Here Today... Gone To Hell!

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the proper moderators(ie. those that turn up more than once a week), I think this topic is deserving of a fred of its own. So, here are mine(NB foreigners don't have to split into Welsh and non-Welsh.They can just put down whoever):

Welsh:

1) John Charles-alright he was way, way before my time, but he's recognised by everyone as the greatest Welsh footballer ever, which is good enough for me.

2) Mark Hughes- as well as managing the best team I can remember, he is also my favourite modern player.Why? Because he scored some superb goals (v. Spain 1985, and several others for Man U) and because he was a genuine hard guy.Like Keane, but far, far more of a gentleman and without the self-indulgent whinging.

3) Chris Coleman- Who he I hear you say? Finest Welsh defender of his generation. Scored a couple of goals too. Wrecked his career as well in a car crash, poor bastard. My best Chris Coleman moment: him coming on as an injury time substitute after we beat Germany this year. Standing ovation; couple of months later we found he'd never play again.

Not Welsh(and in no real order)

1) Marco van Basten

Better than Mark Hughes. I can still remember that volley he scored in the European Championships from an impossible angle. Superb player, crying shame that injuries cut him down

2) Zinedane Zidane

God amongst Frenchmen:this man can do no wrong. Outclassed the rest of his teamates in the World Cup this year despite only being 50% fit.

3) Roger Milla

First African footballer anyone of my generation can name, inspired Cameroon to beat Argentina and come damn close to getting to the semi-finals of Italia 90.At the age of 38. Best African footballer, bar none

Meh, i'll let this thread live, because you're Welsh.

Most of my favourite players are retired.  And they're all Arsenally.

Tony Adams - Complete legend!  The guy bled Arsenal, and overcame one heck of a lot in his career.  Led us brilliantly to win the double in 98, we wouldn't have had a chance without him.  Done fifty times more for England than Rio Ferdinand ever will.

Paul Merson - Similar to Tony.  Bled Arsenal, overcame loads of shit, played with one hell of a lot of spirit.  Dead handsome too.

Dennis Bergkamp - Not really a legend, but a wonderful player.  I get so happy whenever he scores!

Alan *Smuger* Smith - Something about the way he was that I really dig.  Dunno why.

Heres mine:


Eric Cantona- Legend thru and thru don't care what people say....... one of the best players ever to grace the english leagues.

George Best- Anyone who is still alive after drinking 4 bottles of vodka a day for 2 years is a legend.... oh yeah he could play a pit too.

Gary Lineker- Great Player underrated IMO

Gazza- Only shame in his career is that he never put on a Manchester United Player.... who will ever forget those tears in italy and the goal against Scotland.

Maradona - Cheating bar steward but on pure footballing talent the best ever IMO.


Giggs- Legend. When he is fit there is no better winger in the world.

Pires- He plays for the enemy but you simply have to admire him.... great skills and a great attitude. He seems to have something that Vieria misses and that is class i.e. he gets on wit it and never moans.

Beckham- Well quite simply where would England be without him.

Ronaldo- Best player in the world when on form he showed it in the World Cup

Maldini- 150+ caps for his country, loyal as they come.

Joe Cole- Saw him play when he was 15.... his best is yet to come

Figo!!!!!!

Past:

Cantona - extravagant skillfull and rulebreaking - a complete rebel and a complete genius.

Pele - Errr. He was class.

Present :

Zinedine Zidane - Vision skill, awareness, workrate. He has it all.

Patrick Viera - See above.

Jermaine Jenas - Best Teenager in English football. Has all of the above and he is only 19, played in Europe against Juventus and held his own....This Kid is gonna be a phenomenon.


Period - Stuart Pearce. Pyscho, u all know him u all get goosebumps when he scored the penalty against Spain.
A true proffesional.



Axlhogg

he plays for my team he does, and he is fuckin brilliant, a midfeild general to rival anyoneme thinks, at least in the future.

also Hugo Viana will be in the same class as Mr JJ.

current:  Ronaldo - will beat anyone on his day, when its not his day he can beat almost anyone.

