A summary of South America and some of my opinions/nominees. Brazil: Santos are the dominant team this season (68/69). First they win the 68 Brazilian Championship (same format as TRGP new name). They won their half of the tournament to make the final group, scoring 37 goals in 16 games. In the final group of four teams they go a perfect 3-0-0 with a 7 goals scored and 2 allowed. They then win the 69 Paulista two points ahead of Palmieras as the top scoring team again. They also won a new competition, the Intercontinental Supercup, made up of all intercontinental cup winners. They won a group consisting of themselves Racing and Penarol. They played both team home and away and won 3 of the four games only losing at Penraol to advance from the group. In the final they played Internazionale in Milan and won 1-0 to win the title. Although I am not sure how important this competition was seen as it still is part of Santos' season where they won every single tournament they entered. Other teams with some level of accomplishment in Brazil are Fluminense who won the Carioca with Botafogo and Flamengo close behind. All three of those teams were poor in the Brazilian Championship with negative goal differentials. Vasco is the best Rio team in the BC finishing second in their side of the tournament to make the final group. Palmieras finishes second in the Paulista. only two points behind Santos, and win their side of the BC to make the final group where there is a three way tie behind Santos. They have an argument for the second best team in Brazil in my opinion. Internacional also has an argument for the second best team in Brazil making the final group in the BC and winning the Gaucho. Cruziero win their fifth consecutive Mineiro and are average in the BC. No Brazilian teams participate in the Libertadores. Based on club achievements, Santos players should dominate. The national team goes 12-2-1. They host a number of top European teams in West Germany, England, and Yugoslavia as well as an all star game vs the Rest of World. They then go undefeated in World Cup qualifying in a relatively easy group, but win in huge style. This season for the national team establishes the Tostao and Pele as a fantastic forward partnership for the first time, and is the first time Jairzinho is moved to the wing, giving us a glimpse into the 1970 team, although Edu owns the left wing this season. Most capped players for the national team are: Gerson (14), Carlos Alberto Torres (14), Djalma Dias (14), Pele (14), Tostao (13), Jairzinho (12), Edu (11), Felix (9), Rildo (9), Wilson Piazza (8), Joel Camarago (8), Caju (8). My nominees from Brazil would be: Pele Edu Carlos Alberto Torres Rildo Clodoaldo Gerson Jairzinho Tostao Wilson Piazza In Argentina I struggle to see a serious case for any players. They do not send their champions to the Libertadores, so it is a greatly weakened competition. Estudiantes goes straight to the seminfinal where they win. They also beat Manchester United in the Intercontinental Cup. Racing is poor in the Intercontinental Supercup. They fail to qualify for the World Cup and two small teams win the two domestic competitions. I do not knwo anything about their players but maybe someone has some info. The only player I see worth a nomination in Veron, he scores in some very bing games and is capped, but if he does not make it in the last season I doubt he will make this one. Veron From Uruguay Penarol win domestic title in 68. Both Penrol and Nacional make the later stages of the Libertadores as expected in the weakened field. Nacional makes the final but losses decisively to Estudiantes. They qualify for the WC. I am not sure who the nominees should be. Probably Figeuroa again for Penarol, and Rocha from the national team. Rocha Figeuroa The other important team is Peru Qualifying for the WC players I would nominate are Chumpatiz Challe Leon Gallardo Cubillas
The Uruguayan derby: 285 15/09/1968 Montevideo Peñarol-Nacional 0-0 Uruguayan Championship 286 08/12/1968 Montevideo Nacional-Peñarol 0-1 Uruguayan Championship 287 14/02/1969 Montevideo Nacional-Peñarol 3-1 Copa Montevideo 288 23/02/1969 Montevideo Peñarol-Nacional 1-1 Copa Libertadores de América 289 09/03/1969 Montevideo Nacional-Peñarol 2-2 Copa Libertadores de América 290 26/04/1969 Montevideo Peñarol-Nacional 0-2 Copa Libertadores de América 291 30/04/1969 Montevideo Nacional-Peñarol 0-1 Copa Libertadores de América 292 04/05/1969 Montevideo Nacional-Peñarol 0-0 d Copa Libertadores de América 293 13/08/1969 Montevideo Peñarol-Nacional 1-1 Friendly Tournament (4 teams)
Chumpitaz a lock, for me Melendez was one of the top players at argentine league from 1968-2nd semester until 1970. A strong candidate to make the 23-list, even without intl. caps. Nicolás Fuentes is a top-5 among SA fullbacks in the late 1960s (C.Alberto, Marzolini, Pavoni, Caetano/Mujica/Forlán). Maybe the best years for Fuentes were 1970, 1969, 1967. For 1969, Cubillas would win a "SA rookie award" if it existed something like that.
