@TomNeil Colleague, if you have the opportunity, help with the missing matches from El grafico WC 1998! 10-14 june end 3 july
Hello, Pavlin. Sorry for the delay. I had problems with my hard drive. Here is in order what I have. Regards. El Grafico ed 4106 https://imgur.com/tCFLiFl https://imgur.com/4XsdxNz https://imgur.com/HW12qoS El Grafico ed 4107 https://imgur.com/0OFOnWt https://imgur.com/C50N9Eb https://imgur.com/ssA6CfV El Grafico ed 4108 https://imgur.com/uzEUcOU https://imgur.com/dCPXeVv https://imgur.com/v3B2YOy https://imgur.com/FHTx8kw https://imgur.com/ZoClfCN El Grafico ed 4109 https://imgur.com/U5TedgI El Grafico ed 4110 https://imgur.com/x9sfqYX El Grafico ed 4112 https://imgur.com/FbavGpU https://imgur.com/dMQbTiv
Geoff Hurst's XI, from before the World Cup Final game itself, published in The People and found on Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (with a valuation put on each player) - note that in the write-up he does confirm Ronald de Boer is for right midfield, and Veron for centre midfield, as would be expected, although the diagram shows the opposite.... Maybe it's one that will be interesting to you @Titanlux (although I don't think you've started putting together any tables yet for 1998 maybe?) David Seaman (England, £5m); Cafu (Brazil, £7m), Marcel Desailly (France, £5m), Sol Campbell (England, £17m), Roberto Carlos (Brazil, £15m); Ronald de Boer (Netherlands, £10m), Juan Sebastian Veron (Argentina, £12m), Zinedine Zidane (France, £20m), Marc Overmars (Netherlands, £9m); Ariel Ortega (Argentina, £8m), Ronaldo (Brazil, £25m) Other mentioned players - Michael Owen (England), Marcelo Salas (Chile), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Christian Vieri (Italy), Rivaldo (Brazil), Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands), Paul Ince (England), Edgar Davids (Netherlands), Emmanuel Petit (France)
I also see that the magazine France West apparently picked a world XI before the World Cup started, selecting from the 32 nations that had qualified, and it was as follows (not 100% sure whether it's meant to be a wing-back system with Roberto Carlos in the back 3 but it seems like it and is presented/reported as if it is, and Beckham as proper right back rather than wing back would be the only other possibility - they picked a very attacking central midfield trio in Bergkamp, Zidane, and Ortega too if the team is shown right in The People): Kopke (Germany); Kohler (Germany), Hierro (Spain), Roberto Carlos (Brazil); Beckham (England), Bergkamp (Netherlands), Zidane (France), Ortega (Argentina), Seedorf (Netherlands); Mijatovic (Yugoslavia), Ronaldo (Brazil)
The team that won the advertised competition (and therefore it was the team The People editor liked the most apparently, although picked by a reader so not strictly The People's XI I suppose) was Chilavert (Paraguay); Thuram (France), Desailly (France), Frank de Boer (Netherlands); Cafu (Brazil), Zidane (France), Rivaldo (Brazil), Davids (Netherlands), Jarni (Croatia); Ronaldo (Brazil), Suker (Croatia): Sub: Owen (England) - I think this was also Hurst's choice for substitute according to the above shown article So in the winning XI that The People's editor selected, and also in Hurst's XI it is just Desailly, Cafu, Zidane and Ronaldo, with Owen the sub in both selections too. The readers would have been picking factoring in the Final too, as the article of Hurst was published on the day of the Final. By the way I don't think The People were handing out merit marks (ratings) for the games as there are game reports such as the Netherlands vs Argentina one, plus results and scorer summaries printed, without merit marks being shown.
