More La Stampa average ratings summaries then.... Average ratings for the Netherlands De Goey - 5.9 (5 ratings) Valckx - 5.88 (4 ratings) Koeman - 5.6 (5 ratings) F.De Boer - 5.63 (4 ratings) Rijkaard - 6 (4 ratings) Wouters - 5.63 (4 ratings) Bergkamp - 6.5 (5 ratings) Taument - 5.67 (3 ratings) Overmars - 6.1 (5 ratings) R. De Boer - 5.83 (3 ratings) Witschge - 6.13 (4 ratings) Roy - 5.4 (5 ratings) Jonk - 5.9 (from 5 ratings, including a 6 vs Belgium which I realised I'd not typed before) Winter - 6.17 (3 ratings) Van Vossen - 5.75 (4 ratings) Van Gobbel - 5 (1 rating) Average ratings for Spain Zubizarreta - 6.13 (4 ratings) Ferrer - 6.4 (5 ratings) Abelardo - 6.2 (5 ratings) Nadal - 5.33 (3 ratings) Alkorta - 6.38 (4 ratings) Otero - 6 (1 rating) Goicoechea - 5.7 (5 ratings) Caminero - 6.38 (4 ratings) Bakero - 6 (2 ratings) Hierro - 6.4 (5 ratings) Sergi - 6.2 (5 ratings) Luis Enrique - 5.75 (4 ratings) Salinas - 5.5 (4 ratings) Camarasa - 6 (1 rating) Guerrero - 5.5 (2 ratings) Guardiola - 6 (2 ratings) Voro - 6 (1 rating) Felipe - 5 (1 rating)
Average ratings for Romania Prunea - 5.83 (3 ratings) Petrescu - 6.1 (5 ratings) Prodan - 5.7 (5 ratings) Belodedici - 6.1 (5 ratings) Mihali - 5.33 (3 ratings) Munteanu - 5.6 (5 ratings) Selymes - 6 (3 ratings) Lupescu - 6.2 (5 ratings) Popescu - 5.9 (5 ratings) Hagi - 7 (5 ratings) Dumitrescu - 6.1 (5 ratings) Raducioiu - 6.75 (4 ratings) Stelea - 6.5 (2 ratings) Average ratings for Germany Illgner - 6.2 (5 ratings) Helmer - 5.5 (2 ratings) Kohler - 6 (5 ratings) Matthaus - 5.7 (5 ratings) Brehme - 6 (4 ratings) Berthold - 5.9 (5 ratings) Buchwald - 5.67 (3 ratings) Sammer - 6.13 (4 ratings) Wagner - 5.25 (2 ratings) Hassler - 6.3 (5 ratings) Voller - 6.67 (3 ratings) Klinsmann - 6.7 (5 ratings) Strunz - 5.5 (2 ratings) Moller - 6.33 (3 ratings) Effenberg - 5.67 (3 ratings) Riedle - 5 (2 ratings)
Other games of Switzerland and Belgium, from La Stampa: La Stampa (1994-06-19) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive USA vs Switzerland: USA - Meola 6.5, Kooiman 6, Balboa 6, Lalas 6, Caligiuri 6, Harkes 6, Sorber 5.5, Ramos 6, Dooley 6, Stewart 5.5, Wynalda 7; Switzerland - Pascolo 6, Hottiger 6, Herr 5.5, Geiger 6, Quentin 5.5, Ohrel 6, Bregy 7, Sforza 6.5, Sutter 6.5, Bickel 6.5, Chapuisat 6 La Stampa (1994-06-30) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Belgium vs Saudi Arabia: Belgium - Preud'homme 6, Medved 5, Wilmots 4.5 (Weber 5), De Wolf 5, Albert 5, Smidts 6, Scifo 4.5, Van der Elst 5, Staelens 5.5, Degryse 5 (Nilis 6), Boffin 5; Saudi Arabia - Al Deayea 7, Zebermawi 6.5, Al Khilaiwi 6, Madani 6.5, Al Jawad 6.5, Saleh 6.5, Al Bishi 6, Falatah 7, Jebreen 6, Mohammed 6.5, Owairan 7.5 (Al Dosari 6) La Stampa (1994-06-27) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Switzerland vs Colombia: Switzerland - Pascolo 7, Hottiger 6, Quentin 6, Herr 5.5, Geiger 6, Bregy 5.5, Sutter 5.5, Ohrel 5.5, Knup 5, Sforza 5, Chapuisat 5.5; Colombia - Cordoba 6, Herrera 6.5, Escobar 6, Perez 6.5, Mendoza 6, Gaviria 6.5 (Lozano 6.5), Alvarez 6, Rincon 5, Asprilla 7, Valderrama 6.5, Valencia 5.5 (De Avilla 6) La Stampa (1994-06-20) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Belgium vs Morocco: Belgium - Preud'homme 6, Smitds 6, Grun 6.5, De Wolf 7, Boffin 6, Staelens 6, Van der Elst 6, Degryse 5.5, Scifo 6, Nilis 5.5, Weber 6; Morocco - Azmi 6.5, Abdellah Nacer 5, El Hadriqui 6, Triki 6, Naybet 6 (Bahja 7), Hababi 6.5, El Hadaqui 6, Azzouzi 6, Daoudi 6, Hadji 6.5, Chaouch 5.5
Average ratings for Switzerland Pascolo - 6.5 (4 ratings) Hottiger - 6 (4 ratings) Herr - 5.63 (4 ratings) Geiger - 5.75 (4 ratings) Quentin - 5.75 (4 ratings) Ohrel - 5.88 (4 ratings) Bregy - 6.13 (4 ratings) Sforza - 5.88 (4 ratings) Sutter - 6.5 (3 ratings) Knup - 5.67 (3 ratings) Chapuisat - 6 (4 ratings) Studer - 6 (1 rating) Bickel - 6 (2 ratings) Average ratings for Belgium Preud'homme - 6.5 (4 ratings) Staelens - 5.88 (4 ratings) Grun - 6.67 (3 ratings) Albert - 5.83 (3 ratings) De Wolf - 5.75 (4 ratings) Borkelmans - 5 (1 rating) Smidts - 5.75 (4 ratings) Van der Elst - 5.5 (4 ratings) Emmers - 6 (2 ratings) Scifo - 5.75 (4 ratings) Weber - 5.88 (4 ratings) Degryse - 5.83 (3 ratings) Nilis - 5.5 (3 ratings) Medved - 5 (1 rating) Wilmots - 4.5 (1 rating) Boffin - 5.5 (2 ratings)
Since I can't find any player ratings (maybe not published it seems) from La Stampa for the final games of the Bulgaria-Nigeria-Argentina-Greece group, I already posted what I can find for Nigeria, and so I can show their averages (without the last group stage games included), along with other 2nd round qualifiers Argentina below, after noting the ratings for Argentina vs Greece: La Stampa (1994-06-22) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Argentina vs Greece: Argentina - Islas 6, Sensini 6.5, Caceres 6, Ruggeri 6, Chamot 6.5, Simeone 6, Redondo 6.5, Balbo 6.5, Caniggia 6.5, Maradona 7, Batistuta 8.5; Greece - Minou 4.5, Apostolakis 5, Koutsidakis 5.5, Manolas 5, Kalizakis 5, Tsalouchidis 5, Saravakos 5, Nioplias 5.5, Tsiantakis 5 (Marangos 5.5), Machlas 4 (Mitropoulos 5), Kofidis 6 Average ratings for Argentina (without Bulgaria game) Islas - 6 (3 ratings) Sensini - 6.17 (3 ratings) Bello - 6 (1 rating) Caceres - 5.67 (3 ratings) Ruggeri - 5.67 (3 ratings) Chamot - 6.17 (3 ratings) Redondo - 6.33 (3 ratings) Basualdo - 6 (1 rating) Simeone - 6.33 (3 ratings) Ortega - 6.5 (1 rating) Batistuta - 7.5 (3 ratings) *probably his average goes down overall Balbo - 6.5 (3 ratings) Maradona - 7 (2 ratings) Caniggia - 7.25 (2 ratings) Average ratings for Nigeria (without Greece game) Rufai - 6.33 (3 games) Eguavoen - 5.5 (3 games) Okechukwu - 5.75 (2 games) Nwanu - 5.83 (3 games) Emenalo - 6 (2 ratings) Finidi - 5.67 (3 ratings) *surely his average goes up overall Okocha - 6 (1 rating) Oliseh - 6.5 (3 ratings) Amunike - 6.17 (3 ratings) Oliha - 5.5 (1 rating) Yekini - 6.17 (3 ratings) Amokachi - 6.83 (3 ratings) Adepoju - 5.5 (2 ratings) Siasia - 6.75 (2 ratings) Iroha - 6 (1 rating) Uche - 6.5 (1 rating)
