50s Retro Football Fantasy Draft

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Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Schumacher was a great goalkeeper but I wonder to what extent his notoriety will turn people off, much the same way you see Terry's name on the team-sheet and want the cnut to lose.
 
Roberto Bettega.

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Roberto Bettega was a cross between Nureyev and Marco Van Basten. Born in Turin on 27 December 1950, Bettega’s talent is so difficult to describe because his power to enchant was so great. A pure striker, he became more versatile and complete as a player as his career progressed, but moments of sublime football always characterised his style as when his cheeky back-heeled goal against Milan compelled even coach Nereo Rocco to raise his hat. Not to mention his spectacular diving header against England in Rome...

Bettega grew up playing football for the Bianconeri youth teams, and at Rabitti’s and Pedrale’s Juventus football school. At 19-years-old, he was sent out on loan to Serie B side Varese, where he came across the now legendary coach Nils Liedholm. Liedholm said of Bettega at the time, "He allies tremendous athletic strength with impressive technical skills. He is particularly strong in the air, and can kick the ball with either foot. All he needs is to build up experience, and then he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with."

Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO

EDIT: Yes I changed again! Too difficult, too many options.
 
Fulvio COLLOVATI

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Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Soren Lerby

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Influential box-to-box dynamo, product of the 70s Ajax Youth Academy. A mainstay of that fabulous Danish side, trusted by Bayern as Breitner's successor and by Hiddink to hold together PSVs midfield.

He will be the enforcer and chip in with some of his unstoppable long range screamers.

Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL 6. LERBY

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Liam Brady

Time for a bit of class, I'm sure I can see Storey in the background.

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Is that a Mitre Delta? :drool:

Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP 6. BRADY

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL 6. LERBY

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Had my eye on Lerby too, but there's still a few very capable central midfielders left in the draft.
 
Ricardo Bochini

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Bochini was an advanced playmaker.
Although he was not a prolific goalscorer, he was one of the best playmakers of the 1980s, often making assists for teammates to score. Even after he retired, the expression pase bochinesco ("bochinesque pass") is used to refer to a precise pass made to a forward to leave him one on one against the goalie, bypassing the opponent's defenders.

Diego Maradona said:
Watching him play drove me crazy with delight.
 
Ok, I'm going for a man who won 8 English League Titles and 4 European Cups, and the 2nd Liverpool legend in my team (I feel disgusting saying that) Phil Neal...

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Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI 6. NEAL

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR 6. BOCHINI

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP 6. BRADY

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL 6. LERBY

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Ok, I'm going for a man who won 8 English League Titles and 4 European Cups, and the 2nd Liverpool legend in my team (I feel disgusting saying that) Phil Neal...

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No shame in that - one of the best right backs
 
Ricardo Bochini

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Shit, someone's been researching South America, you'd better not spring a surprise like that with those I have in mind! :nono:

Cracking player, just unfortunate he played the exact same role as Maradona of all people.

I have truckloads of players I would fancy which probably won't get picked at all. It's a shame, but the nature of this. Selling someone no one has ever seen is a tall order.
 
What can you tell us about Bochini then, anto?
 
Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER 6. KRANKL 7. PROHASKA

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI 6. NEAL

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR 6. BOCHINI

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP 6. BRADY

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL 6. LERBY

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Jayvin: 1. SCIREA 2. FERNANDEZ 3. HODDLE 4. FORSTER 5. EDER 6. KRANKL 7. PROHASKA

Duffy: 1. ROBBO 2. KEEGAN 3. BLOKHIN 4. CABRINI 5. ANCELOTTI 6. NEAL 7. BRIO

TDon69: 1. ZICO 2. TIGANA 3. TRESOR 4. DINAMITE 5. JUNIOR 6. BOCHINI

Gio: 1. PLATINI 2. SOUNESS 3. HANSEN 4. ELKJAER 5. REP 6. BRADY

antohan: 1. FALCAO 2. BONIEK 3. SCHUSTER 4. SIMONSEN 5. BRIEGEL 6. LERBY

Interval Level: 1. PASSARELLA 2. ROSSI 3. BREITNER 4. CONTI 5. DORNER 6. MIGUELI

Crustanoid: 1. SOCRATES 2. GENTILE 3. DALGLISH 4. STIELIKE 5. OSCAR 6. VALDANO

Nani Nana: 1. MCGRATH 2. TARDELLI 3. GIRESSE 4. ROGER MILLA 5. AUGENTHALER 6. COLLOVATI

Brwned: 1. NEESKENS 2. HUGO SANCHEZ 3. VIERCHOWOD 4. ANTOGNONI 5. ARDILES 6. BETTEGA

Polaroid: 1. RUMMENIGGE 2. KEMPES 3. CEREZO 4. CEULEMANS 5. SCHUMACHER 6. CAMACHO
 
Maradonas idol, that's a pretty good endorsement!

