Greatest players in History of Japanese/Chinese/Iranian/Saudi soccer?

Japan's Best 5

1. Kunishige Kamamoto
2. Yasuhiko Okudera
3. Kazu Miura
4. Hidetoshi Nakata
5. "Gon" Nakayama

Kamamoto, Kunishige
The biggest football star that strikes the Japanese first is Kunishige Kamamoto. Born in 1944, the Yanmer(current Gamba Osaka) striker made his name in Mexico Olympic '68 when Japan won the bronze medals and he was the top scorer of the tournament(7 goals in 6 games).
In his career, he scored 202 goals in Japan Soccer League(amature) and 69 goals in internaional "A" matches. Retired in '84.

Okudera, Yasuhiko
Okudera has become the first "pro" Japanese footballer in '77. He transfered to Bundesliga side FC Koln from Koge-Denko(current JEF United Ichihara). When the Japanese team travelled to Germany, Okudera caught attentions of the Koln manager. The winger, who was also used at a few other positions such as defensive half and wing half, helped the club win both Bundesliga and German Cup. He transfered to Heltha Berlin(2nd division) in late '80-'81 season and then moved to Werder Bremen next season. In the 9 seasons he played in Budesliga, he scored 25 goals in 252 games. He was also the first Japanese player who has ever played in UEFA competitions(Cup Winners Cup). He faced S.Korea's Cha BG. This may be the first time when the Asians have ever played in the same game in an European league.

 

This list just proves that Japan has no real "history" of football. Hide Nakata is the best one on the list, and he isnt even 30 yet. When a current player is the best player in history (And I disagree that Nakata is Japan's even the best player today), you dont have much of a history.

By the way, the former Yanmar is the current Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was the former Matsushita Electric, and it has not been around very long. It was formed just a few years before the J.League started.

 

this is my view, it may not be what others think (others include saudi meadia, and thw whole world for that matter )

1-Majid Abdullah (striker)
2-Mohammad Alda'ya (goal keeper)

As u can see I don't give a lot of attention to what happens in the MF . I'm like in sleep mode until we score, or until Alda'ya saves or a$$es from a 100% goal scoring chance.

Too bad it was Mohammd between the post when we played germany, but that game was freaky!

 

I think RAMOS the japan MF jeneral in the 90's should be with that list.

 

what about saeed owairan? can't he make the list?

 

i'm not big fan of ramos. if he can make the list then i prefer to put wagner ropez

 

Nope his goal dose not compare with what Majid. Majid kept his place as saudi #1 striker from 84 Asian cup till USA 94. While Saead burnt out quicly after his goal in USA 94.

 

Wagner Lopez is certainly underrated. If he had started alongside or instead of Jo, I'm convinced Japan could've gotten at least a point from France '98. Too bad he didn't get his citizenship until too late in his career.

 

Yeah, I remember when he got his citizenship--just in time for WC98 qualifying. I was living in Japan at the time. I kinda chuckle when I recall that the best that they could do to approximate his last name in Kanji was Ropisu.

 

I agree that Nakata should not be on that list, its way too early, plus he still has ways to go to accomplish. But I have to say that it doesn't matter if a current player was on the list. It doesn't mean that there is no history. Take Roberto Baggio, Zidane, Romario, etc etc, these guys are still playing and a proof that current players can belong to a long line of rich history.

 

He's at Vissel Kobe now. He has continued to play the way he did in France, not scoring many goals. It's safe to say he won't be on any "Greatest Japanese Players" list.

Although I'd say Okudera is the greatest player based on career accomplishments, that's only because he's the only player to have an extended period of success in Europe. In domestic play, Kamamoto may be the best, but there's no single player we can call the Greatest.

Hopefully, in 15-20 years, we can choose from a larger crop of players, say Ono, Nakata or some other player we have yet to see.

 

Every generation has it's heroes. So in my choices for Saudi I'm representing the different generations:

1. Majed Abdullah, without argument.
2. Saeed Ghorab, greatest player of the pre boom generation
3. Mohammed AlDaeyea, the best of limited picking in the 90s/00s era

 

Iran's best players all-time

Goalkeeper:

1) Naser Hejazi. He played for the Taj club (now called Esteghlal), and was Iran's national goalkeeper in the 1970s, including during World Cup 1978. More recently, he has coached various clubs, including a stint with Esteghlal when the club finished 2nd in the 1998-99 Asian Club championship.

2) Ahmadreza Abedzadeh. He was the captain of Iran's 1998 World Cup team, as well as one of the few players to have played for both Esteghlal before joining Iranian rivals Perspolis, where he played the rest of his career before retiring.