La Stampa's final world cup XI is on this page Preud'homme (Belgium); Ferrer (Spain), Costacurta (Italy), Aldair (Brazil), Maldini (Italy); Letchkov (Bulgaria), D.Baggio (Italy), Hagi (Romania), Brolin (Sweden); Romario (Brazil), R.Baggio (Italy) Again, probably not decided by average ratings I think. I see reference lower down on the right side of the page, about a vote for best player among journalists, but I guess it's for the official World Cup Golden Ball (Romario got 2400 points, Roberto Baggio 1500, and Stoichkov 450 it says).
Continuing with La Stampa summaries for round of 16 qualifiers, with Mexico and Republic of Ireland (from the same group): La Stampa (1994-06-20) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Norway vs Mexico: Norway - Thorstvedt 7, Haaland 6, Berg 6 (Halle 6), Bratseth 6.5, Bjornebye 6, Flo 7, Bohinen 6.5, Mykland 6 (Rekdal 7), Leonhardsen 6.5, Jakobsen 6, Fjortoft 6; Mexico - Campos 6.5, Gutierrez 6, Ramirez Parales 6.5, Suarez 6, Ramon Ramirez 6, Valdez 6 (Galindo 6), Ambriz 6.5, Del Olmo 6, Garcia 6, Sanchez 6, Alves 6.5 La Stampa (1994-06-25) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Republic of Ireland vs Mexico: Republic of Ireland - Bonner 5, Irwin 5.5, McGrath 6, Babb 6.5, Phelan 6, Houghton 6, Staunton 6, Sheridan 5, Townsend 6, Keane 5.5, Coyne 5.5 (Aldridge 7); Mexico - Campos 5.5, Ramirez Parales 5.5, Del Olmo 6, Suarez 7, Bernal 6, J.Rodriguez 6, Ambriz 5, Garcia Aspe 5.5, Zague 6, Luis Garcia 7, Hermosillo 6.5 La Stampa (1994-06-29) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Republic of Ireland vs Norway: Republic of Ireland - Bonner 6.5, G.Kelly 6, Staunton 6, Keane 5.5, McGrath 6.5, Babb 6, Townsend 6, Houghton 6, Aldridge 6, Sheridan 6, McAteer 6.5; Norway - Thorstvedt 7, Berg 6, Bjornebye 6.5, Bratseth 7, Jakobsen 6, Johnsen 5, Mykland 6.5, Leonhardsen 5.5, Sorloth 7, Rekdal 6, Flo 5.5
Based on average ratings, Thorsvedt the Norwegian goalkeeper did finish with a higher average than Preud'homme then (who he had displaced from the best XI after the third group games), from La Stampa (although it's possible that players who went out in the group stage/only played 3 games might not be considered for their final best XI of the tournament...but I still tend to think that wasn't picked purely on average ratings anyway, especially as I'm not sure any were published for the final group games of Bulgaria/Nigeria/Argentina/Greece as far as I can see).
