You can go back to any point in time and witness the full career of 3 players, live. Who do you chose?
Time Traveller: 3 Players
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
The only problem with this time travel stuff is the players and teams are already in our timeline unless this is directed at youngsters who never saw Becks or players in an era we all lived through already.
- Pele. Did he even score all those goals? Is he a fraud? Was he playing without the offside rule?
- D. Edwards. Was the hype justified? Was he really destined for greatness?
- Johan Cruyff. Simply for inventing the Cruyff Turn. And I've heard he was an ok footballer.
Pele: Does he deserve to be dubbed by many as the GOAT.
Duncan Edwards: Same reason as the guy above, and as a United fan myself I wouldn’t be surprised to see many more people choose him.
Sir Bobby Charlton: Ballon D’or winner in the only year England have won the WC. Dubbed by many as Uniteds greatest ever player, I would love to see how good he actually was.
Duncan Edwards: Same reason as the guy above, and as a United fan myself I wouldn’t be surprised to see many more people choose him.
Sir Bobby Charlton: Ballon D’or winner in the only year England have won the WC. Dubbed by many as Uniteds greatest ever player, I would love to see how good he actually was.
Pele: Is he really the ultimate GOAT? Well on paper he definitely is, but how about in live TV, week-in, week-out, is he really better than Messi and Ronaldo?
Duncan Edwards: Well they say he was potentially the best ever, opponents totally give up in man marking him. Was he overrated/overhyped due to dying at young age, or was he really potentially the best ever?
Di Stefano: He totally dominates European football during the 50s, but I have only watch a very very few footage of him. Totally no idea how good he was. But, he really dominates that era: 5 CL, and total 13 league titles in Spain, Columbia and Argentina, and finished as top scorer for 10 times. He was the ultimate club player, before we have Messi and Ronaldo.
Duncan Edwards: Well they say he was potentially the best ever, opponents totally give up in man marking him. Was he overrated/overhyped due to dying at young age, or was he really potentially the best ever?
Di Stefano: He totally dominates European football during the 50s, but I have only watch a very very few footage of him. Totally no idea how good he was. But, he really dominates that era: 5 CL, and total 13 league titles in Spain, Columbia and Argentina, and finished as top scorer for 10 times. He was the ultimate club player, before we have Messi and Ronaldo.
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Cruyf, Charlton, Pele
Just three?
Duncan Edwards
Lev Yashin
Franz Beckenbauer
Also wanted to include Cruyff.
Duncan Edwards
Lev Yashin
Franz Beckenbauer
Also wanted to include Cruyff.
Difficult and I'm going to sacrifice one of my picks by saying Kaka even though he probably only had 1 season of GOAT worthy play and then 2 or 3 seasons at a truly World Class level before that Madrid horror story but he's my favourite player ever and to go back now and watch him when I can appreciate football a lot more rather than watching that period of his as a teen would be special, especially in the San Siro.
Ronaldo - WC 02 is the first that I truly remember in its entirety and as a 9 year old I remember him completely dominating the tournament. After the final about 4 or 5 kids on my sunday league team came in with his haircut. I was just a bit too young to fully remember the glory years of his career.
Lastly I'd go with Cruyff Not much more to be said. Genius.
Ronaldo - WC 02 is the first that I truly remember in its entirety and as a 9 year old I remember him completely dominating the tournament. After the final about 4 or 5 kids on my sunday league team came in with his haircut. I was just a bit too young to fully remember the glory years of his career.
Lastly I'd go with Cruyff Not much more to be said. Genius.
Pele - To see his career in full would be great.
Di Stefano - Would like to see his game and how highly he is regarded.
Charlton - You would get to witness and experience the great man himself, Duncan Edwards, Best and England’s sole WC win all in one.
Di Stefano - Would like to see his game and how highly he is regarded.
Charlton - You would get to witness and experience the great man himself, Duncan Edwards, Best and England’s sole WC win all in one.