Match magazine XI, based on average ratings Showing the players more suitably right to left (though there is only one full-back in, and one winger who played more centrally anyway, plus one player in attack Ortega who perhaps could be seen as an AM too) - the diagram above shows the players with the highest averages on the right of each section of the XI: Mondragan (Colombia) 8.33; Thuram (France) 8, Song (Cameroon) 8, Adams (England) 8, Campbell (England) 8.25; Beckham (England) 8, Nakata (Japan) 8.33, Okocha (Nigeria) 8.66, Zidane (France) 8.8; Ortega (Argentina) 8, Zamorano (Chile) 8
I have been able to get a total of 15 sources whose combination and once the arithmetic average has been done, the following players have been ranked as the best ratings of the 1998 World Championship: He podido conseguir un total de 15 fuentes cuya combinación y una vez realizada la media aritmética han encumbrado como mejores ratings del campeonato del Mundo de 1998 a los siguientes jugadores: 1 .- Chilavert (Paraguay): 7,48 2.- Thuram (Francia): 7,31 3 .- Okocha (Nigeria): 7,28 4.- Davids (Holanda): 7,26 5.- Mondragón (Colombia): 7,22 6.- Zidane (Francia): 7,21 7.- Ayala, Celso (Paraguay): 7,02 8.- Luis Hernández (México): 6,99 9.- Laudrup, Brian (Dinamarca): 6,98 10.- Suker (Croacia): 6,87 11.- Benítez (Paraguay): 6,82 12 .- Petit (Francia): 6,81 13.- Overmars (Holanda): 6,80 14.- Hierro (España): 6,80 15 .- Pagliuca (Italia): 6,75 16.- Verón (Argentina): 6,73 17 .- Gamarra (Paraguay): 6,72 18.- Vieri (Italia): 6,70 19.- Ortega (Argentina): 6,69 20 .- Laudrup, Michael (Dinamarca): 6,68 21 .- De Boer, Frank (Holanda): 6,68 22.- Ronaldo (Brasil): 6,66 23.- Hadji (Marruecos): 6,66 24 .- De Boer, Ronald (Holanda): 6,66 25.- Rivaldo (Brasil): 6,60 26.- Blanco (México): 6,60 27.- Deschamps (Francia): 6,59 28 .- Ladic (Croacia): 6,59 29.- Barthez ( Francia): 6,58 30.- Desailly (Francia): 6,58 31.- Batistuta (Argentina): 6,58 32.- Scholes (Inglaterra): 6,57 33 .- Bierhoff (Alemania): 6,56 34.- Campbell (Inglaterra): 6,56 35 .- Konsel (Austria): 6,53 36.- Cafú (Brasil): 6,52 37.- Jonk (Holanda): 6,52 38 .- Mihailovic (Yugoslavia): 6,52 39 .- Salas (Chile): 6,50 40.- Ilie (Rumanía): 6,50
It is true that since there are so many different sources, in many cases, the differences in averages between them is quite important, but what is an unquestionable advantage is that the more sources there are, the more significant the final average will be, so I consider this data very interesting for the purpose of this thread. Es cierto que al ser tantas fuentes diferentes, en muchos casos, las diferencias de promedios entre unas y otras es bastante importante, pero lo que es una ventaja incuestionable es que cuantas más fuentes haya, más significativo será el promedio final, por lo que considero este dato muy interesante para el objetivo de este hilo.
I forgot to comment (and it is important), that my criteria to be included in this classification is to have played at least 270 minutes. But it would be unfair if I didn't mention some who without having reached that time, got good grades, especially these ones: Owen: 7.21 (232 minutes), Gallardo: 7.14 (147 minutes), Morientes: 6.95 (128 minutes), De Wilde: 6.82 (180 minutes) and Roberto Baggio: 6.65 (224 minutes). Se me olvidaba comentar (y es importante), que mi criterio para poder entrar en esta clasificación es haber jugado como mínimo 270 minutos. Pero sería injusto si no nombrara a algunos que sin haber llegado a ese tiempo, consiguieron buenas notas, es especial estos: Owen: 7,21 (232 minutos), Gallardo: 7,14 (147 minutos), Morientes: 6,95 (128 minutos), De Wilde: 6,82 (180 minutos) y Roberto Baggio: 6,65 (224 minutos).
