Who's Canada's all time greatest player?

[Soju]

Some English people asked me this out of the blue the other night after I was talking to them about that cute little island they lived on, and I was a bit stumped. The names Samuel, Mitchell and Radzinski came to mind, and I was wondering how some of you here might reply. Of course the question's general since we're not talking about a specific position on the field, so I'd look at it in terms of overall skill and accomplishments. (mods feel free to delete this if it's been asked recently or bores you:D)

[manutd1]

I would think Canada's best player must surely be Owen Hargreaves although that's really a technicality, since he doesn't represent us. Craig Forrest, Tomasz Radzinski, Paul Stalteri, Paul Peschisolido, Julian DeGuzman, and Jason De Vos are all top class, although to me Radzinski must surely be the best player overall due to his consistent success in the Premiership so far. But we'll wait on DeGuzman, Hume and some others...

[snake]

branko segota

john van't shipt

the whore

radzinski

craig forrest

[Alex M]

BUNNNNNNNNNNNNNBURY!

[Massive Attack]

The Whore is over-rated. He has outlived his hype and even English fans don't rate him to be used by SGE anymore. Stalteri, Deguzman and Atiba are all ahead of the Whore IMHO. Even if you did consider him in a list of the greatest Canadian players ever (which I wouldn't, because he's not a 'Canadian' player), he wouldn't even belong in the Top 20.

As for who is Canada's all time greatest player, I would choose either DeVos of Forrest because my history of following the NT only started in the late 90's.

[David C.]

The general concensus that I've heard/read before is that Dale Mitchell was the most talented Canadian to have played the game.

However, from a club achievement perspective, I would say that Radzinski, Stalteri and deGuzman have all sucessfully played at a higher and more competitive level than either Mitchell, Samuels or Bunbury. While Craig Forrest also played in a top league, I don't think he had as successful of a time there.

If things keep up, Atiba might be the answer to your question, in 10 years or so.

Just some thoughts.

[maxG]

Craig Forrest

[Guest Dave]

OK I'll bite. I'll stick to guys who I have seen on TV at least a dozen times, since otherwise it's hard to form an impression. It's also difficult to compare different positions. However, all things considered, and in terms of having the greatest impact for Canada (as opposed to at club level) I would have to say

Craig Forrest

Craig always seemed to play out of his skin when he represented Canada. It was a marvelous feeling, knowing the opposition would have to put together something REALLY special to get one by him. And I don't recall him ever letting in a weak goal for Canada.

Honourable mention to Randy Samuel, Jason DeVos, Dale Mitchell, John Catliff, and Alex Bunbury.

That having been said, I am very impressed by Atiba's recent performances, and one day we may all be agreeing that he is Canada's best ever.

[ditty]

quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack

The Whore is over-rated. He has outlived his hype and even English fans don't rate him to be used by SGE anymore. Stalteri, Deguzman and Atiba are all ahead of the Whore IMHO. Even if you did consider him in a list of the greatest Canadian players ever (which I wouldn't, because he's not a 'Canadian' player), he wouldn't even belong in the Top 20.

Ha ha ha!! I agree that he is not a Canadian international and therefore is ruled out of the discussion, IMO. However, since you threw the hypothetical idea of him being a Canadian player, saying he's not in the Top 20 is a pure joke. German champion more than once, Champions League winner, currently one of the top rated midfielders in the Bundesliga so far this season (early days, for sure), holds down a starting a spot on one of the most famous clubs in the world...... You've got to be kidding me. One of the players you listed plays in a second (maybe even third) rate European league. I think Atiba's great, too, but he's a got some work to do before he's even accomplished half of what Hargreaves has.

[redhat]

I rate the following as Canada's best:

Craig Forrest - Canada's best keeper & 2000 Gold Cup MVP

Alex Bunbury - Top scorer in Portugal during the early 90s

Tomasz Radzinski - A premier striker with Anderlect, Ekeren, and in the EPL

Paul Stalteri - won the German double with Bremen and now in the EPL

Randy Samuel - Canada's premier defender during the 80s & 90s

I guess you can argue anyone of the above, and possible in that order.

Fastest rising? Atiba and Julian.

[beachesl]

Bunbury or Forrest.

Bunbury was consistently great for both clubs and country in a way no other Canadian has been.

Craig Forrest is the man most responsible for the team's greatest accomplishment, other than our mid-80's defense getting us to the World Cup.