Average ratings for Republic of Ireland Bonner - 5.88 (4 ratings) Irwin - 5.75 (2 ratings) McGrath - 6.5 (4 ratings) Babb - 6.38 (4 ratings) Phelan - 6 (3 ratings) Houghton - 6.38 (4 ratings) Keane - 5.75 (4 ratings) Sheridan - 5.88 (4 ratings) Townsend - 6.25 (4 ratings) Staunton - 6.25 (4 ratings) Coyne - 5.83 (3 ratings) G.Kelly - 6 (2 ratings) McAteer - 6 (2 ratings) Aldridge - 6.5 (2 ratings) Average ratings of Mexico Campos - 6 (4 ratings) Gonzales - 6.5 (1 rating) Jorge Rodriguez (incorrectly named vs Italy I think) - 6.17 (3 ratings) Suarez - 6.13 (4 ratings) Ramirez Perales - 5.75 (4 ratings) Del Olmo - 6.17 (3 ratings) Bernal - 6.33 (3 ratings) Ambriz - 5.88 (4 ratings) Garcia Aspe - 6.17 (3 ratings) Luis Garcia - 5.75 (4 ratings) Hermosillo - 5.75 (2 ratings) Zague - 6.25 (4 ratings) Ramon Ramirez - 6 (2 ratings) Galindo - 5.75 (2 ratings) Gutierrez - 6 (1 rating) Valdez - 6 (1 rating) Sanchez - 6 (1 rating)
La Repubblica's grades for the Nigeria-Greece match that I don't see a La Stampa rating for - not that it can say for sure what the Nigerian (or Greek) player grades would have been from La Stampa, and for example the sources already differ in other games re: Finidi, but I think he must have had a good assessment from La Stampa to be jumping into their best XI after 3 games.
Likewise Argentina vs Bulgaria from La Repubblica was as follows (from the link in post #23) ARGENTINA - BULGARIA 0 - 2 BULGARIA - Mihaylov 6,5, Kremenliev 6, Ivanov 6, Tzvetanov 6, Houbtchev 6, Iankov 6,5, Kostadinov 6 (73' Kiriakov), Stoichkov 7, Letchkov 6 (75' Boromirov), Balakov 6,5, Sirakov 6. ARGENTINA - Islas 6, Chamot 6, Ruggeri 5, Ceceres 5,5, H.Diaz 5,5, Redondo 6, Simeone 6, Rodriguez 5 (65' Medina Bello sv), Caniggia sv (25' Ortega 5,5), Batistuta 5,5, Balbo 6. Arbitro: Jouini (Tun) 5. Reti: 61' Stoichkov, 90' Sirakov. Note: spettatori 63998. Ammoniti: Stoichkov (7' ), Iankov (25' ), Ruggeri (34' ), Rodriguez (44' ), Ivanov (60' ), Balakov (74' ), Batistuta (81' ). Espulso al 67' Tzvetanov per doppia ammonizione.
Other games of final round of 16 qualifiers, Saudi Arabia and the USA (which means now I've shown ratings for all available games for round of 16 qualifiers, leaving Russia vs Cameroon which can be seen as noted in the link provided in post #162 for Brazil vs Sweden in the group stage - Salenko with a 9 which seems to be the highest grade of the tournament for his performance with 4 open play goals, a penalty and an assist, and Tsymbalar with an 8 - and Bolivia vs South Korea, with Trucco getting 7.5 and Erwin Sanchez and various others getting 6.5...hereLa Stampa (1994-06-25) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive). La Stampa (1994-06-24) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive USA vs Colombia: USA - Meola 7, Dooley 6, Balboa 7, Lalas 7, Clavijo 6, Caligiuri 6.5, Harkes 6, Sorber 6, Ramos 6, Stewart 7, Wynalda 6.5; Colombia - Cordoba 5.5, Herrera 5, Escobar 4.5, Perea 4.5, W.Perez 5.5, Gaviria 6, De Avila 5.5 (Valenciano 5), Alvarez 5.5, Rincon 6.5, Valderrama 5.5, Asprilla 5 La Stampa (1994-06-26) : Editrice La Stampa : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Saudi Arabia vs Morocco: Saudi Arabia - Al Deayea 7.5, Madani 5, Al Khlaiwi 5.5, Al Jawad 6, Al Anazi 5 (Zebermawi 6), Amin 6.5, Al Bishi 6, Al Muwallid 6.5, Jebreen 6, Owairan 6.5, Al Jaber 6.5; Morocco - Azmi 4, Abdellah 5 (Laghrissi 6.5), El Hadrioui 5, El Khalej 5.5, Triki 6, Naybet 5.5, Azzouzi 6, Habibi 5.5, Daoudi 7, Bahja 7.5, Chaouch 5.5