Unpopular opinion: The past is the past, I wouldn't want to spend my time watching games that has already happened.
But yeah. Pele is the obvious choice here. How good was he really?
But yeah. Pele is the obvious choice here. How good was he really?
Best, Cruyff and Pele.
I feel like Pele and di Stefano are the two default answers, simply because people ascribe such mythical abilities to them. Di Stefano also gives you "access" to the Real team of Puskas&co. Being German I'd probably take Beckenbauer or Loddar as my third pick.
I’d want to see the river plate team of the early-mid 1940s, pedernera, Moreno and labruna
You don’t need a time machine, YouTube is your friend
I'll try and think outside the names mentioned so far
1) Johnny Giles - Considered by many to be the most talented Irish player of all time which is saying a lot considering we produced Liam Brady, Roy Keane, Paul McGrath, Denis Irwin, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane etc
2)Dixie Dean - Any player that scores 60 league goals in a season (1927-28 for Everton) would be worth watching.
3)Jimmy McGrory - I may as well stay in the same era as Dixie Dean and I would love to have watched Jimmy McGrory in his prime for Celtic. McGrory is Celtic’s top scorer of all time, with 469 goals in 448 games and holds their record for the most goals in a season, with 57 League and Scottish Cup goals from 39 games, in season 1926–27.
1) Johnny Giles - Considered by many to be the most talented Irish player of all time which is saying a lot considering we produced Liam Brady, Roy Keane, Paul McGrath, Denis Irwin, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane etc
2)Dixie Dean - Any player that scores 60 league goals in a season (1927-28 for Everton) would be worth watching.
3)Jimmy McGrory - I may as well stay in the same era as Dixie Dean and I would love to have watched Jimmy McGrory in his prime for Celtic. McGrory is Celtic’s top scorer of all time, with 469 goals in 448 games and holds their record for the most goals in a season, with 57 League and Scottish Cup goals from 39 games, in season 1926–27.
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Beckenbauer
Robben
Ronaldo #9
Robben
Ronaldo #9
Ferenc Puskás, which is a bit of a cheat since I'll be able to watch all of the Magyars and also that Real Madrid side with Di Stéfano and Gento at their pomp. Missing out on Di Stéfano's earlier career and some bits La Máquina is a hard decision, but I'm willing to take it.
So that adds a very comprehensive overview of:
Di Stéfano
Bozsik
Kocsis
Gento
Czibor
Hidegkuti
and some bits of Luis Suárez and Kopa as well
Bobby Charlton is also a smart option — while there's quite a bit (relatively) of footage with him available it'll be amazing to not only witness the career of our greatest ever (personal opinion) player in full, but you'll also get Busby Babes (and 2 best years of Duncan Edwards!), peak Law & Best, a fantastic England side of 66' & 70' and even the greats of the 50's to some extent:
Edwards
Law
Best
Moore
Greaves
Banks
some bits of an old-ish Finney & tons of an all-time greats with whom he had multiple encounters like Pelé, Beckenbauer, Eusébio etc.
Eduard Streltsov. Most of you probably never even heard of him, but he's the greatest Enigma in Soviet football history, and, even though it's obviously unprovable, his performances as a youngster were absolutely unreal and on par with any other young player of that era... 18 goals in 21 international games from the age of 17 to 20, including a hat-trick in his debut game against Sweden (World Cup finalists with the same defense 3 years later) and goals against Hungary and twice in 2 games against West Germany, the reigning world champion. All was set up for a Soviet Union to shine in the 1958 World Cup with young Streltsov being their brightest star, but he got arrested a month before it began... Soviet Union was genuinely one of the greatest teams around — they've won the Olympics (when they still mattered) in 1956 and the first Euros in 1960 even without Streltsov. He would only get to play professionally again after 7 years, 5 of which he had spent in a prison. And he still twice won the title of Soviet Footballer of the Year (including the 1967, when Soviet Union was chosen the best international side of the year, they had a lot of different weird awards then) & came 2nd once... and even though he was clearly at worst the 3rd best player in the country before the beginning of 1966 World Cup, he wasn't called up, because he was an ex-con. I won't get into details of his court case — it's widely believed to be politically motivated and it sounds entirely plausible considering the Soviet juridical system had a tendency to make ones up on the spot. But I won't just state this as a truth as I don't know and we have no way of knowing what had really happened.
