Great players on dead end national teams

Discussion in 'The Beautiful Game' started by wufc, Dec 19, 2006.

  1. Winston Smith

    Winston Smith New Member

    Nov 17, 2003
    London
    I was going to mention Kanoute, but whenever I think of him in terms of greatness, I remember that stupid bloody pirhouette in the penalty area against Liverpool a couple of years ago which got us knocked out of the cup. If you didn't see it we were basically 1 nil up in extra time against Liverpools youth team. They got a corner and then for no discernible reason Kanoute decides to jump up with his hands stretched straight above his head. He handballed and from the subsequent penalty we got knocked out on penalties. And I wasn't even surprised because it was classic Freddie F-cking Liability Kanoute.

    He was a good player but always seemed to lack confidence and miss open goals from three metres out. There's a reason he chose Mali.
     
  2. 655321

    655321 New Member

    Jul 21, 2002
    The Mission, SF

    ?? I seem to recall Ginola playing for France (and subsequently being blamed by Houllier for one of his mistakes being the reason they didn't qualify for a World Cup). And I know for a fact that Gascoigne played for England quite a few times.
     
  3. Winston Smith

    Winston Smith New Member

    Nov 17, 2003
    London
    Yes, but they didn't reach their potential internationally. Gascoigne became a wife beating alcoholic and Ginola was displaced.
     
  4. jared9999

    jared9999 Member+

    Jan 3, 2005
    Naucalpan Estado de Mex
    Club:
    Club América
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    David Suazo-honduras
     
  5. saosebastiao

    saosebastiao New Member

    May 22, 2005
    Amen to that...that team is struggling for ANY coach who can assemble a talented side whatsoever. A plus would be a team that doesn't want to murder each other so they can take all the glory individually...they have been doing that as of late.
     
  6. Ombak

    Ombak Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Apr 19, 1999
    Irvine, CA
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    You need to turn on your sarcasm detector.

    The post you took seriously was a reply to someone who called Chilavert and Cubillas' nations "dead-end teams".

    Look closely, you'll see the sarcasm.
     
  7. deejay

    deejay Member+

    Feb 14, 2000
    Tarpon Springs, FL
    Club:
    Jorge Wilstermann
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    For this to make any sense at all the player has to be head and shoulders above the rest of his countrymen and the national team has to have little history in the World Cup. Being a standout player for a great team is also helpful.

    Best and Weah are obvious.

    Another who should have been obvious but wasn't mentioned is the recently deceased Ecuadorian striker Alberto Spencer. The best striker in Uruguay at a time when Peñarol and Nacional were elite world-class clubs and when South Americans played in South America.

    There's a Paraguayan who tore up the Argentinian league back in the 30's. Back when Paraguay was not a good team. Anyone remember his name?
     
  8. guado

    guado Member+

    Jun 30, 2004
    ocotengo miedo
    Club:
    Inverness Caledonian Thistle
    Nat'l Team:
    Indonesia

    thank you ombak.
     
  9. Blitzwing

    Blitzwing New Member

    Jul 3, 2006
    Sydney
    He's the first player that came to my mind, another one would be Alexander Hleb of Arsenal.
     
  10. PsychedelicCeltic

    PsychedelicCeltic New Member

    Dec 10, 2003
    San Francisco/London
    Please, Northern Ireland are hardly hopeless, were less hopeless in the 70s when Belfast was one of the most fertile factories of football talent in the world, and certainly weren't during Best's period at almost anytime. They would have been even better had Best not regularly ducked from national team commitments. Northern Ireland won the Home Nations outright for the first time in 1980, so imagine what a team with George Best would have done?

    Best would have been pretty old in 1982 (36) but he could have played had he not been drinking himself to death. Billy Bingham, NI's manager, considered him but eventually left him off the team.
    To be Welsh is to rue failing to qualify for major tournaments by a gnat's pubic hair. We're hardly hopeless, and do quite well considering Wales has 3 million people and football is arguably not even the most popular game in the country.
    Wynton Rufer played in World Cup '82, so I don't think he would count.
     
  11. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Solskjaer and all three of the Irishmen have actually played in the knockout stages of the World Cup. Hardly dead-end national teams.
     
  12. dor02

    dor02 Member

    Aug 9, 2004
    Melbourne
    Club:
    UC Sampdoria
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    If he wasn't such as pisspot, he could have been an all-time great.
     
  13. Winston Smith

    Winston Smith New Member

    Nov 17, 2003
    London
    The Irish team overachieved though and have been crap of late. I thought Solskjaer was Icelandic?
     
  14. Ombak

    Ombak Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Apr 19, 1999
    Irvine, CA
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    He's Norwegian.
     
  15. sidis

    sidis Member

    Jun 2, 2006
    Itaguaí-RJ - Brazil
    for these players i wish a second division world cup, played 2 weeks before the world cup and in other country.
     
  16. SheffWedFan

    SheffWedFan Member

    Dec 23, 2005
    Thousand Oaks, CA
    Club:
    Sheffield Wednesday FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    That's actually an interesting idea. I just went and had a look at the qualification for the WC in 06, to see which teams would have made the "Second Division World Cup":

    Europe: Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia and Turkey
    Africa: Cameroon, DR Congo, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal
    South America: Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela
    Asia: Bahrain, Kuwait, North Korea and Uzbekistan
    CONCACAF: Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and St. Vincent
    OFC/CONMEBOL Playoff: Peru or Solomon Islands

    Who do we think might have won this tournement? Cameroon? Russia? Uruguay? Colombia? Turkey?

    Interesting.
     
  17. Manyaraña Recargado

    Jan 9, 2006
    Club:
    CA Peñarol
    Nat'l Team:
    Uruguay
    litmanen finlandia
     
  18. akofman12345

    akofman12345 New Member

    Apr 16, 2005
    San Jose

    the favorites to win that world cup i would have to say is Denmark, Romania, Turkey, and Cameroon. All good teams that have done well in International competitions.
     
  19. martinmartin

    martinmartin New Member

    Oct 1, 2006
    millan y lecoq



    alberto acosta - peñarol de uruguay
     
  20. Mike22

    Mike22 New Member

    Nov 8, 2005
    Tampa-->KC, Mo
    Maybe not a great player, but Shalrie Joseph is certainly a player that is of much higher quality than anyone else on the Grenadan (Grenadanian?) national team.

    Antti Niemi is a quality keeper playing (played?) for not-so-good Finland. They also had an stellar but oft-injured midfielder whose name I forgot.

    Benni McCarthy of South Africa.

    Dwight Yorke of T&T.

    Wayne Rooney of England.

    Kakha Kaladze of Georgia or Armenia, I think.

    David Suazo of Honduras.
     
  21. benficafan3

    benficafan3 Member+

    Nov 16, 2005
    Both been to World Cups. Also, add Arveladze to the list.
     
  22. Leto

    Leto New Member

    Aug 23, 2001
    Donegal,Ireland
    I love how McCarthy and Yorke got singled out of that list but Rooney didn't :D
     
  23. Chivas100

    Chivas100 New Member

    Nov 30, 2006
    Chicago
    Mark Gonzalez of Chile who plays for Liverpool.
     
  24. Winston Smith

    Winston Smith New Member

    Nov 17, 2003
    London
    There's another Chilean player who I always thought was really good. Salas was it?
     
  25. Ombak

    Ombak Moderator
    Staff Member

    Flamengo
    Apr 19, 1999
    Irvine, CA
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Yes, and Zamorano.

    And Chile is not a dead-end team either.
     

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