Alan Shearer, 1 more goal for us and he will have scored 100 league goals for two clubs, nuff said, and he is top premier league scorer by a mile.

past: pele and maradona

paul gascoigne imo, was the greatest footballer that never was, he never really acheiced much and always seemed to be in the press for the wrong reasons, and also had some bad injuries, i guess too much drinking cant exactly be good for you either.

[size=15]LAWRENCE TAYLOR[/size], jk jk, that's the real football...anyway...


[size=15]CLINT MATHIS[/size]

Well we have an NFL thread, but this is very deceiving for the American Reader because American Football is also referred to as football.

Maybe we should change the name of the thread to who's your favourite soccer player?



Axlhogg

sorry but this is THE FOOTBALL thread, i know you're english so you can understand that football is not soccer, its football.

this thread should not be renamed the soccer thread, the americans will have to learn that us europeans follow proper football, not the game of football they play where they use their hands, now, how can you call a game football when you use your hands  ::)

ronaldo, beckham and owen

True but at the end of the day, its what they call it as well, we cant stop the whole of the American population saying football because we say it as well.

Likewise The American contingent cant stop us saying football either, i was just trying to please both parties....

Well lets keep it as it is.

Just a suggestion


Axlhogg

Look. Football is football.

Americian football is not football. They are a bunch of pad wearing pussies who have WWF to fall back on if they fail. ;)

Come and play rugby you pussies.

*just like to say i know they are not pussies but i'd love to see them play rugby*

anyway this should stay the Footie thread IMO

Football is football in every country apart from one that chooses to call it 'soccer'. Because they fancied calling their version of rugby that, instead of a more relevant term.

Fave footballers: too many, there are soo many legends

In no order

Javier Saviola   -   my favourite footballer at the moment, so young yet so talented.  Him and Barca are going to be big.

Alan Shearer -   He epitimises everything about an English footballer. He has justified the ?15m paid for him as he has consistently found the net whenever he's fit.  Apart from that he is a model professional. How many times have you heard of him going on drink or drug binges?

Those two stick out for me, others that come to mind are:
Peter Shilton
Ronaldo
Lilian Thuram
Gary Lineker
George Weah
John Barnes.


I must say when Anelka was a Goooner he was my flavour of the month - then he threw it away

Anelka had potential.  Sadly, he was an arrogant prat, and ruined it all.  I'd rather have Henry and Wiltord anyday.

Hadn't thought of Shearer.  I admire him more than any non-Arsenal player in the league.

Bebeto:- Fucking genious this guy was, remember the partnership him and Romario had in the 94 world cup?

Mustafa Hadji:- Plays for Villa now, I reckon he's the most under-rated player in the world.

Brian McClair:- First season with United scored around 30 goals, not bad for a Scotsman. Also, great thinker.

Stuart Pearce:- Best defender ever!

see, now all of a sudden it became a bash america thread here.  don't be jealous.  give me landon donovan and clint mathis or give me death.

Wahey- a fellow phsycho lover!! [ok] [yes] [beer]




Axlhogg

Paolo Di Canio [ok]

I don't know why everyone is making such a big deal about the riots in Vancouver. Soccer fans have been doing it for years.

Think it's equally dumb to riot about a football game as it is over a concert.

But on subject:

I like a lot of players but 2 I like over the others:

Edgar Davids

Roberto Carlos

These 2 have the ability to run through out the game up and down, helping defence and offence... I just love watching these two. Okay.. With Davids it turned that it was bit more that just workout that made him run that fast, but still. And Carlos tends to shoot 20 meters wide, but when he's on target... Man..

well..... i played American Football for 9 years.  i've been playing rugby for the past 2 years...  they are both fun, and i enjoy playing both sports.  i must say that rugby is more of an endurance sport, but american football is more physical.  when you play rugby, you dont wear pads, but you also dont get hit as hard as you do when you play american football.  although rugby isnt that popular over here in the states, i still like playing it here in college (at the university of delaware).  the best part is the drinking  [beer]

and the wwf is fake, but american football is real.  oh, and the biggest differenece between rugby and american football is that in american football you dont get kicked in the nuts as much [crying]

Owen always, but also Alan Smith.

