Footballs Mount Rushmore by Era

Thought that at the same time as you James.

 

Elías Figueroa is another one I was unsure on for the early 70s, he will be in the late 70s HM for sure.

 

1975-1979 Important international competitions: Euro 1976, 1978 World Cup, 1975 South American Championship

Important trends: English football begins domination of the European Cup, down period between major groups of star players.

Kevin Keegan: He led Liverpool to the European Cup title in 1977, the first of six consecutive European Cups that would be won by English teams. Keegan played the first half of the period with Liverpool winning consecutive European doubles, winning the English League and UEFA Cup in 1976 and the English League and European Cup in 1977. Liverpool were one game away from winning the treble in 1977, losing the FA Cup final. After the massively successful 1977 season Keegan transferred to Hamburg. After mixed results in 1978 he led Hamburg to their first German championship in 19 years in 1979 and was rated as the best player in the league by Kicker by a massive margin.

Daniel Passarella: He captained Argentina to the World Cup title in 1978, putting in a great all action performance tackling, passing, scoring and assisting. He was also a key player in River Plates resurgence in the 1970s. After failing to win a title for 18 years he led River to win 5 domestic titles in the period, including doubles in 1975 and 1979.

Rob Rensenbrink: He was an inch away from winning the World Cup for the Netherlands when he hit the post near the end of regulation. The goal would have made him the top scorer of the tournament as well. At the club level he was very successful with Anderlecht winning two Belgium Cups, two Cup Winners Cups, and two UEFA Super Cups. He was the team undisputed star player in all competitions.

Mario Kempes: Kempes gave the star performance of the 1978 World Cup, scoring important goals in the knockout games and the final, finishing as the tournaments top scorer. At the club level he was emerging as an excellent player in Argentina before moving to Valencia. At Valencia he won the Pichichi in 1977 and 1978 and won the Copa Del Ray in 1979.

Explanations Honorable mentions: The top four in this period are all interchangeable with about five other players, and there are a number of other players not eligible for the top four as they are listed in other years who have equal achievements to the top four during this period.

Ruud Krol, Allan Simonsen, Oleh Blokhin, Teofilo Cubillas, Ubaldo Fillol and Elias Figueroa could all be equally interchanged with the top four. Ruud Krol equaled Rensenbrink's importance to the Netherlands reaching the WC final and was excellent for Ajax after Cruyff moved on and he became the center of the team. Simonsen was excellent in Germany with Mönchengladbach winning three consecutive Bundesligas, being the top rated forward in all three competitions. He was also excellent in Europe, leading Mönchengladbach to UEFA Cup titles in 1975 and 1979. He also led them to the European Cup final in 1977. Overall he scored 30 goals in 44 European games despite not being the teams chief creative player. Oleh Blokhin was one of the top emerging players in Europe winning multiple Soviet titles and the Cup winnings Cup in this period. Teofilo Cubillas was great for Peru leading them to the 1975 South American Championship and having an excellent World Cup in 1978. Ubaldo Fillol was excellent for Both River Plate and Argentina. He was better rated than Passerella at River Plate. Elias Figueroa won South American footballer of the year twice in this period, finishing off a hat trick of awards, something unprecedented for a defender. He won two Brazilian Championships with Internacional and was named the best player of the competition in 1976.

Kenny Dalglish, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini and Zico all had solid claims to a top four spot in this era but will be or were listed top four in other eras.

Other players who deserve honorable mention are Osvaldo Ardiles as one of Argentina's most important players in the World Cup run. Roberto Bettega and Gaetano Scirea were both excellent for Italy, probably the most impressive team of the 1978 World Cup, and dominated domestically with Juventus. Paulo Roberto Falcão was excellent with Internacional winning three Brazilian Championships and twice being named the best player of the competition, although he was strangely left out of Brazil's WC squad.

 

Agree, he should be in the group with Zico, Daglish, Beckenbauer, and Platini

 

1980-1984 Important international competitions: Euro 1980, 1984 World Cup 1982

Important trends: Continued domination of the European Cup by England, Italian league begins to accumulate star players, great generation of Brazilian players, new group of stars shine.

Zico: The great Brazilian won everything with Flamengo in this period (Carioca 81; Brazil 80, 82, 83; Libertadores 81; Intercontinental Cup 81) before moving to Europe and having an excellent season at Udinese to end this period. He was the star player of a great Brazil side who famously failed in the WC after showing great promise. He was capped 29 times scoring 22 goals in the period and was one of the best players at the world cup despite failing to win the tournament.

Michel Platini: The French play maker was considered the top European player in the world at this time. He won the French league with St Etienne in 1981 before moving to Juventus where he won the Serie A, Copa Italia, Cup Winners Cup, and UEFA Super Cup. He was top scorer of the Serie A despite being a midfielder in his first two seasons with Juventus. With France he, like Zico, led a talented and fancied side to the 1982 World Cup but failed to win the tournament. He had one of the greatest international performances ever in 1984, leading France to the European Championship scoring 9 times in 5 games. Platini was capped 34 times scoring 25 goals in this era.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: The star of Germany in the early 80s emerged at the beginning of this period. He lead Bayern Munich to consecutive Bundesliga titles in 80 and 81, being top scorer in both competitions. He regularly took Bayern deep into European competitions in the period but narrowly fell short on a number of occasions. He played 39 games in Europe in this era scoring 20 goals and led Bayern to the European Cup Final in 82 and was the competitions top scorer in 81. He led to win Germany to the 1980 European Championship and the final of the 1982 World Cup where they fell to Italy. In all he was capped 52 times and scored 31 goals in the period.

Kenny Dalglish: He was Liverpool's signature player once he replaced Kevin Keegan in 1978. In the early 80s he led Liverpool to four English titles and two European Cups. During this period England was clearly the best league in Europe winning 4 of the five European Cups. Liverpool won two of those trophies and dominated domestically, giving them a very strong claim to be the best team in Europe in this period.

Explanations Honorable mentions: The player it was most difficult to leave out was Falcão. He was seen almost equal to Zico as one of the stars of Brazil at the 1982 WC and was excellent in Europe with Roma leading them to two Copa Italias, one Serie A, and a European Cup final. Diego Maradona had mixed results in the period but was surely one of the signature players of this time but will be relegated from the top four due to his inclusion in the next addition. It was also hard not have have an Italian player representing the 1982 World Cup champions. Gaetano Scirea seems like the best candidate to me having both an excellent performance at the World Cup and great club credentials with Juventus. Alain Giresse was fantastic during this period, especially for France where he was one of the best players and the 82 World Cup outshining Platini and was excellent in Euro 84 as Platini's foil. Graeme Souness and Paul Breitner were both vitally important midfielders but both took a back seats to the star forwards they shared the pitch with at both the club and international levels (Daglish and Rummenigge). Ian Rush was another important player for Liverpool who starred in the 1984 season where Liverpool won the European Cup and English league, scoring 47 goals in all competitions. Zbigniew Boniek was Poland star player in the 82 World Cup leading them to 3rd place. Part way through the era he joined Platini at Juventus where he had a number of star performances.