I think Salenko with an average rating of a bit over 7 would be in theory making the average ratings XI for La Stampa too (but like Thostvedt he went out in the group stage and played only 3 games - not 3 full ones in his case either). Tsymbalar has an average of 7 too but from only 2 games. Bahja of Morocco who was in their selected XI at the end of the group stage, has an overall average rating of 6.83 himself, but likewise from 3 games and not 3 full games (the timing to put him into the XI might seem strange given they gave him a 6 for his final group game vs the Netherlands, but maybe it makes sense in respect of playing enough minutes by that point). Average ratings for Saudi Arabia Al Deayea - 6.38 (4 ratings) Zebermawi - 5.83 (3 ratings) Al Khilaiwi - 5.88 (4 ratings) Al Jawad - 6.25 (4 ratings) Al Gheshayan - 6.5 (1 rating) Madani - 5.75 (4 ratings) Amin - 6.17 (3 ratings) Al Bishi - 5.88 (4 ratings) Saleh - 6.17 (3 ratings) Al Jaber - 6.25 (2 ratings) Falatah - 6.17 (3 ratings) Owairan - 6.38 (4 ratings) Al Dosari - 6 (2 ratings) Mohammed - 6.75 (2 ratings) Al Muwallid - 6.25 (2 ratings) Jebreen (including a 6 vs the Netherlands I'd missed off) - 6 (3 ratings) Al Anazi - 5 (1 rating) Average ratings for USA Meola - 6.13 (4 ratings) Clavijo - 5.67 (3 ratings) Balboa - 6.13 (4 ratings) Lalas - 6.38 (4 ratings) Caligiuri - 6 (4 ratings) Dooley - 6.13 (4 ratings) Perez - 6 (1 rating) Wegerle - 6 (1 rating) Sorber - 5.63 (4 ratings) Ramos - 5.75 (4 ratings) Wynalda - 6 (4 ratings) Jones - 6 (2 ratings) Stewart - 5.75 (4 ratings) Harkes - 5.83 (3 ratings) Kooiman - 6 (1 rating)
So in summary this seems to be the top 30 confirmed average ratings from La Stampa for players playing 4 games or more: Romario (Brazil) 7.14 Hagi (Romania) 7 Raducioiu (Romania) 6.75 Klinsmann (Germany) 6.7 Brolin (Sweden) 6.57 Preud'homme (Belgium), Pascolo (Switzerland), McGrath (Rep. of Ireland), Bergkamp (Netherlands) 6.5 D.Baggio (Italy) 6.43 Costacurta (Italy) 6.42 Ferrer (Spain), Hierro (Spain) 6.4 Al Deayea (Saudi Arabia), Alkorta (Spain), Lalas (USA), Babb (Rep. Of Ireland), Caminero (Spain), Houghton (Rep. of Ireland), Owairan (Saudi Arabia) 6.38 Ravelli (Sweden), Mauro Silva (Brazil), Bebeto (Brazil) 6.36 R.Baggio (Italy), K.Andersson (Sweden) 6.33 Hassler (Germany) 6.3 Maldini (Italy) 6.29 Aldair (Brazil), Townsend (Rep. of Ireland), Staunton (Rep. of Ireland) 6.25 These are the top 10 ratings of Argentina/Bulgaria/Nigeria players who played 4 games but we've only seen 3 ratings each for: Batistuta (Argentina) 7.5 Amokachi (Nigeria) 6.67 (this is a correction, as I'd counted a phantom extra half point before it seems) Oliseh (Nigeria), Balbo (Argentina) 6.5 Letchkov (Bulgaria) 6.43 Rufai (Nigeria), Simeone (Argentina), Redondo (Argentina) 6.33 Mihailov (Bulgaria), Stoichkov (Bulgaria) 6.25 It seems like the average ratings XI could be similar to their published best XI, if 4 games were required (assuming Letchkov and Brolin both in again, pending a good enough rating for Letchkov vs Argentina but that could be even a 6 maybe rather than a 7.5 or 8 that would be needed to match/surpass Brolin's average; also if allowing Maldini as left back even though his ratings in that position alone would go below Sergi's average of 6.2 I'm pretty sure), except McGrath would be in for Aldair, and Roberto Baggio (even if picking a specific forward