Players that perform their best in the WC, and for their NT

In No particular Order:
1.denilson- mr. step-over
2.kleberson
3.lucas podolski
4.fabio grosso
5.el hadj diouf and the whole senegal team in the 02 african nations cup/02 world cup
6.ariel ortega- another who was supposed to be maradona's heir; beasted for argentina, did nothing significant in europe...was absolute shit in serie a
7.salvatore schillaci - at italia 90 anyone remember him? i thought his move to juventus which would see him and baggio continue their strike force in serie a would mean goals galore for the old lady.....it didn't
8.paul gascoigne - i'm a little hesitant about this one....i never saw him at rangers, and i heard that's where he excelled...saw him @ lazio though, and besides a goal against roma, he did nothing major (lazio fans might think differently, a goal against roma means almost everything to them).....gazza was always a beast for england tho; lethal player @ italia 90 and euro 96
9.claudio cannigia - besides diego n argie's goalie (can't remember his name) he was probably argentina's best player @ italia 90...did well for them in the copa america too, (can't remember the year) and at usa 94 against nigeria (who where getting the better of argentina) scored twice, one a curled shot from a diego pass...and there was that goal against brazil in 90 where he dribbled pass tapharel (i'm sure i botched the spelling)....did little at club level,was part of a good rangers side in the early 2000s but was mainly a bench-man.
10. Robinho- he has probably had more success than everyone on this list at club level, but if he played with the same vigor for his clubs that he did for brazil he'd have realized his potential...between 05-09, love him or hate him, he was a beast for brazil, they had a better supporting cast, but even with that you could see the guy's talent come out, and it wasn't just limited to step overs and fancy tricks
11. milan baros- scored some amazing goals for the czech in his day.....

i'm not adding klose, cos i think despite the fact he has beasted for germany, he has had a reasonable club career, and most clubs he has played for have appreciated his services.

@ robespierre...its difficult to include materazzi. he was utter crap before the 06 world cup, both for inter and italy....a poor man's sergio ramos. but after that zidane headbutt, it was like zizou gave some of his powers to marco....he became a beast in italy and i think he may have even scored a free kick for inter....but yeah during those years when juve was in serie b, roma where inter's main rivals, and zlatan, maicon and stankovic where scoring some crazy goals in the league, materazzi was putting in a lot of work for inter....i think he did enough in that short period of time not to make the list.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:

silver wrote:Surprised no one has mentioned TGSTEL Nicklas Bendtner.

Surprised it took so long for Nicky B to get a mention

He's pseudo World Class for Denmark

This, lord Bendtner is amazing whenever he plays for us, he almost took us through in a group of Portugal, holland and Germany

Loool this is getting interesting. Lots of good names coming up. Funny about Materazzi indeed.... maybe also being the only Italian left in the Inter team then, he somehow stepped up to the WC2006 stages and we all know what happened. Glad he was taught a lesson by Ibra though and seem to just dip after that   

Claudio Cannigia I will always remember for that goal he scored vs Brazil and his hair, I was just a kid and remember bits of pieces from TV. Read that he later got dropped from the NT due to refusal to cut his hair (what a freakin **** of a coach), which is too bad.

As for the thread, initially I was thinking players with a significant difference, its a bit hard to define though, each person has own vision. Thuram was great im sure at club too, but I didnt watch him much at Juve, just Barca, he was very good, but no where near his best for the WC 98.

So everyone is open to voice their opinion I guess~

Another one I thought of Porborsky? I know he lit up the world at the Euros, but didnt do well at Man U.

thuram was amazing at club level, very amazing....even before juve, that parma team that had him, buffon, chiesa, veron, cannavaro was the shit (days when serie a had like 8 strong clubs that could challenge anyone)....and at juve it was tough to get past him ferrarra with davids in midfield...he was passed his sell by date when he went to barca....just as cannavaro too was over the hill when he joined us at madrid....cannavaro was unbelievably terrible @ real, but he was old.....i think emre (the turk, can't spell his last name, i know, i'm on the net and i can always google it, but i'm too lay) belongs on this list as well...he had some flash of brilliance at inter, but that was about it...i always thought he did reasonably well for turkey though....although they too had a good supporting cast

titosantill wrote:@ robespierre...its difficult to include materazzi. he was utter crap before the 06 world cup, both for inter and italy....a poor man's sergio ramos. but after that zidane headbutt, it was like zizou gave some of his powers to marco....he became a beast in italy and i think he may have even scored a free kick for inter....but yeah during those years when juve was in serie b, roma where inter's main rivals, and zlatan, maicon and stankovic where scoring some crazy goals in the league, materazzi was putting in a lot of work for inter....i think he did enough in that short period of time not to make the list.

  
if i am that good, i would make an animation of this...

Robespierre wrote:about past players,
impossible to forget Toto' Schillaci.

An average CF, back-up in NT , he was leading Italy to win the homemade World Cup 1990
And he would have won the Balon d'or in that case
Beautiful story.

Grosso was an average fullback, he had not to be even a starter in that WC ( the starter was Zaccardo on paper. Another average, just to emphasize the low value of Grosso)  he played greatly just 3 matches in career  ( if I don't consider Italian third division ) , against Australia , Germany and France

Materazzi too. He was a good defender , but not top defender, anyway he gave  a decisive contribute to Italy WC . Both defending and scoring


about better players.
I rate Nesta >>> Cannavaro . Nesta was definitely better for me . But anyway in NT it was the opposite, Cannavaro gave really his best and he became even stronger than what he already was. Not only 2006, he was amazing already in 1998 .