In the first Ballon d'Or (1956) ever he and Edwards both finished 13th; Streltsov was 19, Edwards was 20. A year later Streltsov (20 y.o.) finished 7th, Edwards (21 y.o.) 3rd. To think that that 1958 World Cup could have not 1 (Pelé), but 3 of an all-time great youngsters performing at the highest stage...
The tiniest scraps of footage that are available are pretty much all included in this video, as well as a few bits from his post-prison years, where you basically see a different man on the pitch — bald, heavy and with none of his natural athleticism that set him apart as a young player. He wouldn't have became the Russian Pelé — Pelé had combined arguably the most complete attacking skillset with an insane dedication and motivation to improve, I don't feel that Streltsov would match him in that regard, but I wound't have been too surprised if he had reached Eusébio's level. We'll never know
So that adds a very comprehensive overview of:
Di Stéfano
Bozsik
Kocsis
Gento
Czibor
Hidegkuti
and some bits of Luis Suárez and Kopa as well
Bobby Charlton is also a smart option — while there's quite a bit (relatively) of footage with him available it'll be amazing to not only witness the career of our greatest ever (personal opinion) player in full, but you'll also get Busby Babes (and 2 best years of Duncan Edwards!), peak Law & Best, a fantastic England side of 66' & 70' and even the greats of the 50's to some extent:
Edwards
Law
Best
Moore
Greaves
Banks
some bits of an old-ish Finney & tons of an all-time greats with whom he had multiple encounters like Pelé, Beckenbauer, Eusébio etc.
Eduard Streltsov. Most of you probably never even heard of him, but he's the greatest Enigma in Soviet football history, and, even though it's obviously unprovable, his performances as a youngster were absolutely unreal and on par with any other young player of that era... 18 goals in 21 international games from the age of 17 to 20, including a hat-trick in his debut game against Sweden (World Cup finalists with the same defense 3 years later) and goals against Hungary and twice in 2 games against West Germany, the reigning world champion. All was set up for a Soviet Union to shine in the 1958 World Cup with young Streltsov being their brightest star, but he got arrested a month before it began... Soviet Union was genuinely one of the greatest teams around — they've won the Olympics (when they still mattered) in 1956 and the first Euros in 1960 even without Streltsov. He would only get to play professionally again after 7 years, 5 of which he had spent in a prison. And he still twice won the title of Soviet Footballer of the Year (including the 1967, when Soviet Union was chosen the best international side of the year, they had a lot of different weird awards then) & came 2nd once... and even though he was clearly at worst the 3rd best player in the country before the beginning of 1966 World Cup, he wasn't called up, because he was an ex-con. I won't get into details of his court case — it's widely believed to be politically motivated and it sounds entirely plausible considering the Soviet juridical system had a tendency to make ones up on the spot. But I won't just state this as a truth as I don't know and we have no way of knowing what had really happened.
In the first Ballon d'Or (1956) ever he and Edwards both finished 13th; Streltsov was 19, Edwards was 20. A year later Streltsov (20 y.o.) finished 7th, Edwards (21 y.o.) 3rd. To think that that 1958 World Cup could have not 1 (Pelé), but 3 of an all-time great youngsters performing at the highest stage...
The tiniest scraps of footage that are available are pretty much all included in this video, as well as a few bits from his post-prison years, where you basically see a different man on the pitch — bald, heavy and with none of his natural athleticism that set him apart as a young player. He wouldn't have became the Russian Pelé — Pelé had combined arguably the most complete attacking skillset with an insane dedication and motivation to improve, I don't feel that Streltsov would match him in that regard, but I wound't have been too surprised if he had reached Eusébio's level. We'll never know
Great replies.
