I was reading an old thread that seemed fun going over the Mount Rushmore for clubs. Basically trying to find the four most representative figures in that clubs history. I thought it would be fun to try to do the same thing with 5 year 'eras' in football history starting in 1920. Criteria for for players selected would include accomplishments, popularity/perception during the era, and how representative a player was in important trends in football at that time. Another wrinkle I threw in when I started this was trying not to use the same player more than once. So Puskas for example would be a great candidate for the early 50s for his exploits with the national team and for the early 60s with Real Madrid, but if you are going to limit him to one 'era' I would say the early 50s was his peak as a player. I would like as much feedback as possible on my choices. Am I correctly identifying the most important trends/themes in football at this time and am I picking the right players to represent them? I will start off with the early 1920s (1920-1924). I chose this as a starting point because if you went back any further in time the rest of the world had yet to catch up to Britain in footballing prowess. This thread on Xtratime (http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=270819&page=2) has lots of great information on club tours between British sides and teams from other countries (both American and European) and pre-WWI Britain dominated, in the 20s clubs from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Spain all became far more competitive. Multiple countries being closer to the same level makes for far more interesting "Rushmores" than four British players, which is what you would get if you were looking for the best players in the 1910s or earlier.
1920-1924 Important international competitions: 1920 and 1924 Olympics, 1920, 21, 22, 23, 24 South American Championships. 1920, 21, 22, 23, 24 British Home Championships. Important trends: Dominance of Scotland among British countries, rise in football quality in continental Europe (Czechs, Austria, Spain), the dominance on Uruguay in South America and at the 1924 Olympics. Jose Leandro Andrade: I needed one player to represent Uruguay's dominance and I chose Andrade, mostly for his show stopping performance in the 1924 Olympics. Uruguay had a record 27-10-10 during this period and won 3 of the 5 South American Championships played and also went to Europe won the 1924 Olympics in great style. There are some great posts here (http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/best-players-at-1924-and-1928-olympics.1999630/) detailing how highly contemporary sources rated Andrade's performance at the Olympics. Despite Uruguay's wealth of attacking talent he clearly appears to be the best player of the tournament. He ran the midfield, marking, tackling, dribbling and creating. He was only took part of one of South American Championship during this era, the 1923 edition which Uruguay won over its chief rivals Brazil and Argentina going 3-0-0 with a 6 goals scored and only 1 allowed. Karel Pešek: Pesek, a center half with both power and skill, was the undisputed leader of the best continental club in the world in the early 20s Sparta Prague, known during this time as Iron Sparta. Iron Sparta won 51 consecutive domestic games between from 1920 to 1923, winning all 5 domestic titles during this period. In 1921 the club won a series of impressive matches against international clubs. FC Numenberg (equally dominant in Germany) challenged Sparta to a home and away series for the unofficial "European Championship". After a goalless draw in Germany Sparta won 5-2 in Prague. Sparta beat Celtic, the Scottish champions, 2-1 and 2-0 in consecutive games. They then beat Spain's dominant club team Barcelona in Barcelona 3-2. Pesek was also the leader of the very successful Czech national team that sported a 12-4-3 record during this period. Pesek was capped 14 times and lead the team to the 1920 Olympic final beating Yugoslavia, Norway, and France on the way by a combined score of 15-1. In the final the Czech team faced the hosts Belgium. The Czechs left the pitch in the 40th minute down 0-2 to protest violent play by Belgium, what they saw as poor refereeing, and an invasion of the pitch by fans and soldiers. They were disqualified. In 1924 Pesek again led his team to the Olympics. After an initial victory over Turkey, the Czechs fell to the eventual runners up Switzerland after a replay. Despite this Pesek was still included in the team on the tournament by some contemporary journalists. Ricardo Zamora: The goalkeeper was most famous player from the great Spain team of the 1920s and generally acknowledged as the best goalkeeper in the world during this time. He played in all 15 of Spain's international matches leading them to a 11-1-3 record in the early 20s. The 1920 Olympics would feature the