The best players of Euro 84

I see you say in the other thread that only 10 names are printed.

Interesting is that it only includes Briegel from their own country while Voller was generally seen as a player who reached his usual level (or better), and was included in a few teams.

Official retrospective team also includes Voller.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/history/memories/newsid=1624382.html

It is strange that Elkjaer isn't included in that team though while he was generally seen as one of the main attractions of euro84.

This one has a good deal of euro84 footage included by the way (also a few WC86 dribbles but that is visible by the 'heat' expressed in the images):


I remember this one of Chalana has a lot of euro84 footage included too



Platini was (certainly) statistically of course the best with 9 goals and 1 assist.

UEFA mentions on the scoresheet of the finals that Tigana was player of the tournament

 

Found an online source for Bearzot his team:
http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubb...grandissima-ma-piccola-europa.html?ref=search

It mentions that apparently his assistants Maldini and Vicini has also a say (Maldini was officially his first deputy and Vicini was in charge of the Under-21 team).


Also interesting is that the "Danish Hall of Fame" has a video of Elkjaer on youtube with quite a lot of footage.



This Hall of Fame is compiled and organized by the Danish Olympic Committee in cooperation with a governmental organization and newspaper.

http://www.sportenshalloffame.dk/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportens_Hall_of_Fame

Simonsen (in 1995), Morten Olsen (1998), Elkjaer (1999), Michael Laudrup (2007) and Schmeichel (2008) are inducted as football players (Morten Olsen not for his work as coach by the way).

 

In an interview after the group stage Beckenbauer said that Voller and Schumacher were the only good performers in his view. Maybe an exaggeration but it is an indication.
http://kranten.kb.nl/view/article/id/ddd:010593302:mpeg21:p019:a0308

Header was a quote by him: "Germany has no football stars any more"

Among other things he also commented on how Rummenigge was out of shape for a long while in that season, how the moving abroad and usage of those players by NT was a bad development (because if you need them you never know whether they will be released and it is not beneficial for the group chemistry in his eyes), how the match against Belgium was the best game of the French, and how the good performing other national teams managed to forget 'his' team.

Anyhow, confirms regarding Voller.

 

I checked the odds posted on wikipedia and those seem grossly correct. Only slight difference with what I found was that Yugoslavia had slightly lower odds as Romania (16/1 on wikipedia 12/1 for Yusgoslavia on what I managed to find).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1984

Funny that Group A seemed much stronger and more competitive as Group B.

 

in that tournament, Tigana Giresse were like Xavi +Iniesta behind an efficient Platini (Messi)
France 83-86 were quite a great team ... and more entertaining than France98-00

 

1. Messi
2. Platini
3. tigana
4. Chalana
5. Rui Jordao

 

you got a yellow now.. one more time , you will be redcarded// LOL

 

Here are the assists. It is my own work. Number of penalty assists in parentheses. I did not count free kicks won as assists (i.e. the one won by Lacombe which resulted in the opening goal by Platini in the final)

Laudrup 3 assists (1 PK assist)
Tigana 3
Chalana 2
Elkjaer 2 (1 PK)
Giresse 2
Scifo 2
Arnesen 1
Battiston 1
Boloni 1
Coras 1
De Greef 1
Deveric 1 (PK)
Ferreri 1
Frasco 1
Gallego 1 (PK)
Grun 1
Magalhaes 1
Meier 1
Platini 1
Rummenigge 1
Senor 1
Six 1 (PK)
Susic 1


As a general remark: I thought Arnesen was excellent in this tournament. He had 3 goals, an assist and had an important role in some others (like the goal of Lerby in the semi-final, it was his cross that found Elkjaer, with Lerby kicking in the rebound).

 

I found some interesting datas about Giresse's and Platini's respective roles and positioning on that blog :
http://leblogadoudouce.com/platini-numero-9999999/
According to the writer, Giresse was the real number 10 (or 'classic' playmaker if you want) of the French team during Euro84 and that allowed Platini to have a free role.


You can find for example the areas in which Platini got the ball during the tournament :


It shows Platini was basically free to play wherever he wanted : very high on the field but also quite deep. And that is indeed true : during long moments he played like a 6 (1st half vs Yugoslavia for example) and during others like a 9 (2nd half vs Yugoslavia, extra-time vs Portugal etc.).

Now Giresse :



Giresse stayed more in midfield, but he played more on the flanks as well.

Interestingly, if you read the article Giresse was better in several areas of the game : he had the possession of the ball more often than Platini, he made more passes (I don't know the exact number however) and with a better accuracy in the opposite half (87% vs 76%... but Platini was more often "in the traffic" near the opposite box area. That may explain the difference). He also won more duels (44% vs 48%).
However Platini recovered more balls by interceptions or tackles (3 tackles per game). He also won more fouls than Giresse (17 vs 5. Again, the difference may come from the fact Platini played more 'in the traffic'). On a side note, Platini also had a 70% shooting accuracy (25 shots, 15 on target).

 

Shooting accuracy of 70% is really astonishing esp. the variety of roles he took. In WC history only four players have a higher shooting accuracy as 70%: Butragueno, Lineker (both 1986WC), Müller (1970) and Cruijff (1974).

 

Only looking at WC players with 6 or more goals:

Shots needed per goal (shots / goal)

Jairzinho 70 1.71
Lineker 86 2.00
Rossi 82 2.17
Haller 66 2.50
Müller 70 2.60
Platini 84 2.77
Schillaci 90 3.17
Ronaldo 02 3.50
Lato 74 3.57
Stoichkov 94 4.00
Suker 98 4.83
Kempes 78 5.50
Eusebio 66 6.77

Maradona 86 had 4.40, Zico 82 had 4.80

Among players with 5 goals only Müller 2010 and Butragueno 86 have a better shots per goal as Platini 84.

