1950 version). I think the obvious one for me would be the middle line-up of Hungary, which only equalised after Puskas got introduced late in the game! So theoretically it was too risky, even though I was liking to experiment: I guess it helped open the door for giving the Rest of South America side a good chance to qualify from that 'Group of Suicide' as it might be called lol! I guess msioux was pleased with going with pretty much his first choice line-ups too in the 3 group games (or always including the major players). What about second thoughts about players you left out of squads altogether? I wouldn't exactly say I change my mind on some selections, but I do think probably a team of omitted players would be most likely well matched at least with a team of unused subs from my squads (I realised, conveniently, I could make a line-up from those but having an extra sub and allowing goalies used for just one half but not playing in the other one in any games). I guess most of you will have used too many players to look at it like that though (I think there were a few exceptions like Excape Goat's Poland maybe, where not very many squad members were given game time). I guess it'd look like this potentially: 'Unused subs': Handanovic (Pagliuca, 45 minutes); M.Olsen; Jusufi, Vidic, De Agostini; Budai (Petrovic, 45 minutes), Verratti, Orth (Detari, 70 minutes), Praest; Rakosi; Mancini (I didn't really leave a main striker on the bench so it's tricky but Mancini up front seems the best option in theory: maybe it could be Orth or Detari behind him and Rakosi coming on as sub for Praest on the left too) vs 'Unselected players': Oblak (Ravelli, 45 minutes); Vasovic; Bergmark, Andersson, Heintze; Hamrin (Sandor, 70 minutes), Dino Baggio, Prosinecki, Nyilasi; Szusza; Schlosser (Ibrahimovic, 45 minutes) (Maybe I've done it too quick off the top of my head and missed some names even now; there was a log-jam of options who could have played on the right wing I think anyway with also for example Domenghini and Milutinovic).