Defenders:

1) Andranik Eskandarian. He was a member of Iran's 1978 World Cup team, playing for the Taj (Esteghlal) club and later the New York Cosmos of the old NASL.

2) Mohammad Khakpour. He was a member of Iran's 1998 World Cup team, played for various clubs around Asia, as well as for the Metrostars of the MLS. Although eventually aged caught up with his abilities, Khakpour was one of Iran's classiest defenders in his better days.

3) Rahman Rezaie. Although a new addition to Iran's national team, Rezaie has earned a place in my all-time team for playing every minute for his club in the Serie A last season, getting good reviews with Perugia.

4) Mehdi Pashazadeh. Pashazadeh has returned to football recently after a serious injury that took him away from the game for nearly 2 years. He was a member of Iran's 1998 World Cup team, after which he joined Bayer Leverkusen. Regretably, he was seriously injured after joining the club, and afer surgery, joined another German club as their captain but soon thereafter suffered another career threatening injury that saw him undergo surgery. After 2 years of not playing football, he is now back with Esteghlal, although he is not the player he was before his injury.

Midfielders:

1) Ali Parvin. He was the captain of Iran's 1978 World Cup team, having played for Iran in an era where Iran dominated the sport in Asia with 3 successive Asian championships. Parvin played for Perspolis, the club which he coaches right now. He also served a couple of years as Iran's head coach in the earlier 90s, winning the 1990 Asian Games but later being sacked after poor results in the 1994 World Cup qualfiers.

2) Karim Bagheri. Although injuries, and lack of motivation, have turned Bagheri into merely a shadow of his old self, Bagheri was among the first group of Iranians to join Euroepan clubs when he was recruited by Arminia Bielefeld of the Bundesliga. Bagheri has played for several other clubs, including a short stint with Charlton Athletics of the English Premier League. Bagheri's acheivements include being top goal scorer in the world in 1997, 2 nominations for Asian Player of the year, as well as selection to the Bundesliga 2 Team of the Year for his prominent role in seeing Bielefeld promoted back to the Bundesliga. He is currently back in Iran, playing for Perspolis. Although most typically a defensive midfielder, Bagheri is Iran's 2nd all-time goal scorer, only behind Daei in that category.

3) Mehdi Mahdavikia. Mahdavikia has been with Hamburg of the Bundesliga for several years, and was one of Iran's most instrumental players in the 1997-98 period, highlighted by what turned out to be Iran's winning goal against the United States in World Cup 1998.

4) Mehrdad Minavand. Minavand has played in more champions league matches than any other Iranian player, reflecting his long tenure with perenial Austrian champion Sturm Graz. He was a member of Iran's World Cup 1998 team, and is currently playing in the UAE with Al Shabab.

5) Ali Karimi. He is a prodigy although occasionally shows lack of discipline in channeling his undeniable talent to the benefit of his team. Playing for the UAE after rejecting offers from several European clubs, Karimi is Iran's most promising player ever. That promise, as yet not fully realized, alone is so great that it justifies his mention in this list.


Forwards

1) Ali Daei. Daei is Iran's best known player and all-time leading goal scorer. Until joining Al Shabab of the UAE, Daei played for various clubs in the Bundesliga, beginning with Arminia Bielefeld, then joining Bayern Munich and later Hertha Berlin. The long list of Daei's accomplishments include being selected as Asian Player of the Year in 1999 for his critical champions league goals for Hertha Berlin.

2) Hassan Rowshan. My all-time favorite Iranian player, Rowshan's career was interrupted by successive injuries as well as the revolution. However, his memorable goals against the likes of France, Poland, Peru, and many others in Asia and elsewhere, as well as his great skills, make him one of Iran's all-time best players. Rowshan was a member of Iran's World Cup 1998 team, and played for Taj (later renamed Esteghlal) club.

3) Khodadad Azizi. Although Azizi's work ethic (or lack thereof), and his frequent problems with coaches all over the world, never allowed him to fully utilize his enormous god given talents, nonetheless the 1996 Asian Player of the Year undoubtely deserves being counted as one of Iran's all-time best players. His memorable goal against Australia, that qualified Iran for World Cup 1998, will always be remembered by Iranian football fans. Today playing for the Pass club in Iran, Azizi has also played for FC Koln of the Bundesliga as well as the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS.

 

I couldn't agree with you more

simply, they are only three. the rest were to fill the gaps.


Dear "Simply Ken",
what the .... the subject was the greatest not all the good ones... as a non-iranain, these names will not ring a bill to me at all because they are so many and some are not that famose. if you mintioned only 2-4 names then they will stick in ppl mind better.


