[I was going to point this out, but you beat me to it, Gregoriak. BTW, I actually saw "The Magic Dragan" play several times. I can give you lot an eyewitness account if anyone wants to hear it...]
Yes please. On the quotes, I've seen the Beckenbauer one on Laudrup countless times, and certainly Pele's on Dzajic several times. Admitedly on the internet, but if it was a written quote rather than on TV it's hard to verify it's original source, especially if not after a particular game or event.
Any one seen juninho play in his early years with lyon, now thats class, not to mention his FK accuracy!
[I've been meaning to get back to this but I've been a tad busy lately. I saw Dzajic play in the '64 Olympics, the '68 Euros & the '74 WC Finals. Dzajic was a pacy, technically skilled L-W who was both an excellent goal-scorer & a provider of exact left-footed crosses. One of his "secrets" on the ball was that he had a long, yet quick stride that he used to get past his marker(s). I always got the impression that Dzajic, especially when playing for his NT, never really relished being the main goal-scoring threat. It seemed as if he rather wanted to be given the option of just staying out wide on the left. If you want to know more than I've said, just lmk. Here's an excellent profile on Dzajic fr. a Red Star site: http://www.redstarbelgrade.com/content.aspx?cultureID=1&ID=764§ionID=24 Here's another profile on Dzajic fr. eurofootballnow.com: http://eurofootballnow.com/uefa-european-football-championship-legends/dragan-dzajic/ I hope that you will find this information helpful, PDG1978.]
Thanks very much for your assessment and the articles. The first one, though admitedly Serbian, is very complementary indeed (I think the horrendous crosses was a mis-translation/different interpretation of the word). The descriptions including your own fit with the impression I have from previously reading about him and seeing a certain amount of footage of some of Euro 68, clips of him on Youtube playing for Yugoslavia and Red Star, some of WC74, a friendly from the 70's on ESPN classic etc. Nice to get observations from people who witness past greats in their era. I'm probably crossing over to the topic of another thread but how would you compare him to Finney and Giggs? And on a simliar theme how would you compare Nandor Hidegkuti to Dennis Bergkamp as deep-lying forwards (probably appropriate to this thread due to their playing styles too) and what about Tommy Lawton, Gunnar Nordahl, Sandor Kocsis, Alan Shearer, as I've noticed you are a fan of old-fashioned number 9's (Shearer probably was that sort of player overall though in a twin-striker system, and Kocsis played inside-forward but played comparably I think - tell me if I'm wrong). While I'm at it how about Jimmy Greaves, Just Fontaine, Gary Lineker and Andriy Shevchenko? If you had to rank those players (seperate rank for the 4 groups of players) what order would you choose? I did see a reference to Beckenbauer saying Dzajic should've won the Balon D'or in '68 again in the first article.
OK, yeah that's cool - it was going a bit off topic. Back on topic: Rui Costa - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSPxvb15qQ0"]YouTube - Rui Costa, O Maestro[/ame] Dejan Savicevic - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQFz8LDss38"]YouTube - Dejan Savicevic Nel Milan!!![/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0p3vTMeLV4"]YouTube - Il Genio[/ame] Glenn Hoddle - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xz3uRITYI8"]YouTube - Glenn Hoddle - The Best[/ame] Jean Tigana (shown here assisting Platini) - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI0LBQ9oDBA"]YouTube - France - Portugal Euro 84[/ame]
Hmm.. Fernando Redondo: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNFpayoUD8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNFpayoUD8[/ame]
Dejan Savicevic was known as Il Genio, which in Italian means "The Genius". PDG1978 was on the right track.
Thanks, yeah he had a style of play that I enjoyed to watch - I think it can be described as elegant though that word can be a matter of opinion. He had an ability to deceive opponents by seeming unbalanced but actually being balanced, whether that was deliberate or just part of his style. I think his 1st goal in the 1995 CL semi-final with PSG is a good example of this. Genius is a good nickname though - he seemed to thrive on providing inspirational moments.
True. Coming from Montenegro didn't help. He could have been a star at Euro 92 if Yugoslavia weren't banned but he could have done better at Italia 90 (he wasn't the only one though). Apparently Berlusconi gave him the nickname and before the 1994 CL Final, Capello told Savicevic, "If you are a genius, then you must show me" (not the exact quote).
