As far as I remember Milan bought Shevchenko end of 1998, and in 1999 all three of them were in the squad (Weah didn't get many starts but came on as a sub a few times). Bierhoff left Milan end of 2000, but I seem to remember there was another young striker who replaced him quite a few times - was this Jose Mari? It's a while ago...
Judging by the number of people that go on about him I wouldn't say Littbarski is forgotten at all. In fact I would say he seems to be unfairly well remembered.
Also outside Germany? I would think Klaus Fischer is pretty much forgotten, even in Germany. Also Manfred Kaltz and Ikke Haessler.
Well, maybe some German posters can confirm, but considering the goal he scored against France in the '82 semi... I don't know about that. That's a goal for the ages. You can dine off a goal like that for a long time.
Great goal, yes. That's my favourite game ever (but then again I am biased). Shame about Toni Schumacher's foul.
Luis Cubilla He was the most talented Uruguayan player of 60s and 70s. He starred in three World Cups for Uruguay, but peopel hardly remember him these days.
other than boniek, deyna, lato and gorgon(sic) , wlodzimierz smolarek was a great player his son ebi now plays with feyenoord and is getting looks in with poland. http://www.smolarek.nl/ ta
And let`s not forget... Wlodzimierz Lubanski Arguably the greatest Polish striker, who was unlucky to get injured before the '74 World Cup, when he was at his best form (he was replaced by Szarmach).
Abedi Pele-huge in the world of African football, but probably an oversight if not thinking about players from that continent.
Speaking of George Weah, what ever happened to him, last I heard he was player-coach of the Liberian National Team, and isn't his son American?
Speaking of Schumacher, he probably belonged to the list. He was very good at his prime, but people remembered him for the foul. He is probably behind Kahn and Maier in turns of great German keepers. Weah Jr. is playing for AC Milan and is an American citzien. He had another son who was born in the US. As for Weah Sr., he is a legend in Liberia and probably will become the president someday. I saw him on the AC milan sideline recently. I thought of Pele. In his prime, he was compared with Weah. Certainly, he was better than Roger Mila, but people who do not follow French soccer probably rate them higher than Pele.
klaus fischer is one of my alltime players ....he is behind gerd müller second most goals in the german leaque....he was awarded many times for his goals of the year in germany..he was famous for his overhead attemts and goals...the combination fischer and rightwing abramcik was one of the best ever in german soccer....fischer had a very good gpg ratio for the national team too...33 goals in 47 games i think..he has played a great southamerican tour in the 1977...3:1 win against argentina (2 goals) and in brasil against brasil 1 goal (1:1 draw) .he is rememberd as well for his goal against france semi 1982..the best goal i ever have seen from him was a fantastic overhead goal for the german national team i think against the swiss in the 70s , he got a very long pass from abramcik and his fantastic highlfying overhead goal was called from the referee dangerous game...i was so pissed about that and the whole crowd in the stadion has booed for a while... pitt
Schumacher was also mentally tough. Despite severe hostilities from the French crowds during the Euro 1984 in France (due to the Battisiton incident), Toni Schumacher played a superb tournament that year (he even was voted German Footballer of the Year in 1984).
Indeed, for me one of the most lasting images of that 1982 semifinal was when Uli Stielike misses his penalty and Schumacher yells with an expression that says, "hey! we have to keep it together!" I remember exactly where I was watching that match, and when I saw that, I remember turning to my brother and saying, "he's not letting France win today."
Weah launched a bid for the Liberian presidency - i heard yesterday on goal tv that he became president, but elections aren't for another year, so thats not possible. it wouldn't surprise anyone, since he's done so much for the country and the national squad - he was coach, captain, financeer(he sometimes paid the players out of his own pocket, and he often had to pay for the flights), promoter, etc. etc. i really wanted him to go to the WC in 2002, unfortunately Liberia barely finished behind NIgeria. and charles taylor tried to get him killed.
Effenberg quit the national team in 94 and played the next 4 years for Gladbach, often fighting relegation. That took him out of media attention. He only joined Bayern (for the second time) when he was 30. Boban- my all time favorite player. He could do everything with the ball, but never showed off. He always subjected himself to the teams needs. For Croatia he played a pure D-mid, working for Asanović and Prosinečki, even if he was more talented than both of them. His best years (95-00) coincided with Milan’s decline. That and his complete unselfishness made him less famous than he could have been. Milan’s championships win in 98-99. was quite amazing. Zac came in that season . He brought Bierhoff with him and wanted to build the game around him. That meant playing a 3-4-3, with two d-mids. He didn’t want Boban in his team, played him only occasionally, as a D-mid or one of the supporting strikers. Later in the season he switched to a 3-4-1-2 with Boban behind the two forwards. Some claimed Berlusconi made him do it, zac claimed it was his idea all along. Anyway, this coincided with a 9 game winning streak at the end to steal it from Lazio. This was a team with Andreas Guglieminpietro and Luigi Sala in the starting lineup.
This thread has got me down memory lane. I went back to look at the play, and it's amazing that he didn't get sent off: Look where the ball is...jesus. Shame, 'cause he really was a good keeper.
He also took West Germany to the WC Final 1996. He was almost liked an one-man team. BTW, it seemed that most of the players mentioned are Germans.
All of sudden, I came upon a name -- Eder of Brazil 1982 World Cup team. He was amazing at WC 1982 Finals. He was as good as Falcao, Socrates and Zico. I never heard of him after WC 1986 where he was kicked off the team before it started.