Ellie****

a classic female response!

Gascoigne wasted it all though. If Spurs hadn't got to the FA cup final in 1991, he could well have been up there with Charles and Best as the finest player produced from these islands.

Sorry***

Theres no one better than Dougie Freedman, with Andrew Johnson in a close second! ;D But maybe I`m bias?

Ellie don't apologise, women have desires too.

Franceso Totti.

Thierry Henry.

Dennis Bergkamp.

well ill go for gordon strachan,willie miller,kenny dalgleish as the are fellow scots ...zidane and ronaldo are my choices for best player in the world just now

Also a mention for Norman Whiteside, who knows how good he could have been, if not for a carrer ending injury.

ronaldo is so over-rated

Im not into football, but i used to be and Eric Cantona is for sure the best player that has ever lived.

my favorite FOOTBALL player is none other than Mr. Georghe Hagi!!!!!! what a talented man! he and his left foot could drive a tream crazy,amazing player.

That is the most ridiculous thread I ever read
If the top NFL athletes decided to play Rugby they would dominate.
It just show that there was a rugby player that came to the NFL and all he could play was kicker.

There was this other guy that played football at CAL and then played in the NFL for a year and got cut.  He then went over to Europe and dominated Rugby.  Cant think of his name but I can get it if you guys want it.

I dont see Rugby players that weigh 250
that run 4.4 40s bench 500 pounds squat 600 pounds

You seriously think someone like Ray Lewis wouldnt dominate

not got any idea about rugby or american foot/hand/run/ball but you use two examples to prove you theory, ok you MUST be correct.

plus this is a football thread not an american football (but can use hands) thread  ;)

Marco Van Basten. :D





/jarmo

No Jari?

Jari is good, but he's no Marco.



/jarmo

Cantona
Beckham
Owen
Lineker
Roberto Baggio
Van Nistelrooy

I've gotta say Maradona's the best i've ever seen.
Any Brazilian from the 70's.
Jean-Loius Valoius.
Mark De Vries - scored 4 against Hibs on his home debut, gotta love him.

I don't watch a lot of football on television, but i would have to go with kobi jones, or just about anyone else who has played for the usa

George Best: Legend, best player ever
Bryan Robson: Captain Marvel
Ryan Giggs: Greatest player in the modern game

also Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane...

Guess which club I support?  ;)

 [beer]  <-- To the Champions!

My favorite Players are The Oakland Raiders team of course.

1.Jerry Rice-80
2.Tim Brown-81
3.Charles Woodson-24
4.Rich Gannon
5.Delawrence Grant-99
RAIDERS RULE!!!!!!!
(http://www.teamflagstore.com/raiders.gif)

Rules - didn`t you see, it said Football not whatever your on about [ok]

no he is not.. I saw him play in my team (Cruzeiro) when he was just 16 and I can tell you: the guy is a genious. He once scored a goal passing through the whole Boca Juniors team, it was awesome and I was there. But I think that today Zinedine Zidane is better than him

Hah!

No other comment.

Past Goalkeeper : I dunno his name, I only know they called him  "The black spider"
Current Goalkeeper : Iker Casillas

Past Scorers: Pele, Maradona, Marco Van Basten, and Romario
Current scorers: Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Raul, Francesco Totti

Midfielders: Zidane, no other like him, Del Piero and Beckham

Defenders: Caf?, Rafael Marquez, Lucio, Maldini

Now I know why US team sucks  :P

Coby sucks, Zidane all the way [ok]

Bo Jackson

my favourite footie player is Thierry Henry but that's only because he's hot.

Wicksy..Dougie Freedman sucked..why do you think we sold him to you? :P

---

Thought of some more....