which they didn't in the group stage XIs, he'd be below Bergkamp or otherwise Bebeto anyway) would make way for probably Batistuta (or Raducioiu if Batistuta's rating vs Bulgaria was as low as 4.5 perhaps). A 7.5 for Rufai vs Greece would put his average over that of Preud'homme though (Pascolo is level with Preud'homme too). A 6.5 (vs Sergi) or 7 (vs Maldini) from the game with Bulgaria could in theory put Chamot in such an overall XI based on ratings too. Perhaps a 7.5 vs Greece could have put Amunike in the XI (if Letchkov's missing rating wasn't more than 6.5 anyway). A 6.5 would be enough for Oliseh (to oust Dino Baggio) unless Simeone and/or Redondo scored more than a 7 in defeat to Bulgaria. Balbo would need an 8 vs Bulgaria (and Batistuta to score low) I guess, but Amokachi might be able to get in with a 7 or 7.5 (Batistuta's rating still needing to be quite low though). If 3 ratings was enough (unlikely normally) then as well as Thordsvedt (Norway) and Salenko (Russia), Bahja (Morocco) could perhaps be in and/or Sutter (Switzerland), while Mussi (Italy) could be in at right back, Grun (Belgium) would be in for Costacurta and Branco (Brazil) would be in at left back assuming the missing Chamot rating isn't particularly high. Caniggia has over 7 from 2 ratings of course (going off after 25 minutes of the 3rd game), and Maradona exactly 7. I think that sums things up.
Actually for a 3 games XI, if Siasia matched the grade he got from La Repubblica vs Greece he'd be making it in as midfielder I suppose too. Voller had a high average over 3 games too, but not as high as other attackers, so he'd not be in it.
For the Bulgarians that should be played 7 games, only 6 ratings seen, of course. Re: Roberto Baggio/Bebeto/Bergkamp I meant 'specific supporting forward' - for example it seems like maybe the overall combined Italian press team (from a few sources, or all available, or whatever it was) mentioned on the 1986 thread was picked like that with Maradona in that role, and Laudrup as sub, but it's hard to be sure as it could be a coincidence, but anyway the La Stampa XIs from the group stage just seem to have two attackers/strikers so I assume based on average ratings Batistuta would be likely to be making the team, just as McGrath would be (but I'm not really sure they did ratings for Argentina vs Bulgaria as I can't find them - similar for Nigeria vs Greece which would decide Oliseh vs Dino Baggio average ratings too), while in their team of free choice at the end they included Roberto Baggio and Aldair instead like I said. For sure an average ratings XI with 3 games being enough would have Thordsvedt, Grun and Mussi in it at least, and possibly Branco, Salenko, Sutter and/or Bahja (if playing in the knockout stage was required then just Branco, Grun and Mussi, as Sutter missed the game with Spain).
Bulgaria vs Argentina (also Nigeria vs Greece), from La Stampa. I am not sure they published any though (I thought I'd inspected every sports section between the end of the group stage and start of the knockout stage, not to say it's impossible that I missed something somewhere), and as it seems like they weren't keeping track of average ratings (like Gazzetta dello Sport, Guerin Sportivo etc do in Serie A for example) maybe they didn't feel that doing ratings for every game was necessary, or they just forgot to publish them by mistake for those two games (if I didn't miss something).
