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Who’s your favourite World Cup player?
What is it that makes a good World Cup character? Is it intelligence, compassion, skills or perhaps devastating good looks? Well, mostly it’s someone that immediately springs to mind when you remember older World Cups.
It’s about personalities that you immediately associate with a particular World Cup. Speaking of personalities, the new Avantcard Mastercard is designed to offer you a personalised credit card experience. Forget your traditional “one size fits all” interest rate. Avantcard’s personalised pricing approach means you get competitive rates based on your individual financial and credit profile. That means great introductory rates on purchases, balance transfers and money transfers.*
See what you could save by visiting their website. Then, take a look at some of our favourite World Cup characters and personalities from tournaments past.
11. Roger Miller
Why: Coming out of retirement at 38, he led Cameroon to the quarter-finals in 1990. He scored four goals along the way, all after coming on as a sub. Not bad for an auld lad!
Most memorable moment: His corner flag goal celebration became one of the defining images of World Cup 90. Best dad dance ever.
10. Luis Suarez
Why: Suarez became a World Cup villain when he deliberately handled a ball in 2010 and effectively cost Ghana a place in the semis. A free-scoring season with Liverpool in 2014 meant that everyone was expecting great things from one of the world’s most in-form forwards. Instead, Suarez doubled down on the pantomime villainy.
Most memorable moment: Bitey McNibble sinking his teeth into Giorgio Chellini’s shoulder remains one of the oddest incidents in World Cup history. Mad, bad or sad – we’ll let you decide.
9. Zinedine Zidane
Why: The pressure was on Les Blues to succeed in 1998. This was a golden generation of French footballers playing with home advantage. Their talismanic captain absorbed those expectations and peaked at just the right time to lead them to victory. In the process, a sublime footballing talent was suddenly elevated to the status of national icon.
Most memorable moment: The infamous headbutt in 2006 is hard to forget but so too were Zidane’s majestic headed goals in the final against Brazil in 1998.
8. Paul Gascoigne
Why: Gascoigne was a big child trapped in the body of one of the most gifted footballers England ever produced. Gazza played from the heart, an instinctive footballer who acted as if he was still on the playground.
Most memorable moment: The tears flowed after he got a yellow card in the semi that would have ruled him out of the final. Fans were won over by the player’s undisguised honesty and how much it clearly meant to him.
7. Mwepu Ilunga
Why: In 1974, Brazil were lining up a free kick against Zaire when Mwepu Ilunga broke away from the wall and cleared the ball. The only problem was that the ball wasn’t in play. He got a yellow card for his trouble and a place in World Cup history.
Most memorable moment: Booting the ball away in a moment of madness or, if you believe his later explanation, a political protest against the Zaire government.
6. Toto Schillaci
Why: Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Going into Italy 90, Schillaci was just an understudy to Italy’s star forwards, Roberto Baggio and Gianluca Vialli. Six goals in seven games later, the wild-eyed forward had claimed the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot.
Most memorable moment: For Irish fans, it has to be the quarter-final goal that knocked us out.
5. Damien Duff
Why: When we think of the 2002 World Cup, we think about Roy Keane, Mick McCarthy, training facilities, Tommy Gorman interviews and the civil war that was Saipan. So it’s easy to overlook a young kid who became a man in that tournament. Duffer announced himself as a world-class talent, helping to restore some pride to a fractured nation in the process.
Most memorable moment: His iconic goal celebration stands out yet Duff became a star in that tournament. It’s not too often that an Irish footballer makes the Uefa.com team of the year.
4. Miroslav Klose
Why: The striker was the personification of German efficiency in World Cups from 2002 to 2014. Klose scored in four successive tournaments, finishing up with an incredible final tally of 16 goals.
Most memorable moment: Bypassing Ronaldo’s scoring record with a goal against Brazil in a 7-1 semi-final rout in 2014. Germany would go on to win the tournament and Klose would collect a well-earned winner’s medal.
3. Ronaldo
Why: The Brazilian was expected to announce himself on the world stage in 1998. Sickness, injury and loss of form overshadowed his tournament and the following four years. The 2002 competition certainly brought redemption.
Most memorable moment: A brace in the 2002 final brought his goals total to eight, secured the win and saw him take his place alongside the other World Cup legends. A Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament award was the icing on the cake.
2. Diego Maradona
Why: He carried Argentina to a World Cup win in 1986, reminded everyone why they loved football, and reopened the debate about the greatest player of all time.
Most memorable moment: The match against England in 86 captured his flawed genius. Everyone remembers the infamous Hand of God but it’s easy to forget the sublime second goal where he ghosted past half the English players before tapping home.
1. Pele
Why: Few players are as synonymous with the World Cup as Pele. A footballing genius who stood out in a nation of footballing geniuses, Pele won World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
Most memorable moment:
How many players are declared a national treasure by their government? Pele got that honour after he took the World Cup by storm in 1958 as a 17-year-old. He scored his first goal in the quarter-final, a hat-trick in the semi and two goals in the final. What were you doing when you were 17?
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