On the other hand, I have come across 24 sources proposing one or more ideal teams. The quantification of these data has resulted in the following percentage ranking with respect to the presence in these XI of the championship. Por otra parte, he dado con 24 fuentes que proponían uno o varios equipos ideales. La cuantificación de esos datos ha dado como resultado la siguiente clasificación porcentual respecto a la presencia en esos XI del campeonato. 1.- Thuram: 84,96 % 2.- Davids: 75,22 % 3.- Desailly: 72,57 % 4.- Zidane: 71,68 % 5.- Chilavert: 70,80 % 6.- Rivaldo y Frank de Boer: 66,37 % 8.- Suker: 60,18 % 9.- Ronaldo: 59,29 % 10.- Owen: 58,41 % 11.- Dunga: 51,33 % 12.- Okocha: 46,02 % 13.- Ortega: 39,82 % 14.- Roberto Carlos: 34,51 % 15.- Gamarra y Vieri: 30,09 % 17.- Barthez: 28,32 % 18.- Blanc: 26,55 % 19.- Cafú: 25,66 % 20.- Jarni y Celso Ayala: 23,89 % 22.- Batistuta: 22,12 % 23.- Michael Laudrup: 20,35 % 24.- Brian Laudrup y Deshamps 17,70 % and the list goes on to 98 players who were mentioned in one of these ideal XI. y la lista continúa hasta 98 jugadores que fueron mencionados en alguno de estos XI ideales.
Don Balón magazine gave its own ranking of the 50 best of the tournament and FIFA also did it, although in this case, I could only locate the top 10: Ronaldo, Suker, Thuram, Desailly, Rivaldo, Zidane, Owen, Davids, Dunga and Bergkamp, in this order; a bit strange the classification, but that's how it was... La revista Don Balón dio su ranking particular de los 50 mejores del torneo y la FIFA también lo hizo, aunque en este caso, solo he podido localizar a los 10 primeros: Ronaldo, Suker, Thuram, Desailly, Rivaldo, Zidane, Owen, Davids, Dunga y Bergkamp, en este orden; un tanto extraña la clasificación, pero así fue...
With all this and assigning a certain weighting to each of the variables, based on a subjective view of their significance, my final individual list of the best is as follows: Con todo esto y adjudicando una ponderación determinada a cada una de las variables, atendiendo a una visión subjetiva de su significatividad, mi lista final individual de los mejores es la siguiente: 1.- Thuram 2.- Chilavert 3.- Davids 4.- Zidane 5.- Suker 6.- Okocha 7.- Ronaldo 8.- Owen 9.- Desailly 10.- Rivaldo 11.- Frank de Boer 12.- Brian Laudrup 13.- Petit 14.- Mondragón 15.- Celso Ayala 16.- Vieri 17.- Gamarra 18.- Ortega 19.- Barthez 20.- Michael Laudrup 21.- Verón 22.- Luis Hernández 23.- Deschamps 24.- Hierro 25.- Dunga 26.- Ronald de Boer 27.- Overmars 28.- Batistuta 29.- Benítez 30.- Cafú
My ideal XI proposal: Chilavert; Thuram, Desailly, Frank de Boer, Lizarazu; Davids, Okocha, Zidane, Rivaldo; Ronaldo, Suker
Okocha and Owen look a little high to me, but maybe I am wrong. Like for example your 1994-95 and 1995-96 lists (vastly underrating Ajax players imho, a truly dominant/unbeaten team), I find it weird Bergkamp is not somewhere in the top 30 of top 40. I'd agree he didn't do a lot vs Brazil (Overmars didn't even play, was injured; Bergkamp was also not entirely fit). But he is 25th overall in SofaScore, the subs in and subs out don't help, and 2nd among the forwards (0.05 behind Ortega). Ahead of names like Rivaldo, and 5th in the scorers chart. Relatively close behind four strikers. The quality of the play is of course obvious. https://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1998/wc98statistics.html https://www.sofascore.com/tournament/football/world/world-championship/16#id:1151 Davids is punished in the algorithm I think by his 2 yellow cards and committing 4 fouls per game (same is true for other players with this foul count or higher), and him also not playing the first match. But I'd agree Davids has a case for being #1 of his team. Very underrated, also at euro 2000 (well, there the BBC did see him), was Cocu in my eyes. He played as striker when Kluivert wasn't there and scored the goals. Then also good/excellent in other roles. Only not that one moment as left-back vs Ronaldo in the semi final, even though it was not only his fault.
Outside the top 40? It has become a recurring theme by now for any tournament since 1992, it seems. Among certain publications and countries at least. Not all, I am not blind or deaf. With ourselves also liking it to push people down. Which then gets translated etc or they say it themselves as pundit on foreign tv. Hopeless.