first Spanish national team ever brought together. After losing in the second round to Belgium they won the consolation bracket beating Sweden, Italy, and the Netherlands. For a brand new international team this was considered a great achievement and Zamora was considered one of the top players of the tournament. He also one three Catalan Championships and two Copa Del Rays (at this time the Spanish Championship) with Barcelona during this period. Alan Morton: The diminutive winger was given the name "The Wee Blue Devil" by frustrated English fans. He appeared 11 times for Scotland scoring 2 goals during this time. He helped Scotland win 3 of the 5 British home Championships in the era (21,22,23). His amazing speed and ball control helped him created endless chances for both Scotland and Rangers. He won the 1921, 23, and 24 Scottish championships with Rangers. Explanation/Honorable mentions: I knew I needed at least one Uruguay player but choosing which one was a very hard decision. I was very close to including Hector Scarone over or even along side Andrade. Scarone was more successful domestically playing with Nacional winning 4 titles, while Andrade was playing with a smaller club. Scarone was also part of two of Uruguay's South American Championships as opposed to one for Andrade. But the main reason why a felt a Uruguay player had to be in the Rushmore for the early 20s was because they came across the Atlantic and dominated the Olympics in such style, and while Scarone was good, Andarde was the clear star of the Olympics. Scarone also fits better in the late 20s in my opinion for a number of reasons I will detail in a latter post. I also gave some thought to putting in Pedro Petrone. Although Scarone and Andarde were seen as the truly transcendent players of 1920s Uruguay, Petrone's 14 goals in 11 games playing in the 1923 and 24 South American Championships and the 1924 Olympics is very impressive. Gyorgi Orth was a complete player that dominated domestically in Hungary with MTK winning all 5 domestic titles in this period. He was also top scorer in three of these seasons and Hungary's most important player in the national side. Pesek was a clear choice over Orth Because MTK's successes did not stretch outside of their domestic league the way Sparta's did. The Hungarian national team was not as successful as the Czechs during this time, with a 14-8-8 record. A strongly considered Josep Samitier as a possible choice for a representative of Spain's success. His domestic and international achievements mirror Zamora's. They are both great players from this time and it really just came down to me making a choice between the two, as it is very hard to truly determine which one was more important to Barcelona and Spain's success. I also considered Paulino Alcantara, but the fact that he was not part of the 1920 Olympics hurt him. Between 1921 and 1932 he was capped 5 times scoring 6 goals, including a impressive brace against in a 2-0 victory over defending Olympic Champions Belgium. He is often portrayed as the dominant player in domestic Spanish football at this time. Deciding on a player to represent Britain, still one of the top footballing regions in the world was not easy. I settled on Morton because of his achievement on on the international and club levels. Scotland was also more successful during this period than England, winning 3 home championships to England's 0. I also considered Andy Wilson based almost solely on his amazing production. Between 1920 and 1923 he scored 13 goals in 12 matches for Scotland. He played in England for Middlesbrough and Chelsea and was the leagues top scorer in 1921-22 scoring 31 goals. Billy Walker was widely considered the best player in the England during this time, and Harry Chambers was Liverpool's top scorer for two domestic titles and was scoring goals during this period for the national team as well. Despite the production/achievements/reputations of these British players, none really combined all three facets the was Morton did.
Did you consider Hughie Gallacher for this period? 110 goals in 120 matches under the old offside rules is pretty impressive. Leading Airdrie to three successive 2nd place finishes in Scotland probably even more so.
I did not really consider him for this period, mostly because he is a lock for the top four of the late 20s when he dominated with Scotland and Newcastle. He also had only one cap in the early 20s. His club achievements are impressive, but would he really be considered one of Scotland's top players of this time without getting caps? I am guessing you are a guy with some interest/knowledge of Scottish football, do you have any insights on Andy Wilson? Excellent goalscoring record for the Scotland and in England for his club teams. I had never really heard anything about him before looking through Scotland's matches in the 20s and seeing him scoring so many goals.
