Not necessarily the best but one that caught my eye recently was Reinhard Libuda against Bulgaria in 1970. Absolutely tortured their full-backs and laid on a stack of chances for Muller. Great performance.
When neanderthals like Stiles are put in the same sentence as "best world cup match performance ever", that title loses all meaning. Never mind that he was a literal neanderthal (********ed up teeth and ugly as hell), he was the epitome of an English national team, and club, that was largely known for its overly physical and violent tactics. Who can forget his atrocious performance against Real Madrid in the 2nd leg of the 1968 European Cup semifinal? How about the 1968 European/South American Cup 1st leg in which he was sent off? Let's not even get into the 1966 WC, one of the worst WCs ever. Only surpassed in ugliness by 1990 and 2010. As for the mod that removed my previous comment because he merely didn't like someone speaking badly about an idol of his, his response merely proved I was correct. Benfica coach Otto Glória rightfully called that neanderthal, who has never heard of a dentist, "an assasin" for a reason. He also labeled him as, "brutal, badly intentioned and a bad sportsman". Not that the Portuguese were that much better. They were almost just as bad as the English, the Bulgarians and the Italians.
What are your favorite English books about the European Cup/CL (or a part of that)? Is the Godsell one any good? So far I think I like the Motson and Rowlinson one the most. 'Soccer: a panorama' is also decent. I also like a series btw in my own language, that has many good detail and info. Gives a good feel about what each player/team did.
That joke is the type to have a really bad taste. So bad, it should never be mentioned. It is like joking about Hitler and the Holocaust, regardless of your point of view. That ********in' neanderthal, as well as the Europeans, Argentines and Uruguayans, damn near destroyed the sport. The difference between the former and the latter two is that for all that BS the Europeans talked about in "needing to be physically prepared", they were outmuscled by sides which were stronger, more devious, cunning, direct and violent than they were. The European/South American Cup of 1969 provided everything that was evil, in sports in general, come from Rioplatense and European football. The first leg was merely a one-sided, low quality and boring match that saw one opportunistic opponent outrun the other with a very violent crowd that threw rocks at the opposition. The 2nd leg was retribution x10 for everything that happened in the 1st leg and we all know how that ended. So close they came to destroying football that FIFA, with the assistance of our military dictatorship, literally "forced" our best clubs to have our players, including Pele, go into the 1970 WC after our football gave international competition the middle finger starting 1967 (although Santos started it as early as 1964).
[I make a joke and put a smiley on the end of a sentence and on the next page you're putting Nobby Stiles in the same "boat" as Hitler? "What we have here is a failure to communicate!!" ]
[The joke is that no England fan/follower that knows pretty much anything about our NT would dream of suggesting Stiles for this thread's "nod/the "Golden Ball" Award of the 1966 World Cup. It's a joke like if a Forest fan called for Stuart Pearce winning the Golden Ball at Italia/WC '90...]
The imbalanced comparison with a 50 million (conservative estimate) mass murderer aside, mister Roy his joke wasn't as tasteless as Mel Brooks his Hitler Rap (for example). The whole 1966 saga is very delicate and it is true that also European vintage books sensed before the tournament that tension and electricity was in the air. However, it should not be forgotten that Portugal won (quite deservedly) fair play plaudits and Brazil were good in hacking down opponents too. If one watches the Bulgaria game, Brazil did not refrain from making hard contact. They also received more than proper compensation for these atrocities at the 1970WC, which mister Havelange himself has admitted; in 1970 the game was played on their terms.
They both have something in common: they both tried to destroy something and damn near did. The Celtic of '67 is by far the best British club the islands had ever seen. If there is a god out there, you must thank him/her/it for giving the British Isles a team that could actually compete and measure up to Santos, Bayern, Juventus, Vasco, and a few others the title of "Greatest club of all times". That other shit you call Manchester United, Liverpool, etc. doesn't compare. Saying Portugal won "deservedly" won that match is like saying Estudiantes beat Manchester United in '68 with "skill and flair". Bellini took charge in trying to get the Bulgarians to back off to no avail in the same way Amarildo did during the 1963 IC.. During the 1963 IC, the Milanese players injured Zito, Calvet and Pele enough for them not to appear in the return leg or the playoff match. Amarildo took part in the last two matches for the sole purpose of beating the shit out of the Italians. After that IC, Santos didn't bother fielding a full team in the following Libertadores (which was getting proportionally worse) and, by ente, the IC. Too costly, almost no rewards for a friendly competition and there was no guarantee our players would be treated any differently than the experience in Milan. The 1966 WC was merely the giant rock that splashed the camel. The 1970 WC was played on our terms? LMFAO Get the hell out of here! Proper compensation? Now you are smoking something good! What compensation?
