Player Profiles
Gilmar
Brazil's greatest goalkeeper of all time and two time world cup winner in '58 & '62. He didn't concede a single goal in his first 4 world cup games and his calm presence was highly influential in Brazil finally having a strong defensive foundation to count on. Unusually for a goalkeeper he wore the number 3 shirt in '58, but he was undoubtly the number one in Brazil's first ever worldcup win.
Silvio Marzolini
The outstanding leftback of the tournament in '66. His performances lead to the British Press voting him the best player of the group stages after games against Spain, Switzerland and West Germany. Often praised for his incredible attacking skill and ability on the ball, he was also a crucial part of a rocksolid defense that only conceded twice in 4 games, one of those goals after being down to 10 men against the eventual winners England.
Franco Baresi
One of the greatest defender of all time, often remembered for his heroics in the final in '94 with the tragic ending when he missed the penalty, but he had an equally impressive tournament in '90. Besides his individual brilliance, he's perfect in my team because no one ever organised a high defensive line better than him. Click
here for a compilation of his performances at the worldcup in Italy.
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger
A worldclass defender for more than a decade, who started out as a left back. After his first 5 years at Milan he took over as the central defender for Germany at the worldcup '70, who organised the defense with Beckenbauer still playing in midfield. His standout moment came in the semifinal against Italy when his last minute equaliser gave us one of the most dramatic extratimes football has ever seen in what is still refered to as the
'Game of the century'.
Carlos Alberto
He was voted the greatest right-back of the 20th century in 2000 and it's still impossible to find a better player for his position. Wonderful smart player and strong defender with incredible technique. He not only captained the greatest nationalteam of all time, he also scored a wonderful goal to end that magical tournament in 1970, a goal that tells you almost everything you need to know about what made Brazil that year so brilliant.
This makes me very, very happy as well.
Arie Haan
In his book 'Brilliant Orange' about Dutch football, David Winner called him the most underrated player of the golden generation in the 70's. A player can't typify total football more than him. When he came to the worldcup in '78, he had already played as a defensive midfielder, libero, playmaker and striker, and he did it all successfully. He made sure everyone knew how successfully, when he said “Cruyff may have been the best, but I won more. And that’s what football is about.” For his standout worldcup moment, his incredible long-range goal against Italy in '78, click
here.
Edgar Davids
There were two outstanding moments in his worldcup in '98 and how different they are reflect perfectly what a brilliant tournament he had as a box to box midfielder contributing in defense and attack; his last minute winning goal against Yugoslavia in the first knockout round and his incredible run back to deny Ronaldo a goal in the semifinal against Brazil. Let's hope he doesn't need to do the latter in the upcoming games, good to know he could though.
Mario Kempes
Joining the team for the next game, I'm happy to quote his former manager's description of him, I couldn't put it better myself than Aldo did:
'A very versatile, hard working and explosive forward, Kempes was the star of the 1978 WC that his team won. The attack revolved around him, and it was his individual brilliance as well as his teamwork, tenacity, workrate and consistency throughout the tournament that made him the deserved winner of the award. He can be at comfort up front, behind the striker or as a left attacking role. A very complete player who is bound to contribute in multiple ways.'
Giuseppe Meazza
Golden Ball winner in Italy's first ever worldcup win and then captained his nationalteam to the first ever worldcup title defence 4 years later. He joins the team to play as an inside left and adds a brilliant mix of creativity, goalscoring and dribbling. There are countless incredible stories about his ability on the ball and even more about his life and his character, so describing him here in short can't do him justice. Instead just enjoy
this link about his career for Italy, it's well worth the read.
Johan Cruyff
The linchpin of one of the most entertaining teams in worldcup history. It's impossible to describe how influential he was to his team, just as it's impossible to pin down his position on a team sheet. While playing as a striker, winger, fullback or central midfielder all during one game, he still found a moment in the game against Sweden to create an individual piece of skill that became known as the Cruyff turn. He never did tricks in training, so good for us, we could watch him create one right infront of us. Sadly he didn't play in another worldcup after an attempt to kidnap his family in '77 lead to him deciding to retire early.
His worldcup '74 in 6 minutes:
Jairzinho
What a tournament he played in 1970, in my opinion the most exciting player to watch in a worldcup full of outstanding attacking talent. Dribbling, running, passing and of course scoring in every one of Brazil's seven games. Wingplay can't be more entertaining to watch than what he showed us that summer.
Substitutes:
Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck
Beckenbauer's brilliant partner in defense for Germany and Bayern during the most successful part of their careers. You won't find a more disciplined defender who won't get tired to cover for his centerback partner moving forward. Ever reliable and I doubt any German football fan can name more than one mistake of his.
Frank de Boer
His worldcup performance in 98 is often remembered for his wonderful pass that lead to Bergkamp's exceptional goal against Argentina. In addition to his brilliance on the ball, he was also one of the standout defenders of that tournament and captained the Netherlands to their best worldcup performance since the seventies.
Willi Schulz
In 1966 he kept Beckenbauer out of his favorite position, because the team needed a less adventurous player in defense and no one could fill that role better than Willi Schulz. He was known as a tough defender with great positioning and strong tacklings. Because of the effort he put into his performances, he quickly became a fan favorite at home in Germany where people started to call him 'World Cup Willi' after the official mascot of that world cup.
Jan Ceulemans
What a player. Often underrated because he stayed in Belgium throughout his career, but what a tournament he had in 86 with him captaining Belgium through their greatest time in football so far. At times he was a left winger, at times he played as an AM or as a striker, but most importantly he scored that crucial goal against the Soviet Union which kept them in the tournament and provided us with a lot of entertaining football in the following minutes and games.
For the story of the 'Red Devils' at the worldcup in 86 with Ceulemans at the heart of them, click
here.
Diego Forlán
The Golden Ball winner in 2010 when he was the outstanding player in Uruguay's run to the semifinals. He was the playmaker, goalscorer and leader of the team, scoring some amazing goals on the way. He became the first player since Lothar Matthäus in 1990 to score 3 goals from outside of the box in one tournament and his volley against Germany was voted the goal of the tournament.
. It completely sucks for the managers because they could feel the need to react to your comments in some cases. Completely disagree about the Fergus - Annah match. Annah has some serious quality in the team, I don't know all his players that well, so he probably has a bit of work to do to convince the voters and Fergus has a brilliant core in his team, but it's as open as every other match, imo. It's just a huge clash of completely different styles.
