I've been meaning to post this for a while after going through a lot of stuff on Euro 92. Something of a funny tournament but these were the players I picked out: Peter Schmeichel (Denmark) Andeas Brehme (Germany) Roland Nilsson (Sweden) Ronald Koeman (Netherlands) Jurgen Kohler (Germany) Lars Olsen (Denmark) Jan Eriksson (Sweden) Henrik Andersen (Denmark) Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands) John Jensen (Denmark) Kim Vilfort (Denmark) Stefan Schwarz (Sweden) Jonas Thern (Sweden) Thomas Hassler (Germany) Ruud Gullit (Netherlands) Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands) Thomas Brolin (Sweden) Brian Laudrup (Denmark) Flemming Povlsen (Denmark) Marco van Basten (Netherlands) Karlheinz Riedle (Germany) Jean-Pierre Papin (France) In terms of others, I'm short of goalkeepers and full-backs but was struggling to pick out anyone that really shone. Saw some suggestions for Goram in goal and Angloma at full-back but struggled to see them as being really merited. Klinsmann might have gone in among the strikers as he played relatively well. Potentially Effenberg as well. Gullit I included but was borderline. Started superbly against Scotland and then fell away. Who else should have been included and what should the star rankings be?
the absolute nr 1 imho is Schmeichel. i would have to rewatch but i do think it was hassler who made germany dominate the opportunities. correct me if my memory is failing me.
Agree ... BEST PLAYERS in EURO92: (so pick your best choice and MINE in red) GK: Schmeichel , Van Bruekelen DF: Brehme, Blanc, Koller MF: Gullit Hassler Effenberg FW: B Laurup, Bergkamp, Basten ================================= Overall ... may be I would give to Schmeichel
No other Dutch players worth mentioning besides those three and "borderline Gullit".. It was easily the best playing team. Both Kohler and Brehme among the top three defenders? Don't start me laughing. Their defense conceded 8 goals in 5 games. As comparison: Denmark 4 in 5, Netherlands 3 in 4 games, Sweden 5 in 4. Typical.
Brehme was great a la Carlos/Cafu in helping attack, while Koller was like "the WALL" It's like the same story with Brazil at WC14: - They comprised with all 4 BEST DF in the world T Silva Alves Marcello and David Luiz (no argument here please) - many many years later a "Jr PUCK would say" do not make me laugh " Brazil allowed 10goals in their last 2 games along?
Hard to remember the tournament, and not seen as much of it on Youtube/DVD/TV recently as some World Cups etc but I do seem to think if I picked a tournament XI then Jan Eriksen was in it so I'd suggest his inclusion is a good call. For left-back possibly Van Tiggelen (though better in Euro 88 I think) and Christofte who I did notice some useful play from in what I did see again fairly recently I think. I remember I rated Angloma highly around this time (and before) but not sure how much that would be to do with the Euros if at all - he was in the all-star team though. It's maybe one of those where the 'definites' are limited but the 'possibles' are plentiful? I seem to think/recall Aron Winter might be an additional choice but there might be a few....although probably no English! For top players I think Schmeichel, B.Laudrup from the winners, Hassler as best from the runners-up I would think, then maybe also Brolin, Bergkamp and probably some others in contention too. Like I say I'm not very certain about much though so am only going from rough ideas and memories.
Possibly Henrik Larsen did enough I would/might think? Like I say though, it's probably a case and especially for Denmark's team effort of "well if this player is in, maybe this one should be too". Maybe Schmeichel keeps Klinsmann out of this selection too!? Although seems weird to suggest Klinsmann could have done the same things and been included if somebody hadn't been playing like Superman in goal (normally I wouldn't use that logic but when a player scores a goal that is worth something I suppose in itself). Schmeichel was very good coming for crosses I know too, and I would see the logic behind him being number 1 choice probably (rarity for a goalkeeper in a tournament). He saved Van Basten's penalty too ofc. Van Basten should be in I'd say, but with Pucks help I could review his play at least and he wasn't the same in terms of freedom and joy within his play I'd say and generally just not as good as in Euro 88 (but that's a pretty high standard for anyone to live up to; even though he did start the next season in Serie A in great form so wasn't past it as such). That doesn't rule him out as one of the top few players in itself, but my feeling is I'd maybe not have him quite amongst those names I mentioned before at the top.
I had 5 I thought (Koeman, Rijkaard, Bergkamp, Gullit and Van Basten). Who else would you suggest? Van Breukelen only really made one notable save that I could recall (with his feet to deny Hassler). Van Tiggelin? I actually think, going back through my notes that Wouters would be a good shout. He was typically influential and should have been in.
Henrik Larsen should definitely be in. 3 big goals and 2 of them in the semi-final. That is definitely worthy of a spot. It makes central midfield very well stacked but is a worthy inclusion.
