the names from the 86 world cup
platini
socrates
hoddle
laudrup
zico
careca
mathaus
careca
butragueno
rummenige
scifo
tardelli
paolo rossi
all legends and none of them in the same planet as Diego
Soccer is different now than then. Those were all players youâd stay up to watch a late match for. They arenât around now
Ivano Bonetti
Yet some of the Messi fanboys and KOKs scold me for saying football is a weak era right now.
Was he washed up or something and then had a renaissance there? He was a standout player for Argentina in 90 and 94 and was very good at Dundee and then Rangers. A real classy sort on the ball
Someone close to him committed suicide and he missed world cup 98. He didnât play a few seasons around then and was kind of off the wall
Think he was one of the many lads who Pasarrella fucked off for having long hair
I think that has as much to do with saturation and the near 24 hour access to footballer and teams now. Back then, you wouldnt even see all the top division games in England and would see only a couple of European teams playing. The advent of the champions league in the early 90s then started giving more access to european teams. I still remember watching Milan beat Gothenburg 4-0 in a live game on RTE and Van Basten scoring a hat trick, his third being a bicycle from the edge of the box. The noise of the San siro crowd was something else, the European atmosphere being very different to what weâd be used to here with the English crowds. I would always make sure I saw those Milan games, as it could be few and far between seeing them.
But now, you get to see every single game from anywhere, and there are so many more games now, the cut throat knock out phase of the champions league only beginning long after a shit load of games have been played.
There is also the fact that we are older now too. It was a novelty as a youngster seeing these games.
That van basten performance Iâll never forget
I think that was Redondo?
There was a few. Batistuta was the only one who got away with it
he cut his hair didnât he?
Batistuta definitely missed a good chunk of playing time when Passarella was over them.
he played hernan crespo early on until Batistuta cut his hair.
Could you imagine Pasarela dealing with the players today 
Jesus that was a great Argentinian side - Simeone, Ayala, Batistuta, Crespo, Ortega, Veron in his pomp
Redondo would have been one of the best in Europe in his position too.
Zanetti. Ah jaysus.
Beaten by Denis Bergkamp and his brilliance.
Some of what you say is true but fuck it, those players are on a different planet to anything around now bar the very best
98 was probably the pinnacle of it
Go on, Iâll bite. Iâm betting OâLarticoecha kicked minor for Ballysteen or wan of the West Limerick clubs.
Cannigia was left off too for his hair and general hatred of Passarella.
I dunno. he missed the entire 96-97 season and didnât play much for boca in 97-98. Argentina werenât exactly short on forwards
There was a romance to the World Cup back then that isnât there now. Back then youâd only hear sporadically about how good some of these lads were. Now we see most of them twice a week.
International football has lost its lustre too. Itâs quite obvious itâs not the priority for a lot of players these days.
And I donât think there are as many âspontaneousâ players now in general. Some of the modern lads are incredible at what they do but there are very few lads that can create something out of nothing these days. Itâs almost to systematic or something
Didnât Passarella famously hate the homosexuals?
He still made the squad 4 years after
And lads with ear rings. Iâd say former poster HBV and Passarella would get on like a house on fire.