I'll go for:
Giuseppe Meazza: He was said to be the dominant force of the 30's at a point in time when the game was just coming to the boil. Every piece of material on him makes him sound like a mythical force. I'd be curious to know what football of that era actually looked like and what the best player of that same era did to stand out.
El Charro Moreno: Like others have said, it sneakily enables me to see the whole River Plate side of the era where I'd get to see for myself how special they actually were. Like Meazza, I would be intrigued to see what a game-breaking force of the 1940's actually looked like.
Duncan Edwards: He's held in the ultimate regard and even the likes of Bobby Charlton refer to him as some kind of cosmic being made flesh. Was he the embodiment of godliness I've been led to believe? Are the likes of Robson and Keane dwarfed by his brilliance? Would United have become the team to beat in the late 50's, early 60's had he and the Babes lived?
To break rank from my own OP... Sindelar, Valentino Mazzola, (young/Honved) Puskas, Zizinho, Di Stefano, Ocwirk and Pele could easily rotate with the ones listed.
I'll go for:
Giuseppe Meazza: He was said to be the dominant force of the 30's at a point in time when the game was just coming to the boil. Every piece of material on him makes him sound like a mythical force. I'd be curious to know what football of that era actually looked like and what the best player of that same era did to stand out.
El Charro Moreno: Like others have said, it sneakily enables me to see the whole River Plate side of the era where I'd get to see for myself how special they actually were. Like Meazza, I would be intrigued to see what a game-breaking force of the 1940's actually looked like.
Duncan Edwards: He's held in the ultimate regard and even the likes of Bobby Charlton refer to him as some kind of cosmic being made flesh. Was he the embodiment of godliness I've been led to believe? Are the likes of Robson and Keane dwarfed by his brilliance? Would United have become the team to beat in the late 50's, early 60's had he and the Babes lived?
To break rank from my own OP... Sindelar, Valentino Mazzola, (young/Honved) Puskas, Zizinho, Di Stefano, Ocwirk and Pele could easily rotate with the ones listed.
Best
Zidane
Ronaldo the Brazilian
Zidane
Ronaldo the Brazilian
1 Cantona
2 Cantona
3 Cantona
Ill just zap back and forth in his career a bit to make a great study of the man, the myth
2 Cantona
3 Cantona
Ill just zap back and forth in his career a bit to make a great study of the man, the myth
Giuseppe Meazza
Obdulio Varela
F.Beckenbauer
Obdulio Varela
F.Beckenbauer
Loads of full matches featuring Kaka on this site mate. There's even 8 matches from his early Sao Paulo days:
https://footballia.net/players/ricardo-izecson-dos-santos-leite
My answer is based around watching players live which I believed the thread is about.
John Charles, Il Gigante Buono.
To Welshmen of a certain age, he is the epitome of what a footballer should be on the pitch.
There is footage but I'd have enjoyed to see him play week in week out.
To Welshmen of a certain age, he is the epitome of what a footballer should be on the pitch.
There is footage but I'd have enjoyed to see him play week in week out.
We have a similar story in Norway, the player is Tom Lund.
In 1973 when Ajax was the best team in Europe, they wanted Tom Lund to replace Cruyff. Tom Lund was then 23 year oldplaying for his homeclub Lillestrøm in Norways 3rd(!!) division as an amateur while at the same time playing for Norway. All national coaches that met Norway praised him as a player that would play in any team in the world. The West-German coach said the team that had him would win the league.
So what did he do? Well, he was determined to make Lillestrøm the best team possible. After rejecting Ajax he took Lillestrøm to top division after 2 consecutive promotions in 73-74. The 75 season started well with 0 losses and 1st place after 9 games before Lund was injured for 4 games where they lost all of them and they ended mid-table. He then managed his boyhood dream season after winning the title with Lillestrøm, and for many seasons after it was the dominating team in Norway. In 77 he beat Ajax in European Champions Cup. He also turned down offers from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, and never played for another club than Lillestrøm.
