The tops of Didier Roustan (French journalist, for Mondial).
What he wrote (but a bit shorten here). He exprimates also the opinion of the whole editorial board :
Schumacher was by far the best goalkeeper at the Euro.
If West Germany has disappointed, they can't repraoch anything to Harald Schumacher. He has proved one more time that he is the best in Europe not to say in the World. We can search, he has no weak points.
Behind him come Bats, very regular during the whole competition, then Bento and Arconada.
On Pfaff : the fantasist keeper took 8 goals in 3 matches. No reproches can be made to him but he has not made any miracle. On Lung : nor good nor bad. Nothing was written on Qvist.
The defenders astonished by their offensive abilities at the image of Maceda and Domergue.
The side-backs have been often overwhelmed in this tournament (2,7 goals by match). The side-back is an endangered specie or in developpement, a matter of appreciation. In the absence of Amoros it is Julio Alberto who made the biggest impression to us. Defensive midifelder or left-back depending on the adversary, he is as good offensively than defensively. It's only a pity that he losts his cold-blood in some situations like during the Final.
Briegel : had a good conduct. In a lesser degree I liked the Romanians Rednic and Ungureanu and Alvaro too. Joao Pinto was once again very generous but lacked lucidity at the moment of the last pass as at a defensive level. Domergue made the deal with 2 goals in the semi-finals but he has also lacked of defensive rigor.
The stoppers did not especially show themselves but does this position really permit it ? In any case in three little matches Förster made the difference again, especially with his slide-tackles. We also take note of the good behaviour of the one who has been nicknamed « the butcher of Bilbao » i.e Goikochea.
Among the liberos, Maceda impressed the ensemble of the specialists. Good positioning, maybe a bit too much self-confident (he caused a goal as he tried to dribble Alvaro near his goals, so against Portugal. In this connection he's certainly the only one libero who made an impact. It's a pity that a Bossis, undoubtly technically superior, did not insert himself between the lines more often. Each time or almost that he did, it was dangerous (last minute against Yugoslavia or in the overtime against Portugal). That being said Bossis was good enough like the Yugoslavian Zajec who unfortunately multiplicated too much the runs forward when he could have pass the ball more quickly. Stielike is still reliable but when the rythm increases, his experience doesn't suffice anymore. And where he was on the goal by the Romanian Coros ? The prize finally goes to Morten Olsen. Despite his 35 years, this former forward, it must be precised, has never been caught for speed. Moreover, even in an uncomfortable position, he always plays in the spirit. Sort of Beckenbauer in the exit of the ball, win by a head over Bossis and Maceda who yet are taller than him.
The French midifeld impressed. And also some emulators like Chalana and the young Scifo.
[…] Tigana – Fernandez – Giresse – Platini. Amongst the Danes, difficult to prefer one player over another one but as we have to make a decision on the matter, special mention to Soren Lerby, especially for his abilty to change of position for the same output (left back or midfielder). That said he lacks a little something to be really super. This little thing that had Simonsen it seems. The injury of the little Dane is undoubtly one of the regrets for this Euro. In this connection, for other reasons, the Yugoslavian Susic and the Romanian Boloni completely missed their Euro. The West German team is still searching for Overath, Netzer, Bonhof... Schuster injured, only Matthaüs, by his importance at the level of the recovering (most of all against Romania), in his role, proved up to the task. In his role of playmaker, Norbert Maier seemed too much intermittent to us. The Yugoslavian Sestic, The Spaniards Senor and Gordillo and most of all the remarkable Romanian dribbler Coras can be equally named.
The revelation will remain of course the young Belgian Enzo Scifo. From what we saw of him against Yugoslavia (dribbling, acceleration, vista, touch of the ball...) we'll have to count on him in a near future.
And there is Chalana, more a confirmation as he plays since about a decade. True playmaker, very fine technically, this marvellous lefty orientates admirably the play. He can play quickly (passes in the depth notably) or carry the ball at 30 meters. But here he remains a danger because he has an astonishing power of accleration, ball at the feet (remember the action that brings the penalty against USSR in the qualifying tournament), and he is a great dribbler with a great speciality : the feint of shooting or of crossing. Tigana – Chalana – Platini, here are our three musketeers of the midfield. For the 4th you're free of choice, there are plenty.
Text that accompanies the different pictures :
-Michel Platini undoubtly at the top of his game, has dominated this European championship. Top scorer, playmaker with panoramic vision, the French won there his 3rd title of the season.
-A bit inferior regarding what he did at the World Cup, Giresse was still one of the best midfielders in the competition.
-Chalana, more than usually, has inspired the game of his team. But the Portuguese has also placed his favorite starts where the dribble and the speed are marvelously combined.
-The revelation at 18 years old. Enzo Scifo. Naturalized Belgian for the occasion, the Anderlecht's midifelder generated much hopes with his great technical abilities and the maturity that he has shown.
Few revelations amongst the strikers who worked in a great solitude.
The strikers of this 1984 Euro have not even score 1/3 of the goals but they still exist though. Only one revelation all in all : the Dane Elkjaer-Larsen. More a physical than a technical player, he has, it is true, astonished much people along those two weeks, including the Belgian journalists who never saw him as good during this season at Lokeren. Larsen plays in force and likes to rush headlong in the free spaces. In this context, curiously, it happens to him that he has some stoke of genius like in his game against Belgium (Danish second goal). He has not always shown efficiency at the moment to conclude. However he shown to be more at his ease in this domain than Laudrup. Here's a more fine player but who did not score any goal in spite of numerous chances, what is annoying. The young Belgian Claesen surely deserves to be seen in a better context. The Spanish Carrasco is endowed with a dribble and a double-start which have often made the difference ; but here again it has not lead to much things. The famous joker (sub) Sarabia has the advantage to be more opportunistic.
Finally it is more the ancients who asserted themselves. Santillana always jumps higher than everybody (impressive to see him dominating Le Roux who is however our greatest specialist), keep the ball back to the goal and always shows some nice lucidity (outside of the foot against Portugal in order to avoid a forest of legs).
The Portuguese veteran Néné has, for his part, a good hip thrust and most of all the art to sniff out a good shot, the art of positioning (...volley against Romania, header against France...).
In this semi-final (Fra-Por) Jordao shown that we still had to count on him. Discreet enough until then (but could it be otherwise in a team playing in 4-5-1) he was all along those 120 minutes the most complete striker of the Euro 84. Vandenbergh is still there but he has missed two very important chances (France before the goal of Giresse and Denmark).
The German Völler was omnipresent against Romania but totally absent against Spain. We understand better why Camataru is contested in his country.
Rummenigge and Littbarski seems to be on the downhill side. Gomes did not play in the best conditions and Jesper Olsen which we were told the better good and who has just signed a big contract with Manchester United has barely played. A pity !
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