I can remember (from recent times, even though I guess I watched the same programme at the time) Trevor Brooking picking out Matthias Sammer in I think the Final itself. So, in that game I'd think he has a better case than Effenberg, but I'm not sure over the tournament to be honest. Sammer, not really a typical Brooking type player probably, was impressing him with his drive, and decent technical skills, going forwards as a box to box player IIRC. Like I say though: - From memory and what reviews I've heard (including John Jensen's words, calling him world-class, on the Michael Laudrup Footballs Greatest episode and/or a review of Denmark's Euro 92 campaign on Sky) Thomas Hassler would be the stand-out German overall, and including somewhat in the Final too. - Aron Winter might be a more worthy inclusion for the tournament than Sammer?
Big contribution to turn a game too, unless I'm getting mixed up and being too lazy to double-check! I'm confused now as to whether midfielder or forward is a better classification for Euro 92 for him too to be honest.
Started and was subbed against Sweden, came on as a half time sub against England, didn't play at all against Denmark.
Winter didn't play enough either tbf - sorry. I was remembering some impact and an assist vs Germany I think but had mistakenly assumed he was more involved overall.
Yes, it is case that divided the opinions very much (also in Holland). I did read a stat though (in France Football) that had him as the most or 2nd most fouled player of the tournament, on a per minute base. Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I link to the video here. Short version Long version [as I said, I found my original version too long and not good enough but eventually I decided to upload both] Something I also noticed when I did that video (but that affected all players) was the wobbly nature of the grass. Ground passes tended to be very wobbling and 'bumpy' (I remember that I included such example in the video).
Good idea to link the videos. I would say that on a 3 star basis I'd not feel beyond 2 would be suitable, but of course the equivalent of how he played in 1988 or Cruyff in the 1974 WC is not needed for 3 stars. Could be a tournament where there aren't many 3 star performers though? He did make the team of the tournament ahead of Brolin (who I remembered did well but not sure about consistency) and he did have good contributions and was unlucky not to score vs Germany for example. I can see how opinions might be divided a bit on how to analyse how well he played (and we have to remember as has been cited with Messi, that we are comparing him to other performers and not himself I suppose).
Maybe. It had 2.19 goals per match and 40% of the games ended in a draw. As comparison, the 1990WC had 2.21 GPG with 23% of the matches ending in a draw. http://scoreshelf.com/bkcs/en/European_Cup http://scoreshelf.com/bkcs/en/World_Cup When the situation and everyone cancels each other out, then there aren't many outstanding players I can imagine.
Well of the pre-tournament favourites (Germany, Netherlands, France and England) two were diabolical. The best performance of those sides by far was the Netherlands versus Germany and then I'd say Germany against Sweden. The Dutch also played well against Scotland. Other than that the big teams didn't really hit their stride at all. My thoughts for world class (***) players here were Hassler, Bergkamp, Rijkaard and Schmeichel. That was it really.
How does it compare with 1980 and 2004? The performance of 'big teams' I mean and the number of good performers. 2004 did have a lot more goals and fewer draws obviously.
Similar to 1980 I'd say. Euro 2004 (I haven't got on to this one yet) but I would say it felt a lot better. All these tournaments prior to having 16 teams are very hard to consider.
As a general question/thought: are there tournaments with many good playing sides (as a result many 'world class' performers) and at the same time also many competitive sides? With at the same time not too many goals scored? I was thinking that many didn't think too highly of the final four of WC2014 (and WC2010 too), but then it was also said that the rest (like Algeria) just have gotten better. I.e. the recurring question whether someone is good or the other one is bad. Euro 2000 was a tournament with many outstanding players, and a number of good teams, but also fairly high number of goals and matches with a winner. @PDG1978
I'll have a think Puck - if things come to me soon I might post in a bit tonight but otherwise maybe tomorrow night. As an aside, and it might have happened before (maybe not when you tagged me) I wasn't alerted about the tagging but just that you'd replied to this thread. So not sure if the tagging worked properly (if you'd done it on a thread I hadn't replied to would I have got an alert?). Just in case it happens anywhere and I don't see it. Maybe you added it after editing or something though Puck? Or maybe the system just alerted me to the reply as I'd 'subscribed' already (didn't think it worked like that before though). 1966 and 1982 are in my mind before I really start to think though. As for goals scored, I suppose it's always the question of whether (all other things being equal) a good tournament has more than normal or less. Some tournaments just have high amounts due to tactics I suppose (but we're going back to the 50's in the main for that to be a really big factor I suppose). I suppose if tactics, rules etc are similar between years close together then a lower goal count might suggest defenders doing better than forwards on the whole, and a high goal count vice versa. But yeah extremely high ones probably say it was easy to score and the attackers haven't faced the biggest test except in scoring more than the opposition.