Great thread, Tom. Some thoughts. I think Hungary had a higher impact than Austria among Central European nations. They were the "world feeder" with talented players at that time and that fact hurts their NT and clubs record at international level, in the sense many of their main players were playing abroad in different years, making difficult to consolidate a team. I agree Orth was a level over the others like Fogl, Konrad or Schaffer. Among the czechs, Karel Pešek "Kada" was clearly the greatest. In South America, the two big guns (Uruguay and Argentina) also hurt their impact having two parallel tournaments at that time, with the dissident league being the strongest in Argentina and the uruguayan dissident league having Peñarol in it. Arguably the representative player for Argentina those years was the goalie Americo Tesoriere, closely follow by Julio Libonatti.
Very good point about Hungary's national team suffering do to players like Konrad and Schaffer not being recalled because they went abroad for their club football.
Wilson only really had a couple of seasons of note. For a supposed top player I would have expected him to at the very least maintained his goalscoring ratio following the changes to the offside law. Gallacher did, even moving to a stonger league, so I would be inclined to think he was the better striker in the early 20s. The SFA's selection policies at the time are one of football's great mysteries - they appear to be as coherent as a Paul Merson match report. One name that really should come into consideration for this era would be Billy McCracken. He was past his best at this point, but very few players are directly associated with changes to the Laws and none with a change as significant or with as bigger impact as the 1925 change to Law 11.
1925-1929 Important international competitions: 1928 Olympics, 1925, 26, 27, 29 South American Championships, 1925-29 British Home Championships Important trends: Continued Scottish dominance, Argentina rises to rival Uruguay in South America, Central Europe continues to improve with multiple international competitions both club (Mitropa Cup) and international (Central European Cup) fostering greater quality of football. Hectore Scarone: The Uruguayan magician started this period with his club Nacional, which contained the majority of Uruguay's national team, on a 6 month 38 match tour of Europe. Scarone was the star of the tour and top scorer as Nacional sported a 26-7-5 record with Scarone netting 26 times. In the 1926 South American Championship Scarone scored 6 goals in 4 games leading Uruguay to the title over chief rivals Argentina, wining all four of their games with a 17-2 goal differential. After the 1926 S.A.C. Scarone would sign Barcelona. He was the first major South American star to sign for a European club. At Barcelona he received excellent reviews, combining well with Josep Samitier and leading Barcelona to a sweep of domestic titles in 1926, winning both the Catalan and Spanish Championships. After only one season in Spain he returned home to Uruguay to ensure his participation with the national team in the upcoming Olympics. He participated in the 1927 S.A.C. where Uruguay narrowly lost to Argentina, in the deciding game Argentina beat Uruguay 3-2 despite a brace from Scarone. In the 1928 Olympics Scarone would lead Uruguay to another title. They defeated three strong European opponents (Netherlands, Germany, Italy) before facing their South American rivals Argentina in the final. The final ended 1-1 and required a replay. In the replay with the score deadlocked again at 1-1, Scarone scored from 40 meters in the 73rd minute to win the gold medal for Uruguay 2-1. Scarone scored three times in the tournament including game winners over Italy and Argentina the other two medalists at the 1928 games. Hughie Gallacher: He was the dominant player for both the Scottish national team and in the English football league playing with Newcastle. Scotland were at the peak of their powers at this point. They won four of the five British Home Championships, had a 4-0-1 record against England with a 10-3 goal differential, and collected an overall record of 15-2-2. Hughie Gallacher was the centerpiece of their success. The diminutive center forward had great agility, ball control, shooting power, and was an excellent passer, combining with a frightening front line that also contained Alan Morton, Alex Jackson, and Alex James among others. He was capped 16 times in this era scoring 19 goals. He was also one the field for the famous 5-1 "Wembley Wizards" victory in 1928, where Scotland crushed England on their home turf. 1925 was his last full year with his Airdrieonians in Scotland. He led the upstart club to its third straight runner up finish scoring 35 goals that season. Part way through 1926 he moved to Newcastle and would stay there until 1930. Upon his arrival to the English League he was a marked man and was repeatedly and violently fouled. There are anecdotes from teammates of his socks