The best players of Euro 96

Not sure whether you'll have seen the posts for sure comme, so just quoting myself from another thread (you might find the Teams of the Week interesting that I found from the Independent, though I didn't find many I think):

Just looking at the squads to refresh my memory I'd say maybe these could be in consideration (maybe - but probably not for among the very top ratings for most or all of them anyway and perhaps strangely my ideas and memories might have even been a bit better for WC94 overall):
Redknapp, Bergkamp, Dimas, Boban, Jarni, Asanovic, Letchkov, Nedved, Lizarazu, Joao Pinto.
(just ideas and hazy memory or mixed up recollections could play a part for some without trying to research anything before posting).

 

This is one of those tournaments where Netherlands was undone by themselves rather than anything else (British and Welsh referees ). A missed chance. It wasn't a good draw to be in a group with England and Scotland. Of the players there Bergkamp was the least worst I agree. He had a goal against Switzerland and a very important assist against hosts England (nicely crafted). He played good against Switzerland while the team imploded in factions during the match.



It wasn't a particularly well organized tournament. It was one of the very rare occassions where a team was allowed to replace injured and suspended players mid tournament (with the suspensions cited as reason!) - very unfair and a joke.

Maybe Asanovic (Croatia) is one to look at. He had two or three assists (Poborsky was the top assister with three or four and indeed als a couple of MOTM awards).

 

Yes, agree with what you say in the main I think Puck.

I came back to say probably Figo (not at his best/fittest but still worth * at least probably IIRC/IMO) and perhaps Helmer could be added to my list of possibilities.

For the top players I would think Poborsky could be in the mix, and I'd be thinking of Suker, Gascoigne, Sammer and Rui Costa too.

 

My list wasn't in order btw, and Redknapp might be a stretch with so little time (albeit with a key contribution in a short-ish tournament). He could top average ratings but be ineligible for them or something I would imagine; that sort of scenario (don't believe I've seen any on Football Ratings BlogSpot or wherever though).

This page confirms why I named him anyway I suppose:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/england-scotland-96-player-ratings-4632960

 

Ah I found this back on the external HD.

Mundo Deportivo mentioned the earlier mentioned players + Secretario (right back Portugal).

ABC.es highlighted here some players per team, written by JM Cuellar. With some surprising choices, compared to the official UEFA team.

http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1996/07/01/076.html

 

Nice find. Have to log off now, but not sure if very easy to view - perhaps you could list the mentioned names (I see they run-down each nation and mention a couple or so)?

 

In some occassions they mention the collective first and foremost, but this are the mentioned players (as I said, it might be surprising or deviating from the UEFA team)

England: Shearer, McManaman
Switzerland: Pascolo, Sforza,
Netherlands: Van der Sar, Ronald de Boer
Scotland: McAllister
Romania: Hagi
Czech: Poborsky
Italy: Maldini
France: Djorkaeff, Deschamps, Guerin
Turkey: Abdullah
Russia: Tsymbalar
Portugal: Rui Costa
Bulgaria: Letchkov, Stoichkov, Mihailov, Ivanov
Germany: Sammer, Eilts. Sammer is described as "best player of the tournament"
Croatia: Suker
Spain: Sergi, Zubizaretta, Kiko
Denmark: Brian Laudrup

One thing to note is that there wasn't an official UEFA player of the tournament (as far as I know).
http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/sevilla/abc.sevilla/1996/06/30/069.html

In 2000 they decided that at the end of the year, but if I'm not mistaken in this case it was done retrospectively. There was a prominent journalist vote (like the 1976 to 1992 editions) and this one was actually won quite convincingly by Dieter Eilts somehow.

 

Porbosky also come to my mind. Maldini was like an amateur against him

 

One ebay I saw the France Football review for just 2 euros. I just bought it. I'll see what they think of this tournament...

 

Bernard Lama had an excellent tournament. He should be added imho.

 

Thanks - of those at the bottom of your reply Hagi might surprise me the most but I guess I had expected a lot after WC94. Sergi perhaps not surprising even if I might have thought he too had played better in the WC from memory (or moreso memory of having thought that even!).