Indeed! Shame we never got to see more of him. Do you remember him playing against Liverpool in the intercontinental cup final?

So many great midfield trios.

Fernandez-Hoddle-Prohaska
Zico-Tigana-Bochini
Pltini-Souness-Brady
Boniek-Schuster-Falcao
Neeskens-Antognoni-Ardiles
 
What can you tell us about Bochini then, anto?

Exceptional player. A midfield maestro who could go on and score but mostly made others look formidable. Much (and I mean MUCH) better and more mobile than Riquelme, not too different from Maradona except in that he lacked that solo-run explosion. He had the vision and ability to create space, dribble his way out of trouble and play the perfect pass.

Your time will be well spent if you google some videos, an absolute joy to watch. It's a crying shame the world didn't get to see more of him.

Why?

-1 Club player: spent his entire career at Independiente. To this day Independiente is the team to have won the Libertadores most times (7), he won 4 of those for them.

-Menotti: his teams were more about tactical discipline and workrate than irrepressible creativity and invention.

-Maradona: his rise meant Bochini was surplus to requirements. If only their ages had been inverted, Bochini would have surely taken over seamlessly from Diego.

Personally, I always wondered what Argentina would have looked like with both on the pitch.

Maradona probably did as well. Bochini was his idol, his inspiration as a player, to the extent Maradona demanded that Bilardo take him to Mexico even if he wasn't planning on playing him. With the semifinal against Belgium running out at 2-0, Maradona demanded he was played. Burruchaga made way and Maradona came over to the sideline to receive him, "Dibuje Maestro" (draw master, by draw meaning surprising everyone with his play).

In fact what happened was Bochini wasn't at all match fit and Maradona persisted in trying to get him involved and scoring, even when he should be keeping the ball and doing stuff himself. It actually made Bochini look bad (he was the master of one-two, but over anything else he was effective, he wasn't expecting what Maradona did because it just didn't make sense and there were better courses of action).

In a nutshell, it was a very sorry sight and probably supported Bilardo not playing them both: Maradona was in awe of him and would be prone to completely forgetting the point of the game (scoring and winning) in his attempts to link-up and create magical stuff.

Cracking player. Won't gather much by way of votes, but he is up there with anyone drafted so far. Could have easily been a first round pick. No, that's wrong, he would and should have been.
 
Better than Carlos-Cafu for me but D.Santos-N.Santos is another thing altogether!
 
I know my final 4 picks and what order I'm going to draft them in so I'd appreciate if you could all choose from Stoke City's side from 1975-1982. Thanks.
 
Cracking player. Won't gather much by way of votes, but he is up there with anyone drafted so far. Could have easily been a first round pick. No, that's wrong, he would and should have been.

I'll definitely have a go at watching him then, starting with that Independiente-Liverpool game. How come he couldn't make it into Menotti's World Cup winning, Maradona-less '78 side?
 
José Leandro de Souza Ferreira

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According to some very knowledgeable people, Leandro, along with Junior made the best Brazilian fullback partnership of all time.
I'm inclined to agree with them.

Can't stand him. Yes, I know it was a Copa America final, and I know the ballboys were taking the piss a bit, but you don't shove a 10-year-old ballboy to the ground. fecking cretin.

Good thing was it pissed off all our players, the whole stadium made their opinion clear for the rest of the game, the same anxiety that led him to do that got worse... and they got mullered.

We should have got four that day :D
 
Exceptional player. A midfield maestro who could go on and score but mostly made others look formidable. Much (and I mean MUCH) better and more mobile than Riquelme, not too different from Maradona except in that he lacked that solo-run explosion. He had the vision and ability to create space, dribble his way out of trouble and play the perfect pass.

Your time will be well spent if you google some videos, an absolute joy to watch. It's a crying shame the world didn't get to see more of him.

Why?

-1 Club player: spent his entire career at Independiente. To this day Independiente is the team to have won the Libertadores most times (7), he won 4 of those for them.

-Menotti: his teams were more about tactical discipline and workrate than irrepressible creativity and invention.

-Maradona: his rise meant Bochini was surplus to requirements. If only their ages had been inverted, Bochini would have surely taken over seamlessly from Diego.

Personally, I always wondered what Argentina would have looked like with both on the pitch.

Maradona probably did as well. Bochini was his idol, his inspiration as a player, to the extent Maradona demanded that Bilardo take him to Mexico even if he wasn't planning on playing him. With the semifinal against Belgium running out at 2-0, Maradona demanded he was played. Burruchaga made way and Maradona came over to the sideline to receive him, "Dibuje Maestro" (draw master, by draw meaning surprising everyone with his play).

In fact what happened was Bochini wasn't at all match fit and Maradona persisted in trying to get him involved and scoring, even when he should be keeping the ball and doing stuff himself. It actually made Bochini look bad (he was the master of one-two, but over anything else he was effective, he wasn't expecting what Maradona did because it just didn't make sense and there were better courses of action).

