============================================= Subject: Re: Great players never appear in WC From: marcelo@apollo.HP.COM (Marcelo Weinberger) Date: May 17, 1995 phsoccer@uxmail.ust.hk (Lam Wai Yin) writes: |> Would anyone tell me which great players in soccer who never appear |> in WC finals due to the poor performance of their country's team in |> the qualifying game, just like Ian Rush of Wales? If Ian Rush is your standard of "great player," (I mean, at international level and with a historic perspective), then I'm a bit reluctant to give you the following list of South American players, but anyway... Another caveat: for most of these players the reason is not poor performance but either that their countries decided not to participate in the WC in some period for various reasons, or that they played out of the country in a time when bringing foreign-based players was simply not done. So here you have: >From Argentina, its best generation of football players, from the fourties and early fifties. The most obvious is DiStefano, but other great players not playing in a WC: Jose Manuel Moreno Adolfo Pedernera (died last week) Angel Labruna. Later, another Argentine all-time great didn't play in a WC: Angel Omar Sivori (he was playing in Italy during WC'58 and '62, I think; or did he play in WC'58?) >From Uruguay: a whole generation of great players from the thirties and fourties. Most notably: Anibal Ciocca (The Prince), Severino Varela, Roberto Porta. Later, in the fifties, another Uruguayan all-time great never played in WC's, as he was playing in Argentina: Walter Gomez. >From Peru: Juan Joya, one of the best wings in the world in the sixties. He was playing for Pen~arol in Uruguay, and his country didn't qualify for the WC until 1970 anyway. >From Ecuador: Alberto Spencer, one of the best centerforwards in the world during the sixties. He was playing for Pen~arol in Uruguay, and his country never qualify for the WC anyway. >From Europe, the most obvious coming to mind is George Best. -------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Great players never to appear in WC From: loris@zeus.physast.uga.edu (Loris Magnani) Date: May 17, 1995 Sivori played in WC'62...but for Italy (one of the last oriundi). He took part in the games vs. Germany (0-0) and Switzerland (3-0) but did not play in the infamous game vs. Chile (2-0 for Chile). In the aftermath of that WC, Italy decided against using oriundi and from the 1966 WC onwards they have fielded teams without players whose nationality is controversial. (However, I do believe that Claudio Gentile, the defender so beloved by all south american football fans, was born in Lybia - but I don't know the details). Sorry to hear about Pedernera. Weren't these players part of "La Maquina"? And could somebody post the history of this particular team (River ?) Did these players form the attack for the Argentinean team during this period? If so, how did the national team fare with this attack? And, most importantly WHY didn't this argentinian team participate in WC50?? I know that there was some sort of players strike and several of these players went to Colombia to play in the outlaw league...so I guess I may have answered my own question about why Argentina wasn't there in 1950, but surely before the players' strike they must have played for the national team... ----------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Great players never to appear in WC From: marcelo@apollo.HP.COM (Marcelo Weinberger) Date: May 17, 1995 >Weren't these players part of "La Maquina"? Yes. The forward line in the fourties was Mun~oz, Labruna, Moreno, Pedernera and Loustau. In the late fourties, when some of these players were a bit old (and Pedernera was playing in Colombia, as Loris states), this team included DiStefano. Since 1949, it included also Uruguayan Walter Gomez. > Did these players form the attack for the Argentinean team during > this period? I think so. I also think that Argentina had the upper-hand in the Copa America during the fourties, but I don't have the stats. I do know that, with DiStefano in the team, Argentina won the 1947 Copa America. >I know that there was some sort of players strike and several > of these players went to Colombia to play in the outlaw league... In particular, Di Stefano and Pedernera (the latter coached Colombia during WC'62). I don't know in Argentina, but in Uruguay the 1948 league indeed was never completed because of a strike. Some older player then left for Colombia (Zapirain, Raul Pini). > so I guess I may have answered my own question about why Argentina > wasn't there in 1950, Not quite. I think that Argentina's absence from WC'50 and WC'54 had more to do with FIFA not giving Argentina the chance of organizing the tournament. In turn, this might be related to the Peronist era.