Yes, I always assumed he peaked at Milan but I do remember he was a star for Red Star Belgrade and Yugoslavia too, both exciting teams. There are some great goals and assists available from this time on Youtube too. It's difficult to say how he would've been rated by Italians if he was Italian himself, for example in comparison to Baggio (for me Savicevic was more creative, Baggio was a better goalscorer). By Milan fans perhaps Savicevic would still be rated higher, but Baggio didn't have the best of times at Milan and of course their fans will still remember how well he played elsewhere and importantly for Italy. Savicevic wasn't Italian of course but had he been then I definately think both him and Baggio should've been fitted into the same 1994 Italy World Cup team, even if Savicevic played as a winger - whether the manager would've played them both is questionable though. I'm not saying it's definately correct but I understood it was Berlusconi that told him it was time to prove he was a genius before the 1994 Final (again, not exact quote). I do know Berlusconi was very keen for him to play, even before then when Capello often left him out I think. The 1994 final was a bit ironic in that it was Cruyff's Barcelona who were meant to be the great stylists yet Savicevic ran the show and Milan played some great football; meanwhile Laudrup was left out and I believe Capello said he was happy to see he wasn't playing (again not direct quote). If I remember correctly Barca did have a big win against Man Utd earlier in the competition also without Laudrup though.
The ones I've seen on a regular basis: Defence: NESTA DM: REDONDO Mid/Attacker: Laudrup, Van Basten, Zidane, Zico, Iniesta, Xavi
Knowing Italian coaches, I'd doubt it. Too pragmatic for their own good. Then there was Sacchi, who had his head up his backside. The references are rather conflicting.
Nicolae Dobrin [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h26fA_-RCNU"]YouTube - Nicolae Dobrin - Dribbling & Passing[/ame]
He made his debut at 14 years and 10 months in Romania FC Arges(called Dinamo Pitesti at the time). Altough Hagi has better performances, for many Romanians Dobrin is much better. He was an exceptionally talented player. I have seen footage of pele maradona etc. , but i honestly never saw any player with his superb ball control and effortless dribling. His debut for the national team was in 1 june 1966 against FGR(age 19). Romania lost the game 1-0, but in the match Dobrin humiliated Szymaniak. After the game Helmuth Schon was very impressed with the player and saw a future star in him. The only 2 titles that FC Arges won were in 1972 and 1979, with Dobrin as star player. In 1972 , in the preliminaries for the Champions CUp Arges beat Real Madrid 2-1 on home soil with Dobrin in great form. After the game Santiago ernabeu offered 2 mil dollars to buy him, but because of the comunism regime, the tranfer was not possible. He was decisive for the national team as well scoring the only goal against eusebio's Portugal in the preliminaries for the 1970 WC. Romania qualified but Dobrin didn't play 1 min, because of an argument with the coach Angelo Niculecu. At Arges he played more memorable games(against valencia,panatnaikos). I know my post seems sentimental, but in my country after the regime falled, peple barely talked about him until he was dead. The times that he lived prevented him from being a legend internationally.
If he played at Mexico 70, who would he have replaced? Lucescu? If he really was that much better than Hagi, maybe Romania would have played West Germany in the quarter-finals instead of the English. If I read correctly, I think Adrian Mutu said that Dobrin was his biggest influence and mentor.
I guess we will never know what might have happened if he played at the wc. it's one of the great footballing dissapointments in our country that he didn't play. yes dobrin was mutu's mentor when he played at arges.
That's a shame. It was the only time Romania went to a World Cup as a communist nation and the first time that Romania made the World Cup since the 30s. Before Steaua became a European giant in the 80s and Hagi became a star, there weren't many great Romanian teams or players. From the sound of this story, it seems that Romanian football should have gained recognition earlier.
Extremely biased of me o) but I had to include this montage --- [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-lguKIzAaA&feature=related"]YouTube - Jimmy Johnstone[/ame] I'm not sure if elegant is the correct term but there is something quite hypnotic about the way wee Jinky used to glide around the pitch.