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Most missed players at the 2006 World Cup

April 4th, 2006 | By: Luis Paulo | 23 Comments »

Let’s take a break with Portugal again to talk about the World Cup in general. I’ve been following this tournament since 1990(4 editions) and I saw some great footballers ever since. Although we might find top skilled players like Ronaldinho, Messi, Totti, Lampard and others this year in Germany I still miss some of the oldies. So, since I love to do a Top 5, let’s see who are my Top 5 most missed players at this World Cup.

#5 Dennis Bergkamp – Bergkamp steps on the field like a noble prince leading his army in a war. Doesn’t he look noble? It’s very hard to me leave Van Basten out of this but The Iceman is my favorite Dutch player. The way he walks, the way he touch the ball is so unique, so classy. If you take a look at his goal against Argentina in 1998 Quarter Finals you can see all that class. At that moment, only a few minutes before the overtime, he acted like it wasn’t even important. How can someone be so cold in a moment like that?

#4 René Higuita – There was no other player in this game who gave us, as much fun as Higuita did. The Colombian former goalie was the first goalie to play with his feet. He opened doors to guys like José Campos or Chilavert. Of course I would never wanted to see him playing for my team, but I sure wanted to see him playing. The Wembley Stadium couldn’t have a better farewell than his most immortal play. With him, the game was never boring.

#3 Romário – I feel so bad that Romário only played one World Cup (in 1990 he was recovering from an injury and only played for a few minutes). His goal ratio is 0,83. When he plays for Brazil it gets even better: 0,95. Which player has done that? He is 40 and yet was the top goalscorer at Brazilian League last year. It doesn’t meter how many World Cups Ronaldo win, Romário is the best player Brazilian have since Pelé. If I was Parreira I would call him for this tournament. Not only to show him our gratitude for the victory in 94 after 24 years without wining a World Cup, but he could be important in a overtime or in a difficult moment at the end of a match. When you are playing a game against Brazil, who would you fear most: Fred or Romário?

#2 Diego Maradona – My dad is 66 years old. When he talks about his football old memories he talks about the time he climbed Maracana’s walls to watch Puskas play behind the stadium’s light post (Maracanã was so crowded, that there was no other place available that day). Well, I wasn’t alive to see Puskas, Eusébio or Pelé playing but at least I saw Maradona. He was a genius with the ball. He could make plays that I had never seen in my life and probably never will again. If I could just see him playing one more time it would be marvelous. When I get old, it will be about Maradona that I’ll be talking to my kids.

#1 Preud’Homme – It’s probably just me, but I would love to see Preud’Homme playing just once more. He was the only goalie who made me cheer not for the goal but for the defense he made. I was always excited to see Belgium’s games at the World Cup. It was my only chance to see Preud’Homme in action. He as more then a goalie, he was an acrobat. It was beautiful to see him playing. Kahn, Buffon, Chech, Ilgner, Bartez; those guys didn’t have half of Preud’Homme’s talent. For me, the best goalie ever is not Lev Yashin, nor Gordon Banks. It’s Michel Preud’Homme. The only man who was able to make a defense, even more beautiful then a goal.

It’s actually really hard to me to chose only 5 players and leave out Mathäus, Klismann, Van Basten, Gullit, Baggio, Caniggia, Baresi and so many others that I could spend my entire day only listing. I would really like to include Roger Milla but let’s face it, he already played enough.

What about you? Who would you miss most?

Tags: Maradona, Portugal, Romario, world cup legends

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Comments

By Ceasar Lourenco | April 4th, 2006 at 8:58 am

My list would be……

#1. Rui Costa
#2. Paulo Maldini
#3. Shmichell (spelling?)
#4. Dennis Bergkamp
#5. Laudrop brothers

Posted from Canada

By Luis Paulo | April 4th, 2006 at 9:09 am

Do you mean the danish goalie Peter Schmeichel?

Hey, Laudrop brothers is cheating. They are 2, not one. LOL.

By Ceasar Lourenco | April 4th, 2006 at 9:27 am

Haha, right on both counts.

Posted from Canada

By Pedro P | April 4th, 2006 at 10:33 am

No, you’re not the only one. I’m also a fan of Preud’ Homme. There were several years in which only him and JV Ponto carried Benfica on their laps.

Maradona is a “classic”. I guess we’d all love to see him in action.

Suker and the rest of the “old” CRO team…
Stoitchkov, Balakov and Kostadinov…

Posted from Netherlands

By The Blog Goes On 04.04 - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog | April 4th, 2006 at 11:04 am

[...] Some great players won’t be playing at the World Cup this summer. Who do you miss? (Portugal Blog) [...]

Posted from United States

By weir | April 4th, 2006 at 11:25 am

5.Roberto Baggio
4.Gheorgie Hagi
4.Gabriel Batistuta
3.Hristo Stoichkov
2.Romario
1.Diego Maradona

Theirs many more I can list but the best world cup i ever saw and my first was USA 94 which featured the above. Preud’homme was fantastic alongside Bergkamp, Bebeto, Henrik Larsson, Tomas Brolin, Dunga, Maldini. Theirs too many to say these were guys i saw in my first world cup and boy were they good in their prime.

Posted from United Kingdom

By soze | April 4th, 2006 at 11:40 am

I think Maradona would fall on almost everyones list, but I am a fan of ‘recent’ soccer stars. Although the old timers are great, I still think the new stars (1990-present) bring more ‘flair’to the game…I’m all about flair baby.