being red with blood after many games. In 1927, his first full season in the English league, his was given the club captaincy and lead the team to the English title, scoring 36 goals in 38 games. He is considered Newcastle's greatest player ever and scored 133 goals in 160 games in his 5 seasons there. Dixie Dean: Was a scoring phenomenon for both club and country in the late 20s. In 1928 he led Everton to the First Division title scoring a record setting 63 goals in 41 league games, a record unbroken to this day. Overall he scored 148 goals in 149 games for the club in this era. His goal scoring was not limited to the club level either, as he knocked in a shocking 17 goals in 13 games for England during this time. Despite taking a back seat to Scotland, England was still a very successful national side at this time, with a 14-3-4 record against anyone but Scotland in this era (15-3-8 overall). Dean scored a brace in England's only win over the Scots in this era, a 2-1 comeback victory in the 1927 Home Championship, with both Dean's goals coming after the 80th minute. Adolfo Baloncieri: The great Italian inside forward was considered the predecessor to Giuseppe Meazza and Valentino Mazzola and was considered the best Italian player of his generation. His major role in the team was to orchestrate the offense and control the midfield but he was also a deadly goalscorer. He played his club football with Turin winning two titles during this era. There combined with the two great strikers Julio Libonatti and Gino Rossetti, the three were know as the "Trio of Wonders". He scored 93 goals in 131 games in this period, despite having two prolific strikers playing ahead of him. He combined with his Turin partners in the Italian national team where Italy had great success. Baloncieri was capped 26 times scoring 17 goals in the late 20s. He scored 6 goals in 5 games at the 1928 Olympics and was recognized as the best European player at the tournament, leading Italy to third place. Baloncieri was also an important part of Italy winning the 1927-1930 Central European Cup, which was won by the slimmest of margins, with Italy finishing on 11 points, one ahead of Austria and the Czechs and two ahead of Hungary. Explanation/Honorable mentions: I felt strong about the first three selections, but I could have gone a number of other ways with Baloncieri's selection. I considered the other two great Italian strikers Julio Libonatti (formerly of Argentina) and Gino Rossetti who mirrored his club accomplishments, but both were capped significantly less and scored fewer goals overall for Italy during this era, despite both sharing the top scorer title for the 1927-1930 Central European Cup. The information I was able to find generally indicated that Baloncieri was considered the top Italian player of the time ahead of his teammates. I also strongly considered not having an Italian occupy the fourth spot in this Rushmore. Austria (24-5-9) and Czechoslovakia (21-7-7) both had better international records than Italy (17-8-9) in the late despite Italy squeaking past in them in the C. E. C. Josef Silný and Antonín Puč among the top Czech players at the time. Silny won two Czech titles with Sparta and the inaugural Mitropa Cup, where he led the competition with 5 goals. Silny was capped 24 times scoring 20 goals in the era. Puc won one league title with Slavia and was twice Czech to scorer during this time. He was capped 22 times scoring 18 times for his country. Hans Horvath was Austria's leading player at this time, as Matthias Sindelar has yet to firmly establish himself in the team. Horvath was capped 24 times scoring 13 goals for Austria. Playing with Rapid he was Austrian champions once and twice Mitropa cup finalist. Although Anton Schall had yet to make a major mark on the national team (only four caps) he was dominating the club level with winning two titles with Admira and being top scorer three times, including 36 goals in 24 games in 1927-28. Although Hungary's international record was not as impressive as its neighbors at the time (16-6-13), the country showed its strength winning two of the first three Mitropa cups, both in dominating fashion. József Takács led Ferencvaros to the 1928 Mitropa Cup title scoring 10 goals in 6 games. He won three domestic titles and was three times top scorer in Hungary. He was capped 21 times scoring 19 goals internationally. I also strongly considered putting and Argentine in Baloncieri's place, as Argentina's rise to rival Uruguay was impressive. Argentina won three of the four South American Championships during this period. Uruguay took their top team to only two of these tournaments, of which the two countries split the titles. Argentina also played Uruguay to the wire in the 1928 Olympic final. Manuel Seoane scored 8 goals in 8 S.A.C. games leading Argentina to two titles, including their most impressive victory in 1927 when Uruguay's top team was present. Seoane was also champion domestically once and twice top scorer but did not