Who is the greatest forward till the time when Puskas/Pele started played playing? Let's define it for once and forever. Bican, Sindlear, Moreno, Scarone, Zizinho, Friedenreich, Meazza? or some other?
Not really ... I have not enough info to rate them ... However, 1- in term of "SCORING" power: (but not lack of style and techniques like Puskas/Pele): Leonidas > Meazza= Ademir > Juste fontaine = Kocsis > Biscan = Freidenrich 2- in term of playmaking/stylish or overall best player: Moreno, Scarone, Leonidas, Zizinho, Varella, Meazza were the TOP names ... and it's hard to rate them correctly.
In 1943 G.O. Smith declared that Nuts Cobbold was first among all the forwards he had ever seen. That is high praise for me.
A serious lack of forwards from the UK when a large proportion of the timeframe requested in the title falls into the pre war era and earlier. You have to take into account that the UK was leading the way then and yet not one British player is mentioned in the first 4 posts...
Moreno came in second in a poll in Argentina for its greatest player, only behind Maradona. That should put him somewhere at the very top of this list. Here's my top dozen: Moreno Scarone Sindelaar Meazza Kocsis Leonidas Friendenreich Bican Zizinho Finney Erico Gomez Lostau Not including players such as Schiaffino, Pedernera, Matthews, who were more attacking mids in my opinion.
Let's not forget Dr. Sarosi! GYÖRGY SAROSIBorn: 16 September 1912.Died: 20 June 1993.Nick name: Gyuri, King of Football.Position: Inside forward, center forward and center half.Caps:61 (1931-1943) / 42 goalsLeague Games:383 (1930-1948) / 351 goalsTrophies & Tournaments:World Cup beaten finalist: 1938World Cup participant: 1934, 1938Mitropa Cup: 1937Hungarian Champion: 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941Hungarian runner-up: 1935, 1937, 1939, 1944, 1945Hungarian Cup winner: 1933, 1935, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946Hungarian Cup beaten finalist: 1931, 1932Top Scorer Hungary: 1936, 1940, 1941Dr. György Sarosi was one of the world’s greatest footballers between the two World Wars. During his career, he scored 393 goals for Hungary and his club Ferencvaros in 444 games over a period spanning 18 years (1930 to 1948). Of the great generation of Hungarians that came before the Magic Magyars of the 1950s, Sarosi led his teammates to the 1938 World Cup final in which his team lost to the defending champions Italy despite him scoring a goal. Possessing a superb technique and supreme football intelligence, Sarosi was a sophisticated person on and off the pitch, equally adept at playing center forward and at dropping back creating opportunities for his teammates as inside right or inside left and since he was also very strong in the air, Sarosi was known be a very good center half as well.Sarosi played his first game for Hungary on May 21 1931 in Belgrade vs Yugoslavia, which the Magyars lost 2-3. His last game he played in November 1943 against Sweden (2-7 defeat). His personal highlight while playing for Hungary came on 19 September 1937, when he scored seven goals against Frantisek Planicka in Hungary’s 8-3 victory over World Cup runners-up Czechoslovakia. Sarosi played his first World Cup in 1934 but missed the first game vs. Egypt. In the second round against the strong Austrians Sarosi could not prevent a 1-2 defeat, scoring Hungary’s only goal. Things went better for the Magyars four years later, in the first round they crushed the Dutch East Indies 6-0 (two goals by Sarosi), then eliminated the Swiss by winning 2-1 (Sarosi scoring once). In the semi final, the Swedes were annihilated in a 5-1 rout (one goal by Sarosi) but in the final, they met an Italy side that proved too strong for them that day, but again Sarosi scored a goal in the 2-4 defeat, having thus managed to score in every World Cup game he played in (6 goals in 5 games).Sarosi went on to play for Ferencvaros during the war, but left his country at the beginning of the communist era. He moved to the United States for a while but then decided to become a manager in Italy with no less a club than the mighty Juventus who he led to a Scudetto in 1952. Italy was to become his new home, changing his Christian name from György to Giorgio as well as becoming Italian citizen. He eventually died in Genoa in 1993 at the age of 80.This profile was written with the help of this website.League Statistics per SeasonSeason - Club - Games – Goals1930/31 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................07 / 02 1931/32 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 04 1932/33 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................21 / 08 1933/34 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................22 / 24 1934/35 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................21 / 22 1935/36 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................20 / 37 1936/37 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 29 1937/38 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 29 1938/39 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 26 1939/40 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................23 / 23 1940/41 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................22 / 30 1941/42 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................18 / 19 1942/43 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................15 / 06 1943/44 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................27 / 11 1944/45 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................15 / 14 1945...... Ferencvaros Budapest ....................18 / 16 1945/46 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................32 / 31 1946/47 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................29 / 15 1947/48 Ferencvaros Budapest ....................19 / 05
[Along w/Cobbold & Smith; Roy Bentley, "Dixie" Dean, Ted Drake, Tommy Lawton, Stan Mortensen & "Viv" Woodward spring to mind amongst just the English centre-forwards (regardless of their type)...]
[Agreed, I hadn't got to the Scots yet, mate... Since people are all over the place as to who qualifies here; we also can't forget Peter Doherty of NI...]
[For frasermc and yourself: we can't forget the LEGENDARY Billy Liddell of Liverpool and Scotland...]