Your Favourite Player of Each Tournament You Have Seen

[multipleman78]

86 Maradona but honourable mention to Josimar for his brilliant goals and jubilation after.

90 Emile Mbouh Mbouh of Cameroon. So good his surname was repeated. I have a memory of him doing keepy ups with his head v Argentina before nearly killing someone in the crowd with a volley.

94 Stoichkov. Battered in the first game v Nigeria and responded with a goal in every game until the 3rd place play off.

98 Pierre Njanka of Cameroon. I like Cameroon. Voting him because he took one of the worst games of the tournament v Austria and decided, "fuck this, i am going on a solo." Goal of the tournament. Honourable mention for the bouncing Blanco of Mexico.

02 Ronaldo. His redemption was brilliant even if his hair was shit.

06 Zidane. Made Brazil chase shadows then defended his sister in the final.

10 Suarez. What else was he supposed to do, let Ghana win?

14 Andre Schurrle. Germany had eased off, 5-0 was enough. He was having none of it.

18 Kante cos he's amazing and Son for his magical open goal finish v Germany.

[jason voorhees]

82 - Socrates
86- Linekar
90- Valderamma
94- Stoitchkov
98- Zizou/Chilavert
02- Reyna
06- Zizou/Ribery
10- Donovan/Suarez
14- Sideshow Bob/Grasshopper on Hi-Mes
18- Mmmmbop/Suarez

[ooh aah]

90 - Schillaci
94 - Romario
98 - Zidane
02 - Ronaldo
06 - Zidane
10 - Ozil
14 - Muller
18 - Well so far it's between Mbappe and Modric

[G-Man]

1974: Gerd Müller. The 43rd minute. And that goal he scored, down on the ground, against Yugoslavia.

1978: Rob Rensenbrink. Superb in '74; suberber in '78. If only his shot against the post in the final had gone in.

1982: Pierre Littbarski. He was my favourite player shortly after he came to Köln as a 18 year-old in 1978. Here he exploded on the international scene.

1986: Preben Elkjaer. Once of FC Köln*. That hat-trick against Uruguay!

1990: Roger Milla. How can anyone not say Roger Milla?

1994: Gheorghe Hagi. Stick your Baggios and Bebetos. He was the finest player in that World Cup.

1998: Lillian Thuram. Massively likable guy, fantastic defender -- and the the two goals in the semi-final!

2002: Lucas Radebe. The South African captain when SA went out on goals-scored. Scored the 2-2 in the tight defeat against Spain.

2006: Andrea Pirlo. The coolest football player since Socrates.

2010: Lukas Podolski. Superb guy, and scored a few great goals.

2014: Manuel Neuer. Another great guy. Loved that sweeper play, but most of all, I loved the way he swatted the ball away against France in the last minute.



* He didn't cut it there, because he and coach Hennes Weisweiler didn't get on. Once Weisweiler confronted him that he had been spotted in a nightclub with a bottle of whisky and a woman. Elkjaer replied that this was a lie! It was a bottle of vodka and two women.

[Simon G]

98: Michael Owen. I was a teenager, so was he. But he was scoring World Cup goals for England. I think I even looked a bit like him at the time.

This was exactly the reason I went for him - I was 13 and this lad who was only 5 years older than me was scoring for England!!!

[Felicity, I guess so]

Great stuff, bix and Wouter D, some left field but enlightening choices that I really like.

Yes, great stuff bix- animal noises would certainly liven up most post match interviews. I loved the Angola flag kit and would do a better job of listing fave kits than players, without lots of prep.

[ad hoc]

74 Cruyff
78 Kempes
82 Giresse (and then after that heinous semi final, Tardelli. Pick that out you wankers)
86 Maradona
90 Schillaci
94 Stoichkov
98 -
02 Ronaldinho
06 Grosso
10 Xaviniesta
14 James
18 Mbappe so far

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

70 Jairzinho
74 Szarmach
78 Cubillas
82 Whiteside
86 Jennings

I fucking knew it. He's been a ghost this entire time writing from the other side.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

1994 really had so many. Several in Colombia, Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria. One could easily list half the Bulgarian squad with all their Tintin villian names for instance: Trifon Ivanov, Emil Kostadinov, Hristo Stoichkov, Yordan Letchkov, Nasko Sirakov, Boncho Genchev, Iliyan Kiryakov, Petar Mihtarski, Krasimir Balakov

Really, Boncho Genchev, what a name!

[treibeis]

2014: Manuel Neuer. Another great guy. Loved that sweeper play, but most of all, I loved the way he swatted the ball away against France in the last minute.

I like Neuer too, but if he'd been a mere sweeper rather than a "sweeper-keeper" when he needlessly kneed Higuain in the back of the head in the final, he'd have conceded a penalty and possibly been sent off.

[EIM]

1990 - It was Gazza. It was meant to be Robson, but he injured his Achilles, despite the Sondico Robson Gold shin pads having an in-built Achilles protector. But after him it was Gazza for the dribbling, the gurning, the crying and the plastic tits.

1994 - I supported Italy in USA 94 as I was in the midst of my Football Italia phase. "You're not Italian." My Dad snapped at me during the Ireland game. "I'm not Irish either, Dad..." I replied denying family heritage. Roberto Baggio carried Italy to the final, elevating himself to the level of the very best in the world in the process. Shame he fucked that penalty though.