participate in the Olympics. Manuel Ferreira was also part of two S.A.C. wins scoring 5 goals in 6 games and along with Seoane part of the key 1927 victory. He also captained Argentina in the 1928 Olympics scoring 6 goals in 5 games and creating numerous chances for the top scoring team in the tournament. Although Hughie Gallacher was a shoe-in to represent Scotland at this time Alex Jackson and Alan Morton, Scotland's two deadly wingers, must also be mentioned for this era. Jackson and Morton were two of the centerpieces of the famous 5-1 victory over England with Jackson scoring a hat trick and Morton assisting all three goals. This games summed up their roles in the team well as Jackson was a winger who lover to cut in and score goals while Morton was a classic winger who dribbled, crossed, and created numerous chances. Jackson was capped 14 times scoring 8 goals. He was part of one of the best English clubs in the world at this time, Huddersfield Town where he won one league title, and was twice league runner up and twice FA Cup runner up, narrowly the double in 1928. He scored a massively impressive 65 goals in four seasons for Huddersfield from the wing. Morton probably had an even better resume for the late 20s than the early 20s but Gallacher's presence relegates him to the honorable mention here, although a decent case could be made more including him along side Gallacher in place of Baloncieri. Morton was capped 15 times scoring three goals. He lead Rangers to four league titles and the Scottish Cup in 1928, a title that had eluded Rangers for 25 years. Jose Leandro Andrade still deserves a mention as he was very important to Uruguay's two international victories in this period.
Excellent observation. About the 4 names in 1920-24 era, Zamora seems the most debatable choice, imo. Despite he was "universally" rated by contemporary press as the best GK (just like Kada as best Centerhalf), Spain was a 2nd tier nation by then. Check the odds for the OG'1924 http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/best-players-at-1924-and-1928-olympics.1999630/#post-31110245
I missed to add Manuel Seoane who was the biggest star in Independiente, but his impact in the NT was hurt for being part of a Dissident League.
Just players, should have made that more clear as Escape Goat's original thread for clubs was more than just players.
I am not sure how much weight I would give those odds considering they had Uruguay at 7:1. Spain at 4:1 does not look that bad. They were 6-1-1 in friendlies between the 1920 and 1924 Olympics with wins over Belgium, Portugal, and France. Why were they considered a second tier nation by 1924? I thought they were one of the better teams of the decade. After the 1924 Olympics they won 9 straight matches, no loses no draws. They beat Austria twice, Hungary twice and Italy among others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_national_football_team_results_(1920–29) I you were to replace Zamora who would you put in his place?
Maybe the odds reflect a tight parity among forces. Just want to express that the main centers in the 1920s, were in UK, Central Europe and South America and other nations were pheripherical.
Any input on the late 20s? I am really open to any suggestions on the final spot between Baloncieri, Seoane, Ferreira, Horvath, Silný, Takács or even Jackson or Morton as a second Scot as the Scots were so good internationally during this period and both had excellent club achievements.
@Tom Stevens Sorry to be late Tom but did you consider Patsy Gallacher for the 1920-24 period at all? Gallacher was the highest paid international player at the time (admittedly this was 1919) when he made his debut for Ireland against England and over 50,000 turned up at Windsor Park to watch him. Jimmy McGrory went so far as to state that even Jimmy Johnstone couldn't touch the heights Gallacher reached. The Scottish Cup final of 1925 was nicknamed the Patsy Gallacher final, again this in 1925 and not between 20-24 I understand but it gives an idea of his impact over this period. This is the description of his goal in that final from the Oxford Dictionary National Biography entry -
He was not on my radar at all, sounds like a great player from the little reading I just did. Since his career was pretty long with Celtic around what time was considered his peak? Or maybe he had more of a Ryan Giggs type of career with great longevity considering he played 16 seasons for Celtic alone?
More likely the 2nd option (Giggs style). Patsy played over 500 matches for Celtic although, arguably, his most successful time with the club may have been between 1914-19 in way of trophies won (5 league titles). Nevertheless he has rightly gone down as a Celtic legend but it is hard to get a huge amount of detail due to the time period we are talking about. When a plaque was unveiled in his home town for him all remaining Lisbon Lions were in attendance for the ceremony suggesting just how highly he was thought of by the club and it's legends.