Actually, final (hopefully) correction: as well as Amokachi's average, I also over-stated Mussi's because of adding an extra phantom half point. Mussi therefore has an average of 6.33, so even for an average ratings XI from La Stampa, with 3 ratings being enough to get in, Ferrer would have a higher average as a right back. I think such a 3 ratings minimum requirement XI would likely be: Thordsvedt; Ferrer, McGrath, Grun, Branco; Brolin, Siasia, Hagi, Bahja; Salenko, Romario The one based on at least 4 ratings is probably: Preud'homme(/Pascolo); Ferrer, McGrath, Costacurta, Maldini; Brolin, Oliseh or Dino Baggio, Hagi, Letchkov; Batistuta, Romario Their overall chosen XI was like this though (I showed Brolin and Letchkov on opposite sides above as that seemed if anything more suitable; though maybe switching to 4-3-2-1 with Letchkov as right midfielder and Brolin right side supporting forward would even represent things better): Preud'homme; Ferrer, Costacurta, Aldair, Maldini; Letchkov, D.Baggio, Hagi, Brolin; Romario, R.Baggio There is an abundance of right centre backs rather than left centre backs I think in those selections, although it's understandable that the top rated CBs would go in. Maldini was left centre back for a decent amount of time I suppose, but gets placed as left back (even though like I said I think just based on ratings while at left back Sergi's average would be higher, even if Maldini's 7 in the Final was for playing a majority of it back in the left back position after Mussi went off towards the end of the 1st half).
I'd better clarify that a bit too again: those are based on guesstimates of what the ratings for Bulgaria-Argentina and Nigeria-Greece might have been (though it's possible that Amunike's average could be brought into contention with Letchkov's average too for example, if using La Repubblica as a guide anyway). Based just on what is confirmed (therefore ignoring the ratings of those missing games, as if they didn't happen), for the 3 games minimum XI Batistuta is there instead of Romario, but I suppose he doesn't have 4 rated games to use in that case so in theory he drops out of the 4 games minimum XI by default despite playing 4 games, and Raducioiu would be in that instead. Likewise Siasia doesn't have 3 confirmed ratings, so his team-mate Oliseh would be in the 3 games minimum XI on that basis, as well as the 4 games minimum XI (his average without the missing game is higher than Dino Baggio's). All the XIs are basically based on 4-4-2 which was the most common system, and also used by La Stampa in the group stage (albeit the XI after two games seemed a bit like a 4-3-3 potentially)
Damn it, lol (I should maybe have taken my time a bit more, and made sure everything I entered had no mistakes when I posted) - I was just making a cup of tea and randomly thought about this and realised there is even a mistake in this post too (that I bolded above). Oliseh doesn't have 4 rated games without the one vs Greece, so just going on confirmed ratings Dino Baggio would make the 4 games minimum XI (it's just that had there been a rating for Nigeria vs Greece then a 6.5 would be enough for Oliseh to enter it instead, but that is similar to Batistuta just needing a 5 in theory vs Bulgaria to make it in, unless Amokachi had a 7.5 vs Greece himself, which could be plausible and then Batistuta would need a 5.5, though by my calculations Amokachi would be about tied with him in that case if he got an 8). Anyway, the ratings tables in post #189 on this page should be correct (well, Letchkov's number should be 6.42, as posted originally in the Bulgaria summary) and then it's just a matter of knowing that some other players like Salenko, Grun etc had very high averages over 3 games too.
