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All time best Canadian player (with poll!)

Bertuzzi44

By Bertuzzi44
in Men's National Teams

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dyslexic nam Grand Master

dyslexic nam

Posted
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56 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

I am a Ricketts fan for all the reasons you mention and I was delighted to see him play such an influential part in TFCs playoff success this year. But I also recognize his limitations and I certainly don't think it is fair to call people names for pointing them out. Or for pointing out that you would have to be in la la land to think he is Canada's best ever player!

Legit cricism? Absolutely.

Assuming his inclusion here is in jest?  Fair enough.

Attack him the the venom here and elsewhere?  I stand by my post.

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RickC Explorer

RickC

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I considered Forrest, Radzinski and Hutchinson before voting for Stalteri. Forrest as he was key to our Gold Cup win and playing at a high level in England. Radzinski for making waves in the Champions League with Anderlecht and then playing for Everton. Hutchinson for seeing him boss the midfield for CMNT and playing for Besiktas. But, I voted for Stalteri even though I didn't think much of him the first time I saw him play for Canada. His days in the Bundesliga were impressive.

I'd also like to mention Bruce Wilson. Captained our Olympic and World Cup tourneys. "Only" played in the old NASL but was a top player, including playing for Cosmos with Beckenbauer, Chinaglia and Neeskens.

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David C. Newbie

David C.

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6 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

I am not sure how people can say that Stalteri didn't carry his team? He had 5 years of being a consistent starter with Werder Bremen. This includes leading the team in minutes in 02/03 as well as finishing third in minutes in 03/04 when Bremen completed the German double (which is also likely the greatest club season any Canadian has ever had). On top of that he is second in appearances and played on our 2000 Gold Cup team. I like Hutch as well, but the German league is far superior to Turkey and he has never won anything internationally. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Stalteri fan. He was a high work ethic player that played tirelessly from whistle to whistle and could play on my team anytime.  However, for his club career especially, he was always a role player, surrounded by better talent. Opposing teams didn't specifically have to game plan against him. They did/do for Radzinski and Hutchinson - that's the difference. Radz and Hutch were the primary focus of their teams in their prime (for club and country) in a way that I haven't seen in others. Anyway, I didn't mean to sound disparaging toward Stalteri. These are all great players were talking about. cheers!

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matthew Newbie

matthew

Posted
Posted

I’ve now read the original Hutchinson thread and dsqpr’s original post, so I’m going away from the survey and making my case for Bruce WIlson.

 

Wilson captained Canada to the World Cup and captained them to the quarter-finals at the 1984 Olympics. He was named to CONCACF’s best-XI team of the 20th century.

 

Yes Wilson “only” played in the NASL. And I know the NASL is maybe viewed as a “retirement league”, but in an era where very few players toiled in other countries (the English FA introduced a two-year residency rule to thwart foreign professional imports in 1931, for example. That lasted until 1978.), which made the NASL the most cosmopolitan league in the world and featured a number foreign standouts in their prime.

 

Wilson he was a three-time all-NASL best XI selection and twice named to the second team. 

 

There were plenty of old defenders like Bobby Moore who were in the league at the end of their careers. But there were also plenty who were still playing at a high level. Willie Donachie (played in the 74 and 78 World Cups) and Andranik Eskandarian (played for Iran at the 78 WC), both joined the NASL in 79 when they were still in their 20s. Bjorn Nordquist captained Sweden at the 78 World Cup and joined the NASL in 79 as well. He ended up as FIFA’s all-time cap leader when he retired. Bruce Rioch captained Scotland at the 78 World Cup and joined NASL shortly thereafter.

 

Elias Figueroa was named South American player of the year three times and FIFA named him the eighth-best South American player of all time in their end-of-century poll. Marinho Chagas was a starter on Brazil’s 74 team and was 27 when he joined the Cosmos. Wim Suurbier started in the 74 World Cup and played in the 78 final before moving to NASL in 79.