Fantastic and very entertaining style of goal ! I've been interested in Patsy Gallagher biography for a long time. I wonder Scottish XI at that time is a formal selection (just like PFA team of the year ?) or it was just an injustice selection for Celtic' player ? Patsy Gallagher was named in only twice times while a less reputable winger likes Alex Smith (Rangers) was selected fourteen times in the 1900s.
Without going into too much detail and boring people (as I have muttered on about this before) the selection policy for Scotland internationals left a lot to be desired for many, many years. Was it something to do with Celtic having their routes established in an Irish/Scottish mix? The famous Irish flag controversy gives a small insight into this but ultimately it's a lot more than just a flag debate but the whole Celtic/Ireland connection seems to have caused problems for Celtic players in the past when looking for international and national recognition. Many Celtic supporters hold onto the belief that the club were unfairly treated by the SFA for quite some time in the past for the clubs connections to Ireland.
1930-1934 Important international competitions: 1930 and 34 World Cups, 1931-32 and 1933-35 Central European Cups, British Home Championships Important trends: England once again dominant, Austria and Italy via for supremacy in Central Europe, dominant clubs in two biggest leagues (Italy/England), lack of international competition in South America. Giuseppe Meazza: One of the two signature players of this era, he and Sindelar were shoe ins for this Rushmore. In the 1929-30 season with Inter Milan he won the Serie A and was the competitions top scorer with 31 goals. Meazza and Inter would win no more titles in this era due to the dominance of Juventus but he would go on to score 117 goals in 159 games. He played in two editions of the Mitropa Cup, impressing in both but failing to bring home a title. In the 1930 edition he was the tournaments top scorer with 7 goals, and in a thrilling first round tie that required two tiebreakers (4 matches total) eliminated Hungary champions and defending Mitropa Cup champions Ujpest. In the 1933 edition he was again top scorer (shared with three others) with 5 goals, and led Inter to the final. Inter once again faced the defending Mitropa Cup champions in the first round, Austrian Champions First Vienna, and again Inter would prevail behind a second leg hat trick from Meazza. In the final Meazza and Sindelar faced off. Meazza scored in both legs, including a an 85th minute goal in the second leg that appeared to give Inter the title before Sindelar snatched it away one final time. Where Mezza really made his mark was in the national team. In the early 30s he was capped 28 times scoring 24 goals. In just his fourth cap he made a huge impact playing in the final game of the 1927-30 Central European Cup. The standings were tight with Italy a point behind the Czechs and Austrians, who were tied atop the table. Home teams had been dominant throughout the competition and Italy had to beat Hungary in Budapest to take home the Cup. Italy won 5-0 behind a Meazza hat trick. Meazza also famously led Italy to the 1934 World Cup and was the star of the tournament. In a highly anticipate match vs England immediately after the world cup, "The Battle of Highbury", Italy fell behind 3-0 in the first half and were hampered by losing there great midfielder Luis Monti to a broken foot. Playing with only ten men Meazza scored two goals in the second half and was denied and equalizer by the bar. Italy would also go one to win the 1933-35 Central European Cup with Meazza again leading the way. Italy would finish this era 23-7-5 with multiple international titles to its name. Matthias Sindelar: The great playmaker and center forward led Austria's national team, known as the Wunderteam, to the top of world football during this period. He was also able to achieve some remarkable results with his club team despite the fact that they were at best the 4th strongest club in the Austrian League. In 1931 Sindelar was installed as the team's center forward before a match with Scotland, a team who had never previously lost to a continental European team. Austria would win 5-0 behind brilliant play from Sindelar and the Wunderteam was born. They would then go 12 matches unbeaten recording impressive 6-0 and 5-0 wins over Germany, an 8-1 win over Switzerland, 8-2 over Hungary, and a critical 2-1 over Italy that would be the decisive game in Austria winning the 1931-32 Central European Cup (Sindelar scored both goals). After this great run Austria traveled to London to face the English on