 

Concerning Denmark I made a slight mistake. After reviewing video evidence (of Yugoslavia match) this is the correct list.

Tigana 3 assists
Chalana 2
Elkjaer 2 (2 PK)
Giresse 2
Laudrup 2
Scifo 2
Arnesen 1
Battiston 1
Berggreen 1
Boloni 1
Coras 1
De Greef 1
Deveric 1 (PK)
Ferreri 1
Frasco 1
Gallego 1 (PK)
Grun 1
Magalhaes 1
Meier 1
Platini 1
Rummenigge 1
Senor 1
Six 1 (PK)
Susic 1

Tigana was definitely assist-leader of this tournament.

 

Good link!
In other way ... Platini 84 was like Zico 82 while Giresse/Tigana were like Socrates /Falcao .
But the heat map showed Platini84 covering more areas than Zico 82 I think

 

As a question:

I read once that some have said (I think it was comme) that this tournament is generally underrated in the big picture. Anyone care to say how it is underrated (compared to what) and why? What is the reason it is underrated?

I've always felt that Platini his euro84 performance rejuvenated the european tournament, which was after euro80 close to death. Maybe it even signalled the end of the 'dark era' in football.
I also feel he was maybe lucky to score 9 goals in 5 games (it was a tournament with weakened opposition and a general high goals per game) but even if he had scored half of them, it had still been viewed as excellent. The stats posted above by babaorum also show this.

In this respect I read recently an incredibly good profile about Platini and what struck me (again) is that a certain fact is rarely mentioned in comparison with one of his 'rivals' Maradona. About Maradona, and others, it is always mentioned that he broke his ankle once and what kind of great sportsman that made of him - which I do not dare to dispute. But who knows that Platini also broke his ankle once in three pieces after a league game with Nancy against his future club St Etienne in 1978? He was tackled and after that tackle his ankle was damaged on three places; he missed many months of training after that incident. In combination with his muscle problems he never regained the same pace, footwork and agility again and that makes his show at euro84 even more impressive I feel.

 

I can't see in what sense EC84 is underrated. From my own (biased) point of view, only EC2000 matches it in terms of quality of play, drama etc.

 

It was a question, not opinion. Anyhow, I found the original quote. Probably I remembered it because I found it rather 'odd'.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...scussion-thread.1245347/page-68#post-22904765

 

Excellent thread! Thank you, friends.

I've tried to find out and see the performances of Platini and France in the tournament and were wonderful. But I do not know much beyond that.

I would like to know something of who followed the tournament at the time: sometimes I talk to older people and they say that until 1986, Platini was considered the best player in the world along with Zico and Maradona. Ie, the argentine had not gained the same status after who won winning the 1986 WC with Argentina. Is that correct?

 

To be honest, Euro2000 was better and higher quality than Euro80, 84, 88 ... In fact it was one of the best Euro tournoi ...

However, base on the quality of Euro2000 > Euro84 to discredit Platini (vs Zidane ) is unreal.
An AM was roaming into forward position and fulfilled the best record ever (9goals/6games) is much better A Zidane in Euro2000 or any other greats (Basten 88, in same tournoi term

The same context with Ronaldo at WC02, yes it was not the most quality WC, but his 8goals and chances creation, and consistency should be well noticed (like Platini 9goals in Euro84).

Goal.com made a good list of TOP10 best performers in Euro history (surprisingly)
http://www.goal.com/en/news/2898/eu...-10-european-championship-players-of-all-time

1- Platini 84 (no question asked)
2- Basten 88
3- Beckenbauer 72, 76 (2 events?)
4- Zidane 00, 04 (2 events)
5- Dzajic 68
6- Netzer 72 * (repeat event - I would choose Netzer over Becken in 72)
7- Dino Zoff 68 ** (repeat event)
8- Maldini 88, 00 (big question mark for me)
9- Schmeichel 92
10 Xavi 04,08 (2 events?)

 

Maldini has no business in belonging there. He was actually shred to pieces in the game against the USSR in 1988.

Also not sure about Dzajic so high. Perhaps his game against England elevated him a bit? Anyway, euro72 was the first edition that had a big impact on the Ballon d'Or.

Some other excellent euro performers are for me: Figo, Michael Laudrup, Poborsky, Klinsmann. These spring to mind, who played great in multiple tournaments. Maybe also Bergkamp, Zidane but not sure about them.

This are the goals per game from high to low:

Euro1976 - 4.75 (4 games)
Euro1960 - 4.25 (4 games)
Euro1964 - 3.25 (4 games)
Euro2000 - 2.74 (31 games)
Euro1984 - 2.73 (15 games)
Euro1972 - 2.50 (4 games)
Euro2008 - 2.48 (31 games)
Euro2004 - 2.48 (31 games)
Euro2012 - 2.45 (31 games)
Euro1988 - 2.27 (15 games)
Euro1992 - 2.13 (15 games)
Euro1996 - 2.06 (31 games)
Euro1980 - 1.93 (14 games)
Euro1968 - 1.40 (5 games)

 

I understood it was not your opinion . Apparently it comes from the idea that France supposedly had an relatively easy road to win the title due to the weak level of the teams thy faced. That is highly debattable. Even if some of them were weakened by injuries, Denmark, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Portugal and Spain were all solid, well-established teams.

 

Laurent Blanc would be a better pick than Maldini. He's the only player so far to have been picked in 3 Euro teams of the tournament (EC92, EC96, EC2000).