 

All of these players, all defenders, were either starters at a World Cup the year before they joined the NASL or have world class resumes. Only Eskandarian and Rioch were ever a first-team NASL selection while playing in the same era. They each only did it once. Wilson’s name was alongside Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto and Wim Rijsbergen amongst the best defenders the league ever had.

 

For similar reasons, I think Lenarduzzi is also easily in the top-five. He wasn’t maybe as consistently great as Wilson, but he had some fantastic seasons (he scored 10 goals and assisted on 17 more in 29 games in 78 while playing as a midfielder before returning to defence the next season). 

 

I also have Hutchinson in my top-five. I wish he had played at a higher level. He was a Champions League regular, but never played in a big four league like DeGuzman (97 appearances in La Liga and 77 in the Bundesliga) and doesn’t have anything like Stalteri’s feat of being a starter on a league and cup double winner in Germany. That being said, he was as good, if not better, than those two playing in the same era IMO. All three were excellent players that relied on different attributes to be successful professionals and great Canadian internationals.

 

tl,dr: Bruce Wilson was tremendous and NASL was better than you think.

 

cheers,

matthew

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jpg75 Rookie

jpg75

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10 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

I have a lot of respect for the old NASL. It was MUCH better than the current MLS and I would consider it to have been a top tier league (unlike MLS). Sure, it was a retirement league for superstars like Pele and Bobby Moore who were no longer at the top of their game but we are talking about PELE and BOBBY MOORE here! (And many other superstars.) Even well past their best they were still every bit as good as most top tier players.

It was a good league, definitely better than MLS today. There were a fair number of clubs stacked with expensive foreign talent that i would compare with the likes of the big Turkish clubs today.

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SuperCanuck Newbie

SuperCanuck

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13 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

I am not sure how people can say that Stalteri didn't carry his team? He had 5 years of being a consistent starter with Werder Bremen. This includes leading the team in minutes in 02/03 as well as finishing third in minutes in 03/04 when Bremen completed the German double (which is also likely the greatest club season any Canadian has ever had). On top of that he is second in appearances and played on our 2000 Gold Cup team. I like Hutch as well, but the German league is far superior to Turkey and he has never won anything internationally. 

The Bremen supporters sure liked Stalteri, and so did I.  Great guy, as well.   Above is part one of scenes from his last match for Werder Bremen. 

I've seen a picture before of about a hundred people holding these "Danke Paul" signs.

images.jpeg

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Bertuzzi44 Experienced

Bertuzzi44

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Does anyone know a good site to look at season-by-season stats for players? I wanted to see Radzinski's stats from his time at Anderlecht, but Soccerway only goes to 2003. Worldfootball.net does not have season-by-season stats.

There used to be a fantastic stats site hosted by the Guardian, but it disappeared.

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BringBackTheBlizzard Newbie

BringBackTheBlizzard

Posted
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11 hours ago, shermanator said:

Came into this thread. Saw that I wasn't the only one who voted Ricketts. Leaving satisfied. If this ruffles the feathers of certain posters, I'll take it.

Guess it helps to have actually seen all of the players involved play the game (Dale Mitchell was in washed up hasbeen mode by the time I vaguely remember seeing him in action in the original CSL), which is difficult to do if you have only been following the sport for a couple of years. Ricketts was added as a joke apparently. Not a terrible player by any stretch of the imagination, but even where past and present TFC players are concerned others like Jim Brennan and Ali Gerba would belong there before he does if someone was going to be biased in a TFC direction.

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matty Newbie

matty

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On 18/12/2016 at 3:23 PM, dsqpr said:

All good points matty and I certainly agree that one day he may be considered the best. But for now, he simply hasn't been around long enough or done enough.

I disagree that not being long enough should exclude someone (we've seen all-time greatest lists include people and things that have been around for as little as a month before) but I respect your choice.

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johnyb Grand Master

johnyb

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Hutch (current best) and Bunbury (former best) are my sentimental favourites, but my vote is for Forrest. MVP of 2000 Gold Cup while playing in the Premier League puts him as the best for Club and Country in my book. Radz and Stalteri are my runner ups.

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