their home soil, where they had never lost to a continental team. Austria lost a close game 4-3, but Sindelar was brilliant and after the match he was offered a huge contract to play for England's top team Arsenal, which was turned down. Austria would go on to play in the 1934 World Cup and would disappointingly fall to Italy and Meazza in the semifinal. Sindelar was capped 28 times and scored 19 goals leading Austria to a 23-10-8 record over this four year span. Sindelar led his club team Austrian Vienna to the 1933 Austrian Cup, which in turn qualified them for the prestigious Mitropa Cup. Sindelar had an amazing tournament. In the first two rounds Sindelar pulled all the strings in victories over the dominant team in Czechoslovakia, Slavia Prague, and the dominant team in Italy, Juventus. In the final against his long time foe Meazza and Inter, he gave a legendary performance scoring a hat trick in the second leg. In the 80th minute of the second leg Sindelar made an amazing solo run through Inter's defense to score a goal to put Austria in the lead. Meazza leveled the tie in the 85th minute before Sindelar spectacularly volleyed a cross home to win the tie in the 88th minute. Sindelar would finish as joint top scorer with 5 goals. Raimundo Orsi: The great Argentine naturalized Italian winger was the outstanding player in the Serie A in the early 30s leading Juventus to 5 straight titles, 4 in this era making Juventus into THE team in Italy for the rest of their history. He was also a vital part of Italy's national team successes. He had an amazing goal scoring record as a winger, he impressed in his first season with Juventus (29-30) scoring 15 times but were beaten to the title by Meazza and Inter. Orsi would score 20 goals in each of the next two seasons leading Juventus to two titles and terrorizing defenses across Italy. In 32-33 and 33-34 Orsi's goal scoring numbers would come down due to the arrival of dominant center forward Felice Borel, but his impact on the game was not lessened and Juventus ran away with the league in both seasons sporting massive goal differentials. Juventus disappointingly never won the Mitropa Cup, but Orsi put in a number a strong performances. A disappointing first round exit in 1931 was followed by a better performance in 1932, where they convincingly beat Hungarian champions Ferencvaros in the first round. In the semi final they faced Czech champions Slavia. After losing the first leg 4-0 Juventus were on their way back up 2-0 in the second leg at half time (they could have scored even more but the great Planicka was having a blinder for Slavia in goal) when the match was abandoned and both teams were disqualified for violent conduct by fans and players. Orsi scored three goals and was one of the top players of the tournament. In 1933 Juventus were defeated by Austria Vienna and Sindelar after a convincing win over Ujpest. Orsi was the co top scorer of the tournament with 5 goals. In 1934 the team again fell in the semifinal. Orsi was capped 33 times in this period scoring 11 goals for Italy, including the game winning goal in the 1934 World Cup final vs Czechoslovakia. Cliff Bastin: Was an integral part of the Arsenal side that dominated English football in the 1930s. He won three First Division titles and one FA Cup during this period with Arsenal (Bastin and Arsenal added two more First Division titles and an FA Cup in the second half of the decade). Bastin was a left winger but played in a unique style often cutting into the penalty box getting on the end of left inside forward Alex James passes. Despite being a winger he was such a prolific goal scorer with Arsenal that he became their record scorer until 1997. He was only 17 when he was signed by Arsenal in 1929 earning him the nickname "Boy Bastin" At 19 years old he had already won the FA Cup, First Division, and been capped by England, the youngest player ever to accomplish all three. He scored a shocking 96 goals in this era for Arsenal in league games alone, including 28 in 1931 and 33 in 1933, both seasons Arsenal won the title. Bastin was also a part of a resurgent England side in the 30s. England were 16-4-6 during this era, winning three home championships. They won a number of impressive victories during the era including taking 3 of 5 from Scotland and regaining dominance in Britain (wins by scores of 5-2 1930, 3-0 1932, 3-0 1934), beating Spain 7-1 in 1931, ending the Austrian Wunderteam's great run with a 4-3 victory, and defeating the World Cup champions Italy in 1934 3-2. Bastin was capped 9 times scoring 4 goals for England in this period. He scored England's only goal in a 1-1 draw with Italy