He was scared of flying, so european away games for Lillestrøm and Norway was often played after many hours driving.
Fair to say I would’ve loved to see him play!
José Leandro Andrade
Isabelino Gradín
Baba Yara
In 1950, Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast. "The Big Six" as they're known in Ghana expressed opposition to British rule and were imprisoned for doing so. As a pre-commitment measure, Britain organised an overseas football tour, and in August 1951, the Ghana football side visited Britain for this very reason. Amongst numerous games which took place, beat Blackpool 5-0.
As a 21 year old Baba Yara spearheaded Asante Kotoko to winning the domestic league, contextually, it was just a year since Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast had gained Independence from British Colonial Rule.
In terms of position, he was a right winger with a propensity to demonstrate his athleticism when ample space was ahead of him, and yet able to use his footwork and dribbling ability when confined to a narrow space. Often baiting a defender to make a challenge, only to go into another gear to accelerate past them in a Hazard esque fashion. Beyond his pace, and
dribbling, he was a prolific goal scorer at both club sides, as well as for the Ghana national team scoring close to a goal per game according to reports.
The main rivalry at the time, and still to this day, being Asante Kotoko, situated in the Ashanti Region which is the largest tribe in Ghana, and Accra Hearts of Oak which is situated in the capital of Ghana. As part of the Independence celebrations, Stanley Matthews played as a guest player in exhibition matches for Accra Hearts of Oak. Anyway, despite the rivalry, Baba Yara managed to score 8 goals in purely the head to head games, and around 90 goals in total against any team for Kotoko within a 6 year time period. As a result, he fostered quite the relationship with the locals.
However, to his dismay he was forced to join The Republicans which was ultimately derived from the president, Kwame Nkrumah and chairman of the Ghanaian FA, Ohene Djan. It was a means to tackle the issue of certain clubs proving to be difficult when it came to allowing players to head for national duty. Osagyefo's Own Club formed in 1960. A footballers life is a strenuous one.
Part of the idea was that it wasn't perceived as ideal for footballers to be in the army like other team. Therefore needed a way for their national service to be inextricably linked with football, which led to players being called into the workers brigade and sports council so they could train and work. Naturally, nobody wanted to be sick as it would take ages to win back the place from the man who replaced you. To celebrate Kenya's Independence, Ghana played Kenya during an Independence festival. However, the Black Stars had no qualms with holding back as they ruthlessly scored 13 goals against Kenya.
Strong protesting understandably took place when Baba Yara was called to play for Real Republicans. The Kotoko fans said it would be unjust for him to play against his own, and even his agent warned him that it would be a bad idea to play against them with some going as far saying they will not be responsible for their actions if he plays against them. The professional
that he is, he insisted that so long as the coach wants him to play, he'll play, even if its against the club he loves. So with the Kotoko fans ready to boo, Baba Yara received the ball and immediately did a dribble which got the fans off their feet and they were cheering for him like they used too.
As a result, this Real Republicans side was established by picking the two best players from the club sides, and of course, Baba Yara was the undisputed figurehead for his side, and was therefore chosen. Such was his ability that he was the prominent figurehead of this newly deployed team, helping them to silverware in the years 1961 and 1962.
During his actual international debut, he scored twice, and made 4 assist. Consistent with his character of loyalty, where he was less than please to depart from Kotoko, he rejected interest when North African scouts were vying to see his ability.
Team got disbanded after the couo d'etat of Major General Kotoka and Major Akwasi Afrifa towards Nkrumah's government.
Unfortunately, at the age of 26 he was involved in a rather traumatic experience where the driver of the Republicans team bus made an error of judgement resulting in Baba Yara unable to move his limbs effectively ruling him from ever playing football again.
