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How far would our 74 team get today?


ScotlandWintheWorldCup

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With international being full of very mediocre teams at the moment.  There are only two exceptional teams in France and Belgium.  All the other main nations are only average at the moment.

I mean if Sweden & e**, was that the worst standard ever to play in a quarter final at the world cup?  Probably.

Where would our 74 team be if we had those players today.

First off we would have sailed the WCQ group last time and we would be fighting Belgium for first place in this group.  Kazakhstan result different?????????

Does anyone else agree with me that our 74 team could have potentially won the WC in Russia 18?

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Players today are far fitter and healthier than they were in 74 resulting in the game being way faster

So no

The same would apply to any teams and players of that era compared to today with the possible exception of Brazil 70 who were ahead of the time but they still would struggle over 90 mins

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1 hour ago, Ally Bongo said:

Players today are far fitter and healthier than they were in 74 resulting in the game being way faster

So no

The same would apply to any teams and players of that era compared to today with the possible exception of Brazil 70 who were ahead of the time but they still would struggle over 90 mins

I think this is the important thing. Football has come a long way since 1974 in many ways and health and fitness are probably the two biggest examples. Football is vastly more athletic than it was in the 70s.

This (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Hc7ddoKkfAAC&pg=PA48) suggests that Everton players were running an average of 8.5km per game in the mid-70s compared to 10km in the 90s. While this (https://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/training/premier-league-v-amateur-fitness) suggests that football distances haven't increased much since, although modern amateur players aren't too far behind 1970s Everton in distance run. It may well be that mid-70s professional footballers were only slightly more fit than amateur players (albeit modern amateur training may be better than professional training in the mid-70s).

Technically those players may be better than our current squad, but they certainly would run out of steam with the distances run. Also, those extra distances come at a higher speed.

Simply from that standpoint, I have to say that the '74 team wouldn't be anywhere near winning the modern World Cup.

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11 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Players today are far fitter and healthier than they were in 74 resulting in the game being way faster

So no

The same would apply to any teams and players of that era compared to today with the possible exception of Brazil 70 who were ahead of the time but they still would struggle over 90 mins

I was kind of meaning there skill level and mental toughness.  If they played today they would be extremely fit.

Just trying to remember when we used to be a force to be reckoned with and it was a pleasure to watch.

Rather than the feeling of dread before every game now and scrapping with minnows for irrelevance.  What are our chances of beating Cyprus and getting a draw in Belgium??

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The '74 team should really have gone further in 74, never mind now.

 

At the time we were all happy to have played well, avoided defeat, superb performance v Brazil; but look at the players we had, look at how many of the big teams, not least Brazil, were in transition. Germany and Netherlands were great sides. We should have seen ourselves in the chasing pack.

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just need to watch some of the 70s footage ; state of some of the players , even 'talented' ones ; francis lee , joey harper etc - all i can think of off-hand , but there was a lot of rotund players then

i do honestly believe wc 74 was the high water mark for our national side , but even then we found Yugoslavia too much (to get a result)

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12 hours ago, ScotlandWintheWorldCup said:

 

 

Just trying to remember when we used to be a force to be reckoned with and it was a pleasure to watch.

Rather than the feeling of dread before every game now and scrapping with minnows for irrelevance.  What are our chances of beating Cyprus and getting a draw in Belgium??

Without being pedantic the only time we have been a "force to be reckoned with" was around 18 months between 76 and before the start of the World Cup in 78.

Even in the halcyon days of the great players we had in the 60s and early 70s there was still a litany of disasters/glorious failures

Personally i think our 74 World Cup is way overrated

Brazil were a shadow of the 70 World Cup winning side, we struggled to score more than two against Zaire and couldnt beat Yugoslavia when it was in our hands - Yugoslavia lost 3 straight games in the 2nd round after that

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7 hours ago, robbo cop said:

Our 1974 team would at least of have had a go and wore the jersey with pride. Also did they not draw against a very decent Brazilian side. I may be wrong as i was only 10 years old but i am sure very few players called off back then.

No. By their standards, Brazil were shite in 74.

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Always thought that the 1982 side was the strongest we have ever had and should have gone further. tough draw and self destruction against New Zealand and Soviets ( Mr Hansen? meet Willie Miller )  did for us. Absolutely no chance against a rampaging Brazil side.

Souness, Dalglish, Jordan, John Wark, Robertson a young Strachan, Narey, Miller McGrain were so much stronger than the 74 side IMO

 

 

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7 hours ago, Burj_Alba said:

Always thought that the 1982 side was the strongest we have ever had and should have gone further. tough draw and self destruction against New Zealand and Soviets ( Mr Hansen? meet Willie Miller )  did for us. Absolutely no chance against a rampaging Brazil side.

Souness, Dalglish, Jordan, John Wark, Robertson a young Strachan, Narey, Miller McGrain were so much stronger than the 74 side IMO

 

 

1974 v Brazil

David HARVEY
Sandy JARDINE
Danny McGRAIN
Martin BUCHAN
James HOLTON
Billy BREMNER
Kenny DALGLISH
Joe JORDAN
Davie HAY
Peter LORIMER
Willie MORGAN

1982 v Brazil

Alan Rough
David Narey
Willie Miller
Alan Hansen
Frank Gray
Graeme Souness
John Wark
Gordon Strachan
Asa Hartford
Steve Archibald
John Robertson

74 team far better in every area IMO. McGrain was done by 82 as well. I think the NZ game might've been his last cap.

Not sure who you'd change in the 74 side with someone from 82. All about opinions of course.  :)  "The only thing to look forward to, the past" as the song goes.  :( 

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  • 1 year later...
On 3/28/2019 at 12:32 AM, daviebee said:

1974 v Brazil

David HARVEY
Sandy JARDINE
Danny McGRAIN
Martin BUCHAN
James HOLTON
Billy BREMNER
Kenny DALGLISH
Joe JORDAN
Davie HAY
Peter LORIMER
Willie MORGAN

1982 v Brazil

Alan Rough
David Narey
Willie Miller
Alan Hansen
Frank Gray
Graeme Souness
John Wark
Gordon Strachan
Asa Hartford
Steve Archibald
John Robertson

74 team far better in every area IMO. McGrain was done by 82 as well. I think the NZ game might've been his last cap.

Not sure who you'd change in the 74 side with someone from 82. All about opinions of course.  :)  "The only thing to look forward to, the past" as the song goes.  :( 

I'd replace Holton with Miller, and Morgan for Strachan. I might put Souness in for Lorimer, but leave the rest.

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Football has changed so much since the 70s I would be willing to bet our present team would beat the 74 team.

The pace, power, physical and technical ability of players now is several levels above the level the players in the 70s were at. If Our 1974 team wasn't good enough to win the 74 WC there is no chance they come close to winning the 2018 wc let alone qualify for it. 

Edited by mccaughey85
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3 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Football has changed so much since the 70s I would be willing to bet our present team would beat the 74 team.

The pace, power, physical and technical ability of players now is several levels above the level the players in the 70s were at. If Our 1974 team wasn't good enough to win the 74 WC there is no chance they come close to winning the 2018 wc let alone qualify for it. 

hmmm people seem to think the old teams were better.  

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5 minutes ago, davy-hay said:

hmmm people seem to think the old teams were better.  

Nostalgia. 

The 74 team for its time was better than todays but if you were to transport the 74 team to today they would struggle against todays players imo. 

Liverpool 80s team was greater than the Tottenham team today but I would expect Tottenham team to beat the 80s Liverpool team if we could magically time travel and make them play each other. 

Hope that explains my point of view. 

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