| A tribute to Dennis Bergkamp | |
I got the video from The Sports Economist, who posits the "why is Bergkamp not viewed on the same level as Zidane or Ronaldinho as the best player of this generation?" question. (Interesting that an Arsenal fan wouldn't mention Henry in the same breath. Hmmmm.) I think he hits the nail on the head by arguing that Bergkamp never won a World Cup or a European Championship and that he suffers as a result of playing for sides that weren't quite as good as France or Brazil. The Stam-de Boer-van der Sar-Davids Dutch teams of the late 90s were very good, but Bergkamp never got to play with the lights-out French defense (plus Didier Deschamps and then Patrick Viera providing the backbone) that backed Zidane, or the Rivaldo-Ronaldo pairing that played with Ronaldinho in 2002. I'd also add that Bergkamp never won a Champions League title, unlike Zidane and (now) Ronaldinho, and that affects his legacy. All that said, I tend to reject the tendency to evaluate players solely based on their teams' accomplishments without paying any attention to the roles of supporting casts and The Sports Economist makes an interesting point in putting Bergkamp up there with Zidane and Ronaldinho.
3 comments:
Another major thing for DB10 as far as visibility is his fear of flying, which meant that he did not participate in 90% of Arsenal's road games in the Champions League during his career. The CL is the highest visibility competition in club football, so this definitely hurt him as far as exposure is concerned.
You're selling Ronaldinho short. He initiated Barca's resurgence when he transferred in 2003. Barca was coming off of their worst season in eons, a sixth place finish, and in Ronaldinho's first year, Barca finished second. (In fact, Barca's hot streak came when Ronaldinho returned from injury.) Ronaldinho accomplished this before Barca had acquired Deco, Giuly, or Eto'o. When Ronaldinho arrived, Real Madrid was on top and Barca was struggling; three years later, the roles are completely reversed. In soccer, it's never quite as simple as one player making that big a difference, but in this case, it's hard to argue with Ronaldinho's role.
I agree that Ronaldinho was fairly anonymous during the World Cup and his play did come up short. However, he was deprived of service by a central midfield that got dominated by France, so the fault isn't all on Ronaldinho.
We're in agreement that calling Ronaldinho one of the best of all-time is quite premature, although I still think he's the best player right now, or at least the best offensive player.
I do like Deco's game a lot. His fitness is positively Edgar Davids-esque, his distribution is excellent, and he helps Barca dominate the midfield. However, I think he's replaceable. When Xavi is healthy, he can do the things Deco can do, although his workrate isn't as good. Iniesta is growing into the role and played very well at the end of last year. People forget this, but he started the move for Eto'o's equalizer in the CL final. Edmilson also performs some of the tasks that Deco does, although he's more of a defensive player. Also, Deco didn't do that much to impress this summer (although playing with a decent striker would have helped) and he was anonymous during the CL Final. I like him a lot, but if I ranked the most important Barca players, my list would be:
1. Ronaldinho
2. Puyol
3. Eto'o
4. Deco
5. Marquez
6. Edmilson
7. Messi
8. Xavi
9. Valdes
10. Oleguer
(With Zambrotta in the mix, I might bump him at the top of the second five. We'll need to see how he fits in.)
It's hard to call anyone on that squad indispensible since they have two of everything, but that's my stab at it.
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