What's the best material that has been preserved of Fritz Walter? Youtube shows this What are according to you games where Rummenigge was at or near his best? (re: the 'best games' thread)
Was Fritz Walter really that good? in most of the rankings it is top 50, but analyzing his career I never thought he could have such a consideration.
I don't think there's really anything outstanding available. Of course there's the 1954 World Cup final in decent length but he was 33 already. There's one full length game (1955 friendly vs. Italy) but it is only stadium sound and it is hard to figure out the players on the pitch (see link below). The 1958 World Cup semi final vs. Sweden with Walter being 37 and obviously past his best. With regards to Rummenigge, a thorough research is in order to figure out his best performances. But I have noticed you already did a fine job in said thread. There are many short clips available of Bayern games between 1980 and 1984 mostly in domestic competitions on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/RetroFootballFootage/videos
We will never know this. The footage is just too scarce, so second- and third-hand information will have to do. We once had a seasoned poster here on BigSoccer (RoyOfTheRovers) who followed football since the 1930s as a boy and who used to contribute regularly in here (hope he's doing fine, he was past 80 during the days he frequented this board). Roy once said that Walter had eyes in his feet.
From what I remember seeing, in World Cup 1958 he was showing this (and consequently some very good precise passes). But of course as a much younger player he would likely be more dynamic and agile. We just can't see for example, when he scored 4 goals in some International game, whether they were mostly opportunistic tap-ins, whether he took the ball past some players, scored from outside the box, played one-twos or whatever. I guess it's possible you could find some match reports from some such International games in the early 1940s or something, but probably unlikely? Similar for Kaiserslautern games I guess? Obviously after the war he was initially not at 100% physically as I understand it. On an ESPN Classic documentary or programme regarding the 1954 World Cup, people were talking about 'Fritz Walter weather' if I remember correctly, indicating I think it was that he often thrived in the relatively colder and damper conditions (my memory is not that clear now about it though). I do remember Roy being complimentary about both him and Ernst Ocwirk yes.
Researching match reports for national team games would be highly interesting, especially from pre-1945. For international readers translating the whole thing would take up too much time. I once did that for Kicker's 1934 World Cup coverage but I can't find it right now (buried in a thread somewhere here). Fritz Walter weather - he loved to play while it drizzled.
I might be wrong but thought there was more consensus on his strategic/visionary abilities than on his skills. See for example wm442433 recent take ("'The last legend of German football'' (Franz Beckenbauer). Not necessarily the most skilful player but the brain [...]") or the versatile Jimmy Hill in his 1978 write up as another one. Jimmy Hill (b. 1928) wrote that in his skills he was "more German than, say, Franz Beckenbauer." He emphasizes the sense for timing and making the right choice at the proper time. There are some more instances showing there is more (near) consensus on his vision/intelligence/strategy etc. (not necessarily all the same thing, but in that category) rather than how his control etc. compared to others of the same 'golden era'. That's why footage would be very interesting. Also, a bit like Puskas until ~1952, the 'de jure' amateur player was playing pretty isolated for a while if I'm not mistaken (hence 'underdogs' in 1954). When he played with Kaiserslautern against English sides, it were a couple of games against the amateurs (the Corinthians etc.). See also his national team appearances record (especially when taking out the 'war years'). http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fwalter-intlg.html There is one interesting game against Lazio Roma from 1939, but the Italian press was overly nationalistic around that time (even the local ones) so it doesn't become easier.
I cannot say much about his technical ability, except that Walter was renowned for scoring artistic goals like this in 1956:
Yes that is his famous 'goal of the century' (had seen that before although didn't instantly recognize the goal) http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussbal...k-das-vergessene-jahrhunderttor-a-440986.html Maybe there is a collage somewhere with photo's of other good/great goals (as well as 'easy' ones)? With lack of video that might be the 2nd best there is. On peak form: is it possible that Klinsmann was the #3 striker based on his peak spells for a year or half-a-year at times? It's true that his semi-contemporary Voller was technically a bit better.
I think Völler was at his peak a better goalscorer than Klinsmann (who never managed more than 19 goals in a single season compared to Völler's 25), but Völler also was a more smooth and elegant player, more versatile, more mobile and more useful in build-up than Klinsmann. I wonder why Klinsmann is the bigger name internationally, it can't be his footballing skills.