in Rome in 1933 and scored a brace away vs Switzerland in the same year leading the three lions to a 4-0 victory. He was a key player in England's win at "The Battle of Highbury" vs Italy in 1934, along with Eric Brook creating "infinite danger with passing and quick shooting" (to show Arsenal's dominance of the English game at this time 7 of the starters for England played with Arsenal). Explanation/Honorable mentions: As stated earlier Meazza and Sindelar were shoe ins, and I find their personal rivalry fascinating both players seemed to have great games when playing against one another. Many of their key victories came at the expense of the other. I also feel good about Orsi being included as well, he was vital for the dominant Italian national team and the great Juventus side of the 30s. The biggest decision I had to make was deciding which Arsenal player to include. It came down of Alex James vs Cliff Baston. My initial thought was James, as he was the key playmaker for a side defined by its electric high scoring offense. James is also credited with assisting the majority of Bastin's goals. James though missed almost the entire 1931-32 and 1933-34 seasons. In 31-32 Arsenal were second in both the league and FA Cup barely missing the double and in 33-34 Arsenal won the league. Bastin was a big part of both of these seasons. James also did not make a large impact internationally. He played sparingly for Scotland as Arsenal and previous club sides he played for rarely allowed him to play for his country. His biggest impact internationally was also back in the late 20s as part of the Wembly Wizards. A number of other Central European players deserve mention. Oldřich Nejedlý was the top scorer of the 1934 World Cup and led Czechoslovakia to the final where they lost on a late Orsi goal. Overall he was capped 19 times scoring 14 goals in this period. He was also an important player for Sparta Prague, winning the Czech league in 1932. A number of great Austrian players also deserve mention. Anton Schall was the chief goalscorer for the Wunderteam netting an impressive 24 goals in 24 caps in the early 30s. He was twice Austrian Champion and twice top scorer for Admira Vienna, but failed to make an impact in the Mitropa Cup. Friedrich Gschweidl was the third player in Austria's inside trio, and was Sindelar's playmaking foil. He was capped 21 times in the early 30s scoring 8 goals. He was also the key player of the very successful club side First Vienna, who he led to two Austrian championships (1931 and 1933), one Austrian Cup (1931), and one Mitropa Cup (completing an amazing tremble in 1931!). Finally Josef Smistik was the pinpoint passing center half that, along with Sindelar, made the Wunderteam click. He was capped 26 times in the early 30s and won the 1930 Austrian Championship and Mitropa Cup with Rapid Vienna. István Avar was Hungary's top top player of the time. He won three Hungarian championships with Ujpest and led them to win the Mitropa Cup in 1929 and the "Cup of Nations" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupe_des_Nations) in 1930 overcoming a powerful field that included First Vienna, Bologna, Real Union, and Slavia Prague. In the early 30s Ivar was capped 19 times and scored an 23 goals. He was also the leading scorer of the 1931-32 Central European Cup with 8 goals in 8 games. Luis Monti was a critical player for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup leading them to the final. The midfield hard man then moved to Juventus and was one the the signature players of their 5 time champion team as well as becoming an integral part of Italy's early 30s international team winning the 1934 World Cup. Finding key South American players was difficult at this time as there were no South American Championships played in the early 30s. All the major South American sides played in the 1930 World Cup, but competition at this tournament was probably below that of the 1928 Olympics, as none of the top European sides came to Uruguay of the first World Cup. Jose Nasazzi and Pedro Cea were the stars for the champions Uruguay, although Uruguay went on to have a poor record after the 1930 world cup, going 2-2-6 in the rest of the period. In Argentinian league was becoming stronger during this time, Francisco Varallo was seen as one of the top players in the league. He won two Championships with Boca Juniors in 1931 and 34 and was the top scorer in 1933 with 34 goals. He was Boca's all time leading scorer until 2008. Bernabé Ferreyra was another star from Argentina, mostly for his exploits in 1932 when he scored an amazing 43 goals in 33 games to lead River Plate to the title.