When I rate defenders I employ Franco Barasi, Japp Stam, Paolo Maldini and Denis Irwin for a comparison check. Ain't many that make the grade!
I think Project Mayhem was the September 2001 game against Honduras. I think I went to the September 2000 game against Guatemala. It was a long time ago. I think I would remember being at the Honduras game (which we lost), so I think it was the Guatemala game (which we won).
didnt Boca get himself a nickname like ‘Broke-a-legna’? Or something like it, by breaking someone’s leg early in his Fulham career?
I’m pretty sure it was the Guatemala game I remember meeting up at the some Irish Bar on Capitol Hill and singing ‘who the hell is Guatemala’ (Glory, Glory, Alleluia) Man, were all the non soccer patrons freaked out! But we’re breaking the first rule of Project Mayhem …
See my earlier post. From the early 1970s on, there were professional/semi-professional leagues in the big 4 (not sure about Spain) countries. In fact, there was an English player who played fully professional in Italy for a season (1971 - Sue Lopez) and was likely the best player for the 1970 version of the WC. But the organizers of the 1971 tournament banned all professional players and she didn't play. Yes. edit - What might be myth is that Europe was not all that different than the US in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The same movement which led to Title IX here got women's soccer recognized in most places in Europe. But in the 1990s, the top leagues were in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Relative to the women's game, I agree with you. Relative to the US Men, they did have to go through much more. I'm assuming you had this convo in the USWNT forum?
And somebody else to know: Alicia Vargas (La Pele) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Vargas At 16, she was joint top scorer in the WWC1970.
Those comments were garbage and ridiculous. "DCU and fire fans do have an inflated sense of their favorite players. Unfortunately, a faded past of their clubs is all they have to lean on. DCU fans will swear that pope was the sh!t, but he never played outside MLS. Since his time, there have been several who have accomplished more at the club and international level than Pope did." " his "interest from some European clubs" sounds like that imaginary "Canadian girlfriend" nerds used to tell us about back in high school" (Google is your friend, by the way). Finally, I wrote this " perhaps the best defender US soccer has produced the last 25 yrs". That means in my view he may have been the best if not among the best.
Eddie Pope reminded me of Baresi a lot actually. Obviously Pope was nowhere near as talented or influential. But in the way that he seemed to read the game, he made defending look effortless. Neither of them ever needed to make a dramatic game-saving tackle because they'd snuffed out the opportunity long before it had ever gotten that serious. You can put this ol' DC United fan in the camp of people who thinks Eddie Pope was the best central defender this country has ever produced.
As I said, no one is insulting you, nor is anyone insulting Pope. You try to show your internet muscles over trivial shyte, and on top of it, you did move the posts from: "Best Defender in the past 25 years," to "I meant Central Defender," to "Yeah, but 'Pope's era's was so different than a guy who started his career 4 years later." So what? Did Pope actually play anywhere else? You made the claim, so its common courtesy to back your claim. Pope may have had "interest" from European clubs, but did he have: An offer, Accept the offer, Integrate into a foreign league/team/culture, and Finally prosper at a higher level than MLS, or Did he stay comfortably at home? (BTW, who won MLS Defender of the Year more, Bocanegra, or Pope?) You made the claim, then you moved the posts. You could have backed your claim, but you went to ground instead. When I showed you a few off the top of my head examples of players that were better, instead of backing your claims. I gave you the courtesy of answering your question about who could be better, with examples. You're still a decent dude and a decent poster, but work on that.
Thats a fair opinion, but as I was sharing with my pal @charlie15, Bocanegra had more caps internationally, Captained the USMNT more, Won MLS ROY, Won MLS Defender of the Year Twice, and Played at a higher club level. Pope played on the best sides of your favorite club, and what else? (Not insulting any one, I'm asking to be convinced.) The majority of the evidence between the two favors Bocanegra. Now, since their day, I believe that there have been better players than either of the two. As US fans, we should hope this is the case. Best of their era those two, for sure. But best of all time? I doubt it.
That was always my take on Eddie. We had all these hard men at center back who came flying in with slide tackles at the last moment. Then there was Eddie, just kinda always in right place, looking calm. No need to do a Jay DeMerit if you read the play right from the start. I also remember him being a good distributor for a center back, although there I might be overstating the fact. (I really liked our center backs for this Cup. They played like Eddie Pope.) As for Boca, I was attending a lot of Fire games when the FIre had him. I never rated him with Eddie Pope. I think that Eddie would have been a better EPL player, had he been given the chance.
Marco Etcheverry got the assist for that by never passing him the ball. I remember the first DCU game we went to, my wife was yelling, "Run, little boy!"
Took my son to a team autograph session, and Convey couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the kids even while signing their gear. Nick Rimando, OTOH, was awesome. Even if he hadn't been a great GK, I'd be a lifelong fan for how he interacted with young fans.
Carlos Bocanegra Chicago Fire U.S. Open Cup: 2000, 2003 United States CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2002, 2007 Individual MLS Rookie of the Year: 2000 MLS Defender of the Year: 2002, 2003[54] Eddie Pope DC United MLS Cup: 1996,[3] 1997,[3] 1999 Supporters' Shield: 1997, 1999 U.S. Open Cup: 1996 CONCACAF Champions League: 1998 Copa Interamericana: 1998 United States CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2005 Individual MLS Best XI: 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004[3] MLS Defender of the Year: 1997[3] National Soccer Hall of Fame 2011 Inductee[7]