REGARDS,
BOONASSER

 

Saudi,

Fair enough. Except, truth be told, my list actually omits one other name that deserves mention before many others Iranian midfielder Ghelichkhani, who starred for Iran in the 1970s but retired before World Cup 1978.

The biggest names to remember include from the more recent players Daei, Mahdavikia, Azizi and Bagheri, with Karimi our brightest prospect right now. From the 1970s, Parvin, Ghelichkhani, Rowshan and Hejazi were Iran's greatest players.

 

In China?

1. Lee Hui Teng. He was called "King of football" in 1930s of China in Shanghai. He led a Chinese team to Europe for a one qualify game in Europe and lost to Italy or somebody.

2. Rong Zhi Hang. He was the captain of failed Chinese team for 1982 World Cup. He was from southern province of Canton. He was a traditional #10 that China failed to produce after him.

3. Gu Guang Ming. He was also in that failed team to spark football fever in China. He was winger who can play both wings with very good dribbling skills and speed and great crossing ability. He was also from Canton.

I didn't follow Chinese football too much after 1986. Before that many of techinical superior players are from Canton area. Right now, no one is from that area. Instead of most of Chinese national team members are from Northern provinces. They do have great physical strength and tall. Some of them are fast too. But as you see, their techinical skills are pretty bad compare with Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia and even worse than Korea. Still let me remember those guys from Cantom who are short but really know how to handle the ball at their foot. :>)

 

You beat to it by mentioning Rong Zhi Hang and Guo Guang Ming. Guo Guang Ming ended his career somewhere in West Germany.

If you included Chinese outside of mainland, there were plenty of great players before the 1960'sthe the Best Eleven team selected by AFC for the last century included at least three ethnic Chinese players. They played under Republic of China, but they were not from taiwan. Two of them were from Hong Kong and the other was from Malaysia.

A player by the surname of Zhang played for Blackpool with Sir Stanley Matthews. He was actually the first Asian-born Chinese player to score in England.

 

I posted my choices for the greatest Japanese players before, but just to add.

Okudera was the most accomplished internationally, but Kamamoto has always held a legendary status in Japanese football from his years at Yanmar (now Cerezo Osaka).

Of course, Wagner Lopes recently passed him as the career goals leader in Japanese domestic play and in 20 years, I'm sure someone from this generation (Ono? Nakata?) will be considered the greatest.

 

Just for fun.

I think the Dutch National Teamster Wouter is a Chinese who came from Surinam but changed to his mother's name. So is the Dutch guy in Glasgow Ranger with first name Michael and I don't know how spell his last name (in Chinese as Mao). Also Sunsing is Costa Rica team is half Chiese as US guy Michael Chung.

 

Ali Daei= Best Iranian player ever

 

korean players

I didn't follow Chinese football too much after 1986. Before that many of techinical superior players are from Canton area. Right now, no one is from that area. Instead of most of Chinese national team members are from Northern provinces. They do have great physical strength and tall. Some of them are fast too. But as you see, their techinical skills are pretty bad compare with Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia and even worse than Korea. Still let me remember those guys from Cantom who are short but really know how to handle the ball at their foot. :>) [/B][/QUOTE]

-->correct me if I misunderstood. It seems that you have described Korean players have comparably less individual skills. But, I believe Korean players are ok perhaps good in individual technical skills(like passing, ball controls, read game), but rather more famous with their speed and physical. Without individual technical skills, there will be no way dominating Asian soccer for long time.
I would rather say, the style which the Korean national team played gave impression that players are just running fast and physical.
I know and do remember many Korean players with good individual skills.
I do not believe Iran, SA or Japan are better in terms of individual technical skills than Korean players.
I know that judging player's individual skills are pretty difficult because players-usually in the national team level, required to play upon what their team/coach asked for.

I do remember for example, Lee Tae-Ho, as one of good Korean players(striker and middle fielder) was impressive with great individual technical skills-in terms of ball controlling and passing and scoring.
Beside him, there I can remember more than 10 players immediately in my mind.

 

You don't meant Jan Wouters, do you????

For the player at Ranger, you must be talking about Michael Mols at Rangers.

BTW, one of England's greatest defender is actually Chinese. His name escaped me.

 

Iraq's most remembered players are :

Hussein Sa'aeed (Forward)

* Helped lead Iraq to win The Asian U-20 in Tehran in 1979.

* Iraq top goal scorer ever.

Ahmad Radhi (Forward)

*Scored Iraq's only goal against Belgium in the 1986 world cup appearance in Mexico .

*Lead Iraq into winning The Gulf cup.


Adnan Derjal (deffender)

*Captained Iraq for almost decade.

* Helped Iraq make it to the Olympics 3 times, win Gulf Cup 2 times and paved the way for Iraq to be in the World cup in '86.