Verón is a rare case, I haven't the details, but from what I know, he seems to switch to "hero mode" when it matters, this is for the big games. Maybe, it help that Estudiantes used to played very tight and hard matches, even distracting or getting out of control their rivals, and in the course of that rythm, the player with the "fresher/clener" mind happened to make the difference. I'm not so sure, without watching Estudiantes full games, but it is a theory. Of course, we can't deny Veron high class as a player. Checking old El Grafico issues, they rated him very highly, more each time a new title comes. It's still a big question, why he wasn't capped most often. In resume, I rate JR.Veron as an irregular player, with up and down, but made for the big games. At league level, I think his better years were 1966, 67. For the 1968 season. Alberto Rendo was the player of the year, with equally great 1st and 2nd semesters. Also member of San Lorenzo's matadores team and the best argentine player at WCQ alongside Cejas. The second highest rated was uruguayan FB, Sergio Villar, another big-question, why he wasn't capped for Uruguay. I tell myself, for the hard competition at this time (Forlan/Ubiñas for RB and Mujica/Caetano for LB), these four usual capped players were among the better SA fullbacks, so in a sense, there was no needed for Villar/Pavoni,moreover playing abroad. In the 2nd semester, peruvian Julio Melendez was clearly the #1 in the argentine league, as some contemporary reporters said, Melendez was the MotM in every single game he played for Boca. The other big-question at this time, was Perfumo, he lose his form or he was injured and played few matches? It was the same case for Marzolini?
For the 1969, first semester, I posted the Metro rankings, here. Brindisi - 6,88 - mf Perfumo - 6,77 - cb Cejas - 6,77 - gk Carnevali - 6,68 - gk Villar - 6,62 - fb ... Melendez - 6,31 - cb
Melendez also featured in the Copa de Oro win http://www.rsssf.com/sacups/oro-mdp69.html I think I have found my ARG representative. Thanks to the feedback posted, a preliminary XI can be formed 1 Sadurní 2 Fraser 3 Cooper 4 Melendez 5 Moncur 6 Murdoch 7 Best 8 Kuna 9 Cruijff 10 Rivera 11 Prati I´m still unsure about which players qualify for 6. Maybe Ignacio Prieto is the only true 6? Also Pelé is just a name that screams to be in. Let's see what cuts our local Butcher will provide.