And I agree about De Rossi , he returns the old De Rossi in NT

Excellent post. Just wanted to say that Nesta was very unlucky in that he tended to be injured around the time most major national team competitions happened. Not taking away anything from Cannavaro though.

titosantill wrote:In No particular Order:
1.denilson- mr. step-over
2.kleberson
3.lucas podolski
4.fabio grosso
5.el hadj diouf and the whole senegal team in the 02 african nations cup/02 world cup
6.ariel ortega- another who was supposed to be maradona's heir; beasted for argentina, did nothing significant in europe...was absolute shit in serie a
7.salvatore schillaci - at italia 90 anyone remember him? i thought his move to juventus which would see him and baggio continue their strike force in serie a would mean goals galore for the old lady.....it didn't
8.paul gascoigne - i'm a little hesitant about this one....i never saw him at rangers, and i heard that's where he excelled...saw him @ lazio though, and besides a goal against roma, he did nothing major (lazio fans might think differently, a goal against roma means almost everything to them).....gazza was always a beast for england tho; lethal player @ italia 90 and euro 96
9.claudio cannigia - besides diego n argie's goalie (can't remember his name) he was probably argentina's best player @ italia 90...did well for them in the copa america too, (can't remember the year) and at usa 94 against nigeria (who where getting the better of argentina) scored twice, one a curled shot from a diego pass...and there was that goal against brazil in 90 where he dribbled pass tapharel (i'm sure i botched the spelling)....did little at club level,was part of a good rangers side in the early 2000s but was mainly a bench-man.
10. Robinho- he has probably had more success than everyone on this list at club level, but if he played with the same vigor for his clubs that he did for brazil he'd have realized his potential...between 05-09, love him or hate him, he was a beast for brazil, they had a better supporting cast, but even with that you could see the guy's talent come out, and it wasn't just limited to step overs and fancy tricks
11. milan baros- scored some amazing goals for the czech in his day.....

i'm not adding klose, cos i think despite the fact he has beasted for germany, he has had a reasonable club career, and most clubs he has played for have appreciated his services.

Some very good choices and comments

BarcaLearning wrote:
Another one I thought of Porborsky? I know he lit up the world at the Euros, but didnt do well at Man U.

Very good pick. His performance in Euro 1996 is especially memorable but is there anything one remembers of his club career. For a significant time he was playing at Sparta Prague.

@titosantill
I wouldn't define crap Materazzi before of 2006, he was even the defender with most number of goals scored in a Serie A season , he scored 12 goals with Perugia in 2001 infact I wasn't sorry to have him bought . For me he was a good defender, but of course he was far from levels reached in that 2006 . He deserves absolutely to be included. It was unthinkable at that time , incredible WC .
And I agree , he played very well also in 2006-2007 , more than Zidane's effect :lol:it was the enthusiasm ,the cheerfulness derivated by that WC.

Great mention Gascoigne.

He was enough disappointing in Lazio, just considering he was 4th to Balon D'or 1990 thanks to fantastic WC played by him.

He paid dearly also that injury got in FA Cup final ( Tottenham-Forest) , it was his last match in England and he had signed for Lazio tbf.
Pratically Lazio bought him as injured and it was a injury very serious and at that time it was most difficult to recuperate fully from injures.

But he was great also in Euro 96 with  England.
Always given his best with Three Lions.

messixaviesta wrote:

Robespierre wrote:about past players,
impossible to forget Toto' Schillaci.

An average CF, back-up in NT , he was leading Italy to win the homemade World Cup 1990
And he would have won the Balon d'or in that case
Beautiful story.

Grosso was an average fullback, he had not to be even a starter in that WC ( the starter was Zaccardo on paper. Another average, just to emphasize the low value of Grosso)  he played greatly just 3 matches in career  ( if I don't consider Italian third division ) , against Australia , Germany and France

Materazzi too. He was a good defender , but not top defender, anyway he gave  a decisive contribute to Italy WC . Both defending and scoring


about better players.
I rate Nesta >>> Cannavaro . Nesta was definitely better for me . But anyway in NT it was the opposite, Cannavaro gave really his best and he became even stronger than what he already was. Not only 2006, he was amazing already in 1998 .

And I agree about De Rossi , he returns the old De Rossi in NT

Excellent post. Just wanted to say that Nesta was very unlucky in that he tended to be injured around the time most major national team competitions happened. Not taking away anything from Cannavaro though.

Yes, Nesta got injured against Austria in 1998 (group stage) and same thing against Czech Repulic. ( group stage. It was incredibly a luck considering Materazzi's performances in that WC)
I did not want to belittle Nesta, but  just exalting Cannavaro in that comparison.

titosantill wrote:thuram was amazing at club level, very amazing....even before juve, that parma team that had him, buffon, chiesa, veron, cannavaro was the shit (days when serie a had like 8 strong clubs that could challenge anyone)....and at juve it was tough to get past him ferrarra with davids in midfield...he was passed his sell by date when he went to barca....just as cannavaro too was over the hill when he joined us at madrid....cannavaro was unbelievably terrible @ real, but he was old.....i think emre (the turk, can't spell his last name, i know, i'm on the net and i can always google it, but i'm too lay) belongs on this list as well...he had some flash of brilliance at inter, but that was about it...i always thought he did reasonably well for turkey though....although they too had a good supporting cast

Good call there.... that old Juve team did have a great defense it seems... and they did have some great players, Zidane, Del Piero, Nedved, etc.... for some reason I never was fond of Juve though, have come to appreciate their players especially more as time pass.

Dragan stojkovic. He was actually brilliant in club football but aside from a few European cup performances almost his entire club career was played in minor leagues.

His world cup performances were practically the only times he played on the big stage and he certainly was world class