If you are interested, here is last April's thread on an All-time Canadian line-up.

all-time,voy

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack

The Whore is over-rated. He has outlived his hype and even English fans don't rate him to be used by SGE anymore. Stalteri, Deguzman and Atiba are all ahead of the Whore IMHO. Even if you did consider him in a list of the greatest Canadian players ever (which I wouldn't, because he's not a 'Canadian' player), he wouldn't even belong in the Top 20.

As for who is Canada's all time greatest player, I would choose either DeVos of Forrest because my history of following the NT only started in the late 90's.

I'm glad its your opinion. Hargreaves is in a dogfight with the excellent Czech Rosicky for highest ranking midfielder in the Bundesliga. But couldn't crack your expert top 20? Overrated? Give me a break. Based on recent performances, two of the three you posted are 'overrated'.

It's Bunbury's honour to lose to date. Nobody else (in Canuck uniform) comes close.

[The Beaver]

Mitchell and Forrest, both of whom will be supplanted by Atiba eventually.

Hargreaves? Certainly a capable athlete and good at running and tackling, but give me a break. Sure, if he was a Canadian he'd crack the top 20...

Yes, Hargreaves is not high on the list of English soccer pundits, many of whom are placing him 3rd in line as England's holding midfielder. Not sure why SGE is so ga-ga over this guy. He's not even English--at least not in the eyes of the English.

[Gian-Luca]

Unfortunately given his choice of international play, I wouldn't include Hargreaves in the discussion (unless other Canadian-born players like Van't Shipt are thown into the mix as well, at which point the discussion becomes a bit pointless). Hargreaves would have been a candidate for sure based on his club play. Internationally however, I'd have to agree that the accomplishment of getting selected to play for England (including in a World Cup I suppose) has been more impressive than anything he's actually done for the English team. It begs the question (for another thread in another part of the forum though) why he's so much more impressive for Bayern than for Sven.

I don't think there is definitive answer to All-time greatest Canadian player. There are several candidates from Mitchell to Bunbury to Forrest from the past to current players like Stalteri & Radzinski, with De Guzman & Atiba threatening to be candidates as well

[Bertuzzi44]

anyone know where I can find Bunbury's career statistics?

[MikeD]

I'm only considering people who've played for Canada here -

I have to go with Randy Samuel - he played with a top team in the Netherlands when their league was one of the best in the world and he lasted quite a few years at that level. He's still our all-time leader in caps. Nobody else has been able to match his longevity and consistency at such a high level.

Forrest was great but didn't last as long on the top as Samuel. Bonus points for being MVP of the Gold Cup win, but I still rate Samuel slightly higher.

Bunbury had a great run played for a middle of the pack club in a league that was comparable to the league Samuel played in, but his international run with Canada wasn't nearly as long or as prolific as Samuel's and Bunbury also can't compare to Samuel in terms of European experience.

Mitchell is right up there. Definitely ahead of Bunbury in my book and probably our best striker ever.

Radzinski in the same league as Mitchell and Bunbury but he'll never be the greatest because he refused to play for Canada during some of his prime years and he only moved to a top league from Belgium relatively late in his career. He has also scored relatively few goals for Canada for the number of caps he has and even that goal total is inflated by the Belize games. I'm not knocking him, but these factors put him behind Bunbury and Mitchell in my book.

DeVos was unbelievable for a few years but his run with the national team was too short to be considered the greatest, plus his club career has been spent in lower leagues (yes, I know he played in the SPL, but that league isn't what it used to be.)

Unless Stalteri's career comes to a premature end because of an injury then I think he'll definitely surpass Samuel and become our greatest player ever. I think Stalteri will be the veteran backbone of our next World Cup run and eventually break Samuel's cap record. It's still to early to tell with guys DeGuzman & Hutchinson, but they both definitely have the potential to be our greatest ever as well.

[beachesl]

quote:Originally posted by Bertuzzi44

anyone know where I can find Bunbury's career statistics?

Alex Bunbury

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Alex Bunbury (born June 16, 1967 in Plaisance, Guyana) is a former Canadian elite professional soccer player. A striker, Bunbury became Portuguese club CS Marítimo's all-time goal scoring with 59 goals in 165 games. He also the Canadian national team's third leading all-time scorer with 16 goals and its fourth leading all-time cap winner with 65.

Bunbury began his professional playing career with the Hamilton Steelers of the (former) Canadian Soccer League. Briefly a English club West Ham United reserve, Bunbury soon moved to Maritimo in 1993 where he established himself over his six seasons as one of the most well-known foreign goal scorers of the SuperLiga during the 1990s. In 2000 Bunbury requested a move to play football closer to his hometown of Montreal, and was sold to the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer. Ankle injuries forced his retirement after just one season with K.C.