 

I wonder whether he was especially sluggish/sloppy in the first game but hard to recall - I had thought he seemed a different player though IIRC. But his assist in their last game is nice and he played a part in a wrongly disallowed goal vs Bulgaria I see (I didn't recall it). The UEFA page suggests he wasn't in great form vs Spain, but does praise the assist.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=1996/matches/round=227/match=52505/postmatch/report/index.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/euro-96-romanians-denied-by-officialdom-1337034.html

Maybe Ronald de Boer and Vogel could be better calls than Bergkamp and Boban then.

 

After Lama by babaorum, in defence, I'll cite Thuram. A monster. For his first tournament. And he even progressed after that, after that he joined Italy...but his Euro 96 constitutes his first big performance, I believe (already a big one).

From memory, Kishishev was also cited amongst the big revelations of the tournament at the time but I don't remember his matches.

 

Because I was interested too in Hagi (with the 1994WC in mind and the recent posts in the playmakers thread) I watched the highlights of Romania and I can see indeed him setting up plays, chances or distributing the ball well which then results in a chance created by others. Romania, like many other teams, played some way below what they showed in 1994 but it was good to see him playing in sub-optimal conditions.

As for Netherlands/Bergkamp; he wasn't good against Scotland and received public criticism from the manager (he created three clear chances I think). He played with tendinitis too. One article says that he has "built more credit in England than in his own country" (another newspaper also mentioned his form in the final 3/4th of the club season). This was his worst game. One notable moment was that Scotland stopped a slow ball with their hands on the goalline but the referee did not see it. His best game was Switzerland I think and his most crucial England. There is a discussion of this match in Wilson's Anatomy of England book and his involvement is mentioned a few times in a positive sense. None of the Netherlands players were really at their best (except VdS maybe; there was also some questionable selection and choices at the wings position) but I can see why OPTA 'blips' his name in terms of through balls and (big) chances created at the euros (all tournaments together, I mean).

Both Hagi and DB10 their technique immediately stand out like a sore thumb imho. You watch a highlight for two minutes and you immediately see some proverbial magic dust somehow (maybe I'm a bit too nostalgic). Controlling balls effortlessly at full speed as vs Switzerland for example (an 'invisible' pass from behind their back).

 

I' m probably a bit biased as I liked the guy but I have the feeling Bernard Lama is often a bit overshadown. He was pure class between 1992 and 1996. His best years were in no way inferior to Barthez's one.

 

I' m probably a bit biased as I liked the guy but I have the feeling Bernard Lama is often a bit overshadown. He was pure class between 1992 and 1996. His best years were in no way inferior to Barthez's one.

 

Do they seriously say that Maldini was "the greatest player in the tournament, by a mile"? Such firm statement is very surprising. As Ozora mentioned, he couldn't stop the Czechs. On two occasions he didn't stop a cross that resulted in a goal. Harsh too discount a player for that (and the general failing of Italy), but "by a mile" is the other opposite.

 

Same here! And his Euro was impeccable.
Yes that was tight between the two at the time. Now, maybe that Barthez had one extra thing but it's difficult to say what exactly (so...). Liked the two equally anyway.

 

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything linking them together (I guess they are just online versions of what was printed in the newspaper at the time though) but it could be all or most of the games have a report by the Independent...

I searched this one for example and it did too - Croatia vs Denmark:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/euro-96-suker-sinks-denmark-1337465.html
Generally positive about Asanovic I'd say for example, although no match grades handed out.

I had wondered about Asanovic with indeed the assists, plus I think IIRC pretty useful midfield play in general. About whether all in all it is enough, and with a feeling actually he was in patches perhaps more impressive for Derby in an expansive way than in Euro 96 (but conversely all in all he played more of a role and had more of an impact as an International player than as a Premier League player).

It could be Bejbl (who I sort of recall was getting some rave reviews....but could be mistaken on that one - the fact he got MOTM officially and from the rsssf contributor as shown in one of the links I posted made me think) and Hagi indeed then could come into my list of ideas/recommendations instead of Redknapp due to lack of game time ofc and Asanovic, but I might be minded to say Asanovic could make it - maybe him and Boban could do with some further inspection - it's even possible to watch/re-watch games ofc but not practical to do it in every case.

It can be a matter of opinion (although generally people will observe good/bad similarly I guess) in terms of how things are viewed - some people say that assist to Suker was especially good in terms of the pass while others including IIRC the commentator say he was slow to play it (it worked out ok in the end anyway though! The first touch by Suker definitely setting him up well but that doesn't mean it was a hard pass to at least take down decently even if slower/less slick which would still have put the team in a good position.