Defender and less-flashy-than-Socrates midfielder - so that's not surprising. It's probably a generational thing. I remember the '82 team - the first WC team which truly captured my imagination as a very young lad. So, to me even the likes of Eder are memorable players.
And I'm prone to overrate those players for exactly that reason. They stand out to me in a way more modern players - or more ancient players - simply do not. Because I was right there - when they were at their greatest, and when I myself was at my most impressionable.
Even worse with '86 - as I was actually capable of grasping the more subtle points of football by then. The summer of '86 - incredible. Watching those matches, then going out to play football with your mates, pretending to be Maradona - those are incredibly vivid memories.
It took me a long time to get over that bias. And I probably am not completely over it still.
I don't think you guys are overbiased at all (the older caftards). When I saw Scirea play (researching old matches etc) I was stunned, absolutely brilliant player. It saddens me a great deal when I look at modern day defenders who are supposed to be more talented on the ball ever since the pass back rule change, yet we have some very average ball players in the modern game.. which is why someone like Stones is going at £50m plus. Guys like Baresi and Scirea had a midfielder's ball playing intelligence and passed through the lines with ease. They had a composure on the ball which is beyond any modern day defender including any from the 90's era.
My real footballing knowledge begins 1995 onwards, as that is when I was watching the game, but I would say my favorite era of footballers are 60's and the 1958 world cup, I could rewatch all day as it has so many cracking yet unheralded footballers on show. The pace of the game in that world cup was insane, the Brazil 1958 team for me personally played a more athletic, fast paced game than the 1970 team but that team was more cultured.
It is a generational thing though and I think it depends on what country you come from, being born in the UK.. you have to know your 60's footballers as we won the world cup in 1966 and you pick up on guys like Eusebio, Pele, Garrincha as you go along but the 70's and early 80's was a lost decade for us. Then you have 1986, Maradona is just so dominant a figure in your perception of that world cup and as a kid, you just assume.. he is the be all and end all of that tourney.
Unless you're involved in drafting, it is very rare you'll come across Scirea and Falcao as a young football fan even if you're a keen reader of autobiographies and history books on football.
. Petit got less credit than I thought he would here,and I wasn't inclined to start bigging up the opponent's legacy player myself. But he was half of one of the best central midfields in Premier League history, a WC and Euros winner who scored one and assisted one in a WC final, and overall he was a highly regarded player at his peak.
The latter got his only vote from his former teammate too