1998 - I was a moody 18 year old refusing to support England due to the pub dickheads who ruined the tournament for me. I think I supported Brazil, I certainly remember getting a load of shit from a Scotland fan for wearing a retro Pele shirt round town. But as United were being heavily linked to Patrick Kluivert at the time, and had or were about to announce Jaap Stam as a new signing, I also went Netherlands. Fuck knows who my favourite player was. I guess I was all about the collective rather than the individual.

2002 - Nicky Butt. The best midfielder in the world, and half of the great Nicky Butt and Juan Veron Gorton Buenos Aires combination. Pele provided the quote about Butt being the best in the world, but he also once said Michael Owen was his favourite United player, the mad, Viagra-pushing old crow.

2006 - Zidane. I think Kev7 said on here that Zidane should apologise to the people of France for getting sent off in the final? What the fuck for? He'd won them one World Cup single-headedly, he'd already ticked that off. True Greatness is achieved by doing things never before seen or done. Like chipping in a penalty then headbutting someone in your last ever match. Heroic.

2010 - I have no idea who played in this World Cup.

2014 - I have no idea who played in this Wolrd Cup

2018 - Sergio Ramos. Admittedly there's still a bit of affection lingering from the CL final (someone came in the pub the other day for a meeting with a lad who was sat reading a biography of James Connolly. He was wearing an Egypt shirt with SALAH on the back. I grabbed him in an arm lock and threw him to the ground, making him cry. I didn't, I marvelled at the type of punters I now attract to the place. But I wanted to. But seeing as he's out, and there's still a lot of MUNDIAL to be done, I nominate Jesse Lingard as my favourite player.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

So when did this Argentina thing start for you? There's not a single clue up there yet you support Argentina.

[EIM]

1998, when England fans turned on Beckham after his red card. But despite being a proud son of La Plata I don't support them. I support whoever the fuck I fancy at the time and justify it using reasons thinner than cig papers.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Never will understand how they could turn on him. It wasn't a red.

[Jah Womble]

Yes, all right. But Matthäus was still my favourite in 1990. He was as big a twat then as he is now, undoubtedly, but he was just majestic.

And I'm a Capri-Sun man. Kool-Aid is for people who don't know what's what. (Does Kool-Aid still exist?)

Kool-Aid is (or 'was') is a bit US-centric, I'll concede, but has generally been the go-to when emphasising a surfeit of E-numbers.

Sure, Capri-Sun could work. Or good ol' Sunny D.

[Kevin S]

EIM - 2010 is surely the Forlan one...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HtbZqPZjIp

[EIM]

2010 is a real blur. Unsure why I don't remember it... I think I'd just bought an XBOX 360 and was playing Red Dead Redemption, skinning armadillos in a realistically rendered version of Mexico while Suarez introduced himself to the world as the game's number 1 dastardly dickhead.

[Jah Womble]

What have armadillos ever done to you?

[EIM]

Got in the way of completing Master Hunter level 4.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

2010 is a real blur. Unsure why I don't remember it... I think I'd just bought an XBOX 360 and was playing Red Dead Redemption, skinning armadillos in a realistically rendered version of Mexico while Suarez introduced himself to the world as the game's number 1 dastardly dickhead.

Fucking great game!

[E10 Rifle]

1978 – can't really remember specific players, maybe Zoff
1982 – Zico
1986 – Igor Belanov
1990 – Gascoigne
1994 – Hagi
1998 – Thuram
2002 – Jared Borgetti
2006 – Riquelme
2010 – Iniesta
2014 – Rodriguez

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

1978 – can't really remember specific players, maybe Zoff

Cubillas?

[The-Reverend]

Always been drawn to a keeper, was loads more exiting for me in the early days when people didn't know, nor could find out easily, about most players outside of the UK. Certainly until 94 these lads were just unknown colossi (sp?) who rocked up every few years on my TV. So many that I could have listed as well. God I fucking love goalkeepers.

1982 - Zoff
1986 - Dasayev
1990 - N'kono
1994 - Preud'homme
1998 - Chilavert
2002 - Khan
2006 - Buffon
2010 - Casillas
2014 - Tim Howard

[Flynnie]

1994: Brolin, I really enjoyed that Swedish team and was delighted when they twatted Bulgaria to win 3rd.

1998: Bergkamp (my all-time favourite player). Nuf ced.

2002: Donovan, with DaMarcus Beasley a close second. I think it gets forgotten how good Run-DMB was in that tournament.

2006: Cannavaro, felt like he was willing his team to win. Pirlo a close second.

2010: Forlan by a mile, really the only person that could do anything with that shitty Jabulani football.

2014: Robben probably. Daley Blind uncomfortably close behind for me, I thought he was just there because of his dad but he actually turned out to be pretty handy. Suarez against England was probably my favorite individual performance, just pure garra charua.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Yes but thread is "favourite" not best.

Remember reading a long article about Matthäus in Swedish Offside, when he was coach for Partizan Belgrad. He seemed such a dick, and the lads at Offside who I know somewhat don't really portray someone as an utter wanker unless he is one.