Wider pre-semi-finals FIFA Mastercard All-Star selection (60 players) shown here, along with UEFA coaches selections of European player 1st and 2nd XI (with many left-backs making 2nd XI and possibly the wrong formation shown here): England Player Honours - International Tournament All-Star Teams - World Cup 1998 All-Star Teams (englandfootballonline.com) The full list of 60 finalists: Goalkeepers: Jos� Luis Chilavert, Paraguay, Fabien Barthez, France, Gianluca Pagliuca, Italy, Peter Schmeichel, Denmark, and Edwin Van der Sar, Netherlands. Sweepers/Central Defenders: Tony Adams, England, Roberto Ayala, Argentina, Carlos Gamarra, Paraguay, Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly, France, Dario Simic, Croatia, Jaap Stam and Frank de Boer, Netherlands, and Christian W�rns, Germany. Wing Defenders: Roberto Carlos, Brazil, Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu, France, Robert Jarni, Croatia, Dan Petrescu, Romania. Midfielders: Dunga, Cesar Sampaio and Rivaldo, Brazil, Michael Laudrup and Thomas Helveg, Denmark, Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane, France, Juan Ver�n, Ariel Ortega and Matias Almeyda, Argentina, Sunday Oliseh and Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigeria, Luigi Di Biagio, Italy, Kjetil Rekdal, Norway, Marc Overmars, Netherlands, Jose Sierra, Chile, Alberto Garcia Aspe, Mexico, Paul Ince, England, Phillip Cocu, Netherlands, Gheorghe Hagi, Romania, Aljosa Asanovic, Croatia, Fernando Hierro, Spain, Slavisa Jokanovic, Yugoslavia, Hidetoshi Nakata, Japan. Strikers: Luis Hernandez, Mexico, Adrian Ilie, Romania, El Moustafa Hadji, Morocco, Gabriel Batistuta, Argentina, Christian Vieri, Italy, Oliver Bierhoff, Germany, Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas, Chile, Fernando Morientes, Spain, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer, England, Tore Andre Flo, Norway, Ronaldo, Brazil, Brian Laudrup, Denmark, Thierry Henry, France, Davor Suker, Croatia, and Dennis Bergkamp, Netherlands. The Technical Study Group was coordinated by J�rg Nepfer, head of FIFA's Technical Department, and included as members Rinus Michels, Holland, G�rard Houiller, France, Dr. Joszef Venglos, Slovakia, Andy Roxburgh, Scotland, Raul Magan�, El Salvador, C. K. Gyamfi, Ghana, Osvaldo "Cachito" Ramirez, Peru, Chief Onigbinde, Nigeria, S. Subramaniam, Malaysia, and Oscar Washington Tabarez, Uruguay. UEFA National Team Coaches' World Cup 1998 European All-Star Team Michael Owen was named to the World Cup 1998 European All-Star Team chosen by national team coaches from 50 of UEFA's 51 member associations at the third UEFA Conference for European National Coaches in Frankfurt, Germany. Sol Campbell and David Beckham were among a second team chosen as substitutes. The full team, as posted on the UEFA website on 23 September 1998: Starting XI Davor Suker Croatia Michael Owen England Zinedine Zidane France Edgar Davids Netherlands Emmanuel Petit France Didier Deschamps France Frank de Boer Netherlands Laurent Blanc France Marcel Desailly France Lilian Thuram France Edwin van der Sar Netherlands Substitute XI Dennis Bergkamp Netherlands Christian Vieri Italy Zvonimir Boban Croatia David Beckham England Robert Jarni Croatia Ronald de Boer Netherlands Paolo Maldini Italy Fernando Hierro Spain Sulzeer Campbell England Bixente Lizarazu France Peter Schmeichel Denmark
Here is confirmation from the Daily Mirror of the UEFA coaches All-Star European selection too (it hints I think at just one Xi being submitted by each voter, as might be expected - I guess the 2nd XI contains the players most voted for that didn't make the first XI - it's possible the voters were asked to name any 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 forwards I guess but that's not stated and probably most of them would name one left back and it just turned out that none were in the top 4 voted defenders but several were close):