Who is the oldest player ever capped by a NT? I believed a player from Iceland or Faroe Island played with his son on the NT. However, that might be grimmick liked Gordie Howe playing with his sons in NHL. I am not counting Romario or baggio who used a NT match as a testimonial. Zoff is perhaps the oldest player ever capped by a NT. Van Moorer????
roger milla is the oldest to play in the world cup at 42 if i remember correctly. not sure if thats the record overall though.
Milla was 42-039 when he played (and scored!) against Russia in 1994. That's correct, he is the oldest to do it in the WC finals. Stanley Matthews played his last cap in 1957, at 42-103. But there have been probably several older ones to play international matches since.
According to M. Olenev's football encyclopedia (and online source with lots of good stuff), Billy Meredith (Wales) would have the record, playing at 45y 8m. http://www.geocities.com/maximolenev/Sbornye.htm#3 More about Meredith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Meredith --- The thing about longevity in international play is that, to me, it makes a huge difference whether the matches are official or not. What Roger Milla did in 1990 and 1994 was just phenomenal, and IMO it will be rare to see something like that in the future. BTW, does anyone know if Zambian coach-player and legend Kalusha Bwalya will be on the pitch in the ANC? I believe he has over 100 caps and played during the WCQ. He was born in 1963.
I think you may be thinking of Ali Daei, who holds the record number of international goals... He's in his late 30's though.
That was Iceland's Arnor Gudjohnsen and his son, Eidur Gudjohnsen of Chelsea Arnor was only 34 when that happened though http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudjohnsen
because I was looking at continuation as well as age. Many players got testimontials in an international match. They were brought back for the same reason. Maradona did play for Argentina not so long ago. Does that count?
Looks like Meredith still holds the record. Here's a more reliable source: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=45215&Reg=1
If Maradona gets his way (I hope he doesn't...), Maradona could be capped again for Argentina at 45. And this isn't a joke. This is serious, straight from the Argentine media. We can be so stupid some times.
kalusha would only play if he put himself in (which he has done.) there was a game in which he said he had no subs, so he went in, (100th cap) scored off of a free kick (50th Nt goal) and , according to him "i did more running celebrating than i did playing."
Cool. I asked, because he didn't include himself on the provisional squad for the tournament: http://www.egypt2006.com.eg/English/News/chalwe.htm It looks like he hasn't named the final squad yet.
Ali Daei of Iran is going to be 37 at the '06 WC. He has about 140 caps, and 107 international goals (tops in football history). He may be the oldest player at the Germany WC. Roger Milla was 41 when he played at the '94 WC. He also was the oldest player to score at a WC. He scored in the famous 6-1 loss to Russia. I was at that game. Incidentally 5 of Russia's goals were scored by the same player. I don't remember his name now.
He's must be 250 at most, and that's not the point. He just doesn't have the fitness... I don't know, maybe if he joins a top tier club and does WELL all the way up, maybe, maybe... but otherwise...
Guys... Maradona is not a fat*ss anymore. He lost the weight. I think it was because he was sick or something.
How about oldest team? IIRC, Turks and Caicos Islands had no fewer than four players over 40 on their last WCQ roster.