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World Cup Blues - or not !

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Further to the 'Could Everton win the World Cup?' piece by Nick Cowell, I found myself wondering about the various Everton players that have or haven't graced the World Cup Finals over the decades. As a consequnece, in the best armchair fan style, here are a few line-ups to consider/ignore as you choose :-

Firstly my Everton XI who never appeared at a World Cup Finals - 

                      Southall
Neville Jones,TG Ratcliffe Jones,TE
       Kendall Harvey Mercer
                      Young
                Lawton Dean
Secondly, my Everton XI who did appear in the World Cup Finals as Everton players - 
                    Howard
Wright Heitinga Labone Wilson
     Steven Reid Ball Sheedy
                Sharp Lineker
Lastly, my XI selected from those who performed at the World Cup Finals either before or after their stint at Everton - 
                   Martyn
Neill Gough Materazzi Sansom
Whiteside Collins,Bobby Gascoigne
       Beardsley Rooney
                   Saha
Personally, I reckon the XI that never performed at the World Cup Finals would have the edge over the other two selections.
Dennis Stevens, Portsmouth, Hampshire     Posted 11/07/2010 at 23:27:30

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Trevor Powell
1   Posted 12/07/2010 at 13:54:01

Is there a definitive list of all evertonians who have played in a world cup final? Obviously Ray Wilson and Johnny Hetinga were on our books at their final appearances but what of any ex-blues or even future blues? The obvious one is Materazzi in 2004. Ray Wilson will stand out in terms of his reputation... Hetinga and Matterazi will go be remembered for their final appearances for the wrong reasons!
Mike Allison
2   Posted 12/07/2010 at 14:23:25

Materazzi for the wrong reasons? He scored his team's goal, got the opposition's star man sent off, and scored in the shoot out, not bad for a centre back who kept a clean sheet apart from a penalty.

I agree that the never appeared XI is an excellent one, even though some of the players I can only know about through reputation. Can it not do better than Neville though?
Trevor Powell
3   Posted 12/07/2010 at 15:25:43

Materazzi will only be remembered for provoking Zidane in the long term... I will have to look for vidoes of his goal number as many as the 'incident' on You Tube!
Trevor Powell
4   Posted 12/07/2010 at 15:29:35

You Tube : Materazzi versus Zidane about 3950 against Materazzi world cup final goal about 195. [Pedantic or what?]

Tough call what he will be remembered for Mike!

Colin Potter
5   Posted 12/07/2010 at 16:19:31

Dennis, I presume that you never watched Alec Parker, an Everton legend at right back? If you did, I would like to know how you could prefer Pip before him?
Mike Allison
6   Posted 12/07/2010 at 16:50:10

Okay, even if he is ONLY remembered for getting Zidane sent off (which certainly won't be the case in Italy) that still helped his team win, its not the same as getting sent off and losing.
Dennis Stevens
7   Posted 12/07/2010 at 18:41:24

As regards the right back position(s), Mike & Colin, I picked Neville because Warney Cresswell's last international was in 1929 & so I figured that meant he probably wouldn't have been in the England squad for 1930 if we had taken part. I picked Tommy Wright over Alex Parker for the simple reason that I'm slightly more aware of him as a player, although it was a close run thing due to Parker's outstanding reputation. Parker was also, I believe Everton's first ever World Cup Finals participant.
Eric Myles
8   Posted 15/07/2010 at 03:32:30

In 1966, Alan Ball was with Blackpool when he was at the World Cup.
And if he was there in 1970 he was an Arsenal player, wasn't he?
Dennis Stevens
9   Posted 15/07/2010 at 22:27:35

No, Eric. Bally didn't leave until December 1971, having been a key member of our Title-winning team of 1969-70. Did you really mean that "IF" re 1970? Not only was he an automatic choice for Ramsey, but Revie, his successor, made Ball England captain until injury ended his international career.

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