1920'sThe 1920s were followed by the Second World War, which stopped the practice of football in Europe. Some renowned footballers lost their ability, such as Charlie Buchan. There were also others who had serious injuries, such as Bobby Parker. With the stoppage of European football, South American nations had the opportunity to excel in this sport, with great players who would later become international players, such as Héctor Scarone or José Leandro Andrade. South America Well, to start I will talk about the South American nations, in these years the most outstanding was Uruguay, being champion of two Olympic medals and 4 Copa América. Argentina also stands out, having won 4 Copa América as well. Speaking of players, the most notable were Héctor Scarone, José Leandro Andrade, Manuel Seoane, José Nasazzi and Gabino Sosa. Manuel Seoane was an Argentine footballer with great technical qualities, he played inside-forward and centre-forward, a player whose game was not very physical but rather tactical, being a genius on the ball. Gabino Sosa, for his part, was also a technical genius, a great passer of the ball and an excellent dribbler, however his versatility was not like that of Seoane, since he only handled the centre-forward position. Héctor Scarone was the strongest South American figure in football, a great player, tactician, technician, dribbler, elegant, a great header and passer as well, his figure was so great that he became the best in the world in some years, he was Also a player of great versatility, since he handled the inside-forward, center-forward and half-back. José Leandro Andrade was a player who, although his versatility was not like that of José Nasazzi or Héctor Scarone, still managed the half-back position well, with the temptation to get in on the right wing. Andrade was considered the first black soccer star, he was a strong player who dominated the aerial game and the ground game with his tackles and tackles on the opponent. José Nasazzi was a defender of great strength and mastery of the aerial game, he was an opponent described as very difficult to pass, and I currently classify him as one of the best defenders in history. My ranking of South Americans would be; #1. Hector Scarone #2. José Leandro Andrade #3. José Nasazzi #4. Manuel Seoane #5. Gabino Sosa
United Kingdom Moving on to the European continent, I will talk about the islands of the United Kingdom, there were several prominent names, starting in Scotland where Hughie Gallacher, Alan Morton emerged, and although he was of less relevance in this decade, Alex James was already named one of the best attackers during the years 28 and 29. Hughie Gallacher was a master of the ball. He was unbeatable in ball control and dribbling. His magic and light footwork made him difficult to catch. An opponent who marks Gallacher cannot and will never be sure of his next move because he had thousands of tricks to beat opponents in the most humiliating way. Alan Morton was, in my opinion, the best winger of the 20's, a player of excellent technical quality, unsurpassed speed, great passing ability, excellent skill and a majestic dribble. He is a Rangers legend, a club where he played 495 games, and won the Scottish league 9 times and the Scottish Cup 3 times, he was part of the legendary Scotland called "The Wizards of Wembley". I won't name Alex James, since his peak was in the 1930s. In England, some big names emerged, such as David Jack or Dixie Dean, and there were others who came from the last decade, such as Charlie Buchan. David Jack played right inside-forward, where he was a refined playmaker and prolific scorer, with incredible technical and tactical qualities and a dominant physique as he was tall and strong. Dixie Dean was an English footballer with considerable speed, excellent dribbling and the most prolific goalscorer in the history of English football, who spent most of his career at Everton. Famous for his legendary career. Charlie Buchan would say that he was the most impactful UK footballer, or rather the best player in the entire UK. The man with sparkling feet and amazing ball control. The Sunderland magician was an expert in all areas of the game, be it physical, tactical and technical, as he combined all the keys to success in all skills. There has never been such a wonderful combination of ball magic and goal-scoring prowess. The result of this is the perfect model of what a center forward should be like. My ranking for the British Isles would be; #1. Charlie Buchan #2. Alan Morton #3. Hughie Gallacher #4. Dixie Dean #5. David Jack
Hungary Most of the football quality was concentrated in Hungary, highlighting players from previous decades such as Alfréd Schaffer and Kálmán Konrád, and others who were born in this country such as the great György Orth or József Takács. Alfréd Schaffer came from a high level with MTK Budapest, having demonstrated his excellent ability as a scorer, refined technique, great sense of the game and broad vision. Kálmán Konrád was another player who shone alongside Schaffer, who had almost the same characteristics, but his tactical sense and game vision were much more advanced than Schaffer's. György Orth, for his part, was something that had never been seen before in football, a player who had been an excellent defender in 1919 and his position was changed to a center forward in 1920, demonstrating his incredible qualities as a scorer. , being the top scorer in his league and its champion 3 consecutive times from 1920-1923. Orth had everything a footballer can have, he knew how to pass, he was a scorer, he had a wide vision, he was fast, he knew how to defend, he dribbled excellently, he was elegant, and as a goalkeeper he has nothing to envy. Rest of Europe These players are also of great relevance, with some standing out such as Josep Samitier and Ricardo Zamora, they were resonant names from Spain, who had had great performances with their clubs and were already among the best in the world. Karel Pesek was the reference point for Czechoslovakia, a strong player with great technical qualities and very good consistency, which was rare for the time. Pesek played as a midfielder. A player who stood out greatly in Sweden, won in the world with his excellent performance in the 1924 Olympic Games, attacker Sven Rydell. On the Austrian side, full-back Josef Blum and Fritz Gschweidl stood out. My final top 5 for this decade would be; #1. György Orth. #2. Hector Scarone. #3. José Leandro Andrade. #4. Karel Pesek. #5. Charlie Buchan.