New 'Italian sources' average for La Repubblica, Gazzetta dello Sport, Guerin Sportivo and La Stampa shown in blue bold type below now, for this selection of players (note: now there is the situation where one game of Nigerian-Bulgarian-Argentinan players is un-rated by La Stampa, so that can affect things a little bit compared to if ratings were provided by them for those two group games in that group too, but I showed the La Repubblica grade for those games in brackets where applicable with an LR* denominator)
Just going back to this to add thoughts on how my second XI would have been changing (although that's even more difficult to recall, including when I'd have started thinking about that as such). I'm thinking maybe Balakov would even have already been in it now, and the end of the group stage, rather than Garcia Aspe (but I definitely do recall being impressed by him so he'd be there or thereabouts). If Hassler wasn't in at that point rather than Finidi (possibly the hardest thing for me to recall), he surely would have been on the cusp of temporarily entering after the round of 16 games at least I think, which is the point Bergkamp would possibly/probably have done that, and Dumitrescu might have been getting quite close it as left winger even (although he didn't really play that position vs Argentina and that was his clear best display I think it's fair to say). Emmers would come in at that point I think also. I'm thinking maybe Maldini would have come into my second XI as centre back after the QFs (but maybe Baggio went straight into the first XI), before going into the first XI after the SFs (when Benarrivo would be going into the second XI if he hadn't already, I guess). Brolin would have been in the second XI after the QFs I think, as right winger, and Stoichkov would have entered it for Klinsmann at that point I think. As a rough guide I guess this would be something like my top 25 group stage players (not that I had a list in mind - I was only thinking of an overall XI I'm sure), compared to the 25 at the end (as posted earlier in the thread, although I switched the left wingers at 21 and 22 now, thinking it'd probably be Amunike I ended with in the second XI, but Sutter might have been in the first XI at the end of the group stage) 1 - Gheorghe Hagi (Romania)/Roberto Baggio (Italy) 2 - Romario (Brazil)/Romario (Brazil) 3 - Michel Preud'homme (Belgium)/Gheorghe Hagi (Romania) 4 - Bebeto (Brazil)/Paolo Maldini (Italy) 5 - Claudio Caniggia (Argentina)/Tomas Brolin (Sweden) 6 - Yordan Letchkov (Bulgaria)/Michel Preud'homme (Belgium) 7 - Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany)/Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) 8 - Wim Jonk (Netherlands)/Bebeto (Brazil) 9 - Jonas Thern (Sweden)/Yordan Letchkov (Bulgaria) 10 - Alain Sutter (Switzerland)/Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) 11 - Jorginho (Brazil)/Jorginho (Brazil) 12 - Sergi Barjuan (Spain)/Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands) 13 - Emmanuel Amunike (Nigeria)/Aldair (Brazil) 14 - Krassimir Balakov (Bulgaria)/Jonas Thern (Sweden) 15 - Alberto Garcia Aspe (Mexico)/Krassimir Balakov (Bulgaria) 16 - Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands)/Wim Jonk (Netherlands) 17 - Finidi George (Nigeria)/Luis Enrique (Spain) 18 - Thomas Hassler (Germany)/Claudio Caniggia (Argentina) 19 - Florin Raducioiu (Romania)/Fernando Redondo (Argentina) 20 - Fernando Redondo (Argentina)/Phillipe Albert (Belgium) 21 - Aldair (Brazil)/Emmanuel Amunike (Nigeria) 22 - Dan Petrescu (Romania)/Alain Sutter (Switzerland) 23 - Miodrag Belodedici (Romania)/Sergi Barjuan (Spain) 24 - Georges Bregy (Switzerland)/Miodrag Belodedici (Romania) 25 - Sunday Oliseh (Nigeria)/Mauro Silva (Brazil)
I'm just working through a summary game by game which helps Titanlux compile the overall averages table for all sources, and also means I double check what I'd noted down in the average ratings summary for each team (and I can confirm now that Campos's La Stampa average was 6.13, not 6.00). Titanlux has these players on his radar, and all of the players that made the selection I showed for top rated players by La Stampa from 4 games or more are here, except the Irish players Babb, Townsend and Staunton, but I wouldn't really suggest it's imperative to add them as the La Stampa averages they got were for example higher than the combination of Guerin/Gazzetta grades, and the La Repubblica grades were very close to the Guerin/Gazzetta ones, while the general trend was that La Stampa grades tend to be lower for more players than the other ones slightly I've noticed (I also noticed that there is definitely a fair amount of variation between La Stampa and La Repubblica, including for the same player i.e La Stampa rates them high in one game and not so much in another and La Repubblica does it the other way round - of course there will also be many examples where they did give similar or identical ratings though) So far I got the top 25 on Titanlux's list done, but I've sorted them by La Stampa average: NR means No Rating (because there don't seem to be La Stampa ratings for Nigeria vs Greece and Bulgaria vs Argentina): Meanwhile, re: what I added in the quoted section of post #198, maybe it'd be better to show Salenko's average after this calculation (total points divided by total times he was rated): Guerin/Gazzetta - 32 points between them (average of 8 multiplied by four) La Repubblica - 19.5 points (average of 6.5 multiplied by three) La Stampa - 21.5 points (average of 7.17 multiplied by three) Average rating overall (for Italian sources): 73 points divided by ten ratings = 7.30