Just like the NBA, the old teams were great back then but they won't do well today. They are too slow and don't play defense.
Oh so we're just gonna ignore this team that actually WON a WC? I'll take the 70 team in a match vs the 82 side(But I know how majestic that 82 side was, just don't think there were arguably even the best side the country has even put out. Especially since they didn't bring back the WC).
You're joking right? You might want to watch some old Azzuri matches or let il italiano or some of the other Azzuri fans on here come tell you about the days of Baresi and Bergomi, etc. Real defenders. Even the West German sides had some beasts defensively- ATW can fill us on in the talent they had in the 70s from Breitner and Schwarzenbeck, etc. I don't playing defense would be something that would hold great teams from the past in succeeding today. It isn't like the NBA with things like "hand checking" to help give players on offense an advantage.
Yeah no, those aren't that much of a detriment to soccer players(defenders) as the handcheck rule has been to defensive minded players in the NBA. I'm pretty sure the Beckenbauers and Baresi's wouldnt have a problem.
Not sure what you mean. The lack of a backpass rule in the seventies made defenders look good. Very frustrating for a striker. Part of Beckenbauer's defending was a simple backpass to the feet of his goalkeeper. 100% safe from any striker provided it gets to the goalkeeper first.
Seriously, you compare the backpass rule to the handcheck rule? The backpass rule made sure goalkeepers should be able to kick a ball, and defenders should be better when they have the ball. It did not change that much in terms of how defense played. It changed a bit, but not even close to the impact the handcheck rule had in Basketball. And what eight-second rule are you talking about? I guess you mean the six-second rule, which states that a goalkeeper should get rid of the ball from his hand within 6 seconds. In what way did that change how defense played, or how difficult it is to score? (before the 6 second rule a goalkeeper was only allowed to take 3 steps before getting rid of the ball).
arno answered before I could. If you think the "backpass" was such a major part of Beckenbauers repertoire and the inability to send one back for his keeper to scoop up would hinder his ability to play at a high level in the modern game then I don't think there's much else to say.
Nope. Brazil was one of the worst in history. That might be true. But Germany is surely candidate for Team of the Year.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/reMR5kPfXZk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 8 years ago today, they won our 4th World Cup. Absolute legends on that team.