I have been thinking a little bit about the top players of this period and the dissonance between players with a great career of constant accomplishment (Scarone and Pesek) and players with the strongest support from contemporary sources (Andrade and Orth). When you do the exercises I have in the past, looking at the accumulation of seasons and career accomplishments, players like Scarone and Pesek really shine. But other threads looking at the opinions of contemporary sources in reference to the greatest players they witnessed finds different players, like Andrade and Orth, to have the lions share of plaudits and hyperbolic praise. I think this dissonance is because journalists or players from the 1920s expressing their opinions on who were the greatest footballers they observed had very limited opportunities to view players or follow their careers. When you read all the accounts stating Andrade and Orth to be the greatest of their generation you always hear references to skill, intelligence, elegance, etc. I think that Andrade and Orth were ahead of other players of their time in terms of the really showy parts of football, skill, athleticism (Andrade), and technique. This was probably especially pronounced because there were fewer skilled players at this time and skill was not emphasized in all football cultures, so they really stood out (You can see this in limited video footage from the time, a lot of rough industrious players and a few players with skill on the ball that really jump out). Imagine if a follower of modern football only saw modern players play a handful of live games and there were no access to highlights, with statistics and records of games were difficult to compile etc. Imagine only seeing Ronaldinho for a handful of games from 2004 to 2006. If you saw the 8 to 15 biggest games of his career (AC Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, England) and compared it to other modern players I think there would be far more people saying Ronaldinho was the greatest modern player ever, right there with Messi. You would see him doing things that other footballers never did in terms of skill and flair. I think this is what happened with Orth and Andrade. In the handful of games that observers saw, they were wowed with skill, vision, and athleticism they did not see in other players. I have commented many times on specifically the difference between Orth's accomplishments (middling national team success, was not capped in many games during his prime years) on paper and his reputation (greatest Continental player of his generation and possibly the greatest Hungarian player ever). When you look at the national team record of Orth vs Puskas and Sarosi, Orth does not compare. Any measure of success whether it is total caps, goals scored, team record, performances vs other top national teams based on contemporary sources, Orth is miles behind in terms of the accumulation of these things across a career of even a 3-5 year prime. Yet, a far from insignificant number of contemporary and Hungarian sources rate Orth over Puskas and Sarosi. I personally think contemporary sources rated the best players they have ever seen does have value. See the threads below. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/football-personalities-and-their-best-players-g-o-a-t.2124069/ https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/pre-war-personalities-and-their-best-players.2126578/ https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/british-football-best-xis-1863-1939.2124483/ But I think we need to think about the conclusions we draw from these sources and understand the what the sources had available to them when making these decisions. My personal opinion is that Morton, Pesek, and Scarone were the players with the balance to skill, accomplishment, longevity, and impact that make them the best players of the 20s. Orth and Andrade lack the accomplishment and longevity to compare, but may have been more skillful and impressive in their best games that may have had disproportionately high visibility (the 1924 Olympics). I think it should be taken into account that the top levels that Orth or Andrade might go beyond what other players of the time (even great ones) were capable of, but a more thorough examination makes it clear that these players did not hit these highest levels nearly as often as the three I have mentioned. In addition the three players above are consistently mentioned as great players of their time by contemporaries, but the noise around them is not quite as forceful and hyperbolic as Andrade and Orth. I don't think you can make a good basis for ranking a historic player with only the opinion of contemporaries who likely only saw players a few times in their career and may be biased towards exceptional skill or athleticism when their career accomplishment do not match their plaudits. I also don't think you should be overly impressed by looking at a players record of caps won, trophies won, and games won without contemporaries supporting the idea that they were a great player. I think Orton, Pesek, and Scarone have both.