Stats for Santos players, Toninho should be a nominee. I really think multiple Santos players this season is warranted. Like Celtic in 66/67 and AC Milan in 67/68 I think they are the strongest side this season winning all competitions and deserve multiple players. I will probably include three players from the team. Toninho (Center Forward): CP 29:18(6), BC 19:18(15), ICS 5:5(3), Brazil 15:0(0) Pele (Inside Forward): CP 29:25(26), BC 19:17(12), ICS 5:5(1), Brazil 15:14(9) Edu (Left Wing, some right as well): CP 29:29(18), BC 19:17(7), ICS 5:5(1), Brazil 15:11(5) Clodoaldo (Center Mid): CP 29:21(0), BC 19:19(0), ICS 5:5(1), Brazil 15:2(0) Carlos Alberto Torres (Right Back): CP 29:23(0), BC 19:18(3), ICS 5:5(0), Brazil 15:14(2) Rildo (Left Back): CP 29:26(0), BC 19:19(0), ICS 5:5(0), Brazil 15:9(0)
As far as my XI goes I'm almost there I think, but it is left-back (where Vogts is ruled out for example) where I'll need to be considering the various options. I could see that for DM/CM I could consider Clodoaldo potentially, but as I said I think Van Hanegem will probably be in, now that I'm thinking Beckenbauer goes back to sweeper (although I do have some thoughts I could change that as he again does do well in midfield for the NT, and then Melendez might be tempting in his place in the back 4). When I translated 'Feyenoord champions 1968/69' and looked at translated versions of the search results for that term, I saw more references to Van Hanegem shining and exerting an influence all over the midfield etc. I also saw that Moulin was said to have a very good Cup final (I doubt he will be considered an option for the 23, but thought it was worth mentioning - there are some very limited highlights of the game on YouTube I think and he does seem to be playing in a lively and skilful way indeed....so it's a case of he could still shine on his day I think, a bit like Titanlux said about Gento previously). The Chumpitaz performance from the game away in Argentina is on YouTube too by the way - maybe mixed but mostly good actually I'd suggest, with some skilled defensive tidying up and also acrobatics in making clearances! It seems according to msioux/Pedernera that the home game was where he starred the most though. I'm possibly just waiting to be sure about Bene before confirming my 23 now too I think.
I also think I'm going to put Best in the number 7 shirt, if permitted, even though I feel sure that for this season left wing is a better option! I think, with the flexibility we seem to be allowing and the fact he did play various roles again including from the right, plus when he started as left winger he'd clearly be roaming around and also spending some time playing more from the right side (as against AC Milan indeed), it seems reasonable to put him that side, and rather than squeeze a Johnstone in again for example (if wanting a true 'proper' choice for right wing over the season), I think I should retain Dzajic as left winger since he's among my top choices overall.
There's also Amancio for right wing. Titanlux will confirm if he's Madrid's best. I don't think that Santos deserves multiple representation: -Their Intercontinental win wasn't better than Boca's, who arguably faced stronger/more up-to-date opponents. -Palmeiras came close second just like in BRA. -Santos lost 3-0 to Peñarol. I'd conclude that Santos are more or less on par with Peñarol, Boca and Nacional. What are people's opinions on Rivera vs Pelé for this season?
Yeah, they are not complete but for the previous season I think we could see more couldn't we (there was also a separate Scudetto season video)? You can see I guess a number of his assists and pre-assists anyway, including the clever chipped/scooped free-kick vs Inter for example. I think eventually he will be my number 4 again, with Tostao number 5, ahead of Beckenbauer and Dzajic probably anyway (not that ordering those players changes anything for this project!).
I think he possibly still played a few games as right winger, but was mostly inside forward (support striker) around this time, including the previous season. It's a bit similar for Bene, whereby he mostly/always played essentially a central role for Ujpest I believe (like I said I want to do a fuller check on him).
Against Bologna, for example, Prati wears 9 and plays as striker when Sormani doesn't play. http://www.magliarossonera.it/196869_ufficiali.html
68-69 -----------------------Maïer---------------- C.Alberto--Beckenbauer---Penev----Cooper ------------Van Moer------Bremner--------- ---------Cruijff-------Pelé------Rivera----- ----------------Tostao-----Riva------------ Pelé Tostao Riva Rivera Cruijff Kindvall Prati G. Müller Maïer Beckenbauer C. Alberto Dunaï II Alexander Vencel Sr. Viktor Banks Moore Bremner Francis Lee Dragan Dzajic George Best Van Moer Terry Cooper Dimitar Penev (my #24 is Melendez) 1. Pelé 2. Tostao 3. Riva 4. Rivera 5. Cruijff Happy holidays to all!
I'm so fed up with the obvious tendencies in this thread series, (Tostao? Rivera? Really?), all the free passes for certain great players, and even more so the complete ignoring/not addressing of the points (on Rivera) that are made, that I move out of it and don't vote at all. I repeat: 6 goals and 6-7 assists is a better outing than the best outing of many greats of the 60s to 80s, and that for a true minnow team. For the ones who say 'national team supersedes club scene' - take a look at the previous season. Good luck to everyone but I'm out of this cartel series.
