'100 English Legends' announced
English writers pick best players from 100 years of football
Posted: Tuesday August 04, 1998 12:53 PM
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Cantona helped Manchester United win four Premier League titles Shaun Botterill/Allsport |
LONDON (AP) -- French star Eric Cantona and Argentina's Osvaldo
Ardiles were among five players from outside the British Isles who
were named Tuesday in the English Football League's list of "100
Legends of Soccer."
The others were Manchester City's German goalkeeper Bert
Trautmann, Manchester United's Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and
Arsenal's Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp.
Cantona helped Leeds win the Premier League in 1992 and then
helped Manchester United win the title in four of the next five
seasons.
World Cup star Ardiles was on the Tottenham team that won
back-to-back FA Cup triumphs and then the UEFA Cup of 1984.
Trautmann played a heroic role in Manchester City's FA Cup
triumph in 1956, playing the final 15 minutes with what turned out
to be a broken neck after diving at an opponent's feet.
Schmeichel, having helped Manchester United win the league title
four seasons out of five, is still at Old Trafford while Bergkamp's
standout play for Arsenal played a major part in the Gunners'
triumphs in the 1998 league and cup.
Among current players on the list is former Newcastle,
Tottenham, Lazio and Glasgow Rangers midfielder Paul Gascoigne, now
with Middlesbrough. A star at the 1990 World Cup, he was dropped from
France '98 squad because coach Glenn Hoddle, who also is on the
legends list, decided he wasn't fit enough.
The list, which was compiled by soccer writers and dates back to
when the League was founded in 1888, has been announced to coincide
with the League's 100th season. No soccer was played during the war
years 1914-18 and 1939-45.
It includes the greatest names in English soccer, such as
Stanley Matthews, Jimmy Greaves, Duncan Edwards, George Best and
1966 England World Cup stars Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Bobby
Charlton Geoff Hurst, Alan Ball, Nobby Stiles and Martin Peters.
Alf Ramsey, who coached England to that triumph, also is
included. He was a standout fullback for Southampton and England
and played 32 times for England between 1949 and '54.
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