I think a big omission was the Brazilian Arthur Friedenreich, considered by Guillermo Stábile in 1940 to be one of the five greatest he saw play, and by the Swedish journalist Forster Tegner to have been more technical than Andrade and Gyorgy Orth. Tom Stevens has posted some threads that compiled some memories from that time Of course, Uruguay and Argentina won more titles than Brazil during this period. But Brazil also didn't register to take part in the Copa America of 1924, 1926, 1927 (qualifier for the 1928 Summer Olympics) and 1929. Fried had fewer chances to take part in international tournaments.
Despite a highly skilled player. I don't think G.Sosa got the merits to be included, he stayed his whole career in a small club, playing a Regional League and not being a clearly starter at NT. In the 1920s I rank ahead of him: - Friederenreich - Romano - Tesoriere - Petrone Which years, do you think, are Buchan's prime years?
Buchan prime years were on 1912-1915, were he was in a perfect couple with George Holley. Likewise, Buchan's peak was on 1923, thats why I include him on this decade.
OP posted this on another blog too, where I suggested Friedenrich but he said he considers him to have peaked in the 1910's instead, which explains his absence. @Al Gabiru @msioux75 My Top 5 would be: 1) Jose Leandro Andrade 2) Jose Nasazzi 3) Hector Scarone 4) Ricardo Zamora 5) Gyorgy Orth (Dean probably peaking in the 30's otherwise I would've included him) I listed a few other names I think could've been mentioned but I feel Renzo De Vecchi is the stand out player not mentioned in the post.
Who u gonna be rank them from the best to a good one.. hector scarone, karel pesek, josef bican, imre schlosser, friedenreich, larbi ben barek, leônidas, renzo de vecchi, György Sárosi, arsenio erico, angel “loco” romano, zizinho, gyorgy orth, José Leandro Andrade
Who is the most skillful players on pre war era.. friedenreich, romano, erico, andrade, orth, paulino alcantara, gabino sosa, ernst wilimowski or any other players that i didn’t know about u can name it..
Guillermo Stabile's opinion, provided by @Isaque Argolo : https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/p...eir-best-players.2126578/page-5#post-41649132 If you mean pre-war as in 2nd WW then that brings Sindelar and Sarosi (and Meazza, plus Alex James and others) into the equation and he commented that those two plus Friedenreich, Piendibene and Sosa were his picks for skill and technique pre-1940. However, re: the thread title Sindelar seemingly hadn't peaked as a player before 1930s and Sarosi didn't start before then of course. Some more opinion on Friedenreich (comparing to some previous players too) and also a Pedernera>Friedenreich call (not to say all guys seemed to think that, and perhaps Stabile didn't it seems) here, looking at the quoted sections too: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/p...eir-best-players.2126578/page-6#post-41912941 Another Argentinian guy mentioned Nolo Ferreira (among a shortlist of top players from the 1920s-1960s, and even placed high up perhaps....but he was his team-mate) https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/p...and-their-best-players.2126578/#post-41530692 https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/p...and-their-best-players.2126578/#post-41558348 https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/p...eir-best-players.2126578/page-2#post-41563441 Seemingly Hughie Gallacher is an option for the skill/technique topic pre-1930, and possibly Charlie Buchan, among British forwards, but hard to say for definite of course.
So in ur opinion like from 1910 to 1930 the most skillful players is friedenreich, piendibene, sosa and pedernera rightt for foreign players i mean its before sindelar and dr. sarosi times..
Hmm, it's hard to say it's my own opinion. Pedernera was from later (1930s/1940s/1950s) but was just being compared with Friedenreich by a guy who saw them both so I thought it was worthy to mention it. I don't know whether Alberto Ohaco could be in contention, or perhaps Kalman Konrad (the player who Sindelar kind of modelled his game on a bit I believe). But yes according to Stabile (as opposed to the other Argentinian who brought Nolo Ferreira into it) then Friedenreich, Piendibene, Sosa yes it seems (especially for Piendibene and Sosa it is difficult for me to say "and I agree" if you know what I mean though)....
How good is larbi ben barek? I heard pele once said he’s better than him.. but i don’t know more about him be honest
Probably a translation mistake. He has a reputation as a good player, but more of a trailblazer. But you can only be sure if someone does some research into his goals and assists.
If they’re playing on the same era and division who do u think is better.. puskás, scarone, sarosi, zizinho, moreno or schiaffino?
yeaaa i quite agree w that! Zizinho and moreno skills are on another level IMO! I mean individual skills they’re so great! Also didi pretty crazy rightt?