Since retirement, Bunbury with his wife and three children, has made Prior Lake, Minnesota their home, where he has been a youth soccer coach and trainer.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Bunbury"

-------------------------------------

A good summary of his career and work with the National team can be see in :

http://www.mlsnet.com/content/99/weekly0615.html

[TOareaFan]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Unfortunately given his choice of international play, I wouldn't include Hargreaves in the discussion (unless other Canadian-born players like Van't Shipt are thown into the mix as well, at which point the discussion becomes a bit pointless).

Couldn't agree more.....you are bang on here.

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Hargreaves would have been a candidate for sure based on his club play. Internationally however, I'd have to agree that the accomplishment of getting selected to play for England (including in a World Cup I suppose) has been more impressive than anything he's actually done for the English team. It begs the question (for another thread in another part of the forum though) why he's so much more impressive for Bayern than for Sven.

There are lots of players on the English squad (perhaps the entire team) that you could ask this about.

quote:

I don't think there is definitive answer to All-time greatest Canadian player. There are several candidates from Mitchell to Bunbury to Forrest from the past to current players like Stalteri & Radzinski, with De Guzman & Atiba threatening to be candidates as well

There never is a definitive answer to these questions, I guess that is why sports fans love these debates.

Me, I would rank them.....Bunbury, Forrest, Mitchell, Gerry Gray and Branko Segota (only cause I played against him in one game and bet on him to score at the World Cup)!

My hope is that it will only be a few years before we have to amend my list!

[dbailey62]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Unfortunately given his choice of international play, I wouldn't include Hargreaves in the discussion (unless other Canadian-born players like Van't Shipt are thown into the mix as well, at which point the discussion becomes a bit pointless).

Ya, if we include Owen, we have to include Jimmy Nichol who while playing for Northern Ireland set up that great goal to defeat Spain (in Spain). He also had a very nice career with Man United, the Blizzard and Glasgow Rangers.

He was born in Hamilton, Ontario although most everybody here knew that.

db

[Guest Ed]

Bunbury is the only Cdn to be named foreign player of the year in a top 10 European domestic league.

[The Ref]

Alex Bunbury without question. A very far second may be Bruce Wilson.

[drfan23]

Patrick Leduc lol:D

[Winnipeg Fury]

Craig Forrest #1

Alex Bunbury #2

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by TOareaFan

There are lots of players on the English squad (perhaps the entire team) that you could ask this about.

Possibly, but at least those other players are actually English, rather than being a Canadian in disguise. Call me bitter, but I just hate the fact that Hargreaves got poached by Sven simply so he could indifferently play the last 10 minutes or so of a bunch of England games making little or no impact at all. A lot of actual English players could have done that just as well.

quote:

Me, I would rank them.....Bunbury, Forrest, Mitchell, Gerry Gray and Branko Segota (only cause I played against him in one game and bet on him to score at the World Cup)!

I'm tempted to say Gerry Gray simply for the goal he scored against Mexico at Azteca in 1980 (not to mention his wrongfully disallowed goal in the 1984 Olympic quarter finals against Brazil). I was tempted to put down Segota, though the lack of goals (in comparison to say, Dale Mitchell) that he got for us made the decision for me not to put his name forward, though he was obviously a great player. Similarly if Wes McLeod had a better international career I might include him as he was a fantastic player for the Rowdies.

Amazing to think we qualified for the 1986 World Cup without having either Mitchell or Segota available to play even a minute of the final round of qualifying. It showed that by Concacaf stands we had good depth in the mid-80's.

[Cheeta]

Bunbury, hands down. "Alex" to the Portugese.

Had Radz's '03-'04 season at Everton mirrored his '02-'03 season I'd put him up there shoulder to shoulder with Bunbury. But it didn't. So I won't. But don't discredit Radz's accomplishments either. These two, along with maybe Forrest are the only two players I can think of who have ever carried a widespread international recognition of quality.

So Radz and Forrest get the silver and bronze appropriately.

Gray, one of my all time fav's, Samuel and Catliff all get honourable mentions.

Kinda thought Lars might come to make something of himself. Be a candidate in these sort of discussions, but that was before the wheels fell off. Lots of time still though I suppose.

Still hold out hope for Hume, The Guz and more and more Hutch. We'll see I guess.