1.Maradona (my one old-timer)
2.Rui Costa (in his time the best #10 in the world)
3.Romario – no explanation needed
4.Roberto Baggio (in’94, he looked like he was toying with the opposition)
5.Zidane (although still on the pitch..what he does now can NOT be classified as playing)

By Kapcro | April 4th, 2006 at 11:49 am

Pele- hands down ,pure soccer magic. We watched him no matter who we were rooting for. A class act.

Posted from United States

By soze | April 4th, 2006 at 11:49 am

Pedro P….I, on behalf of all the Croats, would like to offer you a honorary Croatian membershp. Your kind words and knowledge of our team are greatly appreciated.

By Kapcro | April 4th, 2006 at 12:03 pm

I second Soze’s nomination of Pedro P. Didn’t want to list any Croatians myself. Thank you very much Pedro, does this mean you can now apply to play the Croatian National team? (just kidding)

Posted from United States

By Gibraldo | April 4th, 2006 at 1:08 pm

#1 Stojkovic
#2 Hierro
#3 Okocha
#4 Vialli
#5 van Basten

By Mike | April 4th, 2006 at 2:22 pm

1) Cruyff
2) Bergkamp
3) Beckenbauer
4) Platini
5) Hagi

If only…

Posted from United States

By justin | April 4th, 2006 at 4:16 pm

Baggio

Posted from Italy

By james | April 4th, 2006 at 4:46 pm

I would like to see Zico and the futebol arte team from 1982 that all Brasilians talk about constantly.

i am surprised to see so many mentions of those Italian twits that blew it in 1994.

I am also inflicting a no Maradona, no Pele rule and a since 1990 rule.

1) Romario
2) Bergkamp
3) Djorkaeff
4) Bati-gol
5) Gascoigne

I actually sat behind the goal for the Belgium-Holland game where Preud-homme was absolutely immense and single handedly kept the belgians in the match. unreal.

and i would give a nod to brolin and the tall swedish guy who did the aussie rules goal sign when he scored but now i can’t remember his name. Stochkov and the balding letchkov.

Hell lets throw in the chain smoking Bulgarian manager and emile jaquet for that matter.

this is fun too bad there this discussion is not taking place in a pub with cold beers.

desailly, Sukor, Bierhoff, Klinsman,

Lalas, Ramos, Meola, Harkes(hey its my team and i can have some americans on it if i want!)

Posted from United States

By Luis Paulo | April 4th, 2006 at 10:52 pm

Wow. Djorkaeff. I didn’t see that coming.

I believe that the “tall swedish” that you were talking about was Kennet Andersson. The best swedish player in 94 IMO. He scored a beautiful goal against Brazil.

By Gus | April 5th, 2006 at 1:00 am

How about Cuauhtemoc Blanco? He was just excluded from Mexico’s preliminary list this week…
I guess we won’t be seeing anybody doing the infamous bunny hopping with the ball between the legs like he did against South Korea in 98.
That same year he also scored an awkward goal against Belgium to draw the match… Would that have been against Preud’Homme then?

Posted from Australia

By Mika | April 5th, 2006 at 2:18 am

Roberto Baggio

Posted from United States

By Pedro P | April 5th, 2006 at 4:02 am

Thanks to all the people from Hrvatska. Hvala. Anyway, you know more about POR than we about CRO. Boban, Suker, Vlaovic and the others, whose face I remember but not the name, are players to be rembered. They were extremelly good and, like most of the portuguese, usually UNDERrated by public opinion. Of course, this sounds like the “bitterness of the wanna be” we know better.

I mentioned the bulgarians because, for me, they were really good and very exciting to watch. Some played in Portugal, or had played, by the time of WC94.

The list is endless… Lalas, one of the first US football famous – everybody remembers the goatie.

Platini WAS very good. I’m sorry, but after Eurocup 84 when France kicked POR out in the semi’s, extra time, after being down 2-1 most of the match – courtesy Platini – my neutrality SIMPLY vanished.

Posted from Netherlands

By Kapcro | April 5th, 2006 at 7:51 am

Lalas deserves a nod. Someone may question whether he merits it on quality of play as compared to other stars, but one can’t argue stage presence and intensity. The list is about players that we miss watching after all. Pedro P you once again prove yourself a gentleman. Small countries players press time will always fall behind that of those in large countries, nature of the publicity game. People who follow a sport usually appreciate and acknowledge a good player no matter where he’s from. Speaking of memories here are two DVD’s that are available- World Cup Soccer Highlights 1966-1974 and World Cup Soccer Highlights DVD collection 1978-2002.

Posted from United States

By Luis Paulo | April 5th, 2006 at 8:01 am

You’re right Kaprcro. It’s not only a list of top footballers. It’s a list of players we missed. Higuita wasn’t that good, he was just funny. If I have rank the 5 best players that I have seen it would be a different list.

By Kapcro | April 5th, 2006 at 8:23 am

Luis thanks I earlier listed Pele, yes a great player, but I listed him because he literally got me out of my seat when he got the ball and then finished the play and you just sat back and said Wow. Enjoyed the post on Eusebio, a fine man.

Posted from United States

By Luis Paulo | April 5th, 2006 at 9:02 am

Gus, it wasn’t. Preud’Homme’s last WC was in 94. Belgium’s goalie in 98 was Filip de Wilde.

By fred | April 24th, 2006 at 8:15 am

1 Romario
2 Romario
3 Romario
4 Romario
5 Romario

because he is the kind of player who makes you write this

Posted from Germany