Isabelino Gradín
Baba Yara
In 1950, Ghana was a British colony known as the Gold Coast. "The Big Six" as they're known in Ghana expressed opposition to British rule and were imprisoned for doing so. As a pre-commitment measure, Britain organised an overseas football tour, and in August 1951, the Ghana football side visited Britain for this very reason. Amongst numerous games which took place, beat Blackpool 5-0.
As a 21 year old Baba Yara spearheaded Asante Kotoko to winning the domestic league, contextually, it was just a year since Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast had gained Independence from British Colonial Rule.
In terms of position, he was a right winger with a propensity to demonstrate his athleticism when ample space was ahead of him, and yet able to use his footwork and dribbling ability when confined to a narrow space. Often baiting a defender to make a challenge, only to go into another gear to accelerate past them in a Hazard esque fashion. Beyond his pace, and
dribbling, he was a prolific goal scorer at both club sides, as well as for the Ghana national team scoring close to a goal per game according to reports.
The main rivalry at the time, and still to this day, being Asante Kotoko, situated in the Ashanti Region which is the largest tribe in Ghana, and Accra Hearts of Oak which is situated in the capital of Ghana. As part of the Independence celebrations, Stanley Matthews played as a guest player in exhibition matches for Accra Hearts of Oak. Anyway, despite the rivalry, Baba Yara managed to score 8 goals in purely the head to head games, and around 90 goals in total against any team for Kotoko within a 6 year time period. As a result, he fostered quite the relationship with the locals.
However, to his dismay he was forced to join The Republicans which was ultimately derived from the president, Kwame Nkrumah and chairman of the Ghanaian FA, Ohene Djan. It was a means to tackle the issue of certain clubs proving to be difficult when it came to allowing players to head for national duty. Osagyefo's Own Club formed in 1960. A footballers life is a strenuous one.
Part of the idea was that it wasn't perceived as ideal for footballers to be in the army like other team. Therefore needed a way for their national service to be inextricably linked with football, which led to players being called into the workers brigade and sports council so they could train and work. Naturally, nobody wanted to be sick as it would take ages to win back the place from the man who replaced you. To celebrate Kenya's Independence, Ghana played Kenya during an Independence festival. However, the Black Stars had no qualms with holding back as they ruthlessly scored 13 goals against Kenya.
Strong protesting understandably took place when Baba Yara was called to play for Real Republicans. The Kotoko fans said it would be unjust for him to play against his own, and even his agent warned him that it would be a bad idea to play against them with some going as far saying they will not be responsible for their actions if he plays against them. The professional
that he is, he insisted that so long as the coach wants him to play, he'll play, even if its against the club he loves. So with the Kotoko fans ready to boo, Baba Yara received the ball and immediately did a dribble which got the fans off their feet and they were cheering for him like they used too.
As a result, this Real Republicans side was established by picking the two best players from the club sides, and of course, Baba Yara was the undisputed figurehead for his side, and was therefore chosen. Such was his ability that he was the prominent figurehead of this newly deployed team, helping them to silverware in the years 1961 and 1962.
During his actual international debut, he scored twice, and made 4 assist. Consistent with his character of loyalty, where he was less than please to depart from Kotoko, he rejected interest when North African scouts were vying to see his ability.
Team got disbanded after the couo d'etat of Major General Kotoka and Major Akwasi Afrifa towards Nkrumah's government.
Unfortunately, at the age of 26 he was involved in a rather traumatic experience where the driver of the Republicans team bus made an error of judgement resulting in Baba Yara unable to move his limbs effectively ruling him from ever playing football again.
Give me:
Best
Charlton
Cantona
Would be a dream to finally watch Best and Bobby. Cantona i've seen many times and would give my left leg to watch him again.
Best
Charlton
Cantona
Would be a dream to finally watch Best and Bobby. Cantona i've seen many times and would give my left leg to watch him again.
Sindelar
Pele
Beckenbauer
Pele
Beckenbauer