Nigel Clough...damn...he was the lynchpin of the Forest team in the late eighties..early nineties!

Neil Webb - his career was ruined when he went to Man utd...no suprise there! ;)

Steve Hodge This man was a fucking workhorse and was one of the most innovative passer of the ball i have seen...and guess what...you know that guy who scored the hand of god(i refuse to say his name) well he has his shirt from that game!

Wonder if thats worth something??


Axlhogg

RAUL.
RAUL.
RAUL.


(i used to love figo, but he is just the shadow of himself now....)

Micheal Owen

 ;D like that one

Past: Maradonna, he's the best ever.

Now: Ronaldinho. This guy's got skills, enough said.

american football is the shit, but what kind of contact is in soccer? why wear pads when u get red carded or whatever carded, freddy adu will be the best soccer player ever, david beckham? i dont understand this phenomenon

Randy moss is my fav american football player

u know i never thought of the if u use your hands why call it football, good point! lol!

ok rugby is a rough ass game but seriously would u want to have Ray Lewis chasing u with no pads? he would kill somebody

Nope. Theres already one, and noone will ever top him. And he's NOT Maradona  ;)

Faustino Asprilla - Well im a big Newcastle fan and during his time with the club i loved him ill admit he cost us the title when he came because the team was changed to fit round him which meant ditching the once good but now shite Keith Gillespie.  His performance against Barcelona in the Champions League when he scored a hat-trick for us was great ok ill admit he was a prick who kept going AWOL but as a footballer with his elastic legs he was wonderful all hail Asprilla!!!!!!!

On a side note American 'Footballers' may have the 'WWF' now 'WWE' to fall back on but generally they do it cos they were shite at football and end up being worse at wrestling e.g. Ron Simmons, Bradshaw & A-Train.  You also have pricks trying to do it the other way but word has it Brock Lesnar will make a shite American Footballer :yes:

Keith Gillespie could have been one of the best wingers in football if he'd stayed at Man UTD, Newcastle ruined him, along with playing right back for N. Ireland. All the up and coming players Newcastle have bought, have turned out shite. See: Jenas.

David Healy is 10 times the player Gillespie is now, more skilful, exciting, can hit a free kick, and has possibly the best touch and volley in the English leagues.

That's the exact reason why I think Martin Keown is the greatest footballer of all time.

Lothar Matth?us, the one, the only :)

From the past:

- Eric "The King" Cantona!!!!!    He was a fuckin phenomenon!!

-Marco Van Basten            Probably the most complete striker of all time,his period of glory kinda coincided with GNR's


From the present:

-David Beckham         Say what you want about his image and lifestyle,but when he is on the pitch he's aallways the most hard working dedicated man on the pitch.Tactically,he's perfect and that right foot is pure gold!!

Present: Andrei Shevchenko

Damn football/soccer thing

I can't answer this now........... :hihi:

John Charles, Billy Bremner, Alan Clarke, Mick Jones, Eddie Gray, Johhny Giles, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Lucas Radebe.

Juergen Klinsmann from the '90 German Team

Being a Bar?a fan I have to say Ronaldinho is my favorite player now. Cruyff could be my old time favorite, also Franzescolli and M?gico Gonzalez ( I've never seen a player as talented in my entire life, he just didn't care enough about the game. He was from El Salvador)

Dado Prso. Im Croatian so obviously im going to pick ym countryman!  : ok:

Roy Keane, best in the world in my opinion. And he's Irish! And he plays for United! Pure legend!

Jake Reed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KEANO!!! Roy Keane is a fucking legend. Definatley......
Then John o Shea  :hihi: :hihi: Just kidding.

Van basten (netherlands)

Ronaldinho (portugal)
Figo (portugal)
Raul (spain)

Ronaldinho (brazil)
Ronaldo (brazil)
Denilson (brazil)

Maradona (argentina) < god

Roger Mila (cameroun)
Roger Weah (liberia)


i dont like french players, and i hate british players (they suck :) )