The Motson and Rawlinson one is the best, but it is obviously only covers the first 25 years of the tournament. The Godsell one is poor. I wouldn't waste any money on it. It is very superficial and flimsy. There is a decent one by Glanville called Champions of Europe. Also one by Keir Radnedge which has some decent bits but is also a bit lightweight.
Santista, I can only hope your local eatery has the locusts and wild honey special on Fridays. I've had enough of your hunger rants
[It has mostly historical info about European club competittion; but there's also Kennedy's Way: Inside Bob Paisley's Liverpool by Alan Kennedy & John Williams. The title rather explains what the book is about IMHO...]
A pity he was less good in 1962 although he carried a knock in the last three games. Another thing I like to know: do some books exist that talk a bit more about tactics, schemes and formations of teams at World Cups?
As you know I planned to look at past Sunday Times Magazine articles (I knew they had some good profiles about former footballers; I actually saw it cited elsewhere). And through the searching I found something interesting that's maybe worthwhile to share. In the 7 September 1974 issue of "Shoot!" Marinho of Brazil had a special column and he wrote that he could definitely see Cruijff not being fit in the match against his Brazilian team. According to him he had not a good performance against Brazil and also not in the final because of the same injury. Anyway, interesting to read the impressions he had as 'actively participating player'. And yeah, that makes it less likely to promote Cruijff to the number one spot. For me that also writes-off the Brazil game as a particularly good single-match performance, TBH (as is sometimes said, just because of the goal and assist). Regarding the same subject, I wanted to check whether ST indeed wrote that's miraculous to see a figure like 'JC' (capturing the imagination and all other cliché-superlatives) popping up in a country with 13 million citizens and less than 10 years full-professional football (I read it elsewhere). Also interesting profiles for Maradona, Platini, Pelé btw. Platini regarded as an outstanding team player, something that also World Soccer wrote in a number of their issues I see (quoting/paraphrasing opinions of 'experts'). Also interesting is in which 1958 game Pelé had his best performance. 1970 is for Pelé Czechoslovakia, for me certainly. 1986 is for Maradona Belgium, I feel. But dunno which one of 1958 was outstanding?
Good info, and yeah I can see why Johan's game vs Brazil could be deemed less impressive than some others as an overall performance. The assist to Neeskens has always been one I particularly liked and arguably it was his best of the tournament, but it could be misleading as a pointer to overall performance. I know you'd already mentioned him carrying a slight injury more in the later games including that one. Also, the fact there were so many fouls in the game would restrict a player like him I suppose. But after 1970, Brazil would be seen as the team to beat so in that respect that game would be thought of as the greatest 'achievment' of Cruyff and his team-mates during the tournament. Similarly, after one full viewing of Pele's individual touches vs France and Sweden in 1958, I think I felt he played a bit more effectively and more expressively vs France (against 10 men effectively for quite a long time though). But his moment of true genius was the goal vs Sweden where he flips the ball over a defender and volleys home. Unlike for Cruyff, or Pele in 1970, we can't see France Football's rating out of 6 for Pele's 1958 performances though. Those two ought to be his best of the tournament but whether he played more consistently in other games is hard to know.
Rightly so ... For individual best games: - Pele 58 (France and Sweden), Pele 62 Mexico, Pele 70 vs Italy - Cruyff 74 vs Brazil, and vs Germany - Maradona 86 vs Belgium and England, Maradona 90 vs Brazil
Thanks for the rep. Maybe Cruyff vs Argentina, Bulgaria, Sweden? And Pele 70 vs Czechoslovakia like Puck mentioned?