Eusebio da Silva Ferreira - Portugal
Portugal’s star of the tournament was born Eusebio
da Silva Ferreira on 24 February 1942 in Lourenço
Marques (modern Maputo), in what was then Portuguese
East Africa (now Mozambique); inevitably he became
known as Eusebio in the football world. A life of
poverty seemed to be his destiny when his father
died when Eusebio was five, however, he very early
on stood out, not just as a sprinter, but as a basketball
player, football only came later. He joined Portugal’s
Benfica in the 1961-62 season and played professional
football for them throughout his professional career.
Benfica were one of the most successful club sides
in the 1960s, in which environment Eusebio flourished,
indeed he was European footballer of the year for
1965, so there could be no question of underestimating
Portugal in the 1966 World Cup. Eusebio was not
only a fine athlete, but very finely balanced with
a deceptive ability to not so much accelerate astonishingly
rapidly past opponents but very nearly explode with
pace; it was no wonder he was nicknamed the “Black
Panther”. This would merely have made him an excellent
player, however, he also possessed one of the hardest
and most accurate shots in football.
Gordon Banks - England
Gordon Banks, who patrolled his goal mouth, behind
possibly the strongest defence in the world, with
a fine sense of anticipation. Banks had been playing
for England for less than four years and at twenty-eight
was entering the age at which goalkeepers reach
their peak. Having started his football career playing
for Chesterfield, he had moved to Leicester City
in 1959. He played in goal for sixth placed Leicester
when they were beaten two-nil in the 1961 FA Cup
final, which saw Tottenham complete the second half
of the “impossible” double. Two years later he was
again in goal in an FA Cup final, this time Leicester
were beaten three-one by Manchester United. Finally
there was something to celebrate when Leicester
won the League Cup in 1963-64 at the expense of
Stoke City (Banks’s future club), a final played
over two legs. Had Banks played for a larger club
there is no question that he would have won more
medals; as it was he was to collect the World’s
finest. Banks was meticulous in his training and
preparation, spending hours trying to iron out the
smallest of deficiencies. In 1970 he was to make
perhaps the most famous save in football when he
prevented what looked like yet another Pelé goal.
In this World Cup England did not concede a goal
until the semi-finals. In 1972 Banks was voted footballer
of the year in England, he had been instrumental
in winning the League Cup for Stoke City, after
yet another “impossible” save, this time to the
detriment of West Ham’s Geoff Hurst. Months later
disaster struck, Banks lost the use of his right
eye in a motoring accident; his footballing career
in England was over. In 1977 Banks resumed his career
in the USA, he showed that even with only one eye
he was more than a match for the best in America.
Bobby Moore - England
If England had the strongest defence in the 1966
World Cup, its strongest unit and linchpin was team
captain Bobby Moore. Not the fleetest of foot, Moore
overcompensated by his fleetness of thought, effortlessly
appearing in the right place at the right time to
break up yet another attack. Coming out of defence
Moore had the knack of hanging onto the ball for
just the right amount of time; many a defender has
wrecked his team’s chances by holding onto the ball
too long, leaving insurmountable problems once he
had been robbed of possession; but not Moore, his
forward pass coming once the opposing team had moved
a little too far forward, thereby creating that
extra yard that is so vital for both midfield and
attack. Moore not only ensured that the England
goal was protected by a fortress, but that the entire
team kept its shape; the days were long past when
many individual strokes of brilliance could overcome
the deficiencies inherent in a lack of organisation.
Moore’s form had dipped before the World Cup began,
a result of being stripped of the West Ham captaincy;
Moore, rightly in the view of this writer, felt
that his career would advance were he to move to
a larger more successful club (West Ham have never
won the English First Division or its successor,
the Premier League). Fortunately for England he
recovered his touch and his confidence just in time.
Not the least of Moore’s qualities was his ability
to accept and enforce instructions given from the
England bench. Unfortunately Moore was the victim
of trumped up charges just before the 1970 World
Cup, which had the effect of undermining England’s
preparation for their first match; but all that
lay in the future.
Alan Ball - England
Twenty-one year old Alan Ball was the youngest
player in the England team. Only five foot six,
Ball had a talent for terrier like aggression that
resulted in frequent brushes with the referee, particularly
early on in his career. Indeed his entire career
was punctuated by periods of suspension. Ball’s
ferocious temper made him something of a two-edged
weapon, although this temper, the product of a win
at all costs mentality, was the source of his seemingly
endless stamina and his omnipresence on the pitch.
Ball’s career began in 1962 when he turned out for
Blackpool. Sold in 1966 to Everton for a then record
£110,000, Blackpool were promptly relegated in the
1966-67 season. At Everton Ball was perhaps the
driver in the team that won the 1969-70 First Division
title. Just over a year later he was sold to Arsenal
for double what Everton had paid; he was never to
win a medal again.
Martin Peters - England
Perhaps the most underestimated of the England
players was Martin Peters, who was actually dropped
for England’s opening match. The most versatile
of the home players, Peters was played in practically
every position by his club West Ham, a sad waste
of a great talent; which lay in playing an aggressive
midfield role, slipping unobserved just behind the
strikers and scoring goals. Not for nothing was
Peter’s given the nickname of “the ghost”, a nickname
previously held by Tottenham’s John White, whom
Peters resembled in some ways. Indeed Peters moved
to Spurs in 1970 where he won three medals to add
to the one he had garnered at West Ham, despite
only spending half as long at the North London club.
Described by Alf Ramsey the England manager as “ten
years ahead of his time, Peters was to score a vital
goal in the final itself as well as creating many
opportunities for colleagues.