At 3:40 the Dutch commentator mentions a second Spartak goal being disallowed. This is not shown. Is there a report of this goal and was it legitimately disallowed?
I'm going to go ahead and finalise my 23 now, but come back and put the names in alphabetical order when Tom is ready for the confirmation. Banks, Bonev, Murdoch, Johnstone, Polleunis, Skoblar and Rensenbrink can be my honourable mentions that I still feel are good candidates among the various close contenders. So I will split the others into my podium choices: 'O Rei' Pele becoming the King once again, George Best still being the best, or Johan (Cruyff) the 1st coming 1st - I'll make the final call with my Team of the Season submission later.... Followed by my other choices for top 10 places, continuing my precedence from previous seasons: Gianni Rivera Tostao Franz Beckenbauer Dragan Dzajic Wim van Hanegem Georgi Asparuhov Jimmy Greaves And the other players receiving one of my votes: Gerd Muller Bobby Moore Ferenc Bene Julio Melendez Hector Chumpitaz Gunter Netzer Luigi Riva Kazimierz Deyna Wlodzimierz Lubanski Carlos Alberto Amancio Pierino Prati Dino Zoff
What did Boca win this season, the Copa Argentina? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Copa_Argentina I am not sure what you are talking about because I don't think you mean that Sarmiento, Chacarita Juniors, Colón, and Atlanta are "stronger/more up-to-date opponents" than Penarol, Racing, and Internazionale. No one was close to Santos in the Brazilian Championship, the most important competition of the season. True Palmieras was only two points back in the Paulista, but you have to squint really hard to make winning a competition by a close margin a negative when the team successfully won three different titles this season. They also beat them 1-0 in the same competition, and won that competition in front of Pernarol. The 3-0 win by Penarol was also Santos' last group game and they had already won the group before it was played. Why do you rate Boca in this group? They did not win either domestic league titles in Argentina, only a domestic cup. Why don't you rate Estudiantes in this group if you rate Nacional so highly? They beat Nacional 1-0 and 2-0 home and away in the Libertadores final.
Starting to look at Europe I will start with England. Another very strong year for English football overall. The national team was 5-4-1. They started out with a series of lackluster draws before picking things up and recording impressive victories over France 5-0, Scotland 4-1, and in Montevideo over Uruguay 2-1. Only loss was 1-2 to Brazil in Rio. Some new blood is moving into the team more permanently, with Bell getting more caps as part of a rotation with Peters and Ball, Francis Lee fully replace Hunt, and Terry Cooper breaking through. The offense picks up when Lee comes in to the team. Domestically Leeds wins the league with a record number of points. They also make the QF of the Fairs Cup beating some decent teams in Standard Liege, Napoli, and Hannover. Newcastle won the Fairs Cup, which is shocking as the team had no regular internationals from what I can tell. Anymore information of their top performers would be great. They beat a very strong group of teams in Ujpest, Rangers, Zaragoza, Sporting, and double winning Feyenoord. That type of run deserves some serious consideration. They were 9th in the league. Man U had a good run in the European Cup making the semifinal, defeating good teams in Anderletch and Rapid Wien before narrowly losing to winners AC Milan. They finish a disappointing 11th in the league. Last years champions Man City win the FA Cup but drop all the way back to 13th in the league. They are also knocked out in the first round of the European Cup. My thoughts for England based nominees Billy Bremner Johnny Giles Eddie Gray Jackie Charlton Terry Cooper George Best Jimmy Greaves Colin Bell Francis Lee Geoff Hurst Martin Peters Bobby Moore Alan Ball Bobby Moncur Pop Robson Wyn Davies Iam McFaul
Serie A Ranking from Gazzetta Corriere either stopped doing the final summary or I just can't find it. Anyways individual game ratings are available.