In a nutshell, it was a very sorry sight and probably supported Bilardo not playing them both: Maradona was in awe of him and would be prone to completely forgetting the point of the game (scoring and winning) in his attempts to link-up and create magical stuff.

Cracking player. Won't gather much by way of votes, but he is up there with anyone drafted so far. Could have easily been a first round pick. No, that's wrong, he would and should have been.

Many of the top South Americans (not just Brazilians or Argentinians, the Peruvians were shit-hot as were the Chileans in that period) never played outside of South America at that time, but come the World Cup you'd see a glimpse of them.

I don't think there will be a great deal of youtube footage going back that far unfortunately
 
Many of the top South Americans (not just Brazilians or Argentinians, the Peruvians were shit-hot as were the Chileans in that period) never played outside of South America at that time, but come the World Cup you'd see a glimpse of them.

I don't think there will be a great deal of youtube footage going back that far unfortunately

You've got the full game of Liverpool - Independiente and a 12 minute video of their Copa Libertadores run in the previous season on youtube, there's a surprisingly decent amount of stuff on there.
 
Cracking player. Won't gather much by way of votes, but he is up there with anyone drafted so far. Could have easily been a first round pick. No, that's wrong, he would and should have been.

Same can be said of a few players from the former Yugoslavia/USSR which are still unpicked and may well remain thus!
 
I'll definitely have a go at watching him then, starting with that Independiente-Liverpool game. How come he couldn't make it into Menotti's World Cup winning, Maradona-less '78 side?

Menotti preferred Kempes, which is understandable. He never struck me as a tiki-taka coach, and arguably he was right with that personnel.

Obviously he could always have a role from the bench but that's where politics come into it. Argentina was under a dictatorship and the military interfered. It was the World Cup that would show how great Argentina was, etc. so they pressured Menotti to call up certain players, either to get representation from certain provinces or teams. It wasn't as much about the first XI but the squad (and we know how the otherwise competitive Peruvians shipped exactly the 6 goals they had to concede).

Independiente and Bochini pretty much fell foul of any criteria (from Buenos Aires, not River which was the rulers' team, etc.). So Menotti took Alonso from River instead -who by all means was also a great player- but he got injured so made no impact anyway.

Anyone following Argentinian football at the time will tell you it was insane not to pick him. He had been a regular up until the World Cup and was in peak form.

Just before the World Cup Independiente had won the championship in a historic final where the ref gave a non-existent penalty, a handball goal, and when the Independiente players protested he sent off three of them (clearly someone "upstairs" wanted a different result), yet they came back to win 8 vs. 11 with a Bochini goal. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever wanted Independiente losing that game also had a word with Menotti.

Bochini got on with it and Independiente won the next championship final, against River, with him scoring all the goals.
 
Many of the top South Americans (not just Brazilians or Argentinians, the Peruvians were shit-hot as were the Chileans in that period) never played outside of South America at that time, but come the World Cup you'd see a glimpse of them.

I don't think there will be a great deal of youtube footage going back that far unfortunately

You have two problems:

  1. Fewer players moved to Europe due to foreigner rules
  2. Most South American NTs didn't play those who left for Europe
The second is a particularly problematic one. It cost a fortune to fly someone over, you had little if any time for them to recover from the trip and since there were no FIFA rules on player release they pretty much arrived for the game and pissed off, if the club released them at all.


My man Lerby up there played two games on the same day, an international against Ireland in Dublin and a game for Bayern in Munich on the same day. Schuster was cut off because the Germans had continuous problems with his availability (and dressing room politics did the rest). It wasn't just a South American problem.



But imagine how much harder it was in South America with up to 20 hour flights involved. The result was NTs favoured domestic players because the league fixture could be altered in order to release them. You also had players used to playing together picked regularly as there was no substitute for knowing each other's game. Those who left for Europe weren't just knackered but used to different styles and, by definition, weren't club partners with anyone else on the team (I don't remember a single combo taken on for the two foreign slots).


Therefore, at World Cups you would get to see not just the most talented teams, but those who managed that situation better. Uruguay spent the entire 70s and 80s playing domestic players: it didn't work. Then with someone like Francescoli the rule was gradually relaxed (WC86 and 90 beckoned) to the point most players in the 90s were foreign based: that sent us back to the stone age because we couldn't defend for toffee or string more than three passes together.


Our recent form is not a result of a better crop of players (I would argue in the 90s and 80s we had equally talented players), but Tabarez deciding 6 years ago to work with a settled squad. He formed a group of players of a similar age that he could work with over the long term (sprinkled with a few token oldies like Forlán and Lugano) and every time they come back together they know each other and what they are playing at.



They are not better individually, they are a better team as a result of a sound process that takes into account the constraints faced when most of your players are scattered in disparate league and team styles across the globe.


There's a lesson for England (and lately Argentina) somewhere in there.